Lent

So my Lent observances are to do more spiritual stuff with Gracie  - stuff I've totally been slacking on and getting out of my chair and doing stuff around the house - which is also not spending so much time on the computer.  I researched some Lenten activities for us to do. I found a Jesus tree that has the schedule and everything here. So far, 2 days for 2 days. We've read the story and made (with paper and markers) the ornament. I still have to laminate them (at the end) and make some kind of tree, but Gracie is into it and so far so good. I also found a map here that we can follow along with and she can count down the days until Easter.   

Another idea I liked is the one about earning jelly beans for doing good things or remembrances of Jesus' sacrifice. Gracie is getting into it too - trying to be more deliberate about not pitching fits or being kind. I really like that the white jelly beans are used to fill up the jar at the end of the season as God's grace.     Instead of our usual mid-week kid's time, our church is doing Lent services. I figured Gracie wouldn't want to go - I don't really want to take her and have to deal with her by myself, but she wanted to go and we're going. Maybe she won't want to next week - ha!

We've been reading her Bible books, but there isn't a lot of New Testament stories in them. I feel like we had plenty of religious books, but maybe not. Or maybe they are lost in the hole that is her room. Regardless, I'll get her more for Easter. She enjoys reading them to me and I need to spend that time with her.  

Gracie and the no good, very bad day

Well, it finally happened. Grace had to move her feather at school. She was talking or moving or something and she had to move her feather. She was pretty upset about it. We tried to tell her that that was normal. Everyone has bad days sometimes. She also got in trouble on the way home for something, and then again for painting her fingernails without permission when she got home. Now, keep in mind, there's only about 20 minutes between them getting home and me getting home. I tried to explain to Scott that painting one's fingernails was therapeutic after a hard day. Like getting a new haircut. So she got to paint her nails. She had 5 different bottles opened in front of her and she was going to town. Tomorrow she'll go apologize to her teacher and everything will be better. She's earning jelly beans in a jar for Lent (I'll post more on that later), but today was a no jelly bean day. But I did add a lot of white ones in, which stand for the Grace of God, which covers all of our sins and can't be earned.  

lots of sewing this weekend

I found out this weekend that my friend's baby shower is next weekend. I had intended to make a quilt for the baby. I bought this giraffe nursery print to use as a backing and was going to do a 9-square patchwork quilt top with my pink scraps. The technique went perfectly. I figured out the measurements. I paid attention to seam allowances and pressed my seams. I was so pleased - until I put them together and saw that, no, they did not go together.  I was pretty bummed. But I had a baby pink bed sheet I had gotten at a garage sale that would match both. So, I ended up with 2 quilts - one for my friend's baby and one for my own. The one I'm going to keep matches Gracie's  - it uses a lot of the same fabric scraps - and the other is really cute. I just have to sew up the binding and quilt them, but they're small and I can do that this week or on Friday. Yippee!

Just what I needed to do this weekend after a really stressful week at school!

    

Look at those great squares! It's, like, all square and everything. But really, I did learn a lot from Gracie's quilt and made this one more precisely. I learned that I should stabilize t-shirt material with interfacing, but I'm cheap and lazy, so I sandwiched those squares with quilting cotton, so they didn't stretch as much. I figured out that you can use all of your random bobbin bits up chain piecing because no one will ever see the stitches. And the top and bobbin didn't have to match at all.  I'll probably definitely make another one of these. Maybe for my sister's baby. I've been gathering greens and blues to use for a little boy. 

100th day of school

Disastrous dress

Elementary schools make every day a holiday and this Friday was the 100th day of school. For which she needed a shirt with 100 things on it. And she told me this the night before. I told her (them because Scott knew about it too) that they would have to figure something out. I was wiped. So he went and picked out a not-so-nice tunic from her closet and let her paint on it with fabric paint. It was . . . . well not so pretty. So I finally went in with fabric paint and make it . . .  not so not so pretty. I put flowers and leaves on it, at least. Definitely not my best work, but more time would have been great! I feel like a crappy mom for letting her wear it to school, but she said it went fine. I guess it did.

Saturday update

Baby bump

This week has been rough. All of a sudden I have no energy - exhausting. The baby is growing, I guess, but I'm drained. I'm trying to eat more, still healthy, but more. And parents are suddenly coming out of the woodwork now that the second semester has started. I'm not in a rational mind to deal with them. What could I do if I didn't teach? There are a lot of things I like about this job and I'm in a great district, but geez louise. My mom had Gracie yesterday, so I went to eat with some other teachers and it was nice. I went to Jo-Ann's and Starbucks and the grocery store on my way home. This morning I woke up to rain. My garden is going to be so happy! But it's so warm for February. Worried that it might be a hot, hot summer. I got up this morning and made muffins for the UIL meet @ school, and now I'm cooking. Stuff for Scott, protein muffins and bars for me, lunch for me for next week and some yogurt. Quiet day. I need to get in my sewing room and make my mother's birthday present and get stuff ready for Bunco tomorrow. It's only 11 a.m. I need to get off this stupid computer.

New and finished

I finished my Christmas tree part of my design. I have it up on a bulletin board  so I can think about what I want to do next. Make a trunk, for sure. Presents underneath? More thinking and planning required.

This pic didn't turn out well. It's a chapstick holder for a keyring. I like the thought. My sewing machine doesn't do well with small pieces of fabric, though, so it didn't end up looking great, either. Nice and functional!

This is a baby block. It's not hard to make. I think I overstuffed it, but it's a cute toy!