Recent Projects

So…it’s been awhile. We’ve been busy with so many things and so much to share, but I think for now I will just stick with sharing some of my Christmas projects.

In my mind I can do anything. Clearly since I can sew two pieces of fabric together I can clearly do anything I put my mind to! Well, I have no plans to be making intricate clothing, but I figured a quilt and some binding shouldn’t be too hard. Right?!

Soooo wrong. I watched some YouTube videos and asked around and was sure I could figure my way through it. I definitely overestimated my abilities.

Turns out, binding is a bitch and micro fleece is stretchy, rips easy and a serious pain.

 

This is the back of a a blanket I “quilted” and this is after  I tried to repair it. Oh, I tried to repair it, tore a small hole in it  (panicked) and just did my best to make it look as not messed up as possible.

I almost scrapped it and just went out and bought my niece something else. But the front was SO cute and I was really proud of the work I did for the front so I saw it through. I’m glad I did.

I don’t think she’ll care about the technical aspects I messed up on. Not because children have low standards, but because it is special and Auntie made it.

I also made another project for Niecey-poo. It also has some glaring technical hiccups but I hope she loves it all the same.

I Hate Small Talk

Okay, so hate is a pretty strong statement but I seriously dislike small talk. The worst version of course is running  into people unexpectedly in public. Most of the time I’d rather pretend to not see you than seek you out and chat. Hear me out.

So you run into an old friend you lost touch with some time ago and you say “Hi! How have you been?!” And instead of saying:

“Well I got married two years ago to a guy you don’t know in a city you didn’t know I had moved to while I got my masters in a field you didn’t know I had gone into. We moved back recently and have been trying for a family but found out we are infertile and are devastated by this but are trying to pick up the pieces and move on. ” 

They say:

“I’ve been good how about you?”

And instead of saying:

“Remember that guy I married senior year? Well he turned out to be not a great guy and we got divorced, but it paved the way to my husband. We have been happily married for eight years and have two great kiddos. They frequently drive me crazy, but we are so happy with our lives we decided to foster with hopes of adding to our family!”

I say:

“We’re doing great!”

Because you know, we’re at Costco and something else that bugs me as much as small talk is people congregating to chat in the walkways at Costco. It may be because I’m awkward at the bumping into people chatting so it just annoys me but either way, move on! But I digress. Small talk is just as awkward for me  when I know the person well. If I run into my best gal pal at the store I want to catch up on the latest (even if we talked earlier that day) but the the Costco aisle (can you tell I spend a lot of time there?) isn’t the best place to do that so we just exchange friendly, but less awkward, pleasantries and move on.

My need to connect on a deeper level with people may have something to do with my being a stay at home mom who rarely gets a word in edgewise around my children and crazy dog but is that really so wrong?

Now as most of you will probably recall (if you’ve had the luxury of an awkward unexpected encounter) I still make the small talk, but I’d love to ACTUALLY chat with you so feel free to hit me up for a cup of coffee and we’ll really connect.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Earlier this week Zippercow had himself a Colonoscopy. Fun, right? We were waiting (forever) for his “procedure” and cracking poop and butt jokes the entire time. We’re awesome like that. We didn’t hear much from the banks of curtained beds other than the occasional loud fart (oh it’s a blast you guys!) and nurses talking, oh and one really mean guy, but I’ll get to that. We, however, were laughing at ourselves and each other and joking with nurses.  I’m not sure how we sounded to other people but we thought we were a hoot. During this time I reflected briefly on our other visits to hospitals and realized this is what we do. We laugh. We try not to be nervous because it is what it is, we are there because we need to be there and at least we have each other.

Laughing is awesome.

I was glad I could be there for my husband to make him laugh. I’m glad that when my husband is hangry that he doesn’t yell at the nurses like the man a couple curtains down. That man yelled at the nurses about how long he had been waiting and that he hadn’t eaten and why do people get to go before him, and then when they apologized for his wait he told them “Don’t say your sorry, because I know you aren’t.” The nurse sounded close to tears and while we too were frustrated with the long wait we managed to refrain from making nurses cry and actually made some of them laugh along with us.

Sometimes I feel like we are absurd, that we could be obnoxious to others, laughing at times when others are so serious, but isn’t that when we need a laugh the most?

 

It really is, and I’m glad to have found someone to laugh with me.

My Return to Reality

Remember a couple posts ago I mentioned I was going to try and post more? Well…about a month ago I decided to delve into Harry Potter. This meant that every single available moment I had I was reading. It was seriously and addiction. I frequently wanted to finish an activity just so I could get back to reading. I stayed up late and neglected household chores just so I could read just a little more.

Now I’m finished. And….

It.

Was.

Fabulous!

All I want to do is talk about it, but for most who have read it, it is old news. Still, I’ve found most Potter Heads (that includes me now!)  are more than willing to delve into discussing their favorite book or parts. It’s like belonging to a club I didn’t even know I wanted to be in, but now I’m very happy to be in it!

It is strange to be done and have to return to reality. Those who know about the books know that they are big books and there are seven of them so reading all of them in one month has really been an immersing experience. I am sad to be leaving Hogwarts behind, but I know I’ll return and I hope that my boys will someday love them as much as I do.

So…let”s see if I can get a comment conversation going. Have you read any of the Harry Potter Books? If not, why? What was your favorite book or part? Have you re-read them? Favorite Characters?

I’ll start things.

I just finished reading the books (as you know) but I didn’t read them for a long time. There was once a time that I was pretty adamant not to get swept up in the “it” thing and I didn’t understand why so many adults were into a young adult book series. Somewhere along the way my resolve has…well, dissolved. I thought the Harry Potter books might be good for Little Moo and I would read them first so we can talk about them. Also, I read books much better aloud if I’ve already read them. Mostly I just decided I’d give it a try. And I’m so glad I did! I would say that my favorite was the second half of book seven. I think it wasn’t until that point (at the end) when Harry realized just how loved he was,  and not just by the parents that died to protect him. I loved when Mr. Weasley yelled “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!” and went after Beatrix.  And when Kreacher led the house elves out of the kitchen with knives and screamed “Fight! Fight! Fight for my Master, defender of house-elves! Fight the Dark Lord, in the name of brave Regulus! Fight!” I love that Harry’s kindness reached even the crankiest of characters. I’m laugh-crying (what?! it’s a thing!) just thinking about those two scenes. I loved a lot of the characters, but I was extremely pleased to see the growth of the Neville character. His character as portrayed in the beginning struck me as someone who could easily ended up a Wormtail character by the end of the books, but he was quite the opposite and I was happy to see that.

Now your turn. Go!

Here We Grow!

I’ve decided I like to garden. It is rewarding to plant something and see it come to life. I mean sure, I grew a couple babies and continue to watch them grow, but it just takes SO LONG to see if they turn out well. One season with a garden and I get results much quicker. It is fun and frustrating and definitely a growing process. See what I did there? Stick around, I’ll be here all day!

Last year I started with this lonely flower box and one little veggie box.

Definitely small…and lonely. So we did this!

Zippercow built the awesome fence to keep little hands and a busy dog out. He used leftover pieces from last summer’s fence project and it turned out beautiful!

Then he made me another veggie box!

And I got to bust out some power tools for the first time and made a couple boxes to put raspberries in. Those are my yard sale raspberries. I plan to buy more next year!

I’m so incredibly excited to have everything finally growing. It was a really rough start (seems to be the theme in our home this year) and I had to regroup and replant most of it, but now we are reaping the rewards of our hard work!

Mmm…Spaghetti Squash.

Cucumbers!

Chamomile, tomatoes and beans (not pictured) oh my! We also have some green onions and bell peppers growing too. I’m so excited about all of it. Now I just have to maintain and harvest it!

Oh, and we can’t forget the flowers!

I think the Zinnias (top right) are my favorite new flower of this season. They seriously last FOR-EV-ER in a vase. I’ve had some in my window sill for a couple weeks and they still look great! The lavender is great for that too.

*Sigh*

I definitely found a new hobby. And I love it.

So…what’s growing in your garden? What is your favorite thing from this season that you are growing? And if you aren’t growing a garden, tell me why, I love to hear from everyone!

Do Be Dobe Do

I love writing my blog, in fact I get great satisfaction from it. But sometimes I just don’t know what to write, you know? Okay, maybe you don’t, but I like blogging so much that I often think “I should do a post about that!” then…. you know, life gets you going and  so much time has passed that it doesn’t seem relevant anymore. I know I’m greatly inconsistent with how often I post, but I hope to be better at it. Practice makes perfect permanent (so they say) and I am going to try and post in a more consistent manner. Hopefully they won’t seem like mindless ramblings (one can only hope) but really, that is how my brain operates so why not share with the world, right?

I am currently busy getting Little Moo ready for the start of school (second grade peeps, it’s craziness!) and doing what I can to help with my littlest brother and my soon-to-be sister-in-law’s wedding. After that I hope to be working on a lot of projects around the home and will be sharing with everyone the good, the bad, and the crazy!

I’m very excited about how my garden (messy as it is) is coming along and that will be in my next post. For now just a pretty preview!

 

Little Moo Turns 7!

Our oldest son, Little Moo (I don’t know that the term “little” still applies, but we’ll go with it) just turned seven. For the past ten years I have worked with children from ages birth through six and I have enjoyed that I have a number of tools in my arsenal to care for young children. But now…now we are in uncharted territories and we all get to learn together!

I was feeling sentimental and thought I’d share some pictures of Little Moo through the years. Sure I could share the professional photos taken over the last 7 years but I really wanted to show him as he is, a wonderful little boy.

As you can see, he’s not so little anymore. While he can be a challenge some days we love him more than anything and look forward to growing with him!