I'm not Dead

I just have not been interested in spending time here. I have a lot of thoughts running around my head (as always) but have been focusing on real things and pinterest.

I've been working on finishing the quilt tops (3) I have sitting around.

I've been cleaning, and folding laundry and putting it away, and being present in my life instead of pretending to be something awesome here, on the internet.

All that and pinning like crazy.

Scrapbooking

OK, so we're going to start at the end since that's how I uploaded the pictures.
These two layouts (above and below) are my first attempts at paint splatters. I splattered and dripped paint on several pieces of paper to see if it was easy or hard and also to see how big of a mess it would make.

It does make a big mess but I had a splat mat under the paper I was splattering on. Both of these are pictures from when we went to the zoo in 2008.

The rest of these are from when I went to the scrap marathon two weeks ago. I had been going twice a year to scrap, in January and June, but had to miss the last June one for a wedding. So it had been a long time since I'd had any dedicated scrap time. These layouts below are the ones I did that day.

I had a list of pages that I needed to fill in gaps in our albums, so I had pictures divided into piles like "Sam summer 2008 1 page." This helped me stay focused. I also tried to match pictures and papers so I didn't have to take so much with me.

This layout (above) is a scraplift from a layout I found on Pinterest. I'd link you but sometimes this computer acts weird about letting me highlight things. That's why sometimes there's links and sometimes there's not.

She wanted to pose with the layout since she's holding the same panda in the layout.

This was supposed to have stitching on it but I poked the holes all wrong. So I had to fix it with a patch. This one is also a Pinterest scraplift.

I don't know why she's trying to get in the picture with this one since it's Sam's layout.

These ones, above and below, have a 6-photo picture holder in between the layouts - a trick I've seen and used when there's a lot of pics from one event but too many for layouts.

Birth announcement from my new niece, Trillian. I added the "it's a girl" when I got home - I went through an added some kind of embellishment to almost every layout (the primary reason being I have massess [I mean massess] of stickers, quotes, ribbon, embellishments, etc., etc., etc. and was trying to move some of it); this is the only one that I sort of am not entirely happy with the addition.

No paper. All ribbon.

The letters on these two are cut with the Cricut. I think I went a little overboard on the BCM one but . . . it's done so I'm not that unhappy with it.

And finally, Polis (that's what Kate called her pacifier). I'm not thrilled with the picture of me on the layout but I'm holding the polis which I think is kind of funny. For about 2 1/2 years we had them everywhere and then she grew out of them . . . so I had to scrap it.

Hopefully another year doesn't go by before I have more to show you.

Love is Eternal

Last fall (fall 2010), I took off my engagement ring and wedding ring because I was getting a callus from lifting weights. My finger is much bigger than when I got married, and once they were off, they weren't going back on. I was kind of sad but figured we'd get them sized sooner or later. And I had a ring to wear, an aquamarine that fit my ring finger.

But time dragged on, and sizing the rings kept being moved down on the priority list of spending.

Meanwhile, last summer, I read I Do but I Don't by Kamy Wicoff (very interesting read; it looks at all aspects of the wedding, and why we do what we do as far as wedding traditions and expectations). In one part she talks about why she doesn't wear her engagement ring: she goes into the whole "being chosen" thing vs. being the chooser; the diamond industry in general; how the ring says things that maybe the wearer isn't wanting to say; and how gauche women can be, wanting big rings to "prove" they're "worth" more.

I realized I missed my rings and that some of her reasons for not wearing her ring were reasons I wanted to wear my rings. These rings represent our love and our vows and I wanted even the casual observer to see that.

Finally, finally, we took our rings to Barmakian in Nashua and I picked them up today. They are so shiny and glossy . . . like new. And they fit. Craig got his done, too, and we keep marvelling to each other how nice they look, how nice it is to have them fit and to be wearing them.

And the engraving survived . . . the bands were stretched and we didn't know if we'd lose the engraving. But it's there.

Love is Eternal. 10-21-00.

Took Long Enough

Not long after we finished the headboard, I found this cool old window at an antique store. It hung for a long time just the window (before pic here). Two weeks ago I (we) finally got around to putting the map behind it . . . the maps I bought off of ebay 7 or 8 years ago - the humungo maps of the coasts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire that were so huge I did not know what to do with.

It took a little planning to get all the panes filled (we couldn't just stretch the map across the back and call it a day, we cut each pane separately) and then Craig cut up cardboard to hold them in and went to a huge amount of effort to tape up the whole back (but I didn't take a picture of that).

This was Craig's idea for this window, but in the days before we did it I saw a cabinet door done like this with a map on pinterest and I was like, oh man, that was our idea. But it was the motivation I needed to get off my butt and do something.

We love how it turned out . . . I have to say, I do like it better filled than empty. It does annoy me that you can see reflections in these pictures . . . like me standing on the bed there. But glad to have another DIY crossed off the list.

In which I improve upon a good thing

(OK, I started this post on the 14th. I'm hoping to post it tonight.)

Our dining room chairs are falling apart. They creak, sway, and generally are not stable. Two of them already broke apart. We sort of half-talked about getting a new set but there's so many other things above new dining room set on the priority list.

I saw a great pic (pic 3) in Country Living of a dining room with slipcovered chairs and found them for $30 each. Plus I don't have a big white room and a big dark table like the pic, but I thought slipcovered chairs could work for us. Sure Fit had these for less so I asked my MIL for them for Christmas. She, being a generous gift giver, gave me 4 (many, many thanks).

I was thrilled and immediately put one on a chair. After looking at it for several days I began to think I should hem it to make it shorter. I realized it needed to be pulled up from the top of the chair back.

(near chair is straight-out-of-package [well, not really, I washed it]; far chair is tailored.)

First, I washed and dried the slipcovers so they if they were going to shrink, they would be shrunk. Then I measured how much they needed to be pulled up and took them down to my craft cave.

They had this funny kind of tuck in the top so I pulled that out with my seam ripper.

I marked my machine (with the water-soluble quilt marker, which smudged but lasted long enough for this project) 3.5 inches from where the seam would be - so I would have a straight seam.

Somehow those pictures are a big block that I can't space apart but I'm sure you can figure out that I sewed a seam, lining the top of the slipcover up with the marker line, and then I re-did the funny little fold thing.

Craig braced up the chairs:

And now they are covered and the whole thing is lovely. Next up, refinishing the table. Wish us luck.

Wanting to Want to

I never want to do my housework (shocking confession, I know). Never. There is always something better to do, like pinning, or reading, or crafting, or using the power tools (those things are heavy), or just whatever.

But then I get so discouraged because my house is a mess and doesn't look a nicely lit and whitewashed like those pictures on pinterest.

Last week, I thought, man, I wish I wanted to do my housework. That I wasn't always trying to avoid it and feeling bad that it wasn't done. I want to want to do it. And it was like a voice said, Just ask Me.*

*Don't get all worked up that I said I heard a voice. I didn't "hear" a "voice," but it was like a still, small voice in my soul. A quiet prodding. A reminder.

So I did. I prayed, "Lord, help me to want to want to take care of my home. I want to want to do these things before I flake off and check out."

And He answered me. He gave me what I asked for, a peace and motivation to do what needed to be done. A lovely, quiet peace about carrying on with my duties, a statisfaction of a job well done. A dedication that's lasted through this last week. If I feel it lagging, I bring it back to Him. "Thank you, Lord, for helping want to do housework. Help me still."

It's been so encouraging, too, to be reminded that I can bring everything to God; He loves me and wants to give me the things I ask for.

And wow, is my house clean.

2011

So, since my laptop quit (monitor), I haven't been able to post from Craig's laptop. Then I thought, I'll try scheduling it to post and see what happens.

Our Christmas was lovely, thank you for asking. It was bookened by some of us being sick, my son on Christmas Eve and my husband and I the day after Christmas. In between we managed to remember the precious Baby in a manger, the promise of life for the whole world.

2011 was a good year; nothing outstanding, nothing awful. Average but lovely in its averageness. I feel like (by God's grace and strength) I became more purposeful in my parenting, more forgiving of my mistakes, less critical of others, and more disciplined in my routine. Even in tiny increments, those are big steps for me.

I'd like to make some kind of list of highlights from the year but am moderately discouraged by the thought that this might not post . . . also trying to thing right now is daunting. Hmmmm . . .winter, spring, summer, fall. The year cycles by so fast; the days lengthen and shorten and goodnight kisses are given before it seems possible another day has passed.

God is faithful. If there's any theme I see as I look back over the year, it's that our loving Father, God, is faithful.

And will continue to be.