poppydawn

i can pick out the "grandma's flower garden" pattern quilt behind you. what a wonderful gift! i have a couple quilts my grandmother made from my dad's old shirts when he was little. she was a seamstress, so all the scraps worked their way into her quilts.

My granny was a professional seamstress, too. She's almost 82 and still does some quilting. Last year she found some quilt tops made by my great-granny, who died in 1980, and finished them. I got two of them - one made from old feedsacks and another that looks like it might have come from Pottery Barn circa 2007. It's our bedspread.

No better than I quilt, I've saved a lot of Clara Jane's baby clothes to make a quilt. It'll probably be a plain ol' patchwork, since that's all I can do. I just know how much I love looking at the quilt with all my old baby clothes, and how many memories it brings. I've got boxes of old clothes and my granny's fabric scrap hand-me-downs, waiting for me to actually learn to sew and do something with them.

What she said.

If I carried them around with me, I would lose them in about 12 seconds.

I had someonethreated to call me in for showing my kids Duck Soup (the old Marx Brothers movie)!

Like a little anarchy is a bad thing...

For Duck Soup? Someone needs to lighten the hell up.

I'm purposefully raising my kid to question authority and rules. The only problem with this plan is my husband and I get to be the training ground for her budding anarchism. It just doesn't work to say, "You need to question what people tell you, Clara Jane. Except for me. Just do what I say."

She used to go to a daycare at a Methodist church in a really conservative area. There were a few occasions when I pulled into the parking lot with my windows down, listening to my usual choices of music without thinking about it. And yet, I was always surprised by the somewhat-mortified looks I got from some of the other moms. I guess everyone's supposed to listen to nothing but The Wiggles once her cervix has dialated beyond a certain point.

My dad thinks it's hilarious.

Because it is!

We took Clara Jan to see Santa tonight. It was the first year where she's really been into it and wasn't afraid of him. Santa barely got a word in edgewise. She rattled off a litany of stuff she wants, took a great photo, and, at the end when Santa gave her a candy cane, announced, "I love candy canes. I get these when I pee and poop on the potty.* The first time I pooped in the potty, it was soooooooo great!"

*Yes, I bribe her with candy to get her to use the damn toilet.

I think Santa might have had a stroke, he was laughing so hard. The thing is, she flat-out lied to him! This kid acts like snakes will devour her butt if she poops in the potty!

I don't embarrass easily, but I sort of melted into a hot puddle of shame. Giggling shame, but shame nonetheless.

I screwed up the cabling on the first pair I knit, but I decided they worked well on me. They go about 1/3 of the way to my elbow. I also used a tweed yarn (heh ... I just typed Tweedy). It sort of obscures the cables, but overall I like the effect:

If you look over my left shoulder, you'll notice a quilt my granny made with the scraps from all the clothes she made for me when I was a kid.

The blister pack? Hilarious! The dead deer? Sounds like something my uncles would do.

No outstanding Santa stories here, but I'm hoping to have one by the end of the week. Belleville has the Santa House, which is just about the cutest thing ever. They always have the best, most realistic Santa. For the past three weeks my friends and I have tried to get together to take our kids, because we have this wild fantasy of getting a picture of all of our kids (six of 'em, ages almost-4 to 10 months with most of them landing in the Terrible Twos range) with Santa at the same time. Apparently, the universe knows this is ridiculously impossible. Every time we've scheduled, at least half of our group has gotten sick. One of them even had the gall (ahem) to land in the hospital for five days with a gall bladder attack on the evening we had planned to go.

Santa really doesn't want to deal with this motley crew. I can't say I blame him. We're going to try a sneak attack this weekend.

I'm planning to get to Nashville a day early so I can do the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Add me to the bad moms, since my daughter loves G. Love, too.

I get one from each show I attend. If I bought all the ones I liked, I wouldn't have enough wall space.

With the upcoming tour, one of the reasons why I chose the show at the Ryman was because of the chance of getting a Wilco show print from Hatch Show Prints.

My favorite:

I really love the one from this year's KC show, but I can't find it online.

I just sent this to a friend of mine who has three seats in row E.

My three-year-old digs Neko Case, too.

I got my ipod shortly after she turned two, and I have an ongoing playlist of non-kid songs that she's liked. We've been building this playlist for nearly two years and she still loves it. It's got Neko, White Stripes, Wilco (here she is

I get such a kick out of seeing her respond to music, beyond the usual kid music dreck. We crank up Underground Garage on Sirius on a regular basis and dance around the house.

I've gotta admit, I'm glad she's over Amy Winehouse. I spent last spring getting dirty looks whenever we were in public and she'd bust out singing "Rehab".

Balcony, second level, John side, row M at the Ryman.

Just glad to be going and glad that's over.

No luck again. Ah well. Saturday it is.

I'm just excited for the chance to see them in such hallowed ground.

Nada here, too. Oh well. I'll get 'em on Friday.

trying to be a voice of reason, while not panicking myself,

kevin

Same here. I'm rolling my eyes at the panic while my own palms are sweating.

I probably won't get my Ryman tickets for being a a self-righteous hypocrite.

OMFG!!! I think I'm gonna pass out!!! I got...

 

 

FRONT ROW TICKETS!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This thread is making me thirsty.

I did not vote for Debbie Harry.

 

Gorgeous, but was never my cup of tea.

Perhaps you prefer a homely girl?

Debbie all the way, even if she does look like Hillary Clinton these days.

I've always wanted to see a show at the Ryman, and I can't get my head wrapped around going to Chicago, Cleveland, or Des Moines in February or March, so Nashville it is! It'll also give me the chance to hit the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Not that I've ruled out any of the other possibilities.

Go! Have fun! I can't offer any regional advice, but I'll second the coolness of people at Wilco shows. Go alone, and you're likely to make new friends.

You'll have a blast. Promise!

Update: this woman made the most fantastic knitting bag and assorted little bags to go along with it, for my mom's gift! I'm thrilled with it!

You should be thrilled - that's awesome! I don't know any knitter who wouldn't do backflips over that bag. I'm wishing I'd asked Santa for one.

 

If I say naughty words in front of my three year old, her response is "Mom! That's not nice! That's a mean word!"

This makes me very happy.

That's what Clara Jane does, too. Except she'll say, "Mom, don't say 'shit'." Or whatever inappropriate word I've used. I'm not sure where she learned what words I shouldn't be saying. Not from me, obviously.

Today, we were at Target, and she was talking about eating marshmallows. As we rounded a corner she announced, "I love to eat marshmallows. I love when they come in my mouth." There was an older woman who looked like she might have a heart attack. I wanted to tell her, "That's not what she meant!", but it seemed pointless. Besides, I didn't want to draw attention to what was said so that Clara Jane would latch onto it. I just said, "Yep, it's fun to eat marshmallows."

Between the winter residency, new tour dates, and Jeff's solo benefit show, I'm completely overwhelmed. Too much at once. Can't decide what to do. Probably won't do a damn thing at this point.

Got Ye Olde Tivo set to record the festivities. Can't wait!

I had my first Wii experience this weekend. I injured myself twice - drew blood once. My shoulder still hurts and my three-year-old was better at it than me. Most fun ever! We'll be purchasing one this spring.