A Quarterly Wrap-Up

I don't know what my problem has been lately, but I have really struggled with updating my blog.  I check the blogs that I follow daily, but I haven't been able to get my mojo going with blogging.  Perhaps I should limit my time on Pinterest?  Then maybe I'd feel like I have something to blog about? Do you know what?  I just figured out my problem (well, some of it). I kind of got trapped in this idea that my blog was too boring and I didn't have interesting enough topics to write about.  I tried to put together some tutorials on projects I was doing, but it was hard, and my pictures were terrible.  Looking through a lot of blogs that have awesome projects and writing/storytelling started to intimidate me and make me feel badly about my own blog.  I actually like my family and I don't think that they are boring, but I started to compare myself to others, and that is never a way to win.  I started this blog to document my family and what we do, so I am going to stop trying to be like someone else and be me!

So, here is a round-up of what has been going on in my family since December! 

Seth, Jane, Mark and Paul at the Thanksgiving Point Light Festival

• The 24 Days of December countdown was great this year.  I simplified the process, which was nice.  For a while though, I thought that the boys didn't really care about the countdown and that it was a waste of our time to do it because they were really silly and sometimes uncooperative with the activities.  I had talked to Daniel about actually calling it quits, but the next morning during our weekly family meeting, I changed my mind.  We open our meeting with "Compliments".  Everyone gets a turn to compliment someone or everyone about something that happened that week.  Paul thanked me for putting the countdown together and told me that he was having a lot of fun with it!  I was so relieved to hear that!

• Daniel got sick the week before Christmas.  He had the flu and he was out for the count for a solid 10 days.  My family had a Christmas party and we had everyone coming, so we were doing pictures.  With one of my nephews leaving for a mission, it was the last chance for a while to have everyone together.  I feel rotten that I had to drag Daniel to the party just for the pictures, but he was a good sport about it.  I had to wake him up on Christmas morning to open presents.  After 2 weeks of being sick, he developed a sinus infection, so he went to the doctor.

• The physical therapy on my tailbone wasn't working, so I went into the doctor to get a steroid injection (not pleasant).  They numbed my tailbone area to do the injections and the ride home was the most pleasant, pain-free ride I had had for over a year.  That afternoon I was sitting on a chair at Tae Kwon Do ( Paul and Seth are taking it now) and the numbness wore off and my tailbone was hurting.  I sat there and cried- tears streaming, but no ugly face crying.  I was beyond frustrated.  The pain did ease, as my tailbone area was bruised from the injections, but the pain was only 50% gone.  In January I was sitting in bed reading and when I sat up, my tailbone popped, then it popped again when I moved again.  Since then my tailbone has not hurt.  It has been a big relief to have it feel better.  

 

• December 27 I started an Anti-Candida Diet.  My current diet (no wheat, dairy or fruit) was really close to the ACD, but I had to cut out starches (white rice, potatoes, corn) and sugars (cane, corn syrup, etc.).  I thought that I would really struggle without my daily chocolate fix, but I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't struggle much at all.  I had a day about 2 weeks in where I craved sugar, so I had a grapefruit and that quelched my craving!  I was amazed at how sweet a grapefruit tasted after not having anything sweet for 2 weeks!  I am about halfway through the 90 day phase.  I have added a limited amount of maple syrup into some recipes as the allowed sweetener, Stevia, is not something that I enjoy the taste of.  My digestive health has been great and I am pleased with the results.  After the 90 days, I can add different foods back in, but I will try to keep it to 80% of my foods on this diet and only 20% from the sugar/starch group. 

• New Years Eve 2012.  We had a little mustache party and lit sparklers in the yard.  We didn't do a lot, as Daniel was still feeling sick, but we had a great time (We don't stay up until midnight as a family because I don't enjoy dealing with tired kids the next day.)

Daniel celebrated his last birthday in the 30's.  Next year will be the big 40!

In January, I went to Paul's class (5th grade) and taught them all how to sew.  They got to pick out a red, white, and blue rectangle, and then sew two lines to make a square.  This project combined two subjects that they were studying- fractions and the roll that quilts played in the Civil War.  (I didn't know until a year or two ago that people who had safe houses for slaves would make quilts with certain patterns on them and hang them on their clothes line to indicate that they are a safe house.  Pretty cool, huh?) 

For the majority of the kids, this was their first time using a sewing maching.  They were very deliberate with their stitching and they did a great job!  I actually learned something by watching them sew- they would use the slowest speed my machine and I put a guide line down for them to follow and their lines were very straight.  I have been using a slower speed for some of my projects since then, and I have been much more accurate! 

The kids took turns sewing the quilt top together and then I quilted and bound it.  We walked over to the hospital that is next door to the school and we donated the quilt to the children's unit.  The kids got to tour the radiology department and it was really fun! 

I am very proud of this class for the work that they did.  We finished the quilt top in 4 sessions (about 1 1/2 hours each).  The finished quilt is 45x60

They made me a card to thank me for helping them.  Two comments from the boys made my day:
"Mrs. Taylor, Thanks 4 helping me learn to quilt.  I thought that sewing was just for girls and thanks to you, now I know that I am a girl!  J/K! It was really cool!"

"Mrs. Taylor, Thanks for teaching me how to sew.  I thought that it was for girls because my mom sews a lot, but it's not, so thanks a lot!" 

 

•  I had been saying for over a month that I needed to cut hair.  Everytime I mentioned a haircut, Paul would cringe and say that he didn't want me to touch his hair.  He has beautiful curls when his hair is long, but he needed it cleaned up a bit.  When I finally got around to cutting hair, he requested a buzz cut!  I double and triple checked with him to make sure that he understood what a buzz cut was and he was sure that that was what he wanted.  His curls were beautiful, so I was a bit hesitant, but I did it! 

 He looks so different!

•  I did a shave down the center and told him that he was done.  He wasn't too thrilled with the results.  Well, actually he loved it and wanted to keep it that way, but I told him that I wasn't done and it had to be finished.  He was rather bummed that I wouldn't let him go to school like that. 

• I signed up for an on-line sewing class.  The class is all about sewing curves.  Curves have always intimidated me, so I decided that this was my year to conquor the curves!  It is a 5-week class and each week has 3 projects that advance in skill week by week.  Thankfully I didn't struggle too much with the basic curves!  I made a bunting for Jane's window, a bib (no picture) and a pillow. 

Look closely at the pillow- I sewed 5 rows of scallops together to make this pattern.