Desperately Seeking Sanity

The Silver Lining and Celebrating Life

January 20, 2012 · 0 comments

in Care to Share?,Faith,Pics,Quality Time,Thoughts...

I couldn’t decide which title I liked and I didn’t know how to separate these into two separate posts… so you get a twofer tonight! Lucky you!

Last Monday (January 9th), I celebrated 35 years of life. I don’t feel 35. But I am.

Yesterday(January 18th), I celebrated 15 years with Thing 1. I don’t feel like the mother to a 15 year old, one that gets his learner’s permit in 6 months. But I am.

Nestled in between the celebration of the birthdays, I celebrated the life of M. Robert Lesher, aka Pappy Bob. Pappy Bob was my maternal grandfather. He lived in Pennsylvania and passed away last Wednesday (January 11th). It was time. My grandmother passed almost 20 years ago. He was ready to go. This is some of what my dad wrote in their church newsletter this week:

Barb’s dad passed away last Wednesday morning in the nursing home where he resided for the last four years. Barb was holding his hand as he slipped comfortably away in the night. Bob was born in Chambersburg, PA in 1923 and enlisted into the Army Air Corps in 1941. His real claim to fame in WWII was that he “helped himself” to Gen McArthur’s whole milk as his command plane was being serviced and refueled in the Pacific Theater. Bob made airplanes for awhile at Fairchild Industries and then spent the rest of his life selling and repairing recreational vehicles. Bob was predeceased by his wife Florence in 1992 and leaves behind two children and seven great grandchildren. Barb called her father every night at 6:00 and sent him a package every week for the last four years.

Me and my grandpa 35 years ago…

A death can bring down, or rob the joy of, the celebrations of birthdays but not around here. I chose to look at the silver lining of things. I say I chose, but I can honestly say it’s not be a conscious effort. It’s just kind of happened. For example….

My mother drove up to Pennsylvania on my birthday to be with him in his last stages of life. She stopped here and I got a real, live hug… on my actual birthday. From my mother. I can’t tell you the last time I had that.
For whatever reason, the hubs decided to throw me a surprise birthday party that same day. Upon returning home from dropping Things 2 and 4 at Girl Scouts there were 21 friends in my house.. for me… to celebrate with me… and how awesome is that? The love of friends when you’ve just learned that your grandfather is dying…I needed it. I loved it. I’m grateful for it.

My grandfather passed early Wednesday morning… just two days after my birthday. After work, I drove to Pennsylvania with my mother leaving the family behind. I got two whole days in Pennsylvania with my mother, spending quality time with her. That’s something that I never get… and oh. my. word. did we have a good time.
Not only did I get 2 days in Pennsylvania with her, I convinced her to stay a day with us in Roanoke before heading back to Tennessee. We shopped. We measured for curtains. She taught me to knit. She taught me how to make a favorite childhood meal of mine. We laughed. (At some point in time, the hubs will learn to take flattering pictures of me… but I’m grateful he thinks to take pictures of important moments…)

While in Pennsylvania, I got to buy whoopie pies, Pot Pie noodles, ham loaf, Lebanon Sweet Bologna, Gibbles pretzels, and a host of other items that you just can’t get here… AND I ate at several local diners… where I had the best fries and gravy AND omelette (not at the same meal of course) that I’ve ever had.

After coming back from Pennsylvania Thing 1 came down with the stomach bug. I hated that he was sick, but LOVED the fact that he needed his mom…and that he kept telling me thank you and that he loved me. AS soon as the bug was gone, I was back to being just mom.

It’s been a roller coaster the first 18 days of the year, but all in all… this silver lining and celebration thing?

It’s not really all that bad…..

Until next time…

{ 0 comments }

Channeling Martha

January 3, 2012 · 4 comments

in Channeling Martha,Dorks R Us,Heather's Quirks,No Way...,Time wasting...,What I Learned This Week

I love Pinterest. I really do. I’ve learned so many cool things there. I pin them. And then I get a wild hair up my booty. And then I make something.

Most of the time?

It’s amazing.

Like the Christmas ornaments I made out of floor wax and glitter?

I gave some as gifts. I made sure that all the family members got one. I even kept a few for myself.

They loved them! (And it was more than just my mom! She loves everything I make!)

My decorating took off around the House of Chaos and when the Christmas decor came down, it was quite boring, blah, and well, depressing around here.

So I took matters into my own hands and found some Valentine’s Day stuff to make. The hubs is thrilled. He pink puffy hearts the day. Me? Eh. Not so much.

But I like making things and I love the house when it’s warm and cozy and decorated so this seems to please both of us.

Besides. Thinking about Valentine’s Day makes me think about the cruise that we won because we’ll be celebrating that day in the Bahamas! Woot!

I digress.

Julie at From Inmates to Playdates asked if there was a tutorial for the wreath that I showcased yesterday. And? There is. Obviously, I learned how to make it somewhere. I’m not that creative. (I just follow instructions well.)

But, because I wanted to ~~play with my new camera and feel like I run a craft blog~~ flesh out a few of the instructions AND have a What I Learned This Week Post, I came up with a tutorial of my own.

The Felt Heart Wreath

Items Needed:

Styrofoam heart wreath shape (I got mine at Joann’s — I didn’t see one at AC Moore and I didn’t check Michael’s and used my 50% off coupon — so it came to $2.50)
3/4 yard of red felt from the bolt (The 72″ bolts) — it runs about $4.99 a yard. I managed to catch mine on sale at $2.99/yard
Stick pins (at least 150 or so… I bought a pack of 250 for about $3)
scissors (you’re going to use them alot)
time — I worked on this over the course of two days

First. Make yourself a 3″ circle pattern. I used an old piece of cardboard and a cup in the cupboard. The hubs measured all of them until he found one that was 3″. I don’t think it’s imperative that it’s 3″ but that’s what the instructions I found said. And I’m a rule follower.

Then…make a whole bunch of them on your felt. I cut two pieces at a time. I tried to make more, but the scissors from the hair clipper kit wouldn’t allow it and when I got the new scissors, it was just too hard to cut and keep them looking like circles.

I didn’t cut them all out at one time, but I cut a bunch and then pinned and then cut and then pinned, but if you have a movie in your Netflix queue that you’ve been wanting to watch? Turn it on, settle in, and cut to your heart’s content.

I can’t tell you how many I cut. I know that I started with 250 pins and was going to count the pins that I had left, but after cutting and pinning and cutting and pinning, I really didn’t think it mattered. I would guestimate that you need about 150 circles.

This was actually the home stretch for me….you know… when I decided, “hey! i should document this so I can show others!”

After you have your circles, you’ll want to fold them in half, and then in half again…like so

Then take your stick pin and put it through the point of your newly formed triangle….

And then stick it in the wreath…haphazzardly. I tried to have some sort of a pattern but the hubs said it looked forced. Ok, so he didn’t say it looked forced, but I did, and he agreed. That and I stared at the other lady’s picture for what seemed like hours seeing if she had a pattern.

She didn’t.

I can tell you that it seemed to work better for me starting at the top of the wreath form and working down. But that was just me. I’m sure that you’ll find your own groove. I can also tell you that if I’m going to continue making tutorials that show my hands, I’m going to need to take better care of my nails. They are HORRIBLE!

When you’re all done and you’ve rearranged them eleventy bajillion times, you’ll end up with something that resembles this…

Minus the empty soup bowl and Christmas cup left on the table from dinner.

And just in case you are obsessive… like me… here is what a close up of the wreath looks like.

A few notes about this… you don’t have to do the back. In fact, when I started the first time, I only did two rows down each side before I decided that it looked forced and tore half of it out. And there is no wrong way to do it. And Amy over at the Idea Room has some GREAT ideas… I’m thankful that she provided the tutorial that she did!

I ~~forgot how hard it was to cut out all those flippin’ circles~~ love the way that it turned out so much that I took my left over felt and am making topiaries out of two styrofoam balls and glasses that I picked up at the Dollar Store!

And this? Is what I learned this week. What did you learn this week? Link up at From Inmates to Playdates

~~And, uh… oh yeah…I’ve figured out how to (I think!) add a “pin it” button to my posts!~~

Nevermind… a project for another day!

Until next time…

{ 4 comments }

Mine. Mine. Mine.

January 2, 2012 · 5 comments

in Dorks R Us,Heather's Quirks,Mom Stuff,Pics

When I was a kid, my mom had a pair of scissors that we were not allowed to touch. They were her scissors. They were to only be used when cutting material. They were her “good” scissors. If we came to her and asked her for scissors, she was wonderful about giving us a pair to use, but if we just took, she was one unhappy camper.

I now have one of those pairs of scissors.

After seeing the price tag of $22, I know why she got mad when they were used on something other than material. (Like cutting cardboard to make a ramp for the hotwheels…) I used a coupon of course, but still.

I will kill the person that takes my “good” scissors.

And it came to this because I can’t find one non-safety pair of scissors in this house EXCEPT the ones that came with the hair clippers. And I bought several over the holiday season, along with a miriad of tape, that I also can’t find.

Our house apparently eats scissors and tape.

After cutting out over 100 felt circles to make this….

My fingers just couldn’t take it anymore… and I marched myself to the craft store to buy a pair… and some new yarn. Because I finished the wreath and now I’m on to working on this….

But not in those colors. Just because it’s a Martha Stewart pattern, doesn’t mean that I have to use her $7 a skein yard… which are really small balls of yarn… and i would need 15. It’s just not worth it.

I’ll have to tell the kids to lay off my loom and yarn too, because they like to get into those things as well.

And they all wonder why I take a sharpie to all the items I get at Christmas…

Until next time…

{ 5 comments }

Twenty Years Changes Alot.

January 1, 2012 · 4 comments

in Dorks R Us,Grins and Giggles,Manly Man Matthew,Mom Stuff,Pics,Quality Time

Thing 1 made a comment about not being able to wait to get out of this family. I think he meant out of this house and I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he will ALWAYS be part of this family. At first, I was hurt. I asked him if that’s how he really felt and he replied with, “Yeah. Somedays.”

(This was the same boy who was begging me to come pick him up from his father’s the night before. But I digress.)

Truthfully, somedays, I can’t wait to get out of this house. And, if I take myself back to the time that I was 15, I, too, couldn’t wait to get out of my house.

That lessened the hurt a little. He’s just shy of 15. Why would he want to be here all the time? I’m dumb, uncool, old and a plethora of other unpopular adjectives attached to mothers of teenagers.

What’s odd to me is that I can’t imagine ever feeling that way about my mother, but I know that I did. Oh, I was downright rotten to that woman and for no other reason than because I could.

Isn’t that horrible?

Don’t answer that.

But 20 years ago I couldn’t wait to be away from my parents and now? I miss them… my mother the most. We have SO.MUCH.FUN. together.

Like Friday night. She blew through town on her way from Pennsylvania back home to Tennessee and stopped for the night. We ate. We shopped. I told her all about Pinterest. I gave her lots of homemade goodies I learned about on Pinterest. We compared cameras. We had a photo war. We laughed. And laughed. And laughed some more.

All of that in just 6 hours.

AND?

She’s just freakin’ cool.

She handed me a bag and said, “I didn’t wrap these because I didn’t know if they would fit. So, go try them on.” And I did as I was told.

They were pajamas. With little pigs on them. And the shirt says, “When pigs fly.”

When I came out of the bedroom with them on, she was walking out of the bathroom.

She had the SAME jammies on! And I screamed. And giggled. And promptly told the hubs to grab the camera.

And then we broke into song…. “Sisters” from our favorite movie….”White Christmas”

And then we laughed… alot….

It was after midnight. I was so tired but didn’t want to go to bed. I knew that she had to leave early in the morning, so I said goodnight, gave her a hug and a kiss… sent her up to the Princess Tower (Thing 4′s room) and went to bed…

Saturday morning she peeked in at me and said she had to leave…so I loaded her up and sent her on, making her promise to call when she got home.

If I knew then that we could have this much fun or that I would feel this way about her twenty years ago, I might not have been so horrid back then.

But I sure do appreciate her, love her, and can’t wait until we get to visit again.

And that gives me a glimmer of hope that in twenty years my kids will feel the same about me.

Until next time…

{ 4 comments }

The End of 2011

December 31, 2011 · 2 comments

in Dorks R Us,Yo!

I’m glad it’s here. It wasn’t a bad year per se, but I feel as if 2012 is going to be a great year. Writing more is on my list of things to do more of. I miss it.

That and maybe lose 20lbs.

Of course, that will have to start after tomorrow. Because tomorrow is the last day of the holidays.