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Hello again, from the Not-So-Often-Blogger. It used to be that I would blog if I had blog-worthy things to share. Sometimes I would wait until I had a picture. Now I wait until I have free time. I've never been very good at sitting down to do fun things if there are other more pressing items on my to-do list. This can be a great thing, and it can also get in the way of relaxing, serving, and just taking a little time to recharge. This tendency is what keeps me in book club; I would NEVER choose to sit down and read a book, especially not a 500-page novel. But it's very good for me, and it helps me get some needed rest, and I realize that not everything on my to-do list is as pressing as it seems. And so I blog, in spite of the list.

Last week was supposed to be my Week of Sewing. We had nothing planned except the usual grocery shopping and one doctor's appointment. And school. And exercise. And feeding the crew. But I diverge. It was a quiet week, so I was going to take every afternoon to sew. Abandon the list and just sew my heart out, some mending and some just-for-fun projects. I started to get a cold on Monday, and by Friday the only things I had sewn were the falling off leg of a stuffed dinosaur and the tail of a monkey. How's that for accomplishment? When super cold weather and snow were announced for the weekend I got excited (yes, I might be a home body) and so Saturday became my new sewing day. Plus we still had colds, so we didn't need to be out in that weather.

And so, remember the wishful to-do list? I started to work on the kid's rooms, and it was so fulfilling. New duvet covers for the boys room, made from Daddy's old (but still nice) full-size duvet from single man days. I split it in half, attached a white flat sheet from IKEA to the back of each, and they were both done in less than an hour. I also FINALLY got around to making Adeline a bedskirt and pillow. Her room needs to be completely done before the baby joins her, and we have been in this house for 18 months, so it's about time. I posted this bedskirt tutorial link a few weeks ago, and quickly realized that at $3/yard for velcro, my bedskirt price would be through the roof once you added in the fabric. I was doing this to save money (and also to make it all way cuter than the plain old Wal-mart white thing she had on her bed before). So I used an old sheet I got for $1 at Goodwill, and did it the old-fashioned sewn way. I'm sure it took longer, but I have more time than money.

Oh, and I should mention that I did the boy's room while Cooper was gone for the day, and when he came home and saw his beautiful new bed covers, he burst into tears. And not tears of joy. He reminded me, through sobs, that blue was NOT his favorite color And could I please unsew it right away, thank you very much. I reminded him that this was Daddy's house, and while I never want to do something to his room that I KNOW will make him unhappy, Daddy put me in charge of the decorating at this point. I put up with all the junk on his shelves, his collections, his valuable property, etc. But the main color schemes are still my domain. I suggested he sleep on it (no pun intended) and see if it would grow on him. The next day he liked it all just fine, so I think change is hard for the poor boy.

Not a great picture, but their room is small

My next project (in 6 months when I force myself to have another sewing day...okay, hopefully before then) is to make some curtains like these for my bedroom. As a side note, if you want to read a hilarious post by my Mom on her curtain failure, check this out. I will not be painting mine, FYI. Just sewing. If I ever find the rest of my cut-off curtain fabric, but that's another story for another day.

I did find some cute winter shoes, and did not go with the Birkenstocks. I wear a size 7, which I used to think was average, but apparently is on the small, short side. And they did nothing for my feet, being boxy and all. Plus the kids kept asking why I had daddy's shoes on. So I went with some cute grey Clark's, and spent way less. The garage sale money was burning a whole in my pocket. And Endless.com, is pretty much the best thing ever for a mom trying to find the perfect pair of shoes. No toting uninterested preschoolers around. It all comes to you. Bliss.


Now I am on the hunt for a replacement bag. I'm not usually such a consumerist, but if my 2 year-old keeps consuming my stuff in this manner:

he has evidence of lipstick all over his shirt and hands, even this morning

I will have no choice. It was bedtime. I was downstairs helping a friend with some alterations. Warren was outside doing some farm work in the dark. The boy was busy with my lipstick. And a bag that is only supposed to be spot-cleaned. So the era of the orange bag is over, a bit prematurely. RIP.