last minute again over here, but thats ok because it has kicked me in the pants and gotten me out of my funk. i botched attempt number one on dorothys dress. why i feel like i can just tackle these things on my own without a pattern i dont know. going for a simpler apron style jumper this time around. thanks for the idea david, you are right i need to talk to you more often about sewing. next time my dear, next time. arlo just needs a pair of ears to go with a brown onesie to complete her role as toto. remember how i had mentioned losing the battle with eliot over costumes this year? i am counting my blessings right now that i dont have a third thing lined up to make. besides he was so stinking excited about it how could i not smile and enjoy it. spiderman hung out at our house all day saturday and sunday. also scared the bajesus out of arlo one time. oops. have a great day tomorrow. in classic kc style the temperature today is 76 and tomorrow it is supposed to be 40 and rainy. awesome, bring on the candy induced tummy aches and runny noses.
Had to check out your costumes...cute! I worked all weekend on a pez dispenser costume and my daughter decided this a.m. she doesn't want to be it!!!! AHHH! The joys!
Oh, you must show the finished dorothy and toto once the girls are dressed up. My daughter has those exact same shoes -- watch out, the glitter gets everywhere!
hooray for out of the funk-- is this what boys do always? the superheros? gah... if you come to our house you gotta yell real loud cuz i'll be upstairs with the lights out. humbug.
isn't it just tradition to put costumes together last minute... halloween is so much better with kids... you remember how much fun it was AND you can steal their candy. ;)
so great, and I can't wait to see the whole trio! last minute was our routine too - I'm starting to think there's no possible way around it... Happy Halloween, and I hope the insanity of the evening helps to brighten everything up for you!
feeling ho hum this week. not sure why. still coughing, but now the issue isnt so much my throat as my poor brain slamming into my skull while in a coughing fit. the result is some wicked headaches. awesome. i am making an effort to think happy and therefore be happy. good things this week: 1. surprising a friend at his poetry reading and buying his book that just won an award. 2. masaman curry. always good. 3. surprise oreos and milk with good friends last night. 4. listening to this and this makes me smile. 5. looking at these definitely make me smile.
in an effort to beat the funk i am going to start in on halloween costumes tonight. oh, and it is less than a week away. yikes! hopping to it. thanks friends for letting me indulge in a funk publicly.
Hey, happens to the best of us. I know that chin-in-hand look all too well myself. Glad you're finding some small things to be happy about and hope there are more and more in days ahead.
hope you're starting to de-funk...i think i always get in a little funk from about 4:30 until 6pm, when my husband gets home. it's the late afternoon funk. can't wait to see these costumes!
we are all passing around congestion and a wicked cough. the dry tickle one that sneaks up on you. you know? when you cough for five minutes straight and your head is pounding and you feel all hot and sweaty when you are done? yeah, that one. but i am not complaining because the last time i had that cough i was seven months pregnant and it was torture. we are taking it easy around here except for this little one. eight months old and kickin' it. and though it isnt visible to the naked eye, tooth number one has made its appearance. mama can feel it...
on a sewing note. first i feel a little sheepish after davids comment last post. thanks hon. second, i have been wanting to make a smock type top for collette with the superbuzzy fabric i got to go over jeans. i dont have a pattern and have been kicking around the idea of just making it up. is this smart? any pointers or obvious things that i am not thinking of? i keep having visions of pleats on the front but i dont know how to make pleats. do i do fold them in first and then cut out the shape of the top? i feel like if i do it after it will shrink up the top. that doesnt make much sense probably except in my head. ok, i am entering another coughing fit. later people.
hope you feel better soon hannah! that girl gets cuter with with each post! its like saving a sinking ship when five of you have the same cold! hope you only hav eone go 'round!
Okay, Arlo is adorable. Hope your cough gets better. I think my last cough was when I was pregnant too. I coughed so hard that my water broke two weeks early!
I have done some english smocking - the kind you see on the little dresses. These are pleated using a machine and often the pleated part is done seperately and then seamed to the rest of the garment with some small piping in between. Then the pleats are embroidered to make the design. I am not sure about the other kind of smocking, but I just bought a Japanese craft book that has something like that in it. If you are interested, I will give it a look and see if I can make any sense out of it.
I hope you all feel better soon. I, too, had one of those 7-months pregnant horrible coughs. I seriously thought I was going to hurt the baby.
I've been kicking around the idea of making up a smock pattern (one that criss-crosses in the back and buttons at the shoulder), but I'm scared. Maybe try with some muslin first?
i know that cough. just got rid of it last week. i can't imagine it at seven months pregnant. I am no help on the pleats, but I'm thinking of using the easy-peasy pillowcase dress idea, but shortening it to be a little smock top to go over long sleeve tees for the girls....
that is the sweetest picture I have seen in a very long time, no joke. That babe! Hope you all feel healthier soon. If you're like me, you feel the craftiest when you can't make anything.
it has been a slow week over here at huffmania. we too are trying to dodge the sniffles. i have been going to bed early this week to be nice to myself and my throat that is currently coated in sand paper. blex. i enjoyed reading your thoughts on money, and thanks stephanie and tracy for the book recommendation, i am going to get on that. also does anyone have a good source for adopting a family for christmas? this is the route i want to go this year. maybe one or two little things for the huffsters and done. if you havent read this simplify the holidays at newdream you should. it just feels good. and i think giving should feel good too, never forced. ok, i am getting off my soap box now. speaking of giving, here is a little peek of a baby gift that is going out in the mail today. while i love this pompom fringe, i think i am going to have to pass it by next time. i spent way too much time (read sewed three times) making sure none of the tape was showing through. i wish i would have taken a picture of myself in the basement last night. i was still feeling pretty crummy and i was freezing so i had on a hat and an old wool sweater and was shuffling around in my slippers. i felt like some crazy craft bag lady. good times. once my body can go without a few extra hours of sleep i have a pile of washed flannels to make some pj pants for the girls. keeping the fingers crossed.
more on gifts, i am a lucky, lucky ducky. a few weeks ago allison emailed me saying she had an extra one of these tshirts that might fit me and it was mine if i wanted it. um yes! i havent had a chance to take a pic, but i have been wearing it like crazy. thank you so much allison! and then this goodness from julie arrived yesterday. so yeah, pretty much i emailed her and begged for some of her cards. lucky me she threw in a beautiful pencil bag and a piece of that amazing japanese fabric. wow. thank you julie, i love the cards and yes, i am pro monogram!
in an effort to beat the funk in our house, david and i are sneaking away tonight to see the science of sleep and perhaps get a cup of coffee. a birthday party and pie with a dear friend is on the docket for saturday and exhibition basketball game at ku on sunday. oh yes, we love our hawks here. wow, i just realized how packed our weekend is. time to drink more tea to tame the sandpaper.
sandpaper throat...that was me last week. and yes, I think tea does the trick for a temporary fix...sleepytime tea being my favorite, with a little honey, of course. I love that baby gift with bobbles. I can only imagine the pain in sewing after trying to sew ricrac and have only the top of the ricrac peeking out of the fabric. (and gorgeous papers!)
question. no...observation. i haven't read a lot of craft blogs, but i notice that if something's difficult (like pom pom fringe) or doesn't work right the first time, i notice people saying 'i'll skip it next time' or 'i totally screwed it up. oh well.' i know that when i'm creating (writing songs or stories or screenplays) it's all hard, and i screw up and rework over and over again until it's right.
you crafters need to take it easy on yourselves. you don't have to get it right the first time. and often the more difficult the task, the more rewarding it is when you succeed. don't skip it just because it's hard.
i really sound like a father of 3.
this is more blog comment than i've posted year-to-date.
oh you give good. lot the adopt a family idea. let me know what you find out. (our church works with a foster home and i had the big bug chose a gift for a girl her age there last year and it was all quite moving for both of us...) oh - and david is right!!!
love the blanket...the animals are great. whne you are a family of five, keeping the snffles from rampaging through the whole lot is a task. hope al the huffsters feel better!
I hope the movie is good! We may go see that next week (a rare date night). I really want to see "Marie Antoinette," but I don't think it will be out in KC next weekend...
I've debated about buying that T for a while -- so cute!
hannah, i love the colors and the pom-pon on your gift. thank you for what you said about giving. i had wanted to say that giving is about loving-kindness, not fear, but i figured you knew that. and you did.
and to both of you, we're going to sufjan tonight and i so wish tou guys could come with. feel better and have a great weekend.
hey! how weird to see my stuff on somebody else's blog! hee hee. I'm glad you like the stuff, it was such fun putting it together. If I had a cool name like hannah, I think I'd be pro-monogram too.
great point about simplifying your holiday... my family has instituted "performance christmas" where our present to everyone is a performance. this would of course be difficult with children but right now we only have babies. :)
look what i found yesterday at my parents house. my first sewn item ever. you remember. home ec, seventh grade, the drawstring bag. i have to say that my stitching wasnt all that bad. i vaguely remember picking out this fabric and being afraid of the machine. funny. i spent most of the afternoon wandering around with the camera taking pics and added quite a few to the greenwood set.
i also spent quite a bit of time pondering what patrick had to say at church that morning. it was a sermon on financial margins. i know, i am still cringing. money is such a hard thing to talk about and causes so much stress. basically he encouraged us to sit down and actually look at our finances, to find out where our money is going. figure out your consumable income and set up a plan for living, giving and saving. we already do this to an extent, but after paying bills, giving and saving, where is the money actually going?? do i really want to know? i think so. i think it will be hard to sit down and actually add things up, but good. one thing that patrick said that really stuck with me was this. if you had a financial advisor tell you, well yeah, you paid all your obligations this month, but i have no idea where the rest of it is going, you would fire him in a heartbeat. so true. so why do we let ourselves slide like that? this fits so perfectly into some of my other lines of thinking as of late. use what i have, make things of quality that will last instead of heaps of poor quality items cluttering up the home. instill giving and saving in the children now. i could go on and on here, seriously my head is buzzing.
I hear you on the budget/finances issue. I just decided last week that I would start writing down my expenses at the end of each day, so I can get a "real" sense of where I'm spending our money. I really want to be a wise steward of our money. [This may mean redefining what I "need" and "want", etc.]. And I think this is a wonderful gift to pass on to our children. I support you 100%!
I'm totally with you on the money thing. It's been a serious wake up call as we GO INTO DEBT fixing up our house. It makes me thankful that we have paid off student loans/didn't have them. It makes me thankful we DO NOT have a car payment, we buy old cars instead. There are things God affirms in our lives. But still, what can I sacrifice? My $4 latte, of course. And cute clothes (even thrift store ones). Paying with cash is the next HUGE step for us.
May God give you peace in your family as you discuss these things. Remember that He wants to give you good things but he also wants his money back. I've seen families ruined who don't tithe! It scares me not too! Thanks for being brave and writing about this Hannah. It definately strikes a chord.
why do we cringe when money comes up? sometimes dan will want to talk about it, and it never seems like the right time. i really see how i spend/save/give my money really makes an impression on my children. that alone, is enough to get my bum in gear!
I made the same drawstring gym bag...a nice light blue and white stripe, i think. how is is possible that our teachers could make that project last a whole marking period??
i really recommend the book "your money or your life" and the website http://www.newdream.org/ . it's hard work to start looking at money this way, but ultimately really liberating. best of luck.
We've had to seriously change our spending habits lately, so that everything has a place. My craft fund is very tiny now compared to what i used to spend, but I like to think it helps me to be a better consumer. Same with groceries, etc. Suddenly, you wonder if you shouldn't drive as much, since gas adds up too. And then you realize how much you actually eat out. I'm glad we're doing it, but it's hard to start.
this is exactly what I was thinking on sunday. I think I could hear that sermon every day for a month and it would still be good for me to hear. I'm totally in the "I know the big stuff, but the rest? ehh... don't know" boat.
First off, I love your new banner. Don't you love changing it up? Secondly, money discussions are the dreaded and big around here, although we've recently just given ourselves the "what the heck are we doing with our money" kind of talk that has kicked us into a new path. We stumble, but I agree, its so important to pass this onto our kids. Good luck.
thank you for all the thoughts on friends. love this community and so glad that people are on the same track. not much going on here, botched two sewing attempts last night. it was frustrating but in a good way. it was nice to sit down in front of the machine again. in spite of all my best intentions, halloween has snuck up on me yet again. dang. to make matters worse, i am fighting a loosing battle with eliot over one of those store bought/fake muscles/piece of crap spiderman costumes. arrrgghh. it is time to give in and let go with that boy i guess. david suggested making him a candy bag if i MUST make something. good suggestion. now it is time to focus on the girls!! what should they be? quick and easy suggestions welcome.
since i have no crafting news, i will tell you all about two great movies i watched recently. both about spin, one a documentary and one a work of fiction. the first, enron: the smartest guys in the room, is sickingly fascinating. even if you dont care a ding dang about big corporate business, watch this movie. it is good, that good, and you know what? after you watch it, i bet you will think more about big business can get away with. the second, thank you for smoking, was frickin' hilarious. and even if you hate it you will probably love the opening credits. if you love paper ephemera you will. they are all spoofs of vintage cigarette labels and very very cool.
that is about it, except for the exciting news that habitat won best shoe store in the pitch's best of kansas city 2006. very cool for them. also if you are in town you should really make your way down to first fridays tonight. of course john and kristen will doing some fantabulous things at habitat, such as an art showing in the hall and a vespa show in the parking lot. cool. and as always come say hi, i will be workin' it. and treat yourself to some new shoes for fall, yum! or if your out of town, free shipping!!
and because it feels wrong to post without a picture, here is what happens when i am bored on a friday at work... have a good weekend!
a)love your green shoes b)that enron movie was totally whacked - scary stuff! and c)i can't wait to see "thank you for smoking" - mostly because i think that guy is HOT. glad to hear it is a good movie to boot. have a great weekend!
Can I get awesome cool shoes like your green ones at that store?! Gotta go check it out.
Yeah, I keep meaning to put Thank You for Smoking on my list, the preview looked hilarious. and yes, aaron eckhart is some kind of yummy.
y'all crafty mamas amaze me with your halloween do-ings. I think most my childhood halloweens were spent with a white sheet over my head and two big eyes cut out. it's all about the candy, anyway, right? ;)
i need a new pair of shoes. desperately. we don't really get in to halloween very much around here, but we DO dress up--but I'm thinking my girls are going to be sheep--white tees with cottonballs sewn/glued to them, black tights/t'neck, big floppy black ears...we'll see. good luck with the superhero fight. don't you hate it went they want stuff like that. emma is begging for a barbie sewing machine she saw at target. sewing machine-yes! barbie?no!!
I just added those two movies to our queue. What would I do without you guys to keep us updated on good movies? Green shoes...I love those! have a great weekend!
i have been thinking about friends quite a bit lately. there is so much possibility and room in that word. i have reached a point in my life where i am surrounded by an amazing group of people. i know this was not always the case, and i dont think it will always be smooth sailing, but when i stop and think about the people i associate with on a daily basis i can only think of myself as very lucky. i have friends who love my children and even ask if they can watch them. what? how did that happen? i am immensely grateful for all the kindness, humor, intelligence and help that comes from them. as a child, i loved the idea of pen pals. exchanging letters with a little girl, who might be just like me, from somewhere else. now blogging fills this nitch and then some. the wellspring of creativity, generosity and support just blows my mind. a few weeks ago, i had the opportunity to meet some women in portland. i think the best way to describe it would be it was easy. dont get me wrong, i was still a little nervous, but more than willing to have the experience. i like the way gwen said that even though we think we hide ourselves, so much of us comes through. blogging, or craft blogging maybe, is such a unique community. blair talked about that awkwardness that comes with trying to describe a blog friend to someone who doesnt even know what a blog is. it does lead to some odd pauses or tangents in conversation. my friend melissa, who i met online. or my blog friend, melissa. blog? oh it is kinda like an online diary where we talk about making things. yeah, crafts. so back to my story about my friend melissa. ugh. i hate this exchange. lately i have just skipped it. my friend. it fits the definition, cuts out the confusion and just makes conversation flow. davids career is such that at some point we will move our family away from kansas city and the community we have here. while this doesnt mean that i wont maintain friendships it does mean that my daily interactions will involve new people. this was always something very hard for me to think about or come to terms with. and wouldnt you know, the blogging community steps up yet again. i have learned that i can and will make friends no matter where i am. that it will be ok, and that is a good thing to know. if i were to dig deeper i would say that we are all much more alike than we might think. humanity maybe? i think this is what i need to take away from all of this. i want to try to be more open and friendly in general. to find a way to relate to just about anyone. i could get really sappy here and talk about world peace and all kinds of things, but i think you all know that line of thinking anyway. mostly i just know what i need to do, and that i cherish what i have now and look forward to what can be.
Just wanted to say that you made me smile when reading this. The conversation I have with family and friends isn't much different from what you've described, and it's frustrating. The blank stares one gets when describing a "blog friend" often imply that there's something negative in the bloggy community that I so enjoy. And, then when I mention that people send me gifts, and I return the favor - I get a reaction similar to what I'd expect if I told them I'd just befriended a hooker - And. then. I. made. her. a. purse!!
I found your site not long ago, as I was following the spiderweb of links from other blogs I read. I don't think I've ever commented before though. I was surprised to note, however, today that you are in my neck of the woods!! :) I'm in the Greater KC area also... so I felt inclined to leave you a "hello."
Stay cool today... I was really enjoying the open windows and am disappointed to see the heat return again. Sigh.
Gosh, my husband and I were talking about this very subject this weekend. I was explaining how much more "complete" I feel since I've had a blog and made connections with people who have similar interests. I said I wish that we had more real life friends like that. I was complaining that I wished we lived somewhere where we could make "cool" friends, but then he corrected me. He said that there are people like us right where we are, but we need to be open to meeting them. So true. I've decided to be more open to meeting new people because you just never know who will make a presence in your life.
when you reach the point in a relationship like this where it's not blog dependent... no conditions... then it's just friend. no other punctuation, just that.
Yes, people are often bewildered when I talk about blog friends. It has been really cool to find so many people out there with similar interests though.
I, too, have worried about a friendless vacuum should we have to move (there's a good chance my husband's career interests will take to California at some point). But I am really beginning to see that there are great people everywhere.
Love this post on friends. It echoes my own feelings regarding friends I've met via blogging. I'm hoping your family will relocate to Portland, we would have SO much fun!
I have to agree with this post wholeheartedly...I am amazed at the friends I have made through blogging--people with similar interests, mindsets, humor, passions, and that the friendships have come so easily and so naturally. When i started shopping and saying to myself, "oh, so-and-so would love this!" I knew my blogging friends, were more than just online acquaintances. However, my blogging friends also make me a little sad that I don't have any "come over for dinner tonight, or let's get the kids together to play"-kind of friends in my own home community. I know they're out there, and we haven't been here long...but I often find myself thinking, I wish I could meet someone like "hannah" here. you know? okay. enough rambling from me...passing hte microphone on to the next person. but all lovely hannah, and wonderful things upon which to reflect!
Would love to meet you sometime before you leave KC, as I'm in Wichita, and there aren't many of us crafty/blogging people around here that I can seem to find!
In conversation, I've started to say, "my friend in Australia" or "my friend in Portand" because it seems to work better than "blog friend". Although my acquaintences must wonder how I've come to kno so many people from around the world!
almost exactly what i've been thinking and feeling, wondering and hoping. such wonderful thoughts you've expressed. i am so glad you have good friends both far and wide, close and near. you're a true dear, so simply sweet and humble. sincerely hannah you're a gem of friend.
Hannah Yes, friend is just right. No tangents, no "oh so you've never actually met. . . but she's your online friend?" and no confusion on anyone's part! :) Perfectly stated, amiga!
And wherever you end up, you know you have the support of friends both near and far. =)
isn't it amazing? for me, my concept of friendship has changed drastically in the past three years i have had a blog. i mean, now i say "friend" about people i have never met!! who would have ever said that before?? now we all do! and we are meeting people we never would have met. here's to friendship, hannah!
And you know, just the other day I was talking to Brandon and said something about "my friend Hannah - you know, the one who lives in Kansas City?" Never mind that we haven't met; that's, ahem, you.
Pretty crazy and pretty beautiful, this blogging business. I couldn't be more grateful for everything and everyone it has brought to my life.
This is a lovely post, and it hits at my thoughts spot on. I love what Melissa said. Friend. period. So true. It feels unnecessary to add the "blogging" part because, to me, it puts it into a weird subcategory of friend. You guys are friends... real, supportive, and available. We think they a move to another city may be in our future someday, but I stay postive about the idea of leaving a place I've grown to love by thinking of the possibilities that brings. More friends. And, luckily, you can take us anywhere you go : ))
This is why I wish you guys had come to the reunion. Then I could have met someone whose blog I read! It's even harder to not have a blog, and therefore no actual blogging friends, and try to talk about them. I'm like, "that girl whose blog I read that's married to that guy I went to school with...." and then my husband just looks at me funny!
WOW! you couldn't be more correct. i've tried explaining the whole blog thing to my sister. she's more left brained then any mathmatician there is and she just couldn't grasp the idea of making friends through blogs. there is something so amazing about the endless possibility for making friends by blogging. i love it. who knew little old me in st. louie would have so much in common with a stay at home mom in portland or find so much inspiration from a sweet lady in kansas city that i've never even shaken hands with. i just keep coming back for more ideas and things to read. i look forward to reading everyone's blogs in the morning more than i enjoy reading my first email of the day. thank you for your writing. it has sparked something new in my creative mind.
we had a good weekend which means running around for the kids, warm apple donuts for the parents. yum. i also had a wonderful time yesterday at a tea for my dear friend sarah's birthday. more to come on that tomorrow. i have a touchy feely post gurgling in my chest right now. i am warning you now, it is going to get sappy over here.
have you seen the recipe for apple donuts in one of martha's old baby issues? I'll have to dig it out. its been on my brain lately. touchy-feely? bring it.
11 Comments:
hey, i should be home tomorrow night - so if spiderman, dorothy & toto would like to make an appearance on eaton - the answer is YES. :)
way too cute hannah! parker opted for the superman costume and we've had the man of steel running through our house all weekend!
Had to check out your costumes...cute! I worked all weekend on a pez dispenser costume and my daughter decided this a.m. she doesn't want to be it!!!! AHHH! The joys!
yes - bring it on! enjoy!!
Oh, you must show the finished dorothy and toto once the girls are dressed up. My daughter has those exact same shoes -- watch out, the glitter gets everywhere!
hooray for out of the funk-- is this what boys do always? the superheros? gah... if you come to our house you gotta yell real loud cuz i'll be upstairs with the lights out. humbug.
I saw those ruby slippers at Target and *almost* picked up a pair on the off chance that Elise would want to be Dorothy one day. They're so fun!
Today should have been Halloween -- nice and blustery and warm. Tomorrow will be coat-under-costume weather...
hopefully eliot's spidey-sense directs him to the RP again this year
isn't it
just tradition
to put
costumes
together
last minute...
halloween is
so much
better with
kids...
you remember
how much
fun it was
AND
you can
steal their
candy.
;)
so great, and I can't wait to see the whole trio! last minute was our routine too - I'm starting to think there's no possible way around it... Happy Halloween, and I hope the insanity of the evening helps to brighten everything up for you!
Oh my gosh, just look at those muscles!! Love the ruby slippers too!
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