new

i am finally using mozilla firefox rather than safari and i was able to upload a picture for my header. after how many months? safari was terribly unfriendly to me and i am so happy to say that we have officially broken up.

i never really intended on my first header to be a photograph of an air raid. how did i go from a sweet picture of anna's little red keds to this? i'm not really sure. i had to think fast and get it done and there it is. and am i at all happy with the placement of that title? no way. of course not. but do i have time to figure out how to change it? it doesn't seem possible to do it with blogger tools. or am i wrong? amy? help? i guess i'll figure this out, too. but i am so happy with firefox because the little icon for adding a link is FINALLY visible and i won't have to type in the code. hurray!

today is warm and sunny and i am so so glad. but anna woke up with a fever and has been in bed most of the day. she did come out to eat a popsicle on the front steps and pick a few dried pod-like things from the enormous butterfly bush which is begging to be pruned. and now she's back asleep.

today is DAY 2 of OPERATION MAKE ELI FALL ASLEEP ON HIS OWN. it's going fairly well. just to know that he can do it gives me hope, even if it does take 10-12 trips into his room to resettle him. and it seems to have caused his naps to stretch out as well as the time in between. we've suddenly gone from 3 naps to 2 and maybe soon i will be putting him down to bed and not waking him for a late feeding. this means that i will maybe be able to get to bed before 11/11:30 for the first time in almost 8 months.

Easter weekend was lovely. we went to the georgia state sacred harp convention. anna had an easter egg hunt in a cemetery and eli crawled in the grass without eating too many sticks and leaves. we saw many people we love. i suppose it is high time to write a bit more about sacred harp but i'll save that for next time.

one week ago today, i spent the last hours i would spend on this earth with my grandmother. i am so grateful that i knew that these might be the final hours. i'm not up for recounting the entire story, but i will say that i am feeling very peaceful about her passing. God's timing was perfect, as always, even if there are a few pieces in the plan that still seem a bit mysterious. i was able to hold her hand and sing to her, pray with her, stroke her hair, kiss her soft cheek, and lay my head on her lap. she remained so still and quiet, but gave me signs to let me know she could hear me when i spoke into her ear. i have to believe that she knew i had come.

i grew up next door to my grandmother and spent many days out of every week with her. in all of my 32 years, i have spent every Christmas and every birthday with her. and so many days in between. we were alike in many ways and she has influenced me greatly. she was my biggest fan.

success (rice)

i decided against the zipper pouch. or it decided gainst me. i haven't sewed in a zipper in about 10 years. the last one went fine but now i'm feeling quite intimidated. the zipper package has directions, the pouch pattern has directions and the manual for my sewing machine has directions. they're all a little different and all for the same task. this i do not like.

so i poked around and found inspiration for making a rice pillow at wise craft. (i'm still learning the etiquette that pertains to the blogging world so i hope this is the correct way to go about giving credit where credit is due.) a little ironing and a wrinkly few yards of material that came from who-knows-where resulted in some fabric that i now want to make everything out of. i'm horrible about liking something so much that i don't want to use it. (or is it that i selfishly don't want to use it for someone else but never make things for myself?) i altered the pattern a little, making the outer cover removeable so that it can be thrown in the wash. i was really pleased with the results of this first attempt at making a rice pillow so i went ahead and cut out pieces for three more: one for anna (who also liked the results so much that she slept with the first one i made and requested one of her own as i tucked her in), one for an out-of-town guest who was coming to stay with me for three nights, and one to have on hand for a last minute gift (!).

one of the best parts of this rice-pillow-making experience was how i was able to work while my children were awake and either involved or otherwise being helpful (well, eli wasn't all that involved or helpful). after the pieces were cut out, i wanted to get right to sewing but it was time to feed eli. i put him in his chair and perhaps my longing gaze at the project, all ready to go, inspired anna to offer to feed her baby brother so that i could get back to work. so for a good 10 minutes, i sewed away while she dished out the sweet potatoes and he smiled from ear to ear at the attention he was getting from his big sister. later, after he was cleaned up and in bed, anna sat at my side, asking questions about how the sewing machine works and working the foot pedal for me. only a few stitches here and there were a little out of control. i love my little helper.

found him

last week, i unveiled a thrift store find that had been packed away in the closet for the past 18 months or so: a simple little raggedy ann get-up with a pinafore-type top and white bloomers. prior to this, anna had never heard of raggedy ann and andy. within minutes, she WAS raggedy ann and wore this costume to prove it for the next 3 days. i pulled out a few old books and over the course of a week or so, we read story by story. i told her about the old raggedy andy doll i used to play with and asked my mom to look for him. she looked but said he wasn't there. so today we went for a visit and i retraced her steps and did my own looking. i was sure i'd seen him in the past 5 years. i went out to The Barn, which isn't really a proper barn, just a building which used to house my grandfather's gem shop but now is the holding area for cast-offs from about 8 various individuals. there are so many treasures out there that often my favorite birthday and christmas presents come from The Barn. i often spend lots of time out there during my visits home, sorting through our old toys, picking out things of mine that are now ready to be passed on, and wondering why in the world my parents have saved So Much Stuff. (and then realizing from where that habit of mine comes.) the thing that gets me is their stuff is orderly. they take care when they save their junk. a beat up old beach raft that is sure to be disentegrating is stored in its original box. a cheap, dirty fish acquarium still has some accessories stored inside and just a little bit of fish food that we didn't use up before Big Eyes jumped out and landed behind the buffet in the dining room. broken space heaters have their cords neatly wound up and old mattresses are stacked according to size. i'm at a point in my life where useless belongings make me feel sorta sick. they overwhelm me. even though all this stuff behind my parents house is miles away from me, i found myself making plans to get out there with boxes and bags this summer and head towards the thrift store. (but why would that be any easier than tackling my own attic?)

but back to the search. i escaped The Barn and went back inside to my old closet and ignored my mom's reminder that she'd already looked there. i was too hasty to drag in a chair so i reached up to the highest shelves, straining every muscle in my neck and shoulders, meanwhile trying to keep a 7 month old occupied at my feet, and i brushed past many a cabbage patch kid until i finally saw him, sitting upright with a big smile on his worn, cotton face. after looking him over, i quickly found a good place for him to hide until anna came home from visiting great-grandmother next door and we played the hot-cold game until she found discovered him. then it was her turn to look him over and compare him to the pictures in the book as i made my own comparisons. i couldn't help but to think of the bit in Johnny Gruelle's description of "How Raggedy Andy Came" where "Daddy" receives a nice, soft lumpy package and opens it to find Raggey Andy "with his soft, loppy legs folded over his soft, loppy arms." And how once he propped Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy up to face eachother, they just sat there and smiled at each other. And "Yes! There was lump in Raggedy Ann's throat, and there was a lump in Raggedy Andy's throat. A cotton lump, to be sure, but a lump nevertheless."

forecast

The weather forecast for Sunday is "Abundant Sunshine." Good golly I need Sunday to come quickly.

renewed love of ebay

It seems like the few times that I've bought anything on ebay in the past year, I've been a little disappointed. There hasn't been anything horribly wrong with the items I've won but it's just that once I receive the item, I think, 'Would I have really bought this if I'd seen it in person?' The color might be a little off, the scent a little smokey. And whatever it was I bought must have been quite unremarkable because I can't even recall what it was. But a day or two ago I received a package. I'd forgotten all about my rather impulsive decision to buy a set of two more Flicka Ricka Dicka books for Anna (have I convinced you yet that my memory is still suffering in these days of a new baby?). I've so enjoyed reading 'Flicka Ricka Dicka Bake a Cake' that I had to have more. I'd been a little skeptical because I got these particular books at a great price, far below what others were selling for. It turned out that they were in very good shape and what's more, the seller decided to throw in an extra book. For free. As a thank-you for my purchase. And look what it was! I love this book and couldn't wait to tell my mom. We have an old, old copy of it at her house that sits on the shelf in a special spot for old classics. I've never been so motivated to leave feedback for a seller on ebay. Thank you, Mr. Ebay Bookseller Man.

snacks for my helper

Good grief. I know I've said it before, but it's amazing how many times I think about posting something, even upload a photo and then wonder later why I never completed it. Then I remember that despite how many times I sit down next to the computer, I'm usually holding a baby at the same time, so my hands aren't free for typing. (Forgive me if I've just typed these same words a few posts ago...I don't want to take the time to look back. I have about 40 minutes until Anna's Pooh CD is over and then her rest time may be over as well. So on to the present...).
What my house needs more than anything is the loving touch of one of those people who love to organize. If I have a system down, then I'm all about organization. And in my heart of hearts, I would be known as someone who is good at it. But I never seem to get started in the right way and so I find that keeping things tidy is very difficult. I just don't have enough little homes for all the toys, papers, and odds and ends that multiply over night. But there may be hope in sight! My three year old seems to have a talent for organization. Not always. But a couple of weeks ago, she decided to rearrange all the bathroom related items that live in a little rolling cart beneath our sink. She sorted all the bottles by size and set them upright, grouped all the hair care products, stacked the soaps, refolded the washcloths, and found a cup to store the combs and brushes. I was very surprised. And pleased. Then a few nights ago she decided to clean out my closet where all my shoes lie in jumbles, mismatched and messy on the floor. She pulled them all out, took out a little rug and shook it out in the laundry room (didn't quite make it to the back door where I usually shake out the rugs), and then set to work pairing all my shoes and putting them neatly back in the closet. When that was done, she didn't want to stop. She tackled a pile of 'semi-dirty but maybe I could wear them one more time' clothes of Daddy's and took them, article by article, in to where he was working and asked if they were clean or dirty. Dirty ones she tossed in the hamper. Clean ones she found hangers for. Since she couldn't reach the bar in the closet, she found somewhere else to hang each shirt, five or six in all. So that evening, there were shirts hanging on every doorknob in the hallway and back bedrooms. I decided to leave them there for the night; it was a sweet reminder of her hard work.

Presently, I'm trying to decide on a gift to make my sister-in-law for her birthday. It needs to be something simple and and fairly quick but I'd like to try something I haven't made before. Maybe it's time to pull out a 7 inch zipper and try a zip pouch. Any other suggestions?