jane's apron

super bowl babies

There are Christmas babies, summer babies, New Year babies.  I have two Super Bowl babies.   Ellen is 8 today and Ross will be 12 on Super Bowl Sunday.  I spent two seasons going to Rams games as the big pregnant girl but never missed a game.   Ross was born close to Super Bowl XXXI and there was a faction of guys I worked with that thought we should name him Brett or Drew based on the outcome of the game.  Ellen was due on Super Bowl Sunday XXXV...we were able to finish watching the game but then headed straight to the hospital.  

So...we have two birthday parties within four days.  Two birthday cakes (I've got this one in the oven right now), two trips to school with classroom treats, two special days.  

Ross is especially excited that his birthday is the same day as the Super Bowl.  The picture is him at the victory parade for the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV (you know... "The Tackle" ...everytime I saw Mike Jones at my kids' daycare I tried to act cool but always wanted to run up and hug him like some kind of crazy lady).  Kurt Warner was the MVP.  And now, in an unbelievable turn of events, Kurt is back in the Super Bowl and we can't wait to watch it.  Regardless of the outcome of the big game, Kurt Warner will surely be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame...three Super Bowl appearances with two different teams...simply amazing.

 

IKEA and the arrows

We did something a little wacky on Saturday.  We rented a U-Haul trailer,  drove to the IKEA store in Chicago, and came back home that night with seating for five.  

I've never been to IKEA and had no expectations.  We knew want we wanted and went there to buy it.  Looking back, it feels like some kind of crazy tour of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.  We went in and, somehow, found our way back out with four carts full of furniture and a Swedish candy bar...wondering "What the hell was that?"

Have you ever been to IKEA?  Did you follow the arrows? Did you, like any normal person, have to walk against the arrows?  Did you ask someone for help and did they, without turning to face you, say only "Follow the arrows"? Did you wonder why the store smelled like cinnamon buns?

I know we were there because the furniture (which I love) is sitting in our sunroom but it all seems like a dream...like I've got post-traumatic-IKEA-syndrome or something.  

patchwork

Patchwork is such a good way to get a lot of color and pattern in a small space.   If I quilted, I'd love to do patchwork.  I created a few clipboards with patches of pretty paper and used some photoshop tricks to save the patches for other stuff (like updating my banner (but I'm not so sure I like it))...used the cookie cutter tool to make a heart.  

Can a blog post be a patchwork?  I think it can when you have a lot of little pieces to share...

• Happy Loves Rosie gave me an "I Love Your Blog" award back in December.  If you ever need a dose of cheerful color and inspiration this is the place...Julie loves Happy Loves Rosie (oh, no...I just referred to myself in the third person).
• Sarah (from Makin' Projiks(formerly known as The Misadventures of Mamma and JackJack)) and I discovered that we were hitting the same thrift stores (we had both bought cute patchwork coffee cups from the same stash at the same store).  Not everyone is brave enough to venture to the thrift store by my house but Sarah goes there once a week and stopped by my house last week...my first blog-friend-in-real-life visit.  And I didn't even think to take a picture.
• I just finished reading Anna Karenina yesterday.  It was a long journey that I've been on...reading nearly every night since November.  But I'm so glad I did it. 
• I used a treadmill for the first time in my life this week (something to do while my kids are at swim practice).  I've learned from the Biggest Loser to never, ever use your hands to support yourself (I never would have guessed there would be so much bleeped-out language on that show...I love it) and I used the treadmill to run.
• Finally, I want to thank everyone for the advice and encouragement you gave me about the teaching program...I truly appreciate it.   

edgar ephemera

If, like me, you are an Edgar Allan Poe fan, you will be happy to know that the U.S. Postal Service has released a stamp to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Edgar's birth. I sometimes use postage stamps as crafting ephemera and it doesn't take much to spark my imagination about all of the things I could do with these stamps (that's a copy of the recent Vintage Halloween issue of Somerset Studio in the background).  You can read all about the stamp here.  I never knew you could get a first-day-of-issue postmark but I think I might try it this time.  I swear I'm not a stamp geek...just an Edgar geek.  

If you have kids that like scary stories, I recommend this book.  The illustrations by Gris Grimly are vivid (to say the least) and the Edgar Allan Poe classics are slightly abridged but still very good.  I distinctly remember reading "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Pit and the Pendulum" in grade school and loving every scary detail (in a "let's put the fun back in dysfunctional" kind of way).  

And, one more thing, I'm not a Baltimore Ravens fan but have to admit they have the coolest city-mascot match in the NFL. 

do the math

I generally don't share much life stuff on my blog because I basically want to stay on topic.  I have recently, however, started something that may have an effect here and wanted to share what's going on behind the scenes.  

I've told everyone before that I'm a retired engineer...not retired in the traditional sense but in the I-looked-at-my-401K-one-day and said "I'm good".  And we all know what happened there recently.  While I am confident that times will get better, I'm also very practical.  

As we face what will be about 13 years of combined high school and college tuition, I need to contribute.  The easy answer is to hop back on the engineer bus but there are plenty of engineers with manufacturing experience already looking for jobs.  And, for reasons I can't even begin to explain here, I just can't do the whole office environment thing again.  

I have looked at teaching a few times before and ruled it out because it would take too much time and money to start over again.  And, not to sound like a smart ass, but I already knew everything I needed to know to teach math or science.   I looked into it again recently and found that the state of Missouri has approved a program to get more qualified teachers into secondary classrooms. Briefly, the program allows anyone with a college degree to earn a teaching certificate in a "needed" subject area.  I registered last week to begin the program to become certified to teach math.  Deep breath...are you still with me?

The program is pretty rigorous and, not being the most patient person, I plan to knock out the math test in the next two months.  What does this mean blog-wise?  I still plan to create and post, still plan to read blogs and share, still plan to read (and love) comments.  The only thing that may drop off is replying to comments and blog projects (that I recently promised to start...ack).  I'm also the kind of person that gets more done the more I have to do so, who knows, there may be an increase in activity here.  But, just in case things get quiet, I wanted to let everyone know the reason. 

Me as a math teacher.  What do you think?  While my dream would be to teach Calculus to a well-behaved group of high school seniors, I know that not everything turns out like you plan...but I'm optimistic.

seam binding

I have to admit that I'm a little late to the seam binding party.  I've seen it used everywhere but could never figure out how you could ever have enough of it for a project because the only kind I've easily found is a small portion in a small package.   So, when I was working on some slightly more "fancy" clipboards recently and I really wanted to add some pretty seam binding (a good match for the sewing patterns and all), I did a little internet research and found a good source. 

By good, I mean there's enough of it to really do something with (100 yard spools), it's not too expensive, and it comes in a crazy array of really, really good colors (those slightly off colors that I love so much and can never find).  The brand is called Hug Snug and, since the label says washable, I think you could even dye it if you wanted to.  I bought mine on ebay from a sewing supply place called zipperstop.  The color I used in the clipboard projects is called "cruise beige".

The clipboards I made are going into my lollishop as soon as I get a chance.  Lollishops is described as a "frou frou friendly marketplace" and I wanted to make some frou frou-ier clipboards.  I painted the boards off-white, added a little watercolor to the dress images on the back of the pattern, attached a fluffy amount of seam binding, and a sweet little heart.  Jump over to the shop here to take a look.  

a year of color

Color is my thing.  Color and pattern...love to mix and match them and put them in combinations.  When I make something it is, to me, always about finding the right color and layout.  I never really try to match anything or measure but rather let my eye tell me when it's right.  

I was recently contacted by Kari at ArtsyMamma.  She was putting together a new blog focused on color with a different color theme each month and wanted to know if I'd like to participate. Did you say color?  I'm in.   Kari had a list of colors to choose from and I picked yellow thinking that it would be the most challenging for me.   Yellow is one of those colors that can go very wrong (like in my dining room) or very right...I've got my work cut out for me.  

So, what is A Year of Color?  It's a blog subscription (only $12 for the whole year...to me, this is a bargain...less than one art magazine) with a color theme for each month, an impressive list of guest designers, tutorials, swaps, and loads of inspiration.   I know Kari has the talent and energy to devote to the project and it will be fun year.  For all the details, check out these links...

• find out about A Year of Color
• purchase a subscription 
• flickr group for January (blue and white)  

it's on like donkey kong

Can you tell I've been watching a little too much football? And a few too many football commercials.  I know it's bad when my kids are quoting car commercials word-for-word. It's a good thing I'm a Denis Leary fan because how many times have I heard him?  Fifty ...sixty ...thousand times? Anyway, as Peyton says "It's on like Donkey Kong"... on to routines, on to watching football just on the weekends, on to not eating ginger snaps a handful at a time.  

I bought a weekly planner at Barnes & Noble last year and liked it so much, I bought another for this year (50% off of course).  I used my favorite spiral punch to add a pretty cover and include any filler pages I need.  The punched holes are the perfect size to snap right into the planner. The covers are a textured plastic so the pictures appear blurry but you get the idea...cover the blah front with something you like.   I try to keep the spiral punches in my etsy shop and sell them for what I pay...not trying to make money but just sharing something that I like.

I'll be back later this week with a new blog that I want to share and I hope to do a "blog project" next week where I start and complete a small home improvement project.   Look at me...all motivated and stuff.

2008

I created this mosaic to remind myself that it's been a year of a little bit of everything.  A little bit of crafting, sewing, thrifting.  A little bit of blogging, reading, discovering new crafters, and new blog friends.  

As I get my house back in order, I'm also working on getting my thoughts organized...about my blog, my etsy shop, my new lollishop...stuff like that.  I did take a little time and added a new search box here.  That is mostly for me (can't tell you how many times I've come to my blog to get my brownie recipe...now I can get it faster) but I hope it helps readers search for something easily.  

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!