The Year in Pictures

I've finally gotten all the pictures ready for Christmas albums and am just about ready to place my order. If anyone is interested in seeing our year in pictures (39 total), email me and I'll send you the link to the Ofoto.com album.

Happy, happy, happy!

My mom and stepdad are coming for a visit, yay! They weren't planning on coming up any time soon, but my stepbrother is doing some work on his kitchen and needs "slave labor," so they're helping them with expenses. They leave Florida this Sunday and don't have to be back until the 19th.

Life Right Now

Today: left a sick Jeff with the girls and spent the day working for my aunt at their social club on their newsletter, and trying to get their computer files in order. I still have a couple hours work ahead of me, creating three collages from dozens of pictures. I'm heading to the grocery store in about ten minutes, though, to refill the refrigerator. Oh, and Lauren's also sick - it looks like just colds for both of them so far.

Tomorrow: major cleaning of Sarah's room and the basement, then transferring the carseats to the Corolla and cleaning out the Buick so we can take it back to Jeff's mom. Back to being a one-car family! If Jeff's feeling better tomorrow, he'll probably clean out the Buick.

Monday: my friend Kathy & her daughter Isabella are coming to visit us (as well as family and other friends), sleeping on the futon in the basement before they head back to Colorado. Hopefully, we can all go to story time at the library.

Tuesday: I'd like to pick up Christmas pictures at the mall, but don't know when I'll do that, since I'll be running out the door to work as soon as Jeff gets home. Once I do get the pictures, I'm cramming to finish the photo albums and get them ordered so they can get here ASAP and I can get them mailed out for Christmas.

First one

See? I said, "soon!"

Home again, home again

If you go to a Great Wolf Lodge, I have two tips for you:

1. take a waterproof camera with you. You won't feel like spending $20 for one in the gift shop, no matter how much you want to get a shot of your kid's face as they belly flop into the water.
2. don't turn away from a child standing on the side of the pool, even if she says, "Look! The bucket's spilling!" Having your head jumped onto is painful, even if the person doing the jumping only weighs about 35 pounds.

Pictures coming soon!

Got it!

"Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad." Euripides

Yep, I did it. I'm going to make pajamas for my mother-in-law. Hunter, navy & cream plaid flannel (What is it with me and plaid? Is there a plaid support group?) for the pants and cream knit for the top, with navy bias tape at the neck.

There was some doubt for a minute. As I was looking through the fabric with the very helpful Hancock's employee, I realized that the sale had ended yesterday. Yesterday! This is the third freaking time in a row that I've missed out on a sale by one day, and I'm starting to take it personally. Then the manager said, "Since your kids are being so patient (they really were good, although Lauren sang Jingle Bells at least 12 times in the checkout line), I can give it to you on sale, but don't tell anyone." OK, so now everyone here is in on the secret too, right? Right! Shhhhhh! I got the pattern, fabric, elastic, plus fleece & elastic for two pair of mittens for just over $20. Ha!

Every major project I've made has had some new hurdle, something for me to fret about. The first major project, Easter 2003, it was lined bodices and buttonholes. Easter 2004 was zippers and curved hems. Halloween 2004 it was panne velvet & lame, which I'd never worked with before. Now it's knit. The thing is, all those things that made me nervous about taking on in the past - the zippers, the lined bodices, the buttonholes, the slippery velvet fabric - all those things ended up being no big deal. They might take a little patience and careful pinning, but they are not hard at all. I'm hoping knit follows suit.

As for zipping through the current pajama pattern, Evil One, I love this pattern, Simplicity 8488. Five pieces. No lining. No collars. No zippers. No buttons. I didn't bother with the lace or the applique, and am going to put hooks & eyes instead of buttons & loops at the back of the neck. Since the fabric is iridescent, that's fancy enough for this. If I could work on them while the girls were awake, I could whip them out in a day each. I would happily make these pajamas forever, and wish I could afford to sew more.

I'm getting my Serger out this weekend and take her for a test drive. Wheeeeeee!

Up to fate

It's official. I'm a sewing junkie. And insane. Sarah's pajamas are done. Lauren's pajamas are almost done. So why would I take on another Christmas project? I still have lots of dressup clothes to make, and lots of baking; I'm not lacking for stuff to do.

But yesterday, when Jeff's mom mentioned that she'd like, among other things, padded hangers and warm pajamas for Christmas, the wheels started turning. Today is the last day of the sale for Butterick & Simplicity patterns and flannel at Hancock fabrics. I already told the girls we'd go so they could pick out fleece (also on sale) to make mittens.

I'm leaving it in the hands of fate. If I find some flannel today that screams, "I belong with Barb!" I'll make them myself. If nothing jumps out at me, I'll buy them from a store.

Wish me luck (or therapy), one way or the other.

Lost's Love Slave

I watch my fair share of TV, but most of the time, I can take it or leave it. I haven't really had "appointment TV" since the heyday of X-files, and that verged on legendary. The first two seasons of that show, I had a standard open Friday night invitation to all my friends that they could come over to have dinner and watch the best hour of TV on. Sadly, that era ended long before the show did.

I am officially hooked on Lost (ABC, Wednesdays, 8PM). I love the mystery of "what the hell is going on?" and I love learning about the characters through the flashbacks. I'm equally entraced with all the story lines, and am a sucker for the gimmicks. I actually yelled, "Charlie, throw it in the fire!" when he got his baggie of heroin back from Locke. Everyone else may have seen it coming a mile away, but I wasn't sure he'd do it. I buy into every scene.

But the higher they climb, the farther they have to fall. I worry that I'm getting caught up in another show that can't live up to its buildup. (Chris Carter, I'm looking at you.) I don't really believe that the show will be able to sustain its current level of edge-of-my-seat interest. I've found myself wishing that the show was committed to be a year only. Then we'd know it would end, and we would get answers. I hate it when a show never answers any of its own enigmatic questions. I never liked X-files mytharc episodes, aside from Alex Krychek, because I just couldn't keep track of all the convoluted details.

I also worry that once they do solve the mystery (assuming they ever do), it will be a huge letdown. The individual imagination is more powerful than anything the writers will be able to come up with. So far, we've only gotten bits and pieces, so speculation is rampant, and the possibilities are endless. I avoid spoilers for this show, so that each show unfolds on its own. It's like hoarding the Godiva truffles I get for my birthday.

I really hope this show can keep it up - I miss having TV that I can compulsively overanalyze and obsess on every detail. For as long as it lasts, I'm going to enjoy the ride.

So, the Weight Thing

Most of the people who read this know that I've been struggling to get my weight down since last January. I've been doing Weight Watchers online, and really liking it for the most part. I like that WW gives me a lot of control to choose what I want to eat, but stresses a balanced meal plan and reasonable exercise. I lost about 80 pounds.

But for the past few months, I've been struggling, playing around with the same five pounds.

And for the past month, I've been eating like there's no tomorrow. Really - who eats six pieces of cinnamon toast for a snack? Or a half a bag of cheese puffs? I used to not even like cheese puffs (crunchy Cheetos are another story). The only bright side is that I haven't been interested in doing any baking. So at least I'm not eating an entire batch of Whole Wheat Banana Muffins.

What the hell is my problem? Even in the middle of a binge, cramming my face, I'll think, "This is a bad choice. You don't want to do this." But I keep doing it. If it weren't verging on scary, it would be funny.

I think the problem is two fold.

1. I hit the magic number, my big mini goal. I got down to the weight I was when I got married. I got back into my wedding dress. I went victory shopping with my stepmom. I started getting compliments. All that should make me motivated to get all the way to my final goal, right? (that goal is about 40 or 50 pounds below my wedding weight, by the way).


2. I am a stress eater. I've had a little bit of stress lately.


• At first I thought it was just sympathy stress for my brother and his wife (a big project they were working on went down the tubes due to someone else' malice).


• I've been doing a lot of projects: Halloween dresses, Christmas dresses, Christmas pajamas, and dressup clothes. Jeff keeps telling me not to take on so much, but I don't seem to know how to do that. Sewing is fun, but it does add up to more to do.


• Let's see, what else happened about a month ago? Oh, that's right, I started working again more steadily. Don't get me wrong, I really like working. The hours are perfect, the money is good, and it's fun. But it's something else I have to do, even if I'm only doing it two nights a week. Something else to check off my list. Even good stress is stress.

So what am I going to do? Well, I think the first issue is legit, and the reason I was playing around with that same five pounds for a few months. I wasn't working the plan. But until I deal with my stress constructively, I'm going to deal with my stress by cramming cheese puffs into my mouth. That kind of behaviour goes beyond "not working the plan" into "slaughtering the plan like a spring lamb" category, and it's time for it to stop.

Yesterday, I did ok. I didn't binge. I didn't keep track of my points, but I'm pretty well trained to know what I can eat. At this point, not binging is the only goal. Dealing with the stress monster is necessary, because if I ignore it, it doesn't go away. It stuffs cheese puffs down my throat, and I think I've had enough of that.

Today, I'm going to take on some tasks, like exercising and cleaning some of the clutter out of the kitchen. I always feel better when I get stuff done. I feel better - happier - when I take care of myself, too. So I'm going to work on being happy today.

Caving to Pressure

You know who you are . . . you other bloggers who made this seem so attractive. You bloggers who planted the seed of yet another thing to occupy my time instead of doing more productive things. Hmmmm . . . thank you!