My momma don't sew!

Okay, so I'm kind of copying the last theme from a dear friend's blog post. But it has been festering inside of me and I feel all kerfloobeldy now-I WANT TO SEW!!!!!

I have a sewing machine that I bought from a lovely woman at JoAnn's last year. It has been sitting upstairs, lonely, dusty and confused for several months now. I read the instruction manual, I bought a pretty helpful book, but now I think I've done something to the tension and it's all wonky! It isn't computerized(I ain't got no money for that!), and since the last thing I sewed was an inside-out windsock in the 7th grade, I'm a little concerned for its future use! I even signed up for a class at the craft store that would go over the basics and hopefully give me some dummy-proof guidance. UNFORTUNATELY, I missed the class because I wrote the time down wrong. Urghh! So now I am afraid to take the plastic cover off and brave re threading it, retuning it and figuring out what the hell I did to the tension! Somebody save me from myself!! I want to be cool, I want to be kitsch. I want to make quirky little animals and hip, vintage aprons and snuggly pillows...
Will my dreams come true? Will I find a way to conquer my fears? Will somebody please help me figure this damn thing out?!

Tune in next time for a second exciting installment of U 2 Can Sew.

-E

Family Stone

I know having a family is a choice. But I also know that raising children and maintaining a healthy family unit is one of the most difficult jobs I have ever undertaken, and that having help along the way is the only way to thrive, not simply survive. I recently became involved in a movement here in Portland to bolster support for state-wide and national awareness of the need for paid family leave. I believe this is just one more way to support the individual needs of the child, the combined needs of the parents, and the more reaching goals of community and global support.
As I look on my own two children, my husband, and all the people who support and love us, I see our ties reaching further than our own home, our own city. Families make up our world. Please support them.

Black Bird

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Black bird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
all your life
you were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

-Blackbird by The Beatles

Both my girls heard this song not long out of the womb. Abigail and I would sit in the rocking chair in her nursery and I would sing to her or hum the tune and it always seemed to calm her down. Charlotte heard it as well, sitting on the couch through many a long night nursing.
I hope they will remember it when they get older. I know I will always remember those times with them.

blue bird

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

-Emily Dickinson

Fambly

Here are a couple pictures of Great-Grandma Mead, Aunt Pam, and the rest you probably already know. These were taken before Christmas at our house. The first time G-G had seen Charlotte. I'm so glad she and Pam could come into Portland for this visit.

Friends don't let friends do Midol

5 Reasons I don't like Midol:

1. Midol: my-doll. how sexist is that? like only girls get dolls?!

2. Midol has a diuretic in it. and diuretics are the biggest word-cons in history. I used to think, before I had ever seen the word spelled, or heard what the definition was, they were actually things to magically help you d-i-e-t.

3. Midol has caffeine. This actually takes up two places on the list-

4. When I've got heaving cramps of doom, the last thing I want to do is to be hepped up on 5 million mg of caffeine, running around cleaning everything in sight. I want to be comatose, curled up on the couch with a blanky.

and #5. What guy/girl wants to have his or her girlfriend, wife, partner, free-basing with caffeine? because personally speaking, I can be a real bitch when I am feeling the menstrual spirit. Breaking the land-speed record for nagging and/or general rudeness is not something I want to be remembered for.

Maybe those year-round menstrual cycle blockers aren't such a bad idea after all??

love ya,
E

List #1

Today I:

1. had to make coffee twice due to the filter imploding on the first batch.

2. made my youngest daughter upset by forcing her to eat a green bean, one solitary
little green bean, even after it had turned to mush by her mulling it around in her mouth for 5 minutes.(and she still wouldn't eat the damn thing!)

3. bought a pendant and some beads to take up my long lost like of jewelry-making.

4. vowed to not eat salt and pepper kettle chips until I could control myself to only one small handful.

5. cursed the constant liquid deluge outside once or twice.

6. watched the HGTV dream home 2009 and lusted over Sonoma County, CA

7. only did one load of laundry

8. got the chance to play for a blissful hour and a half with my littlest little while daddy and sister were out.

Tomorrow's forcast: Rain, grumpy co-worker, and one headlight.

g'night!

if I had a million dollars

Hello fair friends,

As soon as I get the camera back I will regale you with fantabulous pics of our happy Jesus day fun pirate scary holiday adventure!(T-that last bit was for you!)
I'm glad to see others have had a good holiday-it always seems to create more stress than it relieves, but we strive to rise above all that, right?!
I got some loverly things from friends and family, not the least is a black velvet opera cape from my husboard. Can I pick them or what? (not that I have another husband, but you know what I mean.)
And, after reading my sis-in-law's latest blog, I have to confess I have a package for her tots all ready to go. My plan is to actually run out the door at 7am with it in my hands this time instead of leaving it by the hall tree!

Blessings and best wishes to you all as we reach New Year's Eve,
E

give me a pen and paper

I need to remember something. When blogger asks if I want to delete all my current html, say no. Just say no. Now I have to re-enter all the sites I like looking at and the friend's blogs I like to go visit. arrggh!

Gratitude

Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man's abode.

Henry David Thoreau