something has shifted in my world. i'm feeling less pressure, and more possibility. i think it has something to do with all the housecleaning i've been doing...it gives you a huge feeling of accomplishment and it makes everything lighter around you. i still haven't mastered the need for a sewing corner in the living room, but i've got a somewhat workable station set up that quickens the set-up process. there's no way to have the ironing board at the ready, though, it's just too baby and puppy unfriendly. i'd like to say that's not an obstacle, but last night jubal was sleeping and i could have at least sewed some napkins, but the thought of setting up the board and iron and then maybe he'd wake up and there'd be this hot, spindly legged danger all set up--it turned me off. i was tired already form cleaning house and mothering all day, but still. as usual, it's a work-in-progress.
dad took me to my MRI results appointment, at which we learned that i have a beautiful, healthy-looking brain. no MS, no cysts, no tumors, no unexplained lumps or shadows. it appears that i really do just have an adult-onset simple tic disorder. okay. i can live with that. the doctor said they don't really know what causes it and that it might go away. i can live with that, too. the doctors at the neurology clinic were so awesome and wonderful that i plan to send a thank you card.
yesterday i turned over the pea bed and vesta planted the peas. jubal and i planted some more primroses and had fun getting our hands in the dirt. it feels great to have some spots of color and the promise of future peas. i'm excited to start the garden season!
i am grateful for:
1. my new kitchen aid food processor (my other one broke months ago--it was a cheapy one--and i've really missed the quick slicing and shredding and butter cutting in....by the way this is the Best. Food Processor. Ever. it's like driving a pinto and then someone gives you a porsche. highly recommended)
2. the earthworms in my garden
3. my sewing machine (still! i love it! and i got a free motion foot for it, which will be awesome once i get used to using it)
4. my clean floors (thank you, self)
5. the spring-like quality to the air
and some recommended reading:
the graveyard book, by neil gaiman (available here: http://www.amazon.com/Graveyard-Book-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0060530928/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234974489&sr=1-1 ) this is a book for the whole family if your kids aren't teeny tiny, as it could be a little scary. it's about a boy who is raised by ghosts in a graveyard, and his experiences and misadventures and what happens to him as he grows up in such an unlikely setting. and it's by neil gaiman, so you KNOW it's going to be good. and it was. we were all sad to have it end, it was one of those books. i think we'll be reading the princess bride next.
outliers: the story of success by malcolm gladwell (available here: http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017922). i LOVE malcolm gladwell and all of his books (the tipping point and blink), because they are damn fascinating. i plan to make a shirt with a line drawing of his face that says "malcolm gladwell excites me"). this one is about how success happens and why it is never a one-person thing--we have this American Myth that people pull themselves up by their bootstraps and by their own sheer tenacity create wealth and success for themselves...don't get me wrong--it takes amazing skill, a force of will, determination, etc., etc.--but it also takes some amazing circumstances to be set in place around the future successful being. some examples of success stories in the book are the beatles, bill joy, bill gates, and canadian A-team hockey guys. read it!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
i (heart) valentine's day
happy st. valentine's day! this morning the girls woke up early (insuring they'd do so by borrowing our alarm clock last night) and straightened up the living room/dining area...they hung some continuous heart shaped bunting from the ceiling, brought us our tea and coffee (me in bed and rodney doing homework in the office), made an excellent breakfast of egg (vesta) and toast (hazel), as well as some tasty "chocolate croissants" (hershey's bits embedded in cresent rolls--pretty good, actually). they had gifts and cards for everyone--including a valentine balloon for jubal ("ball! ball!") and a card vesta made him with a cute little duck swimming in some wavy water. they both had aprons on and were so proud and pleased with themselves. hazel kept popping into my room saying "be excited!"...it was awesome! they are the best kids EVER.
i gave rodney his home-made valentine listing the top ten things i love about him today (top ten lists are one of my things--i randomly give him top ten lists to let him know the things i love). and i gave the girls little valentine bags i made by hole-punching some pretty scrapbooking paper and threading two hearts together with yarn--i put some tissue wrapped hair ties (they were both in dire need of some), a valentine note telling how much i love and cherish them, and a gift certificate for a zip pouch sewing lesson from me.
and rodney and hazel just came back from a quick trip out...rodney has presented me with a lovely bouquet from the local flower shop and hazel gave me a single long-stemmed rose.
and i'm all squidgered up and gonna cry from it.
oh yes, and vesta stripped jubal of all his clothes and taped some wings to his back and fashioned him a little bow and arrow. our in-house cupid.
it's a good day.
i am grateful for:
love
my family
scotch tape
thoughtfulness
joy
PS!!! scroll down for lots of valentine's day pictures of the love
i gave rodney his home-made valentine listing the top ten things i love about him today (top ten lists are one of my things--i randomly give him top ten lists to let him know the things i love). and i gave the girls little valentine bags i made by hole-punching some pretty scrapbooking paper and threading two hearts together with yarn--i put some tissue wrapped hair ties (they were both in dire need of some), a valentine note telling how much i love and cherish them, and a gift certificate for a zip pouch sewing lesson from me.
and rodney and hazel just came back from a quick trip out...rodney has presented me with a lovely bouquet from the local flower shop and hazel gave me a single long-stemmed rose.
and i'm all squidgered up and gonna cry from it.
oh yes, and vesta stripped jubal of all his clothes and taped some wings to his back and fashioned him a little bow and arrow. our in-house cupid.
it's a good day.
i am grateful for:
love
my family
scotch tape
thoughtfulness
joy
PS!!! scroll down for lots of valentine's day pictures of the love
Friday, February 6, 2009
spring is springing
ah, it feels like spring is springing! my fingers are itching to plant peas and the fire dies out by eleven a.m. there's something in the air, and a sweetness fills your nose when you walk outside--primroses and warmed earth.
i've been doing the seasonal cleaning thing, which has been awesome. i cleaned the laundry room and re-organized my food cupboards and shelves. there's a long list left to go, but i'm looking forward to it, as i already feel lighter and less busy, just having the space and light around me, knowing where everything is and being free from clutter (in those two places, i mean, the rest of the house is still a batcave. heh) i've achieved the extra time to do my cleaning by not taking my afternoon nap, though...and that is a steep price.
i recently got to do a little sewing and made myself some pants out of an old sheet...and when i say "old sheet" i mean it--this sheet was on my bed as a child and i suspect that my dad got it from his mom...so, these pants are vintage. they're white with blue daisies on them that have green centers, and i've put cuffs along the bottoms of the pant legs with the decorative piece that was at the top of the sheet (big daisies in the alternating colors of blue/green/blue/green). i've been plotting bags, as well.
i've been trying to figure out a way to have a constantly set-up work station for sewing in the living room--since that is where most of the action happens in our house, and thusly where i need to be most of the time. if everything is set up and i don't have to spend five or ten minutes gathering all my tools together and de-cluttering a work surface, i think it will be easier to sew more. i won't feel as bad if i have to stop mid-project, because it's all right there for me and i can more easily get back to it. but, you've seen our living room--it's not exactly spacious--i haven't quite figured out the grand solution yet.
and here is jubal to tell me to get off the computer!
oh--a health p.s.: i went for an MRI a couple of days ago--that's a strange experience, eh? try to be totally still when you have a tic that is triggered by loud sounds and vibrations! anyways, i get the results on the 16th. and thanks to dad for going with me to the neurologist and planning to go back with me for the results.
i am grateful for:
hot cocoa
the amazing technology of the MRI machine
the resilience of toddlers
the gym membership
simple food
i've been doing the seasonal cleaning thing, which has been awesome. i cleaned the laundry room and re-organized my food cupboards and shelves. there's a long list left to go, but i'm looking forward to it, as i already feel lighter and less busy, just having the space and light around me, knowing where everything is and being free from clutter (in those two places, i mean, the rest of the house is still a batcave. heh) i've achieved the extra time to do my cleaning by not taking my afternoon nap, though...and that is a steep price.
i recently got to do a little sewing and made myself some pants out of an old sheet...and when i say "old sheet" i mean it--this sheet was on my bed as a child and i suspect that my dad got it from his mom...so, these pants are vintage. they're white with blue daisies on them that have green centers, and i've put cuffs along the bottoms of the pant legs with the decorative piece that was at the top of the sheet (big daisies in the alternating colors of blue/green/blue/green). i've been plotting bags, as well.
i've been trying to figure out a way to have a constantly set-up work station for sewing in the living room--since that is where most of the action happens in our house, and thusly where i need to be most of the time. if everything is set up and i don't have to spend five or ten minutes gathering all my tools together and de-cluttering a work surface, i think it will be easier to sew more. i won't feel as bad if i have to stop mid-project, because it's all right there for me and i can more easily get back to it. but, you've seen our living room--it's not exactly spacious--i haven't quite figured out the grand solution yet.
and here is jubal to tell me to get off the computer!
oh--a health p.s.: i went for an MRI a couple of days ago--that's a strange experience, eh? try to be totally still when you have a tic that is triggered by loud sounds and vibrations! anyways, i get the results on the 16th. and thanks to dad for going with me to the neurologist and planning to go back with me for the results.
i am grateful for:
hot cocoa
the amazing technology of the MRI machine
the resilience of toddlers
the gym membership
simple food
Sunday, January 25, 2009
life is like a...
welcome to my basic life update...
gym: still going. still liking it. having many sessions in which i feel like giving up, then throwing up, then quitting, then crying, then dying...but i keep going and then am really sore for the next two days, but it's good. i have noticed a marked improvement in my energy levels over the last couple of weeks. also, i got a swimming suit and go in the jacuzzi after my workouts to help ease the soreness. today vesta went with me and we swam laps in the pool, as well. that was really nice.
crafting: this is a real challenge for me right now. rodney keeps saying he's going to make time for me to do what i need to do, but he rarely does. he's busy with school and homework and blahblahblah. it's really, really frustrating. i wish i had somewhere to put jubal for a couple of hours a few times a week. somewhere that costs nothing and involves trusted individuals that jubal already knows and loves. too bad i'm a social retard with no friends.
the kids: vesta is doing pretty well. she has recently taken up knitting and is getting fairly good. she's still really into music, though her exposure is pretty limited--as far as i can tell her two favorite groups are the beatles and the decemberists. vesta's big news is that she recently went to california to visit devon and layla and had a smashingly great time.
hazel is really fun right now. she loves to help in the kitchen and often helps me with the granola making or cookie baking. her artwork is getting really good, she has a unique style that i think is awesome and i personally enjoy quite a bit. she's into drawing trees and owls and nests and bats right now.
they are both also a bit hormonal, which is interesting and leaves one cringing at thoughts of full-on puberty and teen-age hood. ugh.
jubal is wonderful! he's got a mouthful of teeth. his favorite thing to chew on with those teeth is meat--just like his daddy. a familiar cry at dinnertime is MEAT! (cry as in "cried out" not waaaa waaaa). he's getting some more words and they're making more sense, but he also adds more and more seemingly nonsense words--well, that's not right, because they mean something, but they are just jubalese rather than english...for instance "nana" means anything tasty to eat. he is peeing more and more on the pot and started wearing training pants today. so exciting. also, we trimmed his bangs, but left the curls in back. everyone still thinks he's a girl.
good books: just a couple-few honorable mentions...the art of racing in the rain by garth stein. it's touching and sweet and a good story, that manages to be told well despite (and even because of!) the fact that it is narrated by a dog (which would normally spell doom for a story). just after sunset by stephen king. i love stephen king because he is a genuinely talented writer. he's the only "horror" writer that i read, because his characters are so damn good, and he is so chilling and so funny, and so on-the-nose about humanity. it's not literary, per say, but it's darn good writing. just after sunset is a book of short stories, some of the gems are "the gingerbread girl", "stationary bike", "N", and "a very tight place". and lastly, the ghost in love by jonathan carroll. what an interesting story about people and our emotions. the premise is a man who doesn't die when he's supposed to, the ghost that comes to take his place and finds he's still in it, and what happens because of all THAT...but it's really about feelings and people and love.
and jubal is here to let me know that it's nap time and i have to get off this computer or he'll revolt. so i'll respect that.
i am grateful for:
the gym!
the new broadband (it's like a miracle)
canned salmon
help
neil gaiman (the girls and i are reading the graveyard book right now and it's great)
gym: still going. still liking it. having many sessions in which i feel like giving up, then throwing up, then quitting, then crying, then dying...but i keep going and then am really sore for the next two days, but it's good. i have noticed a marked improvement in my energy levels over the last couple of weeks. also, i got a swimming suit and go in the jacuzzi after my workouts to help ease the soreness. today vesta went with me and we swam laps in the pool, as well. that was really nice.
crafting: this is a real challenge for me right now. rodney keeps saying he's going to make time for me to do what i need to do, but he rarely does. he's busy with school and homework and blahblahblah. it's really, really frustrating. i wish i had somewhere to put jubal for a couple of hours a few times a week. somewhere that costs nothing and involves trusted individuals that jubal already knows and loves. too bad i'm a social retard with no friends.
the kids: vesta is doing pretty well. she has recently taken up knitting and is getting fairly good. she's still really into music, though her exposure is pretty limited--as far as i can tell her two favorite groups are the beatles and the decemberists. vesta's big news is that she recently went to california to visit devon and layla and had a smashingly great time.
hazel is really fun right now. she loves to help in the kitchen and often helps me with the granola making or cookie baking. her artwork is getting really good, she has a unique style that i think is awesome and i personally enjoy quite a bit. she's into drawing trees and owls and nests and bats right now.
they are both also a bit hormonal, which is interesting and leaves one cringing at thoughts of full-on puberty and teen-age hood. ugh.
jubal is wonderful! he's got a mouthful of teeth. his favorite thing to chew on with those teeth is meat--just like his daddy. a familiar cry at dinnertime is MEAT! (cry as in "cried out" not waaaa waaaa). he's getting some more words and they're making more sense, but he also adds more and more seemingly nonsense words--well, that's not right, because they mean something, but they are just jubalese rather than english...for instance "nana" means anything tasty to eat. he is peeing more and more on the pot and started wearing training pants today. so exciting. also, we trimmed his bangs, but left the curls in back. everyone still thinks he's a girl.
good books: just a couple-few honorable mentions...the art of racing in the rain by garth stein. it's touching and sweet and a good story, that manages to be told well despite (and even because of!) the fact that it is narrated by a dog (which would normally spell doom for a story). just after sunset by stephen king. i love stephen king because he is a genuinely talented writer. he's the only "horror" writer that i read, because his characters are so damn good, and he is so chilling and so funny, and so on-the-nose about humanity. it's not literary, per say, but it's darn good writing. just after sunset is a book of short stories, some of the gems are "the gingerbread girl", "stationary bike", "N", and "a very tight place". and lastly, the ghost in love by jonathan carroll. what an interesting story about people and our emotions. the premise is a man who doesn't die when he's supposed to, the ghost that comes to take his place and finds he's still in it, and what happens because of all THAT...but it's really about feelings and people and love.
and jubal is here to let me know that it's nap time and i have to get off this computer or he'll revolt. so i'll respect that.
i am grateful for:
the gym!
the new broadband (it's like a miracle)
canned salmon
help
neil gaiman (the girls and i are reading the graveyard book right now and it's great)
Thursday, January 15, 2009
it's starting to feel like a new year
the big news today is that i went back to the gym yesterday. rodney hadn't been going for a while because of his shoulder injury and then finances, but recently started going again--to ironworks in creswell. he offered me the chance to go with him, and they have a daycare room that customers can use--during certain hours there are mothers manning (or womanning, heh) the room, but the rest of the time it's available for people who have children old enough to manage themselves (and in our case their little brothers). so, i went. it was good. i rode the recumbent bike for 20 minutes to warm up, then rodney had me pick a muscle group to work on (biceps and triceps) and he gave me a series of exercises to do with the weights and various machines. it was three different tasks for each of the groups, doing three reps of ten for each task. so you can do the math, but i can tell you what it equals: my arms are sore! and my legs from the bike and the elliptical machine i did after to "warm down", as i like to call it. but it's a good sore. we're going back tonight so he can show me the machines and exercises to do for my friday muscle group (legs), as he goes to the gym at school on fridays, since he's there anyways. so i have to motivate myself to go on friday. i didn't do them yesterday, but i plan to do abs every time i go, as well. they have a torture device that sort of inverts you on a slab and you can do sit-ups on it--they have another one for obliques, but i'm gonna have to work up to that one--it's like upside down sideways sit-ups--real fun for a fat lady to try doing in a room of hot body building young men. woohoo! actually as i was working out yesterday i developed a minor fantasy in which i become the chubby mascot of the body builders and they all support me and help me with my form and watch me shrink into some amazingly fit, healthy woman who could run a marathon (or something like that which doesn't involve actual running!)
i'm excited to be going to the gym again and trying not to hear the niggling voice that says--you went before and didn't lose ONE DAMN POUND! besides, even if i didn't lose any weight (although that seems impossible!!!) it would still be good for me to work out. right? right.
i am grateful for:
my muscles
my breath
my heart
my husband
my girls who so willingly watched jubal for almost three hours!
and i'm grateful that jubal was mellow that whole time and here's a little prayer that it always works so well.
i'm excited to be going to the gym again and trying not to hear the niggling voice that says--you went before and didn't lose ONE DAMN POUND! besides, even if i didn't lose any weight (although that seems impossible!!!) it would still be good for me to work out. right? right.
i am grateful for:
my muscles
my breath
my heart
my husband
my girls who so willingly watched jubal for almost three hours!
and i'm grateful that jubal was mellow that whole time and here's a little prayer that it always works so well.
Friday, December 26, 2008
a sigh of quietude
i hope everyone had a merry christmas and is relaxing now, digesting big dinners and too much sweets, enjoying their families and their gifts. we had a wonderful christmas...because of the snow we couldn't go north as usual on christmas eve, but were instead welcomed at bill and beth's ("step" nana and papa) for their traditional christmas eve clam chowder dinner. t'was lovely. we will be traveling north in mid-january, assuming portland ever melts! becky thoughtfully gave us a dinner-in-a-giftbag--nice hormone-free chicken and some pasta and all the fixings for a super delicious smelling and looking marinade, which i threw together last night and is bathing in it's saucy goodness to prepare for dinner tonight. yesterday--christmas day--we drove into eugene and had lunch at the chinese buffet, which was really quite a nice way to deal with not wanting to cook. i unfortunately sprang a migraine christmas eve and was fulfilling my santa duties through a cloud of nausea and discomfort. it woke me several times in the night and was not gone by morning, as i had hoped. so i asked for a mellow morning of gift opening and mostly received it...the migraine faded by noontime, but i still didn't feel like cooking anything...i had a mean craving for chinese food, though. all of the restaurants in cottage grove were closed for christmas, but rodney didn't mind driving into town.
christmas morning was awesome, i loved watching everyone open all their goodies. and we had a christmas miracle! everything that i had sewn for people, using their own clothes as templates, actually fit them! such a relief. rodney really liked his loungy flannel pants (forest green with a pumpkin orange pocket) and vesta still hasn't left her hoo-hoo owl pajama pants. whew! hazel looks adorable in her little apron. jubal loves his magna-doodle type device, drawing on it and getting others to draw things on it for him about a hundered times a day, if not more. and at the last minute i got him a little elmo doll for his stocking, which he checks on and kisses and hugs all throughout the day. vesta got TWO! beatles cds and the fab four crooned all day in our house. they also got some modeling clay and at one point in the day disappeared to their room for a while, i assumed to play their new game, but emerged a bit later to show me some crazy clay figures they had made...vesta made this amazing mermaid, that managed to look swirly and underwatery...hazel made a couple of different cats and, most notably, a veeeeery creepy looking baby with a giant fat butt and an ill-proportioned bright red penis. i am cracking up even now, thinking about it. it was as if she made a little baby boy and then put a dog penis on him! i'm sorry if i offend anybody out there, but it was sooooo funny.
i will be enjoying the next few days, thinking about the new year and what i may wish to resolve to do in it...vesta will be traveling to california to visit her good friends that moved away, hazel has a huge sleep over planned at ronan's house to stay up late and ghost hunt and about a million other things they've planned. busy, wonderful times.
i am grateful for:
love
my husband
my sweet children
that some chinese restaurants stay open on christmas
my new kleen kanteen, which rodney gave me for christmas and which i have coveted for many months now
christmas morning was awesome, i loved watching everyone open all their goodies. and we had a christmas miracle! everything that i had sewn for people, using their own clothes as templates, actually fit them! such a relief. rodney really liked his loungy flannel pants (forest green with a pumpkin orange pocket) and vesta still hasn't left her hoo-hoo owl pajama pants. whew! hazel looks adorable in her little apron. jubal loves his magna-doodle type device, drawing on it and getting others to draw things on it for him about a hundered times a day, if not more. and at the last minute i got him a little elmo doll for his stocking, which he checks on and kisses and hugs all throughout the day. vesta got TWO! beatles cds and the fab four crooned all day in our house. they also got some modeling clay and at one point in the day disappeared to their room for a while, i assumed to play their new game, but emerged a bit later to show me some crazy clay figures they had made...vesta made this amazing mermaid, that managed to look swirly and underwatery...hazel made a couple of different cats and, most notably, a veeeeery creepy looking baby with a giant fat butt and an ill-proportioned bright red penis. i am cracking up even now, thinking about it. it was as if she made a little baby boy and then put a dog penis on him! i'm sorry if i offend anybody out there, but it was sooooo funny.
i will be enjoying the next few days, thinking about the new year and what i may wish to resolve to do in it...vesta will be traveling to california to visit her good friends that moved away, hazel has a huge sleep over planned at ronan's house to stay up late and ghost hunt and about a million other things they've planned. busy, wonderful times.
i am grateful for:
love
my husband
my sweet children
that some chinese restaurants stay open on christmas
my new kleen kanteen, which rodney gave me for christmas and which i have coveted for many months now
Saturday, December 20, 2008
time sure flies when you're alive
blue today, in honor of blue mountain school. we had quite an anticlimactic end to the school year, as three days of the last week were snow days. we've exhausted all of our appeals and all of our creative ideas for getting around this or that to allow us to remain open as a publicly funded school...so we will not be re-opening after the winter break. instead of using up all of the foundation's money, and all of our physical/mental/spiritual energy "fighting" for our right to exist in this district by going to court and maybe winning, maybe losing, but certainly spending every kind of energy we have...we've decided to focus on re-opening in the fall in another district. somewhere within a fifty mile radius of here. there are small districts about who desperately need the money and don't have whatever bad vibe this district has about us. i'm confident we will find one more than happy to soak up our extra funds and, for the most part, leave us alone. so now there is lots of leg work to be done finding a district, finding a building, writing proposals and contracts and whatever else. and homeschooling our kids. wheeee! it sucks and it's sad, but in the long run, will probably turn out better for us, as whatever district we can find to take us will certainly be closer to eugene and will vastly increase our pool of prospective students. so, i'm hopeful--and confident--that we will re-open in the fall bigger and better than we've been in the last couple of years, and i'm grateful for that. besides, it'll be nice to have the girls around for a few months. we can do lots of sewing and cooking and various projects, and i can help the girls hone their math and reading skills (and hazel wants to learn french!). that's all the blue mountain news for a while.
on the homefront...
i've been toiling away sewing all my gifts and thinking up new and hideously long and complicated projects to work on. i've got *almost* all my christmas gifts made and wrapped up and am looking forward to distributing them and visiting with everyone, weather permitting.
i sewed hazel an apron out of one of the sheets-turned-tablecloths from our wedding, it's orange and flowery and, if i do say so myself, adorable. i shall have to post a photo of it once she's opened it up. and sewing other things which i cannot yet mention. sadly, i did not get to make jubal's stuffie book, but will be doing it for his birthday. i've been making something else, which i also can't mention yet, but i'm really excited about them and will reveal all once the holidays are passed--i can say, however, that i think this item is a good candidate for my etsy.com shop, which i will be focusing on in the new year. rodney and i need to figure out a way to get high speed internet, as it will be quite a headache to work on the etsy shop using dial-up. just the thought of it gives me a headache. of course, if all goes well with the shop, hopefully it will easily pay for the extra expense incurred by upgrading the internet connection.
i spent some time and energy house cleaning in the kitchen today, which feels great. time devoted to all the holiday-related sewing and crafting has taken away from my already "relaxed" house-keeping and it felt good to see the kitchen looking donna reedish again, if only briefly. tomorrow it's the bathroom and a pile of laundry to fold, then i quit all but routine maintenance until after christmas! (yes, i realize that a clean bathroom and folding laundry IS routine maintenance, but just let me have that feeling of relaxed i-don't-have-to-clean-anything!-ness for a minute).
because of all the snow, we brought the outside rodents (clover and nickles--a bunny and guinea pig) into the house and the girls set them up an elaborate tarp-bottomed corral in their bedroom and i must admit, i love having them inside! they are so accessible for cuddling and since sweetie died i have really missed the "weep-weep!" of a guinea pig. i'd like to figure out a safe way to keep them inside all the time...maybe something in the laundry room? another thing to put off til after christmas.
i hope you are all enjoying the holiday season, visiting and baking and gift-wrapping. try to relax and love it, it's supposed to be a pleasure!
i am grateful for:
creativity
silver linings
fun
craft supplies
textiles
oh, and p.s. i sewed jubal's stocking and it is soooo cute! it's green flannel with bugs and bees on it, all brightly colored and cute and he really loves it. i hung all the stockings above the living room window and he keeps pointing at it and saying, with a huge smile, "what's that?!" he's so great.
AND! how could i not mention this?! he's been using the toilet!!! it's so awesome. he feels great about it and loves to be able to flush afterwards, then wash his hands and play with his toothbrush, which he likes because it has a picture of elmo on it. he loves elmo for some reason.
on the homefront...
i've been toiling away sewing all my gifts and thinking up new and hideously long and complicated projects to work on. i've got *almost* all my christmas gifts made and wrapped up and am looking forward to distributing them and visiting with everyone, weather permitting.
i sewed hazel an apron out of one of the sheets-turned-tablecloths from our wedding, it's orange and flowery and, if i do say so myself, adorable. i shall have to post a photo of it once she's opened it up. and sewing other things which i cannot yet mention. sadly, i did not get to make jubal's stuffie book, but will be doing it for his birthday. i've been making something else, which i also can't mention yet, but i'm really excited about them and will reveal all once the holidays are passed--i can say, however, that i think this item is a good candidate for my etsy.com shop, which i will be focusing on in the new year. rodney and i need to figure out a way to get high speed internet, as it will be quite a headache to work on the etsy shop using dial-up. just the thought of it gives me a headache. of course, if all goes well with the shop, hopefully it will easily pay for the extra expense incurred by upgrading the internet connection.
i spent some time and energy house cleaning in the kitchen today, which feels great. time devoted to all the holiday-related sewing and crafting has taken away from my already "relaxed" house-keeping and it felt good to see the kitchen looking donna reedish again, if only briefly. tomorrow it's the bathroom and a pile of laundry to fold, then i quit all but routine maintenance until after christmas! (yes, i realize that a clean bathroom and folding laundry IS routine maintenance, but just let me have that feeling of relaxed i-don't-have-to-clean-anything!-ness for a minute).
because of all the snow, we brought the outside rodents (clover and nickles--a bunny and guinea pig) into the house and the girls set them up an elaborate tarp-bottomed corral in their bedroom and i must admit, i love having them inside! they are so accessible for cuddling and since sweetie died i have really missed the "weep-weep!" of a guinea pig. i'd like to figure out a safe way to keep them inside all the time...maybe something in the laundry room? another thing to put off til after christmas.
i hope you are all enjoying the holiday season, visiting and baking and gift-wrapping. try to relax and love it, it's supposed to be a pleasure!
i am grateful for:
creativity
silver linings
fun
craft supplies
textiles
oh, and p.s. i sewed jubal's stocking and it is soooo cute! it's green flannel with bugs and bees on it, all brightly colored and cute and he really loves it. i hung all the stockings above the living room window and he keeps pointing at it and saying, with a huge smile, "what's that?!" he's so great.
AND! how could i not mention this?! he's been using the toilet!!! it's so awesome. he feels great about it and loves to be able to flush afterwards, then wash his hands and play with his toothbrush, which he likes because it has a picture of elmo on it. he loves elmo for some reason.
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