The kids started school today. Clark will be going off to Kinder in a half hour or so. He’s at a friend’s house this morning. Liv is at the Junior High. Veronica is in 5th grade (that’s so weird), and Abby is home because the 8th and 9th graders don’t start ’til tomorrow so the “Sevies” can have a day to themselves to get the lay of the land.

This morning, I showed Abby how to curl her hair (she has layers now) and then we went to the mall to look at eyeliner and mascara as she’s starting to care about things like that. So off to the Clinique counter at Macy’s we went. The eye pencil I use is this one, and I love it ’cause it’s soft and smooth and easy to put on. That seemed like a good characteristic for Abby’s first eyeliner.

My old one is True Khaki, but some of the other colors look neat. She came away with Roast Coffee, which is a much darker, richer brown than the website shows and it makes her blue eyes really stand out. Hard to see in a photo, but here you go.

Abby’s lashes are so thick and black, that the mascara doesn’t really make much difference, other than looking more “finished” with the eyeliner. The lady at Macy’s said to only put mascara on the tips of her lashes, to definitely NOT go all the way down to her eyelid. Wouldn’t that be nice?!

I bought Violet eyeliner, however I’d love to go back and try some others. Like Navy. We also went to the Body Shop to get her some of my favorite makeup remover.

Abby looked sooooo pretty with a little eyeliner, mascara and a light lip gloss. Not “made up” at all. It was really fun doing the girl thing at the mall with her.

My good friend in CA has invented something cool for babies.

Check out this baby bath!

We’re wrapping up the summer with a bang! A couple camping trips is all, but it should be really fun. The kids are anxious after a laid back summer to get to school and rub shoulders with their friends on a daily basis again. And Clark is going into Kindergarten!!! Wow! If anyone is still actually reading my blog, I know it’s been less than exciting the last couple of years, you probably remember seeing the cute little baby pictures when he was born 5+ years ago.

I’m of two minds about school starting up. The quiet time will be nice, but it’s also been nice having them around and having no schedule to keep. My goal in September with what free time I end up with (half-day kinder seriously cuts into having a big block of time to work with) is to get my 9 latest songs recorded and sent off for copyright. Then, I’d like to write some new stuff. It’s been a few months at least and I’m ready for some fresh new material to play around with.

Well, if you’re me, you bake 24 loaves of bread!

I think I’ve put about 25 pounds of wheat through the grinder today, but I didn’t use it all. I grind every other bread baking day. So there’s a big Rubbermaid container of fresh flour in the fridge (about 12 loaves worth) for next time. So I’ve got 16 loaves of whole wheat for us, 4 for my friend and neighbor, and by huge request, 4 loaves of raisin cinnamon bread for morning toast.

We’re probably having french toast for dinner. I’m not feeling up to much more than that at this point. (Hmmm, I wonder how raisin cinnamon french toast would be?)

As much as I don’t feel like cooking anymore today, I found what looks to be a great biryani recipe online and I’m dying to try it, with some of this on the side. Maybe tomorrow.

I’m trying to think of what has happened since I checked in last…..

The kids are out of school. Max is really growing up. He’s understanding more and communicating more. He’s really stinking cute. Still not sleeping through the night… I’m convinced that the sleep lost between him and Clark is going to cost me a few years of life expectancy.

I’ve never caught the full version on film, but this is a little taste of what he looks like when he’s really irritated.

And it cracks me up. His eyebrows are quite animated.

Liv graduated 6th grade today.

Yay, Liv!

…as defined by the school’s break schedule more than the weather, for sure.

I spent the weekend up at Warm Beach with Liv and her 6th grade class. We had a very pleasant overnighter and I got a sunburn. In the 2 hours or so of actual sun that we had. Go figure.

The campfire

The climbing wall

Down time

Liv’s been a busy bee. Here she is at the track meet finals

Playing Demetrius in Midsummer Night’s Dream

And at the final orchestra concert of the year

Here’s Abby looking stunning, if not a smidge blurry at her band concert

Veronica had a birthday. She’s 10 now, tho’ still a wee little bug.

Clark graduated from preschool.

(And yes, they actually played Pomp and Circumstance. Nate and I couldn’t stop laughing, which was probably not particularly polite). His tassel is hanging on the rearview mirror of my car.

Nate won the Fluevog ad contest! THANK YOU to all who voted for him!

Max is driving me completely insane. He eats almost nothing but formula, and of the foods he used to eat that he’s still willing to put in his mouth, he’ll just chew on for awhile before spitting it out on the floor in gooey little pieces.

And he broke my 100 watt amp. He twisted the input jack off and I had to take it all apart to fix it.

It’s a low end Marshall, so it didn’t really want to be unscrewed, but more than that, it didn’t want to be screwed back together again. What a nightmare.

So that’s about it I guess. I’m still working on music in whatever spare time I can find. I’m working on lead guitar again, and am getting pretty good at soloing and moving through scales and modes, cliches, 6ths and 3rds. I’m very proud of myself.

I’ve also been working out for 2 1/2 months, 6 days a week and I’m eating really, really well. Much smaller portions, no sugar or cheese, lots of raw vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, 3+quarts of water a day….

I can do pushups! And I hate them! But I started out barely being able to do 1 at the beginning of April, and now I do 15, the rest of my floor exercises, then another 10-15. Yeah, I’m a rockstar. I do the strengthening stuff 3 days a week and 45 minutes of elliptical the other 3 days. My resting heartrate is down to 53 and I feel great, have energy, skin looks amazing blah blah blah. Now if only my PANTS WOULD FIT BETTER!!!!!

But I’m not bitter.

Oh yeah, I’m totally bitter.

We are very excited that Nate has made the top 4 in Fluevog’s worldwide ad competition!!!

Congratulations, Nate!

Now it’s up to internet voters to decide the winner, and he’s neck and neck with the competition. My internet sleuth friend, Carol discovered that the person that knocked him out of 1st place has posted to a large forum for votes.

This is a 5 day competition and each person/IP address can vote once per day. If you’d like to help out, please vote for him everyday! From home and work! Tell your friends (if they won’t be annoyed)!

Vote Here

Thanks!

Just busy busy.

Nate, Sam and I went to a small club in Seattle to see KT Tunstall on Wednesday night. She was solo. I prefer her with the band, but it was still really cool. Aside from the drunk ladies that decided to get into a screaming/pushing fight to the left of me.

(I’m, what, 4 sentences into the blog and I’ve had to get up 5 times to separate fighting boys. Sigh).

I haven’t spent much time in bars. Or any time in bars, really, so I haven’t seen stuff like that. Alcohol isn’t pretty. 2 tall women in their 20s gaining up on a short lady in her 60s and pushing her around, spilling drinks everywhere… I had to catch her a few times so she wouldn’t fall down before the bouncers arrived. What up with that?

But KT is great.

I’m still working on my music as I have opportunity. Which is like, 2 minutes here (with interruptions) and 3 minutes there (with more interruptions), but I really enjoy it (minus the interruptions). It’s satisfying. KT has online tutorials where she shows you how to play some of her songs. They’re really great and I’ve learned a bit more about rhythm guitar.

Then I stumbled across a band called The Living End on YouTube a few weeks ago and wow. I’m totally in love with them. Three masterful musicians and fantastic music, though a different style for me. It’s rekindled my desire to play lead and now I want to do it rockabilly style, which makes Nate incredibly happy. He loves Brian Setzer.

Ugh. Max is screaming. Again. I’ll be back after I make him a waffle.

In other news, I’m back on the horse and am having some success with exercise and watching what I eat. I feel great and have a ton of energy, so that’s something.

I can’t knit at all without my elbows revolting. So I spent some time making batts for the shop instead.

Nate is still looking for new graphic design clients. He re-did his website and it’s really cool. Check it out if you want and spread the word. He’s also doing something fun called Art Patrol. The link will get you to the webpage and explain the details, but he’s asking for submissions of ugly design. Anything that anyone sees anywhere. Take home menus, fliers, postcards, websites… anything. Take a picture of it or send a scan or file or URL to him and he’ll choose one submission a day, work on it for one hour and make it pretty. Then he posts the before and after. It’s neat.

On Saturday, Nate took the kids on their annual romp to “Free Comic Book Day” and they came home with piles and piles of comic books.

That’s all I can think of that’s happening right now. Just a whole lot of busy.

Clark is 5

Abby’s 13

Olivia’s 12

The girls all got haircuts, but Veronica’s was dramatic enough to get a cool picture

Story time

And here’s Max with Abby’s bird

There’s a brief catch-up in pictures. We’ve been busy. I have no idea why the picture quality is so poor, I’m not doing anything differently. Maybe it’s WordPress?

I’m carding batts and playing around with product photography today. This is my first try, and the color is pretty good.

I need to get another daylight bulb so I can get some pictures that aren’t so Film Noir. But they’re cool, anyway. Nate designed the card, and I love it!

So, major, major score yesterday. I’ve needed a case for my pedalboard for almost a year now, and there isn’t much in the way of “pedalboard cases” on the market. Sooo I looked on Craigslist and saw a set of old Samsonite suitcases, full sized and briefcase style (so without interior upholstery), less than 10 minutes from my house for $15. They’re PERFECT! The bigger one is housing my board right now, and the smaller one, which is also big, has been Clark’s favorite toy today. He’s loaded, unloaded, reloaded, and hauled that thing all over the house, all day. And he’s trying every angle he can think of to-

1. lay exclusive claim to the suitcase
2. get me to hand over the key

neither of which are going to happen.