jump up and down

sick and a doll quilt

WARNING: If you do not like reading about sick people and puking, skip this post.

And I'm back!  Last week was bad.  Monday and Tuesday are always a blur because of Peter's therapy that we travel 40 miles one way to get to, after school, and run errands while we are in town.   And on Wednesday I got sick, really sick.  I almost had to call Ryan to go pick up Peter from school on Wednesday (and I probably should have) I was so sick.  And then later that night, I lost all of my cookies.  I hate throwing up!  I hate it so much and am so good at repressing it that I couldn't even remember the last time I had done it.  And I decided it might have been when I was pregnant with Ned.  Yes, I think I have gone five years without throwing up.  Hooray for me.  

I should have known it was coming.  Ned was sick (and threw up) on the Thursday after Christmas.  On the Wednesday after New Year's Day, Peter insisted that he was sick before school, just like he does about once a week when he just doesn't feel like going.  I made him go anyway and then got a call twenty minutes after school had started that he had thrown up.  Poor kid.  And then he threw up all day long.  So, of course, it was my turn last week.  And after it was over, I spent the next few days recovering.  I'm still not feeling quite 100%, but I'm getting there.  

Luckily, in between all that sickness, we managed to fit in a super fun birthday party of a friend of the boys - a sweet little girl turning 5 that has been one of their best buddies here.  We love going to the pool with them (she has a sister that is Peter's age) in the summer and will miss them lots if/when we leave.  The boys didn't have anything specific in mind that they wanted to give her, so I went searching around the web for something to make her.  I found this fun tutorial for one that uses scraps on Sew, Mama, Sew.  It was super easy and I loved using some of my scraps.  I have so many from all of the banners that I make for the shop.  I might be making a few more.  I have some baby gifts that are super overdue and I'm thinking a doll quilt will be perfect for the girls.  It won't matter that it comes late because they won't play with it until they are a little older, right?

I'll be back in a day or two with the Nook sleeve tutorial.  And my camera is fixed (thank you Ryan!), so no more of these phone pictures and I'll be getting on that flower belt tutorial too.  Stay healthy!  

the shop is open

I closed down the shop in late November for the entire holiday season.  It was wonderful and I was so happy for the break and to enjoy a fairly stress-free December and Christmas. 

I'm ready to get back into the swing of things, so I've re-opened.  I also set up a coupon code (I was so excited when I saw Etsy introduced this) - for the rest of the month, in honor of my birthday later this month, get 20% off any item, even sale items, with the coupon code BIRTHDAYGIRL.

 

nook love

Ryan was very good to me  and got me a Nook for Christmas.  The last few years it seems we have either not bought presents for each other or mutually agreed that some  needed household item we purchased around that time of year would be our Christmas present to each other.  Maybe, we're too practical, but it's just what seemed to be the best decision.  I'm not sure what next year will bring us, so it was a fun to have a year where we felt we could get each other a nice gift.  

I have been known to profess my love for a good old fashioned paper and ink book where you can smell it, feel it, and drink it in.  I've read lots of raving reviews for Kindles over the past few years and just didn't believe it was worth all of the hoopla.  And then, I saw one - my sister-in-law received a Kindle as a gift from work and had it the night of Ryan's birthday dinner - and I think I drooled a bit, or maybe that was because of the cupcake.  Either way, I was smitten - the accessibility, the beautiful e-ink screen, the versatility - I could see all of my reading dreams coming true in that simple device.  

In the end, I chose the Nook because it seems to be a little more versatile than the Kindle, and I'm so happy with it.  It can read books purchased elsewhere and library ebooks, which the Kindle doesn't do.  I love having all my books available to me at once.  I am usually reading three or four books at the same time and I seem to be plowing through them faster when I can switch so easily between them.  I spent almost all of last weekend reading - when I would get tired of one book, I would switch to another without having to get up and look for the other book.  Normally I would just read the one book, get tired of it and fall asleep or move on to something else.  My other favorite thing about it is that it's a lot easier to read while lying down than a paper book with its small size and weight and no pages to hold open (I've been re-reading Harry Potter #7, so that's a pretty significant difference).

I made this super simple sleeve for it out of some thrifted plaid wool and a felted sweater.  Initially this post was going to be a tutorial for it, but then I carried on so much about the Nook, that I decided I would leave the tutorial for the next post.

a new year: balance

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions.  I think that if something is worth changing, it's worth putting the effort into it no matter what time of year it is.  This year, our family is anticipating big changes (job search continuing for Ryan, hopefully a new job, move, etc.) and the challenges that go with that.  My modus operandi, especially during stressful times, is to throw myself into one thing and forget everything else.  This year, I want to approach life with balance.  If things get super stressful this year, I want to be able to keep my head on straight and remember what's important.  I want to be able to not put all my hopes on one thing and then feel devastated if it doesn't happen.  I want to know that while outside events and other's decisions certainly effect us, they are not the sole determinant of our peace.  So, no resolutions here, just a thought with a purpose, acknowledged and shared to help remind me if/when things get tough to seek balance.