Let's Do This Thing!

My favorite person to quote- Flint Lockwood from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Let's do this thing!

So much has happened since I (meaningfully) blogged last. Let's see...I will run down the list.

1. Molly turned 5. Then she turned 6. Jack turned 2. Now he is 3. Sheesh, I haven't blogged for a while... And help! I forgot how challenging 3 is. Any tips for 3 year olds?

2. I was pregnant, and now we are a family of 5! Everett Marshall was born on January 23, 2013. He is a delightful baby, 4 months old, and such a great sleeper. Probably jinxing it, but I have to crow it from the rooftops. I haven't ever had a good sleeper before! It's life changing.

3. I sewed some things. I organized some things. I spray painted some things. I read books to and played with my little ones. I did mountains of laundry. I bought fabric. I went to PMQG meetings. I joined Instagram. I made some new dear friends. I went to quilt market.

That about sums it up! Stay tuned...more to come!

Stop Freaking Out Resolution, and More!

I can't stand a picture-less post on my blog, so here is my winter mantel.
I always want to spell mantel with the l and the e switched around.  It looks funny to me this way.

I have a tendency to overthink things.  A lot.  I think about them and think about them, and then don't do anything because I am scared of the results.  Or the process.  I do this with everything. EVERYTHING! It is soooo frustrating.


I went to hear Amy Karol of Angry Chicken speak at Powell's last fall when her new book came out, and she said something that was super awesome. (I am paraphrasing here...) She said that we should treat our first time doing something as a practice run, and expect it won't turn out like we want it to. If we just expect that- and it does turn out well, then wahoo!  If it doesn't, well, then you know what to fix the next time. When she said that (or you know, something close to it) it was like something released for me- it made sense, and someone (Angry Chicken no less!) had given me permission to mess up. It is okay to mess up.  


So my first New Year's Resolution is to stop freaking out. Stop overthinking things. Just sew.  Just repair. Just finish something.


Here is my big resolution this year: I will be sewing/making/repairing/finishing one thing a week this year.  I have a bunch of things just waiting to be finished, and 2011 is their year! I will also blog it, whatever it is. It might be a box that needs to be emptied from our move a year and a half ago, it might be a sewing project that I promised someone I would finish for them. I am going to stop overthinking things and get something finished.


So here are the other New Year's Resolutions that I would like to make public (because it might light the fire I need under my bum to get going on them if I tell you):


1. Stated above- get 1 project a week finished.
2. Open my Etsy shop.  Soonish.
3. Blog once a week, twice if possible.
4. Stop volunteering for things.  Full stop.  My plate is full.
5. Stick to my budgeted allowance.
6. Get rid of stuff.


Okay, that sounds great!  I am full of excitement about this year, and can't wait to get a start on my list.  After this stomach flu goes away. (Seriously- I always get the flu shot and I always get the flu!  I know, I know, not all flu viruses are in that shot- but still- I am putting it out there to the universe- I DON'T WANT THE FLU ANYMORE.  STOP GIVING IT TO ME.) 




And I am sorry I was gone so long from this space.  This fall was a bit overwhelming.  I am back now though!  Happy Halloween!  Happy Thanksgiving!  Happy Christmas/Holidays!  Happy New Year!  


I am also going to add things I am thankful for to the bottom of each blog entry from now on! 


Things I am thankful for today:
1. My beautiful semi-healthy children.  (Flu/colds/new teeth!)
2. Marshall.  We are like peas and carrots, and I don't tell him enough how great he is.  Honey, you are great.  I love you.
3. Living in the NW.  It  makes me so happy.
4. A home.  Food. My husband is employed.  All good things that I don't take for granted.
5. The people who read this blog.  Thank you!

Confessions a la Clover Lane

I read the funniest post today, and thought about what I would say if I had my own confessions.  So here they are you lucky readers!  (Sarcasm.)


1.  I have a game I play in my head every so often. I don't think anyone else plays this game. At least, that is the sense I had when I told my husband about it the other day. It's only taken 12 years for him to know how weird I am. Anyway. The world has been sucked through a black hole, or something, and doesn't exist anymore.  And each person that used to be on the Earth has to say one thing they wish would be on the new Earth.  And if no one says it, it won't be there.  And you can't say a person, because that doesn't count.  And how could you pick just one person? So I alternate between the choices of green grass, blue sky, clouds, rain, and the ocean. I have a hard time making up my mind. I think it's my way of being thankful for the amazing things that are right out my front door each day.  I always feel a bit surprised and quite thrilled at how pretty our world is each day when I step outside.  We are so very lucky to live here.  (And by here, I mean Earth. Not Vancouver, Washington specifically. Although it is very pretty here too.)


2. Earlier this year I declared in my head (In my head! Ha, that doesn't work! I should have declared it to blogland. That seems to motivate me better.) that this would be the year of unfinished projects. I would take one project each week and finally FINALLY finish it. Then I realized that between nursing, reading stories, laundry, playing with playdough, fixing meals, coloring, changing diapers, fixing snacks, blah blah blah, that it wasn't working. But you know, this still might work. I won't give up on this one yet. Just writing about it makes me excited about the idea again.


3. I tried to cut my own hair about a month ago.  I cut my husbands, I cut my Mom's once in a while (just trimming), I have cut my FIL's, and my Dad's.  I even cut my sister Elizabeth's.  That was a bit of a disaster (sorry Betsy!) but I didn't remember that part until later. So, why not mine?  I even pretended and "practiced" in the mirror before I tried it.  I thought about the way I would do it, and how I would be slow and methodical.  And then I looked like...oh gosh, I don't know- it was just soooo bad.  I stopped at one point and put the scissors down and laughed maniacally at myself.  And then I picked them up again, thinking I could fix it!  What is wrong with me? Then I tried to have my husband fix it, that didn't work.  He's a good hubby for trying. And so for a week or so, I had it up in a loopy ponytail so no one could see what I had done until I could get a proper haircut from someone with training for gosh sakes.  And my stylist?  What a nice lady.  She didn't laugh at me.  At least while I was there.


4. My bum is gone. My front appendages (you know what I am talking about) fell down in my first pregnancy with Molly, and that was sad. They used to be a little (oh who am I kidding, a lot) perkier, and I thought, well, I knew that was coming. Everyone warns you about that. But no one warned me that my bum would flatten out in a pregnancy! It used to have a cute little pop to it, but now, it is quite flat after my pregnancy with Jack.  None of my old pants fit me correctly anymore. Today I was thinking about how I wished I had a "before" picture. Of just my bum. In clothes of course. So I knew what I wanted it to look like again. Like I wouldn't recognize if it was there again? Ha. I have to google how to get it back. I mean google what exercises to do. Maybe it just wanted to join my front appendages by going south too. Sigh.


5. I stack up newspapers I haven't had time to read and won't let my husband recycle them until I have read them. This must drive him crazy. But I feel like I will miss some news that I should know about, and so I keep them and read them, and even though it is months later I learn about what is happening in the world. Or rather, what happened in the world.


6. I hoard candy from certain holidays.  If you open my freezer a few months after Easter, you are likely to find Cadbury Mini-Eggs.  And if you open my cupboard a few months after Halloween, you will see candy corn.  It's like I think the world's supply will dry up and someone will decide that we shouldn't make those candies anymore for these specific holidays and I would be so sad and so I must buy extra and hide them in my kitchen just in case. I used to buy extra Cadbury Creme Eggs and freeze those too, but one year I bought like, fifty?  And after that I thought ENOUGH, no more of those.

I Used to Blog in My Head

So, a new blog.  

I discovered blogs shortly after my daughter was born. Reading about other wonderful crafters and moms out there made me feel not so alone in my first days as a mama.

I've been blogging in my head for about a year now.  

A little about me...

I live in Alaska.  Anchorage, Alaska.  I am married to Marshall, and have a two year old daughter named Molly. Before she was born, I decided to stay home with her. Every day is an adventure!

I love to craft.  Making jewelry and sewing are my two favorites.  I am still figuring out both of these things.

I also like commas, a lot.  And exclamation marks.  I am restraining myself, I know it's hard to tell. I can't say I'll use them correctly.  But I'll try!