October: 1 Second a Day

It was all about Halloween. Woooooooooooo!

Sewing up a Storm

Several years ago Craig bought me a sewing machine for my birthday and I loved it, but was terrified of it. I even made Craig use it to sew two shower curtains together to throw over the pool table so we could keep the cats off. The thought of sewing anything proper and, God forbid, threading the thing gave me a panic attack. So it's been collecting dust and I've looked at it longingly and wished I was more talented and brave.

Then of course a quilter/sewing woman moved in next door and I have started coveting all the cool things she has in her house - mainly quilts, cushions, and throws etc.  So she's taught me a few things and guided me when I made my t-shirt quilt and now she's got me hooked. How have I not been into this before?  It's great! I can make things! The downside is that you get obsessed with fabric. That's not good for a person like me who doesn't do things in half measures. Still, an obsession with fabric is better than most other additions, right?

I have set up my little craft area (so long pool table!) in the basement and I've just finished a big project (more on that later). While I was waiting for more fabulous fabric to be delivered for a new project I thought I'd make cushion covers for two nasty, mustard-coloured cushions I've had for a few years. I found a really easy tutorial and got stuck in. I love the finished products so much I keep going downstairs to look at them.

Love my little sewing space

Mustard cushions get a make-over, tadaaa! 

Pocket cover. Not brave enough yet for zips. 

Number two nearly done

Father Forgets by Livingston Larned

I came upon this recently and it struck a chord about how I perhaps treat my boys sometimes. It's definitely worth 4 minutes of anyone's time....

NaBloPoMo's Coming!

I've been such a slacker on this blog the last two weeks. In my defense I've been saving some things up because starting on Friday it's National Blog Posting Month!

I plan on posting every day for 30 days and posting tons of stuff; pictures, stories, updates on house projects and my monthly 1-second video. There's no 'theme" - just the usual malarky.

RIP Luke the Hammy

We had such a great night tonight at a Halloween event but came home to find that Luke the hamster had died. I told Jack while he was in the bath and his little face crumpled up and he cried and cried, it was awful. To see him so upset and so grieved is really hard. He also said that having Luke in his room gave him comfort, that he liked having somebody else share his room at night when he got scared. I feel so bad for the little guy.
Now what to do to make him feel okay about being in his room without his hamster buddy? Getting another one is not an option.

Instilling Kindness

One of the things I want to install in my kids is kindness. I think kindness comes above any kind of triumph. Kindness to each other and to everyone around them. They aren't kind all the time by any means, in case I'm coming across as a naive fool, but I like to think that the manners and the kindness I'm constantly drilling into them is starting to become part of them, like second nature.  My mum did that to me and Craig's mum did that to him, so we are passing it down, along with always feeling guilty when you see a policeman and never taking the last piece of cake.

On Monday Daniel decided to have a hot lunch at school which is a rarity because he's such a picky eater. He decided on a hot lunch because it was his favorite: pizza. That night I asked him how he'd enjoyed it and he said he didn't eat any. When I asked why he said there was only one piece left and he didn't want someone else going hungry.  I was gobsmacked. He didn't eat lunch! But then his motives make me so proud.

Then today I got a text message from the Principal with this picture, telling me how awesome my boy is. He dropped chess club during his lunch hour because his friend David missed playing with him.

I'm so proud of them both that I just had to document it here, so sorry if it comes across as smug. We have a lot of things going on that's not so woopty-doo believe me. 

Tonight I took Jack out, just me and him, to have some quality time together. He told me last weekend that he needs me to himself sometimes, so we went to a Halloween shop, a pet shop and to the movies to watch Planet of the Apes 2. He ate a huge tub of popcorn and snuggled under my armpit during the scary bits. It was great.

Wine & Wide Calfs

So it'll be six weeks on Sunday since I've drunk wine. One might assume that I am now stick-thin with flawless ivory skin, but no. My body appears to be storing every single calorie I consume and I think it's in shock. I feel great of course, but the weight loss and the skin thing isn't happening yet.  I soooo want to lose weight. Mainly so I don't look huge when I go home to England for a visit next year and I really want a pair of Hunter wellies but they wouldn't fit. If the FBI looked at the history of my Internet searches this week they'd find that "wide calf wellies" appeared quite a bit.

While I'm on the subject of my body, I think I'm also getting to a certain age where my cycle is a bit wonky. So my body is probably wondering what the hell is going on and my hormones are playing up. My sister is on the verge too. Getting old sucks.

We've had a good week though. Kids are happily jogging along with school and soccer. I went to see "Gone Girl" with my friends last night (it was great) and I'm still doing crafty stuff, mainly quilting. I think I have found my forte as I really like it. Craig is gearing up for hunting, probably next weekend. Watch out Bambi.

We've bought the kids their Halloween outfits but haven't decorated the house this year. I can't find the enthusiasm to do it knowing that the builders are going to start building our porch soon. I also can't take anything else on till after soccer finishes. So the big hairy bendy spider probably won't make an appearance on my house this year, but I've added a picture of it below. Every single time I see this picture it cracks me up. Daniel had the grumpiest face and I can't even remember why. Hahaha!

September 1-Second-a-Day