Wonderful Weekend

Hello again, all!

My, what a great past couple of days it's been since I last wrote.
Crazy to think we are one week+ since Dash's accident.
I'm happy to report that he's doing splendid, barely limping and the laceration on his forehead is healing up great. The doctor did a super job and it will be just the lightest pink line ever, me thinks.

Come Saturday, I was feeling much better than I had before, and the day kicked off with a trip to the Corvallis Waldorf School.
The occasion? Their Open House & Alumni Panel! :D

I was mostly there to see about meeting new prospective parents and get to snoop around the classrooms since I don't usually get the chance. Ha!
I wish I'd taken some photos, because there was some really stellar artwork on the walls and I'd have liked to show off what William's and classrooms are like. Oh, well! That's what happens when the school's a cell phone free zone I guess ;)

After the Open House, the rest of Saturday really became a Mama-Ella date :)
We hit up the Howland Community Art Show for Ella to enter some art into.
I've written about this Art Show before, and this is the piece she's entered:

This thing's all of 2" x 2" I swear.

Technically, she drew this "Candy Witch" back in October. So just imagine where her art's at now :D
I was happy to see some familiar faces in both the CWS and artist community that I love so very much. Good folks all around!

Magical Mr. Mark Allison, the great Kristi Hager, and the talented Emily Thomas for starters!

The weather was so nice, Ella and I made an impromptu downtown outing of it, hitting up Pegasus Studios to see some of Mark Allison's work on display, getting a replacement tube/tire for her tag-along, and perusing the delicious Kaleidoscope bead store.
Last we were there, it was the Corvallis Arts Walk, which was fun but a little busy.
It was nice to take the time to speak with the owner, Lori, this time around, and she even taught me some basic knots that are sure to help me with future beadwork (remember what we did for V Day?).

For starters, I learned how to do a proper Square Knot, and how one more loop around makes it the ever durable hard-to-undo Surgeon's Knot. Turns out the usual double knot is also technically called a Granny Knot. Just remember that what makes a Square Knot a Square Knot is starting with the same "side" string/thread/rope/etc for both knots. Confused? Check out youtube for a video. You'll see what I mean ;)

Another thing I got from Lori was this nifty tilty marble labyrinth thing!!

So fun and challenging!!

I vaguely remember having one as a kid, and now I look forward to mastering it and having the kids hone their fine motor skills as they tackle it too.

We then did a little "Huge-y Boo" run at Big Sports 5, where Ella Rose used some holiday money savings to buy these adorable stuffed animals for herself, William, and friends. One of them was for her good friend Beatrix to whom we delivered the stuffie promptly.

I must note here that all the downtown fun was on foot and the Huge-y Boo run and delivery was with Ella on her own bike. I am feeling more confident with her on her bike now and I am so proud of her stamina!

Saturday was topped off with dinner at El Sol de Mexico. Mm-MM!
And I got to pick up the latest issue of the Corvallis Advocate which also has an article about the Gift Economy and Clothing Swap in it!

It's technically a truncated version of the one that appeared in the online Valley Parenting magazine (which I wrote about here), but still good to see in physical form :D

Sunday was knitting during church and then hitting up the Letter Writing Social with Ella.
We really branched out our usual letter recipients with such ambitious destinations as Ty Inc. (creators of Beanie Boos), Nintendo of North America, and El Sol de Mexico.

Nothing like having stamps on hand to really make the letters fly~!

We'll see if we get responses from any of them ;)

In other news, I am all caught up on The Walking Dead issues my BIL got me, and am listening to another Sherlock podfic. And it's thirty-one chapters long!!!! ♡♡♡

I suppose that's all for now.
I foresee brightening spring weather this week, along with finishing off those curtains, doing some work in the art classrooms and getting some translations done.

Until then, stay tuned, take care, and Happy Wonderful Weekend!!

Sickness Strikes~!

Hey hey!

Sorry for the long absence there.
Wednesday was a great day and was mainly comprised of tidying the house, practicing piano, and then working with an artist group in the evening.
I think it was that evening work that did something to me though because I was really pushing myself hard, and Thursday morning I woke up with both an insanely sore back and a super achey stomach.

I ended up spending all day in bed, only venturing out to trudge through a Japanese lesson with Jack-san for a couple of hours in the middle of the day.

That was pretty much how today, Friday, looked too.
Can't say I have a 24-hour bug or the flu, because really my only symptom is a feverish and very achy body and belly. Huh. It's meant a ton of sleep, zero food, and lots of reading of The Walking Dead comic on my computer. Buya~!

Now, on the eve of Saturday, I am feeling a little better, though definitely will be laying low still...

Hope you all are feeling well and looking forward to a great weekend! I know I am~!!

Til next time, take care and Happy Sickness Strikes!! (wait, what?)

Two Awesome Days

'Allo 'allo!

So things are going well in the Dashiell household these past couple of days.
Firstly, Dash is doing great in his recovery, even though I did get him a cane off the Gift Economy to help him get around. I think it makes him look almost scholarly when coupled with his glasses and budding Harry Potter scar. ;)

There's always a silver lining to these things, you know?

For instance, now that we are without a car I've been having to bike ride everywhere and clocked in  about 21 miles on Monday, what with the kids' drop-off and pick-up and then having to drop by the tow company out of town.

I got to take a shot of the truck and say one last good-bye to it:

Thank you little $800 truck, you served us well!!

Pretty amazing to think that Dash came out of that wreck in as good a shape as he did. And what a surprise that the windshield didn't so much as crack. Huh.

Another thing that happened on Monday was that Ella's other front tooth finally came out!
That thing had been rattled around in its socket for, like, three weeks so I know it was a relief to Ella to finally have it out. Myself, I like that somewhat vampiric look it's given her:

Holding a lovely camellia flower~

Monday was actually rather sunny and even, dare I say it, warm so I took a nice long walk to the library with the kids with William riding his little bike and my main goal being to wear them out.
I think it worked because they promptly fell asleep at 6:30pm. What-what?? NICE.

Oh! Monday ended with a happy surprise for me, when I was notified that an article came out in the local Valley Parent Magazine the Gift Economy and upcoming Clothing Swap :)
You can read about it here, and it was written by the lovely Sarah Nieminski who had interviewed me back in early January for it. Truth be told, that very same day I had had to remove this fellow I'd installed as an admin for the group because of his persistently vitriolic comments made to members and such. I'd been a whirlpool of anxiety over that whole thing, and the interview had helped calm it down...and now that the article is finally out, it's nice to think back to that time and how much has transpired over the past month and more. Time keeps on slipping in the future, as they say, and so far, all good things are coming from it :)

Which brings me to today!
I've been looking forward to today because I got to partake in my second experience of the Benton County High School Career Convention.
I don't recall how I heard about it, but I went to the one last year, too, and sat on the "Writing, Journalism, and Language" panel with the fantastic local author Tom Birdseye representing the field of Writing, and Anthony Rimel from the GT representing Journalism. I, of course, represented the Language field and discussed my career as a translator and all the pros of knowing a second language.

Truth be told, last year I hadn't come all that well-prepared, and just sort of winged it.
The results had been all right, I suppose, with some kiddos coming up to ask questions at the end, but nothing came of it.

Today's Fair, on the other hand, went much better!
I sat on the same panel, as well as in the "Arts" panel where I represented the field of comics (to some degree).
I passed out a lot of business cards, and even got a thank-you card targeted at me in particular by one gal in the audience who felt that what I spoke about is right up her brother's alley. So I thought it was sweet of her to be looking out for her little bro like that. :)

I love love love speaking to kids about what I do for a living because I like to show them that "yes, you can turn your passion into a paycheck!" and because I truly love what I do to support my family. I hope to convey all the positive feelings I have around my career, since not all adults are very enthused about what they do and I count myself as one of the lucky ones who gets to do what she loves for a living.

Oh, and I must give a shout-out to our friends the サンソム家族 for making this possible for me by picking up the kids since Dash is still in no shape to be bicycling around let alone with children in tow.

And so that is how yesterday and today were awesome.
Nice weather, Dash getting better, some attention given to the Gift Economy, and a chance to speak to about my career :)

I hope your week is starting off well, too, and until next time take care and Happy Two Awesome Days!! 
 

Final Day of February Break

Hello again!

Oo-wee!
What a week it is has been.
With lots of ups and only that one big down of Dash's accident, I think we spent it very well.
Let's see, what did I accomplish of my intentions?
From the list that I compiled on Valentine's Day, this is how things stand now:

DONE listen to the rest of We're Alive podcast (only 4 more chapters until the finale!!)
DONE knit Dash a pair of handwarmers
DONE listen to the Sherlock podfic
DONE read the rest of BAKUMAN. books in my possession (4 volumes)
NOT DONE AT ALL- listen to "Everything's Illuminated" through audible.com
ALMOST DONE sew curtains for my friends Rachel and Rachael :D
ALMOST DONE finish reading David Sedaris' "Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls"
DONE translate Space Dandy volume 2

All riiiiiight~!
Not too bad!
I'll be a honest, a lot of time this week was spent inside for all members of the families if not because of the near constant rainfall then because there's just so much to entertain us inside!
Ella's reading is getting better and better every day, and William loves to play his games with Dash.

Oh!
Totally unrelated, that story Kathy-neechan and I have been working on since November finally went up! It's on AO3 so we'll see how many Hits and Kudos and such we get. ^^ Already in the planning stages of the next story.

Also!
Since today was church and I taught Sunday School again, I thought I'd share with you the craft we did:

By my co-teacher, Jennifer :)

The story was "God's Promise to Abraham" so we made star-themed bracelets to give to our grandparents in honor of them being our ancestors. Because as you may recall God allegedly promised Abraham as many descendants as there are stars in the sky.

All right!
Well, until next time take care and Happy Final Day of February Break!!

Day 6 of February Break

Yo yo~

All right, the weekend is upon us!
I missed Breakfast with the Beatles this morning, but only because I got to sleep in until 9am. BUYA.
Today I was all set to play the Florence Nightingale role for Dash, but he was insistent that he could take care of himself, which actually created a bit of a tiff between us, but thankfully resolved itself pretty soon. And yeah, as so long as he doesn't try to lift much and takes his time getting around, he can even pull off making his own breakfast, etc.

I did more curtain creating, and then when Clara came over for a playdate with Ella, I took it as the perfect excuse to get out of the house with William for more bicycling and grocery shopping. Took a whopping two hours, I swear, because of having to fix the chain on William's bike and helping him start from a stopped position, etc etc... He got frustrated quite a bit, but I'm glad he didn't give up in the end.

Back at home, I challenged myself to make a tasty treat that I thought everyone would enjoy from something I'd seen on imgur some months back.

Just watch the gif below to see what it was:

Turns out ours is not a "deep-fried mashed potato with bacon and cheddar" kind of family. :D
Nobody was a big fan.
Oh, well! I had prepared a TRB dinner as a back-up.

Dash spent most of the day in bed but that didn't stop him from reading to the kids, or playing handheld games with them. So that was super nice of him.

I see much of the same happening tomorrow, though my goal is to finish that last lingering curtain so that I can show the fruits of all my labor. Phew!!

Til then, take care and Happy Day 6 of February Break!!

Day 4 & 5 of February Break

Hello again!

Okay, so wow! What a wonderfully productive and enjoyable past couple of days it's been.
Been crushing that to-do list I set up for myself at the beginning of the vacation. So let's see how things have been:

On Thursday, we had another long playdate with Beatrix over here at Chateau Dashiell.
Since their last playdate, they'd been insisting on holding a tea party next time they got together. So that's what we had happen :)

Complete with invitations and stuffed animal guests

Ella picked daffodils out of the yard to put in a vase, and Dash picked up this insane strawberry shortcake to enjoy with the tea.
Look at that beast of a cake!! The kids, thankfully, don't have "sweet tooths" and only ate a portion of their slices, so I got to partake in the rest. Buya ;)

I had an early lesson with another of my pupils, and then off we scurried to our dear friends, the サンソム家族.
Suya made 肉まん (YUM!) and we brought veggies for both raw enjoyment and fried up.

美味しい〜！

Look at that lovely spread!! I was reminded of my absolute love for 山芋.
All the kids play together splendidly (and loudly!) and even graced us with a fashion show.

They had such great clothing pieces to work with ;)

I love this family!!!
They are such good people and so talented too!
Just the other day, Dain had held a concert on the organ (which I had missed) and I got to see him in action in his home on their piano! He even allowed me the chance to accompany him with the super easy part of Pachelbel's Canon in D.

I felt very nervous/honored to work beside a lifelong piano-player like that~!

I felt very inspired to work more on my own piano playing at home, and my next goal is to memorize Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Wish me luck!

All in all, it was a splendid wrap-up to the day :) And I loved the way dinner was handled with the kids eating first so that they could then romp about while we adults could enjoy good conversations over tasty beer. 

On Friday, I really put my nose to the grindstone, and finished off my chapter and complete 単行本 that was due. Phew!! And I did more work on those curtains for R.S.!!!
I must say, I really enjoy making curtains and I would even go so far as to say I am pretty good at it! Granted, all it takes is measuring, cutting, and sewing but the measurements do have to be correct in order for it to work on the window and I think I am meticulous enough for that. :)
I will definitely post photos of them when they are all done.

It was after all that translating and sewing, that things took a downturn.
After dinner, Dash went out to make a Craigslist transaction in Albany...and got into a car accident on the way there! @_@
The truck is totaled but he is okay besides a gash on his forehead, a bloody knee, and a sore chest.
It was very scary when he called me to let me know he was being taken to the hospital, and then I couldn't get a hold of him because his phone had died.
But our sweet neighbor, Dave, picked him up from the ER when it was all over, and at home we counted our blessings and tried to regain some semblance of normalcy, watching more Venture Bros. and snuggling in for the night.

It is definitely a reminder that you never know what the day will bring and to never assume a loved one that leaves the house will necessarily come back in one piece.

Hug your family extra tight today and stay safe on the roads, friends!!
And with that, the last weekdays of our February Break are wrapped up.
Now to go and tend to Dash some and keep the kids out of his hair.
Until next time, take care and Happy Day 4 & 5 of February Break!!

Day 2 & 3 of February Break

Hi again!

Oops, I missed yesterday's post.
But I'll tell you why!!

It's because I've started this new "audiobook" (technically a podfic) and it is absolutely taking up my life and I love it!!!
I listen to it while cleaning the dishes, going on errands by foot, or working on craft like knitting or sewing.
Love love love it.
It's a fanfic based off the BBC Sherlock universe being read aloud by a British lady that is such sweet music to the ears. In fact, when I was putting the kids down tonight I read them the B section of their children's alphabet (if you think that's nuts, Dash has been reading them Old Testament stories from their children's Bible... Yeah, totally surprised me too!) I read the entire B section with a sweet British accent. Kick aaaaass. ♡♡
Okay, so quick rundown of what we've been up two these past two days.
Yesterday, I translated my book to p. 100 (score!) and then biked with the kids to a birthday party of a classmate of Ella's.
That's right, I had William on the tagalong while Ella rode her own bike. So proud of her!!!
Though truth be told, of course I was sweating bullets worrying about the cars nearby. But I have to remind myself that Corvallis is a pretty bike-aware town and she was safe.
The party was at a bowling alley and it reminded but that this mode of entertainment still exists despite its super dwindling popularity. Oh, well! Good times had by all.

Well, except that William must've had too much sugar (or salt?? He likes to dump the salt shakers at restaurants onto his plate at eat that straight up... Silly child, and I warned him it wasn't good for him!) because he was pretty much a thorn in my side the entire rest of the day.

Ella had her pottery class following the party (and a quick trip to the grocery store), during which I listened to the podfic while knitting more of Dash's second handwarmer.

At home that evening (it was 5:45 by the time we got home), we had TRB and then I knitted more while listening to yet more of the podfic. Nnnnghhh, so good!!!!

Today I got right to work sewing these curtains I've been meaning to create for my friend Rachel S. and guess what I listened to during all that work. That's right: PODFIC.
Man oh man, I am a sucker for love stories and this one has the added allure of a really well designed detective case. Mm-MM!

Dash and the kids went off to listen to a dear friend of ours play the organ, while I had a spa appt ;) and then mosed on home listening to more fic. Then a fun Japanese lesson with another pupil, and by the end of it all I was not in the mood to figure out dinner and we went out to El Sol De Mexico. My second home, really :D

I think I'm going to whipout ooooone more curtain set before I call it a night because I still have four more chapter which is about 2+ hours of podfic, me thinks. Man, I'm gonna be hungry for more good stories after this one, but I think I will finally redeem this gift card to Audible.com that I got from my bro- and sis-in law "Everything is Illuminated."

No pics, sorry!
But thanks for reading my journal post.
Til tomorrow, take care and Happy Day 2 & 3 of February Break!!