Ms. Crafty Pants and the boy's B-day

So the boy turned one last week, and we had a big ol' birthday bash for him. As previously reported, I spent way too much time on the fun decorating stuff, and probably not enough time on the, oh, cleaning and cooking part of it. Thank goodness the Ma was there to help out, especially with me and my broke-ass right arm.

And what does a little boy's first birthday need most of all?

That's right. Rum, tequila*, and twinkie sushi. The Big Bucket o' Margarita Mix was purchased mainly because it made me laugh at the grocery store. I mean, how can you pass up something that says "New! With Dispens-arita Spout!" on the label. I love that shit. Dispens-arita! Ole! And it wasn't half bad.

The twinkie sushi? Again, something that made me laugh. Of course if you follow the link above, you will also find the version with swedish fish and powdered donuts, which I am kind of glad I didn't see before the party, because I would have had to make those, too.

What else does a little boy's first birthday need?

Tentative cake eating, of course.

And here's my home-made birthday banner, which came out great. I absolutely love this font, Jokerman in Apple Works. Like my color scheme? I did wind up wearing a lime green t-shirt. As did my mother. Oh yeah, dork-o-rama.

Finally, back and front shots of the little monster himself. I made the t-shirt with iron on transfer. It has his name and a number 1 on the back, and a picture of a monster on the front (copied from the invitation by ME into the computer. Ah the magic of computer handdrawing) that says "It's my first birthday, GIVE ME CAKE!!" I know. You are ready to puke from the cuteness. You gotta admit, he looks like a little monster, especially in this shot.

All in all, a successful celebration.

(We're going to ignore the very sad "non-recording video camera during cake eating" incident.)

*edited to add: okay, the hubby wanted me to clarify that the margaritas were for the adults, not for the birthday boy. yes, he really did. I just made the assumption that you'd figure that out. But you know about assumptions. They make an "ass" out of "u" and "umption".**

**not mine. quote from "The Long Kiss Goodnight"

New Identity! (kind of....)

I finally came up with a new name for my internet self! Now, you will probably think I'm crazy, but I have seriously been searching for a name for years. Nothing seemed appropriate, either too cutesie or too trendy, or not "me" enough. Turns out the answer is closer than I ever thought. I was playing around with my name, first and last and what it would be if I had taken a married name, and came up with "Saralude". I like it. Reminds me of both "Interlude" and "Sarabande", both somewhat musical terms. I think it sounds like a Debussy piano piece.

Of course, I am sure someone will write in and tell me it actually means "dungheap" in Mandarin, or reminds them of "ludefisk" or "quelude". At which point I shall go have a long cry in a corner.

(Still typing with the splint on, so this post will not be long. Have developed a kind of combined typing style, where the left hand does the correct typing thing, and the broke-ass right hand does a hunt-and-peck. Not terribly efficient.)

The Blues Continues...

...with my poor arm. Yep, I screwed up my wrist good and proper. Not broken, but nearly. Last night I did one of those banana-peel pratfalls where your feet fly up higher than your head, before you land flat on your back. Or, in my case, my right arm. And now, after a three hour long visit to urgent care (ugh) I am not allowed to use my arm for a week. Lovely. This of course means no picking up of the boy, no diapering the boy, no dressing of the boy. And no knitting.

Yikes.

Broken Toe Blues

Is it possible to break your toe by stubbing it on the coffee table? I think probably. I have been hobbling around for four days on a black and blue pinky toe. Stupid phone. Why do we have phones? I wonder how many accidents happen in the home because somebody's running for the phone.

I thought I should update my blog. Not that I have anything to say. I have been planning the boy's first birthday party, although "planning" is probably not quite the word. What I have mostly been doing is printing out cute invitations, making banners, and creating a first birthday t-shirt for the boy. NONE of this is actually necessary. But you know me. Ms. Crafty Pants. I also managed to clean up and organize the office. This has, annoyingly enough, not made the rest of the house clean and organized. I was hoping for a kind of domino effect, where the clean vibes emanating from the office would cause dust bunnies to implode and dirty laundry to become clean, folded, and put away, all without the touch of my hands. Somehow, it didn't happen.

Oh! and I bought party supplies. That's planning, right? I've got this lovely purple and lime green scheme, based on the monster invites, and I went a little crazy. Everything will be purple and lime green. I will probably even wear my lime green t-shirt or sweater (depending on the weather) just to cement my complete dorkitude.

In knitting news? I have been working, and working, and working on an accent pillow for my bedroom. The problem? It's this really pretty latvian braid technique that involves a lot of untwisting of hopelessly twisted-together yarns, and goes REALLY SLOWLY. R E A L L Y S L O O O O O W L Y. I had big plans when I started, "Oh, I'll make some pillows for the living room, and the boy's room, and some curtain edgings, and some dishtowels! The whole house will be filled with Latvian Braid!" Uh huh. Now, I will be lucky if this one accent pillow makes it to completion.

But hey, maybe the completion vibes will cause the rest of my knitting projects to knit themselves while I sleep.

My love affair with Emmett

I don't know how to say this, so I guess I'll just come right out with it. I'm in love with an otter. Well, two otters, actually. And a porcupine. And some weasels, ferrets, badgers, foxes, bullfrogs, squirrels, and two rather frightening rabbits. I refer here, of course, to the amazing Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas, the Jim Henson extravaganza. We used to watch this little tv movie every year when I was a child, and I remembered the song "When the river meets the sea" until I became an adult, because I loved it so much. And guess what. The movie is just as sweet and endearing and full of fantastic music as I remembered it being. Watched it last night on dvd, and just about cried. Absolutely lovely.

And that's not even mentioning the amazing dvd extras, all of which were worth the price times 100. The making of doc is funny and full of interviews with everybody from puppet makers to songwriters (one, Paul Williams) to vocal talent. And the Outtakes! Oh my god! I have not laughed that hard in a long time. To watch Ma Otter say "Sweet Jesus!" and little Emmett ask for spare change to buy his Ma some Ripple, well, words cannot capture the sheer madness of it. I am in love with Frank Oz. And how much does it suck that Jim Henson died. The man was a genius of the highest order.

I definitely need to get every Jim Henson project on dvd. If they are even half as entertaining and informative as this one, they're worth it.

All right, I've said my piece. Go, go and watch Emmett Otter. You won't be sorry.