everydayjill

My party line has always been that I don’t sew. Need a button sewn on? Call your Grandma or a tailor. Need a hem fixed? That is what scotch tape is for until you get to a seamstress. Or your grandma. Thread a bobbin? I night be getting a tad nauseated at that the thought.
I do not sew. I do not fix buttons. I buy costumes for children or have them made. I am crafty in lots of other ways but the thought of buttons and bobbins can seriously make me break out in a cold sweat. That being said- I SEWED and QUILTED yesterday! My domestic goddess friend Cindy wanted to make a quilted something yesterday since our kids were actually playing nicely. I started to say no, and then some wild and crazy impulse came over me, and I said yes.
Two and a half hours later and I am looking at this vera-Bradley-esque cute jounal cover tht I made. Me- she who does not sew. It is pretty stinkin’ cute too- will post photos when Cindy emails them to me.

Sew long! I know I am lame

A friend tries to have ‘Best Days Ever’ on a regular basis. Daunting, huh? I thought this sounded like way too much to take on, but then I thought that NOT having ‘Best Days Ever’ might be a complete cop-out. So, my New Year’s Resolution may just be to have a ‘Best Day Ever’ on a regular basis.
Baby Steps- today was a Quite Good Day. Great night’s sleep (rare for me!), walking Humperdink on a beautiful morning. B&E for a fun-filled morning , lots of fun texts from friends. Strawberry mango orange juice and poached eggs. Hanging out with kiddos and the Wilder-Rowley clan. Sleeping rugrats, new PJ’s, glass of wine, and a fire. This was a Quite Good Day!

Tomorrow, we try for a Most Excellent Day!

‘I need a little dispense, okay?” says N-Dawg, a little too innocently.

“Okay?” I say, as I am in that mid-afternoon wanting to sleep stage…

This goes on two or more three more times, and finally, I say “What the heck are you talking about? What is a little dispense, N-Dawg?”

“Deez, Mom.”

Oh. PEZ. Lots and lots of PEZ. The kid must have had three full packages of PEZ, as I kept saying “okay…”

Nice thing is, he started sharing “a little dispense here, a little dispense there…” with everyone. Who can complain about that, except maybe the one paying the dentist bills?

“Visions of sugarplums dance in their heads…”

I always picture Christmas being perfect. Gifts wrapped just so, with the homemade bows that I am really good at making. Breakfast casserole ready to pop in the oven for Christmas morning. Music playing, everything Martha Stewart perfect and pretty.

Then I open my eyes to reality. Reality being me holding G’s long blonde hair out of her face as she vomits over and over throughout the night. Reality being me getting the poor girl wet washcloths, new clothes, new vomit bucket, sips (tiny) of water because she is begging for it. Reality being the world’s longest night stretching out forever, until G and I finally fall asleep around five. Then N-Dawg wakes me excitedly at seven, because Santa REALLY came!! Yes, Santa really did manage to come in between spells of vomiting. The gifts are not wrapped perfectly, there are no homemade bows (bows- what the heck are those?), and casseroles can wait til another day…

But N-Dawg is so excited about even his stocking - “PEZ, Mom!!!!!! And look- a Pez dispenser too! SWEEEEEEET!”. The kid doesn’t even have the gimmes about his stuff under the tree, as he is satisfied with just his stocking. And G has stopped vomiting, and drags herself out long enough to ooh and aaah over her gifts- booksbooksbooksbooks- before she collapses in bed.

Merry Christmas- I am off to take a nap.

I don’t give her enough credit, but mi madre is one smart woman. We had a heart to heart the other night, and she reminded me of a powerful truth. We don’t necessarily pray for what we want or what we feel like we need. We pray for God to open our hearts to whatever we are supposed to be or to do. That is when our prayers can have an effect, even if we are not sure which way we are going. Hmmm. Deep thoughts.

Merry Christmas!

Things I have learned from Lucky over the past couple of days…

Is that a face or what? This is my grandparents’ dog, or King of Everything, as he would like to be known. I will write more about the joys of cute doggie tomorrow. I know, I know- you are all waiting with baited breath for doggie tails. tales. you know what I mean!

looong story short- my right shift key is jammed on my laptop, and i am way way too lazy to actually stretch my left pinky to my left shift for capitalization purposes. way too lazy. hence i told a friend that my writing was e.e. cummings-ish or nikki giovanni-ish. this got me to looking through reams of poetry (yes, i had my black eyeliner, black clothing, poetry reading phase). forgot how much i love nikki giovanni. so, here is to nikki giovanni and her complete and utter disregard for capitalization ;-).

 

Dunno why, but I love this picture of G. Maybe because it is A) so stinkin’ cute, B) has that ‘rollin my eyes on the inside’ pre-teen angst look, C) one of the rare times she didn’t actually roll her eyes and stick her tongue out when I brought my camera out of the bag.

N Dawg and his most favorite-est cousin in the entire universe. You wouldn’t know it by that sour face, but he is just prepping to knock Jim Carrey off his throne…