Stepping out

No quilting news.  I didn't even put in one stitch yesterday.  I hate it when that happens!

But I did get to dress up and go out with my kiddos to our annual karate banquet, honoring those who will be testing for their Black Belt this coming Saturday.  It is fun getting dressed up every once in a while!  Well, fun for everyone except Donald.

My kids picked out their own clothes, as they always do.  Jason has a sense of style that I envy, and the confidence to carry it off!

I mean, on election day for Student Council, when the kids had to get up in front of the whole school to give their speeches, he picked out jeans, a white t-shirt, and a vest left unbuttoned.  He looked so COOL!

I love my kids!

Side note: They showed this short 2-minute video at the banquet both this year and last.  I love it.  It rings so true to me.  If you have 2 minutes, take a look.

I did it!

I cried when Master Clements tied the belt around my waist. I think one of the best feelings in the world is when you surprise yourself with your own tenacity, when you do something that you never really thought you could do. Thank you all for supporting me on my Black Belt journey.

And my UKE was wearing his double pot holder from the time he opened it until the time I left the gym. I think he liked his gift.

A Winner, a Bobcat and a Chef!

First of all, congratulations to Angel, commenter #4, whose number was chosen by the Random Number Generator! Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway! I love seeing who is reading my blog, and there is nothing like a giveaway to make people bite the bullet and comment, instead of just lurking silently. (which, by the way, is not meant to be a derisive comment - I am guilty of silently lurking myself!)

Second of all, I am finished traveling for the year - YAY!!! As much as I love to travel, I love being home more. This weekend was a typical one:

- Donald earned his Bobcat Badge at the Cub Scout Pack Meeting on Saturday (a distinction for which you get your face painted - anyone have any spare teeth they can donate to the Hutchinson household? Or better yet, I'll rent my children out to you as Jack-O-Lanterns at a really reasonable rate!)


-He made Rice Krispy treats to bring to the meeting. See his apron? I won that in a blogging giveaway last year from Rebecca at Our Busy Little Bunch. She makes the coolest stuff and is constantly having giveaways - check her out. And see the dogs circling about waiting to scarf up anything he drops? Boy, do they know my son well! (Are dogs allowed to eat marshmallows?)


-The Black Belt Test for Karate is Saturday, October 22. I spent 5 hours at the dojo this weekend in preparation. I'm so nervous, I'm nauseous. And thrilled to pieces that by this time next week, I can say, "I am a Black Belt in karate!" I might just introduce myself that way for a while, "Hi, I'm Erin "I'm a Black Belt in karate" Hutchinson. Nice to meet you!" What do you think, too much?

Anyway, during the test, we get to demonstrate our moves on an UKE, a generous soul who sacrifices his/her body to us for the day, prepared to be thrown about just to make us look good. My UKE is a 6 ft, 20 year old Black Belt, who also fancies himself a chef, a true Renaissance Man. We are supposed to present our UKE with a gift at the conclusion of the test. I am making him some kitchen stuff - an apron, a hot pad and a double potholder. I bought what I hope he will consider "manly" fabrics while I was in WV, and started on the gift this weekend. The double potholder is done, and while not perfect, I really like how it turned out. It is nice and roomy, plenty big enough for his manly hands. I will probably make one for myself. And perhaps for some family members who like to cook.


Now to finish up with the hot pad and the apron. I also hope to make something for Jason to give his UKE, a drawstring backpack made from one of the t-shirts from the dojo. Gotta get cracking - only 5 more days...

Happy, Scrappy, Nappy

She's HAPPY!

She's SCRAPPY!

She's NAPPY!


She's...not done, but done enough to give you a sneak peek. Introducing NELLIE! My happy, scrappy, nappy (nappy-headed AND her eyes are closed so it looks like she's sleeping) RAG DOLL!

All she needs is some stuffing, which I will pick up this afternoon. I will sew her up and we will snuggle down and wait out the soggy Hurricane Irene weather together in my bed with a book and a cup of tea.

After successfully qualifying to receive my first degree black belt in American Freestyle Karate yesterday (the actual test and belt ceremony is not until October 22, but you have to qualify by completing the entire test in a private test before you can participate in the public test), I wanted to do something fun and quick and something that didn't require much thought. Beth's rag doll tutorial at LoveLaughQuilt fit the bill perfectly, and I made Nellie to resemble me:
happy - to have passed the test!
scrappy - I was throwing my uke (partner) all over the dojo floor yesterday with a vengeance despite the fact that he outweighs me by at least 50 pounds!
nappy - I am so tired I could sleep standing up!

But alas, I must stay awake for now, and get through this work day. Thank goodness it is Friday! Not only do I NOT have any afterschool or evening plans today (what!?!), but I also already have dinner in the crockpot (vegetable curry with chickpeas). I can't wait to get home this afternoon!

What's shakin'?

Well, Virginia, for one thing. Yesterday's earthquake, with the epicenter just 85 miles from me as the crow flies, was my first ever. What a surreal and unsettling experience! I admit to being a bit excited, too, and thankful that our quake was puny compared to those that seem to create devastation in other parts of the country and the world. When I picked my kids up from school yesterday, just an hour after it happened, my 8 year old told me that he was in science class when it happened, and they followed emergency procedures and all hid out in the bathrooms until it was over. His comment, "Mom, it was great! We never had a science class like that in third grade!" (Note to science teachers around the globe - wanna excite your kids about science? Plan for something "scientific" to happen during your class time!)

Since I work at a university with an active Geology department, we have a seismograph here on campus. Here's what the quake looked like here:


Another thing shaking is our (the kids' and my) fists at the movie screen last night. We've been reading The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynn Reid Banks every night for a couple weeks now, and just finished it last night. As a capstone to that lovely story that I remember fondly as a kid and was determined that my kids would read (they loved it!), we decided to watch the movie, too. Ugh! Why must they always take a perfectly good book and mangle it when they make the movie??

Which has me wondering, right now I am reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, and was thinking that I'd watch the movie when I am done. Has anyone read the book and watched the movie? If so, am I going to be disappointed again? What about The Help by Kathryn Stockett? I'm waiting for that book to become available at the library so I can read it in advance of watching the movie. If you have read and seen that one, am I going to be disappointed?

Are any of YOU disappointed that there hasn't been much quilting on my quilting blog lately? I'm so sorry. I've been a little disappointed in the slow nature of my hand quilting, and how little time I've spent in the sewing room lately. Most of my efforts have been towards karate lately - tomorrow, I am scheduled to go through the entire 1.5 hour Black Belt test with my instructor, demonstrating everything I have learned in the past 2.5 years. If I don't pass, I have to take the test again, and again, and again until I do pass, else I can't participate in the official Black Belt Test in front of the public on October 22, when I am hoping to receive my Black Belt. I am SO nervous. I've been practicing for HOURS every day. Wish me luck!

Actually, speaking of luck, I won a giveaway while I was on my staycation. The prize hasn't arrived yet, but this book should be in my mailbox any day now:

Perhaps there will be some applique in my future?

Inertia

I have not put in a stitch in 2 days. Why? Mostly, because we've been sparring in karate which WIPES ME OUT!! So, after work, then karate, a trip to the pool to cool off, a short stint of blackberry picking in the yard for dessert, and then dinner and bedtime with the kids, I've got nothing left. This weekend, however, I am determined to not only finish the top of the baby quilt, but also finish hand quilting a third block in the Pick and Choose quilt and fire up the sewing machine to piece at least 1 block of something, anything!

I'm going to KICK my inertia to the curb!

(this is me kicking during Kama Kata at my Advanced pre-Black Belt test last month. I didn't know I could kick that high...)

Another milestone!

I haven't done much sewing this week because I've been focused on preparing for my Advanced Pre-Black Belt test. After suffering that torn calf muscle 5 weeks ago, I've been worried about not being ready, as I haven't gone to class as often, and when I did go to class, I avoided doing certain moves in order to let the injury heal. The test was last night, and I am happy to report that I DID IT!!!

(Yes, I'm short. Just 5 feet tall. If I stand up REALLY straight.)

This belt means more to me than any other because I had to work harder to get it (never mind that the test itself was so much longer). Last night I felt a nauseating mix of relief/pride/exhaustion/euphoria. Today, only the euphoria remains.

Wanna see me break some boards?

It's a short video, just 41 seconds. These are actually breakable boards (think of all the lumber we'd go through if we used actual boards every time!), but the force required to break them is the same as a regular 2.25 inch (5.715 cm) pine board (over 200 lbs of force if I remember correctly). For our black belt test, we will be using real boards.

So now that the stress of the test is over, back to sewing! I will be doing lots of hand quilting on the Pick and Choose quilt in the coming week, but I also want to make an iPad cover!!! Perhaps this one from One Shabby Chick:


Or perhaps this one from My Patchwork:

I love her humor on this one with the PEAR instead of the APPLE:

And this one from Smashed Peas and Carrots is so cute!

But don't be surprised if the case I make is this lovely envelope one from Dixie Mango:

Hmmm...I may have to make more than one, whaddaya think?

When it rains...

You know the expression, "when it rains, it pours," right? It seems appropriate for so many reasons lately. First, literally. I don't think we are the only ones feeling soggy in the US right now, are we? I'm trying to focus on how lush and green everything looks instead of how soggy everything is.

But it has been pouring figuratively lately, too, particularly around my house. First, the microwave stopped working. No problem, we recovered a spare that we had in our rental property. Then the oven stopped working. Inconvenient, but truly, as the weather warms up, I use it less and less anyway. This week, the dryer stopped working. This is particularly troublesome since it keeps raining so there's no way to dry the clothes outside. And two days ago, I discovered a leaky faucet/valve/thingymajig in the hot water closet that was flooding the floor outside my sewing room. I think it is time we called in a handyman to start fixing all the things that are going wrong around here. Most times, I love owning my own home. Times like these, I wish I had a landlord to call and complain to.


I did try to get my windshield replaced. The repairman came out to my job earlier this week only to discover that we had ordered the wrong windshield. Aargh!


And my calf muscle has been healing nicely - now it is just tight and achy instead of actually sore, so I've been slowly easing myself back into karate. Well, but maybe not slowly enough. Yesterday, I decided to join in when we were doing our board breaking combo - a front kick to break the board in front of us and a side kick to break the board behind us. I'm happy to say that I broke both boards on the first try, but OUCH! I was on ice for the rest of the evening. Patience is not a virtue that I possess in any great quantity.


The weekend retreat with my sister was fantastic last weekend. We ate, we shopped,
(lookie, lookie, I found a sale!)

we explored, we discovered GLEE, we laughed, we drank coffee from these cute little mugs that remind me of an appliqued quilt,

and occasionally, we slept. I didn't get a lot of sewing done, but I did finish my second Birdie BOM. I love the scrappy colorfulness in my version, and am already playing with setting ideas, never mind that I only have 2 of 12 blocks done. :)

During my flights to and from Boston, I finished Jennifer Chiaverini's latest, The Union Quilter. Her books that take place in a historical context are my absolute favorites, and this book didn't disappoint.

Tomorrow night is the cub scout pack's annual campout and crossover ceremony - my little scout will be a Webelo before the weekend is over! Now if only it doesn't rain...

Home sick :(

My throat is killing me and my head is pounding. I stayed home today to try to get well, but so far, I'm not having much success. I may need to head to the doctor in the morning to see if I have strep throat since everyone else seems to have it.

Here's a photo of my mini karate quilt that I made for my karate instructor for his birthday.

And on Sunday, when I wasn't feeling so miserable, I finished the top that I made with the the stencil looking panels - it finishes about 51" square (although it sure doesn't look square, does it - funny how fabric placement can make a piece look bigger or smaller or longer or wider than it actually is).

After working with just 3 fabrics, I had to pull out some scraps to stimulate my mind, so I worked on my Virginia Bound a bit more. I think I'll leave this up on my design wall for a while; I've been working on this quilt off and on for quite some time and I'd like to make significant progress.

OK, that's it, back to bed for me.

Indomitable Spirit

If you read yesterday's post, you know I was feeling pretty low. Not so anymore.

First, I showed up at the karate test early and someone had found and brought my top. Yay! I'll still have to do 50 pushups at class next week, but at least all my hard work was going to pay off. The test itself wasn't perfect. I fell down doing a spinning hook kick, a kick I have done thousands of times. I sat in shock for a moment, but then jumped back up and got going again. I got kicked by the girl next to me. Ouch! I have a bruise, but I asked the instructor if we could spread out a bit, and we kept going. During knife defenses, I completely forgot one of them. My partner was gracious and told me what to do and we completed it successfully the next two times through. At board breaking time, I cleared my earlier mishaps from my mind and kicked through that thing like it was nothing - I knew I could. Triumph! Then, at the end, when we received our pre-black belts and were listening to our instructor ramble a bit before dismissing us, he told us that the theme for the Pre-Black Belt class is INDOMITABLE SPIRIT. It was like a light went on in my heart. THAT was what was lacking in me lately. Life has been hectic and stressful with a couple disappointments lately, sure, but I can't affect what happens TO me, I can only affect how I RESPOND. And I should be responding with an INDOMITABLE SPIRIT. No more loser posts, guys; I've got a new mantra!

The day just got better from there. I swung by the restaurant, and they had found my camera. Yay! I feel the need to go sew something so I can take photos! If nothing else, I can't wait for the karate studio to open back up next week so I can take a photo of the quilt I made for Master Clements.

I took the kids to the community (indoor) pool because they were have a free family fun swim for two hours. We were there for - you guessed it - two hours! Then, since it is the end of the month and I only get paid once a month and I am broker than broke, I took the kids to a restaurant in town where I had a gift certificate. We did a great job of not spending more than the gift certificate, but when we got to the register, we found out that the gift certificate was for the sister restaurant in another town. Oops! But with my indomitable spirit attitude, I told the kids we were going to be able to eat out again soon! Then off to the grocery store to pick up a few necessities, again with a gift card that I had been carrying around for a rainy day. We had fun trying to spend exactly that amount of money, and managed to just go over by 2 cents, but everyone has 2 cents in the bottom of their purse, right? Then, it was off to the drive-in movies, where I was volunteering so we could all watch both the movies for free, plus get free popcorn. If only I had gone to the right restaurant, we'd have had an entire afternoon and evening of free food and entertainment, but as it stands we did all that only spending $11.

I'm not always so poor at the end of the month, but not only did we have our huge twice annual heating bill due this month, but we also bought the home theater seating. Check it out! (and yes, I know that we STILL haven't painted down there, but I think having the furniture there will inspire me to get going on that project.)

The kids were the first to try it out. I'm pretty sure the delivery truck was still in our driveway when I took these photos.

I still haven't watched anything down there, but I have tried out 4 of the six chairs and they are COMFY! I'm gonna have to start watching more TV and movies just so I can sit down there! In fact, that's where I will likely spend a chunk of time today when I am not sewing and cleaning house a bit. Have a great Sunday, all!

Loser

I am a loser. Literally. I lose things. Here's the latest...

Last night, we had a surprise birthday party for my karate teacher. His birthday is actually March 30, so I thought I had more time to make his gift, and I procrastinated. Then, word of the surprise party came along, and I had to get my butt in gear. I wanted to print a sillouette of a side kick from the computer, applique it onto a background, border it with the colors of the different belt levels, quilt in some of the key words like "Honor" and "Respect", making a small wallhanging for the dojo. Wednesday night I finally decided to get started, but my printer wouldn't print so I had to wait another day until my (wonderful) husband got that working again. So, on Thursday night at 8:30 PM, I finally started working on his gift to give him Friday night at 6:00 PM. Luckily, I had the day off from work on Friday, so I should be able to get it done.

Things were going swimmingly and I was digging how things were looking. I got everything I needed done on the machine done by about 11 PM on Thursday. I had fused on the sillouette, but I wanted to blanket stitch around it to ensure that it stayed on. By hand. Of course, I don't do this very often, so I had forgotten HOW to blanket stitch. I went looking for my handy-dandy printed out guide to various hand stitches that I printed out last time I was doing blanket stitch. Hmmm, now where did I put that? LOST. I finally gave up and looked up Blanket Stitch on my Blackberry (which I guess I should have done initially) and at 11:30 PM, I was ready to begin. I turned on the TV to watch a movie while I did it. Big mistake - I watched something I've never seen before, which means I worked more slowly that I would have liked because I was watching TV more than anything else. I remembered that I hadn't eaten dinner yet. (Did I feed the kids? Sure hope so, 'cause they are already in bed. I think, unless I misplaced them, too. Take a quick trip upstairs to check on them - fast asleep and not looking malnourished. Back downstairs to cut some cheese to eat with some crackers while I watch the end of this movie. What!?! The end of the movie? But I'm not done sewing yet!)

At 2:45 AM, I stagger off to bed, loving the look of the appliqued piece, but that could be because I'm cross-eyed from lack of sleep.

My darling Donald slept in until 8 AM (meanwhile, I had to wake Jason up at 10 AM - I swear there is a teenager trapped in that 8-year-old body). The quilt top still looked good in the morning light, so I went down to sandwich it and get started with the hand quilting. I had other things to do that day - pop in to work for a few minutes to finalize some letters to scholarship winners and non-winners, take the kids and dog for a walk on the Chessie Trail, prepare the movie theater for furniture delivery, wash our karate uniforms to be ready for our Pre-Black Belt test later this morning. But at 5:30 PM, the quilting was done, and I had sewn on both a label and a sleeve. I had to abandon some of my quilting plans because of time restraints, but I still really like the way the little quilt (approx 12.5"x14.5") turned out. I wrapped it in wrapping paper, and we were off and arrived ON TIME. I grabbed my gift and my camera, and we went in.

Here's where the details get a bit fuzzy. There were tons of people in the restaurant (I feel for the few people who WEREN'T there for the birthday party because there was a large, loud lot of us) and getting a table was tricky and after he arrived I still had his gift to give him, but my camera was nowhere in sight. I went back out to the car. Nope, not there. I looked around at our table; nope, not there. In my brain, I just assumed I had left it home, and I asked someone else to take a photo of the little quilt for me. Hopefully, she'll get the photo to me sooner rather than later. I hate having a whole post about a project, start to finish, but having no photo so show for it! (and before you ask, because EVERYONE does - no, I do not have a camera on my phone. I am the only person on EARTH apparently, who does not have a camera on her phone)

I went home and tore the house apart looking for the camera, but no luck. I called the restaurant twice, but again, no luck. I have no idea where that stinking camera is! Hopefully, if someone finds it, they will recognize my kids and get it back to me (the benefits of living in a small town and having beautiful, outgoing children).

Already feeling down about the camera, I got the clothes out of the dryer to lay out our uniforms for the karate test this morning. Everything is there except my top. I take everything out of our karate bags, I scour the car, I do the rest of the laundry in the house thinking maybe I mixed it up with another load. Nada. I can't test today without my uniform top, so I called all three instructors and left messages, even though it is 9:30 at night and I don't like to call anyone that late. Nada. But if I come early in the AM, maybe it will have turned up or they'll have a loaner for me. Either way, however, I know I have 50 pushups ahead of me - if you leave any piece of your uniform or equipment at the dojo, it is 50 pushups per piece.

I went to bed feeling like a loser, and woke up feeling the same way. I'm hopeful that writing about my boneheaded-ness will make me feel better about myself. In the grand scheme of things, these aren't big problems, I know.

But I'm also starting to wonder - this is the second instance in only 7 days of me not having a shirt. Perhaps there are some latent, exhibitionist tendencies stirring to life in my (exposed) chest...

May your days be better than mine have been lately!

Sleepovers are fun!!!

After karate testing yesterday (at which both Jason and I broke boards with our hands - woo hoo!!!), Jason's best friend and his two younger sisters came over for a sleepover. What parents wouldn't want 24 hours with no kids around this time of year, right? Besides, their mom is my co-den leader for cub scouts (although make no mistake, SHE does all the work!), and this is the least I can do for her after all she's done for us. In addition, crazy as it seems, the more kids there are in my house, the more time I have for myself!

So, they went sledding outside (perfect - these photos were taken from the door of my sewing room - I could keep an eye on them while I sewed),

and I sewed binding strips together.

They did karaoke and then a rock band (yeah, I STILL haven't finished painting my basement. I would much rather sew.),

and I sewed binding strips together.

They played air hockey,

and I sewed binding strips together.

They watched Frosty the Snowman,

and I sewed binding strips together.

I helped them make Christmas presents for their mother from my stash of pre-cut 2" and 3.5" squares (my kids made presents for their teachers),

while I sewed binding strips together.

They played Charades,

and I played, too, so the teams would be even, 3 boys against 3 girls. They beat us last night, but we had a re-match this morning and soundly whipped their gloating boy tails!

So, when their dad came to pick them up 24 hours later, my boys were worn out and ready to just sit quietly with popcorn and a movie, and I have enough binding to sew onto my brother's quilt. In fact, I have enough scrappy binding to sew onto his quilt 2 and a half times!!!

I guess I got carried away! Oh well, I am prepared for the next quilt that needs a scrappy binding.

Now, it is off to find something fun and Christmasy on TV to watch while I work on quilting my GGG quilt and sew down the back of the binding on Curtis's quilt. Happy Sunday, everyone!

Better late than never, right?

A short while ago (well, back in July), I stumbled across Monkey Dog Quilts and her Christmas In July Blitz giveaway. Basically, she was fired up about getting started on some Christmas quilts, and wanted company. I signed up - heck, I'm tired of trying to get all my Christmas sewing done between December 20 and December 24 at 11:59 PM. Besides, I could win some Christmas fabrics! Well, I didn't win, but I did make a Christmas Tree Skirt, which I've been wanting forever! While it is not completely done, it is done enough to show and demonstrate that I followed through on my commitment to actually make something.

Hand quilting this puppy has been much more time consuming than putting it together. Honestly, this isn't a project that I wanted to commit hours and hours of hand quilting to, as it is going to be just peeking out from under a tree and likely covered by presents. That motivated me to go online yesterday and order a set of quilting feet for my machine - a walking foot and a free motion darning foot, along with a couple others. Machine quilting, here I come!


In the meantime, here's what I did on the Tree Skirt: outline quilting inside each of the tan pieces

and outline quilting around the circumference of the inner and outer darker (red and green) circles. Right now there is only one row of quilting in those circles, but I plan to at least do one more in each.

My plans to complete this by the quilt guild meeting on Saturday have been thwarted by the fact that Jason and I are taking a Nunchuck camp at karate this week, which translates into 3 HOURS of karate every day, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

By the time I get home, it is 8 PM. I have to prepare dinner and put the kids to bed, and then I'm asleep. I made a date with the hubby last night to watch our Netflix selection (the pilot of the HBO series, The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency), and while I was enjoying it, I was asleep within half an hour. My wonderful husband just turned it off and sent me to bed. (By the way, this same WONDERFUL HUSBAND fixed our dryer yesterday!!! YAY! I probably won't use it anytime soon, but when cold weather hits, I surely don't want to be out taking frozen - and still wet - clothes from the clothesline.)

So, while I'm a little bummed about being behind schedule on this Tree Skirt, in reality, I am WAAAAY ahead of schedule, right? I guarantee it will be done a full 4 months before Christmas. And I bet this Tree Skirt will have siblings and cousins before all is said and done, since it was so much fun to make.

A little bit of pride isn't a bad thing, is it?

My children make me proud every day; my husband, nearly as often. But it isn't often that I sit back and think proud thoughts about myself.

This week is different. On Monday, I sat down with my boss and negotiated reduced hours for myself for the coming year (starting in July). Along with those reduced hours, I also insisted upon a reduced salary. "WHAT!?!", you say (or at least my husband did). But here's my reasoning. I want/need reduced hours because of my children. Both will be in public school next year, where there is no after-school care. We live in a pretty remote location that makes it difficult to find a babysitter. My husband and I currently pick Jason (2nd grade) up from school every day and bring him back to work with us where he does his homework while we finish the work day. However, Donald will be starting kindergarten next year which is over at 2:45 PM, not daycare which is open until 5:30 PM, so we will have 2 kids with no place to go at the end of the day. This year's solution with Jason won't work next year; there is no way that Donald (AKA the Tazmanian Devil) can come spend the end of the day with me at my workplace without me getting fired.

I've been experiencing guilt ever since my children were born for having my children spend so much time with people other than me. Therefore, I see this dilemma as an opportunity - an opportunity to step in and spend more time with my kids. By cutting one and a half hours off the end of my work day, and reducing my lunch break to 30 minutes, I can be the one to put my kids on the bus in the morning, but also be there to greet them when they get off the bus in the afternoon. In my mind, I see us having snack and doing homework and then actually having a little bit of unhurried time prior to the dinner/bath/bed routine, something we don't currently enjoy.

Anyway, back to the reduced salary. That is something that I insisted upon because I know myself. If all we did was restructure my hours, I would feel compelled to squeeze in some work at home to make sure that I was still doing all the work of a full-time employee, even if all those hours weren't at the office, to justify still getting paid as one. But I don't just want to be with my children, I want to be present. I don't want to have to say, "I'm working; pretend Mommy isn't here right now." Instead, I want to say, with an indulgent sigh, "Sure, I'll play UNO with you one last time." or "Grab the frisbee and meet me outside!" (Yeah, I know I'm being idealistic, but I could say those things.) Taking a pay cut empowers me to draw boundaries, and say "no" when I am asked to or feel compelled to work beyond the hours for which I am being paid.

So anyway, I'm proud of myself. In my mind, and with close friends and family, I've been declaring for years how important my family is to me, how I want to be there more for my kids. Now, I feel like I have publicly taken a stance - my family is more important than my paycheck. And it feels GOOD! (And yes, I know that I am fortunate to be in a position to make this change and still have enough to afford a roof over our heads and food on the table - I know this isn't an option for every family, and even that not every family would want to make this choice.)

You know what? I'm proud of something else I did, too. At some point in the past few months, I accidentally left my nunchuks at the karate dojo. We haven't been using them lately, so I didn't realize it, but on Monday, they were given back to me. I've never left anything there before, and with good reason. If you leave any of your gear, you have to do 50 push-ups! So, on Monday, after a 45-minute karate class, I had about 5 minutes before I had to leave to pick up Donald from daycare, and I did 50 push-ups. I've never done that many before. In fact, I'm not sure I've done more than 10 or 15 at a time before. Jason cheered me on and did them along with me. The instructor stood by me and helped me count. And I DID it!! (Of course, everyone I passed for the next two days thought I was a snob because they'd wave and and all I could do was nod my head in return because my arms were too sore to raise them more than a few inches. I had to bend over in the shower to wash my hair because I couldn't reach my head otherwise.)

Luckily, you don't need to raise your arms to quilt. I've been working pretty steadily on hand quilting my Bright Future quilt. Thank goodness I have lots of hand quilting projects in the wings because I am still without a machine, and not being able to piece whenever the whim hits me is torture. Perhaps I could use the time I'm not spending piecing doing some housework.

Or not.

They are home!

THEY being my husband AND my camera. I missed them both.

So, are you ready for the orphan quilt? Remember, if chaos makes you queasy, don't look any further...

I love all the flying geese and the log cabins. I'll definitely make another one of these one day, once I have more orphan blocks to throw in - I used nearly every orphan block I had. Yippee!

I leave you with one last photo from Saturday's test - isn't that belt the most beautiful blue you have ever seen? Blue is my new favorite color (until I get my red belt, that is...)

Oh, and I'm down another two pounds, five pounds total in four weeks. This walking at lunchtime is really working! Only 5 more pounds to go!