love, hate, and dust bunnies

Have I mentioned my love/hate relationship with sewing? When I'm in the groove, I enjoy myself. After a (usually frenzied) bout of sewing, I don't want to look at my machine for months. I once went almost two years without sewing a stitch. Which leads me to the dust bunnies.

I had to loan out my sewing table today. The horrors that lurked underneath would shock and amaze most anyone. Tonight I clean rather than sew. I have a dozen projects floating around my head. No way can I replace the table without exterminating the bunnies. Once the table is back in place, I'll be sewing and swearing in no time.

And now, a question:

Once I'm bored with sewing again I plan to have my abused and neglected machine serviced. Any tips or thoughts on that? This reminds me, I'll have to get a snap of my old Singer. She's a beauty. My grandmother gave it to me post tune-up about 5 years ago. Poor thing has barely seen the light of day. The feet that came with it are amazing! (Not that I know how any of them work, mind you.)

my sanity on a leash

Things get really bad if (when) I "lose" my military identification. I can't buy groceries at the commissary. I can't get cheap gas. More importantly, if I'm off base, I can't get on base to go home. I have to call someone (you know one of my OODLES of friends who is willing to roll out of bed to come rescue me from the front gate) to vouch for my authenticity and then escort me home.

I don't actually lose it. Ninety percent of the time it's at the commissary. That's the only place I have to take it from it's regular spot and carry it anywhere. I must drop it in the shuffle of bags and kids. I am not a purse kind of gal. Even a wallet is too cumbersome for me. I opted for a lanyard. For the cost of one designer fabric lanyard on Etsy, I purchased enough materials to make ten. No, I don't need ten but that's not the point! I got the hardware from a dog collar supply site. Now, I can put my ID on a leash and throw it around my neck while I'm in the store.

I finished the other two hybrid kidlets last night.

one of three

I'm making these for a special someone. They live in a charming, small space and don't have a lot of storage. I wanted these to be something the child can carry without all the goodies inside falling out. I didn't want to add another webbing strap because it wouldn't be as cute hanging on a doorknob or coat rack. Plus, the contents would be harder to get at for little hands, I think.

speaking of clutter...

Scattered around the house, I have projects at various stages of completion. This was a late night curious attempt at crocheting a small ball. I didn't have stitch markers when I started it and I'm going to pull it apart and restart.

These are kidlets I am making for a friend. I'm going to try another variation to make them more kid-toting friendly without interfering with the hanging design.

Here we have an Ikea easel the big kid and I rescued from the garbage truck a couple of weeks ago. It needs a cleaning (maybe paint?) and some new hinges.

This is my second dishcloth attempt. The cheap circular needles that came with the Knit Knack kit broke. No big deal, they were a pain in the rear anyway.

The Baron fished these beauties out of the dumpster a while back. I need to get them done before it gets too hot and humid out. I'm a little nervous because I plan to use spray paint, a first for me. They make that plastic spray paint and I'm hoping it works like I'm expecting it to. I want to go bright and cheery with these. I'm on the hunt for some bright and sturdy fabric to recover the seats and backs. All of this hinges on me being able to get them apart, of course.

i am thankful

I've been reading blogs from other frugal folks, watching the news, and going through the information sent to us from our bank. They all say the same things.

• Have a budget
• Use cash
• Save while paying down debt

We've been doing all of the above for four years and I'm just now realizing what a blessing it is. I believe we were pointed in this direction intentionally. I can't remember exactly how or why we started using cash only but I know it had something to do with ATM fees. The cash-only system needed a budget to give me an idea of how much cash we needed. After hearing a few different places that even with debt we should be paying ourselves (aka saving) first, I started a college fund for the big kid and IRAs for the Baron and me.

I've never been as pleased with the Baron's job (USN) as I am now. I know things will work out and we will be provided for but I do hope the economy will be on the rebound by 2013, when he's up for retirement.

Even my bland social life with my blah schedule paid off. I had all the time in the world last year to clip coupons, chase deals, and stock up. Now, with the Baron deployed and the competition for deals on the rise, I can stay home and live off what we have.

I want to put out there how thankful I am and how blessed I feel to have been given the opportunity to learn about budgets and frugal living. I think the crunch is still a part of our lives, but we've been living differently for so long, we haven't needed to make drastic changes.

pay it forward - update

These are two of the PIF projects I sent out last week. They were based on the Kidlet tutorial. I read on Dani's blog that her daughter had Webkinz, same as my big kid. I'd been wanting to come up with something to hold the annoying little critters. I used this as an opportunity to be creative.

Amy had/has a thing for pirates and the fabric just had to be used for her item.

i really am an old dog

I enjoy the company of friends. I tell myself I am miserable without it. I feel sorry for myself when we move and I leave good people behind. I pick myself up and make an effort to meet new people. I'm starting to feel a part of the community after a year and a half into this duty station. Once again, I'm having good times with good people.

I was the girl who would do it all. Thank goodness I'm slowly learning to say no. I hate saying no to people. Will they still like me if I tell them no? I have to hope they will and remember my own peace of mind and body, because I'm dragging. It won't stop me from offering help. I feel good when helping people. I love getting help when I need it and I truly enjoy making what comes around, go around.

But...I'm tired. I guess I really am getting older? Two kids :hiding from those of you with big, lovely families who will roll their eyes at me: must take more of my energy than I realized. Being a temporary single parent probably contributes a little, too. We had such a fun, busy weekend that I really need today off to today to recover.

I notice the kids can't go go go like I assumed they could either. The wee one's nap gets pushed back. She's either being restrained some place not kid friendly or she's left to run wild in a safe environment, both of which irritate her after a while. The big kid seems to need a break from constant kid to kid interaction, too. I assumed we would all adapt well to being busy with friends, nonstop.

We love our new friends but I'm learning we need moderation. No surprise there. This Baroness has always had a problem with moderation. While trying to rush my way to the end of this deployment, I'm rushing us past quality mommy-daughter interaction. Time to slow down.

*The above blog post was in no way directed at any one new friends and we would never want our new friends to think we are tired of them. We are just plain tired. We thank our new friends for making us tired.