Although we've been having the rainiest summer in the trackable history of this city, my big boy still loves his water squirter… hey, why bother with a water squirter that has to be "charged" when you can simply turn on the faucet and have an unlimited amount of ammunition? He's got it all figured out.
It is such a pleasure to watch him in the back yard, a yard that is not huge, a mere 25' by about 50', but oh, it is so green and lush. I need to take a whole bunch of pictures so I can remember this state in the middle of winter. Since I don't have a lot of structural plants, it does most certainly all go back into the ground.
This past weekend has been one of utter bus"y"ness. I had a real wrench thrown into it though, I was going to bake a cake on Friday for my neighbour, and discovered moths all over my loose foods in the pantry. Ended up trowing out about a hundred dollars worth of stuff. Jikkes…. but I took every single thing out of the pantry, scrubbed it down with bleach (something I didn't even have in the house), and then had to put it all back together.
On Saturday I corralled Richard into fixing the back splash wall of the laundry room (something that's been a mess since we moved in), today I primed and painted the room. I've made it my challenge to not use anything that we didn't already have. I used the light blue paint that is also in Huxley's room and I think it looks great. I even primed the floor white, which makes me want to be in there and do laundry all day long (grin)…. but seriously, it's one of those seemingly low-priority things that makes everything look so much brighter.
On Sunday after showering and on my way upstairs stopped at the sewing machine and finally (about a year after getting them), sewed pillow cases for the new couch pillows. Oh, yeah, another thing was that we actually got a new futon for our frame. So we won't be getting a new couch. I also sewed the cover for it Saturday. I'm just sharing all this stuff with you, because I was at a point where I really "hated" our house for not getting anything done towards it looking and more importantly feeling like a home. This is a start, and hopefully it will give me inertia to keep going.
Today I had my 7 1/2 year old niece with me and I sewed with her. She is a delight, although I have to say, my patience level when teaching is not the best. I find it very hard to teach a skill that is so second nature to me, breaking it down and remembering each of the individual little things that matter to make it a success. Hold on to your thread when starting to sew, always keep the needle in the fabric if you stop, only pull the wheel on the side towards you, hold the fabric just so… I think back of learning this all from Frau Brändli in needlework class and how easier it must be to just be at the front of the class, demonstrating and then expecting the kids to just "figure it out". Sitting right beside and not interfering is hard work. But we managed. Lena made two needle-pillows, out of fabric with stripes that she first had to sew along the lines and a little shoulder bag. Next time I want to make a skirt or something with her, but even though it is important to have the successful outcome of projects, I still think it is important to also be able to just practice. Strange, when people learn to play an instrument the parents don't expect them to play for the symphony after one day, or when the learn to ski, but when it involves creative endeavors, it's always the product that seems to matter.
Okay.. gotta go and do some vacuuming now.. must find all those stray needles.
