Over Doing It

I would say not much to report today, but the 'to report' is that I seriously over did it yesterday and had the worst pain in my back today. I did ignore it and clean house this morning to prepare to Jay's teacher. He had a great time, as usual. They did lots of Christmas crafts and read 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear'. He just loves learning and having all of that individual attention lavished on him. She said he is a teacher's dream because he seems to just soak up everything that he learns. I agree, but I am totally biased. lol

We went out today for lunch and did some shopping. Which made my back even worse and brought on the wonderful contractions. Oh, how I won't miss this. I wish it was all bliss, but pregnancy is rarely this beautiful thing that they display it as in Hollywood. I'm still very grateful for the kids and that they are healthy although not too often happy with me. I'm just saying that I think my body is more than telling me this is enough (and my dad would be the first one jumping up and down in agreeance, lol).

So, what have I done today? Well, it is currently 11 degrees and we are all hunkered down - although hubby has to go get Jay from Dad's house here in a minute; poor guy. We bought a new book for each one of the kiddos for Christmas today at Pamida. It was cool because we decided to do this after we found a wonderful book about Medieval battles that we thought would be perfect for Matt (and a great book to start our home school stash). He digs history which is super nice because Kevin does too and I'm not so into it. This means that I can give them time together and Kevin can teach that subject, giving me a little break. We are also discussing getting Matt an acoustic guitar and having Dad give him guitar lessons as part of his music studies. Ok, enough about homeschooling...... for now.

I have also sat around and knit and relaxed. Mainly because we are going to do some Christmas shopping tomorrow and I really needed to rest up for it. Kevin is trying to talk me into getting one of those buggies that you ride in while at the WallyWorld tomorrow. I know I should, but I just feel so silly. You know, like I am mocking someone who is really disabled (although I can't handle walking around for more than 15minutes before the pain starts). Thanks Dad! Now I'm overly respectful, lol. Anyhow, about the knitting. I am making myself a Rayne Wrap Sweater to use during maternity and nursing time, and well beyond I hope. I made it bigger than the pattern calls for to cover my ever expanding belly. I would say that I am roughly almost 2/5 of the way done. It knits up quick, but I feel like my time is limited. I'm using Vanna's Choice in a beautiful Sage Green. That's all for today. I leave you with this goodie!!

Chicken Coup and Other Nonsense

Well, I finally got out there and started the winterizing of the coup. Took me long enough, I know, but we are expecting temps in the negative numbers with the wind chill tonight and a high of 19 degrees tomorrow; so really it's just in time. I have a few things to finish up on tomorrow. I did get it cleaned out really well and sealed with foam sealer. I also purchased a bale of straw and put that down and added a nesting box (here's to hoping they actually use it). I also put a heat lamp in there and am getting ready to plug it in here in a few. They seemed pretty happy with it. I also tried to nail some wood slats down so that they would have a harder time dumping their feed at every meal! lol I do love my girls and am hoping I did enough to protect them. The oldest kiddo recently broke one of the doors, but I haven't fixed it yet (it's on tomorrow's list). Here they are in their comfy new accommodations! It must be love because my pregnant body is making me pay dearly. lol

On another happy note, at least for me, I ordered two Thirstie's Duo Diaper Covers and 24 Prefolds today from Baby Cotton Bottoms!! I have never cloth diapered before so I am so very excited to give it a whirl with this kiddo. It's silly, but I dream about diapers. It's been an interesting day on the home front! Now, I must be off. The house looks like a tornado hit it and Jay's teacher will be here at 10:30am to play with him. It's going to be an extra long night!

Days Out

Why is it that every time I have to go out for the day it requires hours of out time making me feel like I've wasted my day? Oh well, I guess it's a question for the ages. It's probably something I'll never understand; you know a time space continuum problem. lol Anyhow, I planned to tend to the coup today, but was out with dad for roughly 3.5hrs. I did get a heat bulb and straw for the coup. I plan to go out there nice and early tomorrow morning to get this done. Plan is the appropriate word. However, I did manage to get the dog bathed and her bedding washed. She loves being in with the kids. That's sort of a lot when you consider that I still managed to do quite a bit of homework, dinner and a few other chores. Nothing creative to report today, other than a little bit of knitting. There's always tomorrow, lol.

First Snow!!

We had our first snow of the season tonight! The kids are pretty excited about it although, much to their dismay, I have explained that there will not be enough snow to cancel school tomorrow. It wasn't supposed to snow until Tuesday, which is how I could reason that the coup could be sealed tomorrow. Oh well, I guess we know what I will be doing in the morning. lol

I had another very tired day and wasn't able to do as much as I wanted. I really need to find a way to get more sleep. It's not the kids that keep me up, it's the anxiety. It's very unexplained as I'm not upset about anything in particular. Actually, things are moving a long pretty nicely. I have a lot to do, but it's been that way for most of my adult life! I also have this restless leg deal going on. Hubby says I watch too many commercials, lol, but it's true. I get this almost pain in my legs where I have to stretch them or move them and sometimes I have to get up and move around the house to feel better. Oh well, only ten more weeks to go!

In other news, I have been sewing, well sort of. I

am working on Christmas quilts for kiddos and hubby and a maternity jean skirt for me. I had taken the needle off of my sewing machine because it had broken. Stupidly I had put it in a jar with the package of needles until I figured out which size needle I needed to put on the machine. I went to reneedle it last night and low and behold, the deal to hold the needle on was gone!! And the kids strike again! We are working on personal space, but so far no one is grasping it. Here is a pick of my feeble attempt to hand sew the sides of the skirt. I guess it could be worse and I never really learned the proper way to hand sew so I'm a little impressed with myself. lol I'll keep working on it and let you know how it goes. Other than that, we had a fairly lazy Sunday with lots of TV, lol. I cut fabric, sewed and knitted. I also managed to squeeze in a load of dishes!! That's ok, tomorrow is Monday and I have plenty to do then. If only my life understood that I'm pregnant and I don't have the energy for everything. I'm just hoping to get everything organized and ready for winter and the baby in the next month or so. This way I can just sew and knit!! See ya tomorrow!!

On the Re Path to Frugality

You know, I used to be very frugal and very good at it, well sort of. I have decided that our life needs to be on this route again. On the horizon: handmade christmas quilts for our family, handmade curtains for all the windows, cloth diapers that it looks like I will be making the majority of the stash, homemade baby food and embarking on the journey that is homemade laundry soap and hanging laundry to dry (again). We are also starting our long road into homeschooling. We will be starting with the youngest, 3yo, and next year will be doing the oldest as well, 11yo. We are waiting until next year to start on the oldest because we want plenty of time to research and plan and because with our impending surgery and birth, we want time to adjust.
Blogging is something I am trying to get. I wanted to be ambitious and do it every day, but it looks like that is just NEVER going to happen. Besides, I don't think I have enough positive things to say every day, lol. Instead, I would like to try this once a week. I'm going to be learning to do lots of new things and would like to share them, or at least document them for my own prosperity.
On to productivity!! OK, I wanted to have a good day with the kids but seeing how they only allowed me 4hrs of sleep and my very pregnant self needs more than that to feel human, it's off to a very rocky start. Other than regular chores, which don't even need to be mentioned, lol, we are going outside! Yes, I realize that it is 27 degrees out there, but I am hoping that it warms up just a bit. Then I figure if we do two spurts of 30-45minutes today that we can accomplish quite a bit. We are going to weed at least one of the garden boxes and clean and seal the coup. I've been talking about winterizing the coup for weeks now, but it's getting VERY cold now and it cannot be put off any longer. I do love my girls, after all. We will use the whatnot from the cleaning of the coup as fertilizer for the garden boxes (which is why we will be weeding). I also need to learn how to store chicken poo for fertilizer as we are wanting to put in at least four more small garden boxes this year; one for each kiddo. Other than that, it's homework for me and Matt, some knitting and more cutting of the fabric for quilts. I also want to make a maternity skirt out of a pair of Kevin's old jeans, but that's because I am getting SO big that none of the maternity clothes I just bought fit anymore. Ugh.
I think that's more than ambitious for today. Heck that's ambitious for the weekend. I'll check back later in the week.

How do they do it?

I just don't see how people make time to blog every day! Seriously. LOL I am thinking, as I am sure I have said earlier, that this would help me to stay motivated and positive. I'm gonna give it a whirl, again.
Not much new, still unpacking but school has started back up and I am already behind!! Ugh, I am determined to catch up and then get ahead. I also want to finally get that sewing table moved today so that I can start cutting fabric for country style quilted curtains for the house. I am re purposing old clothes that I can't bare to part with (since they still have a use). I also need to get started on those darned Christmas quilts I've been babbling about for four months now, lol. That's all for now. Maybe I'll pics tomorrow........ the world may never know. lol

Inspiration

I have been seriously suffering a mixture of a nesting need and serious short timers syndrome. lol I keep starting new projects then lacking the drive to keep them going. Ugh.... I have a few things cast on and on the hook, let's not even mention the millions of sewing projects I want to start but am eagerly awaiting my NOT putting my sewing table together. I think this is all due to a lack of energy from my little bean. On the fun side, the baby is moving a lot more now and it is only a matter of time before daddy can feel it.

All of this leads to the blog I just finished reading! As you may or may not be aware of, I am desperately wanting to get into quilting and sewing. I plan to start small with two quilts: one for our baby and one for my sister, Jaci's, baby. I was on the Reclaiming the Home blog where there was an amazingly inspiring interview with Weeks Ringle. She is a wonderfully inspiring woman, business owner, wife, mother and creative genious, lol. The 'experience' left me yearning for my sewing machine and to get this whole quilt thing going!! I urge you to read the interview and visit both blogs as they may inspire you to create something wonderful!!

http://reclaimingthehome.blogspot.com/2009/09/craft-nectars-weeks-ringle-and-big.html?showComment=1253289611224#c1887875730912935583