Lost

Last week was a really tough week for me and the family.  We had to say goodbye to the sweetest dog that God ever made.  My sweet, sweet Lexi was almost 15 and was my everyday companion.  She went everywhere with me and stuck by me through every move and every deployment.  I miss her so much it hurts.  I know the pain will lessen everyday but right now it is still very raw.  I miss talking to her and seeing her happy face and wagging tail when I come home from taking the girls places or grocery shopping.  She is missed everyday and will always be remembered.

9!

On Wednesday August 14 the girls turned 9 years old!  It is so hard to believe that 9 years ago these 2 little girls of mine were born 12 weeks early and very tiny.  Their birthday was spent at home with just our little family with a party to come on Saturday with friends.  We took the girls out to eat and made some really fun tie dye cupcakes.  Followed up with presents from the family.

They got LOTS of Legos!

On Saturday we celebrated their birthday with the friends with a Paint Party.  The weather did not cooperate with us so we had to bring it inside.  The party was really fun and I think all the girls had a good time.

 Cake!

 Decorations

 Decorations (hubby took this pic before I had a chance to set everything out)

 Everyone got a smock (apron) and a beret.

 Straw painting!

 Their masterpieces drying.

 Happy Birthday Girls!

 The inside of the cake!

9!

When You Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

Lately I have been feeling myself slipping into a funk, not depression, just a funk.  This happens occasionally to me and it's usually in the winter when I am not getting enough sunshine in my life.  It has been a little rainy and gray lately but not enough to cause the funk.

Yesterday I had breakfast with some wonderful ladies from our church.  I honestly felt like I was just going through the motions and not really feeling totally there.  I came home and the girls and I ran errands still feeling like part of me was just not there.  That part of me was probably in the bed with the covers pulled over my head.  I mentioned to a close friend that I felt like something was wrong with me.  Something I couldn't quite put my finger on.  The day progressed and things stayed the same.  I put away all the cold items from the store but left the rest in the bags scattered all over the counters. After fixing lunch for the girls I found myself sitting watching Netflix and dozing in and out until I heard my husband come in.  Nothing had been planned for supper and groceries were still everywhere.  I left my husband and girls to their own devices and went to JoAnn's to purchase the rest of the material for Kaitlyn's quilt.  I came home and dinner was taken care of and some of the groceries had been put away.  Jef needed to run out and I stayed with the girls, continued my Netflix, and picked up my crochet.  After Jef's return he and the girls took the guinea pigs out for their nightly run.  (Have I mentioned we now have guinea pigs?)  The nightly run is quite entertaining but I stayed in my little nest on the couch until I could hear that it was time to get the cage clean and put them up.  Recently the guineas have figured out how to climb the fence of their play area.  I came in just as this was happening and thankfully was able to grab Tallulah just as she was climbing onto Kaitlyn.  They become very squirmy when they are ready to get back to their cage and as I was putting her into her cage she tried to jump out of my hands into the cage and got her foot hung in the door.  She was able to free it quickly but not without hurting herself.  This is where the straw broke the camel's back for me.  I flipped out! I mean flipped out!  I had a full meltdown standing in front of that cage looking at this little hurt guinea pig.  I start to sob and freak out, the girls are completely stunned and staring at me and Jef is trying his hardest to get me to calm down because I am scaring the girls.  I finally leave the room and hide myself in our bedroom and lose it.

Jef came in a little later to check on me.   I am still sobbing, so he does what any amazing husband would do. He collects me into his arms and reassures me everything will be ok.  After a few minutes he looks at me with his hands on my face and says, "This isn't just about the guinea pig".  He was right.  It was about everything.  It is about the possible pending surgery for Jef's knee, it was test results from my mother, it is about the girls' new rooms that are so close yet still not done, it is about an upcoming birthday party for the girls, it is about two little girls starting the 4th grade very soon (4th GRADE!), it is about all the projects that I need to do and want to do but don't have time for, it is about decisions that I need to make and can't, its about groceries all over the counters, its about groceries that I still need to get, and it's about a hurt guinea pig.

I did manage to get control of myself and thankfully it seems that our little guinea is ok.  We will watch her carefully but it seems she maybe be a little stronger than I am currently.  I have mentioned my type A personality before and my need for control.  This is what happens when I try to control too many things on my own.  The force is not always with me.  HA!  I always take on too much, the problem is that sometimes I forget that I need to talk to someone about what is going on.  Bottling things up only causes problems and meltdowns.  I am so very thankful that I have a husband that hasn't run screaming for the hills because his wife can be a nutter sometimes.  He stands by me patting my head, telling me everything will be fine, and puts away the groceries.

T.G.I.F.

Thank God It's Friday! No statement could ring truer for me today than this.  I have been going full throttle for 2 weeks.  Last week Jef took the week off so we could work on the girls' room updates (post to come soon).  After a solid week of painting and decorating the rest of my house looked like a week long college frat party had taken place. So, come Monday morning I sent Jef off to work and while the girls did this...

...I worked all day trying to get my house back together.  

Tuesday morning I made my usual trip to the garden only to find that my garden had exploded and I need to can.  A long day of work yielded this...

...pretty good if I do say so myself.  Tuesday also brings the news that my husband has possibly torn the meniscus in his knee and is on crutches.  :/

Wednesday morning I got up early and mowed the front lawn.  It was beginning to look like a jungle and with a husband on crutches it is now my job, again.  We have a rather large yard so I only managed the front that day. 

Thursday has become somewhat a dirty word for me.  If things are going to go wrong it will happen on Thursday.  This Thursday was one of those wrong Thursdays.  It didn't start off too bad other than mowing the back yard in the misty rain but the physical output of yard work offset that.  In preparation for hosting the the men's group from church that evening the girls and I ran to the store to pick up a few items for them.  This is where things go foul.  I was verbally "beeped" at by an elderly gentlemen because I stopped to mark something off my list, I was "beeped" at leaving the parking lot because I refused to pull out into oncoming traffic, I was then "beeped" and "fist waved" at by a bus driver because apparently I violated a Virginia state law that I was unaware of, I was then almost run over pulling into the driveway.   I decided that I didn't need to leave the house again.  Sometime after lunch a Hazmat truck turned over on I64 spilling its contents.  This caused all kinds of traffic horrors.  It took my husband over two hours to get home from work (a normally 30 minute commute).  When he finally arrived home I am running around trying to fix supper for the girls and I and prepare a few treats for the men.  Due to traffic issues only 2 of the men showed for last night's meeting.  About an hour into their meeting a nasty storm came up and they had to quickly come inside.  Thunder and lightening and wind was quickly around us and a very loud bang startled the girls and I.  I peek out onto the deck and this is what I see...

 ...In our haste to get everyone and the food inside the umbrella for my table was left up.  The wind took sail of my umbrella and shattered the glass.  The thunder continued and rattled the house and a couple of picture frames fell off a shelf and broke one.  At this point I am laughing.  I went to bed thinking of my day.  I know a lesson of patience and kindness was being given to me yesterday but I also think a lesson in control was there too.  Control in 2 forms.  Control #1:  "Keep controlling your actions Jannette, your children are watching" and Control #2:  "Jannette, you are not in control, I am."  I admit to being somewhat of a control freak and God has a tendency to put me in my place from time to time.  Yesterday must have been one of those days. "Stop trying to control everything and make it go your way and listen to Me." 

This brings us to today, Friday.  I have absolutely nothing I HAVE to do.  There are things that need to be done but nothing that won't keep.  I am hoping today will be a much better day but as I sit here my dog has thrown up twice and my cat once in the only room with carpet.  *Sigh*   

So here is my annoying, I had a crappy week post.  I know they are incredibly annoying to read on Facebook but this is my blog and well, my place to whine.  Here's to a better day and good weekend.  

Canning

Last week I spent 2 full days canning the "fruits" of my garden labor.  This year my green beans and cucumbers are really producing.  YAY!  In the past couple of years things have not produced as well as I would have liked but with a new arrangement in my beds and the addition of a large trellis for the cucumbers I am thankfully picking a basket full of veggies almost everyday.  The addition of the cucumber trellis has made everyone in this house happy because that means mom makes pickles.  

Pickles are probably one of the easiest veggies to can.  I made two kinds; bread and butter and dill. The prep work for pickles is probably the most time consuming because it requires lots of slicing but once you have that done everything else is really simple.  

This year I have conquered my fear (I think) of the Pressure Cooker.  My grandmother used a pressure cooker for so many things but I was always terrified of it. The only way to can green beans safely is to pressure can them. I am not fond of frozen green beans and I'm really not fond of food poisoning so I was left with only one choice.  Pressure canning. I purchased my pressure canner and it sat in the box for several days. Unfortunately the box is quite large so "out of sight, out of mind" didn't work.  Finally, knowing that I needed to can the green beans soon or they would go bad, I got out the book and read all the instructions.  I talked to my mom several times about how scared I was and she suggested that I find a You Tube video to watch.  Huh, why didn't I think of that?  I watched the videos, reread the instructions, crossed myself (I'm not Catholic but what could it hurt, right?!), said a few prayers, and went to work.  Thankfully my kitchen is still in one piece and so am I. I will admit to standing in the doorway of the kitchen for most of the 20 minutes clutching the instruction manual.  

I think I will attempt to can some salsa next.  I have lots of jalapenos from the garden and I think that salsa will be a good use for them. Chips and salsa, yum!

House of Piles or My House in the Summer

I love summer.  The weather is warm (although I could do with less humidity), the days are long, the nights are fun, and things just move at a slower pace.  I love having my kids at home all to myself and drinking my coffee warm in the mornings.  What I don't like is what my house becomes in the summer time.  I freak out every year because I've already forgotten that it was the same way last year. Because there are more bodies in the house during the day things tend to get piled up or just flat out ignored. 

The first place that gets piled on is the dining room table.  It is the largest and first flat surface you come to in my house.  This is where, purchases, gifts of thanks (that I can't manage to deliver, sorry Katie), projects and and pockets are dumped.  

The dining room is also where I sew.  This is where my W.I.P's find a home.

The kitchen is a never ending room of piles.  Piles of clean and dirty dishes.  Cups from various people on every counter and veggies from the garden that need some attention.  (I really need to repaint the cabinets. *sigh*)

We have an oversize coffee table in the living room and it doesn't take long for it to pile up especially when the girls are home..

And of course it wouldn't be complete without including the piles of laundry.  Clean laundry here, no one needs to see the dirty stuff.  You can just make out the overflowing recycle bin in the back corner.  That would be the same said recycle bin I was told would be emptied before bedtime last night. Hmmmm, I think SOMEONE forgot.  ;)

This post goes against every part of my Type A personality. The fact that you are seeing my house in disarray gives me a panic attack.  But I am not a perfect person and my house can not look like a page from magazine.  It's just not realistic.  I know that these wonderful summer days with my family will be over too soon and I need to enjoy every minute of them.  The piles will be tended too and there will be new piles.  That is my house in the summer. Is it yours too?

Baby Sewing

I know about 9 people that are either pregnant or trying to adopt.  Sadly I do not fall into this category but I do get to enjoy all the fun sewing for the new little ones.  My niece and her husband are expecting their first baby in August.  The are expecting a girl and I can't wait to see her.  I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to make for her so I just made them all.

The color scheme for the baby's room is pink, light grey and white.  I found some really cute quilting fabrics to match and went to work.  I wanted it to be special just for her so I hand embroidered an A (for Ava) on the bottom corner square.  I used the pattern from Alicia Paulson's book Embroidery Companion.  I am really pleased with how it came out.
  

 I stumbled across this pattern/tutorial on Pintrest for the dress.  It also has a link to the shoes. I used this pattern/tutorial for the bloomers.  The dress is a super easy peasant dress. The bloomers, however cute, were pretty fussy.  Trying to make a casing for the legs with the ruffles on something that small was a test to my patience.  The shoes were a last minute decision.  I had enough fabric leftover so I decided to try them.  They are so sweet.  The headband is all mine.  Have I mentioned that I make hair bows? Well maybe next post.  

Burp cloths are must have. These are just embellished cloth diapers with some cute flannel I found in the remnant bin.  I have tried other patterns that have you cut the diaper and sew the fabric on but found out that they do not wash well.  I also made a cute pacifier holder and embellished a wipe case.

Last but not least, a bunny lovey.  My good friend sent me the link to this cute little bunny.  Such an easy pattern and quick.

Well I hope Miss Ava and her mom enjoy all the fun stuff I sent.  I can't wait to see her precious face.