What I'm Into (June 2014 Edition)

It's July 1 already! I definitely get all glass-half-empty about my Summer slipping away. I feel like I've only just settled into Summer and here we are in July already. We've relaxed our schedule considerably. I can tell that the kids are just relaxing into Summer as well. The first week or so, I could tell that they were having a hard time shaking off their school schedules. So, what have I been up to? Honestly, I've been doing a lot of the same things I always do! I've got my usual stack of books on my nightstand. This week, however is different. Both my husband and my oldest son Luke are in Arizona doing Missions work on a reservation. So, I'm on my own with my youngest four and I'm exhausted.

This is the week that we move the kids' rooms again. I've mentioned in several posts that my bedroom arrangement for the kids just didn't work. I couldn't bear shuffling the kids around during the school year despite how awful it was. So, this week, my mom helped me paint and move furniture all over the house. It's now official! The twins have been separated. Tess and James are now roomies and Sam and Liam are roomies. What was I thinking having 4 kids in one bedroom? I've moved Luke to the basement and he's the only one with his own bedroom.

Tess and James's new room. It has a fresh coat of paint. It's Benjamin Moore's Breath of Fresh Air, 2014 Color of the year (just in case you're interested!)

I've been thinking about this post from Modern Mrs Darcy for a while. It was just the post I needed to kick my butt into gear about getting serious about decorating my house and making it home. I've lived in my mountain home since the end of 2005 and even though we've put in some substantial work into this house, it's taken me forever to make the simplest of decorating decisions. Perfectionism is just fear. Perfectionism is just procrastination. Okay, I did have three more children once I moved into my house and of course, I just didn't make the house my priority although it bugged me every. single. day.

Today, I hung a picture on the wall. I know. That doesn't sound huge at all, but if you knew me, you'd know that I agonize over every decorating detail and I second guess my own taste. Today (okay, technically July and not June) I made a quick decision and I decided to just go with it. I put something on the wall and guess what? It's making me happy.

It's from Ikea.

In June, I've tried something new. I wanted to get more exercise and my good friend invited me to join her Zumba class. I learned that Zumba is crazy hard. Most of the ladies I've talked with in the class have told me that it took them about a year to really get it. Yikes! After a month of classes, I'm totally frustrated and yet, I totally refuse to give up! I think this could be fun. I don't think it's fun yet, but it could be and I will get this.

I stand in the back and I refuse to even look at myself in the mirror. I'm pretty sure that I'd be horrified of what I saw, but whatever! I'll keep dancing even if I look like Napoleon Dynamite!

I've got skills!

Reading: I'm still reading This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper.  I totally dropped The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks. It's just dull even for Sparks. I'm reading another YA novel (I'm always reading something YA), The List by Siobhan Vivian. It's not dystopian, but it's still set in the harsh landscape of high school. I don't know how I feel about it yet. I'm having trouble keeping up with the large cast of characters. The List chronicles how eight girls react to being chosen either the prettiest or ugliest in each class. I can tell you that it isn't going to be pretty.

I downloaded the Hoopla app this week. Hoopla partners with your local library to offer movies, music, and audio books. Overdrive makes me crazy. So, It thought I'd try this app and I immediately found a book that sounded interesting. Just yesterday, I listened to nearly three hours of Up at Butternut Lake while working around the house. I didn't even realize that I was working so hard because I was enjoying this book.

I'm not really watching anything right now. I haven't really settled into any shows right now. I'd rather read at night. I did go see The Fault in Our Stars and it was really a great adaptation of the novel.

James on a Summer day

That's it for now. We'll see where July takes me. For now, I'm linking up with Leigh Kramer.

Friday Morning Book Post

Ahh, May. You've brought a lot of Spring snow. Tess built a snowman on Monday. Yup. In May. That's Colorado for you. She was in full snow gear building a snowman on Monday. Sam left for school wearing snow pants. By the end of the Spring Storm, we had nearly two feet of snow. I'm weary of snow, but I've learned something living here in Colorado. The seasons are always late to arrive. Spring is really Winter here. The only consolation of snow in May is the warmer weather makes it melt faster. Tess's snow man started melting yesterday. I guess I better go outside and collect our wooden carrot nose and hat.

We're full throttle right now headed straight for the last day of school finish line. Sam spent largely the first half of May in rehearsal for his theatrical debut in The Aristocats! Paul and I also spent a good chunk of our time helping out backstage and guess what? We both found that we really love getting involved with children's musical theater. I believe in theater. I believe theater offers all kinds of new brain skills while also building confidence. I almost wish I could get out there and perform too. After a full weekend of four performances of The Aristocats where Sam played both an alley cat and Private Vichy, the dog, he was exhausted.

Luke is heavily involved in digital audio production classes at school. He's just about to finish his freshman year and I can tell that he's passionate about film making. One of his collaborative film projects got nominated for an award this week. His film didn't win, but I think it was a big boost just to be nominated! He's learning to use all kinds of film-making technology and he will earn some college film school credits in high school as well.

So, life is full, busy, crazy, frustrating, and well, good, especially when I fill every tiny moment with books. A sentence here, a sentence there...

So, onto the books:

So, after I finished reading Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo to Sam, we took a few days off for a read-aloud break. I mean, he was busy with theater anyway. Flora and Ulysses is the current Newberry Winner, but I was kind of disappointed. It's quirkiness feels forced. I usually love DiCamillo's novels, but this one was just okay. I think Sam felt the same way. Anyway, after scouring Luke's shelves, Sam really just wanted to read the next Harry Potter. (A friend of mine bought me a British edition with the above cover). I was kind of eager to re-read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban too.

I was also pondering J K Rowling's revelation that she thought Harry and Hermione should have ended up together. I know this is old news already, but as I'm reading these books again, I just don't see what Rowling sees. I can't really get into Rowling's head to understand her reasoning, but I see Hermione and Harry as just too similar in personality making them kind of a bland match. I suppose there's some Myers-Briggs philosophy that could be applied here, but there's something so delightful and wonderful about Hermione and Ron being so different from each other. They make a vibrant couple. I'm glad that Rowling made the choice she did even if she isn't ultimately happy with it.

 As I read through Azkaban again, I'm going to especially focus and hone in on Hermione and Ron. I suppose the story could have worked either way, but I loved seeing Ron's emotional transformation especially in the final book. It may have taken him a long time to figure out how incredibly awesome Hermione is, but we all knew he'd get there. What do you think?

Ok, I read a lot of Jane Austen fan fiction. I can't help it. I like seeing her stories unfold in modern circumstances. Dear Mr. Knightley is a little different. It isn't a re-telling a of any of Austen's novels. It's more of an homage to Jane. This was a quick read, but after I was done, I was ready for another YA Austen-inspired novel. I'm on the look out now.

Maybe this? It's Persuasion, but you know, set in high school. I love it already. It's a Summer read for sure.

Okay, I don't know anything about this one. I just heard some initial buzz on The Books on the Nightstand podcast. Of course, I'm instantly curious. This might just shoot to the top of my reading list.

As for my other kids' reading: Luke is reading The Giver so that we can see the movie this Summer. I'm also reading a lot of Fancy Nancy to Tess. The twins are quickly growing out of our vast collection of board books. Liam really likes this terrible Strawberry Shortcake book that he chose at the library. I can't wait to return it.

I'm on Goodreads all the time. You can follow me there as I review every book I read.

Happy weekend!

Big 9

Okay, Sam willingly posed for this picture for me. It's a horrible phone pic, but I thought his sad little pathetic bunny pose was just so funny. Sam just turned 9 last Sunday. He's the only one of my five kids who arrived dutifully on his due date. He's sweet, passionate, and just a wee bit dramatic. I marked the occasion of his birthday on Facebook, but I didn't here. As my kids get a little older, I think they prefer not to appear on my blog as much and later on, Sam will hate that this picture is out there.

Friday Morning Book Post (and some movies too)

 I feel like I lost most of March due to a nasty strain of flu that ripped through my family. I spent nearly six days in bed. Many of those days, I was too weak to even read. Isn't that awful not to be able to read? I would try to read using the Kindle app on my phone, but it would hurt my eyes and I wouldn't get very far. Here I was in bed and I couldn't read. It was so frustrating.

Slowly, I got better, but even when I was getting well, I remained tired for a long time. During this time, thankfully, I was able to read.

I started reading Ann Patchett's The Getaway Car. This is a Kindle Single rather than a full length book. It's a short memoir about the writing life. Here's a quote:

“The journey from the head to the hand is perilous and lined with bodies. It is the road on which nearly everyone who wants to write—and many of the people who do write—get lost.”


In college, I took a short story writing class. I loved that class so much. If my college had offered a degree in creative writing, I would have jumped on it. I would have lost myself in words.

 I've wanted to write a novel for as long as I can remember. I have yet to start one, but I always have stories floating half-formed in my head. Patchett captures the writing life perfectly. It's quite difficult to transfer those images that play like a movie in your head into just the right words. I love reading about the discipline of writing.

 It's been just over twenty years since River Phoenix died of an overdose in front of the Viper Room in 1993. I wrote an extensive review of this book over at Goodreads. So, I won't go into much detail here. After reading this short biography, I've been revisiting some of his movies in the past week.

I watched The Thing Called Love (1993) where honestly, River just seems so off as an aspiring country singer and Sandra Bullock steals the show. The Thing Called Love was released the same year he died and I can only guess that his shaky and uneven performance is due to his increasing dependence on heavy drugs. This week, I watched his Oscar-nominated performance in Running on Empty (1988). Quite frankly, Phoenix really was at his best playing quiet introverted characters. Running on Empty is dated, but I still enjoyed watching River in this movie. I'm still waiting for Stand By Me (1986) to arrive at the library. I haven't seen Stand By Me in a really long time. Unlike Running on Empty, Stand By Me has a timeless quality and I look forward to sharing this film with my oldest son Luke this time around. I hope he will find the film soulful like I did at his age.

 I'm not going to re-visit all of his movies. Strangely, as a fan, I haven't even seen most of his movies. There was just a small handful that spoke to me. Despite his self-destructive behavior, River Phoenix is worth remembering even I've deliberately skipped several films in his filmography.

 As a side note, The Body, the short story that inspired Stand By Me is the only Stephen King I've ever read.

Here's a still from Stand By Me. Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, River Phoenix, and Jerry O'Connell

I've really only just stared Shirt of Flame, but since I've come to terms with the fact that I cannot read just book at a time, I've been much happier. I'm not going to fight the urge to read many books at once. I'm a binge reader and I'm proud!

 Anyway, I've always admired St. Therese and this book keeps showing up as a recommendation. So, I added it to my Kindle and started reading. Even happiness guru, Gretchen Rubin admires St. Therese and I thought that reading this book would help me understand this wise French nun.

My husband, my oldest son Luke, and I all finished Divergent recently. I took Luke to see the movie over Spring Break. Luke and I have a long tradition of reading the book before the movie is released and I really love discussing books and film with him. Reading the book before seeing a screen adaptation always builds the excitement of seeing the film.

 I didn't love Divergent, but it's probably not Veronica Roth's fault. I couldn't help it. I kept comparing it to The Hunger Games and that's so unfair. I'm not in a hurry to read the next installment, but I'm sure I'll get around to reading Insurgent when the next movie is released, because, you know, we have a tradition of reading the book before seeing the movie.

Next up on the page-to-screen adventures for me and Luke: The Maze Runner. Is it me or do most YA novels right now have menacing covers like this? The YA world is stuck in dystopia right now.

I'm also reading the current Newberry Medal Winner, Flora and Ulysses to Sam (almost 9). I usually love Kate DiCamillo, but I'm having a lukewarm response to Flora and Ulysses so far. Flora is obsessed with super hero comics and some unlikely circumstances make her a sidekick to a super squirrel. I've chuckled a few times and I appreciate the short chapters, but I'm not loving it. We're about half-way through this short novel. So, I may have to re-evaluate my current sentiments. The thing about DiCamillo is that she doesn't keep writing the same novel over and over just varying her formula. I really appreciate that.

That's it for Books this week. Have a great weekend. I hope you find time to curl up with a good book.

Friday Morning Book Post

Book pressure. Do you have it?

 I feel pressure all the time. I know it's entirely of my own doing, but nevertheless, I still feel it.
 I have books (700 page books!) to read for book club. Well, I don't have to. I want to, but I have other books that I have to read quickly because I can't renew them. I am now reading two books to Sam. His school has an all-school book club every year and this year, the selected book is The Incredible Journey. This is a book that I didn't read as a kid myself. I'm not even sure I've seen the movie. So far, I'm enjoying reading this book to Sam and we're still reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I'm inundated with reading, but that's a good problem.

Right now, I'm reading Unveiling Grace by Lynn Wilder. Most people know that I'm fascinated with Mormonism. I'm fascinated by their strange doctrine and their secretive ceremonies that somehow are supposedly compatible with Christianity. I've read many memoirs about the FLDS, but this time I wanted to concentrate on the mainstream LDS Church.

This book is about how one family found their way out of Mormonism. Lynn and her husband entered the Mormon church in 1977 after missionaries knocked on their door. I didn't even know that those missionary boys could be successful with their door-to-door proselytizing. I guess the church wouldn't continue to do it, if it didn't work though. It's a works based religion that has just enough Jesus to sound Christian. After decades in the church, Lynn found enough cracks and fissures in her faith to lead her away from Joseph Smith and to a very different Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible.  It's truly fascinating, if a little overly detailed.

Luke is reading 1984 in his English class. I remember reading this my senior year in English. I bought this book in the Kindle edition for Luke. He's still adjusting to reading on a Kindle. Luke should like it. He's living in an age where almost all the YA fiction right now is dystopian.

As for Tess, she is really enjoying Don't Wake the Royal Baby. 
This is the cutest book. The new royal baby just can't sleep with all the noise in the palace. It's adorable. The queen even takes the royal baby on a plane ride and then parachutes out with the baby to get him to sleep. The illustrations are delightful and it's one of my little girl's current faves.

That's it on the book front this week.  See you next week with more book adventures.

The Great Room Shuffle Debate

I've planned a super big, possibly overwhelming, and challenging summer undertaking despite my need for hiatus and renewal, but I think that this change might actually facilitate some good transitions for us all.

Here's the thing: I have 5 kids, 3 bedrooms (on 3 different floors) for said 5 kids, and out of those 5 only 1 girl!! I've been thinking that it's time for a room shuffle for a long time. When the twins first arrived, I knew that I would be losing my guest/sewing room. After the twins moved from their co-sleeper in my room to the guest room in the basement, I just let things be. They slept magnificently in their basement room until recently when they decided to climb out of their cribs. Despite frequent after-midnight trips to the basement bedroom (two flights of stairs), Paul and I continued to let things be. We didn't want to disrupt Luke and Sam and their shared bedroom right across the hall from us. They've shared a bedroom since we moved into this house in 2006 and I just didn't want to break that up until now.

After removing everything (and I mean everything) from the twins' basement room for safety, I realized that their room was going to waste. We recently removed the toddler beds because they kept taking the mattresses off and moving the bed frames around the room. Yup. They do things that my other kids would never dreamed of doing.

As Luke gets older, I decided it might be time for him to have his own room in the basement although my heart breaks a little about it since I think this will impact Sam deeply. I suggested to Paul that we move Luke to the basement, move the twins to Tess's room on the main floor, and move Tess upstairs into Luke's old spot. Tess would now become Sam's roommate. It's a massive change. (Didn't I say change was coming?) I'm still not satisfied with this plan either. Sam said he'd rather have the twins in his room than his sister. I kind of agree with this sentiment. (Currently, Sam and Luke have the biggest room.) It can easily fit 3 kids, but frankly, I don't trust the twins and their crazy whims. I can't remove everything from Sam's room to ensure their safety either. Honestly, I don't think that I will be able to make these changes and have them be optimal. I'm just trying to work with my parameters. I realized that Sam and the twins are the same age spread as Sam and Luke. Luke is five years older than Sam and there's been some growing pains among those two for some time now. I guess it'll never be perfect, but as I feel that change is in order, I'll proceed with the plan.

This plan involves a lot of painting,  packing, and moving furniture. It won't be easy, but it's time for some transition in this house. It just might be the thing to kick start some renewal for everyone in this house.

Suggestions and ideas are welcome.

Needle and Thread

The thing about sewing quilts is that it takes a long time (at least for me). I usually break up the quilting process in stages. First, I spend a good deal of time looking at fabric and dreaming of the possibilities. Then, once I have the fabric home, the lovely little stacks of coordinating fabrics sit for a while. I love looking at them all neatly folded and it takes a great jolt of energy to begin the cutting process. After I've cut the fabric, I usually put it all away until I'm ready for stage two: piecing. I love to piece the quilts, but once this is done, I usually put the whole project away again for a while until I call the quilter. I have a wonderfully talented quilter who transforms and elevates my simple quilts. When I get the quilt back, the next stage is to sew on the binding. My quilt is nearly completed and the binding is the last hurdle. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The quilting process isn't always fun, but it is enormously satisfying and I guess that's why I love to sew quilts.
I'm nearly done with Sammy's Hungry Caterpillar quilt. I stayed up until 1 AM last night determined to finish hand-sewing the binding, but I only managed two sides. I set the quilt aside curious about when I started this project. So, I hopped on the computer to look at my blog archive. I knew that I had posted a picture of the quilt when I finished the piecing and I wanted to see how long this project lingered unfinished. Well, it's been two years. I determined that I had bought the fabric sometime in 2009, but I was saddened that I had hoped to give this quilt to Sammy for his 5th birthday. He will be 7 next week! I had hoped that I would have given him this quilt when The Very Hungry Caterpillar was his favorite book. I realized that I had been side-lined with pregnancy and the birth of the twins in 2010. Happily, Sam is still excited about finally getting his quilt and today is the day!

You can see that only half the binding is complete, but another hour or so and it will be done! I'll post a pic of Sam and his quilt a little later. I think this quilt will look better with a little boy in the picture too!

I've actually managed quite a bit of sewing this week. In my determination to learn how to sew something other than a quilt, I am working on another Lazy Days Skirt for Tess. I bought a half-yard of some owl fabric and some matching ribbon at Jo-Ann. Each skirt gets a little easier, but Tess can't have a wardrobe filled with these skirts, can she? I'm just about done. All this skirt needs is the elastic! It took less than an hour!

I also managed to iron all the fabric I purchased for a Bargello quilt from this book. I've never done anything like this before. I don't think it will be very difficult and I love the Sea theme I've chosen for this simple quilt. All the fabric is from Fabric.com.  Here's an example of a Bargello quilt from the book Instant Bargello. I actually am going to use this pattern below.

These are my nautical fabrics for the Bargello quilt.

I also managed to finish the topper for my Between the Lines quilt too! Okay, I neglected a lot of housework to devote to sewing, but it was SO worth it!

Those two solid vertical pieces on the right make me crazy. I realized when I sewed it that no matter how I flipped those vertical strips, two of the same fabrics would always be touching. I should have ripped it out, but I just didn't feel like it. Now, it looks like a glaring error. Ugh.

 I still have to cut the fabric for the backing and binding. I guess that's another stage of the quilting process! I usually only cut the fabric for the topper first. I know it's less efficient to not cut everything all at once, but I'm usually so anxious to begin piecing that I only cut what I need to get the topper done. I think of the topper and backing as separate phases of the quilt process. I'm thinking that I may try and quilt this one myself because I really want to learn how to do a meandering quilting stitch.

As for reading, the stack by my bed is very big right now, but I'll just highlight the new book I just bought that is about sewing. I just ordered an embroidery hoop and I'm ready to embark on a new needle art! Do I have time for this? Absolutely not! Am I excited? Absolutely!

That's it for this week's sewing adventures! Be sure to check out Needle and Thread at Elizabeth's today! Happy Sewing!