You can learn a lot from a dummy

6 November 2014, 10:56 pm by Giggles
Categories: Family, Learn Something

I’ve learned a lot from the internet. I’ve read several forums where people talk about their husbands or their parents or their in-laws and it’s taught me a lot. It’s confirmed to me just how much I have to be grateful for, how blessed I truly am.

I’m blessed with parents who love and respect me. They are still my parents, but they know they are the parents of adults now and not children and they treat us as such. They know that they raised their kids and it’s now our turn to raise ours. I’ve learned from the internet that there are a lot of people who are not so blessed.

And I’ve learned that I’m equally blessed with equally awesome in-laws. They respect us and love us and treat us as adults and let us parent as we see fit.

I read stories on the internet of parents and in-laws who undermine the wishes and desires of parents, try to be the parent, or even basically kidnap their grandkids while they are watching them. I’m so blessed to not have those types of people in my life.

And then I read about some of the men women marry. And I realize how incredibly blessed I am to have a husband who works hard for our family outside our home and then comes home and is an awesome father and husband who can cook dinner, clean the kitchen, and bathe and put our daughter to bed without complaint and without me micromanaging the whole thing. Because I trust him. He’s an amazing adult. Otherwise I wouldn’t have married him. It wasn’t until the internet that I realized there were so many women who found so many men where none of what goes on in our house would work because at least one of them isn’t actually a mental adult.

I have a husband who supports and defends me 100%. We watched “The Right Stuff” together a week or so ago and the scene where John Glenn tells his wife that if she doesn’t want the vice-president in their home then the vice-president doesn’t get to come into their home – Brett would totally do that for me.

I am very blessed. The internet has confirmed that repeatedly to me.

7 Shared thoughts

First memories

5 November 2014, 8:00 pm by Giggles
Categories: Family, Happy Things, Remembers

What is your first memory? How far back can you remember? And what kind of memory is it?

Earlier this summer Scientific American ran a brief article about first memories and what type they are. Only about a quarter were dramatic or traumatic. Mine certainly weren’t.

Three years ago for NaBloPoMo I wrote different memories I have at each age. My first memory was when I was 2, which is apparently pretty young. I have a lot of memories from when I was 3. My early memories are family events, childhood antics, and sensory experiences.

As we watch Iddo it’s clear she remembers things from one day to the next, especially now that we have a routine down. She knows what comes next. She knows what Brett’s ring tone on my phone is. She remembers where things are and how to do things. We’re real curious what her first long-term memory will be.

When she’s 30 will she remember collecting rocks as she walks around the neighborhood? Will she remember going to check the mail with Dad? Will she remember falling down and hurting her nose? Will she remember the music she hears? What will her first memory be? The more we talk about the things she does the more likely she will be to form a firm memory of them. What do we talk most about in her life?

It’s hard to say what my first memory of her is. Is my first memory the shots I did? Is it the day we went to the doctor and they retrieved the egg that became her? (My memories of that are super hazy due to the anesthesia they used, I don’t remember getting my pants back on.) Is my first memory of her going back three days later and seeing the embryo that would become her? The first time we saw her on ultrasound or felt her move? I will never forget the first time I touched her head, the first time I looked on her face and held her in my arms. I wonder if there’s any bit of a memory of that day for her as well. I hope in some corner of her mind exists some remnant of what that was like for her.

6 Shared thoughts

I’ll have the usual

4 November 2014, 1:48 pm by Giggles
Categories: Quilting/Sewing/Knitting/Crafting

I have a lot of patterns. I know there are people who have more, but I’ve filled a three drawer cabinet with them. I have all kinds of patterns for pants, shirts, dresses, skirts, jackets, hats, pajamas, bags, toys, kids clothes, and costumes. But I find there are just a few that I go to over and over again. They are my go-to patterns when I need something.

I recently made my 8th? (maybe more) apron from this pattern. Three of them are mine. I love it. I love the simplicity of it. I love the classic lines of it. It’s a great pattern. I’ve stuck with views A and D and haven’t seen the need to do the other two views yet.

S5961 - Favorite apron pattern

Need pjs? This is the pattern I go to for any kind of lounging pants. And I recently lengthened the shirt and cut the collar in half to use it for Brett’s Halloween costume too.

M2478 - Favorite PJs pattern

I live in jacket weather country (which is sad news for the amazing wool coat I made myself and absolutely love). I’ve used this jacket pattern (which is a bit dated, and not quite in the good way as the apron pattern above) three times now. The first time I made it as written out of black corduroy. It’s a nice jacket. The second time I made it out of a lovely deep red corduroy and tweaked it by doing the back yolk in two pieces on the bias to form a chevron and I fitted it at the waist. I made it a third time this summer out of a khaki twill bottom weight and not only did I fit the waist but I also lengthened it past my hips and added waist pockets. I love it! If I make it a fourth time I’m doing the same but I’ll be doing the waist pockets differently so they work in a bit easier. And one of these days I’ll have a collar I’ll let people examine closely.

M5191 - Favorite jacket pattern

I’m really not a fan of sewing collars, so this shirt has been made a few times and will probably be made several more.

B4685 - Favorite shirt pattern

I really love the fit of this skirt and have a couple of it in both the flared and straight versions and with knee-length and longer versions.

S5914 - Favorite skirt pattern

And this has been a great pattern to make for Iddo. I made her coming home outfit in this pattern and it was an almost ankle length dress then. Now it hits her about mid-thigh and when it gets shorter we’ll just have it be a top. I made her a red fleece one for Christmas last year and we’ll probably be able to pull it out again this year to be at least a top as well. It goes together quick and it’s really versatile.

M6541 - Favorite girl's dress/shirt pattern

There are a few other patterns that are probably working their way into my standards. I used Wee Wonderfuls’ Wee Bunny Pattern to make a leopard for Iddo to go with her Halloween costume and I love the simplicity and adorableness of it (although I need to work on my satin stitch embroidery). This pattern will probably show up in a lot of varieties in the future.

Wee Wonderfuls Leopard

One of the things I think I love about sewing is that I can take this handful of patterns and use them again and again but with slight variations every time and it looks like a very different piece. I can take the standard patterns and make them mine.

3 Shared thoughts

Remarks on Mothers and the Economy

3 November 2014, 7:56 am by Giggles
Categories: Family, Politics

The following is in response to remarks made by President Obama at Rhode Island College in Providence, Rhode Island, this past Friday. You can find the entire address here – Remarks by the President on Women and the Economy — Providence, RI. In particular I am responding to the following quote:

And sometimes, someone, usually mom, leaves the workplace to stay home with the kids, which then leaves her earning a lower wage for the rest of her life as a result. And that’s not a choice we want Americans to make.

So let’s make this happen. By the end of this decade, let’s enroll 6 million children in high-quality preschool, and let’s make sure that we are making America stronger. That is good for families; it’s also good for the children.

Dear Mr. President,

I am a drain on your economy.

Rather than choose to work outside the home, rather than choose to add to the unemployment statistics, I have chosen to leave the workplace to stay home with our kids, to provide them with a quality of “preschool” higher than any government funded program can ever hope to achieve.

My “student-to-teacher ratio” is lower than you can ever hope to match. In the past few weeks we have discussed geology, astronomy, physics, mathematics, literature, art, music, theology, architecture, home economics, nutrition, and biology to name a few.

Just passing through. I have my book. I am ready to go.

But more importantly than that, together with my husband, I’m providing our children with stability, strength, and love. And that is good for families. That is good for the children.

It is true that the research shows that a high-quality preschool makes a difference in the lives of children. But only those children who come from unstable homes, where education is not valued, where marriage is often not sanctified.

Strengthen marriage and you strengthen the home. Strengthen the home and you empower the children. Empower the children and the nation flourishes.

The key to a strong economy, to being a world power, is not preschool. It is families.

Your statement, Mr. President, was degrading to all the mothers who choose to stay home with their children.

Your plan, Mr. President, merely puts a band-aid on the issue rather than seeking out the real cause and solution.

Sincerely,
Lisa M. G. Dennis, PhD

For additional personal thoughts on having a highly-educated mother choosing to leave the workforce see I’m a S.W.A.M. on this blog.

4 Shared thoughts

The Sabbath Day

2 November 2014, 4:51 pm by Giggles
Categories: Gospel

A week ago I read a piece in the BBC about an island in Scotland that still keeps the Sabbath, but that’s changing.

Two quotes stood out to me in the article.

“I used to think wasn’t God wonderful to have given us the Sabbath.
“I can sit without feeling guilty that I’m not washing or ironing or cleaning.”

and

“What’s more, as a city-dweller, I hate that Sunday is beginning to feel as busy as any other day of the week. A day of rest every week is a good thing for everybody.
“I’d be really happy not to be able to go shopping on a Sunday – it would force me to spend the day on other things, more important things.”

In the Bible we are commanded to keep the Sabbath day holy.

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 20:8-11

I love the Sabbath. It truly is a joy. I don’t worry about cleaning (except for diapers, and then I view it as an ox-in-the-mire problem). I don’t go shopping. I don’t care about any activities going on around town. I get the day to focus on our family, myself, and our relationship with God. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. I wish more road races were held on Saturday here than on Sunday, but that just means I’m not spending my money on all the races and get to focus on the few that are on other days of the week.

Even when I was a kid and there was the occasional party scheduled for Sunday it didn’t bother me that I wasn’t attending because it was never even an option to consider in our home.

I am very grateful for the doctors and nurses who were working at the hospital when we were there on Sunday the day after Iddo was born. I realize in cases like that it is necessary to take care of others. Emergencies and fires and such don’t recognize the Sabbath. But wouldn’t it truly be nice if the whole world, regardless of the reason behind it, took one day a week to pause, reflect, breathe, and relax?

13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Isaiah 58:13-14

What delights do you take in the Sabbath?

5 Shared thoughts

This blog is too narrow

1 November 2014, 10:39 am by Giggles
Categories: Life, Musings, Science & Tech

Ah November. That time of year when NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) comes around and I set out to post every day for the entire month. It’s also the time of year when I take a look at all the drafts I’ve started, all the ideas I’ve written down to be turned in to drafts (like this one from 2011), and realize I have a lot of unfinished business with this blog. Pierre de Fermat could certainly be the patron saint of the unfinished drafts on this blog.

Pierre de Fermat was a mathematician and in 1637 he was perusing an old math book and jotted the following down in the margin:

It is impossible to separate a cube into two cubes, or a fourth power into two fourth powers, or in general, any power higher than the second, into two like powers. I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this, which this margin is too narrow to contain.

And that was all he ever wrote down on the subject. The margin is too narrow. And that statement bugged mathematicians for over 400 years.

This blog seems to be too narrow at times given how many truly marvelous ideas I’ve come up with that will never be published.

But I hope my life is never too narrow for all the truly marvelous things I want and need to do. My life and heart have seemed to expand to fit whatever they have needed to do. And that is truly marvelous.

2 Shared thoughts

Eclipse!

29 October 2014, 4:35 pm by Giggles
Categories: Science & Tech

Last Thursday there was a partial solar eclipse in the US. Where we are it hit maximum eclipse at 3:38pm. The last solar eclipse to come through here happened on a Sunday (in May 2012) so I was able to pull Brett out back and show it to me in our backyard. This time he was going to be at work. Not a problem though. Because for some reason we still have that Cheerio box turned pin hole viewer so I just put it in his car and gave him a call when he needed to find a moment to head out to the parking lot and take a look.

But that left me without a pin hole viewer. However, from the Venus transit in June 2012 I learned that you can watch the sun by setting up binoculars on a tripod and blocking one of the sides and making a larger shadow around the binoculars. That would be easier for Iddo to watch anyway. So I cut up a Lucky Charms box and used some duct tape and we were set to watch the sun. With our set up we were even able to observe the crazy sun spot that the astronomy world was talking about last week too.

When we started watching. Maximum eclipse.
Our solar observatory. Hmm. Shadows. Sun?
Look! A twig! Hi garden turtle. Walking is so much fun.
Wait. Mom wants me to care about this. Just passing through. Eclipse in the trees.

Iddo was a bit more interested in what was in our backyard rather than what was going on above it. Perhaps by the next one in 2017 she’ll find it a little more fascinating.

4 Shared thoughts