Second swap quilt finished

Here's the second of my swap quilts that have to go out in April -- all finished and ready to be shipped, today or tomorrow:



Looks a little wrinkly, doesn't it? I need to figure out how to use my new macro lens so I can get better closeup detail on these kind of pictures.

And here's the back -- which isn't really period fabric like the rest of it but the colors go and I liked it.



Two other bits of news -- yesterday Brett let me escape the house for a few hours to go fabric shopping and see a movie. I went and saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which was really great. I never used to like going to see movies on my own, but since Sofie was born it's all I can do not to run around in the lobby twirling and shouting "I'm ALONE! I'm BY MYSELF! Hallelujah!"

Lesson: If you see someone alone in the movie theater chortling and giggling before the movie even starts, rest assured it's a mom of a toddler out for a few hours of peace.

Second, last night around eleven, I closed the catdoor and headed upstairs to bed while Brett finished up some stuff downstairs. When I got up there I noticed that Max and Phoenix, our boy cats, were acting a little odd. Not upset, just odd. They were... very alert. And sitting in places they usually don't sit. And they both seemed really interested in one particular armchair that sits at the top of the stairs.

I finally put two and two together and realized something was under there. Fearing the worst (rat? possum?), I got down on the floor, lifted up the blanket that hides the underneath of the chair from view, and found this tiny little gray and white cat blinking back at me. Blinkblinkblink.

I called Brett up and we soon figured out from his collar that it was Dexter, who lives down the street a ways. He must've come in to explore and then gotten trapped under the chair by our overly watchful duo. We carefully peeled this very freaked out little cat out from under there and let him out for the night.

Bon voyage, Dexter. I don't think he'll be coming back anytime soon.

Day off!

I had a half day off today -- left the hubby and the baby listening to music in her room and took myself out for a few hours of recharge time. And man, was it great. I went to see the movie Brett saw last weekend (Ocean's 13) at the Majestic Bay in Ballard -- silly movie and not especially noteworthy, but it was frothy and unchallenging and fun. Add in the most comfortable movie seats ever, popcorn and diet coke, and almost no one there and you have a nice way to fritter away a couple hours.

After that I walked through a few stores I'd never take a stroller into -- you know the type, fancy home accessory stores with glass shelves and breakables everywhere just begging for a nine month old to pull the old grab-and-drop. And then I went to The Secret Garden, a great kids' bookstore, and picked up a few new books for Sofie.

As my last hurrah, I went to the grocery store. Alone. Without having to get a cart to put the baby in. Without amusing a nine month old. Without making sure she doesn't fall out when she starts trying to stand up in the seat. Just in... and out. Simple as pie.

Sounds dull? Well, it felt like heaven to me.

I was thinking about how I used to feel slightly uncomfortable going to movies by myself, like people might wonder what I was doing there alone. These days, not only have I completely shed that level of self-absorption (and high time), I was inwardly giggling. If only all those couples knew how FREAKING great it feels to go to a movie by yourself once you have a baby. I was 90% sure I was having a way better time than anyone else there, thankyouverymuch.

Most excellent nation of Kazakhstan

Although the fabulous Reel Moms theater program (which offered a special showing on Thursday mornings just for moms with babies) was recently canceled, Seattle still has three theaters that cater to new parents by offering a small, sound-proofed room in the back of a theater. We decided to try this out today, and therefore dragged our daughter off to see Borat: Cultural Learnings of America To Make Benefit of Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
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Our daughter has now seen The Omen while in utero, and Borat, which might just be the movie with the most scenes in the worst taste ever. We are ALL about inappropriate movie viewing, yup.

Verdict on the movie: Pretty funny! Not great, but worth its weight in gold for the funny accent and mannerisms Brett is now affecting around the house, and being that we haven't seen a movie in nearly four months, it was lots of fun. Sofie, in particular, appreciated the naked wrestling scene. We noticed near the end of that interlude that things had gotten very silent in the viewing booth and looked down to find two little eyes just GLUED to the screen. Oops.

Verdict on the crying room: Terrific! The Metro theater has a decent sized room with seating for five, and we had it all to ourselves. Sofie woke up five minutes into the movie and stayed awake throughout, but she didn't cry at all, proving herself once again to be the Best Baby Ever. She's game for whatever we throw her way. (Sometimes I think she only falls asleep because she can't wait to see where she is the next time she wakes up. Life is an endless adventure.) Anyways, the room was comfortable, and the soundproofing means you can talk to each other through the whole movie. It's like the best of being at home and being at the theater, all wrapped up in one. We'll be doing this again.

Now if only one of these three theaters would show Casino Royale in their crying room. We're dying to see that.

Movies

Went to see The Constant Gardener tonight. I didn't really feel like seeing it -- a serious movie at the end of an 11 hour workday seemed like it might be more than I could take -- and it had, for me, a slow start, but it ended with such beauty that I'm glad we did go to it rather than a lighter counterpart. It's what I think of as an inverse-pyramid kind of movie; it starts out with everything in the world, and slowly pares down and down and down until it ends with a single word that just breaks your heart and leaves you staring dumbly at the credits.

And hey, it got 91 out of 100 on rotten tomatoes.