Moop Love!

We travel fourteen hours at Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with my family in Pennsylvania.  Rather than doing it all again at Christmas time or shipping boxes full of stuff back and forth, we exchange gifts while we are there in November.  We are limited in what we are able to transport back home, so some family members have begun to just gift us with cash.  At first I was a little bothered by the impersonal nature of that.  My grandmother explained, though, that she prefers give us the money to buy something we really want for ourselves instead of just giving us more things to clutter up the house.  With that in mind, I promised myself that I would honor the spirit of these gifts and find something I really wanted.  It took me a few weeks to find just the right things, but I did.

(photo from www.moopshop.com)

(photo from www.moopshop.com)

These bags are both incredible.  Honest.  They are all handmade by real people in Pittsburgh.  The attention to detail is obvious in everything from the pocket sizes and placement to the half-crossed block in the stitching. The Letter Bag has been perfect for hauling everything I typically carry everyday.  I keep my Clutch in the bigger bag, but I like knowing that I can just grab it and go if I ever don’t need to take everything with me.

I’m already thinking about which Moop bag will be my next!

The Sewing Room

When we moved into our current house, we “named” some of the rooms by their purpose. One room downstairs, that was designed as a formal dining room, became the Music and Sewing room. Music is my husband’s thing and sewing is mine. In the autumn, my husband generously offered to relocate his music gear to the office area upstairs so I could have the entire sewing room and dedicate it to my hobby. He also suggested that we renovate the room (paint and minor furnishings only, nothing structural!) to make it more functional. I was all for it - how do you say no to something like that?!

We prepped and painted the walls and then made the 4 hour trek to IKEA for some Billy bookcases, a desk that would serve as the sewing table, and a great entertainment center/bench that would work for us as a window seat. Once we got it all home, we decided that if we were going to start this thing, we needed to do it the right way. So, we ripped out the existing carpet and Rod installed a new hardwood floor. It all turned out to be a much larger (and more expensive) project than we planned on, but we found some great deals along the way that made it not so bad. My sewing room looked great!

Then, not even a week later, things reached a breaking point with Alex and his school situation. We made the decision to pull him out of his current school and bring him home to do homeschool. Sewing room out, school room in.

[EDIT: There are supposed to be photos of the before and after and sewing to school transformation, which help this post make more sense. I can't figure out how to load them, so I'll get those added when I have some technical assistance...]

Want some?

Want some?, originally uploaded by ostmega.

This is my first entry for the weekly contest at iHeartFaces (http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/). I don’t consider myself any kind of great photographer, but I hope to pick up some tips from others who are!

Happy Boys!

Happy Boys!, originally uploaded by ostmega.

Rare photographic evidence that Alex is, in fact, capable of producing a genuine smile when there is a camera involved.

We’ve been trying to stay busy and away from the television and computer on this summer break. It’s a bit of a challenge, I’ll admit, but we are working on it. The last few days have even seen some real crafting and sewing in our house! If I can find a semi-willing model, I might be able to post some photos soon for both of you that still check this blog…

Flat Alex goes to Europe!

Flat Alex at the Arc de Triomphe, originally uploaded by ostmega.

In late October (I told you I was behind!), Rod traveled to Europe for work. Alex and I would have loved to go along, but this was not at all practical. So, I made a Flat Alex - on a stick - and Rod was good enough to take lots of photos with Flat Alex at famous sites in London, Paris, and Munich. (You can check out more photos from the set at Flickr.)

On a more technical side, does anyone know how to blog more than one photo per entry from the Blog This function in Flickr? I’ve been using my own gallery for my photos, but it’s broken now, so I’ve switched to Flickr and I’m still trying to figure it all out. Thanks!

Happy New Year!

Stating the obvious, I’m quite a bit late on that.  One of my goals for 2009 was to update this space more frequently.  I don’t want to set some unrealistic expectations for myself, but I do want to make more of an effort here.  And, seeing that the last post was from July (!), I don’t think I can do much worse than 2008.

I’m having some technical issues with posting photos at the moment, so I’ll leave you (hopefully) with a fun video from our Thanksgiving holiday in Pennsylvania.

What I did with my summer vacation

I can’t believe that the summer is almost over already!  Alex starts school in just two and a half weeks - where has the time gone?  We didn’t do a whole lot this summer, but we did take a trip to Pennsylvania for Independence Day.  The small town I grew up in usually has an old fashioned Fourth of July celebration, complete with swimming races in the lake, bike parades, egg tossing, and a HUGE fireworks display to end the day.  Sadly, the down economy affected this too, and the fireworks didn’t happen.  They still did the races and parades, though, so all was not lost.

The drive to Pennsylvania from Alabama is not a quick one.  It usually takes us 13ish hours, but with a baby this time, it took a bit longer.  Alex was able to make himself quite comfortable with his iPod, though.  One good thing about the long drive is it gives us a chance to stop at some Chipotle restaurants along the way.  We LOVE Chipotle and impatiently wait for the day when they finally open one in Huntsville.

This year, we had more downtime than usual and took the opportunity to visit Niagara Falls, Canada.  It’s only a short drive from Erie and Alex hadn’t ever been there.  When I was growing up, Niagara Falls was our yearly summer vacation destination and I was perfectly fine with that.  I had a blast there every year.  There were a ton of things to see and do.  It seems now that it’s a bit more tourist-y, but probably is still a good choice.  I say probably because I don’t think the city got a fair shake on our visit this year.  We got there later in the day than I had intended, so we were all a little tired and cranky.  Oh, and it was Canada Day.  We got to share the falls with about 20,000 other people enjoying Canada’s birthday.  (Note to self:  check the Canadian holiday calendar before planning the next trip to Niagara Falls.)  Regardless, we had a good time and Alex said more than once that he wasn’t ever going to forget this day.

The highlight of the trip to Niagara Falls for Alex was probably his ride on the SkyWheel.  There are a lot of places in Niagara Falls to spend money and normally Alex would be all over that.  For whatever reason, the only thing he asked to do was ride on this gigantic ferris wheel.  It was pretty expensive, but Rod pointed out that this was the only thing he had asked to do and it would probably be what he remembered best.  So, we bought our tickets and waited in line.

I’m happy to report that we were not disappointed with our ride.  We were rewarded for our long-ish wait in line with a terrific view of the city and the falls.  Our timing was perfect for a great sunset view, though I didn’t manage to get any good photos of that.  The photo of the city and Skylon Tower above was taken from our completely enclosed and climate controlled gondola.

There’s the whole happy family.  Not the greatest photo, but it was hard to get the camera and self timer to work well on the tiny ledge of the moving car!

All in all, it was a great trip and I think we all had fun.  Next time we might spend a night or two in Niagara Falls so we don’t have to do so much driving all in one day.  I think it’s safe to say that we won’t be doing that on Canada Day, though…

Summer Update!

Time for a summer update - if anyone still bothers to check in here for my infrequent posts…

The last time I checked in, Declan was about one month old.  He’s nearly five months (and twenty pounds!) now.  He very much wants to crawl around, which is not something I am at all prepared for.  Thankfully, he can’t get his little body to do what he wants it to do quite yet.  It causes him quite a bit of frustration at times, but I’m glad for the extra time to get the house ready for a crawling baby.

He and Alex are the best of buddies.  Alex absolutely loves his little brother, and Declan adores Alex, too.  Alex can always get Declan to smile or laugh.

Alex graduated from his Montessori preschool in May.  He’s been at the same school since he was 18 months old, so this was a big deal for him.  It hit him harder than I thought it might.  The first few days after school got out, his behavior was totally out of character for him.  He finally asked me if he could go back to his school for elementary school, too.  We compromised by writing his favorite teacher, April, an email telling her how much he misses her.  It was incredibly sweet.  Here’s a photo of Alex and Ms. April on pajama day.  He will start kindergarten at our local public school in August.

In house news, things are growing outside.  We bought our current house just over a year ago, but the summer last year was a record drought year and nothing looked very pretty.  I’m ashamed to admit that now that things are growing well, I don’t know what is a weed and what was once a well cared for piece of the landscape.  These, however, I know are hydrangeas and they are staying.

I’m also trying to do a lot of clearing out and organizing, so I should have some giveaways here soon.  Keep your eyes open if you like fabric and notions!

Meet Declan

I’m almost a month late in posting this, but I hope you’ll forgive me. I have a good excuse. Here he is.

This is Declan Thomas, born January 28th. Life has been an adjustment since then, but the real reason I haven’t posted is that I can’t seem to get a good photo of the new boy! He has a head full of strawberry blonde/red hair and the natural light to really highlight that has been scarce in these parts lately - or at least during the hours that I have two free hands…

We are all doing well here. It started off a bit rocky, what with Declan losing “too much” weight during his first week, but that has more than reversed itself and we now find ourselves needing to purchase the full size bottles because the small ones just don’t hold enough for each feeding. I’m very curious to see how much he weighs at our next visit to the pediatrician. We also had the pleasure of dealing with the worst stomach virus to hit our house in the last seven years exactly 2 days after we brought Declan home. One week after that, Alex came home from school with pink eye. Needless to say, it was a fun few weeks. Thankfully, things seem to have settled down and everyone has been healthy for a couple of weeks now.

Big brother Alex has been an incredible help. I was a little worried about how things would go down when Alex realized that Declan is here to stay, but he has been great. He wants to help with diapers, pacifiers, picking out clothes - all of it. Alex reads stories to Declan, teaches him math, and sings lullabies to him when he cries in the car. I underestimated the love that a 5 year old could have for a baby. Here’s some photographic proof - just look at the love in his eyes!

Pottery Love

There is an incredible potter in the town next to the one I grew up in. His name is Bill Campbell and he produces Campbell Pottery. His pieces are just beautiful. I also appreciate that they aren’t all just nice to look at - most are quite functional as well. For example, my mom’s everyday dishes are Campbell Pottery. Just eating your average pasta is a more beautiful experience because of those dishes.

I love to visit the studio and store, which are in an old house and barn that they have converted into an awesome space. You can see (and purchase) any number of Bill’s own pieces, but he also showcases the work of many other artists and craftsmen in his studio/store. When we visited in November, they had the most amazing miniature quilts available and I’ve been saving my pennies ever since!

We were also able to pick up a few new pieces at our November visit, thanks to the gifting generosity of some family and friends. The one below is my favorite, though my photos don’t even begin to do it justice. I’ll try to get some better photos of this one and the others and post those later.  Enjoy!