Long time no blogging

Still not sure blogging is for me but since I have been crafting up a storm lately I thought I might give it another try. Pictures and posts to come. Feel free to skip over the next part, just my rambling thoughts for today.

My head is in a complete fog today. I have a terrible head cold combined with 35+ weeks pregnant can make me grouchy. I didn't sleep much last night (or the last several) since I have an awful sore throat-- but enough whining.

I have been managing to quilt again. For a little while there I forgot how much I love it. Forgot enough even to think maybe I should just ditch it all, the stash, the patterns, the whole thing. I sometimes have these pipe dreams of only buying what I want to work on right at that second and finishing it and putting it away. The cold hard reality is I simply think this will never be me. I always have multiple projects on the machine, on the needles, etc.

Simplify-- this I think I can do. I have managed to clear an awful lot out of our attic and house in the last few weeks, a perk of nesting. Now I need to make sure I don't go back there again. The lure of the recycled and thrifted items I must ignore.

In the next few weeks, God willing, we will have a new life to add to our home and family. I couldn't be more excited and scared. Oddly, I feel so completely unprepared this time. I'm worried about the nursery not being done- yet we co-sleep at least for the first 5 months, and about a million other things. Really non-things if you want to know the truth.

I'm going to go take a bit of a nap and let my mind wander over a few books, plan an upcoming birthday and try to live a bit more in the moment, even if there is thick fog.

BBQ Rules-- Unless you are me.

My SIL sent me this today. Since it is my reality today and tomorrow I LMAO.

BBQ RULES
We are about to enter the summer and BBQ season. Therefore it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity, as it's the only type of cooking a 'real' man will do, probably because there is an element of danger involved.
When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:

Routine...
(1) The woman buys the food.
(2) The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.
(3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill.

Here comes the important part:

(4) THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.

More routine....
(5) The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.
(6) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is burning. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he deals with the situation.
Important again:
(7) THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.
More routine....
(8) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.
(9) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.
And most important of all:
(10) Everyone PRAISES and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.(11) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed 'her night off.' And, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there's just no pleasing some women....

We Love our Aprons Here

Our fabulous Apron Swap Partner on Backporch Friends a Yahoo Group- Love ya, go visit her here and try not to drool over the Harley like I have been http://quiltinggirl.blogspot.com/.

They got baptized on doughnuts. They are beautiful and I just love the LMs. So does he, and he especially loves the thought of baking. It does occasionally double as a cape. Sorry.

Ignore the 6am pj's and awful hair.

Using what you have

Or using what I have more accurately. I forgot to post a picture of the Christmas gifts I made for my aunt and cousins this year who we celebrate Christmas day with. They were simple and fairly fast. And best yet, I had all the materials on hand.

Among my hoarding tendencies I tend to collect pine cones. Well I decided that they had to be made into something. Little man painted the fake snow stuff on them and did a great job. A few got glitter which he also is very into. (BTW- love the Martha Stewart glitter.)

I think I need to make some more for different holidays and seasons. No reason they need to be just for Christmas season. Hmmm, ideas.

Sharing some great etsy sellers

I didn't take the hand made resolution for the holidays but I tried very hard to support small local businesses and etsy sellers.

The favorite gift of the holidays came from this etsy seller babypop.etsy.com. My LM and his partner in crime BF both got one and fight crime everyday at the babysitters. The work on these capes was gorgeous. I have no doubt these will be the birthday present for little ones of choice this year. Love them.

For small thoughtful gifts for a bunch of people in our lives I made small totes for a book, magazine and bought bookmarks from boofolobeads.etsy.com. They are wonderful. All got oohs and ahhs.

I even bought a little something for myself this New Year thehermitage.etsy.com. Gorgeous art from a beautiful and creative mind. I can't wait.

Go check them out you will not be disappointed.

(Couldn't resist showing you all where LM was today. Picking out cookie recipes. Doesn't he know I'm not allowed sugar. LOL)

Updates & Such

Well, the Christmas season has come and gone. It was such a wonderful Solstice & Christmas time.
There are a few projects I have been finishing up. I have more to add but there is only so much light available here to get outside and photograph (that and my LM is not always a willing model).

Here are the crayon rolls I made for a ton of little ones in our lives. They are fairly quick and fun to make. They seem to be a hit with all the kids so far. I got the instructions for making them here: http://skiptomylou.wordpress.com/2007/04/25/on-a-roll/

Great instructions! I can see making a ton of these for birthday parties and such.

Go make a few for yourself!

To mom's everywhere

I saw this on another blog and had to put it here. If only so I can keep reading it and remember.

I'm invisible.

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible!

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more:

Can you fix this?

Can you tie this?

Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being.

I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?'

I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?'

I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going ... she's going ... she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'

It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:
'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devoured - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:
(1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.

(2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.

(3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.

(4) The passion of their building was fuelled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.'

And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

God Bless You as you build your Cathedrals! (Author Unknown)

Picture is of my beautiful Grandma. She built a great foundation for my cathedral.