Sewing

This is my sewing machine. I've spent a lot of time here lately. Saturday, for instance, I sewed 9 dresses to be costumes for M's dance concert next Saturday. They are made of silk - beautiful fabric with a great drape - but slippery at you know what. So slippery that my machine was having trouble sewing with it - the feed dogs couldn't keep a grip on the fabric, so my seams were a bit puckered.
(For those who don't sew and have absolutely no idea what I just said - a sewing machine's feed dogs are the parts that lift up from under the needle to grab the fabric and move it through the machine at the proper pace. If the fabric doesn't go at the right pace for the stitch and speed you are using, your stitches will be uneven and the tension of the top and bottom threads won't be right and so the finished seam won't lay flat.)


This is what a pile of silk scraps leftover from cutting out 9 dresses looks like. Actually, this is what it looks like after your 4 and 1/2 year old daughter takes your fabric shears and cuts them up into smaller pieces, but you get the idea.


This yellow fabric is actually cut into squares now - it will be 10 skirts.


These are the rainbow fairy scarves - we dyed them yesterday. They are silk also - I think they turned out really pretty. Each one is a different pattern of colors....


This is all the rest of the silk we dyed yesterday - blue scarves for the dancers who will be toys, rainbow fairy pants, and autumn fairy dresses (those are the ones I made). I'm really happy with how bright and bold the colors came out. (They are all bunched up in the sink here because I had to rinse the dye out this morning - which I did in the shower with a detachable nozzle head - and they are now waiting to be washed. Of course, I forgot to bring home the special soap I need to use, so they will have to be washed after I run out this afternoon.)


My hands hurt. But it is very rewarding to take a pile of fabrics and turn them into something beautiful. I can't wait to see the dancers in them! And I will try to take pictures of the finished products....

A big step

Well, life is still busy. I often think "I could blog about that" but blogging involves turning on the laptop and sitting down to type without C. coming over and pushing the power button (one of her latest tricks) so I don't actually do it much. However, I had to post tonight - C. used the potty for the first time before bed tonight!
I am so amazed - this was truly all her idea. She was in the bathroom - I was trying to get M. ready for bed as well. I had just changed C's diaper and she started tugging at it and then pointing at the toilet and trying to lift up the lid. (Which we keep closed unless in use to prevent "accidental drownings" of important objects. We haven't lost anything we wanted down a toilet yet and I'd like to keep it that way...) She is still not very verbal - but I looked at her and said "do you need to go potty?" And she nodded her head yes. I told her to wait a minute, went into her room and pulled M's old potty chair out of the closet, took it into the bathroom and helped C. take off the still-dry diaper and sit down. She sat there for a minute and then pointed to the roll of toilet paper. I asked if she was all done, she nodded yes, so I gave her some paper - and when she stood up to wipe, she had actually gone in the potty!
I have to say that I was thinking she was almost ready last week, because she knows when she needs to go, will ask for a clean diaper, and has learned from watching me and her big sister the basics of what needs to happen - but I had decided to wait to actually introduce the potty until after our June trip - I guess I have been overruled. We will have to see how interested she is tomorrow - M. started potty training at about this age and in a similar fashion and was completely out of diapers during the day by the time she was 2 years one month old - and while I will not push C. (pushing a kid to train when he/she isn't ready and interested is the number one way to cause major, major problems) I must say that I would be so happy to be done changing diapers during the day 9 months from now!

On a totally, totally separate topic - I think I am going to apply for the Stated Clerk's position for my presbytery. It is part-time, averaging 10 hours a week, and for a 10 month term right now because the presbytery is in the middle of a redesign process and is reevaluating how we do staffing. I started filling out a PIF today - I haven't made a final decision to turn it in, but I am leaning towards it. There is lots more backstory about this - but it will have to wait for later, as I am tired and going to bed.

Right after I post a picture - I know that's the most exciting part of this blog, anyway....eating vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce for bedtime snack. This is an important life skill to learn, right?
I did M.'s hair in french braids for the first time this day - they were falling out pretty badly by bedtime, but it was cute I thought - C's hair isn't long enough for much yet....soon, though.

Life is good

busy as heck, but good. My mom is here and getting settled in. We are enjoying having her close by to babysit a few times a week (and C. now will sometimes say goodbye to me when grandma is here and not throw a holy fit when I leave. Not all the time, but sometimes. Progress!) I am realizing again how lucky I am to have parents who respect our parenting choices and don't undermine them - and therefore I can trust them with my kids without all the drama I have heard from others. It is a gift. My mom is the only one close enough to watch the girls regularly, but the same can be said for my dad and W's mom (and his dad before his dad died).
I am beginning to think spring will never come. There are daffodils in bloom in our neighborhood - and we are supposed to get snow flurries again tonight. I am ready for consistent warm weather....which will probably get here in July when it's in the 90's and above for weeks straight.
I'm also craving some closure on something - my life seems to be filled with on-going, unfinished projects - several of which are going to be very long-term and not entirely in my control. And I want to finish something. My "J" is asserting itself and it is grouchy! Hopefully I'll have time to finish the sundresses I'm making for the girls this week - that will be something completed.

Boundaries, boundaries, boundaries....

COM met again today. I (obviously) can't say much about what went on - but I will say this:
1. Boundaries, people. If you are in ministry, and don't understand the concept, get help. Please. For your own sake and for the sake of Christ's church.
2. COM is exhausting and energizing at the same time. I am tired, yet satisfied that the decisions we made today, while hard in many cases, will bring healing and hope to troubled pastors and congregations. Or at least have the potential to assist in bringing healing and hope. Actually bringing it is Jesus' job, I guess - so I won't claim any committee is doing it.
3. The church needs polity geeks like me. This is a part of my calling - and the energizing part of my day comes from knowing my gifts are being well used in this work.
4. My sympathies to any who have served or will serve on COM in larger presbyteries. We only have 23 churches in my presbytery - something like 27 actively serving ministers of Word and Sacrament and maybe 6-8 minister members-at-large (like me). There are presbyteries with over 100 churches - I don't know how those COM's can function.

Other notes:
1. C. learned a new trick yesterday - which I think took about 3 years off my life the first time she did it. She has figured out how to climb up the climber/slide we have in our backyard. The platform is about 3 feet off the ground - and she scales the mini-rock-climbing side to get up. And then goes down the slide half on her back and half on her butt. It is quite cute, actually - and she is so, so, so proud of herself - now that I am reasonably sure she can do it without falling off and killing herself.
2. We are settling back into our normal routine. Having my mom and aunt here last week really threw us off. Not that I didn't want them to come - but my girls are so sensitive to any change in their environment - positive or negative - that having visitors in Holy Week was really hard and resulted in many nights of frequent wakings. M. especially is affected by this - and we learned that she is now too big to come to bed with us, as she kicked (by accident - she was tossing and turning) W. in a very sensitive spot at 2 a.m. one night. Oops. Potential downside of co-sleeping. No lasting damage to W. or M. - and we are now back to sleeping normally. Thank God. (I need my sleep).
3. I am excited about the potential for new friends here - in the spouses of 2 newer members of the presbytery who are also in my general area and have young kids. I am hoping we can start a playgroup or something soon for time to get to know each other. It would be so nice to have friends here who I don't have to do the "pastor's wife who is also a pastor" dance with.
4. Having my mom closer has brought up so much emotional junk - we are in the process of re-negiotiating our relationship, and that is tiring. It is going well - she has made the decision to intentionally seek out a church home that is not W's church so she has some separation from us - and we are all (well, the adults anyway) aware of the need to set healthy patterns, etc. now - but still, exhausting. And yet, I am reminding myself through this process of the many ways I choose to be me - not my mother - and that is good. And I have the opportunity to have an adult relationship with her - she did not get this with her mother (my grandmother died when I was 3 1/2 years old). And it is a gift.
5. We are continuing to discern where we will put M. in school. I am waiting for a call back from the woman who did IQ and achievement testing for her to set up an appointment to go over the test results. I could write a short book on our decision to go ahead and do testing now - but I am not sure if anyone is interested. If you are, leave a comment and I will write more about it. So we are waiting to get those results - but I am still pondering. The public schools are transitioning to a different gifted program - aimed to really target the top 3-5 % of kids - instead of the broader, high achievement program they currently have (which aims to target the top 15-20% of kids). There are all sorts of issues in this, which I won't delineate now so as not to bore you to tears, but the end result is that I am not sure I can trust the public schools to meet M.'s needs. And she will be starting school right in the middle of this big change in program - not sure if I have the energy to put into being her advocate through that with an un-tested program. (And I hope that doesn't sound too snotty - I don't mean to be - I'm just trying to honestly feel out where I can put my energy) Charter schools are another option here - and there are some really good ones that I would be happy to have her in - ones that use proven methods of differentiated instruction (which means that the teachers teach kids in small group at their level - so the slower learners aren't left in the dust and the faster learners aren' t bored to tears - it takes very dedicated teachers to do this, but when done well the results are very much worth it). However, the charter that would be our first choice based on distance (we would have to provide transportation, so distance is an issue to consider) had 150 applicants for 10 kindergarten spots last year. The other options have similar numbers. So, I am hesitant to plan on that - too much uncertainty. (that's my inner J asserting itself, I think). Private schools are simply too expensive, unless I suddenly found a great paying job - which is not too likely (there will be some ministry jobs open up in the next few years here that would be doable from a location standpoint, but none would meet the "great paying" requirement). So, it is looking more and more like homeschooling may be the best option.
6. This (homeschooling) fills me with terror and joy, in alternating and equal measure. We have already decided that I will start to do "kindergarten" with M. 2 days a week in the fall. She will be in pre-school 2 days a week, at a new school. The new school teaches phonics in her class and basic math - some academics mixed with lots of hands-on and free-play time. I really and truly believe M. is ready for that and will thrive there. She will go on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 2 1/2 hours each day. Mondays and Wednesdays I will do "school" with her at home - for kindergarten, this means about 10 - 15 minutes of reading (her to me), similar time for math, a few minutes of handwriting (which she actually already does on a regular basis of her own initiative - she will happily sit for 20-25 minutes at a stretch and ask me to spell words out for her to write down.) and as much reading aloud of various books (novels, science books, etc.) as we can manage. I would love to also do art and something for music and science experiments and a study of world cultures - but those will wait until I make sure we aren't going to kill each other with the basics. I am thinking that the basics will be an hour or so a day - we will see how much time we want to fill with other pursuits.

And now, it is quite late, so I will post and then sleep. More to come.....

Happy Easter!

to one and all. I have much to write, but not much time, so I will try to get on again soon with a fuller update. My mom and her sister have been here since Tuesday night. Mom's moving truck was supposed to be here by Monday at the latest - it will not be here before next Thursday. Moving nightmares.....So, it is crazy here (nothing really new in that) but we are surviving. I wanted to post a picture of M. with her Easter eggs she dyed this afternoon, and a cute one of C. - here they are....
They are having lots of fun this Easter - and it is neat for me to see M. start to really understand the story of Easter. We've talked this week about Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and what happened on those days and why - She is really excited about the whole deal - makes a pastor mom proud....
I have much more to blog, but must go finish hemming my new skirt to wear tomorrow and then get to bed. Hopefully soon I can do a major update. Someday, I plan to blog more frequently - much goes through my head that I think, "that would make a great post" - but getting it typed into the computer doesn't always happen. I also have been thinking about responses to 2 memes that More Cows tagged me for - my answers are coming!

What a week

It has been, indeed. Last week, I led the PW Bible study on Tuesday, had a COM meeting on Wednesday (that went surprisingly well - but left me exhausted. I really am an introvert - 5 hours straight of talking to adults, while a welcome break from full-time mommyhood, leaves me exhausted.), had my annual appointment with my pulminalogist on Thursday, and then a consult on having M. evaluated for giftedness on Friday. COM, the doctor, and the evaluation were all a good 45 minute one-way drive, which now seems like forever. I know I shouldn't complain - 2 years ago I was living in a small town and had to drive at least 45 minutes to everything - but I have gotten spoiled living in the suburbs these last 18+ months. Anyway, as if that wasn't enough in one week, I had a PW Council meeting on Saturday and preached on Sunday. So, I have come to the realization that - for this time of my life - 6 days straight of commitments is too much. I used to do this and more week in and week out - but the demands of my life are so different now.
So, today began the at-home catch up. Laundry is done for the week, just needs to be put away in the morning (I finished folding after the girls were in bed, and I won't go into their rooms for fear of waking them up unless the house is on fire. Literally.) I have picked up and vacuumed the living room, and cleaned the kitchen. Tomorrow I need to change sheets on the beds, mop the dining room (this is where C. eats all her meals - it needs to be mopped. Badly.), and vacuum the play/sew area in the basement. It is nice to have non-mentally challenging work to do after a week of much head-time. And it is relaxing to me to see the house come into some semblance of order again after a week of chaos. By tomorrow night I need to shift back into getting ready to preach on March 9.
In other news, my mom signed the papers to buy her condo here today. She will be here by Easter. I almost wish she wasn't coming until after Easter, as the time right before is so busy for us, and her sister is driving out with her and will be here for a couple of days to help her get settled - but, what will be will be. It will be nice to have her closer - M. is so excited about this she can hardly stand it. She can't talk about Grandma C. moving here to "Salt City" without jumping up and down. Quite cute, especially when she does this without knocking her sister over.... :)
C. is just so cute herself these days. She is so proud of herself for everything still, and is really starting to communicate so much more. C. still doesn't talk much - not at all really - but in the last few days she has started to make sounds repeatedly like she is trying to say certain words. "Cat" is the most frequent attempt. She loves our cats. Someday, they will love her back....
Oh, and I finished my new purse. Not sure I love it for me - I like it, but it is quite bright. I am thinking I might like it better in different colors. So, I am using it for now and thinking about if I will keep it. 2 things didn't turn out quite right - I added pockets on the lining to hold pens, lip gloss, my phone, and my inhaler - so I don't have to dig for them. They are up kind of high, though, so if I make another one I will move them down lower. It makes it hard to close the purse clasp where they are. Also, I sewed the handles on backwards. This is the kind of thing no one else would notice, but I did. Of course, I noticed after I had gotten to the point that changing them would mean taking out 3 seams of very tiny stitching - so they will stay backwards. I will try to post a picture or two soon. One thing I do love is that I lined it in bright yellow fabric, so it is very easy to see inside.
One final celebration - I am wearing a pair of jeans today that has not fit since before I got pregnant with C. It has taken a year to get back into them, but I did it. I still need to lose about 15 pounds - but I am quite happy about this milestone.
Once again, probably more details than you may want to know. I am now off to bed.

Monday, Monday

So, M. was fine today. It always amazes me how quickly she can bounce back from illness. She is rarely down for more than 24 hours. Yesterday, she took a 3 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon and woke up quite chipper. She slept well last night, and today you could hardly tell she'd been sick at all. Now as long as no one else in the family gets sick, we are in good shape.
I should say, as long as no one else gets the puking sick, we are in good shape, as I am coming down with a respiratory bug. Which wouldn't be bad if it didn't mean my asthma was kicking in again. So, I have a call in for an appointment at my pulmonologist this week. I don't want to let this go and be sick for weeks like I was at one point last fall - I am trying to learn to take care of myself.
On the sewing front, I made M.'s belt - so now we will see if she will wear it. I made it from a European pattern, so it was in centimeters and I had to convert to inches - and I messed up and made the seam allowances 1/8 of an inch to narrow. Which doesn't seem like much, except that the belt is supposed to be 1 inch wide and it is now 1 and 1/4 inches wide. So, we will see if M. likes and will wear it. If not, well, I think I spent a grand total of $2 on it - so, no worries. And I will pay more attention to my math when converting in the future. 1 cm is more like 3/8 inch - not 1/4....
Off to bed now.