Wordless Wednesday - Davey's Smile

a smile that makes my day - every time!

more wordless fun at 5 Minutes for Mom...

Summertime. . . and The Livin is Easy

We had the privilege of attending my husband's uncle's wedding this past Saturday. The Nerd himself was out of town on vacation (yeah, we take separate vacations - more about that in a later post. -grin-) I then was in charge in three lovely littles by myself at an outdoor wedding on a very large property. My in-laws were awesome and helped as much as they could, but it was all I could do to sneak a few photos here and there. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Beast: "I am so over this tie. and all the smiling. Can we go now?"
The Drama Queen: "Hmmm...how can I come up with a new way to ask Mom and Dad for a puppy?"

The Spud: "You got to be kidding me, right? I don't see any cheese! What am I supposed to smile about? Now if you had said, 'Say Cookie' or 'Say Mass Destruction', I would have been all over that."

The Spud managed to drink his soda out of the can on his own quite well. Well, if you don't mind several streaks down the uber cute tie and a brown puddle on the porch. (no, it's not beer, people! It's cream soda!)

The Beast paused long enough for a cute shot with the man of the hour . . . and his soda. What can I say? I knew it was going to be a tough gig - allowing the kids to have soda helped me maintain some of my sanity.

Other random facts about the day:
1) please note the Spud's adorable loafers. I found those on sale at Wally World for just $3.
2) the Drama Queen picked out her own dress because it "sorta matched Momma's." (also a great bargain for $6 at Burlington Coat Factory!)
3) the sun and crazy activity had really gotten to me, so naturally I had to stop on the way home and get a Northwest Chocolate Cherry shake with expresso from Burgerville. Have you all noticed they have started printing the nutritional information on your receipt?? My splurge of the day ended up costing me 1100 calories! (guess who didn't eat dinner that night!!)
4) a HUGE thank you to my in-laws, who despite their exhaustion too kindly took the littles off my hands for the night and brought them to church the next morning. ahh sweet no-kid time. It was glorious!

Update on Davey

Many of you have been asking if we have gotten any answers regarding our concerns with Davey yet. (initial post on these concerns here). I figured it was time for a Davey Update.

So far we have had an in-home observation session, in which a special education therapist came to our house and observed Davey in his "natural environment" while asking me a lot of questions. Surprisingly, Davey did really well with the therapist, giving her more eye contact than usual and even answering some of her questions. She did have an opportunity to see his unusual running habits and flapping of his hands. After assessing her observations and my answers to her questions, the therapist told me that he is definitely a candidate for Early Intervention Preschool(EIP). She felt that if he got into EIP now, he may get the preparation he needs to go to a regular school by kindergarten age.

Before he can start attending EIP, we have a barrage of appointments to attend in the upcoming weeks. Tomorrow he meets with the orthopedic specialist, where he will be examined to see if there are any physical reasons why he always runs on his tiptoes.
In July, we have a five-hour-long meeting with several specialists - an occupational therapist, a child psychiatrist, an educational consultant, etc. Then we will be meeting with the EIP folks for another lengthy appointment. Once we get an official diagnosis, we will be able to get him into EIP and also start getting some education for ourselves to help us learn better techniques for dealing with our Davey.

All in all, I am encouraged so far. The pediatrician had us start giving Davey melatonin at night to help him sleep better. He used to be up until midnight or later every night, and I figured he was just a night owl that liked to stay up late. Of course, dealing with him the next morning was no picnic! Melatonin has worked wonders for him! He usually falls asleep now within thirty minutes of taking the natural supplement and sleeps steadily through the night. It has greatly improved his overall behavior because he is finally getting the rest he needs.

And, we are on the path to finding more answers and helping our sweet Davey. It is looking more and more like Aspergers, but we'll see. We are trusting God that His plan is greater than ours and that whatever the outcome, Davey will be used in a special way for Him. :)

Thank you all for your prayers and supportive comments - it means so much to me. :)

Found It Friday - First Edition

I told you all I had a meme in the works, and here it is! Let me introduce you to:

I am always inspired by the things around me. Sometimes those things inspire my artwork and shop merchandise, and other times they inspire my own home decor or sewing project. I want to share my inspiration with you on my "Found It! Fridays."

Here's how it works: I will give you the source of inspiration before each Friday. It may be a specific item, a photograph, a certain color, a celebrity, etc. Then you come up with 5 things that are inspired by the source. For example, the source of inspiration might be 'magenta." You may come up with a lovely photograph of the petunias growing in your hanging planter, a fantastic dress on sale at The Gap, your current favorite lipstick, and so on.

Each Friday you will be able to come here and link up with your Found It! Friday post.

Since today is the first edition of Found It! Friday, I'll just play all by my lonesome.

The source of inspiration today? This custom set of wall letters that I recently did for a customer:

As I painted all those colorful stripes and polka dots, I was reminded of the vibrant colors of the circus. Wouldn't it be fabulous to do a kids' room in a bright, fun circus theme?

1. These bright polka-dotted branches do look fantastic in a vase, as pictured, but I imagine them fastened all around the mirror of a vanity. (branches from janejoss)

2. I love prints and have several from different artists in my home. This whimsical circus ringmaster would be adorable on the walls of a kids' bedroom or playroom. (print from inventorysupply)

3. Brighten up the room with these bold circus wall graphics! You get to pick the color, but I personally love the glorious red. (wall graphics from ellynelly)

4. I just adore the simple pinwheels and cute elephant on this quilt. It can be hung on the wall, but I would rather see my kiddos snuggled under it reading a book. (quilt from bumblebeequilting)

5. The big finale for the room would definitely be this circus elephant chandelier! The details are amazing, from the tiny painted clowns to the party hats on the elephants. (chandelier from whimsicalcollections)

Hmmm. . . suddenly I'm craving some cotton candy and circus peanuts!

Next week's source of inspiration is: Summer Picnics

Hope to have some of you play along then!

Stick a Fork In It - Making an Easy Kitchen Valance

When we first looked at this house as a possible rental, I remember staring at the kitchen counters and thinking, "Wow! those counters are pink!" Not just any pink - a Pepto Bismol sort of pink that had faded over the years. I tried and tried to make my current chili pepper kitchen theme work with those counters. It was a lost cause. I decided to embrace the pink and decorate my kitchen in a retro theme.

I remembered seeing an article in a home magazine somewhere (sorry, have no idea which one) that you could make hooks for your kitchen wall using old forks. That article was my inspiration for my new kitchen valance, along with some fabulous pink/red/white silverware fabric.

To make your own valance with fork hooks, you will need:

*fabric to match your kitchen ( I needed 2 yards for my long kitchen window)

*several old forks with pretty designs on the handles ( I bought mine at a local thrift shop for 20 cents a piece)

*thread to match the fabric

*iron

1. First, make your fork hooks. i thought I would need some kind of pliers for this task, but apparently pure arm strength was enough. I just bent the hooks in half until I liked the way they looked, making sure to keep the pretty handle design on the outside of the hook.

Here's another view of my fork hooks.

2. Then, make the valance. Measure the length of your kitchen window and add 2 inches. Decide how far down your window you want your valance to hang and then cut your piece of fabric, making sure to leave extra length for seams. Save the rest of your fabric for making ties.

Iron the seams flat on each side of the valance panel before stitching them.

3. Next, cut some of your fabric into strips. Fold them in half, ironing in place. Use a zig zag stitch to stitch all along each strip. Hand stitch each strip to the valance at the half-way point of each strip. Space the ties evenly along the top of your valance. (I used five).


4. Mount your fork hooks by placing a nail with a large head where each hook will go, hammering it in until only 1/4 inch of the nail sticks out. Simply slide the fork tines up on the nail until the hook is secure. Tie your valance to the the fork hooks, and voila! a unique and cheerful statement has been added to your kitchen!

I used more forks (even some serving forks) on my kitchen wall as towel hooks. Super easy and super cute!

Wordless Wednesday - Buddies

partners in crime during the day.
pillow pals at night.
ah brothers...

more wordless fun at 5 Minutes for Mom...

Change It is A'comin'

Posting has been a little sparse these days. I am not sure exactly why - there are dozens of posts written in my head - but somehow they never seem to make it to the blog.

Anyway, I have been thinking a lot about my blog and am making some major changes to it. As you may have noticed, I have changed the look of my blog first. Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind; so the look of my blog could change again. :)

I am no longer posting to my crafty blog The Scrappy Frog. All the tutorials there will still be available for your crafting bliss, but from now on, if I have a craft or home decor tutorial to share, it will be here on Temporary Insanity. I hope to have something crafty or artfully delicious at least once a week.

Of course, there will still be the posts about my crazy family and their daily antics. I have enough fodder from the past weekend to write several posts! I also will be focusing some posts on our journey with Davey's testing and Aspergers and Early Intervention preschool.

I am even thinking of starting my own meme! Ha, we'll see what comes to fruition, but at any rate, there are many changes coming to Temporary Insanity. Let me know what you think of the general look (so far, it's still in progress).

As for the name, it's not going anywhere. Temporary Insanity is still my plea - perhaps even more so these days...

Happy Father's Day 2010

(my favoritest people in the world at the Oregon Coast)
to My Nerd, happy fathers' day! I love you and our precious offspring.
here's to another year of awesome parenting! (raises glass of Pepsi victoriously)

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Together

my first attempt ever at a wedding cake. :)

more wordless fun at 5 Minutes for Mom...

Happy Sweet Six

Hey you handsome nerd over there! Yeah, you - the one wearing the shirt with an inside computer joke that I still don't get. So, do you remember what's coming up this weekend?

I meant besides The A-Team movie!

Yep! Six years ago you were standing at the front of a little church, waiting for me to walk up the aisle in my ridiculously huge wedding gown. You looked me in the eyes and told me you loved me and wanted to be with me for the rest of our lives. :)

Happy Anniversary, Babe! I thought about writing something witty or lovely, like a poem, for you. In the end, laziness or perhaps exhaustion or more likely extreme lack of talent prevailed. And so I present you this most appropriate poem, lifted from a much more talented and nerdier one than myself:

Like two foci of an elliptical
Your eyes entice me
Cause my cardiac muscles
To palpitate
As I estimate the distance
Between us

I’ve arrived
At the conclusion
That you’re sitting
Approximately 5 feet and 23 centimeters
Away from me
7 and one half millimeters closer
Than yesterday

As you sit there
And I calculate your potential energy
I find myself wishing
That I could change
Y= mx + b
Into y = Unext2me
You are my complementary angle

I long to whisper
That Newton’s laws
Were created just for you
Of course that’s not true
But logic doesn’t matter anymore
Because my feelings for you are growing exponentially

Like radiation, you penetrate through my skin
You watched my veins branch like fractals
While I reached for the pencil that you dropped
You listened to the logarithm my heart produced
At a near inaudible frequency
As I returned the pencil
To it’s rightful owner

Like absolute zero
All molecules within me halted
In that moment
Your centripetal force sent me spinning
And though they say opposites attract
You didn’t even utter a thank you

It figures
Seeing as the probability of you noticing me
Is exactly .41 in 10,731
But I long
To cosine my name on a love note
Addressed to you

You are the Pascal behind my triangle
And you can count on the fact

that I’ll calc-u-later

I love you, Chris, always and forever. xoxo

a Narcissistic post

Above you can see my Blogger profile pic. It's also my profile picture for my other blog and my etsy shop. I like it, but it really doesn't look like me anymore.
Below are my attempts at taking a new profile pic. Only I can't decide which one to use. It's important that I look friendly, approachable, and dependable (ha ha) especially for my shop.
Would you all indulge me a bit and tell me which pic is your favorite? Maybe that will help me make up my mind. . .

1. laughing. something apparently is super funny.

2. the classic - head tilted slightly to the side, big smile, and wide eyes

3. crazy girl. this pic really shows my bicolored eye. (my left eye is half-brown and half-blue. Because I'm cool like that!)

4. another head tilt - what is up with that? and a happy grin :)

So which one do you like? Let me know in the comments.

Pretty Please Daddy!

guess who has been asking for a dog every day? She is extremely creative - one day it is "Daddy, please please please may I have a dog?" and then "I'll just die if I don't get a dog!" and even " Momma, I'm so sad. I dreamed last night we got a dog, and then I woke up and we didn't have one."
yeah, we don't call her the Drama Queen for nothing!
(and no, we didn't give in. She just got to spend a lot of quality time with a sweet puppy named Daisy at a friend's house on Memorial Day.)

Wordless Wednesday - Bitten!

this is the wild child. getting wilder every day.
please note the lovely bite mark on his cheek.
apparently his brother has vampirish tendencies.

more wordless fun at 5 Minutes for Mom...