Mother in Training

I took a quilting class yesterday and made my first quilt. It's far from perfect, but I love the fabric. So girly! ...and hopelessly matchy-matchy!

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Here is the back - the rabbits are a bit out of focus. I'm struggling to focus with the lens I currently have for the camera, and my manual focus on this particular photo left much to be desired.

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.I'm still chugging along with my knitted blanket, but I just realized that I need to rip out the last section that I worked. I must have completely spaced out not to have noticed sooner that I flipped the last section upside down on the blanket. Even a 5-year old knows "V" doesn't come after "C" and "D" doesn't come after "U". I'm quite good at making negative progress on projects. Ugh! At least I can look to the quilt now as a finished object.

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In my other attempts to train and become a good mother, I'm baking (cooking?) my first ham right now. I read somewhere once that "good mothers" have casseroles and soups in the freezer for when baby comes home, so I'm testing a few casseroles and soups over the next three months to find some suitable for freezing. The ham will be used in a variety of these. I had no idea cooking a ham was such a process, but I feel like a good mother for doing it, and that's the important thing right now. A false sense of assurance in my ability to mother is still a sense of assurance, so I'm going with what I have for now, even if it comes from recalling a 1950s Good Housekeeping article.


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Pink or Blue?

It's a girl!
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Baby on the Way

I'm quite excited to announce that I'm pregnant and due in late February 2010. My in-laws were in town for the Labor Day weekend, and my mother-in-law couldn't help herself from buying this precious little sleeper with frogs on it. It's the first baby item we have gotten, and we really don't even have a place to put it yet, so it sits on my dresser reminding me of two things (1) there's a real, honest to goodness baby in my belly and (2) I have a tremendous amount of work to do to prepare our apartment for a baby - starting with finding somewhere to store this one newborn-sized sleeper.

The realization that there is a baby in my belly still hasn't quite resonated with me, though it's beginning to. From what I've read, I could start feeling him/her (we'll find out gender, hopefully, at our October 4th appointment) moving in the next two weeks. But, I also had a little scare last week that illustrated to me that I'm not just responsible for me anymore, but for a little baby also.

The scare occurred while I was walking to lunch and started experiencing pain in my abdomen and back. First, willing to dismiss it as a familiar pain I've felt many times before, I then realized that it wasn't a pain I should be feeling these days and that it could indicate something was quite wrong with the baby. Instantly, I felt panic and regret for all of the housework (including moving furniture) I'd done to prepare the apartment for our first real house guests since we moved here in July '08. Seeing blood when I retreated to the bathroom only sent the panic into overdrive. "What have I done?!"

Several hours and an emergency ultrasound visit later, I was calmed to learn that baby was absolutely fine, but I also learned that I was diagnosed with Placenta Previa, and I was sent home with instructions to avoid any "strenuous" activity and "heavy" lifting, which included carrying groceries and running. Pressing the nurse for activities I could do, I only received more limitations. Swimming isn't even an option. I'm just to wait for clearance until my next doctor visit on September 29th, which will be followed by an ultrasound visit on October 4th. Hopefully, baby will have moved up (which the nurses and doctors fully expect, and science indicates is probable), and I will be cleared to participate in my normal activities again.

It was a good eye-opener for me, and I'm going to try to spend the next few weeks reading some of the books I've accumulated and planning a make-shift nursery for our apartment. We're expecting to move when our lease is up in June, so baby will only be in this apartment for a couple of months. Any big plans for a nursery will come once we find a new home next summer.

A Positive Movie Motivator

I went to see Julie & Julia this evening with my husband, and while he didn't love it, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was clean, sweet, and positive, which is what I'm looking for in life right now. So, with the idea of a blog topic central to the movie, I began to wonder what blog topic I could explore that would have such a positive impact on my outlook and still somehow contribute something uplifting to the blogosphere. So, I reflected on some of my recent thoughts and discoveries.

Lately, I've been a bit overwhelmed with the negativity flooding every medium in the world today. Locally, living in Hoboken hasn't been very uplifting lately either, what with our mayor being ousted due to a political scandal, today's tragedy on the Hudson River, not to mention the generally negative outlook that many outspoken New Yorkers have on countless social and political issues. Even Buddy Valastro, manager of Carlo's Bakery and Hoboken's local TV reality series star of Cake Boss on TLC, can't sweeten the local perspective. I've even tried to reduce my evening television watching to Jeapordy and Wheel of Fortune, just to avoid the news and graphic crime shows.

So, with the desire to do and say something positive both virtually and in real life, I've decided to spend the rest of 2009 blogging about uplifting events - big or small - going on around me everyday. It's a shame that I don't see them more often, or pay closer attention. But, by intentionally setting out each day to discover joy and happiness and by closing each day by sharing my discoveries with you, perhaps we will both have a brighter outlook on our lives.

Today's Positive Moment:
Re-discovering, through Juile & Julia, the desire to be happy and uplifting in what I say to myself and others.

What about you? What's making you happy today?
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My Nephew with Elephante

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It's not often I get to take a picture of something I've made with the person who I made it for. This makes up for all of those times!
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New Project: Charity Knitting

I've been slowly working on coordinating a group on Ravelry that provides an opportunity for knitters to make and donate items to cat-focused charity organizations. I know that I would adopt absolutely every stray animal I found if I had unlimited resources, and I have many friends who would do the same, particularly for cats. So, for those who admirably take on the challenge of caring for cats without homes, I felt that my friends and I would jump at the chance to help them if we just knew who they were and what they needed.

So, I set up a group on Ravelry that is a semi-swap/semi-charity group. We've had one small, but successful swap, and I've gotten a fabulous graphic designer from Ravelry's Design Donors group to create a badge and banner for the group.

A list of charities is constantly growing as members of the group share them.

We'll have regular swaps, during which we can work in groups or individually to complete a project to donate to a charity at the end of the swap. I made a blanket during the last swap and sent it to a New York state knitter who was active in her local SPCA. I'm really hoping to get a substantial enough list of charities together that each member can find one local to him/her. That way, we can establish a relationship with our local charities and maybe get involved in other ways.

Let me know if you know of any to add to our list!


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Homesick

In a blog that I follow fairly regularly, Shona of Lala Dex Press recently mentioned that she is homesick for LA, and I too haven't been home to Texas for quite some time, so her feelings resonated with me. Shona wrote that watching the Lakers in the playoffs has been helping stave off some of her emotions.

What helps me is the combined mention of small towns, truck driving, heart break, among others. Hearing about them warms my heart so much that my neck turns red. That's what happened during tonight's CBS special honoring George Strait as the country music artist of the decade. All of these topics were mentioned as well as a few others like Ocean Front Property, a song, admittedly, I didn't understand until I was 18 and left the heartland and saw the ocean for the first time.



I'm fortunate that I can keep the feeling going when I watch Walk the Line on CBS this Friday evening. It just happens to be my favorite movie, and I think my husband must think it's called Again! because that's what he says every time I watch it.

I've Got Stripes

I made a fun, striped elephant for my nephew who turns 1-year old today. It was another of Susan B. Anderson's adorable patterns that I couldn't resist. I changed the ears because her pattern called for them to be crocheted. The front of the ears are a little goofy, and if I make another one, I'll actually pre-write a pattern for them, rather than winging it again.
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I also got him a frog. When my brother was little, he was constantly sick, and him having a fever of 104+ was not unusual. Now, my nephew is suffering the same fate. When my brother had his tonsils removed, he stopped getting so sick. But, I have to wonder whether it was something else that healed him. When he was at the hospital recovering from the tonsillectomy, he received a get-well frog that became a frequent companion, and who he gave the name "Tonsils". Creative, huh? My brother also named our childhood dog "K-9", after the movie, or so he said. I renamed the dog "Butt", after the person who initially named him "K-9".

Anyway, I'm hoping that the healing agent was the frog, rather than the tonsillectomy. And, from what I understand, my nephew will be needing even more healing powers now that his 1-year birthday party that was scheduled for Saturday was postponed because he came into contact with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease during the past week.
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And, how is an aunt to wrap this 1-year old's birthday gift? Well, in camo, of course. Happy Birthday, Kiddo! Try to find the camouflaged elephant and frog!.
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And, I needed some stripes of my own, so I made what I've named "My Happy Hat", or what my brother would name "Hat". Now, I'm happily wearing my hat and singing the tune of The Legend.

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Pictures to Make Me Smile

I have great friends who send me countless pictures of precious pets everywhere. I was fishing through my email today and spotted this one. So stinkin' cute that I just want to knit him a sweater.

It was a needed reminder of how cute the little critters can be as I was watching Wayne bat at and eat my spider plant while screeching in enjoyment.

Happy weekend, everyone, and if you have some precious animal pix, I'd love to see them.
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A Must-See Motion Picture

I have the world's shortest attention span when it comes to watching anything on YouTube, but I watched intently as this story progressed one photo at a time. Amazing! I can't imagine the breadth of his patience and attention span. I truly want to meet him and tell him my life story just to find out. He might be the one person in the world who I wouldn't have to pay to listen to it.

Back to Babies

My recent lack of motivation to blog stems primarily from the fact that I no longer have the fantastic camera that I borrowed from my friend because she needed it back. I'm finally coming to terms with it, and broke out my point/shoot camera.

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I haven't had much more motivation to knit than to take pictures. But, my chiropractor is awaiting the arrival of her baby girl, and after she gushed over the color of my hat that I knit in Manos del Uraguay's wool, I thought it was a great opportunity to use up some of my "matchy-matchy" (thanks, Wendy) yarn.
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I loved the color so much when I first started to knit that I bought several skeins of it in wool, and when the same colorway was available in silk, I bought more. Alas, as Wendy knew before I did, the color got old quickly..

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No one knows the power of a baby like a knitter. Just the mention of one of those tiny little boogers makes our fingers itch. After several attempts to find a bootie or slipper pattern that I could properly gauge with the silk, I arrived at Susan B. Anderson's Cozy Slippers from her book Itty Bitty Nusery.

The baby slippers and hat are in the silk yarn, and the gift bag is wool.

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Spring has sprung here in Hoboken, but the street that I've been using for my Seasons of Hoboken photography is going to be the last street to bloom. I'll take down the cold winter picture soon, I hope.

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Where You Can Stand on the Ground and See for 50 Miles

Last night, my husband and I went into the city to watch Robert Earl Keen and Cross Canadian Ragweed play in concert for Texas Independence Day.

You may need to download this to see these videos.

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Cross Canadian Ragweed

(If you can bear the first minute of ads, this video is pretty great.)

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It was a fantastic concert, and in the final encore, Robert Earl Keen brought out Cross Canadian Ragweed for one of his best-known songs followed by 20-minutes of finger-flying guitar solos from every guitar picker in each band. It was definitely one of the best I've seen, from the steel to the two leads, and then the two bass guitar pickers. While the former were outstanding, it's just amazing to watch and hear blurring bass guitar solos. That devil in Georgia didn't even bother to show.

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At one point, Robert Earl Keen asked the audience whether any of them had ever been to Lubbock, which isn't far from where I grew up in Booker, Texas. He said it's a place where you can stand squarely on the ground with your own two feet, look in any direction, and see for 50 miles. If you stand on a tuna fish can, you can see for 100 miles. Funny, but true. I remember a story about a man who lived in NYC and moved 15 miles from Booker. The vastly empty horizon literally drove him crazy, and he moved back to NYC two months later.

Puppy Love at Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day, Puppet Heap is selling adorable hand-made dog puppets like the one featured in their Old Mother Hubbard show. The puppets are for sale at Etsy. They also put together this cute little show to advertise how adorable the doggy is.

Another Puppet Show

When Work & Play Collide

If your work and play collide, you likely work for a company like Puppet Heap. For those of you who don't know, I'm working again. While, my job as a Controller isn't exactly creative, everyone else I work with at Puppet Heap is gifted beyond belief. Frankly, my knitting is a bit of an embarrassment to me, compared to the things they design, build, and produce.

Here is a peak at their talent.

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We have some exciting things coming up for Valentine's Day, so stay tuned! We'll be making a little puppet show for YouTube and selling some of our items on Etsy! I'll let you know when we post our items for sale.

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An Empty Plane Floated by Hoboken Today

All of the US Airways passengers were safely on land as their emergency-landed plane floated past Hoboken this afternoon. This was the view from the pier at 4:30p this afternoon, and the pictures show how the next hour progressed.

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