Where I Sew

There's this blog I follow. Every week they spotlight someone's Sewing Space. They are all pretty fancy stuff. Some of them look like a designer came in and decorated. I thought I would join the trend and show you where I sew.

I get to sew under this gorgeous tree. When we first bought this house a long long time ago Olaf's aunt and cousin came and painted this tree just for Calvin. He asked for a Hole in the Trunk and a Squirrel on a Branch. And over time we added Glow-in-the-Dark stars and moons on the ceiling. I made these simple curtains for him, they are muslin edged in leaf-decorated fabric. Calvin moved out of this room four or five years later but we kept this awesome tree. And when I look at it, it reminds me of my sweet little boy Calvin, not the older Calvin.

And then Olaf shot an antelope and hung it on this wall, long before I started sewing for real and needed a Space to sew in. When he hung it up Boomer the Basset Hound didn't like it. He would wander down the hall and peek in the room. He'd look up and see the antelope head and start barking. It was the funniest thing ever! He made us all laugh so hard with his barking at the dead antelope head, as if he was afraid it was going to take his place.

When I started writing this I meant to make fun of the fancy rooms that all these other sewers have and show them that sewing could be done in any kind of room, no need for fancy wall decorations that need dusting, pretty table covers, and other totally impractical things that would only get in the way of sewing. And instead I found out why my sewing room is so special to me.

Hidden Pictures

Can you spot the two items in front of my double-wide that shows my age? 

What To Do After the Last Day of School?

It's the third to last day of school. Apparently Baby got in trouble at school. Again.

I hear the message on the answering machine the next morning. It sounds terrible. I'm surprised they didn't hunt me down. I'm expecting a court date.

Olaf hears the message and is quite upset too. We discuss punishment. Baby is grounded for the rest of the week. That makes him cry because it's the beginning of summer break!

Olaf goes in to the school and talks to the Principal. Turns out the situation wasn't as bad as it sounded on the phone.

We talked and decided to let Baby choose his punishment. He can either be grounded through the weekend OR he can pull everything out of his room, go through it and get rid of stuff and put some things other places, and finally put some stuff back in his room. But not all of it. Not anywhere near all of it!

Can you tell which punishment he chose? The Positive Punishment. So far he's been cheerful and willing. He actually likes cleaning his room out although we've never been this thorough before.

As you can see there isn't much left in his room. Tomorrow he gets to finish pulling everything out and commence making "Keep" "Throw Away" and "Move Somewhere Else" piles. And he has to have a place for everything before it goes back in his room.

We're both excited. Me because his room will be clean for a few days! Him because he thinks he'll be done right away after school and will be able to go play.

I don't think he realizes how much CRAP he has in his room and how much of it isn't going back in there.

The Next Day: Mission Almost Accomplished! Now to just get rid of the stuff that DIDN'T go back in the Room!

Painting Part 2

Notice the disastrous mess? Everything pulled out, moved around, out of place. Augh! The painting isn't done yet!

I am so incredibly motivated to get this room done cuz this is where we do our living and I can't handle this mess.

Even the fridge isn't where it belongs. It feels all out of sorts. I've got to 

get it back in place before it gets mad at us and spoils our food.

Even the blinds were pulled down. Now people can see in the front and the back! That would be because even though the other room is completely painted (and looks good, thank you) I bought new curtains and need to embellish them before they are hung. Will someone just tell me to quit making more projects for myself?

But by the end of this weekend things should be back in place. And Middle Child can make the cookies he wanted to make today and I wouldn't let him. Why? Not because I'm a Mean Mom (although I am sometimes) but because I couldn't handle the extra mess. And I will enjoy the cookies as a reward!

What Does It All Mean?

What does it mean when you walk into a house and it looks like this?

And when you see people wearing paint covered clothing? Someone needs some fashion help. 

And when the walls and windows are stripped bare? Hopefully no Peeping Toms are around tonight.

And blue tape on all the surfaces? Maybe it's a dream and you're floating through the sky.

And look at that funky paint job.

It means "Run for Your Life!" I'd say don't come over for a week or so or you may find a paintbrush in your hands!

Never Ending Traditions

Last week I finally put all of the Christmas decorations away. I had the boys help me round everything up and get it in the boxes. I searched high and low. I was bound and determined to not continue one tradition I hate. That is Forgetting To Put One Thing Away. It seems every year I find something I forgot even after scouring everywhere and double checking the whole house. I even checked the tree this year and it looked ornament free!

I was beginning the think I had done it this year! I was pretty happy. Until from across the room I spied it.

It was something that didn't belong this time of year. It was red and green. I had cleaned the top of the shelf off, I had taken down the stuffed Grinch that was sitting next to this item. But somehow

I had missed the Merry Christmas pillow. It seems some traditions can't be broken no matter how hard I try.

My Heirloom Stocking

My Grandma was an amazingly crafty woman. She could sew professionally and decorate wedding cakes professionally. I remember coming out for her youngest daughter's wedding. I was a candle-lighter. She had made me a special dress for my role. She had actually made all the dresses, including the bride's dress. They were beautiful. I loved that dress and wore it as often as I could. I also remember her coming to visit and sewing. She'd bring fabric, I assume, lay it out on the kitchen table and just start cutting all of us girls dresses. Then she'd whip them up into dresses. I don't remember her using a pattern and that may be wrong, but it adds to my Grandma's incredibleness.

She also made Christmas stockings for my parents, me and my younger sister. They are so beautiful. I just pulled mine out and hung it by the fireplace. My Mom is crafty enough that she also made the rest of the family matching stockings. I just think my stocking is so beautiful that I had to share it with you all. You can all drool and lust after one yourself.

She somehow thought I was an angel. She even gave the angel blue eyes just like me. See how the blues are different shades? For a few years I was a one-eyed angel until my Mom fixed it. I guess it was a premonition of things to come, a Pirate Angel.

See how cute it is hanging by the fireplace? I know you want one too. Unfortunately she's not taking orders anymore unless you can get to Heaven and back.

Notice the incredible detail on the letters? I have no patience compared to that!

To any of you who have thought I was crafty, now you know where I got it from. And I only got 1/16th of it, maybe less. Now you know why I laugh when someone calls me Crafty, I'm nowhere near where my Grandma was in the craft world. Where I wade in the shallows she dove in and swam with the big fishes.

Trimming the Tree, Boy Style

It was that time of year. That time when you start getting the the Christmas decorations out of storage and spreading them around the house. I had bought a new tree last year and was anxious to put it up for the first time. It's a cute tree with red berries and pinecones attached to the branches. And it went up really smoothly. The branches have "Memory." That's fancy talk for saying all the branches and twigs spring out on their own and I don't have to spend half a day unflattening all the branches.

The I got the decorations out and let the kids go. I had them put on all the ornaments this year. I've always let them help but this year I had them do everything. They were pretty excited.

I had gotten most of the ornaments out but hadn't gotten to the ones that I still store in the original box. The kids took care of that. They pulled the ornament and all it's packing out and threw everything on the floor except for the ornament. That went on the tree.

The kids were pretty dang proud of how well they did decorating the tree. I don't know if it was decorating so much as quickly hanging the ornament on whatever branch they happened to be closest to at the time. It's not so noticeable in this picture, but notice the overabundance of ornaments on the bottom of the tree and the lack at the top.

I came in later and removed the 3+ ornaments on each bottom branch and spread them out over the whole tree. In case you were wondering, the box of ornaments was on the floor near this side of the tree.

Notice how the tree becomes exponentially less decorated the farther up you look. It's really quite fascinating. If I was a mathematician I may have been able to figure a formula for the amount of ornaments on each level of branches. I can't help but think of weird things like that. Aren't you glad I don't talk a whole lot?

Eat Your Heart Out Hollywood

My new place of employment has a Coke machine. Not a vending machine with cans of coke for $.50 or even bottles of coke for $1, but a fountain machine with several options including Diet Coke! And depositing change in the "Soda Money" box is optional. So if I forget to bring myself a Diet Coke to work, it's already there.

This working 8am to 1pm is wonderful! I love getting home before the kids so I can workout. I am going to lose ten pounds. Or at least pretend to all of you that I'm a hot, workout machine. I am going to become the hottest, newest, latest Rockstar Wife. And then I will be all snotty to them and not invite them to my parties and snub my nose at them at school functions. And they will clamor around me begging for my latest "home party" invitation so they can buy jewelry or makeup or candles.

The next best thing I can do with my free time is clean house like a banshee. I will have the perfectest house in Utah County. I will look like I live in a museum with the perfect accessories from Pottery Barn and the most beautiful flowers in several vases strategically placed throughout the house. My children will have the prettiest playroom and Pottery Barn will ask to use my playroom in their next catalog. And I'll never ever let my kids play with anything because that would just mess things up and I can't have a messy house anymore.

And the next best thing is to involve my children in a few more activities. I must try to bring out all their talents. If we don't excel in everything I am going to be held accountable on Judgment Day for wasting my children's talents. I must involve them in piano, violin, all sports (especially baseball, I do live in Spanish Fork), acting, art, dance, singing, and definitely organ, you never know when my child will be the last organist in their congregation and he will be able to bring joy every Sunday to the church.

Lastly I will need to do more baking and cooking. I need to hone those baking talents of mine. I will practice making the perfect pie filling, cookies, brownies, cake, and frosting. I will become the food guru in my neighborhood. Everyone will call me for the latest hip ingredients and cooking styles. I will also be able to relay to everyone how to use their wheat and beans in new and delicious dishes so everyone will be able to live off their food storage for two years. Everyone will be on my doorstep on that fateful day when we have no choice but to eat our food storage and I will be ready with recipes and cooking classes for the masses.