snips snails and stitches

I had to dig pretty deep into the archives to find this picture of Peter. Adam is wearing that t-shirt these days so I know it's at least 4 years old. What can I say, we love the dirt.
The real reason I stopped in is to point you in the direction of the annual "Celebrate the Boy" series over at Made and Made by Rae.
Even if you don't have a little boy in your household it's worth a peek for all the giveaways and plenty of project ideas that would work for girls too. Not to mention some really helpful sewing tutorials. There is a little of everything over there this month but don't worry, there will be no mud involved.

how to fill a day

good grief snow snow and more snow! Don't worry, I wasn't foolish enough to think that last week's forty degree days meant that Spring had arrived but it is still hard to take when we get dumped on like this again. ( I don't know the official inch count but it is DEEP). Besides, just in case Mother Nature starts to try to trick me I have a reminder in our kitchen that I faithfully update every morning.

So, it was presidents and not snow that kept Peter home from school today even though it felt very much like a snow day. It seemed like everyone was bored from the minute they woke up but with a little effort we have been chugging through it.

We drew and drew and drew. I admit that I did not opt for monsters myself. Peter loved sketching some of these creepy creatures. I try to steer away from "how to draw" books in general (although there are a few good ones out there that I like - I might have to post about those another time). This one came from the library though so I'm not too worried about screwing up his art instruction with something that has to be returned next week.

An eclectic mix of favorite tunes was on hand. This is essential in my opinion for surviving both the long winter months and the parenting of young children. Does anything else pull you out of the day to day and remind you of who you are more than music? Oh and it's FUN. Yep, it's a must for me.

We played school and wouldn'tcha know it, it was picture day. All the 'students' looked so cute and sat so still for the photographer.

And of course we had to have 'rest time.' I love school.

How did you fill your day?

now and again i embroider

I know, what few posts I have written lately have been about anything BUT embroidery. But I assure you that a stitch or two have been made here in the past month or so. It just hasn't been as easy recently as it has been in the past. Ever since the move it seems our family rhythm has been changed up a bit and the schedule has been jostled. I'm finding myself with less creative time than I was used to just a year or so ago. I try not to crab about it too much.
This little star is part of a little project whose fate is yet to be determined. I will be sure to update on that however, when I know what will become of it. And then I have this funny little project for a friend in the works. Just some prescription drugs all stitched up, that's all. And yes, the little buttons are supposed to be pills.

There is text included but I don't think I will share due to it's overt reference to recreational use of prescription medication. The only reason I can make jokes about this not-so-funny subject with this particular friend is because we have been through a LOT together and our shared humor has grown darker over the years. Personally I find that to be one of the most delightful side effects of long-term friendships. But, it doesn't always make for good blog-fodder.

I hope she likes it.

to my shock and horror...

Okay, so here is what I didn't know. That spammers will now invade your comment section on your blog. Yep, didn't know that. So I was slightly horrified when I looked through some old posts of mine recently and found what are essentially ads for several well known prescription drugs.
The nerve! And I also might add - do they really think they are going to sell anything that way?
So I did a little surfing and found this helpful article and also learned more about the comment settings on blogger. I didn't even know about the spam filtering features but when I looked at what Blogger had blocked right here on So September I was amazed at how many attempts were made to turn my happy little blog into a pretty little pharmacy. Needless to say, I am glad that blogger has added this feature.
On a final (but most important) note I just wanted to apologize to anyone who had to wade through this garbage in some of my previous comment sections. I swear I didn't know it was there and I hope we all never see it again!

i'm just saying...

I'm not ready to go out a just fork out the money for a new sewing machine yet. But I know the day is coming when it will be time to toss the old one out the window... er, I mean, replace my current machine. I've been peeking around a bit online and of course every site says their machines wonderful. I am having a hard time getting some real and honest reviews. They can't all be winners, ya know? I favor reliability over bells and whistles - don't need a lot of fancy features. My problem with my current machine (a Singer) has always been the tension setting and I would LOVE something that caused me a little less grief in that regard.

So, I'm asking - does anyone have advice on good reliable brands OR brands/machine to avoid? Let it all out, folks, I'm listening.

picking and choosing

I’m officially cutting loose from Facebook this week. If you are/were connected to me over there then you might already know this. I didn’t think it seemed right to just up and disappear but I also am not sure I should go into a big boring explanation about it either. Facebook never felt right to me and what does feel right is to let it go. I hesitated on this for a long time because there are some good reasons to stay. I love seeing friends’ baby pictures, what people are crafting, stories from my favorite news sources and photographs of Yosemite National Park. But, although it will take more effort on my part, I can still access all of this without Facebook.

Part of my reasoning also has to do with sheer information overload. Honestly, sometimes it really is all too much for me and I know I have to walk away from it, as hard as that can be. For example, if you are on Etsy you are probably aware of their new Activity Feed feature. It informs you of all the activity that has taken place in your shop or the shops in ‘your circle’ since you last visited Etsy. It’s not as though this information wasn’t available before, you just had to seek it out. To be honest though, this feature probably does more to take away from my creative time (and therefore my shop) than it does to help me run it successfully.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of these things are fun and I am glad I have the choice to use them. I don’t have to use them, I know. Willpower, time management, and good old-fashioned common sense can go a long way in navigating through all the information available online. And sadly, I wish I had more of those things. It’s so hard to not feel as though you are missing out on something when you opt out of things but for me personally, I have to do it. But, hey, I won’t know what I’m missing anyway, right?

So, there is part of my reasoning. The rest I’ll save for another day. This is one of many steps I need to take to de-clutter my brain from all it takes in online. If anyone else is struggling with this please share your insights and techniques for dealing with some of the challenges that come along with having so much information at our fingertips. Then we’ll all get off our computers and play outside, okay?

Thank you to everyone who 'liked' me or 'friended' me on Facebook during my stay there. I truly appreciate it!