Dad Hog

I became a "dad hog" according to my sister when our dad came to town last Friday night. Em had a crazy couple of weekends, so I was giving her a little chance to breathe before entertaining again. Chris and I hijacked my dad and took him out for sushi. We waited for an hour to sit in the fancy room where you have to take our shoes off. We enjoyed tako salad (octopus salad), edamame, sea bass, yellowtail, eel and crazy monkey rolls. It had been a while since I had sushi. Chris claims it makes him think more clearly. My dad was a good sport and enjoyed having sushi that wasn't from the local Dime-a-ru in Salina.

On Saturday morning, Em and I took dad and Ellie to Einstein for bagels and coffee and then to the Overland Park farmer's market. (My ideal Saturday morning is coffee and the farmer's market...hand's down).

After the market, my dad and I decided to go to the Nelson-Atkins Museum. I'm not sure if I'm boring company or what, but he was yawning up a storm on the way to the Nelson. I offered to stop at Starbucks on the Plaza and he was more than thrilled to consume even more caffeine.

We sat on the deck and people watched and talked. Eventually I asked him if I'd ever told him about my invention (sorry, it cannot be revealed here). I apparently hadn't told him and he suddenly became so excited. Maybe the Einstein and Starbucks coffee were working their magic together or maybe I was actually onto something. After drawing on napkins, we set out for a few stores on the Plaza so I could better describe my thoughts. Needless to say, my dad now thinks I'm a genius and wants a 7% finders fee after following me to Halls, Eddie Bauer, J. Crew, Coach and Anthropologie. He followed up on Monday by sending me links to manufacturers in the area.

Eventually we made it to the Nelson and actually breezed through it rather quickly. We missed the entire area of the museum labeled "ancient" in the handheld directory. Shocking, I'm sure. I enjoyed the modern works and really liked the pop art. I did take 16 hours of art history in college, so some of it was familiar, but pulling all nighters memorizing art slides apparently didn't serve me too well.I think that of everything that the museum has to offer, I seem to enjoy the sculpture garden the best. I love those darn shuttlecocks. I think that my mother-in-law said it best when she said that she thinks of it as God playing a game of badminton and telling everyone to just not take life so seriously. I couldn't agree more.

I'm not sure what God is trying to say with the headless men...

Ellie Update

It's been awhile since the last Ellie update. She is growing like a weed! She has 7 teeth and will be walking by the end of August for sure.

I try to spend as much time as possible with her and since she is right across the street, it has been pretty easy. The cutest thing is that Em takes her out and puts her in the stroller as I walk across the street with Annie to go for a walk. Before I can even cross the street, I can see the giant grin on her face. She starts bouncing and dancing and saying "Ca Ca Ca". That's right...Cassie, but I go by Ca now. I was her fourth word. Oh, and Ca is so much easier...for everyone, not just Ellie.

My dad came to Kansas City last weekend and got to spend some quality time with Ellie as well. She was so sweet when she fell asleep in his arms on Saturday night after a BBQ at our house.

Tomatoes and moth balls

Have you ever smelled moth balls?

How did you get their legs apart?

Pah dum dum.

Moth balls are just one of ten of the suggestions to stop squirrels from eating your tomatoes. You see, I have four huge tomato plants with huge green tomatoes that I've been babying for months. So far, only two of these babies have turned the blush that tomatoes should just before they should be picked. But, just like the last few summers where I tested my green thumb, the tomatoes are stolen by the stupid squirrels that infest our neighborhood. So, this might not seem like a big deal, but considering the sheer amount of time spent staking, watering and swatting mosquitoes I am sick and tired of it.


We've tried cages, fencing, full strength bobcat urine...but last night I googled a few other options because these things weren't doing the trick. Among the suggestions were moth balls (hence the lame joke), dog hair, bone blood meal (huh?), human hair among other things. I've also heard that plastic snakes might do the trick.

So I set out for plastic snakes at Target last night. They don't sell large plastic snakes anymore like they did in the old days. So I settled for the most realistic plastic lizard I've ever seen and a plastic sleeve of small plastic wormy, snakey things.

I placed the lizards and worms last night and Chris sprayed the bobcat urine. So, here's to hoping for bright red tomatoes.

Etsy Fave: Heather Smith Jones

I'm not getting rich on Etsy, but maybe I can help somebody else achieve their riches. I'm going to start posting some of my favorites for you to enjoy (and an ongoing wish list for Chris to reference upon gift giving occasions) Check out some of my Etsy faves...

Fellow Kansas Citian, Heather Smith Jones, creates sweet watercolor paintings and I really could blanket an entire wall with a series of her work. Love, love, love...

Carl and Russell of rePop

Carl and Russell are at it again. This time they are featured on Design*Sponge. NO BIG DEAL!

HOLY COW!

Chris and HOLY COW! himself, Harry Caray. Oh my God, they have the same exact hair!!

Chris and I had a heck of a time with Moe and Eric in Chicago over the weekend. Not only to Moe beat me by taking waaay more pictures than I did, but she also already posted them on her blog. Check it out.

Mr. Doust and Moe after the architecture tour.

The crazy building along the river that you couldn't pay me to park in because my car would surely end up in the river.

The news

OK. OK. It's not THAT kind of news.

I've been asked to show and sell my work at the cutest little shop in Brookside called Shopgirls. I'll drop off my work this week for them to decide which to hang. It's a wonderful opportunity. If you are in the neighborhood in the next few weeks, check it out.

A Must See Goodie

Thanks to my favorite blog, Dooce, who posted this juicy little nugget from You Tube. Absolute hilariousness. The greatest part is the theory about the crackhead. That word alone never fails to crack me up. Love it!

The bean is calling

Well, the "bean" isn't really calling, but a trip to see Moe and Eric is way overdue. Chris and I are heading to Chicago to see Moe and Eric (and the bean) on Thursday night. We'll be there until Monday. Happy 4th.

After that, I have little remaining excuses to continue to abandon my blog. I have nine commissions and another very exciting announcement coming up very soon! So, I will have something to post after being on a bit of a hiatus.