How I do it ALL

Summary of what may (or may not) be a lengthy post...that may or may not be read by many people...who may or may not find it interesting...

I DON'T do it all...OR NOT "ALL OF IT" is getting done.
I can't tell you how many times I have heard recently, "How do you have time to do everything?"  
There is no quick answer to that question, so here is the not so quick version.  I am certainly not doing it all.  Here is a picture of my life right now.
Yesterday- 

• I woke up and took a shower while my amazing rockstar of a husband (insert this superlative anytime I refer to Brian) woke up Shea (my two-year-old son), took him potty, got him in his high chair, started Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to keep him company while he ate his pop tarts, fed our two dogs, woke up Patten (our six-month-old) and changed his diaper, laid him in his swing, and made him a bottle for me to feed him while Brian took a shower.  Summary: Brian got most of it done.
• After getting himself ready, as I finished feeding Patten his bottle, Brian gathered up all of the stuff we needed to take with us for the day.  This included: all of Patten's bottles he needed for the day, both of the boys' winter jackets, Shea's backpack, and everyone's lunches (that he had packed for us the night before).  Patten finished his bottle. Then I helped Shea put both of the dogs in their crates, give them their treats, and turn on the radio to ESPN for some sports-centered background noise.
• Side note: on more than one occasion, I have forgotten to secure the doors to their crates on the times that Shea shuts them before I get there.  Because of course, everyone knows a two-year-old knows how to latch a dog's crate without assistance. NOT!  The most recent time we came home to both dogs in our bed with no damage, but other times we were not so lucky.  One of the other times, our dogs decided to snack on our comforter. Not everything got done.
  
• My suitcase still lies open on my floor halfway unpacked from our Christmas vacation we got back from right after Christmas...something that didn't get done.
• First day back with my students since Winter Break-surprisingly no catastrophes.  I realized I actually missed those little stinkers of mine so it was nice to see them again.  I am getting to co-teach, or whatever the new term for what I am doing is, with a teacher I love who I haven't gotten to teach with yet, and I am pretty excited about it.  I had to confess to the students that I will be learning along with them.  I had to beg two different professors for Cs in both of my history classes in college because it is my weakest subject.  I almost got a D in 2 classes, and I am an A student!!! Bring on the high school history!  I think I will be learning along with them.  I had to share with my students that I am not perfect.
•  We got home and Brian and I split the "when we get home" chores pretty evenly I think.  Brian got the laundry started. I unloaded the dishwasher and re-loaded the dirty bottles and sippy cups.  Shea went back to his high chair for his afternoon snack and Mickey, which Patten has already developed a liking for.
• I got started on some of my sewing projects while Brian played with the boys.  I had to clear off enough of the table to make room for my project.  The organizing of the table and cleaning of the kitchen will have to wait.
• Brian made a yummy chicken and rice dinner for us.  I don't do it all. 
• I did an online video chat session with some other folks from the National Seizure Disorder Foundation.  It lasted a little over an hour.  During this time, Brian tucked Shea into bed. Sidenote: Shea is finally going to sleep in his own bed and sleeping there all night long until we wake him up in the morning!  What a long way we have come from the sleepless nights not too long ago.  By the time I was done it was time for Patten to have his pre-bedtime bottle.  Have I said how amazing he was, yet?
• Brian and I watched a Netflix documentary and went to bed to get ready for another day of the craziness.

Today-

• Morning looked much the same as yesterday and many days before.  :)
• School 
• Met Brian at Outback for dinner because we had gift cards.  Our boys were little angels, which they often are when we go out.  Patten stayed in his car seat in the sling and quietly looked around the restaurant.  Shea had fairly sophisticated conversations with us about how he pooped in the potty two times at daycare today.  I hope the older people behind us were not mid-bite when he decided to exclaim it proudly.  Then he shared with us his desires to be an umpire like his daddy.  Now he is at home practicing just that.
• As soon as I walked in the door and got settled I changed into my penguin PJs and Frozen sweatshirt.
  
• Remember how I told you he pooped in the potty twice while he was at school?  Well he did not gift us the same opportunity at home.  He decided the living room was the perfect place this time.  

Here is the moral of the story.  I have done some thinking.  I think judging from my posts about teaching, one might imagine I am one of those teachers that starts every day smiling and welcoming her students in with hugs, the one that stands at the front of the class and without a word draws all focused eyes and quiet mouths, the one who has her lessons neatly written in a lesson plan book, the one that has everything in organized little folders, the one that loves every minute of her job.  Sometimes I am some of those things...scratch that, I am only occasionally some of those things.  But I love my students, so there's that.

I think  judging from my posts about parenting, you may think I am mother of the year, that I read books to my boys all day long, that my house is clean and Shea's knows where each of his toys are to go at the end of the day, that they are both in bed by 8:30 and sleep through the night.  None of those things are true.  But I love those boys like crazy.

I think judging by my posts about sewing and crocheting, you may think,  "how does she have time for that?"  You may think I don't sleep, that I have a cozy little craft room with cute little cabinets to show off all of my quilts and fabric and yarn.  The truth is I don't have a craft room so all of my half-finished or only-dreamed-up-but-not-started projects are kind of taking over the house.  I have only made 2 blankets for our family.  I am too busy making fun things for other people.  I have the kitchen table half covered with my quilt-in-progress.  But I feel that what my yarn and fabric turn into are kind of worth the clutter.  They make me happy and make other people happy, too.

So here is the real truth.  Yes, recently I have been very busy.  I have made quite a few mermaid tails.  I have crocheted some hats and blankets.  My sewing machine has been busy making quilts.  And I have blogged on a semi-regular basis (but it doesn't take long because I don't take time to edit it, what you see is what you get).

I have done a lot.  But I have certainly not done it all.

PS-This post was inspired by a post I read by Olivia Muenter called What I Instagramed Vs. What Was Really Happening, or my Entire Life Is a Lie...worth reading for sure.

Where I Work Wednesday

I work here...

I work here...

And I work here...

Some work I love more than others. I am not going to lie.

My official job title is high school teacher. I teach reading and writing to kids who are fans of neither. At the moment we are working on reading Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen.  We are trying to make personal connections to the events and characters in the story. I am trying to help them understand that they can put themselves in the story to better enjoy and further analyze it.

We are working on evoking emotion through our writing as we reflect on the ten-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Many of my students knew little to nothing about this tragic natural disaster. The images from the documentary I showed them were all they knew of it. They were not there. Most of them were 4 or 5 when it hit. They didn't watch the live coverage that I saw when I was about their age. The live coverage I played for them was broadcasted 10 years ago in the living room of my home and the homes of millions of other dumbfounded viewers around the world. But I want them to put themselves in the shoes of the people who lived it, see it through their eyes, and tell the story they had never before been told.

My unofficial "side job" is creating things at my kitchen table. The photo you saw of my kitchen table was taken the week we moved into our house, before two kids and the madness that comes with living in a home and not having much time to keep it looking like a magazine. This is what it looks like now.

I have some perfect craftroom-worthy space in my basement. But I would rather work at my kitchen table right in the middle of the action that is life at the Strauss house. That way, when I am working, I can still be spending time with my hubby and our two little boys.

And my favorite job titles are MOM and WIFE. I am not a housewife, though I wish I could say I was. My house isn't spotless, or even close for that matter. I swept the floor two days ago, which is not done often enough. But with a terrier mix and a pit bull the dog, hair accumulates quite quickly. It tends to cling to Shea's books and the pillows on the couch. However, ridding the house of this hair is lower on the priority list than it should be. Shea normally goes to bed with his toys strewn across the living room. 

He has been taught how to clean up after himself but as soon as he wears himself out from playing, we haul him off to bed before he gets slap happy and finds his second wind. Our house may be filled with clutter and dusty shelves and hairy hardwood, but it is also filled with

LOVE and FUN. And I'd take that over picture perfect any day. Hats off to all of you moms that have both...the happy home and perfect house. Maybe I will get there someday. But for now I will just be content in the somewhat messy life I am blessed to live in.

To-Do-List Tuesday: more in-memory quilts

Hi friends, remember those baby in-memory quilts I made out of Lindsey's Grandma's old PJs?

Well, now I am working on something that I think is even more special. Her grandmother started on a quilt she never finished. And Lindsey and her mom asked if I could finish it. I am so honored! I am hand-quilting it. And I am liking how it is turning out. This is this week's work in progress. 

Finished Product Friday

Life has been crazy lately.  Being a stay-at-home mom is hard work. This 2-year-old is wearing this 34-week-pregnant-mom out.

He is nonstop energy, sweetness, entertainment development, and discovery. This makes me feel blessed to have this extra time one-on-one with my sweet little man to be a part of all of it. It amazes me how quickly he learns about the world that is so new to him. It is crazy to watch him go from the kid saying a word or two and us racking our brains to figure out what he is trying to tell us, to a kid communicating in sentences..."I watch Mickey TV please, Mommy?" "Mommy pitch gloves?" "I have more pop tarts, please?" "I sorry for hit, Mommy." "I love you SOOO MUCH!" 

But he is also a little frustration, confusion, crabbiness, whiny, noisy, aggressive, and rebellious. The whole terrible twos is not a myth. I wouldn't call him terrible by any means but his newfound independence has made him a little sassy. He thinks rules don't apply. He thinks anything and everything is his for the taking and messing and throwing. He thinks he can always have what he wants when he wants it. And when he doesn't get it, he thinks it is perfectly acceptable to hit or bite or cry to tell you just how much he wants it. And that makes me so tired, and frustrated and impatient at times. Sometimes I lose my temper. Sometimes I don't use MY inside voice. Sometimes I temporarily forget that he is still a new human just learning how to be a person, just as much as I am a newish mother learning how to be a parent. But I have also seen God building up in me more patience and calm than I had before. I am learning that I can't do it alone. I am seeing more of God's grace in the moments where I mess up and Shea turns out okay anyways. The times when I have to tell my little boy sorry for how I reacted and he hugs me and says he loves me remind me of my Father's love and forgiveness.

 There is no still or chill in this little one. But because he is more or less an energy drink in a 27-pound package, he is FINALLY taking decent naps. 

And what a blessing that 1-2 hours a day has been. Not only do I get to fight him for 15 minutes to stay in bed, but I get to spend the next 10 minutes or so singing and cuddling my little person and holding his hand until he finally gives up fighting. Then I get to do the other things I love, like crocheting and sewing. And thanks to that quiet time, here is what I have finished this week. Before this week I have been busy making memory blankets like these twin onesie quilts.

But this week I have been doing IN-MEMORY projects. A dear friend from high school sent me this message a little while back.

"Hey Meredith,

Hope you are doing well, I see you're expecting your second little boy is well. 😊 I have a couple of sort of special baby quilts I would like to have made I was wondering if you were possibly interested in doing them for me...I am expecting another boy in July, and my brother Alex is expecting his first at the end of August. We were both very close to my grandmother who passed away in 2008, and for as long as anyone can remember she was always wearing the silk pajamas. Not real silk of course just some kind of fake polyester. I have a pair of those and I would like to have a baby quilt made for both of our children that incorporated those pajamas into patches. nothing large just small baby quilts." 

So here is what she got. This is quilt #1.

Working on number 2 during today's nap if all goes as planned...which it often doesn't.

This is the second In-Memory project I finished this week...another mermaid wrap blanket.

This one was extra special, and here is why. This is the text I received with her custom order.

"Oh my gosh I have been looking for someone to make these for me for a year now! My best friend and I both shared a love for mermaids and she passed away last summer, our favorite colors were pink and purple and she loved lime green, could I possibly get one with those colors?"

I love how it turned out and so did she. 

I hope it brings her comfort. 

I would love to do more projects like these (or any projects for that matter), so message me here or on Facebook if you are interested. 

To-Do List Tuesday

I plan on getting back into the studio in the very near future and would like some company.  I need your feedback on which classes sound most appealing to you, as well as dates and times that work for you.  I would love to never have a studio event where the voice inside my head is my only company.  Let's fill up those seats.
The next few weekends are off-limits.  My personal to-do list is pretty long until after school gets out...
This weekend-Monika's wedding weekend
Next Wednesday-Shea's Birthday

Next Thursday-My mom comes into town!

Next Friday-Baby doctor and Shea's 2-year well-check!  Crazy how much he has changed since his 1-year check up

Next Saturday-Shea's Birthday Party
Next Sunday-Chill with the family
Saturday the 16th-Sequoyah High School Graduation-SHOUTOUT TO ALL OF MY SENIORS!  Congratulations!  I am so proud of how far you have come since you were just my little freshmen babies 4 years ago! 
AND
My little brother Nathan's graduation from high school.  I cannot believe you are already a senior.  I look forward to all that your next big life adventure brings. 

So my next possible available day for a studio event would be Sunday, May 17th.  Would anyone be interested in any of the following classes on May 17th?  Seriously, let me know if you are free to hang out and make fun things with me.  Here are your options for classes...

1.  T-shirt scrap rag rugs- $10...rag base and t-shirt scraps provided but you are welcome to bring your own shirts too.

2. Custom Planners from books...I have done this class before but would like to try it again.  I made one out of the children's book Peter Pan and have used it all school year.  The class will be $10.  Cost includes needed supplies and binding rings.  Bring your own book or purchase one for just a little extra from my collection.

3. Sewing Party-$5 for studio usage.  I plan on this just being a hang out for my sewing friends and wannabe sewing friends.  I am new to the sewing world...self-taught.  This is something I am proud of but also would love to learn from my veteran stitching friends.  Bring your machines or needles or come empty-handed and we can share materials and knowledge.  We could even do a fabric swap and exchange scraps.  I think this would be super fun and I would love to pick your brains.  Cindy Varner, Katie Turner, Kim Ingle, and Ms. Mary...you all come to mind.  So be there or be square!  :)

I really want to hear what you guys think about these studio event ideas.  Throw out some ideas of your own if you have any.  What is on your Tuesday To-Do list?