For all your sewing needs....

I made this pin cushion using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran yarn. Translation: really awesome yarn.

A non-essay on The Great Gatsby - 12 years later

In my last semester of high school, I was assigned to read The Great Gatsby for my honors english class. About a few chapters into the book my english teacher, Ms. Russell, decided that she wanted to have our class participate in a special school project: "Character Counts." This involved breaking into groups and making short movies about the pillars of character. Honesty, integrity, etc. Of course we had to use class time to write our scripts, practice our parts, and then film our character counts documentaries.

Ms. Rusell felt strongly that the character counts project was more important that finishing The Great Gatsby as a class, so she cancelled that part of the grading requirement, replacing it with character counts. I remember being thrilled that instead of reading a required book and writing some essay I could instead make some lame movie with limited brain power involved from me. (Maybe the whole character counts concept didn't quite sink in with me-come on I was a senior going to Penn State, I was so done with high school!)

In class Ms. Russell said to us "But, you will still read The Great Gatsby on your own at home, right? Even though you wont be tested or graded on it, you'll still read it, right?" Are you kidding me? Of course we all agreed heartily that we would read the book on our own. In my mind I remember thinking, 'wow I cant believe you think we will actually read this on our own.'

I am an avid lover of reading. For whatever reason, I strongly dislike required reading for school. I don't think there was a single book I read throughout my entire education that I enjoyed. Mainly because I was forced to read it and then graded on my interpretation of the book.

As a result I never finished The Great Gatsby, and to be fair I don't think I ever started it in the first place.

I can now proudly say: "Ms. Russell, 12 years later I finished The Great Gatsby, and it was wonderful. Since we're not being graded on it, I hope you wont mind the delay in finishing"

Jim and I just finished reading this great American novel together, and I must say I was shocked at how much I enjoyed the book. It always surprises me when older fiction has strong plot lines with twists and turns (like Jan Eyre, have you read that book? Crazy!)

To Ms. Russell: Thank you for believing in your delinquent senior class of 1998 that we might some day understand that character does count and that good literature, even 12 years late, is still good literature.

Wish List

For my birthday I posted a list of birthday wishes. I put everything I really wanted but didn't think I would actually get on the list After looking back at that list, I realized that I got everything on my list with the exception of two items. That is amazing. My sister tells me its the power of positive thinking, or something like that.

Well for the sake of positive thinking I thought I would post my holiday wish list. You should do the same (really so that I don't feel ridiculous for making a Christmas list on my blog like some tech savvy 5 year old, if everyone does it, it's cool.)

1. Art work by Sarah Jane.  This is one of my favorites.  Check out her shop, so much talent.

2. Blu-ray player

3. Candles from Bath and Body Works, specifically sweet Balsam

4. I-Phone, and with the i-phone I want apple to make a contract with verizon so that I don't have to switch providers to use it.

5. Bedding from restoration hardware.

6. Estee Lauder double wear make up and holiday blockbuster

Only 6 items!

Of course I want world peace and food for the hungry too.

To Do

1.  Tell endearing story about Lilly.

Today Lilly put the hood of her sweatshirt on her head with the sleeves hanging off the back and said "Mom, this is what teenagers do, don't I look like a teenager? I'm not even a teenager, but I look like a teenager."  We then went to a friends house where she said "So, my mom and I were just talking about how I look like a teenager, isn't that funny?"

Check.

2.  Show darling pictures of my babies wearing hand knit hats playing in the leaves.

Check.

3.  Make awesome mittens for myself.

Check.

4.  Post picture of Lilly to my blog (by her request).

Check.

5. Feed Jack more food than Lilly could ever think about eating at every meal.

Check.

New Furniture Day

For the second time in my adult life I had new furniture arrive (This time it was delivered). I have been shopping for chairs for my living room for a LONG time. Really long time, like years. I had a strong desire to have my living room resemble this floor plan:

Ok, so I don't have a hearth and it's not my floor plan, it belongs to Fresh Nest. Nonetheless I covet this optimal floor plan of a sofa, two chairs, and tables to fit my needs.

I saved my money for chairs and searched for the perfect pair. I promised myself that I would not buy furniture that was on sale just for sale sake, but I would buy furniture that I really loved.

That so did not happen.

Two weeks ago I found an amazing deal on two chairs for the price of one.

I bought two chairs because they were the same price as one, enabling me to own two chairs much faster.

They arrived today (pictured above) and at first glance I loved them. Then I hated them. Really hated them. In fact I was pretty sure they were the same chairs that I saw in a nursing home not so long ago. Then I liked them again. Then I hated them. Then I accepted them and loved them. Then strong dislike, etc. You get the picture. I arranged them and rearranged them, added pillows, subtracted pillows, added a throw. My sister made a good point that they are a blank canvas to be dressed up with pillows and blankets, etc. Better a brown chair then some crazy print that I will dislike next year, right??

The moral of this story might end up being 1) Save your money for something you really love, or 2) Hurray a fantastic sale! Now you can have furniture like a grown up, get rid of your slip covered couch that shames you, and achieve your goal for an optimal living room floor plan.

I am working my way back to loving the chairs and my optimal floor plan.

Children

You never know what the day will bring with children.

Jack is obsessed with the toilet. I think he secretly waits by the bathroom to crawl in there as fast as he can before we close the door. I can usually stop him before he gets to the toilet. Although today I found him splashing in the toilet like we run some kind of water park out of our bathroom. Water was everywhere and toys were floating inside. It was just so gross on so many levels. He thought it was great fun.

Today Lilly said to me "You shouldn't boss Daddy around." I said "What do you mean?" She said "Bossing is when you tell someone what to do. Daddy is a grown up and he should just do what he has to do and what he wants to do. You don't need to tell him what to do. You are both grown ups."

Schooled by a 4 year old.

Happenings

We hiked some local trails last Sunday and the kids loved it. Lilly had recently seen Jimmy Fallon on Sesame Street talking about Nature, so she was really excited about nature.

We've been busy at home with pre-school, my music classes, and plenty of chores around the house. Rather mundane couple of weeks. It's kind of nice.