The Queen's Rambles

Thanks everyone, for the Land’s End recommendations. I didn’t buy anything from Land’s End, but I came very close. Ha!

Actually, when Erik was a toddler we got a hand-me-down Lands End jacket and that thing was the bomb. I just saw it on a kid last week (at least the fifth toddler to wear it!) and it’s still going strong. At the time I thought Land’s End must be the bo-shizzle (I have no idea what that means or why I am talking like this), so I bought some other things from there and they were all really crappy. Seams falling apart, material on boots flaking after one wear, etc. I found out the super-jacket was from Pre-Sears days and all my crappy purchases were Post-Sears. Sooooooo. . . I’m a little scared to buy stuff from Land’s End. It sounds like you guys all have positive experiences with Lands End, though?

However, it reminded me of LL Bean (and someone else mentioned LL Bean) so I’ve been waffling on spending a hundred bucks on a new jacket. They have the EXACT thing I was thinking of–fleece with an internal wind resistant layer!–but that’s a lot of money to spend in my “buy nothing new” month.

I just checked the jacket again and it’s on sale! Only $45! I bought it. They only had one color in my size, which I am not very fond of (a purple with pinkish tones) but if it keeps me warm I’ll learn to deal with it.

New topic: We did an art project that Erik actually enjoyed, today. Amazing! He normally hates art, but this one captured his interest. Each year Camp Fire hosts an art competition with a different theme. This year is print making. To get your badge you have to learn about the process as well as submit a piece of art. This is the reason we toured the money factory last week.

I’ve been trying to come up with a project that was a little more fun than cutting an apple in half and making prints. I finally read enough about printmaking to feel confident in letting him go to town. My bonus child was here, so I let her have fun too. She always makes Erik enjoy things more. She’s a very happy, fun child. She’s also a middle child so she knows how to be a mediator and go with the flow–much needed in our household!

The art project turned out to be pretty simple once we got started. I bought some washable block ink (should have just used paint), a roller and some foam sheets. The kids used Erik’s three styluses (styli?) from his DS to draw designs in the foam sheets. Then they rolled the ink on a cookie tray to really cover the roller, then inked the foam sheet to cover the design. Then we pressed the foam onto paper and they had a pretty reverse-picture! I bought some nice quality paper for the art competition, but we did most of our prints on butcher paper to test them out. They each made several and Erik said it was the most fun art thing he’s ever done. I was very surprised by the easy clean-up. I’ll try to post some pictures later.

Next topic: My house smells so bad. I notice it most when I am sitting in my living room chair, which makes me wonder if my neighbors left some trash in their house before they left on their month long trip to Pakistan. I can’t figure out what else it could be. We cleaned the crab tank, cleaned the house, put clementines down the garbage disposal. I really hope they didn’t leave trash out. We don’t need a cockroach infestation. We live in townhouses, so what one neighbor does effects the whole row, unfortunetly.