Happy Sparks
Jul. 29th, 2007 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threadwalkerMy life is not super-fantastic exciting and I am sure that it bores many people to tears. I don't go to exotic places or ride in rockets or do earth-shattering things. But for me, it's a super-fantastic life. There are ups and downs, sometimes there are extreme stresses, and we have had our years of grieving where I didn't know how I'd ever smile again. But even while the negative stuff is going on, there are sparks of happy if you know how to look for them. And once you see these sparks, you have to open yourself up to the possibility that even when it's raining out (metaphorically speaking), there is still beauty, happiness and love. When I let the sparks in, they warm me up from the inside out like the heat off a steadily burning camp fire.
My happy sparks from last weekend.
Friday Shopping for my sewing machine:
I love my sewing machine. It's a Bernette 320 that I purchased on Lay-Away back in 1990. Bernette is a low-end Bernina made in Taiwan. In the last 2 years I have managed to lose most of the attachable feet for my sewing machine. This has been vexing. I've been using the wrong foot and "making do" for a while.
However, (drum roll) I found an online supplier that sells attachment feet for Bernettes AND all models of Bernette are configured the same. Wheee! So I ordered a replacement zipper foot, zig-zag foot and then ordered a "velvet foot" (no idea what it does), a few cording feet, and something else. Yayayaya! I can't wait.
Memorable Lines from the family Sunday afternoon:
Those are not toys, those are finely crafted collectibles.
(Daddy, in response to N's questions and finger pointing at ... umm... action figures that are NOT toys... snicker...)
Nicholas loves me because he's letting me wear his shoes.
(E, while doing yard work after I got home on Sunday. when I got home she was in her brother's flip-flops. then she switched to his sandals. hahaha!)
My daughter was so cute, she insisted on arranging her hair so that it was pulled through her ball cap. .. declining my help the entire time. She was so intent and with her little face all scrunched up.
Submerged... a bath tub experience
I love to take a bubble bath after an event. I got home, got unpacked, and the pizza gods arrived. Family and brothers were ensconced in family room with pizza and "Iron Man" (animated movie), so I swiped a piece of pizza, a diet coke and a clean towel, retreating to my bathroom. Ahhh Sweet Bliss... hot water, bubbles, good smells, pizza and diet coke... I always shower first because I think it's gross to soaking in your own filth. I also got a facial done in the shower, but I left the conditioner in my hair. So, hair tied up, pizza and diet coke arranged near by, I slide into the nice hot bath. Bath salts, sea salt bath scrub, hot water, solitude... mmm, soapy bubbly goodness... it lasted for 5 minutes. Just as I was about to reach for my pizza from my ocean of bubbles, Nicholas strolls in with his erector set in one hand. (it's a toy - looks like a small brief case, but it pops up into a diarama of stuff and moving parts.)
"Mommy, daddy said you weren't doing anything and I want to play "Sorry" on the little peg set and that's daddy's and he said it was okay so can you come play a game with me. ... Um... is that water warm?" He pauses his request as he contemplates the bath tub.
Evie comes racing in to yammer about something, freezes when she sees me in the tub, then walks up to the tub and asks, "Mommy, is that a bubble bath? can I get in with you?"
To which Nicholas promptly asks, "Am I stinky?" He lifts his arm so I could sniff his underarm if I wanted to. I don't do this, but he's posing for it.
"You know, I think you are both stinky. Get a clean towel and put your clothes in the hamper." They race off excited.
I have to add cold water to the tub for them and with that my soothing bubble bath becomes a giggly mermaid girl and submarine boy session of splashing, floating, bubble-blowing, dunking singing bath time. We had a serious discusion of Princess Ariel's lineage and why you never see her mommy. N suggested that she was dead and went off on a tangent about not wanting me to die. (gah - where does he get this from?) I redirected and we talked about all the things she might be doing that you couldn't see. As a group we decided that her mommy must be helping all the owie sea creatures and that the Sea King daddy was a good daddy when she wasn't around. And E sang (over and over), "La la la la, under the sea..", but that was the only line she knew, so we kept making up our own words to it. Fortunately, my tub is extra wide, so the "kicking mommy" bit wasn't too bad. And they smelled great when I put them to bed.
Overall it was pretty awesome and lest I think that my soothing bath was cut short, I have a really hard time sitting still without thinking of all the things I could be doing instead of sitting still. Usually at the 5 minute mark of active bath relaxation I have to deliberately "stretch" out the bath just to prove to myself that I can sit still and make myself relax for more than 5 minutes in a stretch. So the kids popped in at a good time.
Afterwards we played 'Kids Catan'. And at bedtime Evie got a pop quiz: Why does Wonderwoman wear earrings?
A: to hear what Superman is saying.
Good girl!!!
A&S recap:
It was okay. The site was a million times better than Gilroy and Napa. It was also cooler. Only downers were the goose droppings and the fact that stuff is carted in. The ants sucked, too. I hate ants. But the site-autocratting rocked. There was tp in the bathroom at 7:30 am on Sunday. woot woot
I have plans to down-size the crap I carry in when I solo events which will make that particular site easier.
Classes:
Bah. No classes I wanted to take. Distinct lack of "master" or advanced classes.
Teaching:
My co-teacher was violently ill on Friday and I begged her to NOT come. No more sickness, tyvm. So I did my bit. It was quick. I kind of felt lame since there was no "hands on". But I gave them a "go blah" on the context of white work in period, had pictures/handouts, and brought several books on white work plus some other books including Schutte/Christensen and some german stuff and some opus stuff and .... Two large tote bags of books. It is my perception that most embroidery folks focus really hard on hand skills, but scholarship of context is missing. My analogy was: what if you saw someone wearing their bra on the outside of their shirt? Turning that analogy to embroidery, just because you want to slap embroidery on everything that moves doesn't mean that it was done on those items in period. Don't wear your bra on the outside. (they laughed.) I was VERY surprised to hear through the grape vine that at least one person thought it was a good class.
go figure. Just when you think the audience will throw tomatoes, one of them liked it.
I got to see D_Salie take an apprentice. Rock-on!
I got to camp with some of my favorite people. I got to hang w/ Gaybrial and meet a few members of his family. I flitted like a butterfly who was dragging around a beading project.. which isn't very flitty. I had some lovely chat w/ Gianetta and Isela. So making time to hang with friends, which I hardly ever do, was something I did all weekend. wootie woot!
Par-Tay like the gods!!!
Fun fun fun. We got into the theme in camp. The camp denizens dressed in chitons and togas, etc. We had the wading pool in a bower decorated with garland, cushions, low tables, rugs, etc. I think the best part of the event was talking to all the people I hardly ever make the time to talk to and lounging in the bower (while madly beading my par-tay dress).
Night Bocci Rocks!!! Much envy for the night bocci set. Coming soon to a camp-kit near me.
Par-Tay Dress was "good enough to be worn" Saturday night. Woot Woot. Tintoretto's blue-garbed Judith in "Judith and Holofernes" was my inspiration. And I'm a super-geek as I was beading the 2nd sleeve and doing finishing bits; people were asking what I was making, so I'd pull out the pictures. Juana suggested putting marachino cherries on the head piece, but I think I may go look for blinky lights... although... now that the event is over and I've got time to tweak things, I may make a more serious head piece.... we'll see.
We got some pictures. Conal kindly posed so I could pretend to cut off his head, but he doesn't have enough hair... maybe I can find another volunteer at 12th night who has a pony tail. There need to be some tweaks, but I think this will be my official "hotel party dress" for 12th night... when the event is officially over, schuck my 12th night duds, put on my par-tay hopping dress. We'll see. But I definitely plan on wearing it again. It was a blast to make.
I hung out longer than I expected on Sunday. It looks like I have a hard time tearing myself away when the family is not impatiently tapping their toes and waiting for me. And camp broke down relatively quickly. Anyway, more socializing with more folks.
Super Husband
I got home and da cutey patootie spouse was mowing. I was impressed... it was fairly hot out and I know he hates the heat. I donned my Super-Wife cape, kissed him, told him mowing the lawn was sexy, and then got him a big 32 oz water bottle, but filled it with Diet Coke and Ice. His look of relief and appreciation was great. I loves him.
His back-up band was also hard at work. The kids were carrying clumps of weeds to the yard bin by using the lid of the bin as a catch. They were balancing and carrying it together and doing great team work. I could hear the spouse encouraging them and complimenting them as I unloaded the car. For their part, they were clearly thrilled to be helping out. In fact, several neighbors paused as they were walking by to watch the kids do their thing because it was so cute and so mature at the same time. N had his own yard gloves on and clearly felt very important to be trusted with such big-boy jobs like holding the gate and supervising himself and E. E was upset that she didn't have any gloves, but wasn't going to be left behind. Somehow I was supposed to "make yard gloves" happen for her on the spot; as soon as I arrived, N ran up and hugged/kissed me whereas E strolled up and started to explain to me that she needed gloves and wanted to know what I was going to do about it. Such is the "wah" of the mommy that pulling kid-sized work gloves out of thin air should be easy peasy. It's not, but I told her I'd keep my eyes open for kid-sized gloves. She informed me she prefers pink, so I will, of course, look for pink if that's an option.
I totally cracked up when she wasn't looking.
Da spouse rocks, even more, though. The house was clean and it was a complete disaster zone when I left on Friday. I later found the kids clean laundry stashed in their room and it wasn't folded and put away ... snicker... but that just means he did "man cleaning" and (IMO) gets kudos for doing it. It doesn't always have to be done my way.. I repeat that to myself a lot and it relieves a lot of stress to let go of complete control. So, even if he didn't do it my way, the house was picked up, the kitchen was recovered from a week of cooking and dishes, the toys were put away, ... it was wonderful. So I spun in a tight circle on my Super-Wife toes to flare out my Super-Wife cape and then raced outside and gave the Super-husband another kiss and told him that men who clean houses are sexy.
COSTUME GEEKING... YAY...
I got to (finally) geek with Genevieve Sunday after I packed. That was fricking awesome.
Susan G Komen... even more people are interested in participating. YAY.
I did go for a run first thing in the morning at the site. The trails seem extensive, but I managed to miss the fork in the road and only did a mile or so. Ah, well. It was neat even for that. I saw several deer, a vulture, a young bunny rabbit and a ground squirrel. And I broke a sweat. It all good.
My happy sparks from last weekend.
Friday Shopping for my sewing machine:
I love my sewing machine. It's a Bernette 320 that I purchased on Lay-Away back in 1990. Bernette is a low-end Bernina made in Taiwan. In the last 2 years I have managed to lose most of the attachable feet for my sewing machine. This has been vexing. I've been using the wrong foot and "making do" for a while.
However, (drum roll) I found an online supplier that sells attachment feet for Bernettes AND all models of Bernette are configured the same. Wheee! So I ordered a replacement zipper foot, zig-zag foot and then ordered a "velvet foot" (no idea what it does), a few cording feet, and something else. Yayayaya! I can't wait.
Memorable Lines from the family Sunday afternoon:
Those are not toys, those are finely crafted collectibles.
(Daddy, in response to N's questions and finger pointing at ... umm... action figures that are NOT toys... snicker...)
Nicholas loves me because he's letting me wear his shoes.
(E, while doing yard work after I got home on Sunday. when I got home she was in her brother's flip-flops. then she switched to his sandals. hahaha!)
My daughter was so cute, she insisted on arranging her hair so that it was pulled through her ball cap. .. declining my help the entire time. She was so intent and with her little face all scrunched up.
Submerged... a bath tub experience
I love to take a bubble bath after an event. I got home, got unpacked, and the pizza gods arrived. Family and brothers were ensconced in family room with pizza and "Iron Man" (animated movie), so I swiped a piece of pizza, a diet coke and a clean towel, retreating to my bathroom. Ahhh Sweet Bliss... hot water, bubbles, good smells, pizza and diet coke... I always shower first because I think it's gross to soaking in your own filth. I also got a facial done in the shower, but I left the conditioner in my hair. So, hair tied up, pizza and diet coke arranged near by, I slide into the nice hot bath. Bath salts, sea salt bath scrub, hot water, solitude... mmm, soapy bubbly goodness... it lasted for 5 minutes. Just as I was about to reach for my pizza from my ocean of bubbles, Nicholas strolls in with his erector set in one hand. (it's a toy - looks like a small brief case, but it pops up into a diarama of stuff and moving parts.)
"Mommy, daddy said you weren't doing anything and I want to play "Sorry" on the little peg set and that's daddy's and he said it was okay so can you come play a game with me. ... Um... is that water warm?" He pauses his request as he contemplates the bath tub.
Evie comes racing in to yammer about something, freezes when she sees me in the tub, then walks up to the tub and asks, "Mommy, is that a bubble bath? can I get in with you?"
To which Nicholas promptly asks, "Am I stinky?" He lifts his arm so I could sniff his underarm if I wanted to. I don't do this, but he's posing for it.
"You know, I think you are both stinky. Get a clean towel and put your clothes in the hamper." They race off excited.
I have to add cold water to the tub for them and with that my soothing bubble bath becomes a giggly mermaid girl and submarine boy session of splashing, floating, bubble-blowing, dunking singing bath time. We had a serious discusion of Princess Ariel's lineage and why you never see her mommy. N suggested that she was dead and went off on a tangent about not wanting me to die. (gah - where does he get this from?) I redirected and we talked about all the things she might be doing that you couldn't see. As a group we decided that her mommy must be helping all the owie sea creatures and that the Sea King daddy was a good daddy when she wasn't around. And E sang (over and over), "La la la la, under the sea..", but that was the only line she knew, so we kept making up our own words to it. Fortunately, my tub is extra wide, so the "kicking mommy" bit wasn't too bad. And they smelled great when I put them to bed.
Overall it was pretty awesome and lest I think that my soothing bath was cut short, I have a really hard time sitting still without thinking of all the things I could be doing instead of sitting still. Usually at the 5 minute mark of active bath relaxation I have to deliberately "stretch" out the bath just to prove to myself that I can sit still and make myself relax for more than 5 minutes in a stretch. So the kids popped in at a good time.
Afterwards we played 'Kids Catan'. And at bedtime Evie got a pop quiz: Why does Wonderwoman wear earrings?
A: to hear what Superman is saying.
Good girl!!!
A&S recap:
It was okay. The site was a million times better than Gilroy and Napa. It was also cooler. Only downers were the goose droppings and the fact that stuff is carted in. The ants sucked, too. I hate ants. But the site-autocratting rocked. There was tp in the bathroom at 7:30 am on Sunday. woot woot
I have plans to down-size the crap I carry in when I solo events which will make that particular site easier.
Classes:
Bah. No classes I wanted to take. Distinct lack of "master" or advanced classes.
Teaching:
My co-teacher was violently ill on Friday and I begged her to NOT come. No more sickness, tyvm. So I did my bit. It was quick. I kind of felt lame since there was no "hands on". But I gave them a "go blah" on the context of white work in period, had pictures/handouts, and brought several books on white work plus some other books including Schutte/Christensen and some german stuff and some opus stuff and .... Two large tote bags of books. It is my perception that most embroidery folks focus really hard on hand skills, but scholarship of context is missing. My analogy was: what if you saw someone wearing their bra on the outside of their shirt? Turning that analogy to embroidery, just because you want to slap embroidery on everything that moves doesn't mean that it was done on those items in period. Don't wear your bra on the outside. (they laughed.) I was VERY surprised to hear through the grape vine that at least one person thought it was a good class.
go figure. Just when you think the audience will throw tomatoes, one of them liked it.
I got to see D_Salie take an apprentice. Rock-on!
I got to camp with some of my favorite people. I got to hang w/ Gaybrial and meet a few members of his family. I flitted like a butterfly who was dragging around a beading project.. which isn't very flitty. I had some lovely chat w/ Gianetta and Isela. So making time to hang with friends, which I hardly ever do, was something I did all weekend. wootie woot!
Par-Tay like the gods!!!
Fun fun fun. We got into the theme in camp. The camp denizens dressed in chitons and togas, etc. We had the wading pool in a bower decorated with garland, cushions, low tables, rugs, etc. I think the best part of the event was talking to all the people I hardly ever make the time to talk to and lounging in the bower (while madly beading my par-tay dress).
Night Bocci Rocks!!! Much envy for the night bocci set. Coming soon to a camp-kit near me.
Par-Tay Dress was "good enough to be worn" Saturday night. Woot Woot. Tintoretto's blue-garbed Judith in "Judith and Holofernes" was my inspiration. And I'm a super-geek as I was beading the 2nd sleeve and doing finishing bits; people were asking what I was making, so I'd pull out the pictures. Juana suggested putting marachino cherries on the head piece, but I think I may go look for blinky lights... although... now that the event is over and I've got time to tweak things, I may make a more serious head piece.... we'll see.
We got some pictures. Conal kindly posed so I could pretend to cut off his head, but he doesn't have enough hair... maybe I can find another volunteer at 12th night who has a pony tail. There need to be some tweaks, but I think this will be my official "hotel party dress" for 12th night... when the event is officially over, schuck my 12th night duds, put on my par-tay hopping dress. We'll see. But I definitely plan on wearing it again. It was a blast to make.
I hung out longer than I expected on Sunday. It looks like I have a hard time tearing myself away when the family is not impatiently tapping their toes and waiting for me. And camp broke down relatively quickly. Anyway, more socializing with more folks.
Super Husband
I got home and da cutey patootie spouse was mowing. I was impressed... it was fairly hot out and I know he hates the heat. I donned my Super-Wife cape, kissed him, told him mowing the lawn was sexy, and then got him a big 32 oz water bottle, but filled it with Diet Coke and Ice. His look of relief and appreciation was great. I loves him.
His back-up band was also hard at work. The kids were carrying clumps of weeds to the yard bin by using the lid of the bin as a catch. They were balancing and carrying it together and doing great team work. I could hear the spouse encouraging them and complimenting them as I unloaded the car. For their part, they were clearly thrilled to be helping out. In fact, several neighbors paused as they were walking by to watch the kids do their thing because it was so cute and so mature at the same time. N had his own yard gloves on and clearly felt very important to be trusted with such big-boy jobs like holding the gate and supervising himself and E. E was upset that she didn't have any gloves, but wasn't going to be left behind. Somehow I was supposed to "make yard gloves" happen for her on the spot; as soon as I arrived, N ran up and hugged/kissed me whereas E strolled up and started to explain to me that she needed gloves and wanted to know what I was going to do about it. Such is the "wah" of the mommy that pulling kid-sized work gloves out of thin air should be easy peasy. It's not, but I told her I'd keep my eyes open for kid-sized gloves. She informed me she prefers pink, so I will, of course, look for pink if that's an option.
I totally cracked up when she wasn't looking.
Da spouse rocks, even more, though. The house was clean and it was a complete disaster zone when I left on Friday. I later found the kids clean laundry stashed in their room and it wasn't folded and put away ... snicker... but that just means he did "man cleaning" and (IMO) gets kudos for doing it. It doesn't always have to be done my way.. I repeat that to myself a lot and it relieves a lot of stress to let go of complete control. So, even if he didn't do it my way, the house was picked up, the kitchen was recovered from a week of cooking and dishes, the toys were put away, ... it was wonderful. So I spun in a tight circle on my Super-Wife toes to flare out my Super-Wife cape and then raced outside and gave the Super-husband another kiss and told him that men who clean houses are sexy.
COSTUME GEEKING... YAY...
I got to (finally) geek with Genevieve Sunday after I packed. That was fricking awesome.
Susan G Komen... even more people are interested in participating. YAY.
I did go for a run first thing in the morning at the site. The trails seem extensive, but I managed to miss the fork in the road and only did a mile or so. Ah, well. It was neat even for that. I saw several deer, a vulture, a young bunny rabbit and a ground squirrel. And I broke a sweat. It all good.
