New Blog

Hey, all my trusty followers. I am changing to a new blog address. Something more personal and my hope is to blog more about fun crafts and our daily life. So if you want to keep reading follow me over to www.pauleyparade.blogspot.com
Thanks!

Nursery Time!

My second pregnancy is coming up on its home stretch. 7 weeks to go. I can't believe it! Not sure if it is the fact that we have been busy making a new life in a new city or the fact that I am running after a toddler but this baby flew (pun intended)!

I am in nesting mode (maybe not exactly since there's still 7 weeks), but I am definitely in 'get this nursery finished' mode. Even though our first son slept in our room for months before taking up residency in his nursery I still like the feeling of knowing its complete. It seems a little like I am running on the late side but as long as he doesn't grace us with his presence early, we should be good.

I am getting pretty psyched. Excited to see how my first little man will react to his new little brother. I am pretty sure he will be overjoyed since he runs around the house carrying the babies new booties and reminding me constantly that they belong to his new brother and how cute they are.

I know in just a few short weeks I will be outnumbered. The ratio of men to women is going to dwindle. And I couldn't be happier. Maybe eventually the numbers will even out but maybe not, and that's ok. A house full of boys would definitely make for spirited fun!

Technology Hex.....not kidding

I am hexed. I don't know why or how but somewhere once upon a time someone had to have put a technology hex on me. Don't laugh. I am serious. Totally. Previously I attributed it to the fact that our desk top was a little old, maybe had a virus. It had to be probably because we lived in an old brick house, it was somehow stopping signals. Which would also explain why my cell phone never wanted to work either. But then we moved. To an entirely different state, into a new house, new neighborhood AND my husband bought me a new laptop. Guess what? The hex followed me.

My cell phone drops calls constantly. My brand new laptop just stopped working bc a small bottle of gummi bears dropped on it. After being sent to the laptop doc, 5 weeks later it comes back. Fixed and good to go. I have the company we have our service through come out and check the line. They say everything is running the way it should (which is by the way, the same thing they always said in our old city and old home). So why then, does my internet still work only for a few minutes at a time a few times a week, or month if its really bad.

Is it me? Could it really be? I don't think of myself as that tech challenged. So what then could be the logical explanation?!

Now that I am in Louisiana I am going to have to visit a voodoo priestess who can remove this curse. But I'd rather not. That my friends is a conundrum. What shall I do?

A good reminder

At my last MOPS meeting a prayer was said that I felt was really touching and meant a lot to me as a mother. I wanted to share it here in hopes that it will touch another mother or father. I have heard a christian family that I highly respect say that as parents we should praise our children 10 times more than we correct them. They also say that when the praise is done in front of others it is even more powerful. You can multiply the power by how many people are in the room that hear the praise. This is something I try to follow everyday. It resonates with me and I believe it is a true and good practice as a parent. Being raised as a young child in a family that was deeply divided on this topic, my father was a believer in strong corrections and ruling with an iron fist, my mother was on the opposite spectrum, I find that the pain that remains from the harsh cristicsm I received as a child only hinders me as a person and makes me self doubt any good decisions I make. In our personal life positive reinforcement works very well for my husband and I. The joy in my sons face when we praise him is so much more powerful than the times we lose our patience and correct a little too harshly. This prayer provides a good reminder to me of how I should be treating my child and it helps me to know that I am not alone in this journey.

A Parent’s Prayer

O Heavenly Father, make me a better parent.
Teach me to understand my children, to listen patiently to what they have to say and to answer all their questions kindly.
Keep me from interrupting them or contradicting them.
Make me as courteous to them as I would have them be to me.
Forbid that I should ever laugh at their mistakes or resort to shame or ridicule when they displease me.
May I never punish them for my own selfish satisfaction or to show my power.
Let me not tempt my child to lie or steal.
Guide me hour by hour that I may demonstrate by all I say and do that honesty produces happiness.
Reduce the meanness in me and when I am out of sorts help me, O Lord, to hold my tongue.
May I ever be mindful that my children are children and I should not expect of them the judgment of adults.
Let me not rob them of the opportunity to wait on themselves and to make decisions.
Bless me with the bigness to grant them all their reasonable requests and the courage to deny them privileges I know will do them harm.
Make me fair and just and kind.
Fit me to be loved, respected and imitated by my children.

(unknown author)

Times, they are a changin'

My life just underwent some major change. My family and I moved from a western mountain town to the deep deep south. It was probably the biggest move in my life, even trumping the first time I moved away from home to attend college. That's because so much more was at stake. We have a child, a house, pets, and not to mention all the things that go in a house. It was exciting and scary and time consuming. Which is precisely the reason the last post I made was Day 2 Instructions of a quilt I was making for my son, over 4 months ago. Now that quilt is boxed away in our new home wondering if it will ever be finished. It will so don't worry if you are making one too and waiting for those instructions. They will come, eventually.

Moving to the deep south from a liberal western city was quite monumental for many reasons. For one I had no idea what changes I may be about to face. I wondered about the cultural differences, the schools, making friends, finding a playgroup, the weather, etc, etc. I was moving further away from my side of the family and even further away from my husbands side. We were truly going into unknown, at least to us, territory. My husband was opening a new office in a new city on his own. No transfer with a big company that provides moving help. We were literally on our own. SCARY! Not to mention that we know this move most likely will be temporary. Which of course means we will get to do it all over again in no time at all. Yay. (slight sarcasm inserted here)

Well we survived the move. Which wasn't easy, but we have been here for about 45 days and we seem to be settling in just fine. We both miss our old city and friends but we are diving in head first. With hope that it will help ease the transition. We definitely have encountered differences but we are trying to roll with it. We know that every place has something to offer you just have to follow the saying "When in Rome".

I am sure there will be plenty of experiences here to learn from and hopefully grow from. The hope is I will be up and crafting and sewing again in no time, with plenty of fun crafts to share with all of my old friends far away, and my new friends right here.

Quilting time Day 2....a strip is a stripe is a strip

After finding my inspiration I have begun the construction of my quilt. I decided to do stripes because I am going for simple. I should have way more done than I do but I must secretly strive on deadlines, or at least I'm trying to make myself since every project I have going on gets pushed together at the very last minute. Hmmm, could this be a problem? Or just some amazing time management secret. haha. A girl can dream.

Back to the project at hand, er machine. I purchased my fabric according to how many strips I would need to make the finished twin quilt size with the help of my lovely lady friends down at Harriet's Treadle Arts. They are so sweet and helpful. Thanks Ladies!

I purchased enough fabric to make stripes using 8 colorways. I made the strips different widths which in hindsight may or may not be a good idea since it then left me with uneven strips (meaning I had more strips in some color than others).

Since I tend to have large amounts of time between when I get to work on a project I always need some way of remembering pertinent information. I decided this time to lay out the stripes in the pattern I wanted and take a picture. This way I can see what color needs to be sewn next.

The picture will give you an idea of how many strips it takes to make a twin size quilt. Always measure and ask your local quilt store if you are unsure. They are there to help!

Standard quilt sizes are as follows:

Type******Mattress Size****Quilt Size

Crib ******28"x52" *********50"x53"

Twin *****39"x75" *********65"x88"

Double****54"x75" *********80"x88"

Queen ****60"x80"*********86"x93"

King*******76"x80"********104"x93"

Cali King***72"x84"********100"x97"

Tip 1* To save money you can use a sheet for the back of the quilt. Just be sure to either use the same material or prewash the quilt fabric so that the top doesn't shrink and the sheet stays the same (if it is a blend of poly then they are not going to shrink like cotton would)

Tip 2* Instead of cutting each strip of fabric tear it. It will always be a perfect straight line (if the fabric is 100% cotton) and it saves you time. I don't mind the frayed edges though so consider that before ripping away :)

If you are looking for fun, fresh and contemporary fabrics check out pink chalk fabrics online at www.pinkchalkfabrics.com !!

Shout out

I am excited because I just signed on as the Hospitality coordinator at my MOPS group which means I get to come up with all sorts of fun decorating ideas and share them with all of you! My post is titled shout out because i wanted to pass along some creative decorating ideas i recently got from two of my best girl friends. One gave me the idea to use our next year MOPS theme, "Momology; the art and science of mothering" and make the centerpieces using test tubes and single strands of beautiful flowers with microscope slides featuring written words that describe the awesome gift of being a mother. I also thought I could use classic art that features mothers and incorporate that into the final piece. The design is still in the idea phase but once I figure out how to make it work I can post a picture of the final creation!

Another great friend of mine told me how I can decorate a space using paper banners. She has them up at her house and they are super cute! Here is her blog, check em out!

http://www.andthenshesaved.com/home/hooked-on-banners.html