Banana Split anyone?

Check out these awesome woolly split pants that my friend Maria made using the sleeves of a felted sweater! Sol and I are so in tune (most of the time) that he is practically diaper-free at home! Now he can cruise around eating tidbits off the floor, keep his leggies warm and be easy for me to pee. The other day he sat at the table with us, pushing pieces of banana around, most of them disappeared and when I picked him up they were all over his lap. Karuna said, "Now that's what I call a banana split!"

Secret stash?

I took these pictures a few weeks ago now, but haven't found time to post them.  I am excited that I created for my 12 year old son, a unique Yule gift, that was a lot more work than I originally imagined: a book with a secret compartment.  I imagine that it could be used for a cash stash, secret notes or little treasures.  His step-Grandma helpfully pointed out that the hole is just the right size for a pack of cigarettes (such a wonderful influence, right?).  He noticed that his digital camera fits inside.  What fun.  I hope to make more of these in the future.

I bought a thrift store book to use, without actually reading it first.  After slicing some of the page centers out, I began to notice that the plot was a bit scary, and deeply disturbing.  It is fiction about a man who does terrible things to young women after murdering them.  I was extremely creeped out when I discovered the content of my book project, and that is when I decided to glue the pages together VERY well, inset some screws through the bulk of the pages, and cover the hole with pretty, flowery paper.  I really hope the scary insides never get uncovered.  I told the same step-Grandma about this, and she revealed that she has read several other horror novels by this particular author, and that it is one of her favorite series of books.  You gotta wonder...