After

Thank you everyone for your well wishes. Fortunately, last Friday's paycheck wasn't the last...but we're starting to deal with the reality of a job search. I'm hoping we can use this time to really look at our priorities--not just in terms of money, but in how we define "lifestyle." I'm finding that all the plans I had as recently as last weekend all fall into the category of "before," and now we're living in "after." "After" is going to take a little getting used to.

But while we're adjusting, we're still preparing for a birthday party in eight short days, so there's lots of crafting to help me keep my focus. Let's get to the good stuff, shall we?

Last Saturday, Bobby had a birthday party. After racking my brain, I came up with this, a Birthday Bucket o'Fun, I call it:


It's a fabric bucket with one handle--you can hang it on a doorknob. And ten beanbags for chucking into the bucket. Then I made a Tic Tac Toe mat to use with the beanbags.

Doing the stenciling for these letters took way longer than I wanted to spend on this project. It's the one thing that may keep me from making this again--unless I give myself more than one day to work on it. I hope the kid likes it. I was quite in love with it myself.

Here is my sweater! It's going to be a hoodie. The hood comes after the sleeves. This has taken forever, but I can guarantee I'll wear it until it falls apart because I've put so much work into it.

Obligatory birthday cake shot. In the end, some of the extra people didn't come. And the New Jersey folks were a little nervous about the drive back because of the snowstorm. They drove into it on their way home, but all got home safely. It was nice to visit.

And now I must focus on Caitlin's party. It's set for the 14th. Our theme is Fairy Wonderland, and here's the lovely parting gift for the guests--fairy skirts. I ordered tulle from fabric.com and ribbon from Oriental Trading. I filled the skirts with flowers from leis. They've been pretty easy to make. We're also going to decorate fairy wings, so there's going to be lots of cuteness.
One of the bonuses of this whole no-more-job thing is that Rob has been able to come home for lunch. He's on his way now, so I'd best go enjoy his company!

I went to bed last night trying to be positive--not overreact to any rumors or speculation.

But this morning I've read four articles that all say the same thing (mostly because it's four re-printings of one news wire article): HSBC is closing its HFC and Beneficial operations in the US; 6100 jobs will be lost.

And one of those jobs is my husband's.

He has a conference call at 8:00am, so I guess that's where we'll find out if last Friday's paycheck was indeed the last.

I know there are people far worse off than us right now, but I sure could use a little positive energy and prayer today.

Thank you.

Get in gear...

Thanks for listening to me gripe about my household management issues the other day. It's just one of those things that irks me, and I was in a moody place, so it all came out in a bit of a rant, I guess. Rob and I can laugh about our differences--he knows that I don't want him to do the dishes, but I do want him to WANT to do the dishes. And I do give him credit when he does want to do the dishes. (But like he says, why would he ever want to do dishes?)

Anyway, while I was busy bitching, our little gathering was multiplying! What started out as a small gathering of maybe three more adults and the five kids that go with them has morphed into eleven adults and eleven kids! Yikes!

Add to that the fact that I keep dragging my feet on making this birthday present for a party on Saturday...and you can see that I'm going to be a busy girl. As a plus, I'll probably sleep very well on Sunday night.

I'll be back on Monday with pictures!

Funk

I do believe February has caught up with me. Maybe I'm not in a full-on funk, but I am feeling frustrated...

I'd like to spend the day sewing and knitting, but Rob's sisters and one of his cousins are coming out on Sunday, so I need to begin making the house company-ready. Unfortunately for me, that phrase means different things to me and Rob. For Rob, it means the house must look like the freakin' Waldorf-Astoria. And I hate when he cleans. Have I mentioned that before? Well, I can't stand it. I'm not sure if it's because I feel like I'm being judged--like I don't keep a clean enough house--but I'm about ready to let go of that. I think it's partly his competitive nature--he's the oldest, so he should have the nicest (and hence cleanest?) house. Let's not delve any further into the psychology here.

Mostly I hate when he cleans because he doesn't do it the way I do it. You know what I mean, right? When I clean the bathroom, I use any old used washcloth lying around, and when I'm done, I toss it in the washing machine. I can't tell you how many paper towels were harmed during his last cleaning frenzy. He's all about chemicals! It makes me crazy. This is why, after my second cup of coffee, I'm going to get started. If I can clean for an hour or so each day, I should have it done by Sunday--or done enough that all we'll have to do on Sunday is repair the damage the kids will have inflicted on Saturday!

And this cleaning plan should give me time to do a little more sewing. I do have to make a birthday present by Saturday--for a five year old boy. Not easy to figure what home-made thing a boy is going to like (since my five year old boy thinks most of what I make is stupid).

The purpose for Sunday's visit is a triple birthday celebration (one belated, two early). That will give me an excuse to hang this: our new family birthday banner!
This is also from Stitched in Time, and it was much more fun to make than the heart garlands. I tell you, having to sew, stuff, and embroider around those hearts just about put me over the edge! But this was a fairly quick project. It's all machine-stitched, and the most difficult part was choosing the fabrics.

Caitlin's birthday party is in a couple of weeks, and I can tell you this place is going to be fairy central! I'm still waiting on a delivery from Oriental Trading, and then I'm going to be painting fairy wings and sewing fairy skirts into the wee hours. I guess it's a good thing I have to clean the house this week, because there is so much crafting to be done between now and April first, I'm not going to have time to clean later.

Yellow #5

I ordered "cream." When it arrived, I thought to myself, "that's yellow!"

This baby kimono (from Mason-Dixon Knitting) is a shower gift for Caitlin's teacher. The shower is taking place this afternoon, so what a fitting way to end yellow week.

Yellow #4

Breakfast...
Lunch...

and Dinner.

Yellow #3