My Name in Lights

Hooray!

While many kind folks have been sweet enough to feature my Crafterall pieces, my first, official "artist interview" has just been published. You can find it here, on the blog of the fabulous and talented Nicole, creator of beautiful jewelry under the name Lillyella.

Check it out -there's a giveaway and a discount attached!

I am thrilled, honored, humbled, and doin' a little happy dance.

Ya-hoo!

Games Kids Play

Leah likes to have names for pretty much anything in her life. She wants to know what things are called or named, and if they don't have names, she gives them names. You may recall that she named all four of our monarch caterpillars (Joe Mauer, Joe Nathan, Monarch Boy, and Stripey Guy) last fall. She also names the games she plays with us.

One of the first games she imbued with a moniker involved rolling a big, plush ball or two across the floor, back and forth with one of her parents on the other end. The name: "Balls Roll Across the Floor." Tricky, huh? This game was later modified by using little cars in the place of the balls, and it became known as, "Cars Go Really Fast."

More recently, she invented a game that does need a little explanation. The game, played only with her Dad, is called, "Stiff Man." Basically, Dad pretends that he has been haphazardly stapled to the ground through his feet, hands and head. I know, gruesome, right? Leah, the "kind citizen" saves the day by yanking each limb from the ground and thus releasing Dad from his horrible bondage. When Matthew thanks her for her kindness, she screams, "I'm Leah Evelynn Tift!" And that's how that game is played.

For the sake of our dear readers, here is a recorded episode of "Stiff Man." Somehow an extra walked onto the set, but she becomes only a minor distraction from the heart-wrenching drama that unfolds. Advance apologies for the butt crack too. Enjoy.

While the Weather Outside is Frightful

The past few days have been lovely and even the nighttime low has stayed above zero. But last week we endured some butt-ass cold days and nights. I don't use the term "butt-ass" lightly either. It was the kind of cold that takes your makes your lungs seize with shock on their first, shallow inhalation. The kind of cold where Jack's poop steams wildly at first before freezing almost before I bag it up. The kind of cold where snow behaves differently, more like ice, and trees withdraw into themselves. The kind of cold when you marvel at the fact that we make our homes on this barely sub-arctic tundra. The kind of cold old grandpappies speak of when they tell stories that begin with "Back in my day..." You get the idea. Butt-ass cold.

So what happens in the Karger/Tift household when faced with what amounts to a lock-down? We make the most of it, as you can clearly see below.

Leah finds some bubble wrap and takes the little car for a spin.



Both girls find it's more fun to play IN the toybox rather than with the toys inside the toybox.



Natalie finds a precariously cute pose on a dining chair.



And then this happens. Inevitably. Cabin Fever is sometimes, mere moments away.

Natalie's Internal Combustion Engine

So Natalie makes this noise... We call it her "working groan." She makes it when she's working at something: turning pages of a board book, putting small things into larger things, pulling small things out of larger things, and feeding herself. It's part growl, part hum, part...well, hear for yourself.



This video reveals the following:

1. That strange sound definitely comes from this little girl... somehow.
2. The groaning must obviously assist in the feeding of herself...somehow.
3. Her older sister finds the behavior quite amusing...somehow.
4. Our brilliant, youngest daughter must have inherited some strange genetic behavioral patterns from her parents.

Jenny

Two years ago, my hubby bought me a ukulele for Christmas.

Sounds like the start of a strange country song or a bad joke, but it's true. I had wanted one for years and he went to an Indie music shop in Madison and picked out the most beautiful instrument I have ever owned (except for my amazing shower voice, that is).



My obsession with ukes began in elementary school. It was common knowledge that in third grade, you learned to play the little xylophones, in fourth grade it was recorders, and in fifth grade it was ukuleles. I mastered the xylophones, played a solo during the recorder recital, and was primed for the ukes when... they disappeared. Suddenly, when I reached my "senior year" at Lincoln Elementary, there were no ukuleles. The box of dark brown mini-guitar like things was gone. I was crushed. I joined the orchestra and began playing viola, but it wasn't the same.



I got to play guitar in seventh grade. I made up a song to entertain my friends, called it, "The Sun's Comin' Over the Hill," and I got requests to play it in the practice rooms. I enjoyed guitar, but found it difficult and painful to press the strings with my little hands and puny fingers. My oldest brother played guitar in a band by this time and he, with his seven-inch, monster fingers, made bar chords look easy.



My fascination faded a bit until I saw Steve Martin's "The Jerk." Uke players know well the scene where Steve plays "Tonight, You Belong to Me" on a ukulele while Bernadette Peters sings harmony before busting out her trumpet for a solo. That sealed the deal. From then on, any song with a simple chord arrangement and catchy lyrics was added to my list of songs to play on the uke someday. That day was just before Christmas 2006.

Matthew presented me with a short, black strap with a curved, rubbery shoulder pad threaded onto it. I was truly baffled for a while, before I figured that it probably went to some sort of instrument case. Once I guessed correctly, he brought out the case that went with the strap, and I still wasn't convinced that there was a real ukulele inside. When I opened the case, I think my heart skipped a beat. It was soooooo pretty. I undid the velcro tie and lifted the treasure from the case. The movement made the strings vibrate a little and the slight chord it made was like a perfect little chorus of bells somewhere. Yeah, it was love at first sight.



It's a Bushman Concert "Jenny" made of spruce and rosewood with mother of pearl inlay. I also got a felt pick, a method book and one of Jim Beloff's songbooks to get me started. I quickly decided to bring the uke along with us on our holiday travels and I played it a few times in front of our families. By the end of two weeks, I had built up decent calluses on my left hand and knew most of the basic chords by heart.

I didn't play my uke for a while. Natalie was born, we sold our house, and moved to Minnesota. With all the space in our new house, we ended up with an empty, glass-doored hutch in the formal living room. I suggested we turn that corner of the room into a music area. We put our stringed instruments including the ukulele in the hutch, slipped my recorder into the drawer, set up the electric piano, assembled the music stand, and food a nook for Matthew's guitar.



Since we've moved, I've played my ukulele quite often. I'm still not that great, but since it's so easy to play at least adequately, any little attempt sounds pretty good. The ukulele is, according to the Guiness Book of World Records, the easiest instrument to play. While I'm not sure I'd agree with that, I will say that it is the source of some of the most beautiful and cheerful sounds ever produced. It's like happiness in a curvy wooden box.

I was pregnant with Natalie at the time and I like to think that she heard (and hopefully enjoyed) hearing the sweet, sweet sounds of a simple C chord through the layers of tissue between her and the back of my instrument. Because of this, or for no logical reason at all, I think Natalie is a more "musically-inclined" babe than Leah was or is. Maybe someday I'll post a little video with my playing in it, but until then, I urge you to have a listen to the fabulous James Hill or the virtuosity of Jake Shimabukuro. Enjoy!

In the Bag and Outta the Sack

Happy Oh-Nine, Everyone!

I think I've spent my quota of craftiness at my craft table lately, so rather than delight you with witty narrative, I'll just post some pics, a video, and some informative captions to illustrate our last two weeks. Ta-Da!

Christmas 2008 found the four of us and Jack-a-Roo, in our own home as our own family unit for the very first time EVER! It was precious and low key, and the coffee I pressed that morning was especially delicious.



Here the girls are coming down the stairs to see what may lay under the tree. This is an annual tradition that Matthew has done since he was a squirt. We four Karger kids used to come from three different levels of the house to converge upon overflowing stockings on Boxing Day while Ma and Pa caught a few extra zzzz's. I guess Santa hit Nymore a little late every year... :)
Natalie was just a little excited - perhaps it was the novelty that the rest of us woke her up and escorted her down the stairs. Either way, she was pumped.



The aftermath, taken using my new toy: a little Gorillapod hooked on the top of a chair. Sweet.



We spent two nights near Park Rapids at a nice resort with Matthew's extended family. It was super snowy and while we didn't get a chance to tear up the trails on snowmobiles, we enjoyed the company, singing karaoke, and swimming in the (indoor) pool. After that we had a long weekend in Bemidji with my fam. Massive meals every night, more fun gifts, and great opprtunities for the girls to play with their cousins. It rocks so much to see our kids playing with my brothers' kids. Leah had them all running around like cheetahs in no time.



Natalie "posed" for some pics while her Nana created her a couple of turkey pies (my all-time, number one, favorite meal).



Every year, we light the bonfire that Dad builds throughout the year with fallen branches, salvadge lumber, and other burnable scraps (one year we tried to light it using gasoline-soaked rose chafers - but that's another blog post). This year's fire was awesome, and it was further enhanced with some fireworks. The little kids didn't enjoy the hiss and pop, but we big kids thought it was rad. Check it:



One of the highlights for me was a visit to Anderson Fabrics Surplus Outlet store.



Stacks of high-quality fabric remnants at unbelievably cheap prices. It's a fabric scrap paradise. Drool with me.



What am I going to do with all of this fabric? I'm not sure, but here's a little of what I've done so far:



"Topo" Pillow:



Arrow Pillow:



Both pillows employ a reverse applique technique that was fun and fairly easy to do. I hope to make more of these, and maybe even sell them in my shop. We shall see. I also have some plans for a new informal dining table cloth, and a formal dining table runner. Too. Much. Fun. :)

All for now. Take care, and remember, that is SOoooooo two thousand eight. ;)