outings

The other day I hit my local thrift store in search of comfy threads. I do not want to be a sweatpants-and-tshirt kind of mama. Or even a jeans-all-the-time kind of mama. I want to be able to put something on that expresses my personality, who cares if I'm just going to Target. This means that the things I'm looking for must be durable, washable (hel-lo messy eater in my face all the time), appropriate to wear to playdates, and above all: comfortable enough to wear while rolling around on the floor.

Whilst checking out, the girl behind the counter asked if I am told frequently that I bear a strong resemblance to Maggie Gyllenhaal, to which I replied, "Yeah. All the time." It's the truth. Especially when my hair is cut into this asymmetrical bob and has any sort of curl in it whatsoever. I may or may have not used that mistaken identity to my advantage a night or two back in Austin.

Anyway, she went on to sigh, "Wow it must be such a burden to have such a strong resemblance to a celebrity." 

Someone has to bear it.

Oh and yes I found some sweet threads there. Post coming soon on that one.

I recently was diagnosed with a small tear in my right medial meniscus which according to the orthopedist means I need surgery (not going to happen buddy) either now or later when it gets worse and according to my chiropractor and massage therapist means that I have to reduce the frequency and intensity of my workouts to 50%, do some daily icing and heating, take glucosamine/chondritin supplements, lose weight (20 pounds 'til I'm at my goal), and not play team sports like soccer or basketball (um, check.)

I went about a week and a half before going completely crazy. First off, winter has shown up in spades here in the metroplex and second, I am a WUSS in the cold. I absolutely HATE being cold and not being able to warm up and because I live in Texas have a skewed view of how to dress appropriately (what do you MEAN I have to wear SOCKS?). I think A being born last year about this time and my demands request to keep the house around 75 totally screwed me up. I remember thinking, "Why is everyone wearing coats when they come to see me? It's warm in here," not remembering that it was icy out.

Also traumatizing was being the first leg of the White Rock Marathon Relay team last Sunday, where it was not only cold but rained on me for five miles. I called the hubs on the way home, teeth literally chattering, and asked him to p-p-p-lee-e-e-a-s-e m-m-m-ake m-me a f-f-f-f-f-fire and some t-t-t-t-tea.

Yesterday I had a straight up case of cabin fever. I was dejected. Useless. Depressed. Not only do I crave sunlight to function, I need that extra serotonin boost so my brain doesn't spiral out of control. I also desperately need to keep a regular schedule for myself or else I get exactly nothing done and have no motivation to do anything.

Today, I did me some modified stroller strides and WOW my brain is buzzing. It always amazes me how wonderful working out makes me feel and how lost I would be without it.

Speaking of feeling wonderful, have you started thinking about your New Year's Resolutions? I tend to be really theoretical on this thing and have realized that by the end of the year I have not in any way stuck to my goals. So this time, I'm reaching deep into my scientific(ish) brain and coming up with measurable goals.

1. Post once a week on my music therapy blog and on this blog
2. Sew through the One Yard Wonders book I just got for Christmas
3. Run a successful (read: profitable) Etsy shop
4. Cook my way through the Lee Brother's Simple Fresh Southern
5. Use raw veganism to get myself to my goal weight
6. Run a half-marathon
7. Publish my thesis in a music therapy journal
8. Beef up my thesis and publish it as a book
9. Go to yoga at least once a week
10. Only watch 1 hour of television a day. Weekends included.
11. Find a church and attend regularly
12. Buy no clothes new for myself or my family (notice that I didn't say "no new clothes.")

That sounds about right. 12 goals for 2012. What are your 12?

Anthro Inspired Cork Ball

Around May-ish I went to Anthropologie and saw some wonderful decorations. Pretty much everything they do is crazy inspiring and I love to go in that store to not only get inspired by what is in the store but also how it is decorated. 

Anyway, I saw these cork balls:

...and needed some for my own. So here you go, a magnificiently mellifluous tutorial!

you'll need:

Seriously - however much cork and glue you think you'll need, you'll need more. Enlist your closest winos friends and family to donate corks to you. You'll also need some Elmer's glue, burlap, and some Spanish moss - all these things are available at your nearest craft store.

I have a small hot glue gun and use 3-5 pumps of glue for each cork. 

I recommend adding the moss outside, as it can get drippy and messy. Just poke the moss down in between the cork with your fingers, or use a pencil/crochet hook/chop stick

.

 You can also paint or glitter the end of your corks for some added zing and then use them year-round for decorations that change with the seasons...add some sparkley stars, snowmen, or tiny reindeer for Christmas...the possibilities are endless! Let me know if you have any questions :)

Making it Work

I had the bright idea to make a bedspread for my guest room that would bring some color into the place and be all whimsical and fun and transcend seasons. I fell in love with 8 fabrics at CityCraft that I got just a bit of, thinking I could get more later. And that's what I tried to do, except like, 6 months later. So of course the same fabrics were not there.

Sigh.

I like to think that what I lack in forethought I make up for in creativity (perhaps directly related to that lack of forethought thing). I may be fashionably late to the style party but I am OBSESSED with chevrons at the moment. That's my inspiration for the rest of the quilt. This morning, Kyle said to me, "Are you going to make the horizontal stripes the middle instead of the side now?" My man is a genius. Here's the work in progress:

Vampirosity

I read this article a couple days ago and even though it's written from the dad's point of view, I found a lot of it hitting home for me. This week has been very tough in the whole did-I-do-the-right-thing realm. It all started with a photo posted on facebook, which made me miss my old workplace, which then made me miss everyone who works there, and the kids I worked with, and blam. Death spiral of regret.

And then I read the whole thing about how the author likens becoming a parent to becoming a vampire, and seriously, it's true. This is going to sound so absolutely lameballs but I feel like before Adeline I was watching life go by like in the beginning of The Wizard of Oz when everything's in black and white and then she shows up and lights everything up with color and sparkles and dancing munchkins. I hate to even say things like that at the risk of being one of those moms, the ones who think that people just don't get it unless they are parents. I mean, I got life, I loved life, just having Addy has made everything, myself included, more awesome. 

And yes, the transition has been a sad, painful one. I cried today just talking about it with a friend who wanted to know how I balance being a mom and still being me, something that I deliberately work on pretty much every single day. Before I became a mom I was terrified that I would completely lose myself in a tornado of diapers, bottles, and conversations about butt cream. I cried often about wanting my old life back (and sometimes about wanting my body back), feeling like I was suddenly used up and done with my wanderlust.

In a weird twist it's taken exactly that: me losing myself in the wonder I see in my daughter's eyes, losing myself in the joy she has at discovering new things, losing myself in the new way I have to look at my own frustration, anger, and regrets so that I can be fully present for my child and be what I think is a good parent. I will never be content to be average, to spend nights in front of the TV watching other people live their lives, to let life pass me by. 

I know that so many women in my generation were raised by driven, passionate, loving women who told us we could do anything we wanted to! Reach for the stars! Don't let anything stand in your way! So that's what I did - I traveled, I loved, I did a whole bunch of crazy stuff and I honestly looked down on the concept of being a stay at home mom. I never wanted to go to college to find a husband, didn't want to get married right out of college, and certainly never entertained the idea of being a sahm in suburban Dallas. We were told we can do both (and gosh darn that SJP - she just made a movie about it, which I heard is terrible) and after being in the 40 hour work week for a few months as a new mom, I know that no matter how passionate I was about my job, I just couldn't do it and I have mad respect for those who do. 

 

What they don't tell you is that there's a catch to having it all. Either way you have to sacrifice something. When I was working I was sacrificing successful breastfeeding, being there to see my daughter crawl for the first time, and my relationship with my husband because we were just too exhausted to speak by the end of each day. At home I feel like I'm sacrificing keeping my mind and my practice sharp, relationships I had built with patients and staff and friends, and the overall sublime joy I had at walking into a patient room not knowing what was about to happen exactly but knowing it was going to be awesome.

I am humbled and thankful that I have the choice to be home, because I know that God willing later on I will have the choice to go back. I'm not entirely out of the MT world - this weekend I'm giving three presentations and hopefully getting the word out about music therapy in a way that will get some people some jobs.

So yeah. Now I finally feel like I have superpowers and a taste for blood. She has been worth all this...all this chaos and growing and pain and joy. All of it.

End of October Garden Update

Here's an update on my awesome garden - seriously, I can't believe how everything's sprouting!

 I didn't take a picture of this whole plant but it is HUGE. I think it's small pickling cucumbers - can't wait to get these things all canned up and delicious :)

We are rolling in bell peppers - ever since the weather changed the peppers have been going absolutely nuts.

This is the crazy mix of greens I threw down in the garden, which sprouted like three days later. I have no idea what they're going to turn into but it's kinda awesome that way!

Winter Wonderland

I spent a good 4-5 hours in the yard yesterday. K was working on work stuff, so I...

planted and mooned over my new passiflora...

Seriously y'all - I am SUPER EXCITED about this thing. I've been looking for several years now and hope I planted it in the right spot. Check out the flowers! They look like space aliens! If I were a flower, I would totally be this one.

planted a tree (crepe myrtle)...

I went to the Garden Coach at North Haven Gardens and she was absolutely incredible. I highly recommend her. She looked at our yard and suggested things we had never even thought about, including planting trees along the back fence to obscure the view of our back neighbors (that's their kitchen window looking over our back yard). The way yard work at our house usually goes is I get the creative inspiration and Kyle does the heavy lifting. Not this time - I went to Home Depot, bought the trees, rented a truck to bring them home, dug the hole, and planted that sucker. SO SATISFYING.

and yes, my back muscles are insanely tight today.

worked in the shade bed...

Despite the most hellacious summer on record and some of our shade plants getting scorched by JUST THE AIR TEMPERATURE, we're no longer calling this our plant cemetery.

and planted my winter garden...

Which means that I've got a bunch of Bright Lights chard, parsley, cilantro seeds, some Rober's Rose Lemon gardenia to ward off the pests, chamomile, thyme, and a crazy mess of seeds that I tossed down (in the middle, above "wonder" in the above photo) including spinach, kale, and lettuces. 

In front yard news, guess who's got four green thumbs and Yard of the Month? :)

style? part 2 - update

Kay so here's the shirt I was thinking about returning:

Who puts a seam down the front?! I may not know a lot about designers, but I know this is an aesthetic puke-fest. So, in the interest of saving myself a trip, I'll turn it around:

Oh and I also did something a little drastic.

style?

I wrote awhile back that I'm feeling a shift in style - I've always admired people who are so expressive with their wardrobe! I...never really have been. I feel like I've been repressed in some ways, trying to fit in to some kind of mold. I remember in school being obsessed with the "preppy" crowd, always feeling a step behind fashionably. True, there were the pink leather shoes in 3rd grade and the brown choker in high school science that got laughed at by the "in" crowd (and yes I absolutely remember the names of those girls). My Sundays were often spent drug to flea markets and resale shops. I really, really didn't like going at first and then as the years went by I realized I could find pretty dresses at Marshall's (back when it was awesome) that other girls weren't wearing, and that just the right mindset and couple hours of digging could  produce some awesome finds.

So, naturally, I'm kind of obsessed with Buffalo Exchange. Unfortunately, I have NO CLUE about brands or couture or whatever other than what I get from Project Runway. (example A: Someone said something about "DVF" on the show and I had to google it.) My theory in choosing clothes is that I don't care what brand it is, if it looks terrible on you, and you really don't love it, it's not worth it. So yesterday I took a little momma break and dug for about an hour and a half and came up with three things: a pair of jeans, a blouse, and a tee-shirt. 

Part of this style revival is due to the fact that with the raw veganism has come some weight-loss...enough that I'm having a hard time stretching my wardrobe into wearable stuff that still looks good without wearing the same thing every day. 

So the jeans. I've decided it's high time to get grownup jeans. I'm pretty curvy, and found early on that the only thing I look decent in is American Eagle jeans, which I've worn religiously pretty much since high school, with the occassional pair of dark wash Gap wide legs...which...had to be bequeathed to my mom because they no longer fit. It's an awesome problem to have. Anyhoo, I found a pair that I could live with for like $28.50 that I had to Google in the dressing room to figure out if they were worth it because everything else on the rack was like, $12. Come to find out new ones can go for like $180 AND come with a princess bonus because apparently it's the same brand Kate Middleton wears. SCORE! 

The tops are kinda funky, and one I can't really decide if I'm going to keep...I hate when I come home and something doesn't look as good as it did in the dressing room - it's usually the other way around. And then there was a $6 shirt that had some sweet toucans on it. I couldn't resist. Sidenote: there was totally a DVF shirt at the store that I tried on just for grins. It looked gross on me. Oh well.

The OTHER thing I'm incapable of resisting is tights. While I was pregnant I came to love tights, as my expanding belly meant shorter and shorter skirt lengths. I have become a little obsessed but have been able to restrain myself. Again, I have to LOVE it (or it has to be ridiculously on sale) if I'm going to think about buying it. Except for the one time I found a $10 sweater at Anthro that I wasn't sure about its place in my wardrobe. Best $10 I ever spent in that store. So anyway, Target is so far the easiest place to find tights - they have a pretty array of designs and colors and hey, you're going to Target anyway, may as well pick up some leg bling. You should go right now - they've got a great selection. I bought these swirly pretty ones that now I just have to find the right dress for. And the right shoes. Any tips on wearing tights with shoes other than boots? I can't seem to find the right combination that doesn't look goofy.

shhh....

house is quiet, baby is sleeping, and I've given myself 6 more minutes to screw around online before getting down to the business of writing, then some crafting. We should skip afternoon naps more often!

(here's to hoping she doesn't wake up at 4am...fat chance...but the solitude is kind of a glorious trade...)

music for healing

I have the opportunity to present on therapeutic drumming coming up here in a couple months. While meeting with the coordinator, we had to hash out some details of a flyer that is going to go out to garner interest that had the words "the healing power of (music)" on it. Phrases like this give me hives because I think people will automatically think that if they have some sort of illness, physical or mental, that they'll be miraculously healed by music. 

While I do believe in the whole - "music of the spheres" - everything is vibration - everything is rhythm - thing, music unfortunately cannot outright heal someone of their illness. However, it can be ridiculously healing.

A few months ago NPR posted on facebook the simple question, "What music makes you cry?" It made me think of something in music psychology we call extra-musical associations, which usually have to do with choosing appropriate musical selections during a relaxation. Extra-musical associations are narratives that either we or the composer put on a certain song or piece of music. In the case of classical music you've got La cathedrale engloutie (the underwater cathedral) by Claude Debussy which, totally sounds like its title:

and then in popular music, you've got Adele, who I'm pretty sure was stalking me in high school and college and writing songs about my relationships:

Our extra-musical perceptions are very personal and very meaningful. There isn't a single time I can listen to certain Coldplay songs without thinking of the South of France, or driving outside of Fort Worth, or whatever.

But further than that, what are the songs that bring you to tears? Every once in awhile, this song gets me because it reminds me of my grandfather who died, a boyfriend who left me, and a friend who basically disappeared without explanation:

I heard from someone that there was a study done on the chemical compound of tears from three people: one who was cutting onions, one who was physically in pain, and one who was grieving. Turns out the one who was grieving had lots of serotonin in their tears, which means that the tears were actually physically healing. Crazy, huh?

What's on your tearjerker playlist and why?

getting it together

I've had this ongoing epiphany the last week and a half or so. I am making a conscious effort to have more of a routine and schedule and if you know me you know that this is SO RIDICULOUSLY DIFFICULT for me. I had to actually physically make an excel spreadsheet that has things like:

wake up

thyroid meds

run

smoothie

feed dog

lunch

laundry

sweep

clean bathroom

etc.

:to help me get through my day. Otherwise, it's not too long before I turn into a cranky mess because I feel like I can't get anything done. Last week was pretty good - I mostly got some stuff done and then had to spend part of the weekend catching up on laundry and cleaning (which I hate). This week is seeming to be a little more focused and organized, and I'm learning that if I actually schedule myself time to do things like organize Addy's room, including making time where I have no other responsibility than making sure her room is put together, not only does it feel AMAZING but I also have time to do things like work on my back porch, spray paint some lanterns, that sort of thing.

What's even more awesome is that even with last week being just a TOUCH more organized and the institution of a nightly routine: 

Kyle comes home

dinner

bath

sleep

:Addy, after several months of at least two night wakings, has been sleeping through the night like a champ more nights than not. AND been napping more consistently. Weird. 

What's even more weird is how much I like this. It gives me hope because when Kyle says things like, "You really think you have time for vegetable beds in the front yard?" I can confidently say "YES!" 

(even though I mean, 'okay I know I still have a long way to go but eventually, yes')

9ish months does not = over it.

'kay so I've been quiet on the whole personal, emotional front, mostly because I've been going through a lot and I haven't had the time or the brainpower to get it all down the way I wanted to. To catch us all up, here's where we're at: I've got some lingerling postpartum depression/anxiety issues, perhaps dealing with some PTSD. I'm taking an anti-depressant for all those things, trying to find holistic ways to do it so I don't always have to be on the drug. I've always been down on anti-depressants, but it's kind of a necessary thing at this time, and I don't want to go back to the nightmares and the anxiety attacks. A bonus is that my thyroid is kind of jacked up, which just makes all of the above a fun carnival ride of awesomeness.

I don't mean to paint a bleak picture - the day-to-day is really kind of awesome a lot of the time, and I'm enjoying being home with A. Just sometimes there are days like today where I read a story about another mom's horrendous C-section experience and I end up a little shaky and a whole lot weepy. Thankfully I have people to call when that happens and then I jump headfirst into my journal, and try to make some time to paint.

But gosh, it's hard sometimes. I want to be so awesome at everything and right now I feel like I am just scraping by.

This all feels a whole lot like when my life was almost literally falling down around me in my early teenage years. This time I've decided to look at the dark places a little bit differently - instead of trying to swallow everything and pretend like it's fine, just fine, thanks - and use them to fuel my creativity. Grief is a powerful force and already it's drawn me back to who I am and who I want to be creatively.

Even that is a double-edged sword - I still have to write down lists of things that I need to get done each day to feel accomplished and not have a whole day go by before I realize what time it is. 

The taking care of and loving on the cutest baby in all the land is the easy part. I say easy because it's not like there's a choice involved there - she will grow up happy, healthy, and probably more than a little sarcastic. Parenting is no joke - it's exhausting, it's frustrating, and it stretches me and makes me grow so much it hurts on a daily basis. And I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here. 

Well okay, probably I'd go for a beach right about now, but you know what I mean.

I'm going to have to find a name more appetizing than "The Purple Poopinator"

But first, an update on m'beans. Sadly, I was a bad steward of my black beans.

A few days ago, Tuesday maybe, I was all excited because I had soaked my beans and was going to cook them on the stove on low for a couple hours and then my daughter had to wake up from her nap prematurely and be all snuggly, so we ended up snoozing together in bed, and I just about burned the house down. 

So, I soaked more beans and cooked them in the crock pot and then after I turned them off got so sidetracked by groceries and dinner that I FORGOT to do anything with them. Ugh. I suck.

In other news, I'm down 12 pounds on the raw vegan goodness and feeling GREAT! I'm going to cite this new way of eating and Stroller Strides for all this. Yow I feel good. A friend asked for a sample menu - the girl I'm working with does individualized plans based on people's social and medical history so really everyone gets a different diet when working with her but here are some of my favorites (taken from different days)

breakfast: fruit smoothie (my fave is strawberry banana)

snack: watermelon

lunch: some kind of ridiculously awesome salad (usually spinach, red peppers, cucumber, sprouts, etc) and an equally amazing dressing

snack: raspberry, blackberry, goji berries and almond milk, eaten like cereal

dinner: stuffed red peppers using cauliflower as "rice" with garlic, green onions, and tamari

snack: mango and blackberries with some macerated blackberries drizzled over it

In the veggie vein, we've been cutting WAY back on meat in the house, and Kyle's been a rock star at coming up with new delicious recipes. The other day he made this awesome beet curry which you should definitely try. JUST BE WARNED that if you eat a lot of it, the next morning you will freak out and think you're hemmhoraging but not to worry, it's just the beets. And I can't believe I'm saying this but pooping purple for part of a day is totes worth it because the recipe is AMAZING.

So Mellifluous

I was thinking about starting a Tumblr account, when I discovered that somellifluous was already taken. And then I found this site, which is kinda awesome in its own little way.

more on the beans

okay - I went a little nutty at the store today and went around checking out the price per pound of beans. A couple different prepackaged bags in the "Mexican" aisle were 7.4 cents and 12 cents per pound respectively and then I went to Whole Foods bulk section and pretty much every kind of bean there was like, .1 cent per pound. FOR DRY BEANS! Still working through last week's hummus but we're introducing baby A to black beans and avocados this week so it is on like donkey kong with the dry beanage. I don't think I'll ever go back. Who thought that something that requires forethought, planning, and money saving would be my new favorite thing.

DIY hummus - for the sake of your cashola.

My sweet foodie friend just recently wrote about making your own staples that you usually buy at the grocery store, and then my hubs sent me this article, which I thought put a great perspective in how we're spending our money when we buy canned beans. My abuela made all kinds of beans from scratch - I LOVED showing up at her house for the weekend and inevitably she'd have this huge pot of beans brewing on the stove that smelled like heaven. 

So, whilst out shopping this weekend I bought a bag of dried garbanzo beans, which was $4.35. Of course I threw the bag away so I have no idea how much was in it. But I do know this - I am obSESSED with Sabra's roasted garlic hummus, which can be anywhere between $3 and $4 per 10oz.

I soaked the beans overnight and then some, and they soaked up ALL the water in the bowl. I drained them and set them on a low simmer for a couple hours until they were the right kind of tender. I then went to town, adding olive oil, garlic, cumin, paprika, lemon juice, salt, red pepper flakes, and sometimes a few pieces of Hatch chiles (which were a whopping $.39/lb this past week at Whole Foods!) and came up with this:

3 jars, 16 oz of hummus apiece. For a WHOLE lot less than what you pay at the store PLUS you have more control over how much oil & fattiness goes into it AND you can play with different seasonal flavors from your garden! Viva la DIY!

Lady Jane

Once upon a time I lived in Spain and then London for a summer. It was in the English countryside that we came upon this cute little town where I bought a pink shirt with white flowers on it.

Well, I am long-waisted and the shirt was very short-waisted (hence the white tank underneath), and then every time I washed the shirt I had to iron the flowers down. Needless to say it didn't last very long in my wardrobe rotation. I saved the flowers though, for just such an occassion, and every time I see them I am rocketed right back to that English summer and my wonderful housemates Jane & Jim.

This is the first official item that is going up on my Etsy shop! Hooray!

mellifluous. music. monday.

The other thing I've decided to focus on is who I am as a musician. I have guitars, a ukulele, a djembe, a mandolin, a piano, and a clarinet all in my house, along with a bunch of auxiliary percussion instruments. As a music therapist, I'd become kind of Jane-of-all-musics-master-of-few so what I want to dedicate my Monday blog posts to is music. Maybe it's the playing of, the listening to, or the attending of. My undergraduate degree concentrated in ethnomusicology, which is the study of world music, and what it means about me is that I want to know everything about every kind of music I can get my ears on - where it originated and by whom, the cultural significance, and the historical impact of it and how that style impacted the world at the time (and/or continues to). 

If you want to get super geeky, you can check out my bilingual music therapy blog, which will dive deeper in to the cultural and neurolinguistics of music and why music therapy in general is just so very awesome.

But here, on Mondays at least, we're going to just talk about music.

Claire

I have a LOT of leftover Ikea fabric from my guest shower curtain that I made a few years ago. It is a home decor weight fabric that is fun to look at, and I love making bags and wallets from this material. Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of a dear friend who I knew loved my shower curtain so I whipped her up a tote bag. Henceforth, anything with that outer fabric and red lining shall be under the "Claire" line.

I am attempting to make a matching wallet but so far I keep screwing it up...I'll post as soon as I figure that one out.

*update: I gave up on the wallet completely after dozens of ripped seams. Seems the interfacing I bought was too stiff for it and I just could not get it to turn out or top stitch and then my attempts at adding a bias tape around the outside totally was not the way to go. Back to the drawing board!

epic stashbusting

Admitting you have a problem is the first step, right? So here's me admitting to my dirty little crafting secret: I, Christina, am a fabric hoarder. I am obsessed with pretty fabrics and designs and new patterns, but it seems that when I get the fabric home and washed and halfway stitched, another pretty piece of fabric and pattern calls to me softly and I'm off again, pursuing some other sewing endeavor. What's more is that when I do finish a project, I can't bring myself to just discard the leftover strips and such. Oh no. What that leaves me with is what you see above, what happened when I dumped out a huge box of fabric. I got to thinking about what I wanted to do with it.

There are a ton of unfinished projects in here, and since I am no longer working and we're operating under a new budget, I have decided to tear through my stash before I get or start anything new. So, I grabbed a box of freezer bags and a sharpie and started organizing my pile of stuff into projects:

This way, when I get the odd blessed hour or so for nap time, I can pull out a bag, work on a project, and put it back without the eventual destruction of my craft room.

I have a bunch of gift projects that I'm working on, but I also have a whole lot of fabric that isn't purposed for anything in particular. That fabric I stored by color or texture so that when I want to make a blanket or a baby girl dress or wallets or applique some onesies, I know where to reach. 

I have been overwhelmed lately, feeling like all I do is vacuum, change diapers, feed people, and haven't had the time or the energy to be creative, which is a HUGE part of what makes me who I am. In the interest of preserving my sanity and staving off the dark clouds that gather above me when I am sans creativeness, I scheduled some lovely ladies to come clean my house to help me keep on top of the deep cleaning stuff that let's face it, is just not my forte. Because I function largely from the right half of my brain, I am prone to this overwhelmed-ness when there is no order to the chaos, and I HAVE to put structure around myself or else I'll end up a frazzled grumpy pumpkin or as K likes to call me, "a super hot mess."

What this also means is that I'm going to open up an Etsy shop because I get lots of requests from friends who want the stuff that I make. This, too, will help me get through my stash and help me work out some kinks on designs that I have as I figure out what I want to specialize in. I am going to take this stash busting opportunity to build up some inventory.

Stay tuned - this is going to be fun!