Finding Bright Spots in the Clouds...

Yesterday, Darling Daughter, who is very private with her emotions, called me at lunch to ask if she could please come home. Our general rule is if you don't have a fever, nothing is broken and you aren't puking, you go to school. However, my stoic baby was sobbing into the phone that one of her classmates, a friend, had died in her sleep of natural causes and she just couldn't "deal" with continuing through her scheduled classes trying to hold everything in. Without hesitation I asked hubby dearest to pick her up and I rushed through my work to be with her.

DD is not one to pull a drama card or be hyperbolic with her emotions so I knew this was a rough one. In the last year DD has not really talked about her Aunt Gayla's passing nor has she ever really expressed her feelings over the other losses in her life. I admire her inner strength most days and worry about a future implosion on the other days. No child of 14 should have to be so mature and in control of her emotions as ours is. At the same time that I am proud of her maturity, I am also concerned that I shouldn't sit her down and some how force her to release her emotions. Short of flogging DD and screaming, "Emote, you! Emote already!!" I just sit patiently waiting for the opportunity to help her grieve her losses.

Her expression of grief on the phone was the crack in the door I needed to put my foot in and open up a dialog. DD told me a story about an island project the classmate had completed with her last year. When I asked what her friend's "thing that was uniquely her" was, DD without hesitation said, "Her laugh. It was really loud and real." As DD is the shyest teen I have ever met, I can totally see how someone who embraces their joy and wraps it in a loud and true laugh would be envied by DD. 

DD and I spent time talking about the friend as well as Gayla. We talked about how her other classmates were behaving and that grief is such a tricky emotion. We talked about heaven and laughed when I made the statement that when I get to heaven, "Jesus and I are gonna have a come to Him meeting" about why certain things happen like the death of children.

Then when I thought I couldn't feel more relief at our sharing, DD asked, "Do you think we could make some more phone cozies today? I feel like being creative." Holy-all-things-that-glitter-are-gold! The light bulb came on...where I had been starting to worry that my compulsion to create was becoming obsessively crazy, DD in essence had just told me that I had taught her a positive coping mechanism. When you are sad, create something. When your day is tough, create something. Turn to your creative juices in times of crisis. Then we talked about positive and negative coping skills.

When I went to bed last night, I didn't worry about my child for the first time in a very long time. I didn't stress about whether or not I was being a good mother or if I was going to break her. I slept last night feeling proud of myself for the good things that I was teaching this beautiful sassy girl even when I didn't realize she was watching and learning. It was in one of those dark clouds of life that I saw the sun peaking through.  

Phone Cozies



HOO! HOO! are you calling?

Darling Daughter was thrilled when I introduced her to Pinterest. Then she was fantastically over the moon when I started making her things that I found on the addictive web site. When she found a felt phone case that looked like an owl, she was spastastically over the moon until she followed the links through to some one's Etsy account and found that for the low low price of $19 we could buy the case rather than follow instructions to make our own.


DD told me as if informing me that the government was run by little green and purple men, "Oh that sucks! And did you know that some people want you to pay them anywhere from $.99 to $5 to purchase a PDF they put online for their paper crafts?" I explained my frustration over etsy and paying $4 on etsy or PDFs of instructions for crochet projects. I also told her about the greatness of the challenge of figuring out the puzzle of "How it's Made" just by looking and trying.





We rollin' old school...



My little stinker drew her cell phone and then spent about 15 minutes designing her owl case around that trace being sure to include 5/8" for seam allowance. We purchased some felt from walmart for $1.50 and within an hour had our very own case. I took my $17.50+tax, shipping and handling that we saved and purchased $15 in felt (64 page-size sheets in all colors of the rainbow). Darling Daughter sketches out the critter and cuts out the felt. I sew it all together using clear thread and my sewing machine. We even have broken out the embroidery floss that we use for friendship bracelets to add some details and such.



Chocolate Milk!



We would love to hear from you! What critters do you think would make cute phone cozies? We've made a penguin for me and an old-school game boy case for girl child. I think we need a frog and a fish and a piggy.

Instructions:

1. Trace your cell phone on a sheet of paper

Pre-sew Penguin and sketch

2. Sketch your critter; you can look at some on etsy and pinterest for inspiration. Think in layers (ie main body, layered circles for eyes (large white, medium color, small black), etc. (add 5/8" seam allowance to your traces going forward). NOTE: IF YOU STRUGGLE WITH THIS STEP, NOTIFY US. DARLING DAUGHTER WILL SKETCH SOMETHING FOR YOU TO USE AS A PATTERN AND SEND IT YOUR WAY...she's crafty like that!

3. Using scissors or a rotary cutter, make four pieces of your main body. This gives the case the quilted look and provides quite a bit of protection.

4. Stitch a 5/8" seam all the way around 2 sets of 2 bodies (one is the front and one is the back now)

5. Stitch the faces and details to the front main body.

6. Lay your phone in between the front and back body pieces (like an oreo cookie) to make sure it fits.

7. Using embroidery floss, you sew three sides of the case together leaving one end open for phone entry.

8. Send us a picture of your creations!!!

I think on the next one we make, I am going to make a third layer of the body to provide a space for your debit card or a little cash for those days you just don't want to carry a purse!

Apron Mania





Upcylced Men's Shirt Half Apron

Upcycled Men's Shirt Full Apron



Step 1: Iron a button-up shirt with a collar so that there are no wrinkles and the seams all line up.



Step 2: Fold the shirt as pictured, matching up your seams for even cutting.



Step 3: cut from the base of the collar to below the arm pits to removed the sleeves (you'll use these on the half apron later)

Step 4: (not pictured) cut from the shirt tail to the arm hole on the left and right seams. (Pictured) Then cut the back off around the collar's base. The Collar becomes the neck band of the full apron. If you cut it cleanly, you shouldn't have to finish any edges except to attach some rick rack in the final step.



Step 5: Using a six-inch by 1.5 yard swath of broad cloth for your ruffle, begin by hemming one side of the material.

Step 6: Pin tuck the broad cloth (right sides together) onto the shirt tail of the front of the Full apron. I iron mine to make sure they lie flat during stitching.

Step 7: Stitch the ruffle onto the shirt front (right sides together!).

Step 8: iron and hem the rough edges on the apron and use ribbon at the bottom of the past arm holes as your ties. After hemming, I used a medium width rick rack on the outline of the apron from the top collar on the left all the way around to the top collar on the right (above the ruffle.) Rick rack hides a multitude of sins in sewing. HEHEHE!

Finished full apron.

For the half apron, I used the extra material from the sleeves and back of the shirt and the matching broad cloth to make a multi layered ruffle and front pocket. You could also put pockets on the full apron if you want.



Blink Three Times and It's Over...

1975

Before we were school aged, my sister Gayla had a nightmare about snakes. The next night I had a dream about snakes. Gayla said, "Weren't they scary?" as if she and I had stumbled into the same haunted house and were part of a special snake dream survivor club.

Then I remember Sister told me, "If you are having a scary dream, blink your eyes three times and you'll wake up." In 30+ years since that sage advice from a four-year-old, any time I have a nightmare, I blink three times and wake up almost instantly.

2004

Last night though, I was having a nightmare, blinked my three times and stumbled into another nightmare. This continued three or four more times until I was sitting in my aunt's house at her grand, round, glass-covered table across from my beautiful Gayla. We were eating breakfast and laughing. Sister laughed as she corrected me, "Jaimee, it's 'Minter' not 'minnow' and 'cedar' not 'cheater'." I was three instead of 37, and I was yanked into another dream where Gayla was not. I started screaming, "But I didn't blink three times!" The next thing I remember is Hubby Dearest holding, rocking, and sssshhhhssshhhh-ing me because I was screaming and crying in my sleep. He's a good man and I am bat-crap crazy.

Maybe if I keep blinking three times, I'll wake up from THIS nightmare.

J-me-ism No. 3 and 4

I didn't say it first but I love it!

It's not a lie if you believe it.

In customer service, perception is reality to me.

Happiness Report: Focus on Marriage Week 3 and 4

Actions speak louder than words...

I can tell hubby dearest and darling daughter that I love them every hour of every day. However, it wouldn't mean a hill of Hershey's kisses (ooh...that sounds like yummy heaven) if I didn't back it up with "proof" of my affection for them.

In addition to hugs and kisses, I have focused this last week and the next on showing them that I love them. For Valentine's Day, I received a box of bouji-bouji couture chocolates. Instead of hiding them away, I brought them home to share with HD and DD. I wanted them to experience amazing chocolate. Also, the hubster has been given a fishing freebie to use whenever, with me taking the girl child to her hockey games. I also have been leaving him steam messages on the shower glass in soap (although he did ask me why I was drawing butts---THOSE ARE HEARTS MR. ROMANTIC). I have also been following him into the garage when he takes his "breaks" and really listening to him when he talks...I have to stop that though because it makes quitting smoking that much harder. We really need to find him a keep-your-hands-busy hobby so he will quit too.

Thank you for continuing to support this little bit of crazy each day! Visit my blog each Thursday to see how My Happiness Project is going! Here's the plan by month so far:

• January--BOOST ENERGY
• February--REMEMBER LOVE MARRIAGE
• March--AIM HIGHER WORK
• April--LIGHTEN UP PARENTHOOD
• May--BE SERIOUS ABOUT PLAY
• June--MAKE TIME FOR FRIENDS
• July--BUY SOME HAPPINESS
• August--CONTEMPLATE THE HEAVENS
• September--PURSUE A PASSION
• October--PAY ATTENTION
• November--KEEP A CONTENTED HEART
• December--BOOT CAMP PERFECT HAPPINESS


DING! I have a plan....

For almost a year, I have been trying to figure out what I can do to bring distracted driving to the attention of the world. I began with writing to my legislative representatives...not so epic fail. That made me mad and sad so I went back to the drawing board. What I have come up with so far...EDUCATE, EDUCATE EDUCATE. The Texas legislature presented regulations to our governor and he vetoed it. Although I don't agree with Gov. Perry, I do see the value in his suggestion that we educate our citizens about distracted driving.

I created a blog for this purpose and hope you will join it as well. www.TexansAgainstDistractedDriving.blogspot.com. Thank you as always for supporting my craziness. I promise not to hold you liable when I am committed. :-0)

Sister Was My Hero...

Lying in bed unable to move for the stabbing pain in my right back side yesterday, I was once again struck by how much my Gayla was always my superhero. In 2003, Sister and I lived together in an apartment in Bedford. A similar stabbing back pain grabbed hold of me in the middle of the night. Because I thought it was rude to awaken Gayla at 2 a.m., I decided I would try soaking in a hot bath for a bit.

It took all my strength to make the bath and get into it. As I lay there praying for magic relief it dawned on me that I might not be able to get out of the bath on my own and that mental picture of sister finding me stuck in the tub seemed more rude to her than waking her up. To boot the pain was worsening. I used the last of my strength and dignity to drag myself from the tub and squirm into some sweats.

I then proceeded to literally crawl on my hands and knees toward Sister's room. The clock on the VCR in the living room indicated that I had been trying to crawl to Gayla for help for more than an hour. I decided 4 a.m. wasn't as bad as 2 a.m. so I curled up in the fetal position and began to holler for Gayla to help me.

Sister ran out of her room ready to take on whatever intruder was attacking her wailing sister. I think she was almost disappointed that it was just me crying like a big baby on the floor. She had the stance of a woman ready to take someone out. In hindsight...very very funny. Nevertheless, Gayla always kept her cool. She helped me up and took me to the nearby emergency room where I was x-rayed and diagnosed with a severe back spasm.

Never to leave a job half-way complete, Gayla took me and the three scripts for pain and muscle relaxers to the all-night pharmacy. While we waited for the scripts she made me eat Whataburger breakfast burritos and hash browns. At 6 a.m., Gayla put me to bed fully medicated. She then readied herself for work.

Sister never complained about that night. She never made fun of me for being needy or for scaring her to death with my pain-filled cry. She just took care of me. Gayla always took care of me. She stayed with me at the hospital after my hysty and, even after I was married, sister stayed at the hospital with me the night they were ruling out a stroke during a really bad migraine. Gayla may have looked like a wee woman, but her inner strength and willingness to care for others made her larger than life. I love my hubby dearest and know that he did his best yesterday, but I miss my Gayla's TLC more than ever. She was my super hero sister and always saved the day.

Wish Us Luck on the PUCK!



My girl on D is FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC! Look at her
defending her goalie!

There's another word that goes with luck and puck, and I am not thinking buck, cluck, or duck...yep...the alphabet! That's the one!

HOCKEY, HOCKEY, HOCKEY, HOCKEY, and HOCKEY....and that's if they just play and don't win...if they win then those should multiply. Hubby Dearest and Darling Daughter have playoffs and tournament, respectively. I am think I will take off Monday just to recoup (and possibly attack DD's rooms with a few trash bags). What are your big plans?


Thursdays are Happiness Reports: Focus on Marriage Week 2

NOTE: Last week was fun. Hubby Dearest and I have taken to spending time making each other laugh and that seems to have strengthened our bond. Our senses of humor really are pretty spot on. His Valentine card to me said he loved me more than BACON. Mine to him was of two old people molesting one another. Our funniest moment though is going to YouTube to find a porcupine video mentioned on TMZ. It was so gross we couldn't quit laughing, and now we just greet each other with animal noises and fall out laughing. He really is my soul mate in every way.


This Week: Fight Right

According to Gretchen Rubin's book, conflict falls into two categories...that which can be resolved and that which cannot. Example: what to have for dinner and it's converse how should we spend our money. Conflict is a fact of life. Here's what I am focusing on this week:


Tackle only one issue at a time and avoid "you never" or "you always."

I am also intrigued by, "It takes at least five positive marital actions to offset one critical or destructive action." My bubba and sister-in-law went to a marriage seminar last fall where the speakers suggested if you ever feel criticized by your spouse, you should raise your hand at which point the offending spouse should pay you five complements to right the wrong (or something like that). We as a family have since taken great joy in raising our hands to each other's mis-speaks (FUNNIEST STORY SO FAR: Hubby dearest is fishing with my daddy and brother. Daddy said something to pick at HD. HD raised his hand. Daddy saw him and retorted, "Well then you better call your therapist or your wife 'cause I don't care if your feelings are hurt.") This made him laugh...me too.

Thank you for continuing to support this little bit of crazy each day! Visit my blog each Thursday to see how My Happiness Project is going! Here's the plan by month so far:

• January--BOOST ENERGY
• February--REMEMBER LOVE MARRIAGE
• March--AIM HIGHER WORK
• April--LIGHTEN UP PARENTHOOD
• May--BE SERIOUS ABOUT PLAY
• June--MAKE TIME FOR FRIENDS
• July--BUY SOME HAPPINESS
• August--CONTEMPLATE THE HEAVENS
• September--PURSUE A PASSION
• October--PAY ATTENTION
• November--KEEP A CONTENTED HEART
• December--BOOT CAMP PERFECT HAPPINESS