Eleni

What's Up?

Sorry no pic and no posting in a while, I've had a whirlwind of activity here the past few days/weeks it's all bleeding together, whatever.  Mama day - good, got a dustbuster, a card, lots of hugs and kisses and best of all a donut - I ate three, a coconut, honey glazed and a plain (christopher's remnants).  I honestly can't remember a whole lot about the day, but the donuts really stick out.

I've been sewing like a freaking maniac, like I lthink I look mad when I am doing it, I should put a mirror in front of my face and take a pic, that would make for good blog fodder.  I drink lots of green tea to keep me awake at night  so I can sew without falling asleep, one time it happened, I literally fell asleep with my head on the sewing machine.  I wish Dennis would lurk with the camera more because that would be some funny stuff to post.  Today I woke up, and was talking on the phone and brushing my teeth at the same time, it was my mom so it was ok to do that, but when I was done, I walked to the phone cradle and hung up my toothbrush.  Yeah I know.  Anyway, I am out to run errands, and the phone is ringing AGAIN!

New year, new me (I hope!)

No I didn't fall off the face of the earth, I've just been busy - well not really actually just lacking in blog related topics, and feeling kind of lazy.  But it's a new year and I'm back with a vengeance!  Seriously, here are my rezzies for the new year:

1.  Be more positive

2.  Be more organized

For rezzie number one I've enlisted the help of  Jack Canfield.  You may know him from this book series.  Now, being the glass is not even half- full type of gal I am, I'm always a little skeptical about jumping on the bandwagon of some motivational speaker.  I was thinking, maybe it's all in my head, do I really need to be more positive?  But then watching The Today Show the other day, I saw this interview and the stats are pretty scary -  1 in 5 American women are on anti-depressants!?  Um, that's not good.  So I gave it a bit more thought and I figure the only thing I've got to lose is a bad attitude, and there's nothing to be scared of it's not like I am joining a cult, so and I'm jumping on the bandwagon, I've bought some CD's and a book and I am already seeing a difference. 

BUT!  Knowing myself as I do, I know that I have a tendency to fall back into the same old same old and I really don't want to do that again.  I want to try to figure out a way to post something positive on my blog at least once each and every week.  To get inspired I'll be looking here and here and probably other places as well, sharing with all of you so two things get accomplished: you get a dose of positive energy and I keep my blog regularly updated (which had been a bit of a struggle lately).  See already this is a good thing!

So, for rezzie number two, I've enlisted the help of this book, which I found here and I think is relevant even if you do not suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder. If you look around your house and just general life today, I think that we all operate in a world that has ADD, and I think more so for women because not only are we supposed to take care of ourselves, but everyone else around us.  It's been hard keeping track of just myself at times, and since having a child last year, I've really come to recognize that I need to simplify and streamline if I want life to run smoothly and have a life of my own.  I've read millions (well, maybe not millions) of books and articles about organizing things, I've been through a gazillion day planners, calendars, electronic gizmos and other crap and nothing has worked, so far this book has worked for me.  it's broken into little manageable parts that are relevant and immediately useful, and best of all it gives me hope that I too can have a organized sock drawer. 

So I am sorry for no picture today peeps, I'm sure that this new year is finding everyone well.  Happy Friday.

all our fall crap

That's it, what was once a wondorus and festive harvest-y display, was a big pile of crap on my front lawn yesterday.  Although the munchkin and I are both sick, we braved the cold yesterday to help with what I hope is the final fall cleanup of our yard, but there are some leaves still up in those trees so we will see.

I have been busy with orders and stuff but I hope to post more regularly because I am a big fat blogging slacker, and for that I aploogize, bad bad Helena :(

I'm not ignoring you

But sometimes I have to tend to my real life and leave the online one behind....booo hooo, but I got a funny email from Dennis' aunt, it was full of all these funny little male bashing sayings, and this one made me laugh out loud:

WOMAN'S PERFECT BREAKFAST
She's sitting at the table with her gourmet coffee.
Her son is on the cover of the Wheaties box.
Her daughter is on the cover of Business Week.
Her boyfriend is on the cover of Playgirl.
And her husband is on the back of the milk carton.

Thanks Meridel, I needed that!

Thoughts on Balance

Another little hiatus for me and the little guy, this time we were off to Cape Cod with my family.  What a relaxing and enjoyable vacation.  It was such a great escape from the norm, the house is right on the beach, and we breathed fresh salty air every day.  There was no computer, the TV was down to 4 channels, we had limited cell service and even though the weather wasn't great, we still sat on the beach, bundled up in sweats with a basket full of treats on hand to keep us from going back in the house. 

The coolest thing for me on this vacation was that I got to be a kid again, my mom is such an amazing woman, she's endured a serious amount of hardship in her life, yet isn't bitter one bit, starts everyday with a smile and loves to have fun.  She was seriously born to be a caretaker and she took care of everything.  At 4 am, with Chris having a meltdown, I heard the tiniest tap on my door, in she walks, snatches up the child and says, "you sleep, I'll take care of him" and off they went.  I watched with amazement as she fed Christopher while preparing dinner for us, keeping a patient eye on my 8 year old nephew who has a tendency to be everywhere, into everything, and talking about 400 different things at the same time.  She's got the whole mom thing down pat. Is there a mother of the year award out there that she could win?  In my book she already has.

Vacation is so therapeutic in so many ways. In our normal day to day life, it feels as though we center our lives around a constant to-do list, and once everything is checked off and completed, is when we can start living. It's a weird feeling not to have that to-do list looming over your head for a week.  It's kind of sad that we put ourselves through this, scheduling every block of time with a task, chore or even a fun activity.  Trust me, I'm all for schedules (especially ones that involve little ones napping) and I believe that life should be ordered around a few basic things - mealtimes, napping, playtime, but you can really make yourself crazy trying to get "it" all done, and for what?  I mean, when it's all said and done and I croak are people going to stand around and say, "hey yeah that Helena, great person, she did her food shopping every Monday" But then again, I guess I wouldn't want anyone standing around saying to say how I barely got  through life not knowing my ass from my elbow.  OK, so here's the conundrum - balance. What is it? Who defines it - is it up to the individual or do we allow society to tell us what it is?  Who has it? How do we get it?  Why do we even give a crap, maybe we don't even want it?

Sorry for my rambling peeps, the moon has been full so it brings out the warewolves and a philosophical post.  Here's a pic of my babes on the beach last week.

One post, two topics

Thanks for the encouragement and advice about the teething monster that has invaded my home.  He's already got 6 in his mouth (4 top 2 bottom in case you were wondering....I know you were on the edge of your seat wondering), so if I stick my finger in there with the orajel, it's like sticking my finger into a paper shredder or better yet meat grinder... get the pict'cha? Oh yes,and he hates the taste of infant motrin, but when I show him the infant tylenol (grape) he actually smiles and opens his mouth... talk about Pavlov's Dog! Ok, so enough with my baby drama, I'm building a bridge and getting over it. 

I haven't posted a sweatshop rock post in a while, because I haven't been in the sweatshop rocking out much lately, but I absolutely had to share this CD with y'all.

Now, I am not a huge jazz person, not that I don't like jazz, but I just don't know a lot, um anything about it.  But fear not, because I do know my ears, and my ears like this, so I am going with it.  Chances are you've heard this already, they play it in Starbucks, on bank commercials, and numerous other places, so it's definitely appealing to the masses.  Even my lovely husband, who's last musical purchase was DMX in like 1998 was digging this album when I played it for him during our Friday "date night" a few weeks back.  It was then when I let him in on the fantasy that this album conjures up quite vividly, I'll let my inner geekiness come out here, and let you in too.  Ok here it goes, please bare with me and try not to laugh at me too hard:

I am not sure of the year, but it is around the time of the Beatniks and I am dressed similarly to Audrey Hepburn's character in the movie Funny Face . Outside, my apartment, which is located in NYC looks like this (yes that is Carrie's apartment from Sex and the City).    And  inside,my floors are graced with a white shag carpet and a sofa that looks similar to this.  I am hanging out with my circle of friends, who happen to be artists, writers, and , musicians, everyone is extremely intellectual and we are having a very deep, and meaningful discussion about who knows what! In the corner of the room a jazz trio is playing. We are sipping wine, smoking very long cigarettes.

And that's pretty much it, kind of lame, yes but it's my fantasy, and although it's not really a fantasy where something happens, it's fun to think about times and places that you know you will never be right? Isn't that what makes fantasies so much fun?  When you think about it, your imagination is such a wonderful gift, it can transport you from here to anywhere whenever you want.  I can easily recall being a little girl (like kindergarten age) and being at school in the moment but also being worlds away playing with my barbies.  I would dream up scenarios that my barbies would play out when I got home.  I had the entire thing scripted,  every detail accounted for, I knew what the barbies were going to be wearing, what the premise would be, as well as the outcome, it was so much fun.  I look forward to doing that (imaginative play) with Chris, but am not sure about dressing up GI Joes.  We shall see!

A letter to a teether...

Dear teether,

I love you and I love teeth, but I hate teething, and apparently you hate it too.  What can we do? 

1. Infant Tylenol - check
2. Huge supply of teething rings in various shapes, sizes, colors, textures - check, check, check, check, and check. 
3. Bib in place for drooling - check
4. If teething rings don't work, frozen facecloths - check
5. Mommy's dose of Tylenol (because her head is ready to explode from all the whining) - check
6. Extra caffeine (not much sleep last night) - check
7. Call husband at work and through gritted teeth and yell at him for no reason - check (unfortunately)
8. Surf Internet for remedies - I'm on-line aren't I
9. Call mom 900 times - she's stopped answering the phone
10. Resolve herself to the fact that this mama needs to take a few deep breaths and suck it up and deal.  Wish me luck peeps!

A new toy!

I come from a family of "I-can-make-that's" if there is such a thing...In other words, we see something, we want it, but don't want to buy it.  I mean really, why would you buy something that you can make? I swear it's a sickness because it feeds into all of my other crafting addictions i.e. loving to buy supplies, and buying fabric, etc.  So, I got this idea after seeing this during a Babies R Us run, and then remembering this post by Anna Maria I thought, "I can make that"  of course I did, my house is a mess, I have laundry for days and a neat freak husband, but of course I thought "I can make that"

So, I went and found the cutest fabric from Repro Depot Fabrics and voila, my baby has a new toy!

I only got up to F because the block has only 6 sides, but G,H,I,J,K,L are not in any hurry - they are the patient part of the alphabet.  Alright, enough futzing around I have dishes to do!