Joy

Monday, May 23, 2011

24 Week Update

24 Weeks down. 13 to go.


I don't remember what it is like to not be pregnant or trying to become pregnant. When Peanut is born it will be 22 straight months of either having a pregnancy or pre-pregnancy mindset/body. Claire obviously feels that way too. The other day she said. "Mama, your Peanut is getting bigger, is Peanut going to come out? Like Miss Nicole's baby at church? I want to hold my brother like the babies at church." and my best answer is. "I hope so."

Claire thinks it's a boy all the time because we made a big deal about how Will was a boy. I, on the other hand, am 90% sure it's a girl. Josh is leaning more toward boy.

I was wrong about the heparin not bruising on my legs. Oh well. Josh has been doing the injections for me on the back of my arm whenever he is home at the right time and I love it. He can do it really well and most of the time I can't even feel it.

So far, the pregnancy has been pretty uneventful - which is good of course!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Some Sewing

I sewed today. I have not touched my sewing machine or serger for at least 5 months so to me, it was a big deal. I finally decided to get back to it after the past few weeks of being unable to find tops for Claire at thrift stores and then going to Old Navy and being disappointed in either their selection or prices. I knew that I had quite a few knit tops that have been just waiting to be refashioned.

I took my favorite Old Navy shirt of Claire's (she is wearing it in the main blog picture above - that was last year on her birthday) and used it as a pattern. I didn't have to cut it up luckily, just looked at it and layed it out to cut around.It still fits her but is getting a tad short. It is a really simple design but in order to pull it off, I need to learn how to do a rolled hem on my serger. I was super mad at myself when I found that I had everything I needed and it only took about 30 minutes to read through the manual and learn to set the machine for the rolled hem. Why did I not do it sooner!

I practiced on this weird, I don't know, puffin? knit fabric that I got from somewhere. That way I wouldn't waste my good fabric if it didn't turn out. It came out beautifully - just a tad short and once it was on her I decided the print wasn't too bad so I am keeping it.

Next, I tried it on my good fabric. A friend at church dug this aeropostale shirt out of the clothing mounds at the church rummage sale and knew I would like it for sewing (thanks Anita!)Well, that's what is left of it. I basically just cut off the bottom section. I made my pattern a little longer than the first time and voila! a new shirt for Claire. I must admit I am pretty proud of this one.
Not wanting to have too many shirts in the exact same pattern I went to the Old Navy website to see what other styles are out there right now and found this one. I then knew that this shirt had a new future. I bought it about 2 years ago for $1.I reused the ties for the shoulder straps and just used the fabric from the bottom portion like I did with the green striped shirt. I am very happy with this one too!


I still have a few more knits to transform. Shirt crisis averted!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Fun with Cats

Our cat, Jonas puts up with a lot. Everyday he jumps up in our computer chair and just sits there until Claire comes and pushes him in circles. She gets him going pretty fast and sometimes rides with him. As you can see he is only slightly annoyed. Eventually Claire will get bored and leave him alone. But seriously, I think he likes it.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Tea - My Excuse for Not Blogging

You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging as much lately. Well, I finally have the chance to show you why!

Three months ago, I started planning for our church's, Ladies' Spring Tea. I was so excited! When I was about 10 years old my family went to a very small church and a lady there (Renee) would give teas each spring. My mom and I would help out at them and I absolutely loved it. They were a lot of work with so much attention to detail. Everything was so special and carefully planned. I remember that Renee treated me as one of the ladies, I felt privileged and helpful. Ever since then, I knew that I wanted to give teas someday and here was my chance! I couldn't believe it. These pictures are from 1998 .....and 2000.
Wow, that's all I can say to those pictures.

My mom and I (and Josh too!) faithfully looked for items I would need for the tea and I am pretty sure that between the three of us, we have traveled to every Goodwill in the valley. (several times a week). I needed so much stuff though. We were planning on 120 ladies, and 15 tables. That meant I needed 15 serving teapots, 15 centerpiece teapots,
15 tablecloths,
(each was a vintage sheet from Goodwill, cut square, hemmed and ironed.)
15 creamers, 15 sugar bowls,
15 glass bowls for lemon curd
15 for clotted cream
15 platters or tiered servers
120 china plates, (not shown)
and 120 of these 1950's "hospitality sets". They were remarkably easy to find at thrift stores I never spent more than $1 on a plate and most of the cups were .69. I found just under 100 so I borrowed the rest from a friend. (Thank you Mrs. Lumpkin!)

Not to mention, cloth napkins, flowers, and table # signs for each table. I felt like all I did for a week was wash dishes from the thrift stores. After that week, I had a strict 'wash it as soon as it comes in the house' policy.

I also had the menu planned out. Since the baking would be done by 19 different ladies who graciously accepted when I asked them to make 120 tiny foods, I needed to have recipes that showed pictures of how the food should look when it was done - just so there were no surprises and we were all on the same page.







That was a huge undertaking, baking everything, taking pictures of each step, and noting how many items each recipe would make. Here is the menu.

1st course served:
Orange Cranberry Scones with Lemon curd
Sweet Rose Bread with Clotted Cream
Chocolate Banana Muffins


2nd Course Served:
Chicken Salad Croissants
Raspberry Ribbon Sandwiches
Cucumber Sandwiches
Quiche
Fruit Cups

3rd Course Served:
Blueberry Pound Cake
Lemon Rose Madeleines
Fudge Truffle Cheesecake
Butter Cookies

This is how the tables were set. Each table had a hostess who was responsible for getting the food, beverages, and plates for the ladies. This cut back on traffic and makes it more enjoyable to be served. I am so thankful for every person who had to work to make this tea possible!

I was so excited for the day of the tea, (May 7th) but I also was dreading it as not only did I have all these preparations to worry about but I also was the speaker. I did not want to speak, any one who knows me can testify to that, but I knew that God wanted me to. The theme of the tea was Joy, so I knew that I had to talk about having joy even in life's trials. I had hoped my talk/testimony would be about 10 minutes and it was just over that. I didn't cry nearly as much as I did when I practiced at home either so that was a relief. I guess I was too nervous:) Over all, the tea went off without any major hitches and I think it was a great success. I had every intention of taking pictures of the actual event but we were all so busy that I never had the chance. I was in the kitchen with Josh and 3 other brave helpers from our church. What a huge job it was to wash all those dishes and prepare the trays for each table hostess!

I am so sad that it is over! I still haven't put everything away - mostly because I have no idea where to store it. What a great husband I have to not complain about the boxes and boxes of china and tea pots to store in the garage, (or how much money that was spent on them - which I refuse to add up the receipts to find out). I know we acquired everything at the lowest cost possible and they will be used and appreciated for years and years to come. What a blessing planning the tea had been for me. It kept me recklessly busy for at least 2 months, keeping my mind off the pregnancy and making the time fly by. I can't wait until next time! (and yes, I have already started planning for it.... a little.)