Category: Family

Last evening, around 8:00 p.m., my daughter decided to tell me she had a Math test today.

My immediate thought was…

Yeah, you could have told me this when I asked you six hours earlier!

What was hilarious was the fact that she thought she could tell me that and then slip into bed. I wasn’t having it! I made her stay up an additional 1.5 hours to quiz her on Math to ensure she was ready for her test today. She wasn’t liking that at all and really pouted when I told her tomorrow morning I’d be quizzing her again. I normally know about her tests in advance, but this one slipped right past me.
When I asked her why she didn’t tell me about the test? Her response was, I didn’t want to take the test.

Me: “The test was still going to take place, right?”

Daughter: Well, yeah…

Me: Well, doesn’t it make sense to be prepared so you do well? Poor grades are unacceptable in this house since I know your capabilities. You know this…

As I told her, childhood is a training manual… the habits you develop now can be beneficial to you as an adult. I also told her she might not always like the decisions I make for her and that’s fine, as she gets older I’ll step back and let her make more of her own decisions. My daughter and I are good friends, but I’m still her parent.  When it comes to schooling, as much as I’m involved with her education to ensure she does well, I don’t want to hear any excuses.

My daughter is nine years old, so I’m not going to expect her to approach each activity with the same amount of enthusiasm, but you know what? That’s when it’s my job as the parent to step up and give her the gentle nudge needed or on the rare occasion banning her from a much loved activity to ensure she always does her best.

Regarding schoolwork, my daughter’s grades are either A’s or a B+. I would say part of the reason she does so well is that I do make an effort to be there and help her if she does struggle with something. It’s not always easy, I’m busy but I always make time for her. Sometimes this means that I have to do extra work to make sure I understand what she needs help with. Yes, that takes additional time, but if I want her to continue to do well, it’s my responsibility to do what’s needed to make that happen.

Teacher’s aren’t always to blame…

I am not one of those parents who always find blame with the teachers. Teachers aren’t always the issue. Sometimes parents need to understand that their “little darlings” are the culprits. It’s personal responsibility folks, quit making excuses for them! You really aren’t helping the situation when you do that. And you know what? Sometimes parents/guardians are to blame also for not doing enough to ensure that their children do well.

 

 

My this weekend flew by!

Let’s see…Friday my brother was in town and he stayed the entire weekend. I also received a package from far away, I took pictures of the contents and will do a virtual thank you to one of my favorite bloggers in a later post.

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”-Psalm 30:5

This past December my aunt (my mothers sister) found out that she had a brain tumor. The family has supported her and her husband during this time through prayer, supplying the meals so she doesn’t have to cook, cleaning the house, etc., It’s a huge change seeing my aunt going from someone who was always on the go (she was involved with a few outreach ministries with her church) to being unable to drive and in bed most of the time.

 

A few days ago we learned that she most likely doesn’t have that much longer to live. I haven’t had too many people that are close to me die. I’m forty-two and have only lost two people that I had a close relationship with. And yes, I know that I’m really fortunate to be able to say that when compared to some people. This instance is different in that we know that she most likely won’t make it, the only thing left to do is wait. Sounds a bit morbid, you know? I’m still trying to get used to the fact that she might not be around too much longer.
I do know that she is a Christian and although the statement is overused she truly is an great example of how a Christian should be.

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.”

Matthew 7:13

I always liked that she hasn’t changed the Bible to make it palatable for “today’s society.” After all, who’s she to change Gods word? But yet many of us attempt to do that. I was one of them, and created a mishmash of different religions that suited my “style” to make it more palatable for myself and those around me… even though I knew what I was doing was wrong on so many levels. I firmly put on my blinders. Thankfully I stopped doing that. I do appreciate that my aunt doesn’t make excuses about her faith she does try to be the best Christian she can be… which is how it should be you know? Why some Christians are content to just slip into heaven or make excuses for their faith is something I simply can’t understand.

If she doesn’t have much longer on this earth, I will miss her. But I’m comforted when I realize that I’ll see her again in heaven. The reality is, that our physical life is small compared to the eternal life we will all experience whether our final destination is heaven or hell…

Green Day: Time of Your Life
Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don’t ask why
It’s not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it’s worth it was worth all the while.

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life.

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life.

This afternoon, my daughter and I had a play date. She hung out with one of her schoolmates, while I chatted with her friends mom.

The play date was at Chic-fil-A…

My daughter, and her friend, had both received Core Essential Awards at school. This award is given to one student in each class. Besides the certificate they receive for their achievement, the students are also given a certificate for Chic-fil-A, which is good for one free kids meal.

You want to know something? It’s nice when I  have a lot in common with my daughter’s friends parents since I don’t have to search for topics to discuss.  The good thing with this mom is, we do have a lot in common. Let’s see… we’re both physically active, we both are planning to compete in Figure competition, we both detest shopping, drama, etc.,  Oh, are parenting styles are similar. We’re not pushovers when it comes to our kids, but we’re loving, and we spend a lot of time with them.

My daughter’s friend has a brother who’s four-years old. You want to know something? They included him in their play. How thoughtful are they? Naturally her brother was thrilled, and he even cried when my daughter and I said our goodbyes. He also gave my daughter a goodbye hug. This evening, my daughte commented on how quickly the time flew by. We both enjoyed ourselves, and before we knew it, it was time to go home.

 

I started pattern drafting shortly after I learned to hand sew — I was six-years old.

Although I didn’t know the proper term at the time, I did know in order to make flashy Renaissance inspired clothing (my favorite period due to the elaborate fashions) I  would need to do more than eyeball the fabric, cut, and hand sew the pieces together. Trust me, I tried (eyeballing and cutting) when I was six years old and the results weren’t pretty. And so I started making my own patterns.

I knew about the Renaissance period from the books I read. I started reading at four, and read anything I could get my hands on… I quickly outgrew ‘baby books’ at five and was reading at the college level within a few years. My parents thought it was important for my brother and I to improve our mind, so television wasn’t in our household. That might explain why I rarely watch it today. 😉 Naturally I turned to the books in my home, which included a healthy diet of my fathers books; Greek tragedy, Keats, Poe, Shakespeare and numerous other authors and poets mainly from the 1700s and 1800s. The Renaissance inspired fashions I saw within some of those books were extremely appealing and although I disliked playing with dolls I made exception so I could replicate the numerous designs I within the book pages. Several of my father’s books are old and many of them were published in 1700 – 1800s period. I learned at a young age to handle them with care.  The words I couldn’t understand, I’d either ask my parents or take it upon myself to find the answer by  flipping through a very old dictionary which helped me understand what the words.

Initially I used notebook paper to create my patterns but my father seeing my interest did a wonderful thing and somehow acquired photocopy paper. Photocopy paper wasn’t as easily accessible as it is now, since back in the 1970s home printers weren’t the norm– but somehow he managed. I appreciated that. I wish I’d saved some of my old patterns so I can see how far I’ve progressed since that time, but I still have my memories.

Today, I’ve been making a few patterns for my daughter’s Monster High dolls. I wouldn’t necessarily say that’s its ‘easier’ than creating patterns for myself or others, true it’s smaller scale but with my perfectionist mentality things have to be ‘just right’ before it’s accepted. Also,the Monster High dolls are oddly shaped, so the challenge will be to make outfits that are lovely, but also complement their unique figure. Next weekend I have some free time, so I told my daughter to sketch out some designs (which she’s doing right now) and next weekend I’ll turn eight of her sketches into finished outfits.

Repurposed clothing

When I cleaned out my closets, I set aside a few garments to cut and transform into ‘plain fabric’ to be used in various sewing projects. I know some other sewists do this, do you? Making fabric from unwanted clothing is economical and a great way to extend the life of gorgeous fabric. Knowing my daughter’s taste, I knew she’d love to see those prints gracing her dolls… and I was right. There was a big smile on her face when I showed her the items. Earlier today, I cut the outfits into fabric. I now have extra fabric and I didn’t have to spend additional money.

 

 

In other news…

I applied the above embroidered designs to a garment. Yes, it’s for my daughter. I purchased the embroidered design from Urban Threads. No, I didn’t use all the recommended colors. I asked my daughter to choose what she liked. If you embroider (hand or machine) definitely check out their designs. I love them since they aren’t frumpy. Since I’m a machine embroidery noob… I thought it would be a great idea to become knowledgeable about machine embroidery before making my own designs. I took a picture of the garment, which she loves by the way. Eventually I’ll upload and share it here on Celebrate Life. I’m really pleased with how it turned out, of course this means that now I can finally get around to mailing some packages… since I’m pleased with my machine embroidery skills.

This past week, I’ve had some free time and so I’ve taken advantage of that by playing with my Brother Se-400, working on my knitted blanket, and I even played World of Warcraft (although briefly). Here’s hoping you all are finding time to do things you enjoy too.

Friday, I received a certificate informing me that my nine year old daughter had made Honor roll for the second quarter.

She’s in fourth grade. The top grade point average is a 4.0. She currently has a 3.7 GPA (grade point average) so she’s maintaining an A average.

Based on her grades, I already knew she had made the honor roll. I see her tests and help her with homework when she struggles, I always encourage her to strive to do her best. I know her capabilities and encourage her to do better when I know she’s not using all her abilities. She made honor roll in the first quarter also. I review my daughter’s work nightly, occasionally I’ll tell her to look at her work again since I’ll see some errors but I never do her work for her since as I told her if I do your work that’s not helping you out at all. But helping my daughter with concepts that she might have problems understanding, that I will do.

Also on Friday, I received a letter from my daughter’s Lutheran school informing me about an ‘Honor Roll breakfast’. This breakfast is specifically for those children who’ve made honor roll and as a parent I received an invite also. I must say that I look forward to going to school to hang out with my daughter, teachers, her classmates other and parents. She has some amazing teachers and I thank them often for the great job they do with our children.

I firmly believe that our achievements are something that should be recognized. For myself, seeing other do well in areas I might experience struggles has always encouraged me to do better. Yes, even at an early age seeing others accomplishments was enough of an incentive for me strive to make improvements.

 

 

Early this morning, I went online and purchased the BaByliss BABTT4073 Pro TT Tourmaline Titanium Steam Straightener for my daughter. The flat iron retails for about $150, however I purchased it for $69.

My daughter has super curly hair, and while she loves her curls sometimes she wants to wear it straight.

Of course, I don’t want to purchase a flat iron that would damage her hair,  and so (several months ago) I started researching the flat irons that used steam.  I’ve been wearing my hair in dreadlocks for about eight or nine years, but before that time, I had naturally curly hair. I’d only choose heat appliances that used steam for my hair, since it’s much kinder than dry heat.

Originally I was looking at Denman flat irons, I’ve used some of their products, and love them… but I still kept searching.  This past July, Chelotopia, a fellow Raveler, gave a glowing review of BaByliss flat iron in her Going Natural post. I decided to check them out. I must say that was impressed with the reviews I read about the product.

The flat iron has a steam feature so I know it won’t be as damaging as one without. I can’t wait to try it out! Based on the numerous glowing reviews I’ve read about the flat iron, I don’t think I (or my daughter) will be disappointed.

Here in my part of Maryland, the past few Christmases have been very green, no hint of snow was in sight. But this year was different…

Monday, as we left the Christmas Eve service (at out Lutheran church) we were greeted with snowflakes! Adults and children alike, made delighted noises at seeing the snow. I’m sure some might not have been thrilled, but they were drowned out by the excitement of everyone else. Once we arrived home I took pictures, and my daughter and I played outside.

 

The above picture was taken of our garden, it’s about an acre. We also have a little over three acres of woods.

 

My daughter and I enjoyed the tiny amount of snow (while it lasted) later that evening the rain came and washed it all away. Which is ok… we still have some great memories, and I took plenty of photos.