Shopping, Creativity and Other Boredom Avoidances

Well, I've been on the hunt for material for curtains as our house has 27 (or more perhaps) windows and I never love the window coverings I see in stores (or if I do, I really can't afford them). Low and behold, my local fabric store is having an off the hook sale and I found this fabric that I actually love (I never thought I'd choose this butterscotch color!) on clearance. So, to cover 6 large windows in our living room, everything cost around $75. Not bad, right? At least for this quality of curtains. Also, I purchased some patterns and teal polka dotted material (yep, you read that right) for some summer peasant blouses. We'll see how well I can sew! I haven't seen anyone much lately as our house has been suffering from colds and I'm the last to get it. Every night I am up coughing and every morning I sort of feel like a train hit me. Then it fades until evening. So here I am now, feeling pretty good and highly caffeinated.

Jude's first birthday party is on Saturday. Being the social butterfly I am, I would normally invite everyone and their brother, but because our house is in shambles and I until I feel like people wouldn't be scared off, Jude will just have family over. Still, it's turning out to be 16+ people. I will be making a breakfast casserole, sticky buns, bagels/cream cheese, mom's fruit salad and cupcakes. It's at 10 a.m. and I love breakfast food! I still can't believe my sweet baby is turning 1! I think part of the reason I don't want to cut his hair or stop nursing is because I don't want to see that transition to a little boy quite yet, as he may just be our last. Sigh.

On a different note, I allowed myself some time to make birthday cards this morning. I had to make 7 for the next few weeks, so I did them all at once. If I could make a living creating pretty cards, I would. It's so incredibly therapeutic, until I remember that people probably throw them away.

Here's a question: can anyone recommend a good point and shoot camera? I'm thinking of a Canon Powershot. I am selling my old point and shoot on eBay and hoping to get something smaller for my purse and for taking short movies on. I have my Nikon SLR (which I love and let me pause to throw a shout-out to Nikons in general - they are amazing cameras) but I can't really throw that thing in my purse. It requires it's own huge bag.

I watched the movie "August Rush" and loved it. Randomly, my friend Katie and her husband have been hanging out the last couple of weekends with one of the stars of that movie, Jonathon Rhys Meyers, because Katie's husband is training him while he films a movie in their town. Fun, huh?

Anyway - here are some pictures.

Curtain fabric.

Two of the cards I made this morning - I love Basic Grey paper.
This is the reason I had children.

Here's a pretty good representation of what Jude has been like lately - mostly naked from drooling or pooping on his clothes, fresh out of the bath and tugging at something irritably.