Yep, people, you read it right. Tapeworm- or the empirical assumption of it- is the pleasantry that welcomed us to 2011. Looks like my wish for a smoother-sailing 2011 isn't off to a great start...
Don't read this if you have a weak stomach or if you're eating- a certain canine house guest of ours (to protect his identify, I'll call him by the alias of Cube Log, ah hmm...) gave us a good scare by shedding these "rice-like" granules in his poop (ewww... click at your own risk). He has a history of this unfortunate parasite (he is in great shape, probably just happened to have ingested another dog's infected flea at some point), and so we wasted no time in bagging the "specimen" and rushing him to his vet (double ewww...). After a thorough exam of the specimen including mushing the "rice grain" manually (triple ewww!!), the vet can't say for sure but her suspicion is that it is not tapeworm, but decided to treat him anyway since the treatment (Droncit) is relatively safe. I was also relieved to learn that it's not passed directly from dog to dog (or to human, say, little toddlers who aren't too discernible in their diet).
And just as we think crisis averted, Hubby did something to his elbow, and he's semi-out-of-commission (hence the ice in the title, I gotta find something that rhymes with "nice"), and the timing is just impeccable as Eva is hit by a double whammy this week, having a cold and horrible teething pain with 2 molars coming through at the same time. Bryson of course couldn't let everyone else have all the fun, and gave us a run for our money with diarrhea on and off all week.
Seriously, 2011, that's mean.
In a show of defiance, I'm going to say that unfazed by this series of unfortunate events, I'm able to conjure up something nice (yep, that's the something nice in the title) that hopefully will mark a year of beautiful creations.
Here are some felt flowery barretts I fashioned out of paper clips for Eva using this tutorial:
If I may say so myself, so friggin' cute! This is one of those moments that I'm really glad we have a girl.
The hair clips I use look like this, and they have a "no-slip grip" design (that little plastic tubey-piece, I assume). I can't say for sure if it works or not against slippage, since the main reason for them coming out of her hair is what all toddlers do- pulling them out as soon as they realize there's something in their hair, not accidental slipping.
Oh geez, I need a manicure. Or at least file my nail. And according to my mom, who along with all Chinese moms claim to be well-versed in Chinese medicine, the white crescent at the bottom of my nail means that I have "bad digestion". Hmm...
Anyway, please ignore the completely irrelevant side bar. Back to barretts. If you want to know how I fashioned the beautiful yarn flowers, listen up- I cheated. Just head over to Anthropologie and grab a bag of these paper clips like I did for $10:
I mean $10 is kinda steep for 12 paper clips, but for 12 toddler barretts that sell for $3-8 each? What a steal!
The funny thing is (and all of you 30-something moms will appreciate this) when I excitedly explain the prospect of turning these paper clips into toddler accessories (thereby saving a ton) to the 20-something sales person, she looks at me as if I was speaking a foreign language. For a few seconds I couldn't comprehend that blank look on her face. Then it occurred to me.... I used to be this woman: young, childless, and blissfully naive of the future ahead of her where she'll weep for joy upon finding bargain children items.
*Sigh* Anyway, onto barrett tutorial. I started by disassembling the flower from the clip by undoing it and sliding the flower out, as such (the stitches that hold the flower on the clip also hold the beads in the front, something I found out through trial and error. Oops):
Unwinding 12 paper clips will do that to your finger too...
And once you have the flowers freed, just follow the tutorial above. You basically create 2 pieces of felt the shape of the hair clip (a shorter piece for the back), sew them together, attach the yarn flower, and stick the hair clip in. The only modification is that I also glued the clip to the felt cover, coz I know in the hand of a toddler, there's no chance it will stay put.
A seriously easy, peasy one-afternoon project! By the way, with regards to the felt, for some colors I use this really nice 100% wool felt I found on etsy, and some others I use this bamboo felt I got at a local store. I like the eco-friendiness of bamboo felt, but it's thinner and not as "luxurious-feeling" as the wool felt. And the wool one is thicker too. And you only need this micro amount of leftover from other projects, so it's totally worth it to use the nicer material (if you have it in your stash).
Here are all the clips in their full glory (actually, if you're astute, you'll notice that there are only 11... one less than what there should be. Let's say that trying to find one of these little clips in a sea of toys is like finding needle in a haystack...)
The split second I caught her smiling AND not having noticed that foreign object in her hair (yet).
And here's a precious out-take: prehistoric ape-girl. Love it.
Here's to hope that there will be more positive crafting karma for 2011 (and never to have to think about tapeworm again)!
