It could only be made better.

I am in my new home with more projects than I could ever have imagined.  Everywhere I look there is something to do when I have the money and the time.

However, it is our home  and we are delighted to have our own space.

As with any new house there are always surprises. Our surprise was the electrical wiring.

Then just after Jason started working on that project our basement was wet with three inches of water during a crazy rain storm our community was hit with one afternoon. 

The cities storm sewers could not handle the volume of water and backed up into the house. We were one of the more fortunate ones because our neighbours were under 3 feet of water!!

Still, the dry wall had to come off two feet around the perimeter of  the first floor and the electrical issues were postponed for a few weeks.

The girls are delighted to be here and have made friends instantly with two neighbouring families which we often get together with for play dates.

 

But enough about all of this. I have come to day to show you my first  before and after  project.

 

I found this.

On the side of the road for free, for obvious reasons. Jason and everyone else who saw it thought it should have stayed on the side of the road for  garbage day, but not I.

 I saw  this as my golden opportunity to make a beautiful cabinet without  lot of  risk. I mean I could not possible make it look any worse.

 

And so I  painted it with paint I found at a garage sale for .50 cents and mod podged it  with Alexander Henry Fabric, replaced the hardware and voila!

This.

Not bad Ah?

I am really happy with it too.

 Now onto re-upholstering a chrome chair with two steps that swing in and out from under it. You know that one that your grandma might have had.

I can’t believe it!  Someone was going to throw it into the dump when Jason rescued it for me.  Stunning I say it is going to be stunning, ( but even if it is not it is going to be functional).

 

Brain Dump

I got this idea awhile  back while blog surfing and thought is was a good idea.  Here is my list what what I am thinking about these day’s

* waiting, thinking, praying that Jason will get the  official job offer so we can go house hunting.

* I need to learn to live well in the space of waiting because life has alot of waiting rooms!

* When will I see the next centipede in my house like this one?

 

(I saved you a large image that may haunt you.)

 Will I be able to exterminate it quickly and calmly so I don’t get the kids freeked out, we have to live here for a few more months after all.

* My little Roo is such a good baby.

* Should I home school? Can I do it? Is it right for Sunshine? What program should I do? It is hard to think about all of this in my static filled mind.

* I feel like my space is closing in on me and I am trying to get a handle on this closterphobia that is eroding my creative energy and enthusiasm.

* I miss my sisters expecially the one in Texas whom I have not seen for close to 5 years.  She is going to my parents this summer.

*I will not get to go home this summer because of our housing situation.

* Sunshine is showing interest and ablility in writting.

* I was not prepared that parenting would require so much work to connect, to be in relationship, to love.

* I bought 4, 940g bags of cadbary easter eggs, I’m rich!!

* My baby hammock tutorial has recieved some linky love.

Feeling a bit bloggy

hanging in her hammock

I feel like I need to have a really good post to compensate for the months of neglect this blog has endured.  However,  I only have a few minuets before one of the three kids pulls me away.  Little Roo is  cooing in her hammock while I play at the computer. A beautiful arrangement I think

I am finding the adjustment to three children much easier than from one to two children.

 I am doing really well and I tell myself several time a day just how proud I am of myself!   I even took the girls sledding by myself with Roo in my baby trekker. (that is one handy dandy carrier my friends!)

 

My projects these day’s are less about sewing and making beautiful eye candy and more about entertaining the girls, making something to eat, and being a kind parent.

I have been thinking more vividly recently about how I behave which influences and effects how the girls behave. I know this is rudimentary butI feel that I need to make my relationships with my girls my creative project. 

With my second daughter I noticed that our parenting changed by being more organized and structured. We developed routines and rituals around meal time, naps,  and baths ect,   It was necessary to bring order  the chaos with  two girls I learned very quickly that I would lose my mind unless we had some structure to our day and lives.So my most valued tool was structure.

In developing these habits as parents we became better parents, now with the third child I am thinking less of day to day living and more of quality of living  more specifically, relationship. So relationship has become my day to day project. It’s much like knitting.

One, two, three  conflicts, an activity, take a deep breath and repeat yourself 1000 times each  phrase, “sit down”, ”use your words”, “don’t grab that toy, ask for it”.  After an unspecified about of time they should grow up into functioning adults. I just hope they turn out better than my blanket did.

phew, I did it. Word press has changed it’s set up completely so I have to learn all over again how to use this new format which takes more time of course. Thank you all for checking back all these long months

Here I am

I am 27 weeks now and feeling rather well.  Note the skirt in this picture, I made it all by byself by tracing a skirt that I really liked but not the colour. I am so happy with the results.

It seems that I am more of a winter blogger than a summer one.  I have not logged in for such a long time I am not sure I know how to use this program anymore. Thank you, to those of  of you who have peeked in and sorry that it was a boring and disappointing visit. 

I spent a month with my family in B.C with the girls. It was fun to see Sunshine running after her cousins in the grass, traipsing after Opa  and pointing to  Grandma ,” who did it? Who made this mess? was it you? Who did it?”  Joy liked to sit on my lap but she eventually ventured away  once in a while and even gave out a few hugs after three weeks!! The girls are just so different from each other and for that I am very grateful because I could not live with two Sunshine’s nor two Joy’s!! I often wonder what this little one kicking inside my belly will be like.

The highlights of the summer have been  winning tickets to Canada’s Wonderland from the radio station, which I might add is not the place to be when pregnant but it was free and the girls had fun.  

And just recently for the first time in about a year, Joy has pooped five day’s in a row with no problem. I have never been more happy to change dirty diapers in my life, I am almost giddy with delight. We have been struggling with this issue for over a year.

It has been  awful listening to her screaming up to 10-15 times a day  because she can’t poop. I am hoping and praying that this phase is behind us and will be long forgotten  before the baby comes. 

What happened to make the difference?  I lost track of how many prunes I gave her on Sunday, seriously it may have been close to 30!!

My summer projects have been  a rug I made while in B.C but I gave it to a sister and I don’t have pictures. However, I am starting another one and working on a tutorial to share.

And my most recent project is making a baby hammock. I am very excited how it is turning out and I am measuring everything  so I can share the details with you as well.

 

On a personal note. Jason is having a hard time getting his lab work completedfor this masters. There are a variety of reasons. One being he has a lot of it to do by himself, (In hindsight there should have been two students working on the project together) one of the machines he needs has been out of order for 6 weeks so he had to work around another labs schedual to use thier machine, and third there is another person in the lab who is unqualified to be in the lab which takes a lot of Jason’s time( he is actually a post doc student). So it is his job to finish this masters program so we can move out of this small apartment and get on with our lives and it is my job make it possible for him to spend as much time at the lab as he can.  This is our project together.

So there you have it.

Blogging my thoughts

I have written many posts in the past few weeks, in my head that is. I am in need of inspiration and creativity. I know that the less creative activity I do, the less creative I am, but it has been a challenge to create a meal that is palatable. I think there are a few factors one is when I peed on that magic stick 14 weeks ago I focused my attention and energy on not worrying about another negative outcome. So I busy-ed myself with reading novels and my  daily tasks. My blogging ritual during the day became more and more sporatic  because I used my afternoon breaks to take a nap. Besides, all I could think about was my pregnancy which I was not ready to discuss on the world wide web. The second is Sunshine has not been sleeping during the afternoons and when she hears any activity she is at my elbow wanting to play so I am not getting any alone time, a prerequisit for productive creativity. And my third and last excuse is, I have an apron to sew but I am afraid to ruin my beautiful fabric. Crazy Ah?

So there you have it, I’m pregnant, uninspired and afraid of a pattern. And this post is my attempt at boosting my inspiration. Hmm, I  hear silence which means the girls are sleeping so I am going to fire up the sewing machine and see what kind of project I can come up with see blogging is inspiring maybe myfoggy muddled mind is reversible. Thank you those that keep checking in on me, it warms my heart. And by the way, I heard my baby’s heart beat!

Love, Karyn