My Dress

Behold The Dress.



This is the dress I made out of that kokeshi doll duvet cover. This is my first dress I've made for myself. It's one thing making children's clothes (if they are kinda screwed up, who cares?), but it's another to make a full-sized adult dress. I'm really proud of it. Look, I even lined it!



I was afraid it wouldn't fit, but as it turns out, it fits perfectly!





It's a little too cleavagy for my taste; however, coupled with a little camisole, it's just right.

Double Day

Posting twice in the same hour. Sorry.

Interesting article.

Kokeshi!

I am beyond delighted.

I collect kokeshi, Japanese wooden dolls. I used to talk about my kokeshi a lot, but since we've gone to one income, I've had to put my collection on hold, so I haven't bought myself a doll in a long time. But I still love them, love to look at them.



When I got pregnant with Fifi, I dreamed of a girly bedroom with a kokeshi theme. But I never could find any kokeshi fabric or anything else to decorate her room like that. So the only thing she had was this painting that I did, which she loved as a baby.



So imagine my surprise and utter delight when while walking through Tesco (Tesco!), I happened to spot, way down an aisle I wasn't even walking down, this duvet cover:



I couldn't believe my eyes! A kokeshi doll bed cover! And in all the colours of Fifi's room - dark pink, pale pink, lime green! And get this - it was reduced to £5!

As you can see, I bought one. No, that is not true. I did not buy one. I bought three. One for Fifi's bed, one for Lolly's future bed and one... for the fabric. I almost bought two for the fabric but decided three was plenty.

With my third, I am currently making myself a dress. :) I will post pictures when it is complete. Scott thinks it'll look crazy, and it probably will, but you can bet that as long as I don't screw it up and have made it the right measurements, I will be wearing that kokeshi dress proudly.

I'm just so so pleased.

Several Things

I'm sorry all my posts are so 'updatey' and not very thoughtful. I don't have time for thoughts these days.

So first off, let me say, you know you're a mother when the most exciting thing in your life is trying to find out what the mysterious spots your child and all her friends have are. We've ruled out chicken pox, measles, and hand, foot and mouth disease. The doctors are all simply calling it 'viral'. Boy, the number of texts circulating earlier this week.

Second, because Fifi has seen Lolly being carried around in the sling a lot lately, she's taken to stealing my sling out of my bag and trying to use it for her dolls. But it's too big for her, so her dolls fall out, which makes her go berserk, so I decided to make her her own. I took her to IKEA to pick out some fabric and made her this.

Third, I've been using my CrockPot a lot lately. I've made porridge many times overnight, set with a timer to make it ready for breakfast, along with a breakfast risotto and an egg custard, which I'm trying out just now. Not too bad for breakfast. Then, today I'm going to put on chili for dinner tonight. I've also made apple butter in it, which, if I do say so myself, is delicious. My CrockPot made three jars full.

Fourth and finally, I leave for the States in just three weeks. Within that three weeks, I have to finish organising and then run (with the help of the rest of the management committee, of course) our Inverclyde Breastfeeding Mums Annual General Meeting, coordinate and run the TinyTalk regional professional development day, celebrate my birthday (important!) and, of course, pack. I also need to shop for Scott so he's got simple things in the house to eat while I'm gone and shop for Fifi so she's got pre-packaged food items for the flight. I'm going to be extremely busy from here on out, but I love it.

Now I'm off to get my shower and get ready for the day. Don't know if I'll make this egg custard again, but it's pretty good nonetheless...

Daughters

Possibly my favourite picture ever.

Addicted to Shopping

I am psychologically unable to pop into Tesco and buy only what is on my list.

Today I 'popped in' for mop wipes and an avocado. Only. Determined that is all I would buy, I left the shop with this:

2 packs of mop wipes
2 avocados
A loaf of bread
A loaf of garlic bread
2 bags of okra (reduced to .99p each)
1 red pepper
2 bags of bagels (on special, 2 for £1.50)
BBQ chicken pieces
Pepperoni
2 packs of cocktail sausages (on special, 2 for £3)
3 pouches of Plum baby food (on special, 3 for £2, which was a savings of .97p. For 4 months down the line)
Frozen hash browns
Philadelphia cream cheese (for the bagels)
1 4-pack of D batteries (turns out I needed C)
2 tubs of spreadable butter (on special, half price)
2 tea towels (they had hearts on them and were reduced from Valentine's Day)
3 packs of flowery napkins (on special, .37p each)

It's an illness.

SingStar

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star- The Fifi Remix from superlori on Vimeo. and Dingle Dangle Scarecrow from superlori on Vimeo.

More About Lent While I Eat My Porridge and Attend My Daughter

In an effort to use my slow cooker more, I decided to try making porridge overnight ready for breakfast. Months ago I bought a timer to plug the cooker into for this purpose. Yet despite holding onto the instructions carefully, the day I decide to use it, the instructions are no where to be found. I've seen those instructions lying in the same place week after week, and yet now they are gone. So I tried to figure out the timer on my own. I woke up this morning hopeful, but all I found was a cold pot full of milk and oats. I just put it on the stove and made it the old fashioned way.

However, I got the timer down and started playing. I think I've figured it out now. I'll try it again in tonight.

Today is the start of Lent. I hope I can find time each day to reflect on Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. I hope I can find time (and energy) to contemplate what that means for me. One reason I'm sort of dreading this season is because I know how emotionally draining repentance is. I don't think I can face emotionally draining. I'm drained in every way as it is. So, then I wonder - does repentance always run along side weariness? If Jesus told us he would carry our yoke, our burdens, doesn't that mean we can lean on him in weakness, not fear him? I admit it, I fear brokenness. I fear what kind of emotional impact it could have on my life. I need as much bolstering up as possible during these years of toddler/babyhood. I need energy to run after Fifi when she makes a beeline for the street, when she suddenly needs to go potty NOW, when she's throwing a tantrum, when she's ill and needs lots of cuddles. I need energy for feeding Lolly around the clock, for picking her up when she cries, for changing her nappy again after having just changed it.

Yet, of course, I know intellectually that leaning on Christ is the only way to survive this. So why do I find it so daunting? Why am I so afraid that if I start going to him more, I'm going to find myself miserable and even more tired? Will I? Or will this season of Lent refresh me and my love for the Lord? That's what I want. I want to love him in a fresh new way. I want his sacrifice on the cross to move me again. I want to find the Spirit in everything I do and enjoy his presence.

But right now I must go get Lolly, who has just woken up from her night's sleep.

Lent and All

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. The last year or two I felt too busy to think much on Lent. That hasn't changed this year except I feel a real burden to do so. To repent of my busyness and lack of time spent with the Lord. I don't know how I'll do it. I don't know how a mother stays on top of everything earthly and material as well as things eternal. Is it just a matter of being near God, in His presence, or is there more? Should I wake up even earlier to pray and read Scripture? And if so, how do I do that without waking up the baby and then spending that time feeding her back to sleep? Even as I type this I'm having to deal with my two-year old repeat 'Mum' over and over while also whining for 'juice juice juice Iwanjuice Iwanjuice'.

My college friend Amber has a lovely blog, and this post sums up a lot of my feelings.

I can't even find time to finish this post. Scott just got home and needs his tea, and Fifi's got a dentist appointment in half an hour.

It's Ba-ack.

The sickness fog has once again come to rest upon our household. Fifi came into our bed at about 2am this morning complaining that her tummy hurt. I didn't take her that seriously, but let her sleep with us. Moments later she threw up. We cleaned her up, and Scott took her back to her own bed and stayed with her there. She threw up a few more times over night. Then this morning she threw up twice more. She still keeps saying her tummy hurts and asking us to 'kiss tummy better'. Poor thing. So for the third week in a row, we've missed church. Well, me and the girls anyway. Scott's there, since he does the music.

I hope this ends soon. I'm tired of pajama days.