My Awesome C- Section

11-19                                                               12- 2

My mom just left on Tuesday, so for the first time in two weeks I have had lots of alone time to think about my birth story. For a while there I was too busy with the happiness, the nursing and the laundry to be reflective. I want my story to be out there because it is really hard to find C-section birth stories online.

Here is my birth story. It's an awesome, happy, mostly painless c-section story.

My official due date was Dec.2, but because of all my other surgeries I was scheduled for a c-section on 11-22-11. We were so excited about the date because it is a palindrome and we are nerds. On Sunday 11-20 we made plans to go to Ojai (small quaint town 1 hour away) for a sweet "last day as a couple" date. We were both a little nervous about going so far away, but Ojai is a really special place to us. It's where we have gone following every miscarriage for some peace. It's sacred Indian land and I swear it is the most peaceful place I have ever been. Anyway, Sunday night I went to bed and Baby Z was doing flips upside down and sideways. She was so active! Cliff asked, "Is there anyway she can bust out?"
"No!" I reassured him.

Well, at about 1:00 am I sat up in the middle of a dream and said, " I have to pee." That's when I felt and heard a pop and was flooded. I told Cliff, " I have either REALLY peed myself or we are having a baby!
So much fluid! Gross! Anyway, I called my doctor who was fast asleep and didn't know who I was. He told me to go to the hospital and wait until my contractions were so many minutes apart when he would come in to catch the baby. I didn't bother correcting him because when I got to the hospital I figured the nurses would set him straight, which they did.

At the hospital they hooked me up to monitors and we tried to sleep. Well, that's a joke because hospitals and sleep are incompatible. Eventually I started having contractions and although I was only 2 cm dialated they were less than a minute apart. They weren't too painful, but I did have to breath through them. Cliff had not yet been to sleep, so he was desperately trying to catch a nap. I decided to have an epidural so that I would be able to sleep. I thought Cliff might sleep better if he knew I was pain free. After all, I was having surgery anyway, there would be drugs so why be a hero?

Well, the epidural didn't work at. all. But try to convince people of that! Not too easy. Finally the anesthesiologist was poking me with a toothpick and asking what it felt like. "Um, it feels like being poked with a toothpick."

At about 6 am my primary OBGYN showed up. He ordered a spinal and friends it was MAGIC!!! Loved it! A warm blanket of mercy!

Soon my other doctor showed up. I was so filled with joy. Here were my two docotors, who've held my hand in some very dark times, there to deliver my baby. It meant so much to me that they both could be there for something good too. It was very celebratory. We joked and laughed and before long they announced that her head was delivered.

I asked if she would cry and they said, "soon." Just then came the shriek of all shrieks. Glass shattering! Whew! She was loud! God love her! This baby has always kicked just when I was panicked that she had been still too long and here she was shouting, "here I am" so I would have no doubts about her lung health.

So there she was, born 7:10 on 11-21-11, just about 24 hours before her scheduled arrival. She gets that from me. I am often the first one at a party. Even when I try to be late, I am often early. And, clearly she doesn't care about pallendromes.

Cliff followed the baby around getting cleaned up and getting some pictures. I was fixed up and taken to recovery.  I nursed her there for the first time and we spent the day just gazing at Marilee. That first night Cliff had to go home to get some sleep. I was quite relieved that my night nurse, Theresa, was a lactation specialist. She was with me throughout the night and I owe any breastfeeding success to her. She taught me about nursing while lying down, how to do "kangaroo care." I was able to nurse and doze throughout the night. In the morning, I actually felt pretty accomplished.

My parents arrived from FL the next day and we went home that Wed. There have been a few sleepless nights, an engorgement problem, a latch problem and some issues with gas pains. Step by step, one learning at a time, we are finding our way. Overall, Marilee is very easily consoled and very alert.

She's a super duper pooper! Thank goodness for cloth diapers! I don't feel so bad when she poops through three diapers in one changing! So far we are washing diapers every day. It's not so bad since our washer/dryer is right in our apartment. Cliff is especially supportive of cloth diapers which is nice. Even my mom, who thought I was crazy, was pleasantly surprised by the ease of modern cloth diapers.

My recovery has been awesome. I feel great and even fit into my clothes again. Apparently, Marilee was a tapeworm in a former life. I've been on walks most everyday. We have been out to lunch and dinner and Cliff and I have even gone on a movie date. Had to take advantage of Granma's babysitting while she was here!


 
I saw this pin today. It says, "The wold may be broken, but hope is not crazy." Amen.

Halloween Update #2: Extravagent Generosity

 
This picture makes me so happy. Just the thought of sharing our coat rack with a wee one is thrilling, but this little pink "jacket." has a special story.


It was an eventful Halloween morning when a young Crayon we call Red arrived.

 This was our conversation:


Red- "Hey Mrs. Little, I got you a baby present for your baby!"

Me: "Thank you Red, that was so nice of you."

Red: "Yeah, my parents told me I could have money for a baby present or a Halloween costume and I chose to get you a baby present."

Me- (Stunned.) "Wow! Thank you that means a lot to me. That was really generous of you, but what about Halloween? Do you want to go in the costume box and get a costume?"

Red: "No. I made a costume. With the left over money from the baby present, I bought a really cheap sheet and made a ghost costume. Wanna see it?"

Me: " I sure do."

He proceeds to pull on a traditional ghost costume much like the Peanuts Gang wore, except it has some simple sleeves.

Me: "Wow, Red, that is really cool. How did you make the sleeves? Did you use staples?"

Red: " Nope. My god-mother came over and helped me sew the sheet like this to make sleeves. And, I drew the face with marker because I didn't want to look like those mean guys who wear sheets. Do you know about those guys?"

Me: "Yes, yes I do. I assure you, that is a terrific ghost costume. I am so impressed! This gift is super special to me!"

This month my pastor has been preaching on extravagant generosity, but once again my Crayons were the real teachers. I am so impressed with both Red and his parents. In this day and age, they certainly didn't have to bankroll both a teacher gift and a Halloween costume. By giving him a choice, they fostered his financial skills and his creativity. I am truly humbled.

Thanks! & The Story

Thanks for all your kind words, prayers and thoughts.

This pregnancy has certainly has been a lesson in patience, determination and ultimately surrender.

The short story is that I had some weird bleeding at the beginning of  my Easter break. I had planned each day with an inch of it's life. I had plans to paint the bed my dad and I made. I planned to paint our bedroom. I had lots of errands and social gatherings. I was busy with a capital B.

But, the bleeding was strange and gross and I thought "Welcome to your 40's" and called the doctor. Of course my beloved Dr. Dwight (real name awesome OBGYN in LA-seriously) was booked solid so I met with a new partner. Dr. Yamaguchi. She was/is terrific too. She told me I was pregnant, but that my uterus was full of blood clots and I would more than likely loose this baby. There was no way for her to measure how far along I was. She couldn't really see anything. My mind went totally blank and I couldn't think of dates either. I asked her if I should cancel my plans and go on bed rest.  She assured me that there was nothing I could do to cause or prevent a miscarriage.

I told Cliff that good and bad news. The good news was, that after seven years of trying and six rounds of IVF and three miscarriages-we actually got pregnant on our own! And the bad news, this one wasn't going to make it either.

We cried for about 10 minutes and then I just went on with my life. I buried this pregnancy deep in denial and went on with all my plans. The bleeding continued for weeks on and off. At this point I was working after school and on Saturdays getting my students ready for state testing. Things at school were very stressful.

Sure I was tired, but hey that's the story of my life. Other than that I had no symptoms of pregnancy and on the few times when I allowed myself to even think about it, the lack of symptoms seemed to convince me further that this was not going to work out.

In early May, my family suffered a loss and I took two weeks off to mourn. I felt so guilty about being away from school, but I knew that I needed this time to rest. It was then that I remembered that I never did miscarry. So, I asked Cliff to take me back to the doctor to schedule the D&C. I figured the day already was sad and awful, let's just get all the bad stuff out of the way.

I couldn't even look at the screen. I did not want a memory of what wouldn't be. Even when Dr. Yamaguchi said, "Look at the four chambers of the heart." I was scared to turn my head. When I did, I saw an 11 week old fetus!  It was too much, I just couldn't comprehend it all.

Dr. Yamaguchi advised us to wait until 16 weeks to announce just to be safe. I had 3 previous miscarriages to warrant a high risk scan at 12 weeks.  Everything looked perfect there too. But, Cliff and I were still too nervous to get excited. At 16 weeks I was terrified because I wasn't feeling anything, but the doctors appointment went well. Still I was mum.

I went to a therapist to try and sort out what I can only describe as post traumatic stress syndrome.

Finally, at the 20 week high risk scan I could exhale. I was showing, but only a few people caught on. Most of my friends thought I was stress eating. Nobody said anything and I am grateful. The "telling" was so scary because "un-telling" is so sad and miserable.

Needless to say, the excitement our family, friends and you have shown is wonderfully overwhelming. I have cried so many times hearing that this person or that has been praying for me/us. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

The flowers and pink baby clothes were waiting for me in the guest room at my parents house. I spent ten days relaxing, swimming, and catching up with them. It was a wonderful way to start my second trimester.

Fan Mail

After 14 days all comments go to comment moderation. This came to me for approval today and it made me laugh out loud. At first I pressed "publish" and then I decided that a gem like this deserves it's own post.

 

Dave said...

Dear god you managed to paint a very small kitchen appliance with black paint and everyone thinks you are a cross between Rodin and L da Vinci. And just look at the intellectual brilliance of the comments of your followers. Quote - Okay, you TOTALLY sprayed that crock pot! It looks awesome! endquote. I think you need to get out more and perhaps learn to appreciate slightly more challenging projects. By the way projects cannot be "on hiatus" - first of all hiatus is a noun and secondly.... oh I just can't be bothered to suggest how you might learn to write grammatically correct and logical English. Toodle pip - perhaps next time you could write up "How I tied pretty ribbons around my saucepan handles"

What a funny crack about my crock. Toodle pip! The original crock pot painting post is here. 

Let's Talk About Dutch Boy Refresh Paint

Way back when I painted this coffee table the people who represent Dutch Boy Paint contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in reviewing the Refresh line. Sure. The only problem is that at my other apartment I couldn't paint. I had a big plan to give the paint to my friend who just bought a condo. I'm so proud of her and all of her achievements. She is a remarkable person and I would love to help her paint. Of course, the you know what happens to the best laid plans. Life is just so daily! Whew!

Anyway, who knew I would soon be in a new place where I could paint?!

Paint I did. Like I said yesterday the brown and white scheme was inspired by my favorite striped shirt. I loved the "Beach House Brown" when I painted Michelle's coffee table and knew pretty much from the first moment I saw that kitchen I wanted to go with that color.

Here's the funny thing, it's not on the Dutch Boy web site at all.  Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) has it as part of their "California Collection." Maybe it's a special deal with OSH?

Enough about colors. All paint comes in colors!

Moving on to the really important thing: No VOC! The Refresh line has all sorts of features that make it "green." This is important to me because Cliff suffers from migraines and they had been especially bad right after the move. We suspect it may have been that the whole place was just freshly painted. I was a bit concerned to start painting, but the smell didn't bother him at all. Frankly, I couldn't smell anything. You can read more about the environmental advantages of Refresh here.

Now, I have to be honest. I am not all that brand loyal. Oh sure, I prefer Crest and Tide, but if Colgate or Era are on sale...well, I'll cross that aisle to save a nickle. There is a reason however, that I will be loyal to Dutch Boy and it's not the paint. It's the can!
 

I am pretty sure a woman designed this can because it is so smart. First off it's recyclable, light weight plastic. It has a built in handle similar to a gallon of milk. No more skinny wire handle cutting into your hand.
 
  It has a pour spout! Thank you!  It's so much neater than a regular can. And the last feature that I love about the can is that it has a screw on lid. Again, thank you! I ended up using leftover paint for the cupboards and by the end of the week that pry off/ hammer on lid was a gunky, inefficient and annoying mess. Painting is enough of a chore without adding the can mess to the whole ordeal. The Dutch Boy can? Jug? It is the best!

Now, on to coverage. I was painting dark chocolate brown over stark white. I thought for sure it would take primer and a couple of coats to get an even finish. My father in law once painted my sister-in-law's dining room 5 times to get a deep red finish. And that was with tinted primer first. With that in mind, I was a bit nervous. Also, I have that rough "knock down" finish on the walls.

I used that satin finish and the paint went on like a dream. It was smooth and very easy to get even coverage. The guy at OSH told me I could skip primer. I did two coats of Refresh and it is flawless.


I used a paint brush to cut in sometimes. I used this really cool edge tool with little wheels to scoot along the edge of the ceiling, and I also used a roller. With each tool I was able to get a nice even coverage even on the goofy Little House on the Prairie chimney.

My kitchen isn't huge and has a good amount of cupboards, so I used about 1/4 gallon. Most likely I could have bought the tester size, but like I said, I was sure I would need to do three or more coats. Clean up was easy. Really, I have nothing but good things to say about Refresh Paint. Way to go Dutch Boy!

Now when I finally get around to helping Michelle paint her condo with her Dutch Boy Refresh paint, I will be a real painting pro and Dutch Boy will get two reviews-everybody wins!

Sunday Is Here

Hello Old Friends,

I think I am finally back. 

During lent my pastor gave a sermon during which she said, "Today is Friday, but Sunday is coming!" This summer was one long Friday. Personally, professionally, amongst my dearest friends, and in my family there was a lot of pain. Usually I roll with the punches pretty well, but this was different. So much so, it killed my creativity- and my favorite source of stress relief. Thus no blogging.

But...today is Sunday!

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.    - Jeremiah 29:11

^{For the past few years I have been working *very* hard to be completely honest with myself about "wants" and "needs."  I really, really, really wanted a house with a garage so that I could peruse my interest in woodworking more. The balcony workshop was great and all, but a bit limiting. I really, really wanted my own house so I could have a washing machine that didn't need half a dozen quarters!And, more than anything I wanted a change. I just felt stuck.}



On the very darkest of all days, the Lord set in motion a move for us. And move we did!

Friends of ours from church where also in need of a change and long story short, they moved to Texas and we moved into their *AWESOME* apartment! 

No, it's not the house I wanted, perhaps it's better.  God's plan was better than mine.

I am taking nearly a month of furlough days this year. That ends up being nearly a ten percent pay cut. I am super thankful not to have a mortgage that's a stretch right now.

We have only been in the apartment for 1 week, but here is my list of things I love already:

10. High ceilings! 
9. Lots of windows! I had no idea I had spent the last seven years living in the dark.
8. Laundry hook up! (We don't have a washer yet- any front loader, stack-able recommendations?)
7. A tree full of humming birds right outside my window.
6. A courtyard full of plants.
5. Quiet, adult neighbors.
    (No late night parties on the roof top pool deck also known as my former bedroom ceiling.)
4. I can paint the walls! More on that to come. I haven't wasted a second.
3. Storage! We have a garage storage unit- and side by side garage parking.
2. It's close to my school! A world away, but only 2.5 miles. My commute is only 7 minutes.

And the number 1 favorite thing:

A craft closet! We have seven closets! ( I know! Unbelievable! ) Seriously, Cliff and I walk around all day saying things like, "This is a miracle. I just can't believe WE actually get to live Here!!"

It feels so great to have a place for everything. It's truly a fresh start. The one I really did need.

Needless to say my creative juices are flowing! See you again real soon!

Happy Birthday Will McCotter!

Happy Birthday from Hollywood, California!

And, thank you for your service to our country!

Any friend of Tricia's is a friend of mine. You can read Will's story here and participate in his World Wide (web) Birthday Celebration here.

Hello

Hello!

Summer is finally in full swing. Where have I been?

1. First I organized a book/bake sale for my awesome church.  We used bookfinder.com to publicize our sale with great success. This is a nationwide service that advertises used book sales by region and non profits can advertise for free! With relatively little effort on the part of a handful of volunteers we raised $1,065!  Not too shabby, right? Plus it was fun to hang out around books and visit with neighbors and friends. Not a bad way earn a buck.

2. Cliff and I celebrated our 7th anniversary!

We had a very simple celebration with our latest obsession Jersey Mikes Subs.  One day not too long ago, Cliff came home all excited about this new sub shop over by Target. Well, I love subs! I have loved them since I was a little girl. Every summer on the way home from vacation I would share a huge sub with my father at Tom Walls in Avon, New York. However, since Cliff detests Subway, I always thought he didn't like subs. We never ate them together and he didn't even know I liked them. We looked at each other with google eyes at discovering something new to share. Even after seven years you can still discover new things! And, we have had Jersey Mikes every week since!

We don't really exchange gifts, but as a small token I made this eye chart using the lyrics from "I Will" by the Beatles. This song was performed at our wedding by one of my students.  The website, Custom Eye Chart Maker is easy, but limited in the characters you can use. The last line of text is standard and so I had to upload my picture into Picnik and edit it. The font is not quite right yet, so this is still a work in progress. I hope to frame it soon though.

3. Not so much going on in the crafty life right now. I have wrestled with "stuff" lately. As in, what do I need? Oh sure there are a gazillion tempting ideas out there, but do I need more stuff? The big pay cut didn't help inspire me either. So together that has kind of put a damper on my crafting... for a bit.

4. To contradict all that, I am signing up for the latest Sweet Goodness Swap. That should get the juices flowing again!

5. In the meantime, my mama is coming to visit and I imagine we will spend our days, in part, just like this.

Hope you are enjoying your summer and that the living is easy.

Would You Please Vote For Laura?

One of my favorite bloggers, Laura Ingalls Gunn from Decor to Adore is auditioning for the new Oprah show. Wouldn't it be great to see one of us win that contest?

  I have been reading Laura's blog for about six months now and she is truly the kind of person you want as your neighbor. She is a real woman with a real family, budget and life. Laura just finished design school and now she's going out of the box with her dreams and persuing the idea of having her own TV show! So cool! Laura promises lots of great "trash to treasure" projects and real life design should she win.

So let's help her out!

Go here to see her audition tape and vote!

Then come back... and check out these great posts from Laura's blog.

Making trim- plus multiple ways to dress a bathroom mirror.

The Almost Famous 70's Soiree

Sweet Easter Presents

Minimalist Class Party

"Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired." -- Mother Theresa



The words of Mother Theresa have been so comforting to me this year.

Without a PTA class parties at OFS fall on the teacher. I would say the school wide tradition is that the kids bring in a bunch of junk food. It makes me feel like a stewardess with 30 first class passengers. The kids like it.

This year I decided to change this game. Using the economic decline as my excuse. I told my students at Christmas time that we were going to limit our class party to one simple treat that I would provide. Oh sure, they fussed a bit, but I was able to convince them that the money their parents saved not buying treats for a class party would be spent on their own family celebrations. I made these disastrous reindeer brownie things that they actually loved.

It was a great party. Simple. No pig out. No mess to clean up.

So I used the economy again to push the idea of a very limited end of the year party. This time there was hardly any fuss. I told them that I would make a special treat and they trusted me.

Last year, I spent hours on the last day of school eve frosting tiny bear bikinis. 

This year I was very tired. I decided on something really simple. Dog paw cupcakes. They are made from a mix, a can and one Junior Mint and 3 chocolate chips. Again the kids loved them.

The biggest hit was the superlative awards I gave them. I made a very simple photocopied award and gave each child a silly award. "Most Likely to Be In the Bathroom" went to Magenta. The "Michael Jackson Style Award" went to Lime.  "Most Likely to Be A World Cup Goalie" and "Kickball King" went to two sporties. While the biggest talker got "The Young Oprah Award."  My aide and I collaborated for about 10 minutes on these and they were a HUGE hit.

I guess my takeaway from the recession has been just what Mother Theresa says, special gestures do not have to be extraordinary to be genuine.  This lesson has been kid tested and is teacher approved.

More Lemons to Lemonade

Thanks again for all your kind words and votes for my lemonade stand! It really is pretty exciting to win!

Speaking of Lemonade...

Check out this amazing lemonade stand by Anj of Multi Purpose Wings:

If that doesn't make you want to be 7 again this summer I don't know what would!

What's more, when I wrote to her about her stand she wrote this back:

Honestly it is such a blast to have around. And it teaches my kids about math, money management and saving. Right now they are using the summer lemonade stand income to help pay for their dance classes. 

People, I really think the Lemonade stand could be the new play kitchen!


Speaking of Lemons to Lemonade... I made a big mistake this month. BIG!! I booked a flight for the wrong date for my cousin's wedding in Texas...next week! Fortunately, my mom alerted me to the mistake in time for us to fix it, but alas it was a $550 mistake. Needless to say, I was really frustrated and angry with myself for not double, triple, quadruple checking the dates the first time. Now, not only did I have to shell out a buncha money to get a new flight for the both of us, there are extra hotel cost...meals...etc... Money...easy come....easy go. Sigh.

Then today I learned that my lemon of a brain may have made some lemonade after all. Because of my mistake, I am going to get a whole extra day with both my parents, my aunt and uncle and my most importantly my 85 year old "Grandpaw!" In the words of American Express- "priceless."

I am feeling very strongly that this was a "God thing" and I can not wait to make the most of every minute with my family next weekend. Priceless indeed.

Hope your week brings you some grace too.

Of Holes and Summer Memories

Recently, this post, A Sandbox for Our Son by Frugal Babe brought back so many happy memories. Basically, the Frugal Babe has made a sand "box" out of a hole in the ground.

My brother and I were the only kids on the block with a sandbox like that. One summer my brother decided to dig a hole to China. Several of the neighborhood kids took their turns digging. I made a huge mud pie bakery that summer and also did a bit of digging. I remember our imaginations running wild with the idea of digging straight through the Earth.

Finally, one day in late August my dad came through the yard and casually said, "Last week of digging. I am filling in the hole next weekend." Funny how I remember that.

Anyway, what do you do when you know you won't make it to China in just a week? Why you turn your hole into a "hot tub."  Above you see the beginning stages of the "hot tub." We invited our friends and they came over one afternoon for a soak. It was anything but hot, but it was pretty deep. The hole was pretty wide around the top, but all our feet jammed together at the narrow bottom. Sitting chest deep in cold, muddy water seemed like a  fitting way to end the "summer of the hole."

Flash forward nearly twenty years, I casually mentioned growing up in Brighton, NY on an infertility chat room and low and behold, one of the gals happens to be married to one of our former neighbors! It really is a small world.

When we reconnected one of the many memories Steve shared was digging the hole. He couldn't believe our parents let us just dig a giant hole in the backyard. So, I asked my mother about it and her response was something like this, "Why not? It kept you busy! Daddy was able to fill it back in."

While looking for the hole picture, I found this one of the Little cousins  in our grandfather's gravel driveway. Does anyone still have a gravel driveway? It was wonderful. We spent hours playing there.

I don't know if "kids today" could be entertained for hours digging a hole to China. Are they too sophisticated now? What I do know is that it is nice work if you can get it.

Have a great week!

A Time To Brag

In a world full of standardized testing and Scan-tron forms nothing makes my day like a creative writing project.

This one has an art element to boot. Icing on the cake-I tell you!

I had my students create their own version of  the Langston Hughes poem "Dream Variation." Then inspired by this Artist Woman project we created silhouette paintings to go with the poems. (Our silhouettes came from google image searches to save time.) The end result reminds me of the ipod billboards of a few years ago. This project really sparked the Crayon's imaginations.






And, just in case your interested in writing your own "Dream Variation", this is the form we used:

Click on any picture to see it enlarged. There are also more student samples on flickr.

Now back to my regularly scheduled test prepping. Testing is just a week away!

Some Easter Treats for Me

I am bummed because I dug into my Easter Egg Swap package with such abandon that the tags are all messed up and I can no longer give proper respects. The eggs were amazing and I quickly added them to my display shelf, coffee table and just about any other surface there was. Also pictured here are the darling chick salt and pepper shakers from my Christmas stocking. Thanks Santa!

I enjoyed a lovely (although cold) Easter. I went to both church services at HUMC and they both really rocked my socks. Our pastor can preach! The music was great! I also volunteered at the welcome table which was really fun. It was so great to meet new people and just feel the love that is HUMC.

The rest of the afternoon was quiet...until the earthquake and actually, that was pretty quiet too. Later in the evening we went to see Nellie McKay in Echo Park and she was fantastic.

And, the Easter goodness has continued on...

My mother-in-law sent me these adorable and delish chocolate tools. There was a wrench too, but that didn't even make the picture. Yum! They were from Andy's Candies which brings back tons of memories for me.


Then I got a big box from Amazon in the mail. It contained the Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts. At first I missed the gift tag and thought that I had won Junie Moon's giveaway (I didn't because it's still going on. Go on over and enter- especially since I am out of the contest!) Nope, my mama sent this to me. She had signed up for some promotion with Amazon that gave free shipping for a month and wanted to order something big while the getting was good. Man! It's an awesome book! Martha really does know everything. In the back there is this CD with all the patterns to print out at home. Can't wait to dig in this weekend.  Thanks Mama!



Finally, I leave you with this Nellie McKay Dog Song.

Have a great day!

Happy Easter!

 
"The great gift of Easter is hope - Christian hope which makes us have that confidence in God, in his ultimate triumph, and in his goodness and love, which nothing can shake."
-- Basil C. Hume

RIP

"Jaime exposed one of the most dangerous myths of our time — that inner city students can't be expected to perform at the highest levels. Because of him, that destructive idea has been shattered forever."
-Edward James Olmos

Thank you Mr. Escalante.

Kind Words & Warm Feet Drive

 Last November, I wrote this post about my motivation to raise money for the homeless in my neighborhood. Comfort Socks, a charity dedicated to helping the get new socks distributed to homeless shelters contacted me about working with them. For months I have been thinking about doing some sort of sock drive for Comfort Socks.

I like puns, so forgive me for saying that I had really had cold feet when it came to writing this post.

I had planned on February...then the earthquake hit Haiti and I became distracted. I told myself, "March." Then the earthquake hit Chili and I doubted whether people would give to my sock drive.

Well, there will be no perfect time. And also, no time like the present. It's time for me to "toe the line."

 

I hope you will join my "Kind Words and Warm Feet Drive!"

 

What to do:

1.Write a small message of hope and tuck it into a new pair of ladies or mens white cotton socks.  Perhaps you have a favorite Bible verse or other quote that encourages you? Write it out on an index card or piece of stationary and tuck it into the socks. Imagine getting both a new pair of socks and a note of encouragement. It's a small way to let someone know that while they may be down, they are not forgotten.

“Remember, man does not live on bread alone: sometimes he needs a little buttering up.” 

-John C. Maxwell

2. Send the socks directly to:

Comfort Socks

C/O Out of the Crayon Box Sock Drive
PO Box 477
Supply, NC 28462

Let's save the middle man, shall we? 

3. You can also help by grabbing the button and posting about this on your blog!

When- By April 15

My goal is to get 100 pairs of socks donated. I plan to have some fun giveaways for participants.  I'd also love to read about what you chose for your inspirational note. Please blog about this! Let me know if you do, I would love to link up to your post.

Thanks for joining in this worthwhile project!


“One word or a pleasing smile is often enough to raise up a saddened and wounded soul.” 

 Therese of Lisieux quotes

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Thrifted Trinkets

A few weeks ago I stopped at a garage sale in Burbank. I found a great vintage table cloth, a classic Fisher Price rolly chime ball, a Jenga game for my class, and this Cool Whip tub of trinkets. I think I spent less than $5 bucks on everything. I didn't *need* any of it, but these vintage things captured my imagination.

Let's take a closer look.

It took a bit of doing to unwind and free all those bits and bobs.

Please click on this to see it larger. It's as if my entire '70's childhood was shrunk into a Cool Whip tub!
 
So much has changed. I happen to have a faux PB "rotary phone" but I doubt my students would even know what it was.

Actually, I imagine these date back to the late '60's. These look like the toys my cousins played with and my grandmother saved in her toy box.

And, although I have honestly never smoked a cigarette, even to try it, I did play smoke all the time. Be it bubble gum cigarettes or rolls of paper, that was always cool. Do kids today do that? I have never seen a Crayon fake smoke. They make paper cell phones out of any folded paper.

I have no projects planned for these. For now they will stay in the Cool Whip tub. Maybe someday I will make a doll house. I'd love to do that. Or maybe I'll use them in a "Bits 'n Pieces" collage. I will probably just horde them. Then when I die and (hopefully) my grandchildren hold my garage sale, some person with a fondness for junk will buy them.



And they will have this totally cool, teeny tiny, bottle of "Greasy Kid Stuff."

Have a great week!

Obama Picture Contest Winner

Yelena is the winner! (I just put all the various "bead" guesses in a hat and drew one.)
The giant Obama picture at the Crafts Convention was made of those Perler Beads.

Here is a detailed shot of the lapel pin.

Pretty amazing, huh?

Click on this to read all about it. It was up for the highest bid at the convention. There weren't any bids when I saw it. I think this kind of thing belongs in his future presidential library. The Reagan Library has all sorts of cool things school kids and crafters the world over made for him.



This is another project using the same beads on display at the convention. Kids love to make things with those beads, but I have never known what to do with the finished project. They just seem to be these fragile bits that hang around until they break. Framing them in a shadow box is a really cute idea.

Yelena, I'll be sending you those magazines soon!

Fun *Little* Contest!

This is not a political post! Fret not! (Frankly, I am totally disgusted by political discourse on both sides right now.) What this is, is a huge craft project made by kids!



This huge picture was on display at the Crafts Convention last weekend. It was made by thousands of fourth graders from around the country. (My class did not participate. Somehow we missed out on this in the Crayonbox  and that is just sad!)

You know I have a real soft spot for fourth graders and cool craft projects. So, I thought I would have a little contest. Can you guess what this is made of? That's the contest. Just guess what the big presidential picture is made of.


I picked up a bunch of craft magazines including Crafts'n things and Pack 'O Fun. My students are loving the copy of Pack 'O Fun I got for them. What a cool magazine for kids! I will send the winner a package of crafty magazines. If there are several correct guessers, I will randomly select the winner.

So what do you think? Go ahead and click on the picture to see it larger. I was right there and couldn't believe it. 

On another note, I never did hear from the winner of the Citra-Solv contest. She has a private profile. So, if you have a private profile, please leave an email with your comment. And, I guess I will draw another winner for the Citra-Solv.  Updated: After picking several other private profile people with the random number generator, I finally picked cneaglefan to be the winner because she left her email right in the comment!