Summer slump

I have just figured out something that bothered me for years. I'm glad I did it before August, when I usually snap over it.

You see, every July I'm at an emotional and physical peak. I'm a summer baby (who turns 42 next month) and I have always loved hot weather. Summer is my absolute favorite season. I love the late summer sunsets, I love all the light, period. I'm on a personal high that doesn't end until October or so.

Creatively, however, I always find myself in a slump. I have all this energy but I can't seem to focus it into amazing projects. I go to a quilt show, and for the first time, I don't buy anything from the vendors. I'm not feelin' it. Perhaps I'm finally realizing I need to use what I've been collecting for 20+ years...just sew the damn stuff, kwim?! But I'm so scattered I just don't find the time. Oh, wait, rotary cutter + sewing machine + toddler = disaster. I'll use that as my excuse (this time...)

Then I take part in an online scrapbooking challenge. Wow! My work really pales in comparison to gals using the latest and greatest (which I have ceased buying to save up for CE08...can't help it). Really, it's embarrassing. My work can't possibly be picked as one of the four weekly winners, and I don't even have the collection they are using for extra "points" in the game, so I have no prayer of winning the Big Prize.

I almost let that get me down today (I went over to Webkinz and took care of my horse -- finally figured out that damn weight lifting class, sheesh!! -- that calmed me down) but perhaps being in my 40s helps put this annoying annual cycle in perspective.

I'm participating in the challenge, that's enough. I know creative mojo comes and goes (right now, for me, it's left the building). It will be back. It's just an online game, and I don't have to put my entire creative ego on the line over it. I'll participate next week, and the week after, even if I don't have a chance of winning, because it's stretching me creatively (even if I don't take it far enough at times). I can be inspired by the winners, by the other folks who participate and *don't* win, because really, most of the creations are truly amazing, given the crazy rules we are handed each week.

Perhaps I need to shift my creative priorities. The quilt show was amazing. It's only held every two years, and the last time I attended I was 7 months pregnant with Ben. In two more years, he'll be nearly four years old. I think I can sew SOMETHING by then, don't you?

Not as lovely as this, but SOMETHING, right?

The Lizzie Quilt
made by Jean Ballou
and Alison Winter
quilted by Crystal Smythe
I had a hard time deciding between this one and a pictorial quilt for my Viewer's Choice...but being that this was made for a six year-old, and had a very sweet dedication, sentiment won over sensibility.

Summer Indoors

I keep a list of all the books I have read in the front of my daily diary, and recently I was AGHAST to learn I've only been averaging 6 books a month. Shameful. Well, it's not like I have a busy schedule or anything...or a toddler ready to crawl all over me, demanding cuddles & tickles (seriously, who can resist?!) every time I collapse on the couch to polish off a chapter or two.

We've been heading to the library every Monday so that Tess can record her books for the week (she's committed to 7 books a week, or chapters of a book, easy enough, for their summer reading program) and get a weekly prize. Last week (when I discovered my lack of reading prowess) I took out a pile of books & got to reading.

So far, I'm enraptured by Gone With The Wind (although I'm having a hard time getting Clark Gable out of my head...such perfecting casting...Vivian Leigh? Not so much...too old). I can only imagine the opinions this work of fiction raised when it was first published in 1936...so different from the narratives then on the market...I think of the depressing and ponderous works of oh, say, Hemingway or Fitzgerald, and find this work flows so much easier...really, the first modern romance novel since Jane Austen (who is ponderous only for the language of her day...I'm sure she was an easier read back in her day).

Many times I really have to get my head into the "voice" of an author (like Jane Austen) before my reading starts flying. I can't believe I'm nearly done with GwtW, a 1,000-pager, in just over a week.

However, the other books are coming due and I need to move on.

In other (probably TMI) news, I went to my OB/GYN doctor for my annual check-up (2.5 years overdue, oops) and found out I have indeed been dealing with a yeast infection...since taking antibiotics at the end of November. The symptoms weren't the usual (that is DEFINTELY TMI), and they were mild enough that I managed to "fight" it for that long.

However, now that it is taken care of, I'm beginning to realize exactly how hard my body was fighting...over the weekend, I felt like a wrung-out dishrag, and last week (before the diagnosis) I had a killer migraine that almost made me vomit. My glands were so swollen that I could hardly swallow (and I'm still dealing with the remains of a sore throat) and overall I was tensed up like a boxer waiting for a hit.

The moral of the story is, get to your doctor A.S.A.P., especially your "female" doctor, if you're dealing with strange symptoms Down Below. I actually had an appointment in June, but had to...ahem..."re-schedule" due to the visit of my Red Haired Friend...okay, definitely TMI.

Crazy knitting

If you are a CE teacher, volunteer, roomie, etc...NO PEEKING.



Oops, too late.

I've heard that some folks give gifts at Creative Escape, and I've been trying to decide what would be appropriate...something crafty, but NOT scrapbooking-related (lord knows we're going to get enough swag, after paying what we've paid for registration)...something from Ann Arbor, to boot...

I started to make these for my three roomies (Renee, Michele, Cendrine) and realized it only takes a day (seriously!) to knit one of these (from One Skein), and felting is oh-so-fun. I can fill them with crop candy (Jelly Bellies and Gummi Bears) and Zingerman's Magic Brownies (will they individually wrap those for me?), put a pretty tag on them and voila! My requirements for a little crafty, Michigania giftie are fulfilled.

Now to make 11 more of them...in different colors, because if I had to work with that much pink & green, I think my eyeballs would fall out.

Vintage love

I have wanted an old manual typewriter for a while; I had two (!) growing up, both Underwoods. This project from toomuchcoffeegirl really sparked my desire, though. Good thing the ribbon is still working; she helped me understand that getting a new one and rewinding it take quite a bit of work. It can be done, but it doesn't sound as easy as it used to be. At least I can use it when the electricity is out ;) Typing away is quite therapeutic, as well.

The kids like banging on it and it stinks a bit from being stored in a barn or garage somewhere for too long, but I love the smell and have a handful of project ideas for it. It's rather small, student-sized and portable; came with a box that I had to put in the garage for airing...really stinky. E wanted to throw out the box but the collector in me said, "No way!"

I love the "self-starter" button on it. I sure could use one of those from time to time.

Stormy Weather

160365
Originally uploaded by CreativeExile

We've had several days of hot, windy weather and I have been waiting for a big storm. There was thunder, lightning, and rain through the night last night, but it was still muggy today, and windy.

FINALLY something wicked blew through town. And of course, I had to stand on the front porch and get a picture. Stupid Midwesterner.

Before this, I showed Tess a storm cloud directly over our backyard. You know the kind, the swirling storm cloud that looks like boiling water? Tess said, "it looks like toothpaste coming out of the tube!" Clever girl.

That's when I went and got Ben up from his nap, to get both kids in the basement.

And then I went to the front porch to get this shot.

Crafty grrls in the house

I have been the Queen of Super-Crazy-Busy scrapbook layouts lately. I'm inspired by so many LOs in the SIStv gallery, but I can't quite pull them off. Ah, well, I'm having fun with lines like Tinkering Ink and the latest from Luxe. Patterned paper doesn't cost much (at most, $1 a sheet) and I typically pick out about 3 to use. Then I raid my stash to see what matches -- cardstock, ribbon, bling, chipboard accents, paint, etc.

I just cleaned out my PSB (Paper Sticker Binder, for those of you who are lost already) and gave Tess a shoebox full of old stuff I know I'm not going to use. She sat with me and created six 2-page "spreads" like "Florida" (with a dimensional Cropper Hopper sticker she labeled "luggage") and "Spring" (with every old Mrs. Grossman's floral sticker I've held on to for the last 7 years). She's got style, that kid.

And yes, I'm still knitting. I recently started this chevron scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Ever the Queen of Blended Yarns, I'm mixing a silk thread I got in a 2005 swap (from an angel in Japan; my swap partner had bailed on me) with the alpaca sock yarn I picked up in Chicago in April. The watery light in my kitchen does not do the purple justice; trust, me, it's pretty. And oh so soft. I think alpaca is my new favorite fiber. I love that I found it in sock yarn. I've got to find some more of that!

I even taught Tess to knit. She eagerly looks forward to going "into the woods, around the tree," to see "up pops the rabbit" who "slips away" (my horrid paraphrasing of a knitting chant I heard someone teaching kids to knit to). She only lasts about one row (20 stitches) and I have to be sitting rightnext to her; I think it is more about "cuddling with mom"-time than learning to knit. Hey, whatever turns her on to the craft!

True story

I don't often open emails from my cousin, she's a recent born-again Christian and is always sending the worst schlocky chain emails, but this one had no FW in the subject, so I gave it a chance. I opened one like this previously and it was really important news about my aunt (her mom).

True story.

Good morning all,

I just wanted to share a letter that I am submitting to the American Kennel Club for an award for mom's dog Brutus. They award 5 different types of awards for outstanding dogs. Its called an ACE award.....Award for Canine Excellence. Because of the Yorkie lover I am and the love I have for my mom, I think he deserves it. Keep your fingers crossed!!!!

Love,

DeeDee

PS. Mom seems to be doing pretty well, we go to the DR. on Wednesday.

Dear AKC,

This letter is being submitted for my mother's Yorkshire terrier, Brutus, as a candidate for the AKC-ACE Award. Brutus is two years old and a puppy from my very first litter of 5 pups.

The moment my mom laid eyes on him, she fell in love. My mother is currently a lung cancer patient. She had a portion of her lung removed in Feb. 2007 and has endured radiation therapy and chemo therapy. In March of this year, she awoke during the night with symptoms of the wintertime flu. At 6 am she called me and told me of her sickness and we decided that she had picked up the flu the prior day while attending a funeral. I would call throughout the day to check on her.

At 2 pm that afternoon, she called me and was complaining about Brutus. She said that he was driving her crazy because every time she would almost fall asleep, he would bark and jump at her continuously. I told her to just put him in his crate so she could rest. She reiterated to me again, that he would not leave her alone. After hanging up, I decided that I should go get Brutus so she could rest easier. I tried to call my mom and tell her I was coming, but she did not answer the phone.

Being 25 minutes away, I decided to call her neighbor and have her check on my mom but before I could call, the phone rang and it was the neighbor. She informed me that my mom had called her to come get Brutus but when she got there my mom was extremely sick. She was vomiting and extremely ill and laying on the bathroom floor. I told her to call 911 and I would meet my mom at the hospital, which was only 2 miles away from my mom's house.

Upon arriving at the hospital, my mom was being checked out and before I knew it, they were telling us that she did not have the flu, she was bleeding internally somewhere and she was extremely critical. You see, her blood pressure was at 52/37, heart rate was 125 and she was very low on her blood counts. They were assuming that she was having a heart attack because her vitals were so bad. This hospital was going to stabilize her and they would be airlifting her to a hospital 40 miles away in Ann Arbor, Michigan. That is what they did and my mom spent 5 days there but I have no doubt that if it wasn't for Brutus keeping my mom awake, she would have gone to sleep and who knows what would have happened.

Cancer keeps us wondering daily but I feel somewhat safe to know that we have a 7 pound Yorkie looking out for her. Please consider Brutus as a recipient of this award, he deserves it in my eyes and in my mom's.

Tess in 2006 with Brutus's mom, at my cousin's house.
We were there visiting her new puppies, Brutus among them.