Month: February 2009

Sew Lovely

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I used to knit.  Then I became a mom and I don’t knit so much anymore.  I miss it, but I just don’t have the time. When I do start a project it always gets put aside for some reason or other and when I pick it back up I have no idea where I left off.  I have a beautiful nearly-done baby blanket in a feather and fan pattern that needs to be frogged.  I just can’t do it because it took me almost a year to knit, but after stopping and starting so many times there are glaring errors that are driving me nuts and I can’t continue.  So it sits in a heap and I don’t have the heart to start anything new.

Then there is the matter of the yards and yards of fabric that are sitting, still boxed from the move over a year ago, in the attic storage room.  When the Hancock Fabrics by my old office closed I went a bit crazy and bought 4-yard swaths of about 10 different fabrics. In case you’ve never bought fabric – 4 yards is a LOT of fabric.  At the time I was really into making darling pants from these instructions.  M had several pairs.  Then we moved and all that fabric has been in a box for over a year. 

Recently one of my favorite blogs, Sweet Juniper, has added a weekly craft post – WoodCraft – and it’s been hugely inspirational for me.  Wood works full time, she has TWO kids and yet she finds the time to use sewing as her creative outlet.  Sewing is fun to me, especially when there isn’t a fussy pattern involved; it’s not as challenging as knitting but it offers more of an instant gratification.  In the past I’ve made baby quilts for friends, pillow cases for our house and roman shades for a friend; yet over the last year my machine has only been used for repairs or to make the odd set of curtains for a box-house (more on that another day).  Then Wood linked to the instructions for the Oliver + S Lazy Days skirt and something sparked.  I had to make it.  That weekend, over the course of a few hours during M’s nap I was able to produce this

Skirt One

M loved it and called it her ballerina skirt (where she learned about ballerinas I have no idea) and I was hooked.  I hauled more of the fabric out and got to ironing.  This past weekend I made another one

Skirt Two

I know I will make at least a few more before our trip to South Carolina in a month.  This is the easiest skirt ever and if you can sew a straight(ish) line you can make one.  After I made the first one I made a couple of changes to the instructions and the second one took no time at all.  Best of all, I can put it down and come back to it hours or days later and know exactly where I am. M loves them and twirls all around the room making the skirts flare out.  What more could you ask for?

I remember those pants being pretty easy and I’m feeling pretty inspired…I think she may have a whole new wardrobe by spring!

 

(Yes, she is standing on TOP of furniture in each photo – it’s the only way to get this girl to stand relativity still while I snap a photo.  You can send your mother of the year award to I’lldoanythingforanonblurryphoto@she’stwososueme.com)

All that I have, All that I am*

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It started on Facebook, then Dooce did it and now it’s the thing to do.  Since I can’t gather my thoughts enough to write a real post, here are some random facts about me and Mark G. Davis.

What are your middle names?
Allison and Glynn

How long have you been together?
We met and started dating in the fall of 1998, so about 10 ½ years.  The first time I met him I thought he was an asshole (to be fair he was very drunk).  We got married in July of 2000.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
About 2 weeks after the meeting noted above, our paths crossed again and that’s all she wrote.  We’ve been together ever since.

Who asked whom out?
I was in college and he worked with a friend so we did a lot of “hanging out” with our mutual friends before we had a proper date.  But I was the one to kiss him first.

How old are each of you?
I am 31 and Mark is OLD almost 37.

Whose siblings do you see the most?
Mine

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
I think parenthood is both the hardest and the most gratifying at the same time.  It’s just so, so hard to carve out time for us and our interests as a couple that don’t revolve around a toddler.  That and finances…that’s a close second.

Did you go to the same school?
Nope – we actually went to rival schools.  I went to BGSU and he to the University of Toledo.

Are you from the same home town?
Amazingly, yes although we didn’t meet until we both moved away.  We are both from Mansfield but went to different school systems (and with the age difference, it’s not surprising we never met while we lived there).  I moved to Lima the summer before my freshman year in high school and by that time Mark was in the Army then on to live in Toledo. But its fun to compare memories from our old childhood haunts.

Who is smarter?
My automatic answer is that I am because I am a fount of useless knowledge (and since Google was invented I can be a royal pain in the ass when it comes to trivial things).  But, I think we are actually pretty evenly matched and with our different interests and affinities we each teach each other a lot.

Who is the most sensitive?
Mark. 

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
This is really hard because we are still exploring all the fantastic places to eat in Cleveland so we don’t often make return trips to a single place. But I’d have to say we’ve been to Bar Cento the most in the last year.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Salt Spring Island, BC where we went when I graduated college, returned the following year to get married and then visited again on our 5th anniversary. It’s almost time for another visit.

Who has the craziest exes?
Mark, but there hasn’t been any ex-drama since right after we started dating.

Who has the worst temper?
We both are pretty bad, but while I am quick to flare and then pretty quick to cool-off Mark will get angry and smolder for a long time. 

Who does the cooking?
We are pretty equal on the cooking front although our repertoire is pretty limited to heat-up-and-eat meals from Trader Joe’s and a choice few simple recipes.  However, I am the Sunday Morning Pancake Queen.   

Who is the neat-freak?
We are both pretty much anti-neat-freak which can be a bad thing.  We do an okay job at keeping the general filth to a livable level but neither one of us particularly cares.  Once in a while one of us will go on a de-clutter and scrub phase, but it’s pretty rare.

Who is more stubborn?
Me.  I am always right so you just better live with it.  And it’s really hard for me to agree to disagree because if you don’t agree with me you are WRONG and I will continue to try to convince you of my superiority.  Yeah, I’m fun at parties.

That said, Mark is pretty darn stubborn, too. And our child?- just watch out world.

Who hogs the bed?
Mark, but mostly because he likes to cuddle while I am of the notion of you get 10 minutes to cuddle then get the heck away from me.  I can’t sleep unless I have my space. Remember the scene in Dirty Dancing “This is my dance space. This is your dance space. I don’t go into yours, you don’t go into mine.”?  That’s me in a bed.

Who wakes up earlier?
Mark.  I would sleep until 10 every damn day if allowed.

Where was your first date?
The sad thing is neither one of us can remember what we did for our first date.  We think maybe we went to $1 draft/$0.10 wings night at Fricker’s.  What we do remember is that I fell flat on my fact upon walking out the door.

Who is more jealous?
Depends on the situation, but we’ve both had our share of jealousy.

How long did it take to get serious?
About 2 seconds.  Pretty much after our second meeting we were together all the time.  We moved in together a year later (after me practically living at his place for a year) and got married a year after that.

Who eats more?
I think we are pretty equal on this front.

Who does the laundry?
Me.  Mark does it once in awhile but I have RULES about the laundry that need to be followed (see stubborn question above) and get annoyed when they are not.

Who’s better with the computer?
Have you met Mark?  It’s him, definitely

Who drives when you are together?
Pretty much always Mark. Although he won’t admit it out loud he isn’t a big fan of my driving.  Plus, I like to sleep in the car so if we are on the road for more then and hour I prefer for him to drive.

Now it’s your turn…answer a few of these in the comments or post your own and leave the link in comments.  Come on, you know you want to.  All the cool kids are doing it!

*”All that I have, All that I am” were part of our wedding vows and I started giggling when Mark said them because we were so broke at the time.  Mark was crying a bit during the ceremony so me laughing made me look like a total ass…something he will never let me forget.

Moving on

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Thanks to everyone for your kind words…I’m trying to find some balance in this here life and I know it will take some time. 
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Moving on to some random updates…

The bedtime wars have settled down to a dull roar over the last week.  We’ve found that a combination of lots and lots (& lots) of after-school physical activity (i.e. the climbing cube and slides, dance parties, going to the store and pushing the cart around, etc.) and an extended bedtime routine has made for less screaming.   Thanks for the suggestions!

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My surgery is next Monday and it can’t come fast enough.  I haven’t had any major gallbladder issues in awhile but I’m tired of the impending surgery hanging out there. 

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Taxes suck.  I can’t believe we owe so much this year after getting such a big chunk back last year!  Isn’t there some rule about never having to owe if you have kids?  Something is royally wrong with this picture.

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This weekend will be a much needed getaway for Mark and me.  My lovely sister (the one featured over here) is taking M for the night so he and I can spend the night in Columbus.  Thank goodness for free nights care of the Marriott Rewards program because otherwise we couldn’t afford it right now (see above).

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Charter One bank is evil.  I’m so amazingly mad at them and their crappy customer service right now – let’s just say they owe me some $$ and I’m not done fighting for it.

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We are now proud owners of a dishwasher and garbage disposal.  Now we just need to figure out how to install them. The kitchen does not currently have a dishwasher so some of the cabinets need to be carved out to make room – should be an interesting project if we ever have time.  On a related note, Snow Brothers is a great place to buy appliances!

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Twitter cracks me up.  A post of mine cursing the snow which included the phrase “Jesus Christ!” prompted a “fellowship of Christian men and women” to follow me.  Oh, pour souls – you are so sadly mistaken on that one. 

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I’m so over the snow and today it was -4 when I got in my car.  I think we’ve gotten 3 feet of snow in the last month and it just won’t go away.  Mark keeps making fun of me because I’m worried our ice-filled gutters are going to snap off the house as I’ve seen happen to houses all over our neighborhood.  I had to use a hair dryer to open our frozen-shut front door tonight.  Spring, please hurry!