• Six Years

    Yesterday my first baby turned six. Joe and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage this July, and this guy has been a part of our family much longer now than he hasn’t. Yesterday when I commented that it was his sixth birthday, he corrected me that it was actually his seventh if you count the day he was born. That’s my oldest, always seeking accurate facts and never shy about correcting an adult. His current favorites are math, transformers, wii,…

  • Clay and poop

    A note flashed up on the screen saying I had a request for a custom order on Etsy. I sighed and determined that I probably could do the order but really didn’t want to do that many ornaments on top of an ornament class. I walked out to the garage and rolled out a small slab of white clay and cut two stars. The requested word just barely fit with my Stymie Light 36pt vintage letterpress. As I began to…

  • School Jitters

    Every couple weeks or so, I get the school jitters. Last night it came of the tail of showing up early in the carpool line as a special treat (usually I roll up just as the line starts moving), waiting 30 minutes for my kindergartener and then getting spoken to with an attitude that I’m sure he never gives his teacher or any of the school staff. My child is sweet and smart and I know after being on his…

  • A family hike at Umstead and discussion of shoes and health

    After visiting Umstead on Friday morning, I was determined that we would go as a family the next morning. As I was browsing Umstead’s Facebook page, “Photos of my friends at William B. Umstead State Park” was at the head of the wall feed, and I saw a lovely spot. I posted a comment asking for the location, and a sister of another friend told me the trail and how far the hike would be. It’s so very odd the…

  • Gardens and Friendships and Really Long Metaphors

    I used to really have fun with analogies and expounding on a metaphor. Due to my high level of enjoyment of nature, and using nature for examples, and due to the fact that nature can be icky, for awhile some friends called me “slightly gross analogy girl.” I was okay with it. So I’m going to metaphorize here in this little web space that rarely gets tended to anymore. Lately I’ve been thinking on friendship. It seems that even when…

  • My Kid Broke My Face

    I think my kid broke my face. Maybe. On Wednesday, we were goofing off, and my kindergartner flung his hard-as-a-bowling-ball head into my nose. I heard a pop or a crack and immediately started bawling – big, ugly cry with tears pouring down. Until they saw the tears, the boys thought I was laughing hysterically and were laughing themselves. Then they saw my tears and were very concerned. I wept, “You aren’t careful with me!” I sent them to their…