quote of the day

"You don't work in your house: it isn't a job, it is simply about making a nurturing space for your life."

-BrocanteHome

Juxtaposition

As I approach my birthday and Jimmy gets close to graduating from college, I've had fodder for considering our life; what I'm happy with and what I need to work on. When thinking about my habits and skils I realized that I've changed a lot even just since Allan was born.
For example, some time in the last year I stopped hating to wash dishes. How did THAT happen? When I wake and the coffee pot is doing it's thing, I scrub some dishes and putter around my kitchen to wake up. It's become my daily wake up routine. *Start coffee, load dishwasher, get dressed for school.* Additionally, I get a real feeling of satisfaction when my craft table is cleaned off, or elated when I find a remnant of fabric that could be sewn into a throw pillow or purse. So these patterns of housewifery (yes I'm making up words now) and my love of the retro aesthetic has me psychoanalyzing myself.
Every couple of weeks, I do a google image search or yahoo image search for 'retro housewives', '50's housewives', 'retro hair' and etcetera. I find new cool images for my blog or myspace. And when I dig in and investigate the websites the images came from, I find all sorts of useful resources for housewives. I find cleaning tips (lemon juice and baking soda will desolve rust), sewing ideas, recipes for Jimmy (he cooks more often than I do) or just fun banter from other wives on the internet. I like the wholesomeness of it all. I love all things vintage, retro, polka dotted, bobby pinned, hand sewn, hand polished or hand painted.
I'm wondering, 'why I am drawn to the retro era when I am a girl who is preparing for a career?' I'm in college getting training for a career as a scenic painter or decorative artist, but I also want to be a good mother and wife. Is my curiosity about the 1950's a reaction to some guilt about leaving my kids when I go to class?? Is it a reaction to coming from a single-parent family? Is it a reaction to being away from my home and family when I was sick in 2005? Did I just watch "A League of Their Own" one too many times?
I remember reading Miss Manor's Guide to Excruitiatingly Correct Behavior from cover-to-cover at least 3 times in high school. I loved all the information about how to seat a dinner party or address an envelope. And I've always been super picky about making my bed and lining up my stuffed animals in a perfect 'parade'. I've always had high standards for my bedroom in general. So I have a history of being picky about my surroundings and enjoying making things look proper. It can't completely be a reaction to motherhood.
Maybe it's just been an underlying idea of how I would be when I grew up and as I age, I've been taking on more of the traits of how a wife should be. That is, my personal feeling that a wife should take care of her children, her husband and her home, while also taking time to maintain her own sanity with hobbies or interests. First I don't mind washing dishes...what's next? I might be going nuts, or going retro or whatever.

Websites of housewifery that I get tips from:
FlyLady.net -Cleaning tips, recipes and Motivation
Retro Housewife -Cleaning tips, Forum, Retro History and Articles about Housewife Pride.
BrocanteHome -I just found this site last night! Cleaning tips, Crochet/Knitting Patterns, links to Vintage stuff on Ebay, Housewife Forum, and lots of Vintage ephemera (much of the same from my myspace; how funny).

p.s. I might get to graduate in a year instead of 18 months. More on that, after I meet with an adviser again.

Silly Princess

Elaine making knarly face... so funny

Elaine sitting pretty

not cooperating

Trying to use natural lighting (no flash) the pics only look right when the kids sit still. Try telling that to Allan. "AhhhAhhaaahhh"

more cooperative

my favorite pic of her

She sat VERY still watching some birds. So this pic is the most focussed. I like how dainty her fingers look. She's definately built more like my mom than like me.

My 50's Statues are on display behind glass in the Art bldg

See 3PO (Three Penny Opera)

sorry I hadn't posted in a few days.
*I liked the banana pudding smoothie that they have at Sonic, so we bought some bananas and low-fat Nilla waffers to make some at home. Soooooooooo good and like 1/4 the price.
*I finished my to-do list for 'Three Penny Opera' yesterday. So they sent me home and said they'd call if there was a painting emergency. The play opens tomorrow night (Friday), but I'm going tonight to watch the final dress rehearsal with the other techies. I'm missing Grey's Anatomy, so it better be good! :)
* Dave came over last night to help me understand the engineering behind building a popsicle stick tower. So I'm starting over on that project. It's not due until a week from today, April 5th. I began the re-do in lab today. Yay for Dave teaching me about I-beams and how strong triangles are. I'll take pics when it looks more like something. In related news: Dave bought me 'Pirates of the Caribbean 2' since I hadn't seen it. I might watch it tonight after the play. :) I think it's my early birthday present.
* When I got home from lab I put Allan in underwear instead of a diaper. He has diaper rash, so I wanted the area to air out. When I went to the bathroom, he followed me and sat on his potty. He went "wet" in the potty. It's only like the fifth time EVER that he actually did anything while sitting there. So yeah, progress is progress. I cheered him on a lot. He likes his Lightning McQueen underwear.
*We still haven't mailed my brother's birthday present to him in Fallusia. His birthday was the 25th. We have everything that we are purchasing all together as of yesterday. But I gave Micah some blank disks for him to burn Mark some CDs. They have similar musical taste... much better than if I was picking out music for Mark. I'll get those from Micah late Saturday night and can mail the package on Monday. I messaged Mark on myspace before his B-day to let him know that I thought his presents would arrive late.
For Dad and other's trying to avoid duplicates:
We're sending two handmade greeting cards, a drawing from Elaine of Mark, 2 disposable cameras with flash, some stick candy from Cracker Barrel, sour patch kids, a sketchbook, a black gel pen, some SASE's, and a funny/wise book that Dave suggested for reading material. Oh, and I'm gonna print some photos of the kids.

"Sweet heart" (Army Love)

This week I have the ladies in the scrapbooking group dusting off their shape templates and trying to get the most of them. So this is the example I made. I used heart shapes made from two different shape templates. That's Scott in the pic, from his Army days with Hope. Who wears short shorts? Scott wore short shorts. lol.

very brief update

I was told to go to the theatre this morning EARLY for painting, but once I got there I saw there was very little painting work to be done. We painted most of the set on previous days and the parts we haven't painted are still being built. I kept busy for a little over 2 hours and then was allowed to come home. We picked up Micah (who is also on Spring Break) and took the kids to the park. Allan and I rode down a hill in the wagon! Much fun was had, but no camera was there.
The assistant set designer, Keila, called me tonight. She said that I can skip coming in to paint tomorrow, Saturday. And I also can take Sunday (the official beginning of "tech week") off from painting. This is so they can catch up and complete constructing the set pieces. So I have the next two days off, then all heck will break loose and I'll be at the theatre crazy late hours.
We're probably going to Garland tomorrow. Margo bought me a magazine subscription, so I made her a present. Also, Mary and the kids are all at Steven's house. So we are making an appearance there too.
I got a call from the church earlier. I've been asked to assist with the Easter pageant. It sounds very ambitious this year. I'm supposed to construct props, maybe help brainstorm on the set (our pastor worked construction before, so building it wouldn't fall on my hands), and possibly play a non-speaking role in the presentation. I'll get more details this coming week.

Army Buddies pg 1 (Scott and Chris Hammet)

Here's the layout I was telling yall about the other night. It's about done. I never did get to writing in the dates or names, but I added a little printed postcard of "Fort Hood", from the internet, to identify the location.

Army Buddies pg2

I tried to have a sense of humor in the layout since the photos showed Scott and Chris' silly side. (like 'strength' next to shirtless Scott). I think I need to add buttons or brads or stickers or something for some texture, but otherwise I think this page is done.

Dave's new hobby (2)

meant to share this one the other day

up late scrapbooking

I have a spanish quiz and exam tomorrow night, so I should be studying. But instead I've been scrapbooking tonight. I can study all day tomorrow. Some ladies on my online scrapbooking group have been picking on my buddy, Cher. So I might walk away from the group after I've fulfilled all my commitments there. I'm thinking it over and scrapbooking to de-stress.
Hey Hope - What did Scott wear in the Army when he was working? Like fatigues or more like doctor scrubs?? I've seen your nurses uniform, so I know what you wore. I want to find these 3-D Nurse stickers for scrapbooking about you in the Army. I'm gonna keep an eye out. Oh, my other question is, was Chris Hammond a medic too? The scrapbook pages I am doing tonight has the title "Army Buddies", so there are pics of the guys being goofy. I'll take a pic of it soon. I still need to write in names/dates.
I woke up REALLY achy today from the zoo day. I was coughing all morning, but I think it's because of the pollen in the air. I don't think I caught anything from Jimmy. Just in case, I had chicken soup for lunch and OJ. I'm drinking green tea now (antioxidents).

Fort Worth Zoo

we went to the Fort Worth Zoo today with Dave and the kids. Jimmy woke up feeling a lot better. He hasn't needed medicine all day, Praise God. Before going to the zoo, we had the oil change/tune up done on the new van. Jimmy got a list of filters and things we should switch out when we get to a certain number of miles. We brought gatorade to the zoo (coolers are allowed) and we were so glad that we did. For a 20 oz. coke from a machine, they wanted over $2! I'm glad we planned ahead. The kids had a great time. I only get Spring Break once a year, so this was our treat to the kiddos.

Brank Boys

Allan wont sit still...he's just a blur

So cute in his Explorer vest

When we first got to the zoo, between buying our tickets and going through the turnstyle, I turned my head and Allan was GONE! He wasn't in the wagon. I took off frantically looking for him. We were near the parking lot, not far from animals and surrounded by strangers. Praise God, I found him around a corner attacking a coke machine. We seat belted him into his wagon and he only got out a handful of times.

Daddy's Girl at the Ft.Worth Zoo

I like how the waterfall looks here

a Koala was climbing on Jimmy

"They have a colorful butt"

Awww

Carousel

She was terrified!!! It was hard to get a pic of her facing us, instead of Dave.

Dave's new hobby

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Stage coach Cuties

Allan and a Zooming underwater Otter

Allan is watching an Otter zoom by

How Big is Your Wingspan?

blurry, but a cut pic

Eyes like a hawk

I experimented with pouches the other night.

the last one got a little skinny , so I decided it was bedtime.

Almost done

I like the patched together mix of fabrics. The outside is about $2 worth of quilting squares (I used interfacing). And the inside is some pink fabric that I saved from the trash in the theatre a few years ago. I want to get a store-bought handle for it... maybe wooden.

in the backyard

second attempt at a cellphone pouch

I got a lot of the mistakes from the first pouch fixed. I added a little wrist strap, lace and a velcro closure on the inside. It's also a lot smaller overall. It took about 30 minutes for me to make it. It's a keeper.

this was attempt number one

I tried to make a little pouch for my cellphone from some fun fabric. I wanted to use felt for the lining, so the cellphone would have some cushion and wouldn't get scratched. So this was my first attempt. It took like 5 minutes to make. I figured out what's wrong with this one and made a second attempt. This first pouch would be good for holding sunglasses or something like that, once I add a clasp.

Kids dressed like the Stars of St.Patty's day.

I've got mail....Yeeeaaayyy

Hockey chick

Hugging Lephrechans

After Jimmy's nap, we took the kids to the park because they were still bouncing off the walls.

*Muah*

Where's my family? All I see are glasses on a green patch of grass

My brother and my Husband

I heard from my brother today, via myspace message. He's working on a base in Fallujah. He describes it as working at "a cracked out home depot military style". He said he is safe and not getting shot at, but he's working "insane" hours. He doesn't get much time at a computer to email, so he keeps it short.
My church called Jimmy yesterday asking for Mark's mailing address. They are putting together a care package. I feel bad that I haven't mailed Mark's care package from me yet. I don't want to push Jimmy to drive me around to pick up items for the care package. But we'll get that done sometime soon. Mark's birthday is this coming week.

Jimmy missed work again today. He's been dizzy off and on all day. The kids were getting antsy from being inside for the last few days so we wandered around an antique mall, where Jimmy use to work in 2001. Jimmy was able to sit often. He says that hanging out with the kids is no where near as exhausting as working. After about an hour of walking around, his foot started hurting again. We came back home and he's taking a nap now.
He drank over a gallon of water last night and his body is still acting dehydrated. He said that he thinks he has a cold, because he keeps coughing and his throat is sore. It would explain some of the fatigue too. I think that Hope may be right about either diabetes or arthritis. Jim has become ill whenever he eats any thing of a sweet nature. He has been laying off the icecream and etcetera. Jim said that he can't remember the last time that he was sick for this many days straight.

After Painting All Day

just today summed up

I pulled something unremarkable together last night to turn in for the popsicle stick assignment today. Our next assignment is to make a 18" tall tower (no more than 4" wide) out of Popsicle sticks which can support at least 20 pounds. I walked to the art supply store and bought some sticks, so I'm all prepared. The tower isn't due until April 5th, so if any engineer inlaws *hint hint* want to give me tips, I'm up for it. :)
I ate a sandwich from my purse and then painted in the theatre from about Noon until 5:30pm. I met the set designer, Russel. He teaches at SMU. He's very casual, like VERY casual. His assistants (my friends, Keila and Anna) are FREAKING OUT because the play opens the Thursday after Spring Break and barely anything is complete. Meanwhile Russel is very laid back about the time crunch. It makes me kinda nervous.
Jimmy still was sick to his stomach and achy/tired ALL day today. He had chills again tonight. But the good news is his foot isn't hurting nearly as much. He can walk on it with very limited discomfort. I called him from the theatre earlier to check in on him and he got so light headed that he had to get off the phone. He's in bed now, asleep. He overall seems better today than yesterday, but far from back to normal.
It took Jimmy longer than normal to get the kids in the van to pick me up this evening, so I was sitting on the theatre's dock for a while with not much to do. I played with my camera, taking self pics. Yes, I'm a dork like that. I think I'm adorable in my overalls. I'm painting tomorrow starting around 10am until I get tired and want to come home (probably 5pm).

Squinty Eyes & huge Dimples...yep that's Liss

Dotty self pic

Scumbling scenery

it's what I do. :)

Good news for Micah

(this is him dressed up for a dance last weekend)

He got a scholarship from the FFA. He was the only winner from the whole Denton/Sanger area! Yay Moose!

So very ready for Spring Break.... any break

First off, Jimmy is sick or injured. Or both? Monday the top of Jim's left foot started hurting. It's an ache that gets worse when he walks or stands on it. It is alleviated when he rests with his foot elevated for any amount of time. The pain is harsh! Hope suggested that it could be arthritic pain, because it runs in Jim's family. Jimmy is considering that as a possibility but is doubtful because of his "young" age (the boys turns 30 this year, lol). I think he works too many hours standing on his feet with his "flat feet" and has aggravated something that needs to rest. On top of the injury/illness going on with his foot, Jimmy has had other medical symptoms that are increasing since Monday which seem completely unrelated to the foot ailment. He's been dizzy, had chestpain (once for 10 minutes), vomited, had little appetite, fever and chills. That's where he is now. He's in bed sleeping on a heating pad with the CHILLS. At least he's resting his foot at the same time. It's so hard when Jim is the one who is ill, because I can't run to the store to buy gatoraide for dehydration or anything else that I think might help. Uggg *Frustration* I just pray that he gets the rest that he obviously needs (he's been working 60+ hours a week for the last month) and bounces back. We might take him to one of those 'Carenow' places.

Today Jimmy had a 'mandatory' meeting at the Cracker Barrel that was to meet at exactly the same time as my lecture for Design. So we divided the kids up. I took Elaine with me to the design lecture and Allan went with Jimmy to the meeting.
Jim's plan was to get Allan a plate of frenchfries and hope for good behavior. But Jimmy felt nauseous in the parking lot and never made it inside to the meeting. He drove home, pulling over on the side of the freeway to vomit. :( So tonight I've been fetching Jim fans, water bottles, the heating pad and Tylenol. And I've been trying to keep the kids quiet so he can rest.
Meanwhile I had a nutrition assignment, a Spanish quiz and a Spanish Exam tonight. I got to my laptop to do all my homework and I thought I was doing fine on my timing (everything was due at midnight).... then I found Allan with poop all over his hands and rubbing it into his eyes. He immediately needed a bath and for me to clean poop-art off his dresser. When I got back to my laptop, I realized that the time on the computer didn't match the wall clock from the other room! *PANIC*
After I had manually adjusted the time on my laptop for the early daylight savings, a computer update ran and automatically adjusted the time AGAIN. So I thought it was 10:45, giving me 75 minutes until my exam's deadline. It was in actuality, 11:45 and I had 15 minutes to take an exam before the deadline!! Dang daylight savings and automatic computer updates!! Why couldn't it have updated on Sunday??!?! I wouldn't have done it manually, if it had updated itself on time. Grrrr. I got a 96 on the quiz and a 46 on the exam. *pout*

in other aggravating news: I ran out of Popsicle sticks and haven't completed my design project that is already over due. We went to get more sticks last night and both big lots and walmart were out of them. I'm gonna stay up tonight and tear apart what I have completed and re-work it to make a simpler design that requires less sticks. It's 12:12pm now...I expect a long night.
In good news: while at walmart last night, Jimmy replaced my broken printer. So I am able to print notes from all these online classes for studying. This week was/is midterms. Spring Break is next week.
I went in to paint in the theatre yesterday for 4 hours. I was in charge of about a dozen lab students. I had them base paint some of the set solid brown, while I followed behind them scumbling in colors for definition. Overall, the set looks rust-like. Between you, me and the wall... I understand if you don't come see "the Three Penny Opera". It was originally written to be in the time period before the crowning of Queen Victoria, but our director is timing the play in the near future with the Coronation of King William (currently Prince William). Sounds like a unique interpretation. It might make for interesting theatre, but I don't know yet. I'm returning to paint for another 4 hours tomorrow after design class. Maybe longer if Jim misses work again. I hope he feels better by then.

Elaine's closet

The closet rod bent and fell down in Elaine's closet from the weight of her clothing. It looks like it was just thin aluminum. We found some PVC in the trailer's shed that's a good width, so we're gonna cut the PCV down for a new closet rod.

Lighter Blue Wall in my Office

Painter's tape is still up in this pic.

Happy about Barretts in her hair