Random

I chopped jalepenos last night and I've really regretted it. I ate them last night and spent the night sucking on a plastic bag with ice to stop the burn. Then today I was completely miserable with burning hands. Nothing helped. It's better now, late in the evening, but it was really horrible earlier. I googled it and tried yogurt, peppermint extract, vinegar, hot water, aloe, etc, but nothing.

Gracie had dance camp this week. She wasn't as into it as I thought she would be. She said it was too long, and it was 2 hours. I went today and watched them perform the dances they learned. They're only 4 and 5, so not too high expectations, but still. Her teacher during the week was one of my former students that I didn't get a long with, so that's always there in the back of my mind, too.

Some days I take Gracie places with me and it's torture. Other days she's so good. We had a really good day this week. The school supply store was having its teacher open house, so we went and had a day. We went to Jo-anns and got more fabric to finish the backing for her quilt. I'll post about that separately. We had lunch and stood in line @ the supply store for a long time. But she was so good, against all expectations. She was holding out for a cookie @ the end of the line, and she didn't even eat it. We ended up going to Kohl's and getting the whole set of Clifford stuffed animals with her birthday money. Like she needed more stuffed animals, but they're Clifford. And she loves Clifford. And she'll keep them forever . . . Am I justifying or what? She loves them; it's her money, there. We also went and got some fish and visited a friend and her new baby @ the hospital.

Speaking  of babies - someone has put our names on a baby list. We're getting magazines and formula and coupons, etc. Do they know something we don't?

I shared about my surgery and some of the reasons for it with some college friends on facebook and 2 of them came back and described their own struggles with infertility. It put some thoughts in my head. I don't know if I would describe myself as infertile. We have Gracie. We love Gracie. Gracie is a tremendous blessing to us. We would like to have another baby. But I don't know how heroic our measures would be if that didn't happen for us. Part of it would definitely be laziness. But part of it might be that it just wasn't meant to be for us. Babies are made all the time. If we didn't, there would have to be a reason for it, and who are we to go against that? But again, that's from the vantage point of already having a child. I'm not sure how different I would feel if we didn't already have her.  Food for thought.

         

VBS

My mother volunteered me to do music at her church's VBS, which my mother is helping to plan. That in itself is somewhat of a miracle, one I've been praying for. Those prayers have absolutely come true - she's involved in her church's ladies group, she's in a Bible study and she's helping with this. Answers to my prayers for her. Absolutely. BUT I don't sing, I don't really play piano and I've never, ever led anyone (except Gracie) in song, ever. But I've been thinking about it - thinking back on all of the fun VBS songs we learned - Father Abraham, Praise Ye the Lord, a few others I've learned lately. And I'm a little excited. They don't know how many kids there will be, but that won't matter. Just when you think you've got a comfy place all set up for you, God pushes you out toward the edge. Pray for me; I'll need it.    

Birthday party

Gracie's party was so much fun! There were so many people and so many kids. I think I was only missing 2 cousins and their families. I don't think any more people could have fit into our house.

The kitchen all ready for the party.

Birthday girl ready for the party.

Mob

Ready to blow out the candle.

Cupcakes

Pretty cake

Close up cake

Making Crayons

I found a tutorial on Prudent Baby for making custom crayons from candy molds. We tried it the other night and it worked well.  We made dinosaurs and stars. 

placemats

I found this great watermelon fabric as a remnant @ Jo-ann's. Along with the bright green fabric, I thought I would make quilted placemats. I think I figured out how to do mitered corners now, and I think everyone will be getting placemats for Christmas. 

 

I quilted it using concentric circles. This is my first quilting experience. 

Quilting class

I had signed up for a quilting class at Christmas and it got put off several times. It finally made on Sunday. It was a t-shirt block class. I wish it had taken place 2 weeks before. By Sunday, I had already begun making this quilt for Gracie, so I actually was telling the instructor the best way to do somethings. I did learn about fusible interfacing, which I hadn't used before and should have used for this quilt. I've taken several classes from Jo-Ann's and learned something useful from each one. I took a beginning sewing class and it was really informative. The beginning crochet class was good, but I had already learned a lot of those things. The scarf class was good. The first quilting class I took was ok. I learned how to cut fabric and other things. The actual block was horribly hard, but the process was informative.  

Garage sale finds

I can't believe I haven't posted about this great dress. I found it at an estate sale a few weeks back. It's old with a great vintage floral pattern and bright orange color. I wore it today. Just lovely!

 I found these goodies at another estate sale a few weeks later. I got a great vintage suitcase with pretty flowers, this wonderful green fabric, which turned out to be about 3 yards, some other remnants and thread. The next day I went back to get other thread and some other things 1/2 price. Fun stuff!