Thursday, October 10, 2013

As so she returns....

If anyone is still out there, I'm still alive!  My "blogging challenge" was a colossal failure earlier in the year - I think when I put pressure on myself it just makes my internal 4 year-old scream "NO! Not gonna do it!!" or something.  *shrug*

So after a Spring...and Summer...of basically no writing at all - I've decided that maybe I need to return to this outlet of expression.  I love writing, I rarely do it for various reasons, but it's one of my great loves and frankly - I'm not getting any younger so why not?


I'm not sure where this blog is headed, but I'm hoping to get back to expressing more spiritual matters that are on my heart. Whether anyone sees them or not is of no real consequence, though I hope I can encourage someone out there along the internet superhighway (who remembers that one??).  


God seems to be reminding me daily of Philippians 4:8 - ... whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

This is my new goal.  
  • No pressure to blog daily.  
  • No pressure to organize every inch of my home (though that needs some work, as well!).  
  • No pressure to produce a Pinterest project on a regular basis (really, who was I kidding with that one??)


Just this...


Friday, May 17, 2013

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Monday, April 08, 2013

This is no Pinterest Post.


I decided last week that my laundry room/pantry needed a makeover, or at least needed to not look so incredibly depressing and cluttered.  So I went to my local Dollar Tree (the mecca of cheap storage containers) and got to work on it this morning.

It quickly occurred to me that all those **perfectly** organized room pics on Pinterest must be by fake "normal women" on fake blogs created by companies like the Container Store and Ikea to boost sales. 

It also occurred to me that I will never have such a picture perfect room. 

But I made some progress!  It took all of 30 minutes and 
I'm much happier when I walk in there already.  

I still have a lot more I want to do in there - but this was a simple morning project that made a huge difference (even with a terrible allergy headache!)

Before - Ack!!! 



After - Ahhhhhhh!
 Green = Food (extra canned goods)
Also got all my new gluten-free stuffs (flours, quinoa, rice, etc in airtight containers) 
Yellow = not edible (cleaning products, air fresheners, etc)

 

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

"The best laid plans of mice and men" ...and women with embroidery machines!


Well, my 52 in 52 isn't coming along as I'd planned.  I keep getting orders for embroidered items and have no time to work on any other crafts!  Not the worst problem to have, mind you.  

But here are a few things I've done in the past 4 weeks.  I have tried some new techniques and embroidering on different types of fabric, etc.

A little "thank you" gift for my very first paying customer: 


The items she first ordered (she's since ordered more, so I guess she liked them!): 


Dishtowel sample - a local shoppe may start carrying them!

I also made my grandson a few Valentine's shirts and a monogrammed cap.

I have more orders this week to work on (4 shamrock shirts & a 1st birthday outfit that includes shirt/tutu/diaper cover/leggings).  Hopefully I'll get around to doing a different type of craft before too long!  

But for now I'm still enjoying playing around with my new toy. 



Thursday, January 31, 2013

The End of an Era


The past month has been rough.  I failed my Blog Challenge, but I'm giving myself a pass and looking forward to getting back to it, and my crafts, in February.   
 
Nana & Popoo - circa 1930's  
On Saturday, January 19, I got the call that my Nana wasn't well.  She had taken a turn for the worse after battling an infection for a couple of weeks.  I guess because we'd been through this so many times, we all kind of assumed she'd pull through again.  But we sat with her in shifts throughout the weekend, as she slowly declined.  She was unable to speak, but would moan and blink in answer to questions.  We would gather around her room during the day and chat with one another and encourage Nana as best we could.  I had the night shift, and spent many hours in remembrance of the times I'd spent with her when she was well.  I watched her and listened to her breathe, and it reminded me of when my children were babies - that anxious listening and watching their chest heave up and down...  


 I wouldn't have been anywhere else.

My beautiful grandmother passed away on January 21 at the age of 102.  People keep saying "You're so lucky you had so much time with her."  But I wonder if it makes the grief worse because we did have so much more time than most people do?  

She was a beautiful woman, always. My sister and I wrote her obituary and I can't really add any more at this point other than to say that I miss her so much already.  I want to write about much she touched my life, but I need more time to process and put it all into words.  

She was like a 2nd mother to me, since mine was a working/single mom for much of my early years.  Nana taught me so many things that I will carry in my heart for the rest of my life - from how to cook things that every Southern woman should have in her recipe repertoire, to how a lady should never leave the house without lipstick and her hair just so... 
(I try to remember the lipstick & hair, but sometimes a girl has to run to the Walmart without them...I'm sure she'd understand.)

Rest in Peace, Nana...knowing you touched many and truly LIVED life.  
 Nana & Popoo - December, 1989 (the last week of his life)

Blog Fail






 

Will try to do better in February!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

52 in 52 - Pinterest Challenge!


My sweet friend, Jessica, had a great idea for 2013: 52 Pinterest Project in 52 Weeks!  This, combined with my resolution to finish more projects and start new ones that make me happy, inspired me to do the same.  


So, without further ado - here are my first two projects for the first 2 weeks of the year.  The first is a custom embroidered onesie that my stepdaughter requested I make for a shower gift.  I think it turned out pretty cute!



Her friend wanted the same design for her toddler - so here's that one:


The second project was a few burp cloths I made for some brand new babies.  It's so nice having younger moms for friends so I can indulge my love of fabricrafts and spoil their wee ones at the same time!


My next Pinterest Project will not be embroidery.  Need to mix it up, right?  I think I'll try the twine-wrapped-soup-cans since I've been saving the cans and need some cute storage containers.

Tune in next time to see what I come up with!  And thanks, Jessica, for the inspiration!!

Sunday, January 06, 2013

Resolutions and such...


.4 pounds lost in 5 days.  No, not four pounds - point-four-pounds .4 -- not even a whole pound. I've lost the equivalent of a standard portion of chicken.  : /

I should be happy the scale moved downward, and I'm trying - I really am.  But it's so hard when my hubby, who has NOT counted every bite he's put in his mouth for the past 5 days (which I have), nor has he worked out at all (which I have just a tiny bit) - has lost 7.5 lbs in the same amount of time!  Oh well, he has more to lose - at least that's what I am making myself think. But doggonit!! I want to lose 7.5 lbs in 5 days!!

Ok, hissy fit over.

I have been working on some embroidered burp cloths for some new babies at church, but I can't post the pics yet since their mommies may see them and that would ruin the surprise.  So you'll just have to trust me - I am making progress on my F.A.R.T.S. mission.

Until there is more to report...

Thursday, January 03, 2013

FARTS and Blogging and Embroidery - Oh my!



Well, so much for THAT.  
I decided that I was going to do a 31 day blog challenge in January, to get past my Blogger Block and back on track.  It's now January 3rd and well, here's my first post of the year!  (I don't count the deal post yesterday, that's just copy & paste stuff...I want to get back to really delving into real, important - to me - stuff)

I got some inspiration from my sweet hubby and more again this morning from F.A.R.T.S. - yes, you read that right   (you may insert joke about combining the two here)

 
Frugal
Actions 
Related 
To
Sustainability

Today, the F.A.R.T.S. post says: 
"Learn a new useful skill that also brings you joy." 

For my birthday/Christmas, hubby TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY shocked me by giving me an embroidery machine!  I literally was so shocked and excited that I hugged the box when I opened it.  My mom later asked "Did you hug him first?"  Umm...well....not first. The box was closer, he was standing across the room...that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Don't worry, I showered him with hugs and kisses after I let go of the machine.  :)  

Anyway, it's the Brother SE400 and it's FAB-U-LOUS.   So the useful skill I plan to master in 2013 is - obviously - embroidery.  I've made a couple of bibs for my great-nephew & grandson, but only using simple built-in fonts that came preloaded on the machine. I've since downloaded about a gajillion designs for both embroidery and applique.  (I'm still afeared of applique, so I need to really work on tackling that.)

Any blogger friends do machine embroidery?  I plan to post some pics of projects here and hopefully the quality will improve greatly over the next 12 months. 

What useful skill do you want to learn in 2013?  
 

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

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