Wednesday's video post - Elvis Pigsley

Service Swine - a local potbellied pig making people happy.




Here's the print story: Man's best friend may be a pig by John Craig

I'm not just posting this because that's me petting the pig on the library stairs. I also think it's a nice break to think about something other than the economy and the candidates. This pig does not care about lipstick - are there any pigs that do?

Happy Wednesday!

A Day in the Community, Bunnies and a Baby update

Depending on who you talk to I am either into my 14th week or 13th week. The nurses base everything on their little wheel of conception which is based on a 28 day cycle. My cycle is longer, more like 30 or 31 days and they also base it on the size of the baby. During our last ultrasound they were expecting 10 week fetus and what they saw was more like a 9 week fetus. Anyway, at this point no one seems too concerned about which week I am in except me. I am learning that being pregnant is not something you have any control over.

here's a before (4 weeks along) and now photo (me on the right is either 12 or 13 weeks) I think the belly is mostly food but the body has changed :)



Trying to live within the wheat, sugar, dairy, nut, sesame, tomato, pepper, pineapple, blueberry free diet is simply not working for this kid. This kid is sick of the 'free' diet and is fervently demanding real cheese, any form is acceptable but mac & cheese, grilled cheese and cheese burgers are the preferred vehicles. We wouldn't pass up a cheese pizza, lasagna or enchiladas either and I'm sure you'll agree that most things can be enhanced by sour cream.

Maybe this whole cheese thing isn't about the baby but it's a really good excuse!



I ate this bowl of mac & cheese in about 10 minutes. This after coming home from work early because I felt incredibly nauseous. I was feeling very ill, I tried to take a nap but the box of mac & cheese in the pantry was calling to me - then I took a nap.




I think that I could ramble on about food for while. I haven't been doing much cooking because all the things I want to make I can't eat and my appetite for other stuff is not great. Richard has had to take over doing most of the cooking. Actually he's had to take over doing a lot of things which leads me to my next pregnancy topic - fatigue.

As the weeks role by my energy level seems to be getting better but not better in the way that means I don't need a nap at 3 in the afternoon. Not better in the way that I can clean the house or do all the laundry. I can clean a room and do some laundry. I wonder how mothers of more than one child ever did it. How did they function? This is what I am currently referring to as the evolution of motherhood. You start out thinking all these things and having certain expectations about you, the world, your baby and your body and gradually, as you evolve into another person physically and mentally and before the world it all strips away until you are a Mother. I know I may not be making much sense, there seems to be so many things to contemplate and yet nothing to do. I think this will be an ongoing conversation.

Now that I just got done telling you about how I can't get anything done - I did manage to sell some bunnies to Mockingbird, a new baby shop on Garland St. here in Spokane.

Photos of Mockingbird are courtesy of Megan




And I had a table at Fresh Abundance's very first 2nd Saturday - A Sustainable Market.
I brought everything I had and some fabric scraps. I shared a table with Beth who makes cool felted hair pins, Lisa who makes a styling cycling cap and Maddie who makes incredible drawings.

It was a long day. I ended up selling about 1/3 of what I brought, which I am pretty happy about. I got to spend the day with Richard who came to help pedals2people with their last free tune-up of the year and to be my errand boy, as usual.

Almost all the cool people were there (I'm sure there were a few who couldn't make it). I saw Laura and Mike and Megan and her Mom. Of course Liza, John, Beth, Maddie, Mike, Jeff, Lisa, Ken, Siobhann and all the P2P gang make every event cool and totally worth being at.

Here are some shots of the table and bike tune-ups (more on my flickr page)

Craft a Party

So, beside the whole getting pregnant thing, which I would totally settle for if it was the only new thing that happened this summer, I have also been lucky enough to make some new friends in the past few months. If you know me you know that I sometimes tend to burrow. I don't naturally seek social engagements even though I usually enjoy being out once I've forced myself to leave the house. Thankfully, Richard is less content to stay in so he has been a good influence and encourages me to get out more.

Anyway, when I met Beth, who could be a UN Ambassador and possibly finally achieve world peace, and Liza, who makes me go " I hope Liza is there" every time I think about going out to some event, I just couldn't pass up the invitation to craft with them. A craft party! I thought those were just a fairytale. Apparently, people can and do actually get together and make stuff. Well, the intention is to create, if you end up making one cut or stitch on your project that counts. So what if you spent the rest of the time eating cake and talking about summer dresses, if you do it while sitting beside your sewing machine then you're totally crafting.

During the first party we washed and cut old bike tubes. This was to prepare them for various uses like small wallets and hair elastics. Some of the more ambitious project ideas for bike tube rubber are rubber dresses, pants and larger bags but an industrial sewing machine is must in those cases and we didn't have one so we stuck to small hand stitched items.





Liza concentrating on her stitches


This wallet was made by Beth.


A word of advice – make time for a show that involves one hilarious woman and a cat.



The second craft party happened about a month later. I had been interviewed by Megan, another crafty Mama, for a story about selling on Etsy. During the conversation I mentioned Beth's upcoming party and invited her to join us. Turns out that everyone else invited one or two other people and Beth's house was transformed into a craft compound. Beading on the coffee table, felting and knitting in the arm chair, crochet and jewelry making on the dinning room table, sewing and embroidery in the den and more bike tube creations on the floor.





Beth








Megan did take me up on my invitation but she came as a journalist for the new Spokane Metro magazine. She wrote a lovely little piece about the party and I hope that next time she comes to craft.



To read the article, see the full size version of this scan on my flickr page or pick up a copy of the magazine, in stores now.


So,what have I learned? Leaving the house equals meeting new and amazing people equals getting included in craft themed events equals totally awesome!

PS. If you're local please join me and all the crafty ladies and gents this Saturday at 2nd Saturday! I also hear that the Main St. businesses are having a street fair on Sept 13 as well. Two really good reasons to leave the house.

What am I waiting for?

This photo was taken about 3 months ago. It's the celebration of a completed patio but there's something else to this celebration and, at the time, we didn't even know it.



In this photo I am 2 weeks pregnant and drinking a gin and tonic!

It's been an interesting 3 months of secrets and worry, illness and fatigue, joy and indescribable disbelief! I have been so excited about sharing this news here. Yes, telling my family was fun and exciting too but there's something about the blog - is that bad?

This all started with me switching to a new acupuncturist, one who specializes in fertility. I went to her for 2 months. She was working on the egg for month 3 and so were we when surprise! Egg 2 or as we like to refer to it, the rebel egg, made the long and treacherous journey to victory and here we are - expecting.
I still can't really believe it and even as my body is changing and reminding me every day that something is happening I'm just this side of thinking it's a dream. Although, the 4 straight weeks of diarrhea isn't really something I would characterize as a dream a dream it is.

I am excited to hear from you. I am excited to have this news out in the wide open world. I'm excited that something like this can happen to me and Richard. We had many doubts and moments of despair. If this is familiar to you, I hope that our story will renew your faith and hope. I hope that anyone who reads this will understand how much we appreciate this opportunity and how lucky and blessed we know we are.

I guess the inevitable is that this blog will now have a slant, a distinctive motherly tone. Although I don't feel like much of a mother - yet. I feel like a gestating entity, a carrier of two beating hearts. I feel like I want to rush the process and yet stay forever in every moment because it will never be back again. I feel silly that all this is so wondrous and new especially when everyone on the planet came by the same exact process. But, thankfully, not through me so it's all new and weird and truly is wondrous.

So here we go on another journey. I hope that there will be lots to talk about and new things to share along the way. Oh the crafting possibilities! For all you veteran Mamas and Papas out there I hope you find my rambling on about the growing belly or my need for cheese and sugar not too boring.

Just a note to those of you who know my mother, and I'm sure she's reading this too, we have plans to spill the beans on a local level at her gathering on Saturday. The information is out here but do you really want to spoil the surprise?

Until next time - xoxoxo
Klay and Richard.

Sustainable Happiness

Wow - it's September! I will be back to blogging in full force in the next couple of days, there's just so much I want to talk about, but for now I wanted to share these little toys that I've been making all weekend. They're meant for a local shop but if she doesn't want them or only wants some then I'll post the rest in my Etsy shop.



All these bunnies are made from either vintage or recycled or natural fabrics like linen and muslin. They are all filled with either 100% Bamboo filling or 100% Corn filling both of which are, surprisingly, available at Joann. I also made some of them with an old sugar sack which makes for some neat graphic elements.