Another spot

I have waited 6 weeks for today. To get a spot examined. I had myself mentally prepared to walk out of the dermatologist's office this afternoon with a band-aid on my face. The result of yet another biopsy. I reassured myself that of course people will look at me, but they won't care. It's hard not to notice when someone has a bandage on their face. It's like your eyes are drawn to it somehow because it's such an odd place to see one.

My sister had just sent me photos of her latest facial mutilation. At least she can hide at home. I have to get on a train, walk through the city and work with 300 people. I could use it as a way to promote wearing spf. Maybe have a t-shirt made that reads, "You're not too young to have skin cancer. This band-aid could happen to you!"

I envisioned the scar on my face - a battle wound, if you will. The train-track scar from the melanoma on my arm is my daily reminder to lather my children in sunscreen so they're terrified to ever go out in the sun without it. Ever.

This is my third time in the same exam room in 7 months. I've become the Girl Who Cried Skin Cancer. I practically apologized for being there. But, what the hell do they care, they see me for 5 minutes and charge $120. I'm probably their favorite patient - the paranoid kind.

For six weeks, I wondered whether the spot was spreading underneath the top layer of skin. Cancer reaching across my face. I was sure every day it grew just a little bit more.

Today, I didn't walk out with a band-aid. I walked out with a prescription for a second opinion. It's nothing to worry about, she said. It's too small to even biopsy. We'd have to wait for it to get bigger. What?! Let it grow? This is supposed to be early detection. There is no such thing as "too early" detection. So, she's not concerned. Let's keep an eye on it, she says. All that for $120.

The friends again.

What do you do when your daughter's friend doesn't listen? I mean, borderline ignores you? When friends come over they are supposed to behave. In fact, they are supposed to be better behaved then they are at home, right? We have one such young friend who doesn't follow that rule. I'd like to never have her over again. I'd like my daughter to not hang around her anymore. I'm sure she's only headed for worse. With my daughter following along. Because she does that. She follows.

Then, the other daughter has a best friend, whom we adore, who doesn't want to play with her anymore. There's a threesome. And now she's left out. Three friends is always bad. One is always left out. I asked her who she played with then - she said, "I played with me." That makes me so sad.

So where do you draw the line? How involved do you get in these friend issues?

I just don't know what to say.

Can't. Stop. Laughing.
Seriously. What the hell are these? Notice the quote near the fingerless gloves. "A cure for everything but death." Yeah.
Could they have tried to make this more hideous? I mean, help a poor girl out! It's like the Snuggie but without sleeves.



Shame they're not taking orders.

Free online software!

I love finding this stuff! If you like playing with your images, or wish you had Photoshop but can't afford it, there's Sumo Paint. It's a free online imaging software that is so much like Photoshop. There's a lot to learn if you don't know Photoshop, but worth putting the time in. Check it out.

Funny Snippet: I am using my brain

Kyra has not been making the smartest decisions lately. The most recent being getting these oily crayon chips all over her carpet. I asked Kyra, you're a smart girl, why are you not using your brain? She said: I am using my brain. It's just telling me the wrong thing.

Too funny.

The babysitter dilemma

Because I don't want their day to last until 6 pm, after school care for the girls has always been a challenge. To cut their day short, we hired a babysitter to get them by 4 pm, bring them home and get their dinner started. We've had great college students help us out. Until recently.

We need someone for Tuesday and Thursday. We interviewed a retired woman in in her mid-sixties. Her flexible schedule was ideal. She talked a little too much for my liking, but I could look past that. And she called me a few too many times with questions. But she's older, I thought. It's not the same as a college student. Jeff wasn't thrilled with her and the girls didn't want an "old lady" to watch them. I thought she'd be fine. It was just two days a week after all.

Tuesday, the day she's scheduled to start, she calls and tells me she's sick. I'm not happy. I had taken time off of work to walk her through everything. I couldn't take more time on Thursday. I tell her to call me Thursday and let me know how she's feeling. She does. She feels better. But then an hour later she calls to tell me she got dizzy in the shower and has a fever. At this point, I'm pretty pissed because I also remembered that she rescheduled her first interview because she was sick. So she's going on about how sorry she is, she doesn't want this to jeopardize the job, she really wants this, she never gets sick, bla, bla, blah. I told her I'd have to talk to Jeff - I didn't have a lot of confidence that she'd be reliable. I'm sorry she's sick, but I have to look out for my needs. She called me, yet again, to let me know that she has an ear infection and she's got medicine now to clear it up. She'll be fine for Tuesday.

I had already put up another ad for babysitters, and have now lined up some interviews this weekend. I haven't made a final decision mostly because I feel bad. It could be a fluke that she's sick. But her personality is annoying me even more. I can't have someone calling me constantly. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt. But she hasn't even started yet! Oy.

Handmade projects

My first ever completed knitted project. Ella's using it as a coin purse. Kyra's got an order in. I've already started buying different yarn. I can see a new addiction forming already. I'm getting antsy to make a hat and scarf before spring gets here.

In addition to the Bear Lollipop Covers for Valentine's Day, I came across this project at Purl Bee. I thought it'd be cute for Ella to give out these heart pins to all her friends.

The project uses pinking shears on wool felt. I only had polyester felt so it didn't cut very cleanly. Or maybe my shears weren't expensive enough. Whatever. When I got to the red heart, my third attempt, I gave up on the pinking shears. I think that one turned out the best. Of course, since I have NO sewing skills I worked at a glacial pace and only got three done. So, one for Ella and one for her teacher.

And if you want inspiration to create more pretty things, check out inchmark which I found on Purl Bee. The author used to work for Martha Stewart Living magazine.

People

This is neat. Look for the subtleties.

Not that I would, but I could.

I could have grabbed a cop's gun this morning on my way in to work. He's lucky I wasn't some drugged out, angry, murderous lunatic...at least not this morning. I mean, I hadn't had my caffeine yet. He happened to walk in front of me, within arms reach, chatting on his cell phone. Distracted. Which is not a good thing when you're a COP and you have a LOADED WEAPON on you. I walked past him and thought, if I wanted to, I could grab his gun right now. I was that close and his gun hand was on his phone. It's interesting when you see the crossroads in your life, isn't it?

Two days doesn't cut it

A two day weekend doesn't even come close to giving me enough time to do what I want to get done. I mean seriously, between errands, decluttering, laundry, general household maintenance, entertaining/feeding the kids and exercise, where's the time for relaxing. Where's the DOWN time? You know, that thing you're supposed to do so you're refreshed when you go back in for another straight five days of work.

Of course, you never factor in the curve ball. The sick child. (And I just want to give props to Ella because she is the best sick kid EVER. As soon as she feels not-so-good she gets in the bathroom. She doesn't cry. She doesn't complain. She just deals with it. It's crazy. We've always joked that she's a CIA agent in the making. She's like steel. After one visit to the bathroom, she had the shakes, which I pointed out. And to which she replied flatly, "I know.") This girl is tough.This happened on Saturday. SaturDAY. Not Friday night starting 30 minutes after I fall asleep and lasting until 7 am. This was a daytime sickness, and for that (and only that) I'm thankful. Of course a daytime sickness is extra torturous for the sick child because the not-sick-child is still having a good 0l' time playing with her play doh.

Plus, to make things worse for poor Ella, we were all supposed to go see James and the Giant Peach at the Arden Theatre. So that had to be postponed until tomorrow morning. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. And, because I am vehemently opposed to store-bought, TV character-based Valentines, I insist on handmaking Valentines. Today, the sick day, was that day. Cute lollipop covers found at Oriental Trading. Precut and prestitched felt bear shapes come with all the pieces.

Only glueing and tying is necessary. A perfect job for the non-sick-kid or the having-a-moment-where-she-may-not-vomit-kid. Or the mom-who-must-get-it-done-in-time-for-the-class- party.

Here are the really cute lollipops.

And here is the non-sick-kid who is a really good gluer.
How cute is this? Sooooooo beats the crappy Princess Valentines and SpongeBob propaganda from the drugstore, right?

Made with love.

Don't despair if you lose your camera.

This story sparked this website. It's nice to be nice, isn't it?

Get in a photobooth!

Most people I know, including myself, love jumping in a random photobooth and having a little fun. But what do you do with the finished product? They usually end up on the fridge, corners bent and folded. Well, someone with more creativity and time then me had a fabulous idea.

I've been bookmarking all my favorite Etsy shops because the creativity is so inspiring. And, I recently came across Freckled Nest. This adorable girl sells handmade albums of varying sizes. Check this out!

I love this! Now even more reason to jump in a photobooth. She also has a blog and tons of other fun things she makes herself. Plus, she just looks so happy and cute. You can't help but stop in every now and then to see what she's up to.

The wallet

And here is my first knitted project...

It's supposed to be a "wallet", but it's really not complete. I didn't sew on the button or close up the sides yet. Mostly because I'm going to unravel the entire thing and start again. I started with too many stitches so it's all off. But, there it is!

Oh, and here is me knitting. I am never in photos because I'm the only one who takes the pictures. But when my loving, adoring husband sees an opportunity to embarass me (I was cold, put the blanket around my shoulders and now I look like a little old lady with shawl, knitting), he grabs the camera. And, no, it's not in focus.