more adventures in art

This morning Joshua and his class had their art project. All the kids jumped into the project and it was interesting how every child's poppies are different. Here is Josh's painting and it came out very nice. I like how his flowers are different and he used colors. I can see us doing this more at home.

art appreciation

Yesterday was Adventures in Art for Tyler's class and I agreed to help. We learned about Emil Nolde and his use of watercolors in Expressionism. The class was to do their own version of Red Poppies which was easy and fun to do. It looked like so much fun that I want to try it.

So today, Sherri and I along with Amber went to Joann's to get an idea of the cost. I found all the supplies which I can purchase separately when I saw a Chinese Brush kit which basically uses the same things but in a handy kit for only $19.99. Sherri and I oohed and awed over it but we were good and didn't buy it. I can come back later and use my 40% off coupon. :)

Tomorrow Josh's class will get to paint Red Poppies so I get to help twice. It will be nice to see how the two will turn out. Each child has their own individual style.

Click here for more Emil Nolde.

aka

Last night at the Kings/Detroit game Hector went up to our pseudo-brother JJ aka Carlos. They shared a laugh and posed for a picture.

circus act 2

Tyler is pretty good at balancing the feather so we bought one as a souvenir.

more circus fun

Ok, I'm really behind...but here is more fun stuff from our circus night.

First we have hula hoops....

good efforts by both

storm trooper

here is Josh posing with his soccer team banner. How cool is that? All the kids love it so much that each member can have the banner for a week to display.

Coming out of the shell

Lately I noticed Joshua speaking out more and initiating conversations. Tyler is a blabber mouth while Joshua tends to chime in. Joshua is now starting the conversations at school etc which makes me happy. Now I have to force myself to really listen for his voice because Josh now has something to say (not just repeating what Tyler says).

I helped out in Josh's class today and I paint the kids' hands with green paint to make handprints. Two years ago, I would have had a screaming, semi-hysterical boy that refused to touch paint, playdoh or shaving cream. Today he was perfect and cooperative.

Josh also got to lead the class in the pledge of allegiance so that was super cute to watch.

We pulled out the Halloween costumes to make sure everything is good and Josh is so excited to be Speed Racer. I can predict he will want to wear that costume everyday after Halloween.

phone/iPod cozy

Okay, I'm a geek. I forgot to show another little knit item that I whipped up. Not only did I felt it, I felted it. ;) That was for Hector (inside joke).

See, here it is before I felt it. Yes, I know my phone is upside down but I wanted to show scale. It looks like the whole photo is upside down. Doh! well, you get the idea.

But after it's felted up, it's perfect!

I found the pattern on ravelry.com which is so wonderful and helpful. There are so many talented people that come up with patterns for whatever you want to knit. I just knit because I'm kinda lame in the designing category. It's amazing what the internet can do...

BTW She-ra loves it!

Here is Josh doing his circus act. This footage is from the first night we attended. We later went again the next week so I'll post those videos another time.

Not much planned for the weekend. We went to Koji (Korean bbq) for dinner tonight and I am stuffed. Tyler did well by eating 4 green beans. Yay. We celebrated Hector getting paid. I'll cook for the rest of the week. Curry sounds good.

The LA Kings played St Louis tonight and they blew them out 4-0. Yay again.

finishing touches

I finished the felted purses a while ago, but just finished knitting the flower today. Here it is all put together. It is a small purse probably more suited for a your girl or someone who doesn't need to haul a lot. I would not be able to use a purse like this for every day.
Here Josh is showing the scale of the purse. Don't worry, he won't be scarred or traumatized byt this. He has already forgotten.

See his masculinity is still intact. He put his Mach 5 down in order to hold the purse so I could get the one shot then he took off with his 'precious' race car.

new stuff

Okay, some new stuff to show and tell. Tyler got a new skateboard. I had ordered the skateboard through a wholesale place and 2 weeks passed, no skateboard. I called and emailed the company several times and no reply. I called the credit card company and they are suspended the payment. That same day I place an order for the same skateboard through the official company. It cost me a bit more (like $15-20) but I received it the next day. BAM.

Tyler is very happy with it and riding it around the cul de sac & park.

I finished a toddler hat. Very bright blue with a bright green trim. On Wednesdays, I watch A for 90 minutes while Sherri helps out at the school. I needed a model and she is such a cutie. Of course we had to try out some action shots and she didn't need any encouragement to launch herself off our sofa.

We had lots of fun taking lots of pictures. Never mind that the weather is in the 80's.

ugh

Ugh I think I'm getting a cold. There is a nasty virus going around in Josh's class. Yesterday there were 4 kids out sick so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and praying that we can avoid it. Yeah, the flu/cold season is among us.

Mad World

My iPod was on random on our drive home from Cucamonga and this came on. While I have a fondness for this version, I really love the original version by Tears For Fears. So here are both which feature dancing. One has stuffies and break dancing while the original is brooding and angst-ridden.

Click for the original Mad World.

It turns out that there are a few versions including this one....all so different yet beautiful.

Finished

Here is a fun and easy project. Take some 100% wool (hand wash only), use big needles and knit a purse. When it is done, you think ugh that is a huge misshaped thing. But you throw this in a mesh bag or tied off pillowcase, put the washing machine (yes, that's right), set it on HOT with an old pair of jeans or towels and let it go. I set the washer for the longer setting and check the purse every 5 minutes. When the purse is the desired size, squeeze excess water out and blot out more water in a towel. Shape purse and let dry. And here is the finished purse. Big difference, huh? There are tons of books and websites that talk about felting which is fun for me once in a while.

I made a baby sweater from my friend who lives in the San Jose area. Here it is. The pattern said you can slip buttons through the stitches but that didn't seem right so I just added a clasp.

Now I will knit a little something for J so they will be toasty and warm this winter.

Evil Twin Brother

I swear we see this guy a lot who looks like he has season tickets to the Kings. We call him "Carlos". Well, you decide.

Uncanny. We need to bring Carlos to meet "Carlos". Would that blow their minds? The world might just come to an end.

In other people news, who wears this kinda outfit to a hockey game? Apparently this woman wanted to make a statement in her mini dress. She's showing a lot of skin, doncha think? She lasted to the third period before putting on a jacket. And no one was with her. Hmmm.

Besides that the Kings-Ducks game was awesome mostly because the Kings won 6-3. Lots of fights and action so it was all very entertaining.

Bargain

Here are the Sorels that Hector for an unbelievable price. The pricetag says compare at $60 but I've never seen them priced that low regularly. Either way it's a sweet deal. ;)

Soccer Dose

I'm being such a bad blogger lately but I update more than most (I think). So I'm trying to make up for lost time but where I begin?

How about some pictures?

The team is really working well together and they won 6-1.

weekend roundup

Yet another busy weekend at Chez Cheese...the highlights are:

1. I finished a pair of scrunchie handwarmers for my cousin Hannah. I can't show them yet because she wants to wait and see them in person. :) I will say that I used the same yarn as mine (Noro Kureyon sock) but a different colorway. Reds, blues, greens etc....they look faboo.
2. A fun, fun time at Circus Vargas Friday night; the kids and I especially loved it. I never had been to such a fun circus. I've been to Barnum and Bailey when I was about 8 or so but its usually held in a big arena with 3 rings of activities and we sat farther back since we couldn't afford the good seats. Circus Vargas has only one ring and we sat about 15 ft from the ring. Its a very good show for the price ($15/kid & $25/adult) and it lasted about 2 hours with a 15 minute intermission. Tyler even exclaimed that this was the MOST INCREDIBLE SHOW he's even seen!! Pretty big words from a 9 year old boy. I'm thinking of taking the kids again with my mom since she's always wanted to take the kids to the circus.
3. Hector helped out at our elementary school for their School Beautification Day. Parents and kids can come and do minor repairs, paint, weed and general maintenance to better the school. Hector helped replace lots of hooks for the kids to hang their backpacks. We try to help as much as we can and its fun to be involved.
4. Another soccer game for Josh and his team won 6-1. Josh didn't score a goal but he plays and runs hard so good effort from him and the rest of the team.
5. Tonight is the LA Kings season opener so hopefully the team can make it work. Tonight we are also trying out a new babysitter. It gets harder and harder for my mom so we hope this babysitter can pick up the slack when my mom doesn't feel so well.
6. On Saturday night I went with Kat and Heather to the Long Beach artwalk. It was a cold and windy night so that might have made a difference in the crowd plus it was very small. People were selling their artwork and crafts but I didn't see anything that leapt out at me. Lots of artists used skulls as a theme which was interesting. We didn't stay too long and as we reached the car, loud music came from a nearby parking lot. Kat says wow, they're really cool so we drive over one block and sure enough the band is playing in the parking lot in front of a bookstore that was closing. We got our and managed to catch the last 1 1/2 song before they finished. They are called Arrow Down and you can check them out on myspace.

So that's it for now...

for your enjoyment

I happened to see this Sarah Palin debate flowchart at http://www.adennak.com/blog/wordpress/ so I had to share it with you. Have a nice weekend.

oooh this looks great

I've heard about this so now I want to read the book. Anyone else know of this? I must be terribly behind the times.

relief

Finally a break in the weather after 2 very hot miserable days. I swear it was hotter on those 2 days than it was all summer. Anyway, Hector will be working at Baldwin Park in a month so yay for a steady paycheck.

I felted some knit items and I'll be posting pics later. The bags came out cute and so did the little bowl. Yes, I made a bowl out of yarn! I am knitting another purse in the meantime. I try to knit several items so I can throw them all together in the washing machine. I already completed a Blackberry cozy with neck strap that hopefully will work out for She-ra. I used an iPod cozy pattern with a flap then added a knitted cord.

Hector delivered some firewood so my fireburning sessions will start as soon as the weather gets cooler. He got some really nice eucalyptus wood and my woodshed & bin are filled to the brim. :)

Today I helped on in Josh's K class and somehow I always ended up dousing myself with various craft items. One time it was glitter, then paint and today was ink. It's kinda fun.

Oh and get this...Hector went to Marshall's for some work related clothing and came back with an awesome find. A pair of black Caribou Sorels size 11 for....are you ready? $22. Yeah, that's right only $22. I couldn't believe it. They normally run about $120. He has the most awesome luck sometimes. I better make sure that he has both a right and left boot. :)

thrills

I forgot to mention that at Saturday's game, my little Josh scored his very first goal! It was thrilling. There was a chance of rain so I decided to bring the video camera instead. I was filming the game from one end of the field when he scored but it happened so fast that I didn't actually see it. I was hoping that I caught it on camera but when I reviewed it, the footage of Josh scoring was shaky so you really can't tell. Boooo on me. I need to work on that. But Josh was super excited and thrilled.

On the some other news, I've been bitten by the travel bug. I saw Samantha Brown's Passport to Europe show on the Travel Channel about Zurich, Switzerland. Uh-oh, it looked so lovely and adorable that it immediately goes on my list of places to go. My friend Kat and I are working a trip to Canada so I don't want to reveal too much since nothing is finalized. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will all work out.

success

Here my darling hubby is wearing his socks. Don't they look great?

He went off to visit a friend and pick up some slammin godmother sandwiches. I hope the deli is still open...it's in Santa Monica.

anyway, I've been knitting like a fool. I finished the doggie sweater for the Rottie mix Bobbi and it turned out more like a horse blanket. I'm heading over there tomorrow so maybe I can get a good picture of her wearing it. I'm using recycled yarn from a sweater that I deconstructed so I have tons of gray wool to play with. I've finished a purse and a catchall bowl that needs to be felted. That means I purposely put wool that is supposed to be handwashed into the washing machine on HOT and let it go. The agitation and heat will felt the fibers together so that the stitched will not be visible. I'm going to finish up one more purse then throw them all in the washer together to save time and water. More on that later...

here is how they look before felting so stay tuned.....

willpower

I cracked ...I wasn't supposed to buy anything except essentials & food and I was doing really well for the last 3 weeks. I bought Tyler a skateboard. His cheap $10 skateboard was not cutting it and he learned as much as he can on it. The basics like standing on it and riding it. I got what I paid for because that skateboard needs to be pushed every couple feet so more time is spent pushing than actual riding. I think he needs to go to the next step and that means a better quality skateboard.

I did a little research and found this brand recommended. Powell is a well known company in the skateboarding world and they created the Golden Dragon for beginners. Plus how cool are dragons? Totally. I read some favorable reviews and Tyler picked out the graphics. So I broke down because I'm a softie (sometimes). I'll call it a belated birthday present. So sorry to Hector for straying but it's back to the straight and narrow for me. :)

Goals Of The Day

1. Stay as cool as possible.
2. Play Rockband or Guitar Hero with Kathy today.
3. Stay as cool as possible.

Hopefully these will happen.