More, More, More Kindness

This post should have been four posts posted when they actually happened, but I am putting them in one because I am ludicrously disorganized . Ever since I started this blog, I have been blessed by the kindness of strangers - people whom I've never met in person who leave great comments, who direct me to fascinating sites, who tell me I'm funny on days when I've had a Let Us Not Scream At The Children episode and who let me win things on their blogs. And sometimes even send me things in the post just to make my day. I want to show you some of these unexpected little presents!

About a hundred years ago (ahem), Sabrina from Twiggles and Trunks read this post in which I whined about ikat (pronounced eee- kutt, incidentally, not eye-cat) and sent me these cushion covers. Not ikat, but oh, so Blue and Beautiful! And she was nice enough to say that I could, if I wanted, cut into them and Make Stuff. I looked at them so many times, thinking of various things they could be morphed into but I couldn't, couldn't make myself cut them up. Maybe someday I might, because I am betting this fabric would look awesome as so many things in my head now, so when that happens, I will brag about them here. Thank you, thank you, Sabrina!

Then in the Spring, Misty.Creek won one of my giveaways and to thank me, later made this lovely bag and these washcloths for me! Thank you! Thank you! I wish I could crochet because I'd make several hundred of these washcloths and never touch a terry cloth again. And everything in blue! Divine.


And here's what came in the mail just before the weekend, from Laura at Betula'Loo, for the kids! So they could be occupied while I sewed! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........... Look at all these secret weapons:



The kids will not get to see them till closer to Christmas - I am planning to save these for Christmas Eve, during the long wait between lunchtime and gift-opening time in the evening. We are going to have a blast!

Oh, and she sent this for me - to make lists on! Whooooooo!

Thank you, Laura!

And finally, here's an award bestowed eons ago upon me by The Activity Mom:


Thank you! Thank you!

I am supposed to share 7 Who Knew? things about me, so in return for all your kindness, wonderful readers, here are 7 bizarre facts about me:

1 I cannot eat turkey. I used to have this ability, but after pregnancy, childbirth and whatnot, I no longer find this edible. I cannot explain it. It tastes.... weird. Thanksgiving, as a result, is often.... interesting.

2 When I was a younger person, I used to play a small number of common computer games. I was, however, abysmal at them. My brother had to hack a particular game called Super Fighter (variant of Street Fighter- there, you now know how old I am) to give me unlimited lives and weapons just so I could get past Level 1.

3 I almost became an English teacher instead of a Physics teacher. At a crucial point in my college years, I had to choose between English and Physics as majors and I picked Physics because I thought grading lab reports would be easier than grading essays. Turns out I was right.

4 I used to be able to swim laps, and do splits, and dance, inline skate, a tiny bit of aikido, rock-climb, and scuba dive. My skin was not always pasty white. I also used to watch TV.

5 For a number of years, I was convinced that the only man worth marrying was Kevin Spacey.

6 My weirdest dating experience was when my orthodontist asked me out (I was no longer his patient). That was not the weird part. The weird part was that I said yes. This was because I my best friend told me "frankly, you need the practice". I knew it was doomed from the start when I couldn't call him anything but "doctor".

7 There was a time when I thought airplane toilets were cool. Strangely, people shunned me whenever I picked this as a conversation starter, though.

I am supposed to nominate other bloggers but I like breaking the rules, so I shall instead tell you my three favorite posts from The Activity Mom:

1 Very cool Button Snake activity. I want to do this soon with Kate!

2 TV Detox Tickets. I think there are days when we need these, and badly.

3 Printable Advent Calendar - beautiful and so clever!

4 Slotting Game - I wish I'd seen this when my babies were babies still. They would have loved it!

5 Color Hunt Game - The girls love collecting and sorting, especially Jenna. I am so going to do this with her!

OK, I lied about only picking 3. It was hard to just pick 3. She has so many fun ideas on her blog, and songs! Songs! Love them!