Making Things

How many times have we visited craft stores in the past five days? Three. Three times in five days. This weather has been keeping our play indoors more, and in my absent-minded way, I forget if we have run out of hot glue sticks or embroidery floss. Nathan shares my fetish for good paper. We were so inspired and reassured by little hut's and glittergood's tutorials for mini books that we made several over the past few days. Then we had to run to the craft store for new paper trimmer blades. I used a basic setter and a hammer to punch holes since wielding an awl around two "helping" youngsters didn't seem like a good idea. (I don't even know if we have an awl.) After watching the process, Peter said that my next project will be replacing our old kitchen floor; he was mighty relieved to find that I was using a protective mat.

This morning the temperature was seven degrees. It rose slightly in the afternoon, but the "breeze" made it absolutely painful to be outside. In the early evening, inspired by little hut's recycling craft idea, we also twirled strips of old magazines and glued them onto paper. I love so many of these craft blogs which feature talented women who are generous in sharing their creative (and often inexpensive) children's projects, and Nathan and Maya like them too!

Ever enthusiastic Nathan said: " Look, Maya, these are cool to look at from the side too!"

My sweet, little girl with the sniffles said: "Uh huh." She liked dipping the twirls in glue, and inadvertently untwirled a couple of them, creating her "twist" on the project. (I know, I know...but it's getting late and I'm very tired.)

Nathan sweetly puts up with his often-tired and always busy mommy. He is old enough to understand that I am in school and that when I'm on the computer at night or on the weekends, I am working...which means that he must wait a bit to look up Pokemon on the internet. The gestation period for this dissertation has taken a long time, and it will be great when it is completed...one of these days. Tonight I just finished making a little stuffie in Nathan's favorite colors and added a mop of hair from yarn that he picked out...at the craft store. When he wakes up, this fleece stuffie will be waiting to hang out with him, and then I will make a sister toy tomorrow too. But tonight, I need to look at a chapter draft.