What? Did you say something to me?

I've been a tiny bit distracted lately.

This is why

I've wanted one of these for a while now. My friend got one for Christmas and seeing her excitement, made me want one even more. I told myself when I sold 4 more picture frames, I'd do it.

I did a LOT of research before I decided to buy a Kindle. I looked at all the internet posts comparing the Kindle to the Nook and Sony reader and a few others. I was very interested in the eBook checkout system at our local library but found out you have to wait quite a while for them. Really? The library eBooks are a format that doesn't comply with Kindle but does with all the others I was looking at. I won't bore you with everything I learned. Ultimately, I went with the Kindle and so far, I'm not sorry I did.

Once I had my new little friend home, I knew I needed to make it nice and cozy. I needed to make it nice and safe so I could throw it into my purse. Also, as slim and lovely as it is, I wanted more to hang onto. I looked and looked for ideas on the internet and found several. I'm pretty good at looking at something and making it better for me.

My first attempt

The front

The inside

Folded backward and hooked to itself with the velcro

The pockets on the oposite side.  I guess for a tablet or something.

This one is just a little thick.  I put two layers of very heavy interfacing in there.

I carried it around in this for several days but then got excited about making some little tweaks and making one with fabric that makes my skirt fly up.

My second attempt

The outside with a smaller flap and only one layer of heavy interfacing inside.  Also made the corners a little pointy-er

The inside with more reinforced corners

No change in the pockets

Folded back

Another shot of it folded back

I LOVE the colors of this one. It makes me happy just to look at it. You might want to know how I reach those buttons and the on/off switch there at the bottom right side. Well, the corner slips off easily and still stays put! I think I'm in love.

Here is the question though....

Should I make them and try to sell them? I could make them for iPad and Nook and any of the others. There are a ton of them out there on the internet.

I don't know.

How much would you pay for one of these babies?



The Slob Husband

A few nights ago, I was sitting at my sewing machine with the TV. on. I was really enjoying myself when Garth came into my area of the office/sewing room.


Let me explain.


We have two bedrooms at the front of our house that measure 10x19 feet. Long and skinny. The boys share one and Garth and I share the other. Just inside the door of the office there are three desks. One cool roll top desk that is a bit dusty. One computer desk. And another long dresser desk-ish combo. On top of that is a shelf unit. These desks are positioned so that you can't see the back half of the room. There, in the back half, is my little oasis. My fabric is there. My sewing machine is there. My awesome TV. is there. The window is there. My candy stash is gone for good I’m afraid. Someday I'll post pictures of the room.


So, back to my original ramblings....
I was sitting there having a great time when Garth walked into my area. He proceeded to tell me that he thinks our roles are reversed. I'm the slob husband. He went on to explain... My half of the garage is spilling onto his half of the garage in a huge/bad way (still haven't organized myself after the Christmas rush). I never put my hair dryer and sometimes make up back in the drawer. I have a pile of laundry on our bedroom floor.... I believe he said a few other things but I might have tuned him out.


I really was planning on working on the garage the next day. Really. I was. I didn't try to explain this. I knew I would sound a bit pathetic.


The next day, after the boys left for school, I headed to the garage with two sweatshirts and a jacket on. While I was freezing my patootie off in the Garage I had a lot of time to think.


I took my phone out of my pocket and without pausing the music, sent a text to my turtle dove. I thanked him for having a smile on his face as he called me a slob husband.


I’m a lucky girl.

A New Year and a Black Belt Test from last year...

Here we are starting a new year.  I'm going to try to update this blog thing more often this year. 

I'm starting with an event that took place way back in November.  November 20th to be exact. 

It all started 4 years ago on the first day of school.  Gordon was 9 and in 4th Grade.  Jensen was almost 6 and in 1st grade.  We kept trying to get Gordon to participate in a sport.  He played T ball when he was in Kindergarten/1st grade but said he didn't want to keep doing it.  He said he'd like to try martial arts or something like that.

Okay....

This is Gordon at his very first test.  He earned a yellow stripe on his belt.  Jensen wasn't quite ready to test yet but earned his just 3 months later.

There is a test about every 3 months so if you are ready and you've been invited to test you can earn your next belt. 

Here is the order:
White
Yellow Stripe
Yellow
Green Stripe
Green  
(Jensen announced at this point that Kyuki-do just wan't his thing.  He is now taking piano lessons)
Blue Stripe
Blue
Brown Stripe
Brown
Red Stripe
Red
Black Stripe
Black

Gordon waited a year after earning his black stripe to test for Black.  For one thing, he didn't think he was ready and the Grand Master only comes once or twice a year for Black Belt tests.

We had to make a "Black Belt" book.  It is more or less a scrapbook of his journey to his Black Belt test.  He wrote an essay and we put in several pictures of our family activities and his Kyuki-do pictures.  Fun, but a little stressful to put together. 

4 people were testing.  Two 13 year old boys, one 17 year old girl and a 50 year old man.  Of course, Gordon was the tallest one.

During the test, Gordon had to perform some "forms" that include sometimes more than 35 moves.  He had to perform them as the testers asked.  He had to fight or sparr 3 against 1 and did very well.  I think this is the most nervous I've ever seen Gordon.  It was a little hard to see him under so much pressure at one time.  He did handle it and himself very well.  I'm one proud Mom!  Because he is so tall he often gets put up against grown men.  I swear, no matter how big my baby gets, I'll NEVER get used to seeing grown men kick and punch my son!

At the end of the test all of the students line up and they call your name one at a time.  You run behind everyone and around to the Grand Master and your instructor.  For the regular color belts you shake hands with everyone, accept your new belt then go to the side/behind everyone and put your new belt on with the help of a higher rank.  For the Black Belts, you stand in front of one of the Masters and remove your current belt.  The Grand Master then puts your new Black Belt on and gives a few words of advice and then gives you a hug.  The advice most given?  *insert heavy Korean accent here... "You clean room!  You respect your Parents!  You no drink!  You no smoke!

Now, everyone there has to call Gordon "Mr. Walker" - He loves that part!

After 4 years of 3 nights a week, he is finishing this month then taking some much deserved time off to work on earning his Eagle Scout rank.

My Parents, Grandma and Grandpa Beck were able to attend.  It was so brave of them to sit there through a 3+ hour test!

Mary Margaret tells the story of Jonah

I couldn't resist posting this adorable little 6 year old as she told The Story of Jonah.  Her mother states that she memorized the whole thing!

This Time of Year...

*I get to stand in my garage, stare at all my wood and imagine what kind of amazing things I can do with it.

*I breathe in a whole lot of saw dust.

*I love my Band Saw.

*I occasionally sand off a fingerprint.

*My family has been trained to turn the garage lights on and off to get my attention. I don't want to be startled and saw off a finger or anything like that.

*I am always wearing my "paint shirts" that are cruddy and old and stained.  I am almost but not really embarrased when people I know see me like that.

*My hair is almost always in a pony tail.  Not always a good look on me...

*I neglect my dish washer and vacuume.

*I love my Milwaukee Dual Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw

*I can go all day without saying a word to anyone and be just fine.  I like myself.

*I love my Scroll Saw.

* I count all the $ I made, pay my tithing and buy Christmas presents.

Then, I look down and see the big mess I get to clean up in January.

A tug on my Heartstrings

Today I was digging through my kitchen drawer that we throw all of our gadgets into.  Measuring cups, Tupperware party gadgets and the like.  I can't even tell you what I was looking for but there at the bottom in the very back were these.....

Ooooh.  How many times did I make that Choo Choo or Airplane sound while guiding some kind of baby food into one of these mouths? 

I looked closely and can still see some of their little teeth marks imbedded into the rubber coating.


I thought about this tonight as Jensen told me that he hated grilled cheese sandwiches (news to me).  I was making them for dinner.  I told him he would have to make something else himself because this is what's for dinner. 

Before I knew it he was sitting at the table with a ham and cheese sandwich laughing at something Garth said.

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!

The Dreaded phone call...

Garth was on the "Manly Man" backpacking trip this week but came home one day early because of a storm on the mountain they were hiking. They climbed to the top of the South Sister in Sisters, Oregon.


I had him all to myself on Friday. First we got the kids off to school. Then we walked the dog. Then we made plans for the day and a list of things to purchase for Jensen's birthday party that was scheduled for Friday night.

One of the things on the list was to go have lunch with Jensen at his school. They were having a BBQ for any parents that could attend. It was nice. As we were leaving, I saw out the back door that Jensen had taken his coat off and piled it on top of a pile of other coats on the playground bench. He was running around having a great time.

We left there and headed to Target then Home Depot and finally Costco to pick up his birthday cake.

We were about 2/3 of the way to Costco when my phone rang. It was the secretary from Joan Austin Elementary. The way she said "hi Julie, this is Kathy" I knew she was going to tell me something awful had happened to my baby. Instead she told me that Jensen had head lice. Eewwww!

All I could think about was that his birthday party was just 4 hours away! What were we going to do?

We hurried and picked up the cake and some Nix, got to the school as quick as we could to pick him up. They had him sequestered in the little nurses room working on classroom work without the classroom of course.

We got him home and Garth took him upstairs to the bathroom and started a two hour process. I stayed downstairs and wiped and wiped and sprayed and vacuumed everything in sight twice. We felt pretty good about everything so as each parent dropped off their child I told them what was going on and what we had done. If they wanted to have their child not stay, we understood.

Surprisingly they ALL 5 of them stayed. It was a fun time.

Once they left, we headed upstairs and stripped everything off the boy’s beds and went about cleaning their room and washing everything. All stuffed animals and pillows are in white plastic bags awaiting their turn for a half hour ride in the super hot dryer.

Whew!

I do have to say that at first, I was thinking "what mom would send their child to school with lice so that my child would get it" then I remembered where Jensen's coat had been earlier in the day....

Sorry other parents!  We didn't know!