News Flash! I Love Socks!

Heh. I’m not sure if you know or not, but I love socks. So much so that I have a whole website devoted to socks. (SEND ME PICTURES!)

So anyway. Send me pictures. Seriously.

Aside from that,(but still send pictures) this afternoon I saw something online that I immediately knew was something I HAD to make.

And so this evening, I did.

BEHOLD: The Sock Bouquet!

I am SO happy with how it turned out!

∗ Posted by bluepaintred on 03.29.2010
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Glutton for Punishment; AKA: I NEED HELP

So my little glutton for punishment, Blake, is turning eight in a month. He, like most kids, would like to have a birthday party, and I, like most parents, have no problem with that.

That said, last year, when he turned seven, he had a birthday party and not a single child came. Not one. We ended up calling his grandparents who came down immediately (the party was held at an indoor gym type place, called the fun factory).

Blake’s response to all of that, becuase I was seriously concerned, was “How can I not be having fun? I’m at the FUN factory!”

And so here we are, one year later, same situation. Blake wants a party, has three friends picked out to invite, and would like to return to the scene of the crime to celebrate.

Blake is a loner. He prefers his own company to anyone elses, he does know how to socialize and is good at it, according to his teacher. he is great, vocal, outgoing and helpful during group activities at school, is willing to initiate contact with another child on the playground to play – but leaves the situation to play alone if more than three or four children are involved.

And he is HAPPY alone. He is always cheerful, full of long winded SHUT UP ALREADY KID stories of what he did and what games he played at school that day, and when I ask, well who played that game with you, he looks at me like *I* am weird and says , No one, it was just me! And then continues on his never ending excited replay of his day.

So, here we are. A happy loner who is either a glutton for punishment, Wants more gifts, or is the epitome of an optimist.

He has picked three kids he would like to invite. I talked to his teacher, and each of those boys are closer to Blake than any of the other kids, in terms of the amount of conversation/playtime they spend together.

Last year we sent the invitations home three weeks before the party, then twice more. We talked with the teacher who wrote notes in the planner and, while she could not give us their phone numbers, district policy, provided us with last names so we could attempt to locate them ourselves. We never did make contract with the parents, and the end of the story, you already know, was him around his cake, smiling, blowing out candles as his brothers, Micah and I and his grandparents sang.

Blake might be able to handle another birthday with no friends present, but I don’t know how *I* will. It was heartbreaking, watching him run off to play, only to come back every ten minutes if one of his friends had come. He did not, nor has he since then, ever express any type of sadness or anger over his friends not coming, but he is a full year older and maybe able to understand better what is happening.

What the fuck do I do?

We had parent teacher interviews last week and since there is no point discussing the fact that Blake would be better off in the fifth grade than the second, all we discussed was his social skills and his upcoming party. His teacher has given me a partial class list – some parents agreed to let their number be given out, so I have two out of three phone numbers already, but not the third.

His teacher is going to be giving out the invitations WITH Blake, and SHE will put them in their planners (The kids must bring planners home, have them signed and bring them back every morning).

I plan on putting both my phone number and my email in the invitation for the three parents to RSVP to, but should I include a note explaining about last year? Will that point out that Blake is somehow different than other kids and make them not want their child to attend where otherwise they would have been fine with it?

I have no idea what to do, to be honest.

My plan right now, as it stands, is to ask my neighbor to keep her schedule free for the day of the party, so that if no one shows like last year, she can bring her two kids, I will be doing the same with my brother, so he can bring his kids. But I *really* want HIS friends to come.

Like. A lot.

*Pee Ess: I don’t give a hot damn that he isn’t a social butterfly, becuase he is HAPPY that way. But it’s a catch-22 at this point.

∗ Posted by bluepaintred on 03.24.2010
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Diptych: Texture

I had a lot of fun with this one, and by a lot? I mean A LOT. I love getting down and dirty with macro and one of the very reasons I would like a better camera is so that I could get even more macro with more things.

AHNYWAY.

Check this shit out, I put them in Picnik so its all one pic combined already, I am so SMRT!

Top one is of course, My Girl Robin. I need her to mail me one of them there rainbows so I can NOM NOM NOM it. Bottom one is me. Or. Part of me. Ten points if you guessed it’s my palm, weird looks if you guessed a different body part.

Please stay tuned for a post coming soon…should be ready tonight actually, where I need some serious advice on two separate topics, The Talk, and Birthday Parties That Don’t End Up With the Birthday Kids heart Broken In A Million Pieces.

∗ Posted by bluepaintred on 03.24.2010
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Diptych : Blur

Because Robin loves me, she changed this weeks theme from Bokeh to Blur. I was having so much trouble with this one. Add to that, there was a 72 hour period in my life during this past week where I was glued to the computer literally every waking moment , leaving only to sleep, and pee. At one point it got so bad, I had my laptop running and the boys set up beside me and told Micah to go out and buy me a few more netbooks so I could set them up too!

That’s right. I spent 72 hours playing a game.

On FaceBook.

Yo. FaceBook games are addicting.

AHNYway. In between my games on FB and my Pi(e) making and My failed attempts at taking a Bokeh themed picture, I got this, Which fits in nicely with the theme Blur. (stay tuned for the actual “this” part of that last sentence)

As per usual, Even though she is having a craptacular week, Robin has blown me out of the water with her photo. When I first got it in my email I was all. Whoa. She sure took blur to the max, then I actually *looked* at the photo and saw the crystal clear condensation on her glass and became thirstily jealous.

Please. Enjoy.