Sunflowers

I think that sunflowers are a befitting subject today as this is my last day at my out-of-the-home job.

One of the neat things about leaving for work early (as if we can find any other reasons) in the morning is catching the sunlight as it wafts through my yard and garden.

So, here:

Giveaways

More wonderful giveaways here:



http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/



and


http://sewinstitches.blogspot.com/

Craft it Forward

I've decided to start the week of festivities by participating in the Blog Sensation that is quickly covering blogland!Craft it Forward is sort of like the movie "Pay It Forward." The object is to do something nice "just because."Here is the fine print:The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:* I make no guarantees that you will like what I make but I will do my best.* it will be done in the next couple of weeks* you have no clue what it’s going to be - that’s the fun part! But it will be handmade.It could be a hand sewn item, stationary personalized for you, baked goods from my kitchen, or something knitted. What will it be? You’ll have to wait and see! I reserve the right to do something completely bizarre or completely normal.In return, all you need to do is post this text into your own blog and make 5 things for 5 others. (If you don't blog you could send a mass e-mail to friends and craft for the first 5 respondents.) What could be more fun! Some ideas you could do for others: artwork, CD’s, burn a DVD, write a poem, crochet a scarf, make a mini book, send a photograph (a printed one, not e-mailed. etc…).If you are interested, leave a comment below with your email address (if you don’t have a blog-based email address and are not comfortable leaving your personal email address, you can also email me at jsrenn (at) yahoo (dot) com, but be sure to put LIMABEAN4 in the subject line so I will know that I should open it.

I copied and pasted the above info from Becky's blog and thank you very much for posting it for us to pass along!

As for what you may receive from me, ya just never know as I dabble in a little of this and a little of that! I sew, do some basic knitting, cook, bake, embroider, and whatever else just happens to cross my mind. If you have wee ones, please let me know!

From This to This

I purchased these two pieces of fabric a few weeks ago with the idea that I would make a girlfriend's daughters aprons. So, I toted them back and forth to work everyday because the fabrics made me happy whenever I looked at them. Well, here they are, 100% complete and soon to be mailed to Smithville, Ohio. One, no doubt will be used for cooking and cleaning, and the other, well, maybe to collect bugs and wear while helping Daddy work on a car or plant flowers, for she is "Dude."

With a Sense of Peace

As I have written before, I have been bombarded by most with a sense of doom from the impending job lose, however, I woke this morning with a migraine and a complete sense of peace. I usually run completely ragged until I drop the wee ones off at daycare, but this morning, all was calm.

Maybe the calmness came from the sense of peace that I created in my home by creating this weekend. Maybe from stealing moments here and there to create things just because I could. Maybe because I decided that staying home was the solution to the lost weekends. Maybe the peace came from not saying "yes, or "no" to the implied invites or requests for our attendance here or there, or maybe it came from accepting the household chaos and declining to not get flustered by what I did not accomplish and celebrating what I did.

Who knows?

I did, somehow, without much fuss, manage in between dishes and laundry and solving 3 year old issues and nursing and cuddling a 7 month old, to make two aprons for my dear friend's little girls, a potholder to go into the Christmas gift stash, and a skirt for my little one. I made dinner for my husband last night and brownies on Saturday. My brother and his girlfriend came up to bring veggies from the CSA and spend the day. I found all the nasty tomato worms that my husband graciously plucked and killed in the garden. And, just enjoyed the weekend that seemed to take its time flowing by.

10 More Days

I have never been one to offer much in the way of pity to anyone. I often try to find a way to focus on the positive aspects of how any event will impact another person's life. You know, God will give you no more than you can bear, when God closes one door, he opens another? All that and more. Often, I try to find the comical aspects of any and all events. Heaven knows we all need a good laugh when our lives harbor chaos. So, why do we feel the need to bog down every one with the negative aspects of events, feel the need to take some one who is having a hard time to even greater depths of despair than they already have on their own? Why must we dwell on the cons? Do we feel the need as humans to try and convince ourselves that some one's life is far worse than our own? Do we feel if we can drive them further into despair that we are better off or that we may be responsible for their rescue later on down the road, "You know, I was there for them when they were at their lowest?" Maybe we drove them to their lowest and they, they alone, without us, had the strength and fortitude to bring themselves back up? In some cases, though, our pity and self inflicted despair drives them so deep that they will never recover.

For the past four weeks, I have been confronted with pity by my co-workers, so much so that I truly loathe some of them now. I state to them that I am indeed fine with my lay-off, that my family will be just fine, that I finally will have the time that this insane commute steals from me to be a better person, a better mother. Finally, the stress of an abusive/malicious boss will be gone. Can we not accept what may be bad for one, may indeed be awesome for another?

Sure, the loss of income is sad, but that extra $200 a month, because let's be honest here, after daycare and gas, that's about all that is left, and if we can't make due without that $200, we really need to re-evaluate our life style!

I hope that I will always be secure enough within myself to find the positive in life and to express it to others, especially when they are down.

In the meantime, God, if you could give be a gentle push in the direction where that new door is, I'd be glad to investigate it!

In that Dizzy Daze, Again!

As you can see, I am a migraine sufferer. Yep, so today is Day 2 of a migraine. Hubby slept on the coach last night because this one has been so bad. Not walking to well, ok, not walking like a sober person. I'm kinda walking diagonal. I'm pretty up on the drunk walk. I know it too well as I was a bartender when I lived in Richmond, VA. Hey a girl's gotta pay that darn tuition somehow. Anyway, right now, the thing is on the weaker side, but progressing nicely to another day of horrid pain and working in the dark. I have a huge window in my office, so half of the blind is closed so the sun's brightness will cause the least amount of pain.

Just 2.5 weeks left before I become a full-time SAHM of three wee ones, otherwise known as the LBO's (little blond ones). Between the conflicting emotions attached to this lay-off, I am happy to be spending the summer at home and putting my creative side to good use.

Migraine Day

After a fantastic weekend with the kids and hubby, I had to come back to work toting with me, a migraine.

But, for a quick run down: Saturday, I braved the word with the boys, 9 and 3, and baby girl Peanut, and headed to Hampton for the Annual Blackbeard Festival. The boys, who usually forget their names in public, were wonderful. We caught a puppet show, they ran around, we bought wooden swords and eventually met up with friends and watched all four boys have a wild a woolly time.

Sunday, just a relaxing day of church, lunch out and several more hours of sword fighting pirates on the SS Splinter (otherwise known as the fort/swing set).

My head is doing me in right, so off to the homefront! Ouch.

Laundry

So this week, we've managed to get the insanely thick mattress cover out on the clothes line. For some strange reason, the washer didn't want to spin it out and it was far to wet to dry in the dryer. Why the dryer? Um, I was trying to put it back on the bed as Peanut's diaper leaked. Any who, out it went, strung across two lines over night in hopes that the next day would be hot enough and dry enough to dry it!

Other than that, two loads of lonely diapers laid out on the drying racks. The first one dried in the nice hot sun, the second load has been condemned to dry in the living room as it will be raining for the next day or two.

Work in Progress-sorta

I swear I fell in love with this fabric (Heidi Grace) as soon as I saw it, now it sits here, almost done, accept I'm having button hole nightmares. My Singer manual left out more key points on making button holes than I could have imagined. After a few days of trying to work it out, I walked away from the machine. Peanut NEEDS this pinafore and I NEED to make button holes!

I still need to finish cutting one panel. Note to self: do not, I repeat, do not try to read a pattern and cut it at the same time the kittens and cat and 3 yr old are trying to walk, lay and play on your fabric. Simply because I have a tendency to over think things and this pattern, for as many wonderful reviews that it has, has driven me nuts!

Please feel free to let me know how to rotate my pictures in here.

Line Dry that Laundry Girl!

Yeah, go ahead and hang those clothes out to dry! You'd be surprised at how wonderfully fast they dry and how delicious they smell, oh wrap my soul in sunshine smell!

Man that sunshine can do wonders for stains and stinky man smell! Just hang those freshly washed clothes right on out there to "'taying in the wind." No fabric softener needed! Trust me on this one. I swear by Charlie's Soap.

Let's Get it On...

I was just emailing a girlfriend about her trip to Richmond, VA for a show last night and was reminded of times I used to have with old friends when I was in college. Yes, I went to college which seems to stun too many people. I dunno why.

Anywho...me and a few girlfriends used to head out to a little diner called 3rd Street for a little dinner, a beer, some Motown, and a lot of laughs.

Ahhh, how much I miss the good food and cultural entertainment and art of Richmond, VA. If you're ever there, stop by Sidewalk Cafe or Bogart's, or the Tap House and have a good beer and meal for me.

The Garden is Growing!!!!

1 June 2009, I'm dating it because this is the first day of my last month at this dreaded job. My last day is the 30th and I am sad to be leaving the working world for now, but elated to be spending more time at home with my little people. For now though, melancholy has set in while I am at work. That point where the soul is conflicted between happy and sad. For eight hours each day I sit with out any real purpose and with out a real job or sense of worth with my department. This is amplified by the fact that the new boss been brought down several times to meet the staff and the person responsible for introductions stops short of my office. I guess it is best that he can not put a name and a face with the position that has been eliminated. Those of us who have been laid-off have been treated as if we have a disease or as if we are not known. Some have been here for over twenty years. I will miss working a job that I enjoy, I just won't miss being here.

Despite the occassional bunny munching going on out there, the garden is surviving. A little over grown with grass, but we commute and have three wee ones who need tending as soon as we get home, so the grass grows.