The Last Christmas Holdout

OK. Christmas is long gone, but I have had such trouble putting this last little doohickey away. Davey made it in preschool. Isn't it hilarious???? Did his teacher have one too many glasses of wine when she came up with this idea?

And by the way, look at his face. His teacher took this shot at the beginning of the year, and even though he doesn't really look like this, this is the little picture that gets used for *every* project that comes home from school. In this day and age when everyone uses digital cameras, including his teacher, would it kill her to try to get a more flattering shot? I think not. Am I going to be the one to tell her? Um, er, and get labeled as the troublemaking mom? I think not.

Whoa! Fasten your seatbelts....

New Yummy Fabric

I was over at 3peas the other day, and she was lamenting how large her fabric stash has become. All I could think was, how lucky! Look at all that gorgeous fabric and how nicely it's rolled up and organized. Anyway, it got me thinking how I'm always waiting too long to buy fabric I like...waiting until I finish a project that's already underway. Waiting until I know exactly what it is I want to make with it. Often I've waited so long that the fabric I want is no longer available. Grrrrr. Then I just get all irritated with myself. So, I've made a decision. No more waiting. When it comes to fabric, I'm sort of indecisive. I often have to talk myself into buying it. I seldom see fabric that makes me excited. So I've decided when I see it, I should just get it.

So here's what's come in the mail in the last few days:

I don't have anything specific in mind for it yet, but I have 2 yards of it, and by golly, I'm gonna do something fun with this fabulous funky fabric. And the best part? After I purchased it, it was immediately gone from the website. Could it be that I got the last 2 yards? Yippeee!

And here's the fabric for the quilt that I'll be making for my new nephew:

Challenge of the Week (2)

Welcome to my junk drawer. This has always been a sore spot with me. Everything that doesn't have a home or whatever we are just too lazy to put away or throw away ends up here. You could play "I Spy" here. I spy a red toothbrush! I spy a coupon that expired in 2004! I spy an old Christmas ornament with a green sticker on it, huh???

Not too long ago, when a friend of mine was over to visit, I caught her rummaging through my junk drawer. I was absolutely mortified!!!! If she was mortified too she hid it quite well. Turns out she was just looking for scotch tape. Well, I spy tape, but not the kind she was looking for.

Here's what 20 minutes and a circular file can accomplish. Aaaaah. I really should do this more often. It feels sooooo good!

Next week: the linen closet. Yeesh!

Corners of My Home (3)

We are big fans of Mackinac Island, MI...we got married there 12.5 years ago. If you haven't heard of it, let me tell you, it is the most beautiful, romantic spot on the planet. If you are into Victorian architecture, horse drawn carriages, gorgeous gardening, a sense of US history, nature trails, and life on the Great Lakes, this is THE place for you!

My house is anything but Victorian. My decorating style tends toward, um, well, it would be sort of minimalist, except that we have so much cr*p. So, my downstairs powder room is the one spot in the house that is a little on the frilly side. It is in the theme of Mackinac Island. Those hydrangeas are from my garden, along with a set of vintage Mack. Island postcards and some depression era hand hammered aluminum next to it.

See other Corner of MyHome pix here.

It's a BOY!!!!

No, I'm not talking about our little one--we won't find out for another week. The niece that I am making a quilt for...turns out she's actually a NEPHEW. Everyone in our family is flipping out. My sister in law had an ultrasound today and said to the tech, "can you just double check and make sure she's really a girl?" Tech: "she's really a WHAT?" As you can imagine, SIL (at 28 weeks along) just about fell off the examining table.

I'm going to keep plugging away at the quilt. I have two other preggo friends and then there's me. Surely one of us will produce a girl child.

p.s. I'm changing gears now and want to make them a quilt using that sock monkey fabric from munki munki. Reprodepot doesn't carry it anymore. Does anyone know where I might find some? Never mind! It's made by moda and I found some. Yay!

Sneak a Peek

Here's a sneak peek at the baby quilt I've been working on for my soon to be born neice. I'm in love with all these girly fabrics. I told my hubby last night if this 3rd one we're having is another boy, I'm just going to have to decorate the master bedroom like a girl's room. He'll just have to get used to sleeping in a pink floral room, 'cuz I have some pent up pinky decorating vibes that have to come out!!!!

Challenge of the Week

I feel like most days I just am able to keep my head above water where the housework is concerned. Yes, I make breakfast, lunch, dinner, keep the floors swept and the laundry done. Bathrooms look fine most of the time. So on the surface it looks like I have it all under control. But open a closet or drawer and then you'll know what a fraud I am.

So I have decided to challenge myself. Once a week I'm going to tackle something that needs attention. (Once a week is actually rather paltry, since I have soooo much that needs to be done, but oh well. Something is better than nothing.) Here it is: my (now straightened-out, but for how long?) tableware drawer.

Ahhhh. Much better.


Next week: my junk drawer EEEK!
p.s. anyone care to join me?

Corners of My Home (2)

I read in a magazine somewhere (Real Simple???--I can't remember), that in every room in your house there is the potential for a desk. I always wanted a kitchen with a built-in desk. The thought of having "office central" right at my fingertips--a place to pay the bills, set the mail, stay organized--always seemed so fleeting. For years it was the kitchen peninsula. It sort of worked, but was more of a place for clutter to gather. Then, if anyone came over, I'd shove all the papers into a box and whisk it away into the laundry room. Yeah, great organization. Anyway, here is my desk. It is right off my kitchen in the breakfast nook. This desk is actually a vanity. We bought it at an antique store and it came with a 3 paneled mirror (which we didn't have a place for once we moved to this house). But I love the fact that it serves a utilitarian purpose and still adds some grace to our home. And by the way, I don't have a chair for it. I usually just pull one up from the kitchen table.

See other Corners of My Home pix here.

Veins and such

Yippee!!! I received my order in the mail today from reprodepot. My brother and sister-in-law are due in April with their first baby--a girl. We are so excited for them! Of all our relatives, they live the closest to us, so we are geeked about having them within driving distance and are sooo looking forward to getting to know the little cutie who is to come. I wanted to make them a baby quilt, so I let my sis-in-law pick out the fabric. Cute combination, I think. On my computer, the pink backgrounds look the same, even though the description of the striped fabric says lavender. Now that I have the fabrics in front of me, they don't really even match. So here I thought I'd be able to do a simple quilt with only two fabrics, but it looks like I'll be running off to the store to find something that will tie it all together. Bah!

Not a whole lot of crafting has been going on the past few days. I've been struggling with painful veins in my leg that I never had to deal with when I was pregnant with my boys. I showed them to my ob-gyn thinking he would say, "oh yeah, that's a very normal thing in pregnancy," which he did. But he prefaced that comment with, "Wow! Those are some pretty big veins!" Not exactly what I wanted to hear. So, until I can find some relief, I have stopped working out at the gym and am trying to take it easy as much as possible. I have an appointment to get measured for some support stockings, and frankly, I can't wait!!! Not a very glamorous thing to have to wear, but at this point, I'll do whatever it takes to feel "normal" again.

Corners of My House

Amanda from Soulemama has started a flickr group called Corners of My House. Her post today really struck a chord with me. We moved out of our beautiful 1936 home 3 years ago. We'd been there for four years and by the time we moved we had restored/remodeled every single room in that house. New breezeway, new solarium, new flooring, new wallpaper, new paint, new windows, new drywall, new kitchen, new garder...our hearts and souls were tied up in that house...it broke my heart when moved away. And now, sometimes I think to myself what an idiot I was that I didn't take decent pictures of it. I have plenty of cat pictures and Davey pictures, but it's always, "hey look at the mantle in the background, wasn't that pretty?" Argh.
So, our house now is decent. I'm not as crazy about it as I was our first one...but if we ever had to move, I'd miss it. So, yes, I'm going to document it. Warts and all. I don't want to take just pictures of it when it's neat. I want to remember what it looked like when I was too tired from chasing after kids all day to clean it up (which, unfortunately these days is most of the time.) This is a time in my life that is passing too quickly. And though there are days when I wish my house looked like a magazine cover, I wouldn't want to miss these days at all.

Here's the "corner" where I spend most of my time.

Here's what it looks like when the guest are coming over:

Happy New Yurt

We discovered this cool county park in Snohomish county (1 hour north) that has yurts you can rent for the night. There's this little yurt village up high on the hill and then it's a short walk to the beach on a very forested, ivy and fern-filled trail. The boys were soooo excited (and you could hear everything through the walls--which is why I'm so glad that we were the only ones staying there at the time--our boys both were extraordinarily loud and talkative). Here are some pics:

Tell me, does this not look like a beached whale?

Both boys cried when we had to leave--which we take as a good sign. I just love family time and enjoying the outdoors, and this was a good combination of both. That night when D. was putting Keith to bed, he sang, "we wish you a merry Christmas...and a happy new_____" he waited for Keith to fill in the last word, and Keith sang "YURT" and then giggled his head off. Silly boy.