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Home Spun strip #425

Posted by Cristina
10:37 PM, Dec. 16, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

A Christmas Card for you

Posted by Cristina
12:01 AM, Dec. 16, 2009 .. 2 comments .. Link

I feel so unprepared this week because I am full tilt into my Christmas preparations as well as the general middle-of-the-month busy-ness, so I don't even have a comic strip to post. Never fear! I did at least get the majority of my cards in the mail, so I will post the ecards here for my online friends. I will post one today and one on Friday, that way if I still don't get my act together, I have something to put up.

Of course, crazy artist that I am, I hand colored the cards I sent out. Marina helps me with that, which is nice. I used to send out over one hundred cards, but now the list has whittled down to around fifty. I want to thank the computer and the internet for making my card sending a little easier. I scan my designs onto the computer to do finishing touches and to print. This year I also let the computer do my lettering, which saves a lot of time and frustration, especially since my pen usually decides to drip an ink blob at the final word. My husband also saves me time by printing out address labels for me. I haven't enough patience to learn this label-printing skill, and it helps him feel like he's part of the process.

Checking through the addresses this year was difficult. We suffered several losses over the past year. I find myself hesitating over the delete button. It's hard to watch another name disappear from my address book. It feels like I'm deleting a part of myself. Maybe it's just me.

Feel free to use this card. I will make it public on my Flickr account, where the original version is somewhat bigger.

Home Spun strip #424

Posted by Cristina
12:01 AM, Dec. 14, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

I will hope that this one needs no explanation. Thank goodness for digital cameras. Thirty pictures later and I have something decent for this year.

So tell me, how did your family photo come out?

Home Spun strip #423

Posted by Cristina
12:08 AM, Dec. 11, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

True story: I thought it would be a great idea for us to paint pottery at one of those craft shops one year. I figured some of it would make nice gifts for Christmas. In particular, I wanted something unique for Sierra's godmother. I found a clay plate that I painted a simple angel onto. Just a circle head with halo and a triangle body. Then we would have Sierra (then 1 or 2 years) put hand prints on either side for wings. What kid doesn't like sticking their hands in paint?

Apparently, my kid doesn't.

After the screaming fit we decided to leave and go to a restaurant nearby, hoping she would calm down before the shop closed. After she ate, we returned to the pottery shop. The best we managed were two fist prints. And this from the child who would eventually decorate my wall when she was five (I dug the picture out of my archives for your amusement)...

Home Spun strip #422

Posted by Cristina
12:17 AM, Dec. 9, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

Home Spun Vignette #9

Posted by Cristina
12:16 AM, Dec. 7, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

Hmm...It appears I forgot to post this last Friday. I'm thinking I just didn't want to admit that I turned 41. Or I've become forgetful in my old age. :o) Things are going much better now.

It is a blessing that Thanksgiving weekend was so peaceful, because we have been very, very busy this week. Chase has been making some final preparations for his second-degree black belt exam this evening, which included a paper on the history of tae kwon do, several extra classes and a last minute photo session of the poomse he made up, followed by several hours of me fiddling with computer programs to help him put it all together and print it out. And two last minute trips to buy ink cartridges for the printer (the first trip resulted in the wrong cartridge.) All I can say is that homeschooling does not make one immune to the phrase "Oh, and I need it by tomorrow." At least I got a nice thank you card from my son for the help. My husband's car went in for repairs on Tuesday and to coin a phrase, "It's dead, Jim." Our poor little 17 year old Camry is now about as useful as a paperweight. We are back to being a one car family. Oh well, I don't suppose it would be difficult to chauffeur one more person around when he needs me to, and on the bright side, hubby will get a little exercise sprinting for buses. In the midst of all this activity, Sierra has turned vegetarian, which involved a extra long grocery store trip as I tried to figure out what to feed her. Long story. I can't make this stuff up. Oh yeah, and...today's my birthday.

Update: My birthday is now past and Chase did well on his 2 hour test. Check out the video on this post at my other blog.

At some point, I'm hoping to start preparing for Christmas. I'm thinking I should have some free time by the end of the month. Good thing we celebrate Little Christmas!

Update: Hmmm...I still haven't really begun my preparations except for some small things like folding my cards and hanging stockings. I wonder if I have a free day next week...

Home Spun strip #421

Posted by Cristina
12:14 AM, Dec. 7, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

Home Spun Vignette #8

Posted by Cristina
12:00 AM, Dec. 2, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

Marina is in a knitting frenzy right now. She started some of her Christmas projects a few months ago. She could probably go faster if the cats didn't think she had the coziest lap when she knits!