[i] LoveLife

6 paintings and funeral.

Monday morning. I have Leaving on a Jet Plane stuck in my head today. I have baby feet trying desperately to break through my ribs from the inside. I have cold fingers just from seeing the frost on the rooftops around us. Gosh darn it. We had a really nice weekend even though we didn't get much accomplished. Well, I didn't. We did a lot of visiting and that was cool. I'm still feeling a little under the weather and grumbly - so poor Dan had to put up with that mess. Good thing he's a trooper.

Cool things I stumbled onto via that internet while wasting time:
This next. This is very cool... Just a bunch of people suggesting cool products with links and all that jazz. I sort of got sucked in and wandered around for about an hour in here. Cool place to find cool stuff.
Very intense baby baskets. Wow. But, a nicely put together site. Bravo.
I like this SwissMiss lady - especially this post about a LEGO CAKE. I'm gonna make that someday because that looks like something I could handle.
9 days until Halloween. Yikes.

Today: A little something I like to call 6 small paintings and a funeral.  I suppose I could pile on a bunch more than that - but, I'm gonna keep it simple for this gonna-be-sunny Monday. The paintings/art pieces are for a project that I'm getting out of my office TODAY - deadline is today. Of course! The funeral is for a friend's mom. Pencil crayons will be in full effect and I will post the results later today or tomorrow. My 4000lb delivery did not show up last week and I'm getting a little worried that he won't make it before the snow... I guess everybody on their own time. Right? Right.

Time to round up some paint brushes. And some ideas. And coffee. Let's GO.

How you know you are loved.

So. Like I said yesterday - Anticipation (my favourite maternity and cool baby stuff store) is closing to spend more time with their young families. As a business owner - I understand and appreciate the hardness and fullness of that choice. I do. It touches me and I admire their decision. Today, they were having a monster closing sale and I wanted to be there to support them and to buy up all their stuff and just to say hello and thank you and thanks for making a difference to me and how I feel about being pregnant. Because they did that. Dan and I had plans to be there at 10am sharp to be first in line.

And so did a LOT of others.

And I do mean A LOT. There was a major line up outside the door just to get inside. Probably more than 150 people turned up BEFORE 10am to take advantage of the sale and to say good bye to a lovely shop run by great women. That's what I wanted to do...

We didn't stop this morning - because we didn't think we would get in or find parking or being able to say hello. AND WHEN I GOT HOME - there was a message from Crystal (my favourite Anticipation friend) asking to see if I was there and they would let me in the back door... SO COOL. Crystal - you actually made me tear up. Thanks. I'm sorry that I missed you. And just plain very big, you-are-so-cool THANKS.

Thank you Anticipation. Good luck in the next part of your lives.

So here we are now. Saturday - back from getting coffee's and taking a short walk at the park (instead of shopping at Anticipation!). Dan is marking mid terms and me - well, I'm gonna find something good to do before I sneak back to say hello to the girls at Anticipation and hear about all the good stuff I MISSED OUT ON!

PLEASE NOTE my newly painted and very, very cool rocking chair. It's beautiful. Thank you Dan. That's how I know I AM LOVED, too. It's just what I wanted. He did that for me. It's been carefully restored and painted in the colour I wanted. Thank you. It's awaiting it's black & white cushions and then it's on it's way upstairs to baby K's room.

Oh, Saturday. I'm seriously overwhelmed with gratitude today. Life is good. Tremendously good. We watched Reign Over Me last night. It was good. It was sad and powerful and good. Just what I needed.

So go. Go. Go have a terrific day. All good.

CAUTION.

Friday already! This week whipped by and I am so excited it's the weekend. So much going on in my head and so many projects on the go around here. Short post because I'm waiting for the sun to come out so I can take some photos of some of these projects (YES, the elephants have still not been photographed because it's been SO DARK and I do not want to use a flash).

SAD NEWS for pregnant ladies. I came home last night and there was an email letting me know that Anticipation (MY ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE MATERNITY STORE) is closing their doors. All kinds of reasons. All perfectly good. Sometimes, life just moves you in a different direction and that's okay. They're having a big sale tomorrow. Go there. Say hello. Give them a big triple arm pump for being the best in the city. Buy lots.

Today: I'm working on stuff for Claudine Hellmuth's next book (oooops, did I say that?). ;)  There's stuff ALL OVER THE PLACE. Paint. Pencil crayons. Glue. Inks. Ideas. It's a regular mad house in here. Just finished a project for Donna Downey. Look for that in Scrapbooks ETC. before Christmas. Look for it a few other places and let me know when you've found it. I'm blazing to get stuff done this morning (including laundry!) so I can chill in the afternoon and take some photos and tend to some errands. I'M DUE for my second 4000lb baby today and I can hardly wait. Go away rain so the delivery is smooth.

I'm grabbing this day by the nuts! Let's GO!

Pure.

Yesterday was a total flash of magic. My photo shoot was at Assiniboine Park. I had been there a week before - and the colours were still okay. So, it seemed like it would do the trick for us. BUT. I met Shannon and Zoe at the English Formal Gardens and was absolutely not prepared for the incredible explosions of colour. Most of the city is grey now... the leaves have fallen and blow about the streets. In the Formal Garden as well as the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden... it was PURE WOW. It was like stepping into the Secret Garden. Or some other perfectly imaginary place... or something. The flowers were still blooming. The fountains were on. The leaves were settled on the ground. It was a cloudy call-for-rain kinda day...

and it was pure magic. Zoe was a star. I will post the gallery here when I'm done.

Today: I really want to finish editing these dreamy, dreamy photos and check a couple of boxes on my To-Do list before I take off for an afternoon of catching up with Bonnie and baby Cash. Errands. Post office. Dog park. Pretty much the usual good day around here. My cleaning lady is coming this morning and I think I might KISS HER. I got my wires all tangled last week and missed her - so the house is practically buzzing it's so excited about turning the dust bunnies out on their ear.

Check out this portal to very cool links. And let's get a move on. GO!

My apologies.

Apparently I owe everyone who reads this blog an apology. My mom said so. I am sorry. It seems I have insulted all my relatives that read this blog by saying,

"...if you have read these two posts about my love and endless adoration for black & white AND YOU ARE CONSIDERING BUYING A BABY GIFT for our new person - please don't parcel up a bunch of ugly brown and green ducky prints or fluorescent rainbow accessories (MOM - I AM TALKING TO YOU) because in true KAL form - I might just hide them."

I wouldn't actually hide them. I hope you know I was joking. I like to joke - I'm crazy like that. I'm a JOKESTER sometimes. All in good fun. I promise to love and appreciate the gift and the thought and the giver and our love and connection. I would. I hope you would know that. I strictly put that last bit in because my Mom likes to push my buttons. BECAUSE I ALREADY KNOW THAT SHE WILL BUY MANY OUTRAGEOUS OUTFITS AND THINGS for her very first grandchild. I know this because that is how she is. She's outrageous sometimes and that's what we love about her. I ALSO KNOW that her gifts will be bought with EXTREME care and love - because that's also how she is. AND she likes to push my buttons. And even though I have been in love with black since I was in elementary school she will insist on craziness BECAUSE SHE LIKES TO PUSH MY BUTTONS and that's how she is and we all love that about her.

What I should have said was:

"...if you have read these two posts about my love and endless adoration for black & white AND YOU ARE CONSIDERING BUYING A BABY GIFT for our new person - please know that we appreciate your love, support and generousity. Anything you wish to gift to our new person - is only shadowed by the gift of your love and prayers. Amen."

That is true.

Sooooo.... Off we went a photo shoot last night and this little guy was the star of the show. Happy kid and happy to play along with our leaf-throwing and walking around IN THE RAIN. (Thanks Steph & Dan for being SUCH GOOD SPORTS!) I'm almost done the gallery for this one and it will be posted here when it's done (probably by 10am today).

Today: It's raining AGAIN so I want to get the photo editing out of the way and the blast into some work. I have a LOT to do. Thankfully Dan painted the rocking chair and dresser last night so that is no longer weighing on my mind. It's a Botanical Paperworks kind of day - and that's the folder I will be working in until it's time for a photo shoot at 5pm (UNLESS it's STILL RAINING LIKE THIS).

That's all I got. Enjoy the black & white animals - I'm glad you like them. WE ARE GETTING A VERY SPECIAL DELIVERY ON FRIDAY. OH yes. It's a BIG 4000lb deal. We're getting a house-guest on Tuesday. It's a small - roughly 15lb deal. Baby Cash will be IN DA HOUSE tomorrow all the way from Pitt Meadows, BC so things are looking up for the end of the week. Java, java, java for me and baby K today. 

Let's DO THIS. Let's GO!

Grow big dreams, dude.

Okay. So I totally got side-tracked today. But in a good way. Every now and then - I need a project that just sort of lets me stretch my muscles. SO MUCH TALK ABOUT BLACK & WHITE lately that I was a little fired up. I love that. Kasie left a link in her comment on the last post for some free black & white images you could download for your babies. Here is that link. I love you, Kasie and I love your work - but, THAT LINK MAKES ME WANT TO BARF. If I was a baby - I would double crap in silent smelly protest and OUTRAGE. Oh YES. I so certainly would.

So, that got me jazzed to play around with some images that would NOT make me barf - but, would make me smile with those designer muscles. The little birdie inside my head said - Kal, stop complaining about nothing being what you want. Stop right now. CREATE WHAT YOU DESIRE. Fine. Done.

So I did. Instead of lunch - I whipped up some very cool animal images that I think babies would get a kick out of and they are certainly designer-worthy. They also happen to match my fabrics. And my taste (which I realize is not for everyone). I decided to call this line Grow Big Dreams, Dude because dude is a word we use a LOT around here. Girl or boy or pet - once you enter our home - you become a dude. I used Adobe Illustrator CS3 to put together some SO SIMPLE pieces with a little help from PixelFarm's Pets font (a so RADICALLY UN-cheese-o-rama set of cool animals). Thank you Pixelfarm. Thank you black & white. Thank you circles and stars and the font Coolvetica. (forgive me if these images come in a little helter-skelter - Typepad is whack sometimes.)


So there you go. Click to enlarge each image and feel free to post it up for your baby - if you are so inclined. Free. Me? I'm gonna print these and frame or mount them and place them strategically around the crib. I think they will be good. Hey - if you've got a husband or boyfriend that needs a little visual stimulation - try these suckers out. ;) I'm cool with that. These images are about 6 inches square at 150 dpi.

My gift to the babies out there...

I'm off to paint a rocking chair and get those elehpant paintings photographed. And find me some STIR FRY ingredients. And hit the dog park. GO.

Sew it up.

Wow. THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of your sewing machine help. Even Kerri (all the way from Australia!) popped in to tell me where to find her sewing machine manual (in the freezer?? Kerri - that' so weird!). If you read between the lines in her comment I think she actually says, "BE CAREFUL WITH MY SEWING MACHINE, YOU LUNATIC! YOU BREAK IT - YOU BUY IT". It made me laugh. (Don't worry Kerri - I'm being careful and I already checked to see if there was a replacement model at Sears JUST IN CASE. Oh, and I replaced the needles I broke. Oh, and the 45 miles worth of white thread.) I didn't get a chance to play with the tension yesterday - but, I have so many more sewing projects lined up that I will get my chance soon. I've decided to pick it up a notch and move on to CREATING more challenging things. I hear the Canadian military needs new parachutes. Or maybe submarine cozies or something. ;) [THROW PILLOWS. Chill, I was thinking of starting with some pillows!]

And one more thing - IF BLACK & WHITE IS SO GOOD FOR BABIES - HOW COME YOU CAN'T FIND VERY MANY BLACK & WHITE THINGS OUT THERE? Seriously. OH. And one more thing - if you have read these two posts about my love and endless adoration for black & white AND YOU ARE CONSIDERING BUYING A BABY GIFT for our new person - please don't parcel up a bunch of ugly brown and green ducky prints or fluorescent rainbow accessories (MOM - I AM TALKING TO YOU) because in true KAL form - I might just hide them. I'm on a mission this week to make black receiving blankets with satin trim. Watch me go.

Create. Dan found this really cool book called Create. It's a sketch book/journal with all kinds of quotes about creating and inspiration and moving and shaking. What I like best about it so far is the quote on the back page: WE ARE THE HERO OF OUR OWN STORY. Cool thought of the day.

The Elephant Paintings. Yes, I finally made up my mind - THEY ARE FOR SALE. (Sigh) I will post them this afternoon on the K.Barteski side after I get a good photograph for my archives. Why is this a hard choice for me? I remembered a little ditty about living with your arms open - letting go and letting in - and that kind of inspired me. Give. The reason I was a little hesitant is because they were sort of a piece I made with our new person in mind and they were included in the LoveLife series... and those paintings - I never sell. BUT. I sense that it might be time to revise some old theories to make room for some new ones. To GIVE. And to CREATE MORE STUFF. So I WILL post them today with prices. I promise.

Funny. "I don't care if she is a tape dispenser. I love her." We got this card in the mail last week from the Family Circus and it's FUNNY. I laugh every time I walk by. It also reminded me that I want to shoot some pictures of the interior of our house. As soon as the cleaning lady comes back. There are SEVERAL really, really cool pieces Dan has built and I want to get them in pictures.

Future: I made a radically cool connection yesterday VIA THE INTERNET. (Mr.Internet you deserve a beer for that one.) When it's time - I'm gonna show you how the 3 degrees of separation factored in and a very cool piece of jewelry.

Today: WORK AGAIN. OY. That's okay with me. I'm on fire. I'm motoring along on some jobs and that is terrific. I have a lot list that I want to get through by about the 14th of November. That's 28 days. I have a photo shoot tonight. My camera is charging and the RED CHAIR IS BY THE DOOR. Cool. I'm looking forward to it because there's a little one and I'm getting better and figuring out these little people.

The sun is out this morning and the trees are bare of leaves. They're all on the streets. When a car drives through the back alley by my window the leaves swirl up in a mini-money-tornado between the fences and it's SO cool. It makes me think HOW would you paint that moment? I might take my coffee and go watch for a while... contemplate the universe, meditate...

HA. Nah. Kidding. I'm ready to rock out - so let's do this. Look for an afternoon post. GO.

Martha I am not.

It's not a bad thing - to have a Monday roll around after a really feel-good Sunday. Yesterday was a bit of an amazing experience for me. This photo is some fabric (and a baby toque and some all black sleepers!) that I bought a week or so ago with serious intentions. WHY AM I BUYING FABRIC? Well, here's a little story for Monday...

My mom is a sewing wizard. The Grand Dame of the Singer. Lady Sewer, if you will. She can sew anything. She has MANY sewing machines. She has had a few sewing businesses. All my life, I would dream up an outfit/dress/costume/idea/anything and she would sew it for me. A bathing suit - she would sew it for me. A jacket. Done. A complicated anything-I-wanted. Done. More than a few times she tried to teach me... but, it didn't take. It ended in tears. I'm a simple person. I understand the relationship and mechanical workings of a paintbrush. A sewing machine - NOT AT ALL. The SEWING MACHINE PEDAL??? OH. MY. GOD. I hate that thing. I promise you, I DO NOT DRIVE ERRATIC SPEEDS all over town in my Jeep. I don't. I don't zig-zag over lanes either. But, I can't seem to operate a sewing machine pedal. I never could. The last time I touched a sewing machine - was roughly 1989 (and that was probably just to toss something over top it for my mom to fix.

My friend Kerri (hi Kerri!) moved to Australia a few weeks ago. She will be gone for a year and let me babysit her sewing machine. (You are so brave!)

We couldn't find the instruction book at the time - but, I figured I would be able to download something that would teach me... and I would figure it out. Well, I couldn't find ANYTHING to download for this model. Nothing. So, I tried something new.

I accessed my memories... I literally closed my eyes and tried to recall every time I had ever seen my mom thread her machine - and since she would sit and sew practically every night... the memories flooded back. I could SEE her in my mind and I new what to do. It was so WEIRD! I FIGURED IT OUT. I figured it out by feel... and I was pretty proud of that. (For those of you shaking your head thinking - relax Kal it's just a sewing machine - it's not hard... like I said I am not mechanically inclined... anything more mechanical than a spoon is pure mystery to me. Serious.)

My stitches are still TOTALLY erratic and crooked and plain TERRIBLE. Dan laughed at me but, I don't care. I got it threaded and purring along! HOW COOL IS THAT? (I have a bit of a stitch issue on the BACK that comes from the bobbin - the thread is too loose and loopy - and sometimes gets tangled up... I tried tightening the screw in the bobbin holder a half turn... but, nothing changed... any ideas?) Although I am mortified - if you click to enlarge the photo - you will SEE the horrible stitches I was making... (BUT hey, this is my first project - I'll get better! Watch out Donna.).  ;)

I used my sketchy-wonky sewing skills to sew up a cover for a PUTRID set of crib bumpers (I found on SALE!) for our up-coming new person. I've been scouting out baby stuff and I DON'T WANT LAMBS OR TEDDY BEARS OR koochy cheesy baby prints. NO FLOWERS. I don't want PINK or light blue or all of the other weird things out there. I don't want BROWN EITHER. I like simple. I like classic. I like black and white. I like grey. I wanted something wonderful that I could contribute to the VERY, VERY COOL CRIB that Dan is just about finished BUILDING with his bare super-talented hands FROM SCATCH. (oh, how cool is THAT?) So cool. It's amazing. It's beautiful. He's amazing. [Please do not leave me comments about crib bumper safety or your opinion about building baby furniture - we've researched and shopped and came to the conclusion that there are many ways to host a new-person... and this is ours.]

After some shopping and some stressing about all the stuff we needed (BY ME) Dan was pretty quick to remind me that we do things our own way. That's how we roll... This new person will not have a bassinet - I already have a perfectly sized laundry basket in my favourite colour that will do...  This new person - will be perfectly fine in an antique rocker that doesn't glide (quite a few of us were rocked and we're still alive!). It's really amazing how much stuff the world wants you to think you need... I feel good about carving some paths of our own.

So that was the weekend. Concerts. Dinner parties. Sewing bee's. Discoveries... And a big reminder to just keep rollin' how we roll. It's working.

Today: I have to WORK. I have a list of things to get done and then I'm going to run errands and pick up some foam for another project. I might even paint a rocking chair. I'm definitely stopping off for a pedicure at TiberRiver... my achy feet and my nasty cold deserve it.

(Sorry for the super, super long post. I'm just really excited about those darn bumper pads. AND YES - that was KUB bread in the picture yesterday... you're good.)

Bring it on, Monday. Let's GO.

Sunday slowness...

Sunday. Yessssssss. No plans - nothing pressing - no worries... I haven't posted a picture of our cute dog in a while. This is Crash AT THIS MOMENT wondering why I am typing away instead of TAKING. HIM. FOR. A. WALK. RIGHT. NOW.

It's been a great weekend. Aside from feeling like I might die - we truly had a great couple of days. The Brad Paisley concert was terrific. It was a little loud for my sore ears, nose, and throat - but, it was a good show and I'm glad we stuck it out. Taylor Swift was so cute. Rodney Atkins was great, too. GOOD times snuggled up safely in the box seats.

Yesterday was a run-around day. We had errands to boot through and it happened pretty seamlessly with our trip to the dog park. I had an arm's list of things to get so we could host 9 people over for dinner. I certainly wasn't feeling up for it - BUT I'm so glad we did it. It was excellent to see everyone and hang out and catch-up and LAUGH. And LAUGH. And LAUGH some more. Thank you to everyone for coming.

While they were here - Tammy started up a baby pool for our new person arriving sometime over the next 8 weeks or so. The money and the guesses were flying - and it was fun to watch them decide on rules and regulations for the guesses. Good luck to everyone EXCEPT Nicole - WHO GUESSED JANUARY 1 (because that's her birthday)... which is THREE WEEKS OVERDUE. NO thank you. My guess was 4 weeks early... because I probably won't be done what I need to finish and that's just the way it goes. Hey NEW PERSON: we're ready for you anytime - you're welcome here as soon as you're ready - and you are already taking up MORE THAN YOUR FAIR SHARE OF THE SPACE AROUND HERE. ;)

Triple Arm Pump to Michelle Lalonde over at Tiber River for her new baby girl she had yesterday. So sweet. SO FUNNY that it's a girl because Michelle was CONVINCED it was a boy because it was carrying so differently than her first baby (which is a girl). I thought it was a girl - just because she thought so strongly that it was a boy. Congratulations Michelle, Scott, Paige and Baby-yet-to-be-named!

That's it. That's all... we're lounging with our toast and jelly. With our online papers. With our blogs and Sunday tunes. Professor Dan is getting some midterms ready for his University class he's teaching... I'm blogging a wee little blog before I go tackle some new projects... I have an idea.

And Crash is GLARING at us - just waiting for us to get our slow-sunday-butts in gear and out into the crisp fall weather for a WALK.

From Crash: LET'S GO!

PS - thanks for all the well wishes on the cold. This is seriously the sickest I think I have ever been... and I AM STILL ALIVE. Maybe it's delayed-early-onset-death or something. Go.

Shrinky-dink.

Super sick - in my world - is not the same as SUPER FLY. Or supa' fly. Or anything really super for that matter. This type of unmedicated early-onset-death (glad you liked my new name for a cold) is just sort of getting worse. BUT I have managed to ascertain that you do not need to be HEALTHY or SKINNY to enjoy the finer points in life... (To those of you who asked: this font is called Monoline. It's a current favourite.)

We went to the opening game of the big hockey team here last night. So much fun. GREAT TIME. I love hockey games. Our team lost, but it was good to be out and about in the town and I was pleasantly surprised to see a few people we knew. Go Moose Go! (Hi Tara!)

I also snuck away in the middle of the afternoon for an afternoon coffee break and catch-up with Tammy. I love doing that. We hide away at Starbuck's and just chatter about all the things going on in our lives. I'm really, really thankful that we can make time for that.

My fingers have turned into Shrinky-dinks. (did you ever have those?) Seriously. MY HANDS ARE SHRINKING. I have a very, very pretty wedding band. It's so special to me. It's just perfect-for-me in every way with it's little diamonds all the way around... It reminds me of a Hawaiian lei. It reminds me of Maui and us and just how totally perfect things turned out - when I was almost ready to give up. We got another little band for me to wear when I was at the gym or climbing on monkey bars and stuff and it's a little wee bit smaller - okay, a full size smaller. A few days ago, while I was just STANDING there with my hands relaxed at my side, my pretty diamond ring FELL OFF and rolled over to the furnace vent and teetered on the edge. EEEP. I PROMPTLY tucked it away and traded to the practical and SMALLER ring... yesterday - over coffee Tammy noticed how the much smaller ring was jangling around on my shrinky-dink fingers... I think I am shrinking. How weird.

These two little guys were from my photo shoot on Wednesday. Their gallery is up here now. CUTE aren't they? I've only got 5 more slots before December and after December the introductory prices are gone. Book now.

TODAY: I have a doctor's appointment, a hair appointment, a trip to the grocery store, my signature lasagna to make, dog to walk, dinner guests, BOX SEATS AT THE BRAD PAISLEY CONCERT (triple arm pump to THAT!) and a whole lotta nose blowing and coughing to do. Maybe some moaning and groaning for good measure. Perhaps a SOB or two. I saw someone last night at the hockey game and I TOTALLY think it was the Universe telling me to CALL and make something special happen. There were too many signs to ignore it. All that - and I JUST MIGHT GO LAY DOWN FOR A WHILE FIRST.

PS - big thanks to everyone that left comments about our story. I am triple thankful and living a life of gratitude... good things do happen. They do. And WHEN they do - just grab it and go.

It's Friday. And that's a good place to be. Let's GO.