Come to mama

I *think* I might be feeling some of that "magical second trimester glow" business, since I have enough energy to finally live again. You know, do the important things like the laundry AND still be able to go to the flea market. LOL

And that is exactly what I did on Sunday. Our flea market has been pretty crappy this year and it is has been UNBELIEVABLY hot for so stinking long, but I had all these grand dreams of finding things for our new house this year, so I persevere.
I was almost at the end of the flea when I spotted this kind of wadded up in a box on the ground.

I have been wanting a "cheddar" (orange) quilt for two years now. I saw one 2 years back on one of those 100 mile yard sales we do twice a year, but the condition of it was just too rough for the money they were asking.

Cheddar quilts are crazy hard to come by! I have been searching everywhere (Ebay included) ever since. So when I spotted this I stood there sweating to death waiting and waiting for the dealer to return to tell me how much. (All the while desperately hoping I would be able to afford it.)

Let's just say the price was right, shall we? :-)

I *think* it is pretty old. I am NO good what-so-ever at dating fabrics pre-1930's, but I know some of you are. Perhaps you will weigh in?

I am thinking round about 1900.
I am pretty sure these are the infamous double pinks.
The purple throws me off a bit.
These look like homespun fabrics of some sort?
There are lots of shirting fabrics, but most of them are completely shattered. They are tan now, but perhaps they were greens?

It may or may not be the oldest quilt in my mostly 1930's+ quilt collection, but either way, I am totally in LOVE.

Whoa.

This is not the greatest photo (my camera battery died right then and I had to pick them up before the cats attacked), but when we redid the living room we had to put all the pottery on the kitchen table.

Whoa.

I had counted it before, so I knew there was a ton, but it made one big lovely pottery sale on the kitchen table while we were working!

And to think I only set out to collect pottery about 3 years ago. LOL

*There are more than 100 pieces.

Christmas in July

On Sunday we had our annual Christmas in July celebration. Dave and I have been doing this for 10+ years now and we always manage to pull off a little something no matter how crazy things are.
This year I let Jack pick what kind of tree we were going to have. He said birds and butterflies, so birds and butterflies it is.
I just stuck on some dollar tree craft birds, some tissue poofs I had made years ago, and some butterflies that Jack tried to make into a garland earlier this spring. (Sadly he ended up with clusters of butterflies of opposite ends of the ribbon and about 10 feet of empty space in the middle, lol.)
Then I strung together some pearls to make a garland and voila! Christmas in July.
We usually give each other a few small gifts, but this year (DROWNING in medical bills) we just gave Jack a few things.
It keeps him entertained to have a few new things in the hottest part of the summer.

*My* present was getting Dave to rearrange the living room. And then part of the kitchen. And then Jack's room. And new living room curtains. I will show you photos hopefully later this week, when I get Dave to rehang all the pictures on the walls!

Merry Christmas in July (a little late) to you!

Three strikes

I swear that lately I have been boring even *myself* to death.

So yesterday Jack and I hit up the thrift stores. Three stores, in the 100 degree heat. What did I buy?
A tablecloth.

Yes, it is a lovely one. But really? 2 hours, 3 thrifts, and I can only find a tablecloth?

So this morning I decided I should hit the old stomping grounds. Travel far and wide where the junk was sure to be better.

I went to THREE estate sales.

What did I buy?
A pot.
And a doorknob. (Yes, it is humid.)

Sure, that's the last doorknob I needed to actually get doorknobs on the doors of the new house. As soon as I come up with a million dollars to buy all the retrofit kits that is.

But really?

Nearly 80 miles roundtrip, 3 estate sales, more of that 100 degree heat and I got a pot and a doorknob.

That's three strikes for me and I am OUT. Not even going to bother with yard sales tomorrow.

Nope. Not even going to look at the ads.

(maybe.)

Happy Friday to you!

Gratitude

I have long been an admirer of Martha's work. She can take forgotten little pieces of old quilts and make them into the most wonderful things.

So when she offered to send me a baby quilt kit to work on, I couldn't say no, could I?

I am so glad I overcame my superstitions and said yes! Look at the beautiful package she sent me:
She sent everything* I need to put together a baby Aster quilt for the new baby. (And I might add that everything she sent is "perfect" - cut perfectly, ironed perfectly and goes together very, very easily. Unlike my own often shoddy work. LOL)

Just look at some of those beautiful vintage fabrics! Wonderful I tell you.
I've been taking my time putting it together. I want it to really come together nicely in order to honor the care she took in getting it together for us.
Here are her sample blocks, truly spectacular. :-) (Never mind my crooked photos. 14 weeks and STILL gagging. Oy.)

Thank you so very much Martha. Your kindness when I was feeling particularly down was much needed and I am sure we are going to enjoy it for many generations to come.
And a just because photo. Jack wanted to buy this basket of apples at a garage sale, so I said yes. It's been on the porch. I think he is using the sticks to make an apple pie.

*You can see a photo of the complete kit on her blog. Me + camera = not such great friends right this second. Off to take more medicine before I have to make friends with the trash can. Ha.

A milestone, for both of us

I picked Jack up from school 2 weeks ago on a Friday and he VERY proudly announced that he had tied his own shoes.

We have been working on this skills for ages, and I wondered if it were really true.
Sure enough, we got home and he showed me how he could do it. All by himself.

As the weeks have passed he has gained an amazing amount of speed at the task (much to my relief, I was having to warn him we were leaving a full 15 minutes before we needed to leave in order to leave enough shoe tying time!).

In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit I had a little sniffle about the whole thing. It is the first milestone I have not been present for. My husband (not very kindly) reminded me that he is about to start doing a lot of things without me as kindergarten nears.
And wouldn't you know it? Today the school district called and said they ARE going to have one half day classroom after all, and Jack is IN!

This is a tremendous relief as I felt like we were really stuck between a not ideal choice of schools with a half day program and going to school 8+ hours a day (which, no matter what the rest of you might say, Jack is simply not ready to do).

An answer to this worried mama's prayers indeed.

On a completely unrelated note:
I am still struggling to feel like myself, to find myself in this mess of a journey. I have decided that part of getting back to my life as I know it is to come back here. To blog again. Regularly. And I am going to commit to doing just that this week.

I have been emailing with a certain very good blogger friend a lot lately (she has really helped keep me going, whether she knows it not) and something I said in an email last week really struck me as the "heart of the matter".

I want to share it here, in all of it's f*bomb glory because I have to start getting some of this out to get beyond it.

"I thought this time it *might* be different. I thought b/c the journey to get here has been so hard that I would just be so FUCKING HAPPY to be pregnant that I wouldn't mind heartburn and puking and insomnia and pain and crying at the drop of a hat. But screw that, it still sucks. LOL

And this time there is genuine, gut wrenching fear that I didn't have with Jack.

I really need maternity clothes, but ordering them? Makes me break out in a cold sweat. Like somehow this is not really happening and I am just kidding myself. That somehow when the clothes arrive on the porch I will lose this baby and I will have ruined it all ordering damn elastic waisted shorts.

It's hard.

It's all just hard.

No two ways about it really."

But I ordered the shorts. And Jack has started to ask about the new baby.

And we are going to get past this.

I might be crying the whole way, but we are. Ha.

Back tomorrow with something more like my *usual* blogging fare.

You know, usual back before the shit hit the fan type of stuff?

I only vaguely remember it. You probably only vaguely remember it too. :-)

Things I am NOT blogging about

*The OB gave me some meds to stop the constant gagging. Said meds make me, well, have another incredibly problematic issue which has led to me being forced to eat a huge amount of the NASTIEST food on earth, aka bran muffins. Horse food I tell you. Gag.

*I still puked anyway.

*I now need a new trashcan because, well, I threw up in the trashcan and just the sight of it is enough to induce more puke. LOL

*The good news it that I can testify that if you eat enough fiber eventually the other problem does go away.

*Resuming the housework has led to some rather interesting *discoveries*. Like cat hair clogging up the dishwasher. (Disgusting, I know.) How the hell do you get cat hair in the dishwasher anyway? Ha.

There you have it. The big excitement you are NOT missing over here.

I am nearing the end of week 13 and am desperately hoping for some sort of golden second trimester where I can actually go to yard sales.

Or, you know, do something besides puke in the trashcans.

LOLOLOLOL

Happy Friday y'all.

Paroled

Why hello there.

It's been awhile.

I've been just trying to make it through the last 10 days. Nose to the grindstone and all that.

I had two important appointments this week and I was desperately trying to focus on getting past them.

Yesterday at the OB's office I found out that my hemorrhage has totally resolved. So I am off the progesterone, and, more importantly, off the house arrest. Paroled! (And more importantly, after six VERY long weeks, the bleeding has stopped.)

Today I had my first trimester screening at the hospital and I told myself that once it was over and everything I was fine I was going to finally admit that I am indeed "pregnant".

They saw nothing alarming, and sent us home with our first photos.

So, we've told Jack he is going to be a brother.

And I am going to spend some time getting used to the idea that we are going to have another sweet baby. (God willing and the creek don't rise.)

Want to have a little peek at the wee one? (Baby is 12 weeks 5 days, we are so close to the second trimester I can almost smell it.)
Miraculous.

I am feeling extremely hormonal (read: emotional) lately, so, I better get off before I start to cry.

Back very soon with a lovely gift that arrived in the mail in the middle of all this. :-)

Entertainment

It is insanely hard to entertain Jack for 10 hours a day on his days off preschool while lying on the sofa.

Days like today are particularly bad - I am gagging my fool head off, I have been up half the night, and I have been having horrible sinus headaches.

A few things provide entertainment though:
He keeps adding props to his "king" outfit. (And then he spends hours chasing the cats trying to make them his "princesses" aka prisoners.)
Being at Goddard last year really sparked his love of building blocks. He is always asking me to buy him more blocks, and before this bed rest business started I picked up a sack full for 50 cents at a yard sale.

They keep him busy for hours.

Today it is rubber bands + blocks.

If I could yard sale I would look for more. (Blocks are crazy expensive on line and in the store!)
And I am still letting him play with my camera (which makes me a little nervous).
He swears this is a pear from the bradford pear tree.

It looks like a toxic mushroom in high speed to me. LOL

Only 7 hours until Dave gets home. Oy.