Any Day that Starts with Doughnuts...

Happy Mother's Day everybody! Phil had to go into work today, but he went in really early so that he could be home by the time we got up. And my nice husband stopped at the most wondrous doughnut shop in all the land on the way home! Any day that starts with doughnuts is a good day.

Well, I've been down for the count for the last 3 or 4 days. I tell you, if it's not one thing it's another around here. I threw out my back on Thursday. I have no idea how. The only thing I can think is that it happened when I put Rexy in her carseat to go to school. I was tired, you can see that my last blog entry was at 1:30 in the morning - and that timestamp starts when you start your entry, not when you hit publish. I think I finished it at 2:15. Rexy woke up coughing (yes, it's still happening) at ten to seven, and I often wake up with a sore back when I haven't slept well - but it really wasn't that bad. By the time I picked her up from school 2 1/2 hours later I could hardly stand up straight. I swear - I used to be a healthy person! I spent 3 days laying on the couch. The house is a disaster area - literally, it looks like a storm ran through the house. I didn't do a thing, I'm way behind on all my swaps and projects. I had to send my Cercles d'Ame journal out without my pages - I'll have to send them to the next person later.

I did manage to spend some time on the computer, though (the desk chair holds the ice pack nicely). And - Oh my gosh! I listed a collage sheet on Posh Points (see button on the sidebar) at 3:50 yesterday afternoon and it sold at 3:59! Maybe I priced it too low? It was a collage sheet and I listed it for 2 points. I don't know. Then I listed another one and it sold within 2 1/2 hours! Maybe it is too low at 2 points but I have to say I like receiving the points so quickly. I also finally listed something in my Etsy store and it sold later in the evening! Okay, it sold to Chel who has seen it before - it was my "Hands" collage sheet banner - but I think that counts! (BTW many thanks to Chel!) I also sold the last of the doll making supplies to a guy in Australia. He must have really wanted them because it cost more than twice what the purchase price was to mail it. All in all, it makes me feel a lot more optimistic when things sell even though I have so few things listed.

Today my back was somewhat better and I was determined to have a nice Mother's Day. We had originally planned to go to the Fremont Sunday Market - a local open air market that's a combination Farmer's/Craft/Flea Market - but I wasn't sure I'd be able to take the amount of walking that would require. So we decided to go to an antique mall in Edmonds that's a bit closer and has more opportunities for sitting down if I needed them. Well, it turned out that walking was the best thing! I felt a hundred times better by the time we got done. Bending over to pick things up off the ground is still not the best thing, but I feel at least halfway to normal now. Yay!

The only bad thing is that we spent a fortune at the antique mall! We got some great stuff, though, and I built up my stash of Christmas presents. The best things we got were a couple of Heywood Wakefield twin headboards - for $65! $65 for both of them - not each. We also found a piece of modern art pottery by an artist that was a favorite of each of us before we met each other - one of the reasons I liked Phil more after I saw his apartment was that we shared a liking for this artist. And it was 40% off of $10! (extremely cheap for this stuff) I found an antique toy fire truck (that's it, up there) imprinted with "Auburn FD." My entire family was born in Auburn General Hospital so I had to get it. I also got a whole bunch of vintage photographs, a super cute dress pattern from the 60s, a hovercraft blueprint (?!), three cool, vintage escutcheons and this awesome hat.

I bought it to add to Rexy's dress-up box, but I really love the Liz-Taylor-in-the-60s look of it. I've been admiring Gail's use of photoshop brushes so I decided to experiment on my photo since I didn't like the background. I think I may have gotten carried away, but I did get a little bit of a feel for it. Then I tried it on the other photo I took. Hmm...photography is definitely not my forte. I foresee doing a lot more practicing in my future.

Oh, and the dress pattern? It's from 1963 and is size large and you know what's great? Size large is 18-20! That's twice as big as a size large is today! Shows how unrealistic we are these days, doesn't it?

Here is the promised picture of my BoxaNotions swap. Well, the box I received. I haven't finished the one I'm mailing out yet since I was flat on my back for 3 days. I should have it done by Tuesday, I hope. How this swap works is you get a list of words separated into 2 columns. You take a word from column A and put it with a word from column B and either find, make, or buy something that represents that combination to put in the box. April's words were:

Column A
bookmark, photo, tin, postcard, fairy, cat, journal, hardware, beads, tag, music, shells, mirror.

Column B
feathers, round, blue, glitter, wings, square, vintage, metal, retro 60s, miniature, orange, smooth, textured

What you see in this picture is
feather bookmark
smooth shells
orange tin
vintage photos
blue journal
miniature mirrors
fairy wings
retro 60s postcard (very cool-she made them from 60s fabric)
round beads
square music
...and a bunch of other stuff!

You make 12 word pairs and then a 13th object that is "swapper's choice."

It was so fun to get this - what a treasure trove! A big thanks to Debbie Fosket!!!

And lastly, on this day of days, I can say with all my heart that I love my little girl more every single day that I know her. On Friday when I picked her up from school she came running up to me with her great big smile - then stopped and looked at her teacher questioningly. "Say, Happy Mother's day!" she prompted. My girl looked at me so shyly! And then her little tiny voice said, "Happy Mother's Day Mommy." Then she grinned and leaned in for a hug. So, so sweet she is!

I've been wondering about my own mother (this is her picture) and whether she felt the same way about me. I look at my girl and think she's the cutest, sweetest girl that ever lived and think my mother could not possibly have felt the same because I couldn't have been as beautiful as she is. Did she get thrilled by the sound of my voice as I am thrilled by Rexy's?

I know that Mother's Day is supposed to be in honor of mothers - but for me it's just a reminder of what a magical, thrilling, beautiful gift I've received.

This picture is of my beautiful gift after she put her thrift store hat on for the 40th time one day. She was so thrilled with it.

Gratitude Journal:

1. Motherhood

2. Antique stores
3. Top Pot Doughnuts
4. Frozen corn (aka "the icepack")
5. Remote controls

My poor baby just woke up coughing again. 45 minutes to get her breathing well and back in bed. I'm afraid the doctor's suspicion of an asthma-like condition might be right. Otherwise, wouldn't it be getting better by now?