Projects

I've taken a little break from packing. There's only so much I can handle at a time, and thankfully, I have the time to take a breather. I don't actually have too much more to do. Elena's closet and a few things in the guest room are all that remain of items we don't use on a regular basis. I hauled some things to a thrift store this past weekend and returned a chair we'd borrowed. There is something in me that is satisfied when I get rid of stuff. We have a lot more we could get rid of, but some of that decision-making will happen once we actually move.

In the meantime, I've taken on a couple of projects. I bought some braided fabric at a thrift store months ago and finally started lacing it into a rug. It's some kind of synthetic velour-like knit fabric. It laces pretty easily, but still not as nicely as wool. However, the biggest surprise is that I think I'm actually going to like the finished product. I know it sounds silly - why would I buy braided fabric for a rug if I'm not even sure I'll like it? I figured if I didn't like it, I could always donate the rug back to the thrift store and let someone buy it who would like it. But how could I let perfectly good braids sit unlaced when I knew I could do it?!

The other project is sewing a swim suit cover up for a friend. I'll end up with a similar one since I want to practice it at least once before making the final product. You can see what it looks like at the following link.

http://www.merricksart.com/2015/02/diy-friday-pom-pom-trim-beach-coverup.html?m=1

Hope you're finding some hobbies to fill your evenings this winter (you know, something to distract you from the piles of laundry and dust bunnies under the couch.).

Moving: Somewhere, Someday.

We're moving. We don't know where yet, but we've started the house search since we're staying local. We've been renting for the past five plus years, and we're ready to own our own home again. We owned one (and rehabbed it!) during medical school, but since we didn't know what we'd want to do after residency, and the housing market still wasn't that great when Dan started residency, we decided to rent.

Now we know we'll be moving at some point within the next number of months, probably after the baby arrives. So I've started packing up what I can. I decided to start with the basement and work my way up to the 2nd floor. I had to organize our storage space to make room for more boxes, and I've been purging whatever items we don't need or want. (This is actually challenging for both of us. We tend to say "well, I might be able to use this sometime..." when we probably won't if we haven't used it much or at all during our time here.) I've gradually been taking the boxes to our upstairs storage space, so things don't look to cluttered.

I love to purge. I love to organize and clean things out. Since we haven't bought a house yet, and I feel the need to be nesting in some way, it feels very good to pack up what I can, knowing I'll be glad to have less to pack when I'm hugely pregnant or have a newborn.

I emptied our china cabinet and we plan to get rid of that piece of furniture. The china is all boxed up and ready for the next place. Anyone want the china cabinet? It's yours if you come and haul it away. We got it for free during med school, and it's an old piece that needs a face lift. Neither of us really want to put the effort into that, so we're hoping there is some one out there who would like to.

The Rumors are True

Might as well post a picture of our biggest news this year.

Wintry Tidbits

I've been baking a lot lately. Bread, mostly, but also some cookies, scones and sticky buns here and there. Something about winter (especially snowy days) makes me want to bake bread. When I was in high school, I remember snow days where I made bread. I also have cozy memories of my mom baking bread when I was a kid, so I suppose that's why I have a hankering for it now. Fresh, warm bread from the oven is wonderful.

I don't use a bread machine; I just do it the old-fashioned way. I mix the ingredients by hand (sometimes I use a mixer early on, but usually I just use a wooden spoon) and knead the dough by hand. Sometimes I use a thermometer to make sure the liquid is warm but not too hot, other times I just test it on my wrist. It's perhaps more time-consuming than if I had a bread machine, but I enjoy the process. I'm not making bread daily so it hasn't become tedious.

When Dan was in Swaziland years ago, another ex-pat used some great bread recipes from a cookbook written by Bernard Clayton. After moving to Delaware, and I was home full-time, I requested some new cookbooks for Christmas. Dan made sure to get me this one.

It's full of all kinds of bread recipes from all over the world, and I've been having fun making different ones. Being the lazy blogger that I am (and one without a smart phone), I don't have any pictures of the bread to wow you with. But if you come to my house, or if you baby-sit my kids, you might just get to have some of it.

I've found that my domestic interests go in spurts. For now, any creative juices are being used in the kitchen. For the most part, I haven't spent much time at my sewing machine or with crochet hooks or knitting needles.  My sewing machine is not running the best these days (I think it's on its way out), but more than anything, I just don't have the drive to sew things. I do have two items to finish making for the kids, but I have a feeling it's going to be quite a while until they're done. I recently put away most of the fabric I'd purchased this fall, because seeing all those unused bolts of fabric was beginning to stress me out.  When my body is growing a life, I feel less of a need for a creative outlet in general.

Dirty Aprons

Dan's Grandma Hess had 11 children. At her funeral service some one who used to work on the family farm spoke about his experience working for Jacob and Mary. He mentioned that he could always tell when another family member was on the way, because Mary's apron front began to get dirtier. For some reason, that is the only tidbit I remember from the funeral service.

Can you guess whose apron is getting dirtier in the front these days?

Days 6 & 7

I promise, this is the last One Week One Pattern post! These two pictures basically show you what I wore. We were away for the weekend, where it was much colder than it had been earlier in the week, so my t-shirts didn't quite cut it. I didn't wear one on day 6 (we just hung around the house all day and tried to stay warm), and while I did wear one on day 7, it was under another shirt and sweatshirt all day. Like so:

So that's it! It was fun to participate in an online sewing community activity. I am glad to wear other clothes, but it made me think more about what it would be like to always wear the same uniform, or style of clothing. I'm sure I'd own fewer clothes and be more creative, which is something to think about. I like to say simplicity is a good thing, but I'm not sure I really live it when it comes to clothing. It takes up much more of my thoughts than it probably should. 

OWOP Day 5

This was my pattern version for Day 5. Here also, this picture was taken over the summer, instead of on Thursday, but I pretty much looked the same, minus a scarf that happened to wear with it this time around.

We left for a long weekend vacation mid-day, so as soon as I was finished with my morning at MOPS, I changed into some traveling clothes (jeans and a t-shirt) and didn't get Dan to snap my picture.

This is probably my favorite version of my pattern. It's too heavy of a knit to wear on really humid days, however, so I have to save it for slightly cooler weather. I picked the fabric up at a local thrift store, so I really have no idea what the fiber content is, although I'm pretty sure it's not 100% cotton b/c of the feel of it and how warm it is.

For some reason, I think this dress looks better with the belt on my hips, rather than around my waist. And I think this is one reason I like it more. I'm used to my waistbands landing on my hips, not my waist, so it feels more natural and comfortable. When I wear other dresses with a belt at my waist line, I'm less likely to keep them on longer than the event I wore them for.