Teacher Gift: Crochet Coffee Cozies

I made two coffee cozies for Jane's teachers at school. Originally I was going to give bigger Target gift cards, but then the room mom asked for donations for a big group gift card, so I put that money toward that and whipped up these to give with smaller CC's Coffee gift cards. I slipped them into cardboard CC's coffee sleeves and added "Thanks a Latte" (I love a good pun, and that's a good one, right?)

The snowflake cozy is the same style as the sister squad hats I just made -- front post double crochet. So it's super thick and plushy. It took me FOREVER to get the snowflake pattern right because I kept screwing up. This was done with a graph I found online for a simple snowflake, so basically a new pattern. Once I got the hang of it and switching colors it went OK. I love the look of it.

The star cozy is a quick pattern from I'm Frayed Not that makes a very stretchy cozy. I added the crab stitch/reverse single crochet in white at the top and bottom to lend a Christmassy look. The star was a One Dog Woof ornament pattern that I did very fast this morning to sew on -- next to the snowflake one a plain red cozy didn't look special enough.

With an empty coffee cup that I used to be sure the sleeves could go on and off easily (imagining the cups full and hot!).

Sister Squad Hats

Crocheted hats using the same pattern as these. Free pattern from My Hobby is Crochet.

Playing "puppies" while wearing their new hats

New mug from Target -- don't need it. Wanted it. Bought it. (Should save it for my stocking...)

Out of Place

We've lost a library book. I am about 75% sure that I returned it to the library, but they can't find it. And I can't find it anywhere in the house. It's a big book, so not one that could slip inside another one (we check out tiny paperbacks sometimes that I fear will get lost that way). This is the third time this has happened, and every other time it's been on the shelf at the library. Not this time (so far). The search continues. It's Jane's card so no late fees, but I could just renew it I guess and do that indefinitely? I don't know. Aggravating. I can always throw money at the problem and just pay for the book. It may come to that. Need to do the sweep a few more times though.

Something even more aggravating is the fact that Jane was left out of a Kindergarten-wide girl party. All the girls in her grade were invited to a cookie swap or cookie decorating party. Two girls were left off, supposedly accidentally, and Jane is one of them. It's apparently a tradition and each grade does a separate girl-boy party around Christmas.

The organizing mom, a woman I've felt the side eye from (and given to), said they sent home invites in their backpacks (nope) -- and suggested Jane threw it away (double nope) and that they emailed everyone, but they may not have had my address since teachers won't give out full class list emails. NOPE, as I've emailed this mom directly, inviting her kid to Jane's birthday party (to which she didn't respond -- and I sent TWO invitations in hard copy, since I had to change things at the last minute) AND I've met this mom a couple times -- once saw her in the orthopedic center and we spoke to each other. She knows Jane and we're in her actual class, so this feels like more than an "accidental" oversight.

BUT I'm sure it was. We're not thought of any more than a speck of dust to these people. At least it feels that way. Certainly feel out of place, although Jane holds her own with her classmates, is loved by her teachers.

I am fuming STILL, 24 hours later. Only found out about it because of Facebook, and I've lost too much sleep about it.

That Old Habit?

The world is burning, and the tax bill is going to break us all. (Handwritten edits?! In a 500 page PDF?! To be voted on in mere hours?!)

But here are some things:

 

Jane's Kindergarten class has a Christmas tree. I'm surprised they used that verbiage, but that's what it's called. They asked every family to make an ornament to hang on it -- something that represents the family and their traditions. I thought and came up with this -- our hands creating a tree that Jane could draw on and add stickers to show things that are our Christmas traditions. Originally I thought of hobbies too -- like a skein of yarn picture from one of my yarn catalogs, some woodworking contraption from one of Shawn's catalogues, etc. But Jane didn't want to wait to take it in and wasn't really interested in that either. She didn't want photos of us (I was thinking small, as if they were ornaments on the tree), so this is it. There are books because we do the Advent book-a-day tradition, plus a candle, Baby Jesus, an angel, etc. I'm not sure what all Jane drew. The ornament is big, since our hands are real-size, and I figured TOO big -- I had to send it in her backpack in three folders put together with binder clips so it wouldn't get banged up too badly. Jane said the teacher said it was perfect, so I guess the tree is big enough to hold it.

My question -- what if a family doesn't celebrate Christmas? 

I never got my free Starbucks birthday drink that I normally get via the app. Perhaps it's because I do this with the stars that come off the bags of coffee I buy instead of inputting them in the Starbucks system? CURSES!

A completed crochet doll dress, front and back. It's not exactly like the pattern, which I got from a book. I had to make up my own top using the suggested stitch. I followed the top's pattern but got this weird almost E-shaped piece and the next direction was "sew shoulder seams" without an explanation as to what the seams were. Maybe I am a visual learner, because a picture could have really helped. Instead I just started my own top right into the skirt part. It worked out fine, although could have been better fitted. I didn't do great on the starting chains, so put a Christmas ribbon around her waist for the pictures. If we can find a solid purple ribbon to sew onto it that would be good. The buttons were $2 from Walmart, but otherwise the cost was nil. I used Gran's thread, which is why the colors are kind of weird. The original pattern had three sets of four ruffles in the skirt in shades of blue, but the designer crochets tighter than me, because it would have made my skirt too long. I could have stopped at the dark purple, but didn't realize it until after I'd done the pink. Oh well. It's fine as it is. I should take better pictures for my Ravelry page. These were fast on my phone because Liv was on the move. She's been a terror -- broken three or four Christmas things, and we haven't even had the Xmas stuff out for a week yet!

Fin

Perhaps my final NaBloPoMo post ever. This month has been exceedingly difficult. I'm not getting much pleasure out of anything right now, so why should blogging be any different?

I have a few crochet projects to get on -- one is almost finished -- so those will be upcoming posts. Our family is taking a pretty big adventure in January, but I'm not sure if I'll write about it in real time or after it's over. Something to consider.

Enjoy your December.

Recent Thoughts - A Hodgepodge

I've subscribed to the Lenny Letter since its inception. I'm older than the target audience, but there are some good reads, and I like everything is by women and for women. Not a huge Lena Dunham fan, and she keeps having missteps with the media and just being plain wrong about things. This week I read this article Women Are Supposed to Give Until They Die. The author talks about how we're taught to believe men need more alone time than women (fathers vs. mothers is really what she's getting at). I found it pretty weird, as a woman, as a mom and someone who needs more alone time. But I also really identify with her points about getting and taking that alone time away from home and allowing the relationship between dad and kids to develop without mom/my interference.

I check Facebook WAY too often -- just as a default I'm bored, or I have five minutes or let's see what people are posting. (I also look at Twitter, and it mainly serves to make me really mad about what's happening in the world and hate all the people I follow on Facebook -- so that's a fun twist?) Anyway, on Facebook I keep typing and deleting "funny" comments. Just personable stuff. For example, a friend posted on another friend's question about Santa/stockings about what she puts in her kid's stockings. And she listed chocolate as a "necessity" -- like "I put necessities: toothpaste, socks, chocolate, etc." And I laughed and commented how funny that was. Then I deleted it instead of posting. The world is on fire, and why do I need to be funny or relational with people?

On that same post I have opinions of my own -- like we don't "do" Santa at all ... which reminds me I really need to tell Jane's teacher about that, although Jane says she wants to pretend he's real and won't say anything to the other kids at all ... and I have tried the "something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read" thing that was the original poster's main question. But in the same vein, who cares what I think? (Those two links are old blog posts where I write about that exact thing, so it's clear I think *someone* cares ... just not people who actually know me?!) I am the weirdest, I know.

I do a lot of computing on my Kindle -- reading Facebook, Twitter, Feedly, etc. I haven't been reading books as much lately, but that's another story. One thing that's driving me crazy if the Kindle keyboard. I have a Fire HDX 8, which I got for Christmas last year, so it's a 2016 model. The keyboard works fine EXCEPT when I put "t" it will often, like 9 times out of 10, switch to the numeral keyboard, so it types a 5 and then if I just keep touching letters it actually puts the numbers. AND it isn't smart enough to figure out "oh, she's touching keys that would make a word if they were letters" and I have to backspace, carefully hit the t and re-type everything. I've searched some and haven't found anyone else with this problem. So I don't know what to do about it. I looked at the Love My Fire site a bit, but it didn't really talk about that.

I cleaned my engagement ring this week. It was SO gross. It needs a professional cleaning, but even my at home efforts made a huge difference and it's sparkling again. There was so much gunk, oil and dirt underneath the stone I had to pick it out with a toothpick after I let the ring soak in warm, soapy water. I'm not a vain person, but seeing the shiny rock on my finger is a nice boost and makes me happy in a stupid, simple way.

THE WORLD IS BURNING.

Cast AWAY

I took Jane to the doctor this morning, and her cast was taken off. Everything looks good for her bone healing, and the doctor showed me the X-ray and all the places where her body has made new bone. It seems like a lot and is doing well.

She has a brace/splint type thing to wear and give her some security as she gets used to having the cast off. Her wrist is very stiff and she doesn't want to move it or really act like she can use her arm. She was more active with it when the cast was on!

We have a few exercises to do, and he said she will also just figure it out and get back to normal. The brace will be for about 4 more weeks, although she doesn't have to wear it all the time after this first week. I'm sure she'll be back to her old be-bopping self in no time.

One drag thing is that her skin was all irritated and kind of dirty. I'd assumed water proof cast meant it could get wet. We NEVER dipped it in water -- just didn't cover it up when she took a bath and the hand would get wet when she washed. They said we didn't let it drip dry enough, although I'm not sure what that means or how you do that other than let the thing hang out. I didn't press it. Should have stuck with the keep-it-dry method, as her skin was fine after the first cast was taken off to change to this one. I'm hoping some air and a little lotion will get it all back to normal. Poor bubs.

A Birthday

My birthday was fine. Just fine.

Sundays are my busiest days. I do a lot of work for the church during the work, but I'm doing stuff on Sundays and get the sweats worrying about it all working. And just juggling kids and everything too.

Livia is/was sick so she and Shawn stayed home. It was just me and Jane. She was fine during church and Sunday school (plus the extra children's choir 10-minute rehearsal). We met Shawn and Livia for lunch at the newly opened Mexican restaurant on the way home. It was tasty food but terrible service. Like really insulting guy. Not sure why ... or why it had to be that way on my birthday lunch.

Livia wouldn't nap so I had to hold her the whole nap. Then I started on my afternoon computer church work. I had a church meeting at 4, which interrupted my day's flow. And I hadn't been grocery shopping yet over the weekend because of going to a birthday movie on Saturday night. (I liked that, even though it was hard schedule-wise).

Before I left for the church meeting Jane and I had a weird, huge fight. Sucked the fun out of the whole day. I ate a piece of the cheesecake I had made on my way out the door, although they sang and ate some themselves after I was home.

I got to talk to my mom in the evening, which was good.

Today I took Liv to the doctor -- she has an ear infection in the right ear. The third one she's had. Doctor said if she gets five in one year it's a problem that will need a different solution (I'm guessing tubes in the ear). Gotta go google "prevent ear infections" ...

Thirty Seven

I made this cheesecake for my birthday.

Unboxing Day

We brought in the Christmas tree last night. Shawn got it set up, as well as Candy Cane Lane, which is what we call the candy cane-shaped lights lining a part of our walk way toward our front door. Today I got a wreath from Trader Joe's and put that on the front door. We got a few girl-specific things out of the boxes, which are now sitting in the sun room by the back door. The felt Christmas tree, the Little People nativity set, a musical book are out and being played with.

But there's a lot more to do.

Unfortunately I don't have the Christmas cheer or spirit or will to do it just yet.

I'll get there -- for the girls, for Shawn, for my family if they make it for Christmas, for myself -- eventually.

But I sure wish my sense of anticipation didn't feel like a sense of foreboding.

Maybe I'm just exhausted and out of sorts from a broken night of sleep (Livia has a cold so was up half the night and would only sleep while nursing), from a week's visit from my in-laws, from a wanna-be teenager six-year-old with more sass than I can handle, from a million other tiny little cuts that combine to make me feel like I'm bleeding out...

Hope your holiday unboxing goes better than mine.

Parking Ticket

Today we went to New Orleans -- my inlaws wanted to go to the WWII museum, and the girls are always up for a kids museum, which is just a couple blocks away. We had to drive separately, so I took the girls directly to the kids museum, and we met up for a $$$ lunch.

I parked on the street in front of the kids museum instead of in the garage for the WWII museum, mainly for convenience. Although in hindsight it was nothing but convenient (and would have been cheaper either way to just pay the $10 for garage parking)!

I paid at the meter and put my parking stub in the window on the dash board. When we got back to the car, exactly two hours later there was a ticket. I was incensed! Then I looked and it had been issued an hour earlier -- so halfway through my paid parking time. The meter reader hadn't seen my stub! I went ahead and paid for the next two hours I needed to go eat lunch, and my new stub was much bigger. That makes sense why the officer didn't see the smaller, square stub if he's always looking for a big rectangle. But DAMN!

The ticket is $30, so not life threatening if I end up having to pay it (although I could have parked four times over in the garage given what I did pay for street parking -- $12). But it's the principle of the thing, since I DID in fact pay for parking.

There's a way to contest it online, but I want to send my credit card statement too. I scanned the ticket showing I did pay. Will get everything in order, uploaded and contested. Hopefully I can have a resolution next week or so -- not sure how long these things take. The hearing is December 20, so there's a bit of time.

UGH! Aggravating.

Gratitude

I have trouble being grateful. In fact I'd say I'm an ungrateful ***** a lot of times. But I also recognize my great privilege and wealth, and a ridiculously easy life, all things considered. So, a partial set of my blessings, for which I am thankful:

• Jesus and salvation, the Church and my church
• My beautiful, lovely, funny, smart Jane Pie
• My precious, gorgeous, clever, snuggly Livia Baby
• My husband and our marriage
• Medical care
• Healing bones
• Climate control -- air conditioning 90% of the year and heat the other 10%!
• Hot water and indoor plumbing
• Warm bed
• Tenure and Shawn's satisfying career that provides for us so well
• INTERNET
• Tasty food and the ability to prepare it
• Dishwashers and other modern-day appliances

Wishing you a pleasant holiday weekend, and this video about Thanksgiving's establishment as a holiday:

Pre-Holiday Preparation

Today was a cooking day for me, with the girls getting to go with Daddy and grandparents to the Knock, Knock Museum. They had a great time, and I got everything done. Our dishwasher is getting a workout! Today I made:

• Deviled eggs (these are ridiculously hard because of the shelling -- I cannot do it well to save my life)
• Cranberry salad
• Pumpkin pies (one regular, one sugar free)
• Rice Krispie treats
• Mashed sweet potatoes (debating putting marshmallows or pecans or both on top when I bake tomorrow)
• Cornbread dressing, Gran's recipe

Tomorrow I have to make

• Turkey - going to inject and roast it ... this is Aunt B's best tip
• Cook the dressing and sweet potatoes
• Corn casserole
• Green bean casserole
• Warm rolls
• Boil and mash potatoes
• Heat gravy
• Whip cream

What am I forgetting? Hopefully pictures tomorrow, although you could look at years' past to see the same dishes.

I'm going to try to take Christmas card photos of the girls tomorrow in matching sweaters. The light's actually pretty good right now in the back yard, but I don't have it together to get it done. There's a sale on Amazon cards ... 50% off and it includes free envelope personalization and printing on both sides of the card ... through November 25, so Saturday. Surely I can get it done by then.

A Photo Wall of Babies

I extended my wall of photos in the hall across from Jane's room. When Jane was 1 I made the photo canvases of her -- basically printed 12x12 prints and modge podged them onto canvases. Also glued strips of scrapbook paper to the sides then dabbed black paint around the edges. Some of the photos look better than others, and we've loved the Jane ones for 5 years now. They were hanging in a straight line on this wall that whole time.

I finally got around to making Livia's versions. Hers are mostly form her first year too, although I think the photo in the graduation cap might be just after 1 year old. Jane's are ordered from youngest to oldest left to right, and Livia's are ordered oldest to youngest left to right.

We mount them with 3M Velcro removable strips and they hold just fine, and allow for a little adjustments if they're not perfectly straight. AND we can switch the order of photos later if we want.

(I thought for sure I'd blogged about this when I made Jane's, but I can't find a post so maybe not. I'm not even sure what online tutorial I used to make them the first time. For Liv's I just winged it.)

Disingenuous

People ask me about Jane's school, and I have different answers for different types of people.

Some people I know are very into private school, and they would get a positive, we love most everything about it and Jane's teacher answer.

Other people I know are not as enthused about exclusivity, so I'd give a more nuanced answer, talking about how we're not sure if we fit in or if we want to.

Both are technically true -- we especially love her teachers, but we don't mesh fully with the culture so far and certainly feel out of place. JANE doesn't feel out of place though, which is a good thing.

I think this is true for anything I experience -- I change my story to fit my audience. Is there any authenticity? Am I being just a people pleaser? Although really who do I please with this particular example? Who cares?

Livia Did It

At a kids' birthday party today a dad understood Livia's name and told me about a podcast that once made a T-shirt called "Livia Did It" and how it's still a catch phrase in his current podcast. After some searching I found the podcast, but it seems the T-shirt was a one-off fundraiser in 2014. Darn, since that's a pretty cool shirt.

Productivity

I'm not usually productive, at least that's how it feels lately. But today I got a lot done by, at least by my standards.

Woke up and immediately started cleaning, since we're expecting company on Monday. Vacuumed, did some dusting and cleaned bathrooms while the girls played outside (they both really hate the vacuum, and I do too, but it's OK when I put on music and headphones). Also started the laundry, which is the typical Saturday thing for us.

I voted (ugh...no good choices).

Went to Target to buy a birthday gift since Amazon failed me and didn't deliver the package on time (hope to be able to return it, or just save it for another kid on another day). I saw Jane's first preschool teacher, but she didn't recognize me without kids. I still said hello. She was with her daughter, who's grown up a lot!

Stopped in Walmart quickly to buy conditioner -- I'd bought two shampoos and no conditioner earlier this week. Target didn't have the kind I wanted (a special edition "frosted cookie" set). I bought two conditioners, thinking that I'll either have two sets in case I really like it OR a set to give to my sister if it's only so-so.

Went to Trader Joe's to buy the turkey and some groceries (on second thought I should get my turkey at the store ... I don't cook it that well, and TJ only has HUGE ones ... 12 lb was the smallest ... and it's something that's actually MORE expensive than the grocery store -- TOO LATE NOW, as Jane would say).

Then went to Winn Dixie for the BIG grocery shop. Food for the week with guests and for the big dinner on Thursday -- oh, the menu is another freebie NaBloPoMo post spot. Shawn helped keep the laundry going and the girls in check. Laundry is *almost* done.

I'm pretty tired. Still have dinner to do (and frankly after buying so much food I don't feel like cooking at all!). In my meal planning I didn't account for today (or tomorrow!), so I guess we'll wing it with quesadillas or grilled cheese.

Touch Type

Typing on my Kindle because I shut down my computer already. This has really become the hardest NaBloPoMo. I am lazy and tired. Uninspired.

My baby is a handful and still not sleeping all night. My six year old is temperamental and mouthy. Her arm is still broken.

My house is messy and cluttered. So is my mind, I guess.

Need to work on my grocery list. Start gift lists.

Drink some wine or tea. I found Lady Grey in the supermarket. I buy groceries. I don't "make" them. I'm not really from here, you know...

Maybe something better tomorrow...

Thursday

Ordered a "free" calendar on Shutterfly today -- one of those "just pay shipping" deals. It was about $9 with shipping and tax (because of course we pay tax on the shipping!). Not bad for a custom photo calendar, although I had to make it twice. When I clicked through the ad it automatically made a 12x12 calendar, and I didn't realize the size or that it wasn't part of the promotion. And of course there's no easy way to change the size and I had to start over from scratch. At least I had my photos picked out and uploaded already, but what a waste of work. I like to give wall calendars as gifts too, so I'll watch for other sales as we roll closer to Christmas.

I can't believe we are ONE WEEK from Thanksgiving. It's come so fast. In one week I have to make a full dinner for my family and in-laws. It will be fine, but I haven't even begun to think. We also need to clean house again (unfortunately the clean from Jane's party didn't "stick" and things are back to usual clutter and such).

I asked Jane what she wanted for Thanksgiving dinner and she said "scrambled eggs." I asked her again "WHAT?!" It took me a little bit to realize she meant DEVILED eggs. My heart, my heart, my heart. I love her. I hope she knows how much, especially in our challenging moments.

What's the Point - A New Cast

I really can't believe I didn't blog on November 13. TEN YEARS of blogging every day of November... I sat a lot at my desk that day too, so it wasn't lack of opportunity. I just never opened the window, and I hadn't written it down on my Bullet Journal, which is still a ragtag effort.

Today I had a time warp. We had an appointment with the orthopedic doctor. He was actually in surgery, so they'd called me yesterday when his schedule changed to ask if we could come earlier and just see the PA. No problem, as this was just an X-ray and check to confirm the arm was still healing. I expected to be in and out faster than normal and get Jane to school before lunch (which for her is 10:30 am!)

After the X-ray we're finally called back and the PA tells us that the bone has shifted so we need to see a doctor today. Our care is being transferred to the pediatric orthopedic clinic (frankly it probably should have been transferred there in the first place, although the adult orthopedic doctor was great in the ER he's a doctor for adults, and a foot/ankle specialist at that).

So I'm panicking as we go downstairs, because the doctor told us before if her bone shifts we'd need to reset it, and to do that it's another sedation procedure, which we surely don't want. And then I start thinking what if it's SURGERY and needs to have a pin put in so that it will stay in place while it heals? And will a pin have to stay in forever? What will that mean for future air travel. She's SIX! And spinning out of control, crying a bit while waiting with her in the kid-friendly waiting room.

A half hour later, called back to the exam room. I'm not so nice to the receptionist when she asks me to fill out a form when we'd been waiting for a while already. Then we wait another ~20 minutes, at least, before the doctor comes in. He says it's no big deal, she's healing great and adult doctors are overly cautious with kids. He said it's within the range of normal and that the X-rays were taken at slightly different angles so it's not actually as bad as the PA read it.

He offers a new cast if Jane wants one that's smaller and more comfortable, even though she'll only need to wear this one for another week. (!!! As I was thinking we'd be casted for a full eight weeks, and this would put us at about 4 total.) She wanted, so we did, and I ponied up the $25 for waterproof, even though keeping the bigger, thicker one dry wasn't so bad, the ability to wash her hands regularly is a big selling point. Plus we're going to keep it on until after Thanksgiving, so it's really nearly 2 weeks of value. Happy Birthday to me.

A tie dyed cast (looks more camo on the roll) -- and you can see an ant bite still healing on her pinkie.
Princess place mat by Aunt B