You, Me, and Dancing.

We made it to the end of 4th grade! Such a huge relief!! Bug made A/B Honour Roll two semesters in a row, and got the highest average in Social Studies. Woot. He got suspended several times, his behaviour has gone from bad to good, to terrible to excellent, and WE MADE IT THROUGH. I can now exhale.

Until next Fall, when we get back on the rollercoaster.

We made teacher gifts last night, to show our extreme appreciation of what these folks have done for Bug. They seemed to really like them, when we gave them this morning.

I've been crazy busy, making and selling loads of things.

I even made one for my car!

While I am definitely not looking forward to the hot and humid of the coming Summer, I am looking forward to doing awesome stuff with the Bug. Teaching him to swim properly, $1 movie club, book reports--it's going to be good.

Compendium.

There's been so much going on! I'm a terrible blogger, at the best of times, true....but add a ton of projects, customs, crazy personal travails, and the first show I've been to since Nick Cave in 2008.

September-early November was awful. The Bug, now 9, has been having the worst issues of his entire academic life. Acting out, having a hard time adapting to 4th grade--math has jumped to the big leagues of long division, and just being miserable for the most part. His behaviour progressed to the point where he was sent to an "alternative to suspension" school environment for a few days. While there, he was fine the first day, but was out of hand the second. Out of hand for this school is generally violent or drug-related--it's a tough damn school. The Bug? He simply would not sit down, in his chair. That's it. No hands put on teachers, no threats, just....wouldn't sit down. The school has a zero tolerance policy, and they have to call upon resource officers. Resource officers are simply Bowling Green PD, but they come for whatever the school calls 'em in for. Well, the teacher calls them, stating that Bug has a pencil, and won't put it down. The dispatcher heard "pistol". The police arrived, guns drawn. Possibly one of the more terrifying moments of my life as a parent. Up to that point anyway....He would not cooperate, talk to, or look at the officers, and they cuffed him. My baby, my 9 year old....in handcuffs. Second terrifying moment of the day. After several minutes of him spinning in circles, and scooting around on the floor--still handcuffed, mind you--the police tell me that they are going to take him to a crisis unit for children. Third terrifying moment.

My boy, who has never been away for a night without one of us, spent 7 days at this crisis unit. During this time, we received details on the mountain of paperwork I'd been filling out for the school district psychologist. Summary--he is? He has? He is on the Autism Spectrum. Or has an Autism Spectrum Disorder--leaning towards Asperger's. All of this could have been avoided had the alternative school known, maybe? I still don't know. Now we have a court date looming, and I am very scared of what can happen.

He is now attending a new school, wherein he has been mostly mainstreamed, but does check into a special class twice a day, to see how behaviour is going. He has a time during the day wherein he has to learn "social skills". He has an IEP.

All of these things are so new to me, and I'm overwhelmed. I am just trying to focus on the kiddo, and not the DX. I am reading all I can on the subject, and I am trying to not let Bug see how much I am freaking out. I'm trying not to treat him like anything has changed. I am trying to be a better parent for him.

November 22nd was good. We went to Nashville, and saw Johnny Marr play. For the first show I've been to in years? It was a GREAT one. He played several Smiths songs, and most of the new album. Fabulous. I even drove all the way there, and back--in the dark! Personal victory!!

I've been so busy....reading about ASD/Asperger's, making things, doing a LOT of custom work, and getting the house in shape. I am trying very hard to be positive about life, in general. It's uphill, both ways, in the snow.

garlands, evergreen...forget-me-not wreaths.

Ah, those were the days...

...and there's a perfect kiss somewhere out in the dark.

1987 was an absolutely fantastic year for music. I really have such a hard time making short playlists, as far as the guidelines of year/45 mins/etc when it comes to '87. Silly...SO GOOD, though.

It's been a hot, weird, antsier than usual sort of summer. I want, simultaneously, all of the changes, and none of them.

And the world don't stop, indeed.

Plastic Passion.

I've been collecting Blythe dolls for....oh, 8 years now? I was just going to get one back in 2005 . Just ONE! Did you know that is an impossible feat? Well, it is. Here I am, 14 girls later....oops.



My first girl was Stella, and I've fashioned her over the years into my mini-me. Well, my idealised mini-me, more accurately. I got Stella via eBay on New Year's Day, 2005. She was a Lounging Lovely, which This is Blythe assured me was a good starter girl. And, oh...how right they were. I still love her to pieces, even if I haven't changed her outfit in 2 years.



With this lovely girl came all sorts of things...I started re-teaching myself to sew, I did swaps with other dolly folks on Craftster, started taking my camera with me everywhere again; I just really had a lot of fun with her, and the girls that followed...



Stella Frankenstein. ♥

I couldn't save you.

Per the calendar, Spring is here. Per my thermostat, not so much.

Still....there are buds peeking out hither and thither, and that gives me a tiny happy spark.

Yesterday marked Day One of being laid off. I wanted to crawl into bed and moan, and did not. Instead, it was dentist and errands and running to keep busy. Today has been laundry, the child cleaning his room, and cleaning the kitchen. I am hoping this is temporary, as I need to work. My brain can't handle a non-routine.

There's been a lot of listening to things with banjos & neo-americana. There's been a lot of organisation. There's been a lot of staring out the window. There's been a lot of planning this year's garden--herbs! flowers! more veggies for the mister! There's been a lot of throwing away the unnecessary, and holding close the needed.



'mericana

torn fishnets and all.

...having the day off,  I ought to have been sewing up a storm. Instead? I made a Spotify playlist, showcasing all my high school DR favourites. Seriously, my priorities can be a bit mad, you know?

I did get quite a bit of laundry done, in a very adult-like manner, so there's that. I also started reorganising the sewing area, for ease of use. As it is now, I have to sort of wedge myself into a pretzel-backed way, to get even near my machine. I spent a few hours yesterday moving things around the kitchen, and that made both the kitchen table more accessible, and the cutting table (finally and more easily) usable.

Vincent remains unimpressed with my changes.

I also changed the name on my etsy shop, to consolidate things a bit, business-wise. I've had the etsy since 2005, and it has always been zenkitten. Which, besides personal stuff, meant nothing about what I made or did. While Tiny Dynamine might seem like nothing, I think it's sweet, and it feels right? It's certainly better than the other name I came up with last year, which was hella clunky. Why, oh why, was Idle Hands already taken by everything! Ha. Now, once I get over designs being ahem....appropriated by other folks, I'll be on track for a good year.

And really, by good year, I mean, I feel good about things, and slightly hopeful for the future, and not necessarily like I mean I will a bazillionaire or anything.

Jackson's Orchard!

Jackson's Orchard!
Originally uploaded by house of frankenstein

we went to jackson's orchard yesterday...while it was a nice, free thing to do with the family, i found myself comparing it to linvilla the entire time we were there.

while both are working orchards, linvilla really has way more to do. on the other hand, 9 out of 10 things at jackson's were free, unlike the spendy linvilla.

came home, saw photos from friends online, at various halloween do's, that took place everywhere but here.

square peg, round hole. still not fitting.

pinterwhat?

so, yeah. pinterest. i'm obviously still uber-n00b on this one. i like collections, though, so i can see myself loving it. it reminds me very much of both wists and polvore, but somehow combining them? maybe...i know what i'm thinking, i just am not spitting out quite right, i think! so very surprising, that....

broke out the sewing maching for the first time in AGES today. so happy about that! several orders packed up, and ready to mail, too. c'mon little etsy! so many new ideas percolating, so many new items on the horizon!

innerwebs.

oh, boy. so many new things out there, with which to fritter my time away. fritter my time *even further* away.....

i am enjoying turntable.fm quite a bit. the whole interactive, truly democratic way the music is thrown out there....it's like djing, without that whole pesky leaving the house thing.

at any rate....the time suck is no good for a person like me. i'm fritter central....too easily distracted, unable to land for longer than a second on anything positive. bit by bit, that will change....

Office.

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Now playing: Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - Black
via FoxyTunes
Office.
Originally uploaded by house of frankenstein

this was taken in may...i was truly hoping that i'd have made quite a bit more progress by now, but i haven't. ain't that a bummer?

i'm getting there. in fits and starts.

okay. mostly a lot of fits of anhedonia, but that is a bit off the point. what i thought might be SADS in the winter turned into a real rad case of the summertime blues.

and it's just barely summertime.

cobwebby.

as in, boy howdy, there certainly are tons around here.

which isn't to say oh, hey...suddenly going to post here everyday. that is highly unlikely. HIGHLY.

whatevah.

i bought lee his first xmas present over the weekend....jo ann fabrics was having a mad black friday/holiday weekend sale, and i took full advantage. basically, we picked up the yudu machine. it's a nifty sort of home screen printer, with seriously user friendly materials/instructions/etc.

at least it's supposed to be user friendly....we'll just have to wait and find out for ourselves, right? i'm hopeful, even if i am totally unclear as to what the hell either of us are going to use it for.

also, today i broke down and turned on the heat. the dog and i were shivering on the couch, and it was just ridiculous.

oops.

boy, i sure do neglect you, little blog.

i'm not the girl you think i am.

...and i'm not the one that's crazy.

leaving in a few days!! huzzah. smell ya later, philthy.

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Now playing: Amanda Palmer - Ampersand
via FoxyTunes

confessions of a knife....

...soooo...who is coming from cal state fullerton? i am ridiculously curious, as always.

you're aces, ackley kid.

in honour, though belatedly so, of one of my favourite author's birthday, i am going to leave a snazzy little list for myself of books i have enjoyed this year.

(said author being j.d. salinger, and said birthday being his 90th! holy mackerel, man.)

the books:

frankenstein takes the cake-adam rex
i got this snazzy little tome as one of my holiday gifts from the husband and child. it combines my long-abiding love of all things frankenstein, adding some fairly clever poetry, and cake! hell, you know a fat girl loves cake, right?

vegan cupcakes take over the world-isa chandra moskowitz & terry hope romero
i got this fabulous book a couple of years ago, when it came out. i had a co-worker at the time who kept bringing in these fucking tasty cakes with rich, creamy, massive "buttercream" frostings, and i had to ask how she was accomplishing these beauties as she was a crazy vegan-type. the answer was simple--this book! dude...so good. i tried the ganache for the first time this past december...gah. i wanted to eat it out of the bowl, forsaking the damn cakes it was meant for.

superman:red son-mark millar
i'm not usually into superhero comics....it's not that i don't dig the capes and all, but i just don't need to read about them. i like to watch them as far as cartoons and movies and shit goes, but reading the comics? nah. too much ridiculousness....except!! this is one of the 'elseworlds' books, and it's pretty damn good. the alternate world of millar's creation has america's best-known Good Guy landing in the cold war era USSR, instead of a midwestern cornfield. he's a tool of the State, and is still a damned boy scout.....mostly.the best bits feature a fantastically imagined batman run amuck, and the US-created bizarro.

yeah. i am tired now, and need to clean the house. so...feh. 3 books is pretty good, though. it got me writing, and that's enough for me.

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Now playing: Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
via FoxyTunes

...i almost forgot!

eeeee...i wanted to post about snazzy songs that were making my feets tappity, and keeping my obviously saccharine-sweet-toothed ears happy, but...well, i forgot.

gwen stefani : early winter
i know, right?? what am i thinking? seriously, though, the sweet escape was a rather good, poppy, confectionarily 80's-tastic nice time. no heavy thinking, musically speaking, but it was a good summer album. plus, there's a hella gorgeous D&G gown featured in the video that probably cost more than the house i grew up in.

katy perry : hot n cold
i don't know what the hell it is about this track, but it's infectious as poison ivy at a summer camp, dude. the video is a bit silly, too. i quite like the idea of hot pants as wedding attire, too. AND!! holy gee!! pink bike, yes, please!

old 97's : murder (or a heart attack)
i like to play this at work, on the jukebox. it's sweet without being gaggingly fey, and they have mad alt.country fantasticness. i love that the damn song is supposedly about the singers cat, too. that's pretty fabulous....

VAST : touched
i still cannot believe i got lee to like this song. heh. i rule. i also love that the metrolink is in the vid. i have to wonder...was it the line i rode every day into downtown l.a.? i loved that ride...pulling into union station, taking trans down to wilshire, working from that office, instead of the riverside one. there is another video, easily found on the you tube, that features scenes from 'equilibrium'. 'equilibrium' is one of the most beautiful, and frightening, movies i have ever seen.

the magnetic fields : 100,000 fireflies
one of my all-time, top 5, favourite-favourite songs ever. it goes on most mixes, all mp3 players, what-have-you. just....gorgeous. and, well, a little more than sad.

mmmyep. lovely and sweet....ahem.

i am going to go out and kick some children, steal candy from babies, bend the corners on books to keep my place...

actually, no. i am going to bed.

we hold our sweaty hands.

day 1/365
Originally uploaded by house of frankenstein

i am going to make the effort to do several things, none of them anywhere near to being anything like a resolution. what would be the point to a resolution? resolution sounds like end, which is ridiculous when you're trying to start something or be something new. weird.

or maybe i am making too much of it, and need to cease and desist.

i am hoping for safety, for less death and more living, for happiness for friends and family, for seeing more of same friends and family, and for us to be steady on our feet. 2008 has been long, and hard, and whatever we walked out with i am grateful for. i kind of feel like things were iffy there throughout much of the year, be it with the marriage or our own sanity, and i really didn't know whether we were going to make it. together, or not, it was looking quite grim.

bleh. enough.

i am going to be re-starting the flickr 365 day photo project i bombed on. i may have hooked lee into as well, thought it remains to be seen how we do. day 1 was, of course, food. shocking.

joy, four-year-old stylee.

yeah....this is why xmas day is always seven sorts of awesome. just that look of pure, child-unique enthusiasm--well, it's brilliant, really.

i really don't even remember what he'd just opened, but it must have been good. great, perhaps? i don't remember, though. the husband thinks it might have been good ol' spidermonkey, straight from ben 10:alien force. sound good to me, though i cannot agree for sure....

yay xmas, puking notwithstanding.

ho, ho, hork.

whilst this season has certainly held much merriment, it's also been host to a helluva lot of illness. the kid, full of phlegm and mischief. myself?? equally full of phlegm, with a plentiful side portion of stomach flu. all in all? not as merry as i'd like, but doable.

i think everyone got what they desired, giftily-speaking. i know that i was pleasantly surprised, and, in turn, surprised my parenty compatriot. he went gaga/apeshit/whathaveyou over the robotech boxset i managed to find for him, while i am happily screwing around with a fancypants new camera....all this flu-ishness has enabled me to watch much of the Deadwood box we gave ourselves for shitsngiggles.

now...urm...hrm. more puking seems to be in my immediate future.