The Crankypants Blog Experiment

NaBloPoMo = EPIC FAIL!

2009-11-11T15:46:00.001-05:00

Yeah. That posting every day thing didn't work out for me.

Sickies. Again.

2009-11-07T21:09:00.003-05:00

Well, after recovering from a horrible case of strep and mistakenly getting the live flu vaccine (don't ask), Henry has been hit by the sickies again. Poor kid can't catch a break. He has some weird side effect from the strep that is pretty much like a giant hive-y allergic reaction. From his face to his toes. It isn't contagious at all but the poor thing looks like he should be in quarantine. The best part? It could take up to 6 weeks to go away. Hooray.

Make Up.

2009-11-06T22:02:00.002-05:00

What a busy day. And I'm ready for bed. I think this calls for bullet points.

* The meeting with Randy Jones from Home Depot couldn't have gone better. He made no promises but sounded confident that they could help us with making the playground a possibility. We'll know more in a few weeks, but until then I will be happy and optimistic!

* My folks are here! We stuffed our faces at Nona Mia and enjoyed each others' company. I am so happy to have them close by and am really looking forward to the weekend of gorgeous weather ahead! Tomorrow we are going to hit the West End Bakery, tae kwon do and the City Market for some local goodness. Also...

* I have heat! That means that this weekend marks moving day! I am going to start moving some furniture out to the studio tomorrow afternoon and hope to be totally moved in by the end of the week! I still need a couch. Thrifting will be in full effect very shortly.

* I am going to bed.

Aw, Man!

2009-11-06T06:43:00.003-05:00

I already messed up my NaBloPoMo! I meant to post as soon as I opened up my mail yesterday and then promptly forgot.

I wanted to post about how awesome Mabel's Labels is! I met their rep at the Type A Mom Conference, filled out a little sample form and then forgot all about it. I got a sweet little package yesterday filled with Mabel-y goodness! There were 3 different sized labels with Henry's name on them along with 2 personalized dog tag style name tags for his backpack and... something else.
.

These are perfect for us because there is another Henry (Hank) in Henry's class and they get each others' stuff all the time. I can't wait to take them for a test drive!

I will try to post again later in the day to make up for yesterday's slack. It shouldn't be hard to find something to write about. This morning we are meeting with a higher up in the Home Depot chain to look at the space we want to expand the playground into and "see what they can do to help". After that I am putting together a playground forum so we can get this thing BUILT! It's pajama day at school and Henry is rocking his flannel Crankypants Sea Monkey lounge set. And... my folks are coming into town!!! WaHooooooooo!

Inside Joke.

2009-11-04T17:58:00.002-05:00

I am surprised by how completely and utterly tickled I am that Henry and I have our own little inside joke. It is short and simple and truly reflects out geeky nature.

Henry: I drew on the car in the wet. [referring to the dew on the windshield in the morning] I wrote H + A = love. Like Henry is H and Amy is A. And we equal love.

Me: I saw that! Awwwww....

Henry: If you saw me write it, why did it take you so long to say "awwwwwww". Why didn't you say it right away.

Me: Well, when I saw you writing it I thought you were going to write "H + A = HA!"

Henry: [laughs hysterically for about 700 hours] And next time I'm going to write "A + H = AH!" [laughs for another 700 hours]

Now I have to make him a heart shaped pillow with "H + A = HA" on it for Christmas.

I love having a kid who thinks language is fun. I love having a kid whose favorite shows are Wheel of Fortune. I love having a kid that thought the best part of Bunnicula was when Chester the cat tried to stab Bunnicula with a 'steak' instead of a 'stake' and yells "HOMOPHONE" every time here hears one. I love having a kid that will try out big words and awkward phrases over and over until he figures out how they work. Love, indeed.

Bean.

2009-11-03T08:29:00.006-05:00

Yesterday when I was out trying to get some photos of a pair of longies I am stocking with Venus Vanguard on Thursday (more on that later) Henry decided that it would be fun to come out and stick his hand and/or foot in front of the camera each time I clicked the button. Finally I just gave him a shove in front of the camera and told him to dance or something if he was so anxious to have his picture taken.

Now the pictures I meant to take:

These medium sized organic "Berries and Chocolate" Monster Booty longies are stocking at the Venus Vanguard's Munchies themed stocking this Thursday night at 8EST along with a bunch of other delicious goodies!

Dias de los Muertos

2009-11-02T12:09:00.003-05:00

Yesterday Henry and I went on down to Short Street Cakes and painted sugar skulls for Los Dias de los Muertos. Henry ate a triple chocolate ganache cupcake bigger than his head while I thought about my Memere and painted a sugar skull in her honor and put her picture up on the altar. If you are in Asheville, the celebration is still going on until the end of the day, so stop by and paint a skull, have some cake and blow my Memere a kiss.

Hello November!

2009-11-01T07:04:00.003-05:00

November is an action packed month here at Crankypants World HQ! We have the yearly festivities of my birthday, my bestie's birthday, my mom's birthday and my folks' anniversary and Thanksgiving! This year I am also doing NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) which means I am going to try to update the blog every single day for 30 days. If anyone wants to join me let me know! If there is a little bunch of us I will start a blog roll over there on the sidebar.

There should be plenty for me to blog about, too. We'll be installing an interior door and finishing up the trim on the studio which means that November is move in month! Henry is doing his first Tae Kwon Do belt testing to move up to a white/yellow belt. My folks are coming to visit this week!!!

The first event of November, however, starts this morning. Get your custom requests in, Crankyphiles, between 10am and noon EST! Don't forget that you were supposed to turn your clocks back last night! If you don't snag a custom through the monthly lottery, three auctions will run starting tomorrow morning in the HC shop. I am also hoping to have a couple of special new things up for grabs, so keep checking back!

Happy November!

Bye Bye October!

2009-11-01T05:51:00.004-05:00

I have no idea where you went, but whooosh, there you go!

No one could say that October wasn't eventful. The studio is *thisclose* to being ready for me to move into it. We finally got heat yesterday and I hope to be in by the end of the week. I will be scouring the local thrift scene trying to find some pieces of furniture so I don't have to completely pillage the office.

We also survived a revolving door of ickiness, the worst being the strep that knocked Henry out of commission for almost a week.

And, of course, Halloween! Henry went back and forth about what he wanted to be, but when he caught sight of the giant sword that went with the ninja outfit he was sold. When I saw that I wouldn't have to sped 2 weeks making a costume only to have him change his mind at the last minute and want to be a pirate using dress up clothes we had lying around, I was sold as well. Bring on the ninja sword.

In West Asheville, the place to be on Halloween is Vermont Ave. They go crazy with graveyards, ghosties galore, movie screens and anything else you can imagine. We have friends who live there who spend hundreds on candy each year. It was a little rainy and chilly last night, but it still looked straight out of a movie with the yellow leaves falling and kids running all over the super decorated lawns. We did a quick loop and finished just as the rain picked up. As we were hopping out of the car in the driveway we heard a gasp from the back seat. While finishing up the first piece of Halloween candy of the year, Henry lost his first tooth!

I think he saw a ghost. Or his mother told him to stop sqinching his eyes to I could get a decent shot. One or the other. He is having a blast putting juice box straws through the little hole and whatnot. I made him a monster-y tooth pillow and he woke up to three whole dollar bills tucked into its little monster heart this morning. At 5:30. *yawn*

Friday night I did wear a little costume to the Blog Asheville social media party "Spookyblogapaloozananny", held in the Phil Mechanic studio down in the River Arts District. Unfortunately, I was a little too 'clever' for my own good and no one knew what the heck was going on. I was up for Best Craft Blog, so I wanted to do a play on how I am made of craftiness. I sewed a zipper into my shirt with a false back. I unzipped the zipper and had gobs of yarn pouring out. On top of all of my yarn entrails, I made 2 small pillows- one shaped like a < and one shaped like a 3 (the 2 keystrokes that you use to make a heart shape on Facebook and Twitter). I skewered them together on a set of bamboo double pointed needles. It was meant to be like someone zipped open my chest and I was stuffed with yarn and this little pillow "heart" was being ripped out. I thought I was being soooooo clever using the keystrokes instead of an actual heart, since it was a social media event and surely everyone would get it and chuckle. Um...no. I got a couple of "what's going on there?"s and a "why do you have a yarn vagina on your chest". Costume FAIL!!! The good news is that I did indeed win Best Craft Blog, so thanks to all who voted for me! If I can track down some pictures I will surely post them.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween and are enjoying a nice balanced candy breakfast. Mmmmm...Snickers at 7am...

Hannah's Rockin' Tattoo Longies

2009-10-28T13:58:00.001-04:00

Jennifer's Joshua Tree

2009-10-28T13:54:00.002-04:00

Monster Tees!

2009-10-21T13:43:00.002-04:00

All of these little Monster Tees are going to stock in the HC shop at 12:30EST on Friday. There will be a pink thermal, red thermal, white tee, black tee and white cap sleeve tee all in size 2 and one lonely little cap sleeve in a size 4. I think I will also stock a few semi custom slots so people can pick their own colors and shirt styles. Come on over and take a peek!

Autumn with iCrave

2009-10-20T12:47:00.003-04:00

These little size small (Waist/Rise: 16", Inseam: 8") will be stocked as I guest with the wonderfully crafty mamas of iCrave on Friday the 23rd at noon EST.

Kim

2009-10-20T12:46:00.001-04:00

Katy

2009-10-20T12:45:00.000-04:00

List.

2009-10-08T09:11:00.005-04:00

Ever since school started I have been living by The List, capital T, capital L. As I look down at my typing fingers I can see signs of my last week. Blisters. Primer. Blue Paint. White Paint. Yarn threads stuck in my broken fingernail.

We are in the midst of the last push to finish the studio. not finish finish, but move in finish. I don't think I'll have stairs to the loft for another 2 years and the closet may never have a door, but I'm cool with that. It is painted, the trim is painted and waiting to be hung and the flooring is in the back of my van. The electrician is coming tomorrow to put in the fixtures, which I haven't even shopped for yet. Gah. Oh, and if you ever need drywall finishing work done in Asheville- email me. The guys I found were awesome and reasonable. We hung all the drywall ourselves but couldn't manage the mudding and taping. These guys came in before and after another job so they could bust it out for me. They were here until 9 one night so it would dry in time for them to sand it down the next day. Yeah-they were awesome.

School is back in full swing, and first grade is proving much different than Kindergarten. There is homework and PET lab and lots of assessing. Henry had decided that he needs to impress his new teacher with his mad reading skillz, meaning he reads so fast at his assessments that he can't remember anything he read. He has told her that he only reads non-fiction. Goofball. He baffled her by writing Korean words meaning "thank you for the lesson" from taekwondo on a writing assignment. Goof. Ball.

Oh, and knitting.

TONIGHT! Venus Vanguard is doing an Urban Legends stocking. 8pm EST. I am stocking a pair of Sock Monkey longies (18" waist/rise, 12" inseam) and some seconds.

I will also be stocking with iCrave later this month. I haven't gotten that down yet, but I know there will be monster shirts involved. Stay tuned...

October Customs!

2009-10-01T12:37:00.002-04:00

I am only taking 2 lottery customs this month because I am going to be guesting with iCrave mid-month and am still woefully behind. I am blaming my tardiness on my hand injury, but really it is because the studio building is a total time suck and I made a mistake on a September custom resulting in a do over. A 12" inseam do over. Yikes! You'll notice that I am only doing 2 custom auctions this month as well. I am trying to keep it light this month so I can make sure everything that needs to get done on time... does. If I end up ahead of the game I will be able to make some extra cool stuff for next month! WooHoo! Anyway, without further ado, the October customs peeps are:

Rikki M.
Hannah R-D.

Auctions have been staying fairly low lately so you might grab a good deal on one here. Check it out.

Cricket Anyone?

2009-09-30T12:10:00.002-04:00

My Child Australia

2009-09-28T09:42:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Ailin at My Child Magazine Australia for the super sweet Crankypants write up on the My Child Magazine Australia's MyStyle blog and feature on the My Child Magazine Australia homepage!

I follow the My Child Mag Australia's Facebook feed and think they are awesome and fun, so I'm psyched that they wanted to feature us!

Wienerschnitzel

2009-09-25T15:03:00.003-04:00

That is what my right pointer finger currently looks like. I've actually never seen a wienerschnitzel, but you get the gist. Yesterday Kyle and I were working on drywall in the studio. I couldn't fit a ladder in a tight spot and thought to myself "Self, you are so clever. You can climb up onto the top of that giant row of drywall [horizontally stored against the wall I needed to screw drywall onto] and use it like a ladder. It is most definitely sturdy enough to hold you. Ha HA you are so clever". Yeah. Not so clever. When I pushed back a bit with my foot to get some leverage with the drill, the drywall fell over, sheet by sheet, and I with them. Luckily, they (and I) became wedged up against the scaffolding and I didn't fall all the way down in a pile of brokenness. I did, however, somehow manage to mangle my left knee and ankle as well as my poor right pointer finger- a key knitting finger, I might add. Boo and hiss. I was sure it was broken or fractured and Kyle was all ready to take me to the hospital, but I can bend it now and it seems on the mend already. It is just a little sausage-y and sore, so things might be a little slow going for a little while. We did end up getting the pine ceiling completely finished, trimmed and a third wall drywalled, so we are *thisclose* to being in the home stretch. I can't waaaaaaiiiiiiiiit any longer.

All of you Asheville peeps know that there is a huge mommy blogger conference in town this weekend called the Type A Mom Conference. It turns out that the woman behind Type A Mom is the mother of a little girl who was in Henry's class last year and I never knew it. How strange! She invited me to be a last minute vendor at the market portion of the conference tomorrow morning so it looks like I am going to be there. Stop by and say hello if you are there! I couldn't be more unprepared, but I'm just going to show up and wing it. Oh poop. I guess I need to drag Henry to the bank to get some change before they close, huh?

See? Unprepared. Better go.

Ribbit.

2009-09-23T12:25:00.001-04:00

Pretty fitting, considering the weather we've been having around here...

They Can Play a New Dance Called the...

2009-09-21T12:43:00.002-04:00

Hey Diddle, DiddleThe cat and the fiddle

The cow jumped over the moon

The little dog laughed to see such a craft

And the dish ran away with the spoon

Vote for Vance!

2009-09-20T18:16:00.003-04:00

If you are a frequent reader of this blog you probably know how much I love Henry's school. They are a public school rising to the challenge of meeting the needs of today's kids and teaching them how to build a sustainable future. They have a huge garden that the kids plant, tend and harvest complete with a table at the local farmers' market and an amazing shed that the school community built one clump of mud at a time. They compost in the cafeteria and they are working on a water catchment system so they can water the garden responsibly. They wrote and were awarded a grant to get fresh fruit and veggies into every single classroom every single day. The administration is amazing- from the hand written card Henry received from the principal the week he started Kindergarten to the "I'm totally into it" I get every time I go to her with a new crazy fund raising idea.

See the new link over there on the left? Way at the top? It goes to a page where you can vote for Vance as America's Favorite School and help us win $20,000 to finally buy the new playground equipment we need. There are also random weekly drawings for $500. It takes 2 minutes. Vote for Vance. Pretty please.

All the cool kids are doing it.

Quack Quack

2009-09-20T12:26:00.004-04:00

Making the best out of a rainy, rainy day and trying to catch some drops on his tongue.

My in laws have friend in Northern Michigan who own a clothing store that specializes in outdoorsy but cute clothing called McClutchey's in Indian River. When they heard that we had a hard time finding Henry a good rain jacket, Kathy ordered him a SUPER awesome Columbia rain suit and sent it down with Danny and Suzy. How sweet is that??? And it couldn't have come at a better time. Now I need to kick him out there to get to work on the Ark it seems we might need soon...

Thar Be Discounts, Me Hearties!

2009-09-19T15:08:00.003-04:00

In celebration of Talk Like a Pirate Day, we decided to have a special sale at the Hyena Cart shop. Use the coupon code ARRGH to get 15% off any pirate themed items, including Classic and Girly Jolly Roger longies and Skully tees and lounge.