Our Hobbies...

We have been busy at the Fann house doing things we love. I found a picture of this wedging table on the Internet and my crafty wood working husband built it for me. A wedging table is used to prepare your clay for the wheel. Clay has to be worked up and kneaded just like dough to get all the bubbles out and to give it a consistent form. The top is covered with a piece of canvas which helps absorb some of the moisture from the clay so it is not so sticky. The wire on the side of the table is used to cut the clay so you can see if it has been wedged properly. The table is perfect. He did such a great job. He is even going to build me another work table to replace our old dining room table which at the moment Tobey is using for his own crafts. I went to Hobby Lobby today to buy the canvas for my wedging table and while I was there I picked up aprons for me and Tobey and some fun stuff for him to do when hanging out with mommy in her studio. So now he has his very own play-dough and water colors. This is a very good thing because the other night when I was trimming a bowl I had made he decided that the clay trimmings would be a tasty treat. This is after I specifically told him to not put the clay in his mouth. He also was taking the dried clay and crumbling it all over the floor. Very fun for him but not so fun to clean up. He liked the water colors the best. I taught him how to dip the paintbrush in the water and then the paint and then the paper. He caught on very quickly.






Eventually he gave up on the paintbrush and started using his fingers. I thought his first water color picture turned out nicely. It is very colorful. Between our wood working, and pottery making, and water coloring maybe we will have a family business one day. Right now we are just hobbyists and crafters using our hands to build items of function and beauty.

When I Grow Up

This weekend we went to see Elmo in his very own production called When Elmo Grows Up. It was pretty great. I think I was more excited than Tobey. On the way there I kept singing "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys-R-Us kid". Rodney just rolled his eyes and snickered at me. But it's true. I really am a kid at heart. I love doing all this kid stuff with Tobey. I still get sucked into Finding Nemo (which by the way is Tobey's new fave) even though we have seen it over and over. I had to tell Tobey that Nemo was tired and taking a nap today so that he would watch something else. Amazingly it worked. I was so excited for Tobey's first time to see a live production especially Sesame Street. He was awe struck to say the least. In just about every picture I took his little mouth is hanging open. He got over this after intermission and was a little more lively. He also had cotton candy for the first time and I am not surprised that he LOVED it. I loved it too! It was fun to be a kid again with my precious little man.


We tried to get Tobey to pose with Elmo and this is the best we could get.


As the show begins...


Tobey is awestruck.


La La Lala, La La Lala, Elmo's World!


Elmo's World was Tobey's favorite part. He had to get out of his seat so he could see Elmo better.




It doesn't really show up well but Tobey had dried blue cotton candy all over his face.

As we were walking out of the theater after the show was over, Tobey kept saying more, more. It was very cute. He just couldn't get enough Elmo. And I just can't get enough of him. I just asked him what he wants to be when he grows up. He replied without any hesitation...Nemo. Well of course. Then I asked him again just to make sure he understood the question but this time I said WHO do you want to be when you grow up. Again he replied without any hesitation but this time he said PawPaw. How sweet is that!

Work In Progress

I finally went and purchased some clay at American Ceramics this week. The last time I threw a pot was my freshman year of college which was 10 years ago. Yeah I am that old. It is definitely a work in progress but today I made a pot. A very small, petite vase. It was my first time to use my new pottery wheel that I got for my birthday. I have a little makeshift studio out in our sun room now. I bought some cheap painter's cloth from Walmart and spread that out in a corner. I am using our old dining room table as a work table even though it is a little wobbly. I have plans on recruiting my handy man to build me a sturdier table. I also have Rodney's discarded bookcase from when he redid his office. I am using that to store supplies and finished pieces. I have a few essential tools and that is all I need for now. So I sat down this afternoon with my freshly wedged clay and slapped it down on the wheel. It took me a good 30 minutes to get that hunk of clay centered on the wheel. My fingers kept getting stuck and pulling out chunks of clay. Tobey stood in front of me and kept asking what I was doing. I told him mommy was making a pot. Rodney came in and snapped some pictures of me in action. I finally got the clay centered and threw a small pot. I still have some trimming to do on it. And then it has to be fired before I can add color with glazes and then fired again at a very high temperature to set the glaze. I am still unsure about how I am going to get my pieces fired. I am working on that but for now I will keep practicing on my techniques and just have fun with it.

The Fog has settled..

In my ear. I woke up yesterday on Valentine's Day to discover I had a hot coal burning in my right ear that got progressively worse throughout the morning. Rodney drove me to a minute clinic. These are new clinics that can be found inside certain CVS stores. They are awesome. I was the only one there and went right in to see a family nurse practitioner. He was so nice. Come to find out adults DO get ear infections and that is what I have. A stinking ear infection. So I got my drug of choice which is amoxicillin and some numbing ear drops. Bless that man's prescription writing abilities. He also recommended some Mucinex DM for my hacking cough. I wanted to hug him but that would have been awkward. We then came home and I sat on the couch and cried for almost a hour because the drops and extra strength tylenol were just not getting rid of the hot coal in my ear that was just getting worse. I really feel for all the children that get ear infections multiple times. It hurts. The pain intensified and I had a strange bussing in my ear and then finally the pain started to go away and I felt like a new person. But then the pressure went away which the FNP warned me about. He said if the pain gets really intense and then suddenly is gone then your ear drum has probably ruptured. Great! Honestly I was relieved to not have that pain anymore though. I was a little worried about the whole ruptured ear drum but I read on the internet that it is actually quite common with an ear infection and usually heals on its own. I took a nap later that afternoon and when I woke up my left ear was totally clogged up and hurting just a little bit. But definitely not as bad as the right one. It lasted all night and is a little better today. Although I still sound muffled to myself, I am only having twinges of pain in both my ears now. This is one Valentine's Day that I am glad is over! But if I had it to do all over again I would make a valentine for that FNP with hearts and glitter and present it to him the moment he handed me my prescription that I did not have to sit in a waiting room for 30 minutes and then the exam room for another 30 minutes to get.

Mr. Toad and His New Bed

This is Mr. Toad and one night he decided that he was too big to still be sleeping in a crib and he decided to do something about it.





He pulled out his tools and went to work.



Before long he had figured out what needed to be done.



Mr. Toad was very determined and at last his work was accomplished. So he climbed into his new bed to contemplate.



He thought to himself, "my future's so bright I got to wear shades". (very corny I know but I couldn't resist)



He then closed his bedroom door and shut his mommy out. (true story)



That night Mr. Toad climbed into his bed and he was very proud and he felt very big.



Finally after being led back to his room only twice Mr. Toad drifted off to a peaceful sleep and had very sweet dreams in his new bed.



The next morning he awoke and smiled. It felt good to climb out of bed all by himself. He felt so big. Mr. Toad has adjusted quite well to his big boy bed and couldn't be happier.

The End.

Coming out of the fog

The flu fog that is. No thanks to my wasted efforts of sleeping on the couch. I had a cough all week that I blamed on allergies and then I came down with a fever Friday night. Just two short days after my husband came home with a fever. Thankfully I was not at work because I was cancelled which is what happens when you are a nurse and the patient census is low. But I did go out with a friend to a movie and I probably exposed her as well as the theatre full of people. During the movie I started feeling bad. Chilled, extremely tired, a little nauseous. But I was drinking an Icee and it was late. By the time I got home I was shivering and my bones ached and my throat was sore. That is how quick this thing came on. This thing I am calling the flu. I can't even remember the last time I had the flu and by the way I had the flu shot. Obviously it did not work. I took some NyQuil and climbed into bed with my jacket on. I awoke the next morning and could barely lift my head off the bed. It was just awful-really awful. The last three days I have been in a complete mental fog. Today was the first day that I woke up headache free with some clarity about me. Now if I could just get my energy back and get rid of this nagging cough. Thankfully Tobey has not gotten it which is amazing. He does have a runny nose but that is not new for him so I am praying that he will be spared. And that my sweet friend Rebecca is spared. I will feel just awful if she comes down with the flu this week.

Well, I feel the need to disinfect my house during my moments of clarity so I am off to find the Lysol...

Foxy Granny's House

I am sleeping on the couch for the second night in a row. Don't worry, our marriage is great and still intact. I am just trying to avoid the "crud" that is ailing my husband. He has had fever off and on and is just feeling horrible. He offered to sleep on the couch but I let him have the bed because I am such a sweet wife. I sure do miss my bed though. The only advantage to sleeping on the couch is that I can read as late as I want too and I am in the middle of a really good book which I can't wait to get back too.....

But I wanted to share about our little adventure this week. On Tuesday we drove out to my Aunt's house to pick my grandma (aka Foxy Granny) up. She has been living with my Aunt for about a year and a half now and recently mentioned that she would like to go and spend the night at her own house down by the lake. The plan is to eventually sell this house but it is still full of "stuff" that my Grandma needs to go through and figure out what to do with. It is a very overwhelming task for her so I was happy to go with her and help her out. I also wanted to go back to her house for one last visit. That house is in so many of my childhood memories and I am sad that she will be selling it soon.

So Tobey, Foxy Granny, and I loaded up in my car to make the hour and a half journey to Lake Tawakoni. As soon as we got into the car it started sprinkling. As we neared the highway it started downpouring and hailing. We stopped briefly under a bridge but I was determined to not turn around. I thought that it would surely get better the farther we got down the road. After about 40 minutes of driving in the downpour I pulled off the highway because the wind started blowing sideways and I could not see anything but water. So we stopped at a subway and ate lunch. By the time we had finished, the sun was shining. Marvelous! Then we saw the most beautiful rainbow. It stretched across the sky in all the right shades of color. Tobey saw it too. He has seen rainbows in books but this was his first time to see a real one and he kept saying rainbow over and over. So that was a fun thing to share with my grandma. We eventually arrived at her house. It looked very neglected to say the least. I was a little worried about what we would find inside and rightfully so. We could tell that a rodent of some sort had been in the house. There were droppings on the kitchen floor and cabinets and a hole had been scratched in the door leading out to her laundry room. In the bathroom there were more droppings and everything was askew. My grandma went upstairs while I got Tobey sat up with a movie in the living room. I was hoping that he would be so mesmerized with Nemo that he would leave the rest of the house alone until we had a chance to check everything out. I heard my grandma come down and go outside. I met her at the doorway and she had a grim look on her face. She said she had just found a dead squirrel. Apparently it had not been dead for too long or the house would have smelled horrible. I was actually relieved that it had not been a rat. We debated back and forth if we would still spend the night and finally decided that we would since we had driven all the way.

So we left and bought some groceries and then came back to the house and cleaned everything up. It did my grandma a world of good to get her little house back in order. We vaccuumed and swept and mopped the floors. She wiped all the counters down. We spent alot of time in her quilting room as she went through her many totes of fabric. I could tell that she missed her house. The house is special because my dad helped build it along with my uncles. This was the house that my grandparents retired in. After my grandpa died she lived alone in her house by the lake for about 4 years. And she got very lonely. She also started to get confused when she was driving and would easily become turned around and disoriented. So she made the decision to move in with my Aunt and she hasn't driven in over a year. It is a good thing because she is closer to all of us but she has lost so much of her independence and I can see how it has affected her deeply. I cannot even imagine what she is going through in this new phase of her life. While we were sorting through the different totes and boxes she kept telling me to take whatever I wanted. So I came away with some old pictures and some old quilt tops that my grandma had never finished which I am really excited about. My grandma is an excellant quilter. I think she could have really made some money with some of the quilts she has made. But she always said that taking money for a quilt would just take the fun out of quilting. There was really only one thing that I was interested in having but I could not find it. It being a children's book about a horse named Robert that was allergic to roses. I remember my grandma reading that book to me at her house and I loved it. I couldn't remember the name of the book but I did a little research tonight and found it at Barnes-n-Noble. The title is easy enough to remember. I will be purchasing the book soon for Tobey although the original from grandma's house would have meant alot.



We all slept in the living room that night. My grandma on the couch and Tobey and I on a mattress on the floor. Just like old times. I have spent many nights sleeping on the floor at my grandma's house. My whole extended family used to go to her house on the weekends and we would all spread out around the house. Some of us in beds but most of us on mattresses and pallets. It was so much fun and I really looked forward to weekends at grandma's house. So it was fun to do that with Tobey. He was such a good boy while we were there and he loved on my grandma alot. Almost as if he sensed that she needed some extra hugs and kisses. There is still much to do with the house but we were able to accomplish alot while we were there. At least we left it clean. The house has been on my mind all day and especially the memories that were made there. Little snippets of lazy afternoons and family gatherings and lots of love.

Here's a little list of my favorite memories many of which involve my cousins Duane and Eric:

-Sliding down the stairs and getting carpet burn

-Walking down to the lake to swim or fish. I tried to keep up with the boys but I really hated baiting my own hook and sometimes my cousin Duane would do it for me

-Catching fireflies in a jar

-Listening to my grandpa playing his guitar or his banjo

-Eating watermelon on the porch

-Walking in the vegetable garden with my grandma

-Building tents out of matresses and sheets with my cousins and playing Hi-Ho Cherrio or Uno for hours

-Waking up to the smell of bacon and sausage cooking

-Taking the canoe out and being terrified of flipping over because my cousins were crazy like that

-Going to the Flea Market

-4th of July-setting off fireworks by the lake

-And the smell. I can't even explain this one. But grandma's house had a certain smell and I could smell it in the sheets the other night. It is not a lovely scent but it is a comforting one and a calming one. It is a scent that already my heart is aching to have lost.

Picture Story

Last weekend my little family of three had a dinner date at Rainforest Cafe. Tobey received a balloon monkey and was very fascinated by it. Mostly he was fascinated by trying to undo the monkey....


which he had accomplished by the time we made it back to the car. He was very proud of himself. I felt sorry for the monkey.


He then became just plain silly with the remaining balloon. Stretching it out and chewing on the ends. Well I gave him a warning about chewing on the balloon because I didn't want him to bite a piece off and choke on it.


He did not like my warning and he gave me the Look.


He then tried to be discreet about his balloon chewing but I knew what he was doing.


So the balloon got taken away by the big bad mommy and Tobey was heartbroken. Yes my son is quite dramatic.


Thankfully Boz came to the rescue.


Tobey immediately sobered up and reached for Boz.


He placed Boz on his head....


thought about it...


and then the smile was back!

This picture story is in honor of the many moods of a toddler.