If I was invisible....

When I named my car the Puddle Jumper, I did so for a couple of reasons... it sorta looks like a puddle jumper:



(Well, it looks more like a Puddle Jumper than most cars on the road.) But also because it's a clever name, given my Great Northwest local and the famed rain we receive on an annual basis. I truly did not believe it would take on aspects of a real puddle jumper, like a cloaking device making it apparently invisible to... you know... other drivers on the road.

A couple weeks prior to Halloween my car was rear ended again. Once again I was at a complete stop, this time at a traffic light with about 10 cars stopped in front of me. Ever since my first accident I've been hyper aware of cars around me in heavy traffic, so it's become a habit of mine to stop and immediately look in my rear view mirror. I saw a blue HHR roll to a stop behind me, then I looked towards the traffic light and heard a sickening thud, and a second later felt and heard a louder THUD.

My foot had been firmly on the brake, and now my fingers were threatening to bend the steering wheel, I looked up into my rear view mirror to the driver behind me and screamed..

screamed at top volume...

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME WITH THIS?!?"

I pulled into the turning lane and he followed, along with the car behind him. With a quick conversation it was determined that it was the third car that caused the accident. Actually, she spent pretty much the entire time saying "I don't know what happened" to which I replied...

"Let me spell it out for you. I saw the red light and cars in front of me and I stopped. Then he stopped. Then you hit him, and pushed him into me."

It's entirely possible that I sounded mildly patronizing in relaying the events in that manner.

It's all fine now - the damage was nowhere near what I experienced the first time, her insurance company took care of the cost and my body shop got the work done lickity split and returned my car to me good as new.

Again.

I've been - understandably I think - a little more tense about traffic since then. I'm a little jumpy maybe, a little reactionary to traffic way in front of me. When I apply my brakes I do it early, slowly, and check my mirrors to make sure the person behind me is paying attention. When I stop at a light I leave enough space in front of me that I can see the back tires of the car ahead - which I'm certain drives people behind me rather nuts (given my lack of height, I need more space to see those tires) but if I'm hit from behind again, I want that space so I'm not shoved into the car in front of me.

The other day I had several errands to run.

In one parking lot I pulled down an aisle slowly, saw a man loading the trunk of his car with groceries, so I stopped and put my signal on. I sat for a while (long enough to see him load the groceries, return the cart, come back and adjust things in the trunk, close the trunk, and start his engine.)

About that time I noticed reverse lights coming at me.

The driver of the car I was parked directly behind had returned to her car, started her engine, and started backing out. I have no clue what she was thinking... I can't understand how she couldn't see my giant car sitting right behind her. I barely had time to think "what the f....." before I reacted by leaning on the horn.

And I didn't "honk" my horn. I threw my body into it, from the hip, and leaned my arm on the horn solidly until she stopped her car, put it in drive, and pulled back into her spot... all the while thinking a healthy string of obscenities.

A couple errands later, and still on edge... I crept through a different parking lot towards the grocery store. In front of one store I noticed the reverse lights of a large SUV come on and I stopped, getting the feeling this driver wasn't looking. I don't know how I knew this, but I was right... I sat and watched as she pulled straight out to where I would have been had I continued driving... not turning her head once. I noticed she had her cell phone up to her ear, and when she was nearly out of the spot and had turned her car she finally saw me and jumped in her seat - looking very surprised that I was there.

It was all I could do to not roll down my window and suggest that she hang up and drive.

Today I ran a few errands, and pulling out of a parking lot I noticed a flock of pigeons take flight from across the way, flying straight towards me. They hardly even swerved around my car, I thought they were going to try to pass right through it.

Seriously... major cloaking device in action here.

(Lyrical title: Invisible - Clay Aiken)

Just breathe....

Today was my day to breathe.

My work with the Reflections committee at the school is nearing it's end, now that I've jumped through a few hoops and around one giant roadblock which was the source of Great Stress last week. It has been a great learning experience, and I'm glad I signed up to do it... we'll be at a new grade school next year, with a lot of unknown factors, so it was important for me to get a decent handle on this program this year. Next year I shall be more prepared for what is to come, so that I can make sure this program carries over to the new school.

In the midst of all this school work I had G's Big 8th Birthday Party to organize, prepare for, and run. She chose her theme of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaur based on her idea for a "really cool iceberg cake". She described what she wanted, and D and I worked together to create this masterpiece:



Her party consisted of 4 boys and 8 girls who seemed to greatly enjoy decorating the dinosaur egg cookies, the game of Hot Potato (to the tune of Queen Latifa's version of "Everybody Walk the Dinosaur" - the song is still stuck in my head), present opening, cake eating, then random free play time until it was time to go home.

For future reference to anyone who cares to know... 1.5 hours is PLENTY of time for a home birthday party... there is NO NEED to make it 2 hours long. NO. NEED.

And as a side note: I absolutely adore my neighbors from across the street, who not only stayed and helped wrangle the kids during the organized activities, but also walked in the door and handed me a bottle of red wine "for later".

They know me too well, I think.

G is now 8, and no longer requires a booster seat, and that makes me feel proud, but also just a little sad. We seem to be burning through these stages of life, and I think it's the realization that we are not likely to go back through them with another child that has me all sentimental about it.

(Lyrical title: Breathe - Faith Hill)

Here comes the cold, break out the winter clothes

I am in the midst of that super crazy time of year, where one event melds into another and they all intertwine in this mixture of colors and textures and sights and sounds.

This is my brain on November:


Last week I managed to scrape together enough volunteers at the last minute to help hang artwork for the school's art contest that I am chairing. Bringing most of the entries home to catalog helped the organizational aspect of it tremendously... as there were an additional (surprise!) 25 or so entries waiting for me at the school Monday morning. Next week we announce the winners, and the week after that we have the big ice cream party celebration, and then I turn the winners in to the district level and I'm free from scrambling duties (as far as I know)

I attended the big Parent Teacher conference on Tuesday, where I was informed that my daughter has an "uncanny ability" to recall story lines. "Not just the overall idea of the story, but events, in sequence, with the tiniest of details." I hadn't realized this talent of hers was uncanny for her age, having no other children to sort of compare/contrast her personality and interests with... though I was always impressed by her ability to memorize song lyrics (and have been super careful about which songs we listen to ever since she was about 3) and her story telling has seemed to me to be an extension of that. Sometimes it is wonderful, sometimes it makes my hear sink (like when she recalls with fondness the tiniest details of the 6 days in which we had a dog, but had to take her back because I kept breaking out into hives... "Oh Mommy, remember when Gracie used to chase deer out of the yard?" Why does she remember these things with such clarity, but forgets where she puts her shoes?)

The remainder of the week was filled with catching up, working, and prepping for the Next Big Event.

G's birthday party will be next Saturday - the invites are out, the theme is picked, all we have to do is plan the games, buy the supplies, and get the house ready. We are doing Ice Age 3 Dawn of the Dinosaur (the theme picked mainly because of G's wonderful cake idea... that is to take a sheet cake, cut it into "icebergs" and have the guys from Ice Age stuck on top of the pieces) I'm excited to work dinosaurs into the party planning... there will be at least a "hot potato" game with the song "Walk the Dinosaur" playing, and perhaps a cookie decorating station, though I'll need to find dinosaur shaped cookie cutters to make that work. Or dinosaur cookie sprinkles.

Suggestions are welcome.

After that is the big Thanksgiving and Christmas RUSH. I always feel so far ahead of myself when I start to plot out ideas in September, but end up feeling so far behind when November sneaks up and bites me in the ass.

(Lyrical title: St. Patrick's Day - John Mayer)

It's a dead man's party, who could ask for more

A few fun things from Halloween good times.

First of all, in the world of costumes I decided to go practical with the school party version of the costume - mainly because I was assigned to help decorate cookies at the party and I didn't want to get my main costume scuzzied up.




Here is the costume for Halloween Night - I *love* how the bracers work with the whole thing.



One of the projects Dan made in his bottomless pit, which sat on our front porch. Made from scratch, largely with plywood... this paint job he did is made with awesome - and as a coincidence practically matches our fireplace.



Stepping up on the front porch and look down... here is the view of the pit.



Dan also put together a wicked cool ghost. The skull was a plain skull, he augmented with paint, made the jaw hinge, added LED lights in the eye sockets, built the hands from the bone up (literally, pipe and wire coat hangers, latex, string and cotton) Hooked it up to a motor, which he also rigged to make the arms and head move up and down.




I took far too many photos of all the decorations and such, so for the grand family slide show (of decorations and people's costumes) I've uploaded them to the Kodak Gallery

Biggest accomplishment of mine for the party? My bro-in-law paid me a compliment on my party playlist. WIN!

More talky talky on other goings on later, my brain is fried from too much activity lately.

(Lyrical title: Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo)

treasure maps and gold earrings will fill your heart with glee

D has been busy in his Mad Scientist Laboratory (the garage) this weekend, working on super fun scary spooky things for Halloween - so aside from errands and general housework, I had a lot of time in my own Mad Scientist Laboratory (the basement) to do some finishing touches for my costume.... and when I finished with that project, I just kept going.

Here is the necklace and earrings I made for the costume. The dragon pendant is something I picked up at the Pirate Festival last month in Portland, and the stick-like beads are pieces of coral.



The earrings are a little piece of 8, and a treasure map that says "property of Davey Jones" on the back. The snake is the clasp for the necklace.


Here are a couple of dangley strands I made for my skull cap - a sweet little wooden carving of a snake, and then some Chinese coins along with carved wooden beads.



While digging through my beads for the pirate stuff I came across some random pendants that I've picked up from various shopping adventures, and as I've been pondering ideas for Christmas gifts for family, I decided to mess around with other ideas.
I'm not 100% happy with this necklace - I like the sort of industrial look of the silk ribbon wound through the chunky chain, and I love the pendant, I just think I need to do something else with how it's hooked up. (Mainly I was just testing the silk cord with chain theory anyway)



With this one, I got a little ambitious. I found an "idea sheet" at a local bead shop with this general pattern (thought it used different beads and pendant) and I knew I wanted to do something sort of light for these wicked red dragonflies I found in Port Townsend, so here they are. I think this is my favorite necklace that I've made thus far.



(Lyrical title: Pieces of 8ight - Captain Bogg & Salty)