You're invited to a Dance Party!

So, I was a super-blogger for about a week, and then dropped off the face of the planet. That's pretty typical.

Here's just a quick Lil' Kay story for you. Last night, Lil' Kay had his red guitar out and was strumming and singing, "Ain't gonna be a dinosaur. Ain't gonna be a dinosaur." He had the funniest drawl going with it, too. Then he says, "Mommy, can we go downtown and have a dance party?"

"No, I don't think so."

"But I need to earn some money so I can buy an expensive toy at Walmart."

"How is having a dance party going to earn you money?"

"I'll play music and people will pay me money so they can dance. They can pay me a penny or a dollar. They can choose."

It's an interesting entrepreneurial idea. His business acumen is a bit lacking, but maybe if he hired a manager...

If you thought yesterday was bad...

This morning while it was still dark, Lil' Kay crawled into bed with me. I'm still half asleep and he says, "My jaw feels heavy."

I mumble, "Okay, honey, that's weird."

A little while later, Mr. Kay comes into the bedroom and turns on the light. Lil' Kay says, "Mommy, I can't close my mouth." I look over and realize that I'm in bed with Baby Quasimodo! "Oh my gosh! Look at his face!" I wailed. "We have to go to the doctor, right now! We are going to the ER. I am NOT waiting for an appointment!"

Obviously, the poison ivy had gotten much worse. We hurriedly got dressed and drove to the ER. Unbelieveably, it was the shortest ER visit we've ever had! Less than an hour! They gave him a steroid shot and a prescription for an oral steroid. I really hope it starts to work fast! Needless to say, I didn't make him go to school today. He's home with Daddy.

He was complaining about how much the shot hurt and limping around the house. (The shot was administered in his thigh.) We thought he was being Mr. Drama, but I found out later that steroid shots are quite painful. Kind of like a tetanus shot! Poor little man!

On the plus side, he is having fun with how he looks! He's been walking around the house saying:

"I'm a zoooombieeee!"

Things I learned about poison ivy

Look at that face! Don't you feel sorry for him? That's Lil' Kay with a faceful of poison ivy! Poor little guy! It appeared last night when I picked him up from daycare. This morning at 5 am when I couldn't sleep because I was worrying about whether or not to send him to school. I finally decided I wasn't going to get anymore sleep, so I got up and did some internet research about poison ivy. Here's what I learned:

The rash is not contagious. You can only pass it if you still have the oil on your body or hands and touch another person.

The first time you come in contact with the plant, the rash usually appears in 7-10 days. That perfectly coincides with the day he was playing back in the trees at an auction we attended.

The rash only appears on your body where the oil has come in contact with your skin. (Yeah. I can pretty much tell that Lil' Kay rubbed his face, scratched his ear, and scratched the back of his leg.

You can also get it if an object has touched the poison ivy and then you touch that object.

Today was the first full day of kindergarten, so I was very much not wanting him to have to stay home. Once I found out that it wasn't contagious, I was so relieved! He was itchy, but really wanted to go to school, so off he went with a note in his little backpack.

Here's some more information if you're interested:

WebMD

Mayo Clinic

Poison-Ivy.org - This site has some pretty scary pictures of skin rashes, so proceed with caution!

I survived

So, yesterday was the first day of school, and I survived. I was all teary eyed when I left him. When I got to work, I thought I was going to hyperventilate! It occurred to me that I should have written his name on him! I mean, look at him! He's so small! He could get lost! They tell me that schools have a pretty good track record when it comes to not losing kids, but you never know...

Lil' Kay had a great time! When he got home he told me, "I got to go to the principal's office!" I'm sure that's not the last time I'll hear those words! Fortunately, yesterday, it was just part of the orientation.

No school today. We get to go meet his teacher tonight at a little parent-teacher conference. Lil' Kay said his teacher is nice and he likes her. Tomorrow is the first full day of school.

And, this is what a T Rex looks like on his first day of school.

If you give a 5 year old your camera...

He will take a picture of a drainage pipe, which is certainly better than crawling into said drainage pipe, but still a little strange.
And, this is what I look like from Lil' Kay's point of view. I didn't realize how tall I am!

Carnival

Tonight was the beginning of our small town's annual Old Settlers Festival. There's a little carnival set up as you come into town, and Lil' Kay was dying to try out a couple rides. To be honest, there weren't a lot of rides appropriate for a kid his age. Especially a kid who is a bit afraid of heights with a mom who is a bit afraid of heights. Lil' Kay chose to take a bounce in the big inflatable crocodile looking thing and a ride on this spinning-turning ride. (Kind of like the tilt-a-whirl without the tilt.) I rode along on this one, and it was a blast! Lil' Kay was giggling and screaming and having a great time! He wasn't a bit scared, and neither of us got sick. That's what I call a successful ride! (I like how this picture makes it look like I'm turning the wheel with just the tip of my index finger!)

More festival tomorrow! We'll see how the weather holds up and how much I feel like doing. There's a parade in the morning and fireworks at night. They're also showing Monty Python and the Holy Grail tomorrow night in the park. I'm not sure we'll be staying up late enough for that!

In the Dreamtime

I've been meaning to blog about my super-talented friend Matt for some time now. I'm finally getting around to it, because I'm trying to butter him up. I want him to come down here to Kansas for our 10 year college class reunion in September. He was hesitant, because he lives in Vancouver, he's already done some traveling this year, it's expensive, blah, blah, blah. I'm pretty sure he's coming, but I'm trying to be really, really nice so he'll want to show up. (Turns out, the crying, pouting, guilt-tripping approach didn't work so well on him. Now I'm trying the "wow-Becky's-so-nice-I-can't-believe-I-would-even-think-about-letting-her-down" approach.)

Anyway, a few months ago, my dear, talented friend put out an independent album. Being the supportive friend that I am, I went over to Amazon and previewed it. I was totally blown away! How exciting to see that someone I know is so completely talented! (And, I'm not just saying that so he'll come visit.) Seriously, go over to Amazon and take a listen. Then buy the download. It's on itunes, too. Some of the album is serious and some of it's silly. It's all good. I don't even know how to tell you what genre of music it is. Is there a genre called "quirky-cool"?

My favorite song: The Accountant and the Trainer
Lil' Kay's favorite song: Tom the Cat

Oh, and just so I've done as much schmoozing as I possibly can, Matt, his brother and our friend Geoff have a podcast, too. Terribly funny, potentially offensive and lots of fun! I can't wait to go home this evening and download the lastest!

Me!

So, Tia says she needs to see a picture of me wearing that gorgeous necklace from Untamed Menagerie. Here ya go, lady!

Confession

Okay. I didn't get any sewing done last night. I turned on the sewing machine, and then said, "I'm going to read for 10 minutes." That was at 6:50 PM. I finished reading Breaking Dawn at shortly after 10:00.

Now, I didn't accomplish any sewing, but the good news is that the book is finished. It was fabulous. And, I no longer have that distraction in the back of my mind. All focus can now be on building up my inventory.

Goals and Reality

So, my goal tonight is to sew. There are 45 days left until the first craft show of the season. So, if I could average 2 items completed everyday, I could easily fill my booth, right? Yeah. But I'm a bit of a procrastinator and shiny stuff distracts me.

At the moment, I'm totally distracting by that pretty little book there on the left. This series is so, so amazing! The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyers is, technically, a young adult series, but it's really, really good, and I highly recommend it. Even if you don't like vampire stories, because I am not a fan of vampire stories. In fact, I'm a big fat chicken when it comes to any kind of scary book or movie. These books are so interesting and romantic, that I really can't be afraid. I just have to keep reading until it's done! Now, I'm going to do my best to fight the urge to sit down when I get home from work, ignore the family, ignore the sewing machine and just read. But, the reality is that I probably won't get any sewing done.

Check this out!

This beautiful necklace arrived on my front porch Saturday morning. Isn't it amazing! This is handsdown, my new favorite accessory. It's totally unique and eye-catching and just plain fabulous! I know I'm going to be wearing it a lot. Every chance I get, in fact! I bought it from Untamed Menagerie over on Etsy. I highly recommend their shop if you want your own show-stopping piece of jewelry.

The best part, is that it arrived just in time for me to wear it to see Les Miserables on Saturday night. Neither Mr. Kay, nor I, had ever seen Les Miz, so it was a completely amazing experience for us. The performance was absolutely wonderful. The sets, the costumes, the lighting, the acting, the music - all superb! The voices were all so powerful and emotionally gripping. I certainly did cry more than once. I'm wondering, though, is there a musical with a higher body count than Les Miz? Seriously. By the end of the show, almost everyone is dead. Let me know if you can think of one where more folks are killed or die of consumption or commit suicide.

I don't get the chance to see live theatre as much as I would like, so when I see a great performance, it's like a new experience. It reminds me of how much better a live performance is than anything you can see on TV or in a movie theater. It's more engaging, and even if you see the same show, by the same acting troupe, it's never the same twice.

I am not musical. I truly cannot sing unless there are plenty of other voices to drown mine out. However, I do love to be in a live performance - plays, not musicals. Seeing Les Miz on Saturday reminded me of the thrill that those performers must be experiencing. All the backstage excitement, the rush of making sure you do your bit just right, the excitement of an engaged audience. It's simply amazing.