Empty House
Ah, family.
As I mentioned earlier, I spent the weekend hosting one set of in-laws - my fiance's older brother, his wife, and two children, ages 5 and 2. I'll call them the Jetsons (second favorite cartoon family, after the Simpsons, but before the Flintstones).
In the six years we've been together, it's the first time the George and Jane have made the nearly nine hour drive to visit us, a heroic feat with two young children. The Hotness and I were very grateful; our work schedules are a train wreck right now, so we wouldn't have been able to spare the time to drive out to see them until November.
I spent a good portion of the weekend nomming chubby cheeks and elbows, and making myself scarce when the little one's diaper started to stink.
As an aside, I love toddlers, but I cannot abide babies. I fear babies. I am baby-phobic. When I attend baby showers, I bring gifts, but prefer to see the baby from across the room, and I won't hold it for ANY reason.
Babies smell nice, and they're cute, but no matter how rugged they really are, to my eyes, they're these fragile little glass creatures, and if I touch them, I might break them. Everyone assures me that when I have my own, I'll feel differently. In turn, I assure them that when I'm certain that I can train a baby to use the litterbox, I'll start having babies.
That's always good for a blank stare.
I'm kidding about the litterbox (mostly) - in reality, I'm really looking forward to having at least one child - The Hotness is a stellar uncle, and he'll make a really wonderful dad. Plus, then I'll be a mommy blogger, which I think will be a lot of fun! Or will at least lead to more interesting posts than this one.
Anyway, to thank them for making the trip, The Hotness and I planned a number of fun activities, not the least of which was catching the live-action Sesame Street show. The kids enjoyed it a great deal, and the rest of us enjoyed seeing the kids happy. And the mini-donuts. And the thickly veiled adult humor.
We considered taking the kids to the Zoo, but the temperature reached a near-record high, so we decided not to bother. The Zoo here isn't really a big, magical place like some zoos. They're more of a wildlife preserve with large fenced-in areas, so there are a lot of ungulates (deer, caribou, bison, antelope, moose, etc) but not much else. They do, however, have a really excellent gopher exhibit. I kid you not. A gopher exhibit, in the prairies.
Ah well. Now that my house is empty, it's back to sewing. I've cut out the muslin for the big dress, and will be starting assembly soon, but I'm having a heck of a time finding gold lace for the reception dress. I was hoping to find something that already had a bit of sparkle, because I'd really rather not do all that sequin application if I can avoid it. And I'm not too keen on spending $130.00 for pre-beaded lace - I want to do some of the work myself. I just want something with a bit of metallic thread. Any ideas?
As I mentioned earlier, I spent the weekend hosting one set of in-laws - my fiance's older brother, his wife, and two children, ages 5 and 2. I'll call them the Jetsons (second favorite cartoon family, after the Simpsons, but before the Flintstones).
In the six years we've been together, it's the first time the George and Jane have made the nearly nine hour drive to visit us, a heroic feat with two young children. The Hotness and I were very grateful; our work schedules are a train wreck right now, so we wouldn't have been able to spare the time to drive out to see them until November.
I spent a good portion of the weekend nomming chubby cheeks and elbows, and making myself scarce when the little one's diaper started to stink.
As an aside, I love toddlers, but I cannot abide babies. I fear babies. I am baby-phobic. When I attend baby showers, I bring gifts, but prefer to see the baby from across the room, and I won't hold it for ANY reason.
Babies smell nice, and they're cute, but no matter how rugged they really are, to my eyes, they're these fragile little glass creatures, and if I touch them, I might break them. Everyone assures me that when I have my own, I'll feel differently. In turn, I assure them that when I'm certain that I can train a baby to use the litterbox, I'll start having babies.
That's always good for a blank stare.
I'm kidding about the litterbox (mostly) - in reality, I'm really looking forward to having at least one child - The Hotness is a stellar uncle, and he'll make a really wonderful dad. Plus, then I'll be a mommy blogger, which I think will be a lot of fun! Or will at least lead to more interesting posts than this one.
Anyway, to thank them for making the trip, The Hotness and I planned a number of fun activities, not the least of which was catching the live-action Sesame Street show. The kids enjoyed it a great deal, and the rest of us enjoyed seeing the kids happy. And the mini-donuts. And the thickly veiled adult humor.
We considered taking the kids to the Zoo, but the temperature reached a near-record high, so we decided not to bother. The Zoo here isn't really a big, magical place like some zoos. They're more of a wildlife preserve with large fenced-in areas, so there are a lot of ungulates (deer, caribou, bison, antelope, moose, etc) but not much else. They do, however, have a really excellent gopher exhibit. I kid you not. A gopher exhibit, in the prairies.
Ah well. Now that my house is empty, it's back to sewing. I've cut out the muslin for the big dress, and will be starting assembly soon, but I'm having a heck of a time finding gold lace for the reception dress. I was hoping to find something that already had a bit of sparkle, because I'd really rather not do all that sequin application if I can avoid it. And I'm not too keen on spending $130.00 for pre-beaded lace - I want to do some of the work myself. I just want something with a bit of metallic thread. Any ideas?
Labels: family
I'm not big on beads, so I can't help there. You can find lace with metallic threads, if you look hard enough. And congrats on surviving the relatives; that can be stressful itself!
I am not sure about the lace, but I did want to comment that you are the only blog I have read in recent memory to use the word "ungulates" so you get a gold star!
1. I'm the same way about babies. The only one I ever wanted to hold was my own. Babies freak me out.
2. Have you considered checking out resale shops and cannibalizing lace from old dresses? I just bought an awesome old wedding dress for 40 bucks that I think I'll be cannibalizing for something else: http://i-obsess.typepad.com/did_you_buy_that_new/2008/08/its-not-dumb.html
Not sure if that link will work. I suck at html.