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...]

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.

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!

Exhale

So the Christmas festivities have ended…finally. It feels like we’ve been “doing Christmas” since mid-November, which I guess we really have. It’s nice to be able to relax and exhale a bit - at least for a moment. I know there will be all kinds of excitement to come in the next several weeks as we await the arrival of the new boy, but for now I’m enjoying just sitting in this comfy chair and looking at the mess that needs to be put away…

Here are Rod and Alex enjoying a laugh earlier this week. That boy just will not smile a “real” smile if there is a camera around. Anyone else have that problem?

Finally, earlier today there was an attack at Playmobil International Airport. It seems that the pirates from Skull Island really wanted to get on a plane bound for Tokyo, but they didn’t have proper identification. They used various canons and shooters, according to Alex, and were finally allowed to board the flight. As you can see below, peace has been restored. It’s a good day.

Holiday Craftiness

I had some grand plans about holiday crafting this year. I was going to make some autumn-themed coasters for several family members to be delivered at Thanksgiving and thought I would make something handmade for everyone for Christmas. Oh, I was going to make entirely new decorations for the house, too. Uh-huh. Can I blame those crazy thoughts on pregnancy brain? We’ll go with that.

I started out well and had several projects cut out and ready to go when I got a call from my mom that one of my great-aunts had died unexpectedly. The three of us were planning to make the drive to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving, but Alex and I ended up making the trip about a week earlier than planned for the funeral. In the span of three days, I packed up everything we would need for the duration of the trip (including all fabrics, notions, and my sewing machine), drove 15 hours in one day to eastern Pennsylvania for my aunt’s funeral, and then drove 6 hours the next day to my mom’s house in western Pennsylvania, where we would be staying for the Thanksgiving holiday. Whew! That was quite a trip for a 4 year old and his 30 week pregnant mama! I’m glad we were able to be there for my uncle and family, though.

Since my family lives so far away, we alternate holidays between Pennsylvania and Alabama. Since this year was our Thanksgiving year, that also meant we were “doing Christmas” that week, too. I managed to get the Christmas gifts done for everyone, but had to drop my plans for the Thanksgiving gifts. Maybe next year. Using the awesome tutorial from Moonstitches, I made several owl garlands. Some were family names, but most were the basic (and short!) NOEL greeting. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo - natural light is limited these days and I never seem to remember to take photos during that 20 minutes of the day.

As part of the Christmas gift-giving this year, my grandmother got me some things I’ve been looking at for quite awhile. I’ve been waiting for them to go on clearance, but Target doesn’t seem to want to cooperate. Meet The Ducks.

I just love how the little ducks are all chatty, but the big one seems to have a look on her face that says, “These are *not* my children.” The little guys came decorated for the holidays, but I still think I need to supplement their wardrobes in some way.

There is still more crafting to be done before the actual Christmas holiday, so that’s my plan for today while Alex is at school. I guess I’d better get to it!

It’s another…

boy. Yes, we will be welcoming a new baby into our house in four short months. I would show you the ultrasound pictures, but I’ve never been very good at interpreting those things and would probably just show you a foot or something.

As several other bloggers have said lately, I feel like I’ve been lying to a lot of people by keeping this secret for so long. There was a good reason. Two actually, or at least they seemed that way in my mind. The first had to do with history. A couple of years ago, we lost a baby - just a few short weeks after we had told everyone I was pregnant. For a still unexplained reason, I went into pre-term labor at just over 20 weeks. Our baby was born prematurely and died. This time around, I really felt like I needed to keep my mouth shut as long as possible so I wouldn’t jinx anything. Completely irrational, I know, but it worked for me. Now that we’ve passed that 20 week mark with nothing but good news, I feel better about letting people know. The second reason is about other people. I have several friends who are struggling or have struggled in the past with getting pregnant. I would hate to think that anything I say might contribute to adding to their hurt. Obviously I can’t hide or control the physical, but I can certainly control what comes out of my mouth (or keyboard).

And now, if you’re still with me, a request. Do you have any suggestions for names? We’re having a hard time coming up with ideas. We want something that is unusual, but not strange. Does that make sense? I’ve been checking out the top 100 names lists from various countries and have started a list, but none of them really jumps out at us yet. We still have time, as Rod likes to point out, but this is one of those things that I like to have settled as early as possible. Can you help me out?

And there will soon be some crafting/sewing posts again. Rod was out of town last week and took my little camera with him. He left his big camera, but I just don’t feel as comfortable using that one. Now that mine is back, I can take some photos and show you what I’ve been up to!

If only it was that easy…

This weekend, Alex went to the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk with his grandparents. It was held at a local stadium and Alex was able to ride his bike around the track. He was quite proud to let me know that he rode three whole laps and walked another two. “That makes five, total, Mama!”

At one point in the festivities, they sat down for a break and to listen to a group sing. Alex leaned over to his grandmother and asked, “Did we find that thingy yet?” (It sounds more like “fingy” when he says it.) She had no idea what he was talking about. “What thingy, Alex?” He replied innocently, “You know, the cure.”

If only it was that easy.

Ahhh…fall!

I wish I could say that it’s obviously no longer summer, but that’s not really the case here in Northern Alabama. It’s definitely cooler at night and in the morning, but the days still get up into the mid-80’s. That’s an absolute improvement over the low 100’s we had for over three weeks in a row, but it’s not the fall/autumn that I know and love. We’re getting there, though!

In an effort to move things along, I’ve stopped wearing shorts and changed my blog theme to a fall look. I’ve been bouncing between two of them, trying to decide which I like better. Each of them requires some editing, which scares me, so I’ll probably end up sticking with the one that requires the least amount of effort on my part.

This time of year makes me crave soups, breads, and hearty foods. I’ve never been very good at making great soups, but I’m hoping to change that this year. If any of you have easy-ish recipes that you would like to share, please feel free! In the meantime, I think I’m going to start with this simple Asian Chicken Soup from Martha Stewart. It seems fairly light, so that might help balance the calendar with the actual weather outside. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Since I don’t have any good fall photos yet, I’ll leave you with this one of Alex enjoying our last strawberry pie of the season. He really likes strawberry pie…

Happy 100th Birthday!

Today is my great-grandmother’s 100th birthday. That’s her in the middle - Hazel (or Grandma Pete as she is known to family). When I think about all the things she has seen in her time here, I almost get overwhelmed, but it doesn’t seem to be a big deal to her. I guess after 100 years, very little will surprise you. She still lives in the same town she was born in and lives in the house she and her husband built in the 1930’s. He died in 1970, which was six years before I was born, so I never had a chance to meet him. She has raised six children and has more grandchildren and great-grandchildren than I can even count. She keeps track of us all, though, which is more than I can say for myself.

In case you’re curious, she has this advice for younger generations, “Eat healthy foods, and don’t be afraid to work. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty.” Those are words she has lived by, too. She always has a vegetable garden in the backyard and makes a mean rhubarb pie. That’s healthy, right? I don’t know if she’s ever been to McDonalds. As for the hard work, she was the first employee at an electrical supply factory in town and worked there for 27 years. She’s never had a drivers license, though. That was one I never have understood - especially if you have ever been to Edinboro, Pennsylvania. She’s visited Japan and Korea and many states in the US, but has never had the desire to live anywhere but the town where she was born.

She likes to crochet, embroider, and sew and enjoys watching Lawrence Welk reruns on PBS. She also does the crossword puzzle in the newspaper every day. She used to go to the local senior center to play cards (canasta?), but had to take a break when she got frustrated with “the old people who cheat.”

I hope that on this birthday Grandma realizes how many people out there love and care about her. Happy birthday, Grandma!

Summer Update

I’ve been such a slacker with updates this summer. It’s not that we haven’t been doing anything, but I guess it just hasn’t been anything worthy of reporting. We did, however, make a trip to visit my family in Pennsylvania for the 4th of July holiday. It’s such a long drive, but always worth it once we get there.

This year, we took Alex to Waldameer Park and Water World, though we skipped the Water World part this time. When I was younger, my mom’s employer had a company picnic there every summer, so I have lots of fun memories of the place. It’s a small amusement park by today’s Six Flags standards, but it’s great for something local and inexpensive. They don’t charge admission to the park itself, so if you just want to get a pass for the kids and hang out for the day, Waldameer is your place. If you ever find yourself in the Erie, PA area, I highly recommend it.

It was Alex’s first time ever at an amusement park, so we didn’t really know how he would handle it. Turns out I didn’t have anything to worry about. The boy has no fear. Zero. And as long as there’s a ride on a roller coaster after the wait, he will wait in any line. He rode the merry-go-round once, bumper cars once, the Spider once, rode through the Whacky Shack one time, and rode the Ravine Flyer 3 twenty times. (I think it was really only 12 times, but my 4 year old editor is standing over my shoulder making me write twenty times.) The roller coaster was definitely his favorite.