So I just got done saying that I never make anything

but... I just got done making this!





The pattern is "Liverpool" by Amy Butler. The fabric is "Wildwood" by Erin McMorris . I tried to find an Amy Butler fabric but the store that carries the patterns didn't have any of her new fabrics and I wasn't patient enough to wait for fabric in the mail, I had to have it right away.



Anyway, it took me 4 nights but I finished it. From step 1 to 16F, I did them all.

Actually the first pattern that I bought had two sheets of the same instructions so I had to email Amy Butler (the company) and get a new pattern sent before I could start. The Amy Butler people are very very nice and helpful! Then I had to go back to the fabric store a million times because I just couldn't seem to get everything in one trip, which I blame Joann's for, that store sucks. Anyway, I even covered my own buttons - cool!

OK, so maybe I can find time to make stuff. I just ordered some new fabric from Mummysam. The sewing machine is all warmed up. I have a crafty meetup coming next Saturday - are the planets aligned?

The Great Avoidance

Sounds like the title of my biography but I'm not here to tell my life story ... or am I? I think I'm here to try and keep something going. Something I think about but rarely do. Something that feels so unoriginal at times.

I was thinking about being a Mommy Blogger. What the hell is that anyway? Well, whatever it is supposed to be I'm not it. I'm also not a crafter. I can't fit myself into that mold either. Crafting doesn't consume me. I don't stay up late making things, I go to bed and dream about winning the lottery.

I live my days in increments. A few things that have to be done before a nap time or meal time. I accomplish very little more than making it to the next day having managed each increment well and sometimes not well. But regardless each day comes to an end and then it starts again.

I used to come to this blog to express the real truths of my life, but that seems harder now. I feel more self-conscience about it. I feel like it's a burden on other people. I feel like it's just thoughts and feelings that don't need to be reacted to. So I write about our activities, our trips and visits. It's all good stuff but - is it really blog worthy? I mean that's pretty much what Facebook is for right? A few words, a few photos - that's all anyone really wants to know about your trips and visits anyway.

There are some bloggers out there who blow me away. Kate from SweetSalty is one of them. You should read that blog. And there are so many more that can really tell you something about the world.

As you may have noticed my little blog experiment failed big time. I could not write a decent post the entire month of March and here it is the middle of May. I guess I was hoping that I would be able to use this blog not as a running diary anymore but as a showcase for my creativity. As a place to say hey - I made this! But I make very little and the increments seem full of other, more important things right now.

I met an artist last weekend who told me that she had a hard time creating when her child was little but that now it's easier - her child is 13. Readers, can you wait that long?

I just can't leave without the obligatory Emmett photos and some catching up - for historical record, you know.



At the end of March Emmett turned One. My mom and step dad where visiting to help celebrate. We spent a couple days in a rather nasty hotel room by the beach in Pacific Grove CA, which is surprisingly almost in our neighborhood. The rest was home in Gilroy where I forced everyone to participate in the making of easter eggs.

(the beach at Pacific Grove, Asilomar)






(Mom, Richard and Dave - forced to make Ukrainian easter eggs)




Emmett cried at the sight of his cake but did enjoy the new toys and attention.





The story of Emmett's birth tumbled around in head all day. I still have mixed emotions about it - it still seems like it was harder than it should have been and what did I do to make it that way? It's still traumatic.



But Emmett is a wonder! Lately I find him sitting quietly with a book. He's flipping the pages. I love this, more than words can say.



Yesterday I left the apartment briefly to get the mail, which is no more than 15 feet from our front door. I returned to find Emmett standing on the front porch. He was looking at me smiling that smile, the one you get when you realize there's so much more.

(the front step, where I found Emmett)


I've been lucky to have a couple other visitors after my mom left. My friend Liza came for a couple days. We drove up to San Fran and explored the science center. I lost my cell phone and was led astray by the GPS but we survived and enjoyed the road trip.







One morning, while Liza was here, I was getting out of the shower when I heard Chester's dog tags in the courtyard. Liza was walking Chester! This makes her the official best house guest ever! Don't get me wrong, I love my dog but he's a total pain in the ass, as is this apartment set up we have here. Thank you Liza!!!!! Please come again but don't worry you don't HAVE to walk to dog if you don't want to :)

Ok, you good? I'm good - see you back here sometime - soon I hope.