A little peek

Only halfway through the month and I very nearly didn't post today ... it's a discipline, that's for sure! (I think last year I ended up switching from mid-day to evening posts and I think that may be more realistic for me this year, too. I think I may just say that you can expect evening posts for the rest of the month!)

Anyway, tonight I just have a sneak peek of what I'll be posting over the next couple of days. I just haven't had enough time for getting photos up and ready.

But, yes, I have eight completed dolls to share with you! I'm very excited to introduce them to you!

Some days, you need a reminder

Today this popped up in my Flickr contacts (Cathy saw it here), and it was just what I needed today.

So, I'm passing it on. Hoping that the person who needs this reminder will see it here today, and remember.

We all need to remember. Thank you, Cathy, for being my reminder today.

Have a great weekend, friends. (See, two posts this week!) I'll see you next week with your request for meal planning tips, such as they are. ;) (Don't get too excited, they aren't that fancy!)

Has it been so long?

Oh, friends, I'm afraid I've been away for so long that many of you don't remember me! A few people have expressed concern about my absence. In reality, nothing that exciting has happened here. The summer has been racing by and I've been overwhelmed and exhausted. My husband returns to work in just a couple of days, and the first month or so after he starts back is always a hard one for me, so I've been trying to steel myself against that. And the computer we bought just two years ago has completely called it quits, and my husband's laptop is very low on disk space, so we need to find a better option. I've wanted to be here, but I'm low on ideas. Let me get situated and I'll try to be back with some regularity very soon!

Planning

Fiona's cast comes off on July 6. We have been counting the days since ... well, since day 1! Anyway, we have just 9 days to go (including today)!

I've been spending some time planning what we'll do when the cast comes off. First "big" thing? Camping!

But before we even step into the campsite with our newly cast-free girl, I will be dressing her at the doctor's office. And I even have that planned out.

I knitted her a new diaper cover to celebrate being back in cloth diapers!

More pictures will follow, along with details (teaser, sorry! I'm doing that to make sure I actually share pictures later).

Also, in "getting by in the cast" news, we have found the best invention on earth. The CastCooler.

This strange-looking device wraps around the cast (torso or leg, or even foot & ankle), and attaches to the vacuum hose. It pulls fresh air through the cast. It is amazing! We ordered it after 10 days in the cast, and we have been so happy to have it. It helps to cool Fiona down, and keep the cast dry. It's been wonderful!

Things could be worse. There has been lots of unhappiness, that's for sure. Sometimes we've got an inconsolable girl on our hands. But we've also done so much reading with her, which has been a delight for everyone. And we've taken lots of walks. It helps that we live fairly close to our small city's downtown (a 30-minute walk, at least at a 4-year-old's pace). Yesterday we walked into town for ice cream. So, it could really be worse.

Lots of you have complimented me on my grace during this situation. Thank you for that. I assure you that I'm not always graceful under pressure, and there have been plenty of "bad" moments during this ordeal. But I also practice: I practice letting go (that's the big one), looking for positives, and being as graceful as I can be. It is not easy, and it's not some "lucky" thing about me in particular. It is something I have worked on, and will probably continue to work for the rest of my life. But thank you for your kind words, for noticing the hard work (and progress, although I know that most of you didn't know me 10 or 15 years ago, when I was much worse at this) I've accomplished in this area. Not so easy for a classic type A personality. :)

{Oh -- some of you wrote to me about a post that appeared and then disappeared last week. Lots of you have shared anecdotes and advice. The post you're wondering about was from last May. I'm not sure what made it reappear briefly, but I immediately took it down when I saw it, because it's actually an old post. (It's here.) I wrote it when I was just two months postpartum, when emotions were running high, and I was feeling sentimental and a little freaked out about my oldest being so far away from being a baby herself! Since then, I've realized that we were farther away from the "end of magic" than I thought, and also that this type of belief will gradually slip into something else. It's not so scary as it seemed almost 14 months ago.}

Sometimes

Sometimes things seem so bad that they'll never be good again.

That's when you look for a bright spot in your day ... you open up ... you realize how much support you really have.

To all who have loved and supported and prayed with and for us, in our family, our community, and my extended community of all of you: Thank you. A million times, thank you.

Today

Today, my tulips are just about to bloom. Last year's pink tulips came up mostly yellow this year. I've heard that can happen, although I was surprised that it happened after only one year. Oh, well. (As a true lover of pink, I can't help but be a tiny bit disappointed. But you know how I am about tulips. Swoon.)

Today, I'm really depressed. We found out that we lost about 6 months worth of photos (from September 2009 to early March of 2010) to a computer crash. (I've mentioned before that we've had troubles with this computer. We finally -- after waiting for months for my husband and his brother to look at it -- figured out that it was caused by a faulty cable inside the computer.) The photos were on a separate, back-up drive, but it was affected by the crash. All the other photos were double backed-up, but these -- including all the face shots of my children that never make it to the blog, Halloween, Christmas, Fiona's first birthday, my niece's baptism, the originals of my habit posts -- these are all lost. My brother-in-law took the drive to his work, which is a large corporation with a big IT department, and they ran their professional recovery software on it. They weren't able to retrieve anything that we didn't already have. My last hope is to see if we can recover anything off the camera memory card. This is unlikely because I have overwritten it many times, but it's worth a try. I'm especially upset about Christmas, because not a single one of those photos had made it to flickr or anywhere else. At least I have three shots of the morning of Fiona's birthday, though not of her eating cake that evening or opening her presents so cutely. I'm absolutely devastated.

Today, I'm trying to hold it together so I can work on some things for Elisabeth's birthday party this weekend.

Today, I might scrap everything and go over to my sister's house for doughnuts.

More awe in the morning

Sorry all, I'm feeling a bit sick tonight -- nothing serious, just a headache -- I so rarely get them, that when I do, I have trouble powering through. I have a post planned in my series but I'm too tired to get it all put together. See you tomorrow!

February 3

Tonight I'm in need of some birthday opinions from you all.

*James turns four next month, and I'm stumped on a gift for him. Any suggestions? Our criteria are: nothing electronic/battery operated, nothing plastic, and probably not vehicle-related (we have so much of that already). So those of you with little guys, what are some things that have gone over well?

*Also with a four-year-old in mind: can you share some of your favorite books? We like to give one book for each birthday, and despite going over the Chinaberry catalog with a fine-tooth comb, I don't have any inspiration.

*And finally, I'm looking for opinions about colors and ribbon for Fiona's birthday crown. (You can see our other birthday crowns here to get an idea of the style I'll be making.) The main color is definitely going to be green. I'm a synesthete, and I "see" colors associated with letters, numbers, names, and people. Fiona's color (for me) is a sort of spring or apple green.

(Sorry that the color in these is kind of bad -- it's been overcast the last couple days, but hopefully you can still get an idea.)

So, I have these two greens:

The darker one is pretty much avocado and the lighter one is more toward chartreuse. I wish I had one that was really the color I had in mind, but I want to use plant-dyed felt for this project and these are the only two greens I can get, unfortunately.

And these are some possible secondary color and ribbon combinations:

This one combines the chartreuse green, a salmon orange, and a 1.25"-wide vintage ribbon that my mother-in-law gave me a couple years ago. I like this combination a lot, although the ribbon is wider than I've used before, and the combinations is not super feminine. Fiona is such a dainty baby that I do want her crown to be feminine, so I'm not sure on this one.

This one combines the avocado green, a rose pink, and a 7/8"-wide vintage ribbon that I got from Les Bon Ribbon a couple years ago. This combination is much more feminine, which I like, but I'm a bit concerned that the blue and pink ribbon doesn't coordinate with the green and pink felt very well.

This one combines the avocado green,the salmon orange, and a cute ribbon I got in New York last year. I really like this combination, but my concern with it is that the ribbon is too narrow and that it's a kind of juvenile look -- maybe she won't like it when she's older? (Like 6, 7, 8 -- in that girlie-girl phase).

This combination combines the chatreuse green, a soft violet (much softer than it looks here, but not pastel, if that makes sense), and a 7/8"-wide linen floral ribbon that was also from my trip to New York. I have all but ruled this option out. Elisabeth thinks the violet is too dark, and I feel like the ribbon looks washed out on the darker felt. I really love the ribbon, but I'm not sure it's right for this project.

This last combination pairs the avocado green and rose pink again, with the widest ribbon of all of them -- at least 1.5" wide, maybe even 2" (sorry, I don't have it nearby right now -- but it's really wide). I don't remember where I originally got this ribbon, but I've had it a long time. It's "fancier" -- with the gold in it -- which might be popular with my little girl at some point. Elisabeth doesn't like this ribbon, and I was so unenthusiastic about the ribbon on James's crown (which is sort of similar), that I'm just not sure.

OK, now it seems like I hate all these options. I'm not really that negative! It's just that I'm feeling indecisive about this -- I really want it to look beautiful! Maybe it's just that I don't like either of the green felt options and should go another direction with that. Anyway, thoughts?

::So, to recap (please don't be shy): gift for four-year-old boy? Book for four-year-old? Opinions on the crown?::

Looking forward to hearing your ideas!!

February 1

Hi there. Did you think I disappeared? I wouldn't be surprised if you did. I only posted a couple of times in January. There are three real reasons for this: enjoying some quiet home time, feeling a bit of blog burnout, and having severe, and I do mean severe, computer problems. We bought our computer brand-new not 18 months ago, and already by this past summer, we were experiencing lots of problems. Currently it doesn't even turn on. It makes me tremble just to think about it, so I won't say any more here. But I did finally locate my installation disk for the camera software and can now upload photos here on the laptop (which I don't love to do because the screen is small and makes everything look alternately too dark or too washed out, but oh, well). Suffice it to say that the "what I made in 2009" post (including Christmas gifts -- two of which I'd love to eventually share here) will have to wait until I can finally access those photos again. I have been assured by my husband that they will be retrievable. Let's just pray, shall we?

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So what has been going on?

A little of this, a little of that.

It snowed.

We went out of town.

We saw this guy.

We had room service in our hotel room.

I knitted.

My baby turned 11 months, grew her first two teeth, and started crawling (I'm thankful that she's taking her time on these milestones -- with my third baby, I'm in no rush, and I'm glad she isn't, either!).

And now that we're into February, we're coming into birthday season -- beginning with mine on the 25th, four of our family's five birthdays will fall within six weeks of one another.

Much good, and a handful of challenges. Would we have it any other way?

love,

Grace

A small difference

How are you all doing? I'm quietly enjoying a bit of a break over here.

Today I want to talk a bit about Haiti, though. This week, Elisabeth came home from her class with this little lenten offering collection tin. The kids were encouraged to collect money before the beginning of Lent (coming up so soon!) to donate to the people of Haiti. We've been thinking about more ways we can help.

And if you want to help, there are lots of ways.

Some of my friends are arranging donations through etsy shops.

Look at Melissa's beautiful work here.

Craft Hope's AMAZING shop here. (One of my dolls will be in that shop soon!)

Mama to Mama is a place to check -- the sidebar has lots of links to all sorts of craftivism opportunities, and it sounds like Amanda wants to do something for Haiti in the near future through Mama to Mama, so check that out.

Don't forget that, as others have said in the last few days, prayer and positive energy are also very powerful. Light a candle, hold your children tight, live your life in a conscious way.

And remember that many charities are in need -- if doing something right now for the people of Haiti doesn't happen for one reason or another, there are so many other things you can do to help people in need all over the world, and there will still be need when you're able to contribute -- financially, creatively, or otherwise. (We are working on some dresses for this organization, for example.)

Anyway, I know the blogs are all abuzz over this -- but we mothers can, and do, make differences all the time. We can make a difference right now. Please join me in doing so.

2009, a retrospective {part 1}

I hope you all are not tired of 2009 wrap-ups. I know I'm a bit late, but bear with me -- I've been so very sick for so long, it's making me feel really behind. Anyway, I have had a 2009 retrospective on the creating end of things in mind for a while now, but I still want to photograph a last couple of things, so I thought I would start with the life part. And of course there's some overlap.

January

Quiet days at home. Knitting the bunting. Visits with friends. Cooking, freezing, nesting. Sewing. Contractions. Waiting.

February

More contractions. More waiting. More knitting. Elisabeth's first sleepover (away). My blessingway. My birthday. Fiona Catherine. Bliss.

March

Holed up, insulated, babymooning. James turns three. Huge snowstorm. Snuggling on the couch with the baby and lots of wool while the others are out in it. Seedlings.

April

Stepping, ever so tentatively, out of the fog. Elisabeth turns seven. Seedlings (still). Fiona's baptism. My husband decides to finish his doctorate afterall. Dozens of tulips!

May

Going a-Maying. Enjoying our yard and gardens. Struggling to find a rhythm. Re-reading some of my favorite books. Elisabeth learns to ride a two-wheeler.

June

Peonies! Swimming lessons every morning. Fiona rolls over. Remembering to slow down. Roses.

July

Still at the pool every morning, knitting in tow. A rainy 4th of July. Camping. Sewing. Second grade workshop. Catharsis.

August

10 years! Fiona sits up. Stress. Exhaustion. Computer break (oh-so-good!). My sister's baby shower. Sewing.

September

Holding on to the last bits of summer. habit. Return to homeschooling. Apple orchard (twice), and apple pies. Classes for both children. My new niece.

October

Our belated Michaelmas celebration. Eurythmy. Knitting. Lots of snow. Hot cocoa many days. New high chair cushions, and Fiona's first solid foods. Marathon costume sewing. Jack-o-lanterns. Halloween. My favorite month.

November

NaBloPoMo. Church linens. Elisabeth's first sleepover (at home). Simplicity Parenting. Martinmas. Sweaters. Book reviews. Thinking ahead to advent and Christmas. Giving thanks. Making dolls.

December

My shop. habit (december). King Winter. Helen's baptism. Fun with family. My husband's graduation. Sickness (lots and lots of sickness). Small miracles. Late Christmas cards. Last-minute gift making. Stillness; peace; silence. The richness of tradition. Joy. 

Right now

Awed by the connections we all have: the way my life looks very much like yours, and yours like mine -- we're all in this thing, aren't we?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Happy new year, friends. May 2010 (which I refuse to pronounce "twenty-ten", by the way) be your best yet.

My next post will be the creating retrospective. And I'd still like to share a few things that we did in December, in between all the sickness. And then it will be new material for the new year, I promise.

xo

sick, sick, sick

Sorry, no regular post today. I am really, really, really sick. Hopefully things will improve by tomorrow. My energy today was just ... gone. You know how it is -- it's hard enough to keep a family running when you're sick, let alone editing photos and writing. I do have some stuff to share with you, some fun projects we've done lately -- so, soon, I hope. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

A little bit about croup, and other thoughts

Some of you saw my post at habit today and wrote me (or commented here) with words of comfort and support about James's croup. Thank you so much. I'm so grateful for your thoughtfulness and, as always, the willingness of a group of perfect strangers to reach out.

I have some thoughts about croup that I wanted to share here, because it's something we've been through a lot in our house. (I've heard that some children are a lot more prone to it than others, based upon the unique physiology of their individual windpipes.) Elisabeth was extremely prone to croup until she was about five. In fact, every cold she had (which, thankfully, hasn't been too many -- she's a really healthy little one) always ended with a cough, and then croup. James has been less likely to have a cold progress that way, but he still gets it a couple times a winter.

Any parent who's had a croupy child will tell you that it can be terrifying to be awakened at 2am by a child's barking cough and desperate attempts to draw a breath. Over time, we've tried a lot of different things to help with symptoms. The best thing for croup really is sitting in a steamy bathroom (we run the shower with the hottest water we have) for 10 minutes, followed by 10 minutes out in the cold night air. We tried a steroid one time about 5 years ago with Elisabeth, and it really didn't help any better than the steam-to-cold routine (and our doctor told us it probably wouldn't -- but we were desperate one particularly bad night). I have a few trusted homeopathic remedies that we use for croup now, after years of trial and error (I recommend these three books -- particularly the first one -- if you are interested in learning more about homeopathic and other natural remedies for a wide range of ailments), we have a favorite (very effective!) natural commercial cough syrup, and depending on the child and the situation, sometimes a hot tea or infusion is helpful. But really, taking the time to run the shower, sit in the steam, wrap the two of us in a quilt, and go sit outside, has been the most effective thing of all.

Most of all, it's just taken a shift in perspective. Of course I want my child to be healthy, and of course I'd rather be tucked into my own warm bed than sitting outside in the cold. But there is something a little bit sacred in taking the time to tend to a child in this way. In a way, it has come to represent a part of our wintertime rhythm, this ritual of croup. And there is such unexpected grace in sitting outside on our glider, cuddled together in quilts, my wee one and I. Just the two of us, looking at the stars, and sharing bits of wonder that we might not otherwise have the opportunity to share. In moments like this, I feel uplifted and strong in my mothering, these quiet moments that lend themselves to an opening, an intimacy between parent and child.

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A few other things tonight:

+As many of you may already know, something special is going on at habit this month. All 33 guests from the whole year are joining Molly and Emily there this month. That means there could be as many as 35 voices there each day in December! I'm so very inspired -- and a little bit awed that I'm one of those women.

+My lens is finally back! I just pulled it out of the box this afternoon and all appears to be well! I am so happy that I won't have to "make it work" with a macro lens anymore.

+Thank you for your warm reception to my shop yesterday! I'm excited that a couple of people have already broken the ice with purchases, but there are still dolls and bags available! (And I promise, I won't be talking about the shop every day from here on out!)

+I'm happy to announce that tomorrow evening I'll be hosting a guest blogger in this space, a woman who has been a mentor to me in my own mothering. I can't wait to see what she has to say.

And I'll be back on Friday!

Grateful

After a weekend of celebrating all that we have to be thankful for, I'm just thinking of some of them tonight:

A tidy playroom and afternoon light.

Cousins.

My mother-in-law's stuffing. (Really people, I used to think I hated stuffing until I had hers.)

Being outrageous.

The end of the doctorate.

Enough of all that I need, and some of what I want.

Sleep.

Getting to start my favorite habit again in December.

And, just, everything. You know?

Work, work, work

I have had a long day making things. Mostly for my shop, but I took a little break to work on Christmas cards, too.

It's slow going with all the work (why do I sew so slowly?), but the shop update should be on time. I'll give more details on Monday!

This and that, on a Sunday evening

Hello! It's still Sunday, and I'm here. (Getting used to weekend posting may be a challenge!)

I don't have too much to share this evening ... we had a lovely, quiet Sunday, without much to report.

Tonight, I'm anticipating my favorite festival on Wednesday, and finishing work on the sweaters.

I'm eating a snack of frozen blueberries.

I've had this song running through my head for several days now. Although the sentiments are clearly intended in a romantic vein (and may not be applicable to parenting), the hook of the song always makes me think of my wee Fiona. Such a joyful one, she is.

My favorite (and usual) camera lens is off to be repaired. It hadn't been autofocusing. Hopefully the repair won't be too complicated or expensive. Fortunately, I have other lenses I can use in the meantime, although they are both less versatile.

And that's about it.

See you tomorrow!

A wee Saturday post and a wee heart

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments on the last few posts. I'm having fun being here daily, too!

Today was a day of contrasts -- it began on a sad note when Elisabeth's first sleepover had to be cut short because her little friend wasn't feeling well and needed to go home. It was so sad to see our little friend feeling so awful, and so sad to see both girls so disappointed.

It ended on a happy note (for me, at least), as I got to spend the evening out with a friend, something I really needed this week.

In the middle, there was some wet felting. (I love the wet felting in cookie cutters method. I learned it from Living Crafts a couple of years ago. It's also how these bird ornaments were made.) And there was some zany hilarity as I got lost on the highway twice (on my way to meet my friend), and had to backtrack twice.

So, there you have it. A wee Saturday post, squeaked in just in time. Because I'm not about to start missing already! ;)

November 1

Welcome to November, everyone! I hope your Halloween was safe and sweet and fun. I hope you'll indulge me in not one but two Halloween posts over the next couple of days. Because I love it that much. And more, really. Although there were moments this year ... well, that's another post.

I'm also thinking of doing my first NaBloPoMo this year. November tends to be a hard month for me, following, as it does, right on the heels of my very favorite one, so I sometimes need so external motivation to keep things positive. Anyway, I'm not sure if I can do it, but I'm going to give it a go. Hoping to see you here every day this month. (?!) Oh, my!

PS: I loved reading all your trick-or-treating in the snow stories the other day! Fortunately, we didn't have to do that -- it was mostly melted by Saturday evening.

About comments, computer screens, and hats

Aw, you all are so nice! Thank you for your sweet responses to my last post. It was so fantastic to hear from some of you who had never commented before! I love hearing from you and I'm working on getting more responses out as soon as I can more readily access my email.

You see, I'm not posting from my own computer today. My monitor died over the weekend -- we replaced the computer itself about a year ago, but the monitor was about 7 years old -- and until we replace it, I can't get onto my computer. So today, I'm on a borrowed laptop and feeling kind of weird that I can't dump the photos off my camera. I have some lovely photos from a beautiful weekend (there was snow!) to share in this space.

In the meantime, Fiona really needs a new autumn/winter hat, and I have three that I'm debating between. Opinions welcome!

This one? (Ravelry link here.) This was the one I was originally planning to do, but now I'm hearing that it runs big, which will not work for my baby -- all three of my children have small-ish heads (as do both of their parents, coincidentally!), so I'm not so sure.

This one? (Ravelry link here.) This one looks almost the same, but has ties instead of the button tab. I have no idea if it runs small or big or in between.

Or perhaps this one? (And on Ravelry.) This one has a slightly different look, but I'm wondering if its design may be more accomodating to those with smaller-than-average heads? On the other hand, the ribbing on the other two probably helps with warmth.

Hmm.

OK, my next post will contain photos. I promise! See you soon.

Typepad, you make my life such a hassle.

So, last year, TypePad unrolled a new compose editor that gave a lot of people, including me, no end of headaches.

Now, in their efforts to be more -- I don't know what, frankly -- they have instituted some additional changes. One of which has made it impossible for me to respond directly to comments anymore. Although I was no longer responding to every single comment, I was pretty pleased with the number I was able to respond personally to. Well, as of yesterday, that will no longer be happening at all.

Thanks, TypePad. I understand that my opinion means little to your giant company. If GoDaddy hadn't purchased my domain name and it wouldn't cost me hundreds of dollars to buy it back from them, I would be taking Uncommon Grace elsewhere. But it looks like I'm stuck with you.

Sorry, dear readers. I will be responding to questions directly in the comments. If you have a more involved question, please email me at the address in the sidebar.

Carry on with your Sunday.