A Plug for Polly

Z and I are very fond of Polly Jones' artwork. Polly was a member of a church we attended some years ago, and we purchased a piece of her artwork shortly after Z and I got married. My family has since moved to Maryland, and she and her husband (who is also an outstanding artist) have moved to TX -- but she has a site on Etsy.com where she puts her fabulous pieces up for sale.

Please note that I am not an art critic, neither do I have a good working knowledge of the art world's lingo. This is just something that I like and wanted to share it with the rest of you, in my own words.

Polly specializes in contemporary still life paintings. She uses a variety of media, techniques, and subjects -- but all of her pieces are unique and fantastic. I like her extravagant use of vibrant colors. I also personally really enjoy her works that employ water and how it refracts and alters the appearance of ordinary objects -- and she seems to like to use water in a lot of her projects. Some of her works are subtly 3-Dimensional, adding visual punch to already beautiful pieces.

Here is the first piece that Z and I bought from her, a while ago (the tan around the edges is from the wall, not the painting):



And this is the second piece that we will acquire in March (it's already paid for):



I have had her site posted on one of my sidebars for some time now. If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to check out her Etsy store here: PollyPainting

The Branch Ranch

I'm contemplating a new profession....tree branch farmer. It would seem that I'm a natural, because my yard is absolutely covered in large and small branches this morning.

Of course, the ice storm that came through over the last couple of days probably had more to do with the proliferation of woody stems scattered across my lawn, than anything I did. My camera has dead batteries, else I would have gotten some beautiful shots of the crystalline trees and grass before Mr. Soleil melted it all away. My dog is thrilled, you could almost see the thoughts bouncing around in his brain as he tore around the dog pen. "All these things to chew on and throw about? They fell from the sky? Yayyyy!"

The ice wasn't too bad, the roads weren't too slick, but it was enough to build a coating of ice on everything -- and it was thick enough that our maples lost a lot of big and little branches. We were awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of things hitting the roof, and at 2 in the morning when you're not fully awake yet the noise seemed like something was trying to claw through the ceiling. Blessedly, Miss K slept through it all. She is very loud, as most 2-yr-olds are, when she freaks out. As it was, she saw white all over the ground when she got up and wanted to go play in the "snow", and was most disgruntled when we told her it was ice, and she couldn't go make snow angels in it. So she stuck out her bottom lip, jammed her hat on her head and milled around the house for a while in her mittens and her green frog wellies, hoping daddy and mommy would change their minds. We persuaded her to stay indoors with the Tinkerbell movie, and then all was right with the world. (We even got the hat and mittens off of her, but the boots stayed on).

As a result of the weather, A had no school for the last two days. Normally any change in his routine would send him into a negative behavior pattern, but since we had just come off of Christmas Break he wasn't fully into the school routine again. He was getting antsy, though, and was definitely ready to go back to pre-K on Thursday. Somehow, doing the same activities at home just don't quite hit the mark.

We still went to his therapy appointments on those days, so at least he had some continuity. A is still working on fine motor skills, and we're focusing on putting pressure on writing utensils. A has gotten fork usage down pretty well, and has the basic motions to write, he just can't put enough pressure down on the pencil or crayon to make it very visible. He does much better with markers -- they don't require as much pressure, but we are discontinuing the use of those until we are getting consistent pressure with the other writing instruments. Much to his frustration. He threw a small fit for his occupational therapist on Tuesday when they were working with pencils, because he wanted the markers and she told him, "No."

But, in a terrific little section of Wednesday, he did read the first half of Dr. Seuss's "Fox in Socks" to me! By himself! We had a little trouble with the word "Knox", but we got it figured out. This is a great activity to encourage his speech development, so we're running with it. He has come so far from the animal grunts we were getting just a couple of years ago.

I also got him to spell words using the letter magnets on the fridge, I'd give him a word and make him find the letters to spell it, like "jump" or "top". We must have done this for 30 minutes before he got tired of it, so yay! Good for him! It is thrilling to see his intelligence shining through, to a point that others notice. He really is a smart little guy.

I was hoping that with all the time off for the holidays we might venture a little closer to victory in the Toilet Bowl arena, but it just isn't there yet. He did go a few times, though, and voluntarily went by himself one time, so we're still making some progress at least. The average age for potty training autistic kids is between 5 and 6, so we're right on target I suppose....A turned 5 in November. We are nearly there with Miss K, though, we go back and forth. One day she'll be dry all day, and then the next she has accident after accident....she still doesn't understand why she has to go in the potty when her big brother doesn't. *sigh* Soon. If I say that enough times, one day it has to be true, right?

Well, Crap

We had a whiz-bang start to the New Year! Our septic tank backed up into our house! While my husband was away, working his last all-night shift! Isn't that exciting?

It was exciting to call a friend to come into my stinky house to watch my kids and make sure they didn't eat or drink anything they weren't supposed to while I went outside. Holidays are all about family and friends, right?

It was exciting for me to go out in the back yard, in the dark, and try to dig up where the blasted tank was, to check the level per the directions of the septic guy -- only to discover after an hour of digging that the tank was located on the other side of the gate from where the directions on the deed seemed to indicate.

It was exciting to dig around for another hour in the backyard on the other side of the gate! The neighbor's Pomeranian was excited, too, judging from all the yapping coming from their yard. I'm pretty sure that if my neighbors had seen me out there muttering and throwing mud and rocks around they would have thought I was off my cracker and was burying a body or something. But isn't that a great New Year's resolution -- to get more exercise and make the neighbors think you're crazy? Cheap home security. So after I found what I needed, I called the septic guy back and relayed the pertinent information.

It was exciting for the septic guy and the RotoRooter guy, both of which got extra pay, to come out and fix the problem on a weekend so we didn't have nastiness coming up out of the tub drain or the sinks anymore, and so we could actually use the toilet. And that nasty sulfur smell that we've always had? Turns out it was the byproduct gas in the tank making its way into the house. We just thought it was the well water, which is what two long-time residents had told us.

Our septic tank was so full, that it was trying to ooze out the top hatch when the septic guy came. Let's all say it together: "Ewwwwwwww!" It was pumped out in August of last year, and is a 1,000 gallon tank, so we shouldn't have had any problems for at least another year, maybe two. But full it was, so we had to have that remedied. Then he noticed that when we flushed, there was only a very tiny trickle coming out of the house. Because the septic tank was so full, it covered the main line from the house....and stuff backed up and caused a clog. Enter the RotoRooter guy, stage right. He zipped the snake up in there, broke through some mineral deposits, and presto chango we're back in business so we can do our business.

Or, are we? The septic guy came back on Tuesday to check out the tank and see if the outlet into the yard was blocked somehow (he couldn't see it last week because the temperature differential was too great and his mirror kept fogging up). He looked for 15 minutes trying to find the outlet and the baffle, and couldn't see any pipes leading out, which is strange. He did see a ribbed hose lying in the bottom, though, like what he uses to schlepp all the, well, you know, out. And, our tank is halfway full again. That's 500 gallons of water and other materials, in a matter of 3 days. I must have goggled at him like he had onions for eyeballs, because he took the lid off and showed me. Sure enough, it's halfway back up again.

Diagnosis: we have a blockage leading to our drain field. Which ain't cheap to fix. So Z and I are tied for the time being, hoping that mystically and magically everything will start working again but knowing that we have to do something about it -- soon. We can call the RotoRooter guy out again once we have the funds to do so, but he has to have someplace to RotoRoot, and we don't know what to tell him. Or her, as the case may be. We were told to go ahead and dig the whole area behind the house up, because that will save us some money and time -- they won't have to try to locate it and do it themselves. Where are Snow White's dwarves when you need them? I could use seven strong men with shovels and pick-axes about now.

Then. Then -- after looking around in our half-full tank for a while, the septic guy noticed our new well pump site, which was put in several years before we bought the house. He scratched his head, turned and looked at me, and said, "Um, ma'am, where exactly is your drain field located?" I have no idea, my husband was here with the house inspector. The septic guy just kind of shook his head, and told me that normally you wouldn't put a well pump in within 100 feet of a drain field, just in case of leakage, and did we have our water tested? That we had, and everything tests normally. We have one of those ultraviolet light purifier things, which zaps everything. But I have to admit I've been looking a little askance at the tap water ever since. Hasn't made us sick or anything, so it's probably fine, but....well, crap!

Confessions of a Bench Warmer

My husband and I used to have an 1893 Schubert upright cabinet grand piano, which we were given for free. It was gorgeous, nice wood carvings and overlays. It didn't keep in tune very well, but you could still play it without wincing overly much. At some point in its existence before it made its way to us, though, someone had dropped the sucker and busted the feet off the front. Inexplicably, no one had ever replaced them, so the keys and woodwork on the front were just sort of...hanging...off the piano.

Over time and subsequent moves before we got it, gravity caused the front to drop even further, and this started to push out the sides of the piano. Once in our possession, Z and I were interested in restoring it, so we contacted several people about doing just that. We were advised by a man who does business refinishing and restoring old pianos not to even invest in the thing, unless it had some sort of sentimental family value. It would cost far too much to bring it back to its former glory, and we could buy a new piano for less than it would take to fix everything wrong with this one. We appreciated his candor, and enjoyed the piano "as-was" for several years.

The thing was monstrously heavy; it was made of solid thick slabs of oak, and weighed somewhere between 650 and 1000 pounds, we never did find out for sure. It took six full grown men with skids and wheels to move the piano into the house; the day it suddenly gave a little more and my infant daughter was sitting right under the keyboard was the day that my husband and I, with my bum hip, moved it out to the porch by ourselves. We didn't want it to squash our kids. That was the death knell for the instrument -- one side had nearly completely separated by that point.

Being the industrious wench that I am, I set to it with screwdrivers -- on my back porch, in January, in Maryland -- and harvested some parts before it was dragged to the elephant graveyard. Bear in mind that this piano was built in the days before Phillips head screws, and over 100 years of aging had cemented those flathead screws in place. My drill did not work, the torque was breaking off the screws in the wood if I set it high enough to actually move the old screws. I had to do it all by hand so I could feel the breaking point. I actually broke a couple of screwdrivers!

We sold the ivory and ebony keys on E-Bay, and kept the wood from the top and front of the cabinet for a future project. I wanted to build a bench out of it, I just thought that would be really neat. Two years passed....

And, spurred by the prospect of 7 extra people in our house for over a week this year, decided we needed some extra seating. So it got built on Thanksgiving day, prior to our family's arrival two days later on Saturday. Here's the finished project:





It fits absolutely perfectly as a window seat -- no cutting required! We did have to do some adjustments for the sides, though, because of the existing windowsill and a non-working electric baseboard heater that runs along the wall. The top is hinged, so we can store toys, blankets, whatever in the narrow space between the wall and the front of the bench. The back half of the bench is over the windowsill, and screwed down using the existing screwholes in the top of the piano.

The kids absolutely LOVE it -- they actually fight over who gets to sit in the windowseat, although in truth they can both fit in there at the same time just fine. A loves to climb up with a blanket, and just lay there and look at the cars going by, or the cows across the street.

I'm not a big floral-y person normally, but this fabric actually works with the walls, curtains, and other furniture in the living room -- and the red hallway that connects to the living room. It suits the look of the old wood, too.

But here's where the "confession" comes into play: I am a horrid seamstress. It takes me hours to do the simplest tasks, sewing is just not one of my talents -- with a machine or by hand. Knowing that family was arriving the next day, by the time I bought the foam and fabric -- I had less than a day. And this would probably take me at least a week to complete properly, allowing time to swear (internally) and rip out seams as necessary. (Since the bench was built on Thanksgiving, I bought the cushion materials on Black Friday. Yikes. I actually crossed myself before leaving the house and heading to JoAnn Fabrics. Having worked retail this time of year, I usually try to avoid shopping the two days after Thanksgiving at all costs, I just do not enjoy being shoved, elbowed, etc.)

So here's what I came up with:



I wrapped the foam up like a present and safety-pinned the bottom all the way down, and the ends, and then put that side down against the wood. It worked out just fine, and there were no bad words involved at all! And no one ever suspected. : )

Festive Home

This year, we're still learning our new house. And we have also learned about the apparent wind problems that knocked over my pot of poinsettias (fake) and ripped the wreath off the front door, depositing it rather rudely on the frozen flowerbed. So no outdoor shots, for now. I may post something later, but with my hectic schedule I'd hedge my bets on "no" rather than "yes".

We are going with simple this year. For a variety of reasons, one of which is that the season tends to get so hectic I like to come home to a little serenity.

We love going for a drive to look at Christmas decorations most years. Inflatable lawn decorations and enough lights on your roof to signal the astronauts are all very nice, and we do enjoy looking at them -- right across the street, actually -- but we're not personally going that route this year. If the kids make noise in subsequent years, I'll probably get out there, freeze my buns off, and mutter angrily at the frozen ground while I'm fighting the ever-present wind, trying desparately to stake something down -- but this is not that year.

The fireplace, with (edited) stockings -- names changed to protect the innocent and all that:



I love just piling some ornaments into a festive container, letting them fall as they may:



Tree, with dog. Don't you just love our "office" ceiling?



And without dog (or ambient lights):



My glass reindeer I acquired somewhere along the line. I never know where to put him. This year he's by the front door:



Doesn't every toilet need a reindeer to stand watch while you do your business?



More Christmas balls, on the counter. We have a tropical fish shower curtain (for the kids, who are into "Finding Nemo" and fish in general), and it's mostly blues and greens with some very vibrant-colored fish in the mix. Next year I think I'll look for some orange and blue ornaments to add, just because.



Santa's watching from the medicine cabinet to make sure you really wash your hands:



And finally, the kitchen, crowded countertop and all. I figured since the pasta container was empty anyway, it would be a perfect place for, yup, more ornaments. And the kids can't reach these:



And lastly, but not leastly, my kitchen windowsill was looking a bit bland, so I shoved some florist's tingting in a pot. It works. Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Today We...

Today we got some measurable snow, although it's still not much.




K was soooo excited! She had been watching the snow since about 9 this morning, and was walking around the house wearing her stocking hat and her mittens. She would sit in our big picture window and talk about it, saying how pretty it was, and that it was falling from the sky outside her window, yada yada. Finally, she looks at me, exasperated, and says, "Mommy, I want to touch it!"

Unfortunately, the snow didn't start to stick until after we took A up to the bus stop at 11. We went out to play a couple of hours later, after it had time to pile up for a little bit -- and boy, was she happy! It started to come down as freezing rain shortly after we ventured outdoors (even though it was 30 degrees), so we hightailed it back inside. Daddy taught Miss K how to make snowballs. It didn't take her long to get the hang of it!

December? Already?

OHM'GOSH is it really December 13th? Already?

My youngest brother is getting married today. Across the country, in California. They are going to have the big ceremony in June, but decided to go ahead and get married now for a myriad of reasons (and no, she's not pregnant). His fiancee has no health insurance, and this way she can be covered. Apparently she had a sinus infection last month and her doctor's bills were nearly $400 by the time they ran all the tests and she got her medications.

So we will be listening by cell phone to the ceremony that's on the west coast, here on the East Coast. And we plan to be out there in June for the big to-do.

We have been absolutely slammed since Z's surgery, with guests in the house, holiday things with friends, church activities and projects, and life in general.

Of course, the activities and general pandemonium are nowhere close to being finished, our last guests that are staying with us arrive in a week and will leave just after the New Year (with another one arriving and leaving in the middle). Every single day we have had someone at the house, sometimes two different sets of people -- one in the morning and one in the evening. And they aren't always planned for ~ one of my other projects, painting the deer, bunnies, and stars in the church nursery has been delayed for a couple of weeks now because every time I start to head up there, someone else shows up at the house! But at least the bear, lamb, and duck pond are finished. Z's sister came up to help and she did the duck pond. It is absolutely fantastic, and all the babies want to try to pet the duckies on the wall.

Today is the first "breathing day" I've had since the beginning of November -- and it's only because my husband is out playing music with another guy this afternoon at a concert. I don't have a car, so I'm not going anywhere, and so far no one has knocked on our door. I probably shouldn't jinx myself, eh?

Don't get me wrong; I love having people over -- and somehow the house has managed to stay pretty straight even with all the unexpected guests, which really is a small miracle for me because I'm nowhere close to attaining my domestic goddess status -- but today's little break is also nice. We had some of Z's family come up and stay with us -- 7 extra people, for 8 days. There were 5 kids total, ages 5,4,3,2, and 1, so noise was a huge factor in the week. It was pure chaos, but we loved every minute of having mothers and sisters and cousins and dads all mixed in our little house. Luckily, we survived with only two chairs and a table that broke, and an air mattress with a slow leak. The picture window, aquariums, and glass front to the fireplace miraculously survived intact.

Let's see; what has happened since, well October, really? A is doing very well. He is in a "normal" pre-school class that has 21 kids in it. A still has difficulties in the areas of communication and fine motor skills. But academically, A is ahead of all the other kids! He can read, knows his letters, numbers, colors, shapes, what the weather is, etc. The biggest problem we have is that he doesn't always want to sit down and do what the other kids are doing. We just have to figure out if it's because of boredom, or because he's sitting down for too long at a time and needs to get up and move around. It is a delight to see the teacher realize our son isn't an idiot, he's actually a pretty smart guy -- he just has a hard time expressing himself.

A is also doing very well with all the upheaval in the house. He took some time off by himself when all of Z's family came up, for a couple of days, but by the end of the week was OK with it and actually trying to engage the other kids to play with him! Z had the brilliant idea of putting up the Christmas tree the day his family left, to take advantage of the already altered routine in the house. It worked! Last year when we put up the tree, A was in a funk for over a week because we moved a desk, thus changing his set routine and "normal" surroundings. This year, since everything was out of whack anyway, he seemed to just take it in stride.

Likewise with all of the friends stopping in unexpectedly -- A does still occasionally need some time off to himself, in the quiet, but he's getting used to it. Excessive noise still bothers him, but Z tried taking A to the mall with one of his cousins and Z's dad while they were up here. A did fine, he loved the huge train they had set up around the holiday decorations, and didn't seem to freak over all the people. Granted, it was the middle of the day on a weekday, so there weren't so many people about anyway, but this is still progress!

Having so many people his size (and K's size) in the house was also beneficial in the potty-training arena. K stayed dry most of yesterday, with only one accident, so we're getting there! Yay! And A has actually gone in the bathroom, taken off his dirty pants, and put on clean ones. By himself.

I'll have to post some pictures of the house soon. When I have a moment....