Beauty

I have this thing I do

all the time

where I'm driving along or walking along or just in my house

and I suddenly exclaim to everyone

"Oh my gosh, look at that!"

And I'm usually referring to snow or trees or a sunset or sunrise or maybe even a flower

It drives my family a little nuts.

They are like "ok ok, we've seen a flower before!"

But seriously, if something is beautiful and it strikes me with its beauty,

should I really keep that emotion inside?

I think not!

And part of me feels like

maybe I am training my boys to notice beauty around them

So I was filled with happiness when, yesterday, out of the blue

Carter yells to me from his computer (as I sat on the couch nearby)

"Mom! Look outside!"

and

Wow!

It was beautiful.

The trees were all coated with ice

and the sun was setting and was shining from behind them

and it was just sparkling like mad.

White snow, blue sky

It was amazing.

Of course, I freaked out and sprinted up to my loft to grab my camera

(which turned out to be right next to me in the living room)

and I tried to capture it.

(without actually leaving the warm house...although I did open the sliding door)

I kept taking pictures as the sun went down, 

hoping for the same magical, shining tree but with orange!

It wasn't quite as shiny as it went down but it was still beautiful.

And my son noticed it first.

Success

Gym time

Yesterday I forced myself to go to the gym.

I've been meaning to go forever

but 

you know

I have all these good reasons not to:

It's too cold outside

I'm tired at night

I'm sleepy in the morning

I prefer to stay home and eat bread

You know.

Reasons!

But I finally forced myself to go even though I was sorely tempted to go home instead.

What I did there could barely be called a workout.

I felt fat and out of place

The one main reason I went last night in particular is that my gym is starting a 

Biggest Loser

type of group and I wanted to join.

I'm not obese but I have some weight to lose.

But for me its more about motivation and accountability than weight loss.

So after my "workout" I went to the front desk to sign up.

They asked me to scan my membership card, which I did.

The manager then came over and told me that they've been trying to contact me because my credit card did not go through to make my monthly payment.

They didn't have my email and they had the wrong phone number in their system.

It had been so long that they had actually cancelled my membership!

They thought I moved away...

My card had not been charged since 

August!

Holy Moly, I had no idea it had been THAT LONG since I stepped foot in the gym.

And now I remember that when we went on our vacation in September, my credit card was compromised and we had to get a new one.

oops

"Biggest Loser" starts tonight

At 6:30 I'll be working out with a trainer 

(and wanting to puke, no doubt)

I'm going to get a workout plan

and some sort of eating info too.

I already know what I should eat, I just need to accountability to actually do it!

New Goal: Be in the gym enough that they know you exist and don't cancel your membership!

Upholstery Class Week 5

It's already week 5!

But I've only been 3 times...

Last week I missed class because of Carter's surgery. 

I arrived to class this week about 5 minutes late because I had to take Austin to work so I got a later start on the drive.

Traffic wasn't the worst its ever been but it wasn't good either

A couple of people in our class can actually walk there

(I am so jealous)

so when I told them that I try to give myself 2 hours to get there, they were flabbergasted.

It is kind of ridiculous when you think about it

but it's only once a week so it doesn't make me nuts.

If I was commuting daily, I would definitely be unhappy.

Anyway, I got a lot done today!

Today was a weird combination of fun and super stressful.

I took the chair home and painted the visible wood.

and didn't take a single picture

Then while moving it around to work on the upholstery, I scratched the heck out of it.

*tears up*

Fist step was to finish putting burlap over the arms 

(I did the straps last time)

I built up the arm by using some strapping and then filling it with cotton batting

Staple it down with a  small pleat so that you can have a pocket to fill.

the original chair had flat arms but I think I'll like the round, rolled look better

Now my chair had to be turned on its side for the next steps, so that's what your looking at.

I placed foam over the burlap area and stapled in place

Then a piece of cotton is placed over the foam

and it brought all the way over the arm in one piece.

I put smaller pieces of batting into any lumps or bumps that I could feel

so that the arm is nice and smooth

Next cover the whole thing with muslin

and staple in place.

It's necessary to pleat the area by the front of the arm.

I found this difficult to get looking nice

which makes me nervous for the real fabric!

I also had to cut slits in the fabric to go around the wood pieces along the bottom

so that I could pull it down into the bottom of the chair and get it tight.

Whenever I cut the fabric it totally stresses me out.

No going back from a bad cut!

Again, I am imagining having to do that with the real fabric.

EEEK!

The burlap, foam, cotton and muslin are all pulled down through the bottom area of the arm

and brought UP and tacked in place.

This hold it temporarily until I can put the fabric

After the fabric is placed, everything will be pulled DOWN and secured

Once the arms were done, I began to put the webbing on the back of the chair.

On the seat, when you put the webbing, you use a webbing stretcher to get it very very tight.

But on the back we leave it slightly loose so that the back is comfy and has some "give"

When class was over I was pretty happy with how much I got done!

Sadly next week is a vacation week so no class!

I'll be bringing in my fabric next time.

YAY!

I'm sort of amazed how much stuff is required to do this.

And everything is BIG.

Big rolls of batting and foam are not easy to store.

Not to mention the furniture itself.

Someone in another class is making a King size tufted headboard

and I was kind of jealous...

Grateful for Boston

In October

I was returning from grocery shopping

and my hands were full of bags

So my son, Carter, ran up to the door to open it for me

And when I looked at him to say "thanks" I was kind of freaked out.

He had a growth on his neck.

It was like a second Adam's apple but higher up.

When I questioned him about it he told me that he'd had it for a couple of days

(How did I miss that?)

That day, my brother, Dion was supposed to fly into Boston to visit us

so in order to get him at the airport we took Carter to Mass General's emergency room

(right by the airport...how handy!)

As soon as the doctors saw his neck, they knew what it was

and it required surgery.

Which, strangely enough, was kind of good news

because up to this point the child was seriously annoyed that we'd taken him to the ER at all.

So, to hear that it was something real was good info, in a way.

We were referred to a Pediatric ENT at Mass Eye and Ear.

We have some experience working with Mass Eye and Ear because that's where the specialists came from when Frank's eye freaked out during his Leukemia treatment.

Frank picked up my brother from the airport and instead of going out to eat or doing something fun as originally planned, we brought him to the ER.

haha

But he did get a little tour of Frank's old stomping grounds on Lunder 10.

So that's something...

_____

He had the surgery this week, on Monday.

It went really smoothly and he is recovering amazingly well.

Here he is before surgery...not nervous at all.

They took out a big chunk of tissue from his neck

and hopefully the growth will not return.

The view from his room...not bad!

Post-op. Playing games and not in need of pain meds!

I'm so grateful to live near these amazing medical facilities!

Confession time

Today Frank and I spent some time cleaning out and organizing our storage room.

The house we are renting has a wonderful storage space in the basement.

Part of the storage includes a big cedar closet.

So today I went through the clothes I had in storage.

It was...eyeopening.

Those who know me, know I have a bit of a skirt "problem"

I counted 16 skirts in there.

That doesn't count any dresses in that closet

That doesn't count any skirts or dresses in my normal closet upstairs.

And I still like them all.

So many cute skirts!

Very few tops however.

Skirts.

I'm just drawn to them

but I can never find a top that I like.

So I just get the skirt and think, I'll find a top later.

Apparently later doesn't always happen.

Actually, let's be honest, it almost never happens.

I'm a skirt addict.

Closing

Ink About It

The store I have worked at for years now

(how many? why don't I know this?)

is closing.

It's a sad thing

and a loss to the paper crafting community

Some people probably don't even realize yet how much they will miss this place

the products, of course

the ease and convenience of having a store like this locally

but most of all

the community of people

that is what I will miss the most.

I have gotten to know a lot of great people in the years I have shopped and worked here.

other employees

the owners

members of my friday night crop group

members of the kit club

customers that I just liked and bonded with

And when Frank got sick

the people that work here and the people that shop here

got together in a big way to support us

I still get people asking about Frank on a regular basis whenever I work

It means a lot to me.

those of us who work at the store

(past and present)

are like a little family

We are interested in each other's lives

We are interested in each other's art

We care about each other

We had occasional get-togethers outside of work

Pickety Place for lunch

Lori's vacation house for dinner

The Yearly Holiday party and card exchange

I'll miss this place

I understand the need to move on however.

Linda and Lori have made this place a huge priority in their lives for ten years now.

They are ready to do something new

and I'm excited for them to be able to do that!

I can only imagine the amount of energy and time it takes to run a business like this.

I picture Linda spending the first week after the closing

just lounging around her house in her pjs.

At least that's what I would want to do!

And, although I didn't work a lot of hours per week

I will also soon find myself with open time that I'm not used to having.

Frank has been telling me for some time to find what I'm excited about and go do it.

I guess this will be my chance.