futilly looking for that silver lining

The adage "if it can go wrong, it will" has certainly held true around here lately.  It has been one of those weeks.  No, months.  Maybe even longer.  I've lost track of how long it's been a bit challenging around here. But the last couple days have really just been tragic.  As the cat threw up onto my living room rug this morning, I hollered up to the heavens, "enough already!"

Did I mention the dogs realized the batteries were dead on their collars before I did? Which means freedom was just a short jump over the five foot high fence away.  Oh yes, you betcha they took advantage of that fact.  And then no matter that I've replaced batteries in their collars for two years, I could not get the new batteries in properly.  I seriously worked on it for two days.  There really isn't a secret to it and I still don't know what I was doing wrong but after they got out yesterday morning and came home reeking of shit, I managed to finally get them to work.  A little too little too late but hopefully that's the end of that little bit hell raising.  At least now they're clean, right?

Oh, and I've been volunteering my time at the kids' school for several years now.  Yesterday I have an hour to get some work done for the stupid bookfair that raises money for the school and no one would let me use the frigging photo copiers.  Seriously, you people are here all day, I've got an hour, can you cut me some slack?  I was actually near tears when I was leaving the school.  Overreaction, most definitely, but that's where I'm at.

Between the moody tween girl, the stressed out tween boy, the always a handful dogs, and the possessed cat, I am ready to commit myself.  I tell myself to focus on the positive and "serenity now" but that's doing nothing for me at this point.  I am barely holding it together.  And it shows.  I went to bed last night at seven because I just needed to be done with the day.

The black cloud that's been hanging around seriously needs to move on.  I'm ready for some blue skies and better days. 

time well spent

Sam needed a haircut...BAD! His hair was curling all around his shirt collar and covered his ears and was looking exceptionally poofy. There just never seems to be a good time to bring him in and get it done. Not to mention the whole experience is usually so horrible, we both put it off as long as we possibly can. But the time had come. There was no more putting it off. Sam's hair demanded attention. We had an hour after lunch on Saturday so I just grabbed him and we took ourselves to the Supercuts.

Apparently everyone and their brother also had that exact same hour free and chose to bring themselves and all their relations in for haircuts. I steamed that we had a wait and wandered outside with Sam muttering under my breath about "not having time for this" and "why can't things just be easy for once." Sam took me by the hand and as we walked down the sidewalk he swung my arm. We stopped in front of a shop and looked in the window. Sam asked if we could go in and look at the stuffed animals. After wandering through that store a bit, we headed back outside and popped in and out of a couple more little shops.

The anticipated wait time was nearly up, so we strolled back to Supercuts and sat outside on a bench in the sun.  Sam chattered on about sports related triviality demanding nothing more from me than a little attention. Finally his name was called and we went back inside for his haircut.

Afterwards as we drove home, Sam all smiles and sucking on his lollipop and looking very handsome now that I could see his face again.  He caught me glancing at him and said, "Mom, I had so much fun just you and me.  Can we do that again sometime?"

I'm always on the lookout for opportunities to make meaningful memories with my kids, thinking it has to be Martha perfect in order for it to qualify.  I need to take a lesson from Sam and remember we don't need the perfect outing, we just need to be with each other. 

lazy Saturday morning

thank you

I'm not going to bother trying to play catch up or highlight all the many thoughts, events, ideas, photos that have occurred since last I visited here.  Just the thought of that makes me want to scrap this altogether.  And that's the thing, I don't want to scrap this here blog altogether.  I like my little space here.

Sadly my last post was all the way back in May.  May seems like it was another century at this point in time.  In May, all three of my kids were in Elementary school. Now, I have a middle schooler.  In May we had the whole glorious summer ahead of us.  Now, we are basking in the wonders of fall.  In May life was crazy busy chaotically hectic.  Now...life is still crazy busy chaotically hectic.  Ah well, not everything changes. 

This past year I've made more of an effort to embrace gratitude. And I don't mean remembering to say a polite thank you, although that is always a good idea to do.  I read an article in the Sunday paper reviewing a book I believe.  The point of the book was to inspire people to express gratitude to someone every day, or maybe week (can't quite remember...I blame old age).   I thought what a wonderful attitude.  To look for the little things we have to be grateful for and most importantly to make sure those responsible for those little things know how much we appreciate it.  Wouldn't the world be a happier place if more of us did that?

Well, I knew I don't have the sticktoittiveness to adhere to one a day, or even one a week.  I like to set that bar low, I guess.  But I bought a few boxes of thank you notes and when I thought to myself, "wasn't that nice of so and so..." I made a point to grab a card and scribble off a note.  My life hasn't changed dramatically but I have noticed a subtle shift in my attitude.  I see the good in people more and find myself believing that there is more good in the world than not.  And that makes me happier.  And happier is good.

You know what I've discovered?  Writing thank you notes is contagious.  I found this little note one morning shortly after school began from my now seven (!!??) year old.  In case you can't decipher it..."It has been a great summer.  Thank you Mom and Dad for this wonderful summer."  And that little note right there, had the power to change my whole day.  It still does now, several weeks later.

Give it a shot.  Try thanking someone you may not normally think to thank.  You may just turn their whole day around. 

the flip side

These are the fabrics Katie chose for the back of her quilt.  I wanted to go with just one but there were no if's and's or but's about it for Miss Katie.  I think her quilt has a split personality.  The back is nothing like the front.  In colors or pattern or...anything.

What's amazing is she picked the fabrics because she loves pink and she thought the flowers, hearts, kitty cats, and ladybugs are pretty.  For me most of  those fabrics say something about my Katie girl.  Cats have always been special to her.  In fact, her very first word was "meow" and "kitty" was a close second.  So the kitty cat print was very fitting.  Bug has been one of her many nicknames and so the ladybug print too was a serendipitous choice.  The hearts, well, duh, that one was a given, what with my love of anything heart related and she is one of the loves of my life.  The floral one is the wild card.  There isn't any underlying meaning behind that one. 

I ended up adding a pink gingham border to the back because I needed another couple inches around in order of it to be the same size as the front.  That's just the way I do things, especially quilting.  I kind of guess and then when things don't quite match up, figure out a way to make it work.  One hundred years from now, someone will be looking at my quilts and think a seven year old put them together.  For most quilters, precision and aesthetics are paramount.  I just want to create some warm and snuggly. 

quilting with heart

I must be the slowest quilter in the history of the world.  But to be quite honest, I don't mind being slow.  I savor each and every minuscule stop along the way.  I finally got to the fabric store this spring and Katie and I picked out the border fabrics for the top and the flannel for the back.

   Wait until you see the fabrics Kate chose for the back.  I haven't uploaded a picture of them yet but hooooo boy! This is going to be one interesting quilt.  I wanted to just slap one HUGE piece of flannel on the back and call it a day.  Not my girlie though.  She fell in love with not two fabrics, not three fabrics, but four sweet flannels.  She assured me, using a cajoling tone and a little smile, I could piece them together to make the back and it would be more than perfect.   How could I say no?  And it is her quilt when all is said and done.

 

   Anywho! I got lost on a tangent there.  We've had a spell of dreary rainy weather.  Perfect weather to get some sewing done.  I spent one afternoon and evening cutting and sewing and the top is officially FINISHED!!! I really love how it turned out. Miss Charlotte approves too. 

On a side note...look at this most adorable pin cushion my sister made me for my birthday! She could have stopped right there but she didn't. She added some pins...pins with hearts adorning them...that make me want to squeal, they are just that cute.

   I am hoping once we are done with the craziness that is the dance recital, I will get to work on piecing the back together.  That's another step that should be relatively quick.  My speed quick, not actually quick kind of quick. 

a dog with a lot of heart

i ♥ that little heart shaped patch on our Daisy girl

Daisy epitomizes the word "sweetheart." There is nothing her little doggy self loves more than to love on her humans, her Mudgie, and even Miss Feistiness herself-Princess Charlotte. She is not a perfect pup. Quite the contrary, her list of "ways to improve" is indeed long. But I can forgive her eating Teresa's medications that were on the kitchen counter (again!) and her sneaking down to the basement to eat the kitty litter (again!), and her annoying habit of jumping up to say hello. Because anytime I'm blue, Daisy seems to know, and she wiggles herself in next to my leg and looks up into my eyes and wags with her whole body to let me know I'm loved.