Catching Up--The Holidays

Catching up…

I don't even know if I can call it that. I haven't blogged in FOREVER, and I love to blog. But my goodness! Time just runs out!

Not that I'm complaining. It's just that it's hard to even think about blogging when I have so much sewing to do. I have made so many zebra outfits that PETA may come check us out. Snowmen on t shirts, monograms on everything you can imagine, dresses and pants—my goodness at the pants—and a most adorablegorgeousoutofthisworldamazing minky dot romper for Grace to wear in the Christmas program.

Carsyn has not yet moved into the world of compatibility where sewing is concerned. Thank goodness for LOTS of help from others. Without Mama, Gabby, and Karissa, a lot of children would be naked at Christmas...or at least not as cute.

Anyway. On to the holidays. Wednesday night before Thanksgiving is our eat here and decorate our tree night. All the kids were here to help. Supper was wonderful, the kids were sweet and soooooo helpful. We have almost as many ornaments left as when we started the night J

Presents, however, are missing…still. Seriously. No presents wrapped yet. And that's a LOT of wrapping waiting for me. Oh well. Maybe tonight.

After the decoration success, we had Thanksgiving lunch with Robbie's parents on Thursday. And then, Thursday night, we went Black Friday shopping!!!!! No, it was not Black Friday yet. Let me just say that watching people like Lauren try to hold her eyes open was pretty hilarious. Vicki definitely won the prize for the most energy of the night. We had a blast and were happy Karissa and Kelly could go. Liz, Lauren's sister-in-law, went with us this year and we had such fun! Sunday Thanksgiving lunch at Mama and Daddy's was wonderful as always. And then, with almost no warning, it was DECEMBER!!

The big Christmas push was on—finish shopping (Every year I say I'm going to be DONE before December. I never am.) The problem this year has been finding time to go. What's that you say? You've heard that before? That's because it's TRUE!! I may not be making the trip to school every day, but I promise I'm busier than I have ever been in my life! I have one more trip to make. You know the one: everything's is counted and the numbers are not right; a bit more tape would be good; and what if I see something I just really like—for anyone J

Merry Christmas!

Chivalry Is NOT Dead...

Chivalry is a term that dates back to the Knights of the Round Table and King Arthur's time. It's the concept of doing what is right, helping those in need, being kind, being thoughtful, and, if needed, rescuing beautiful (or not) damsels from fire-breathing dragons :)  For as long as I have taught, my students in Arthurian Romance or English 9 have been assigned a paper on the topic of chivalry and whether it still exists.

Of course, I KNOW it does. I live with one of the few remaining knights :)

He is a gentleman through and through, and so are my boys.

But sometimes it's nice to see another example--one completely out of the family or my comfort zone (because we all see the best in our own people, right?)

This past week I had the pleasure of participating in the Holiday Bazaar hosted by Andalusia Manor in Andalusia, Alabama. Thanks SalLee Sasser Williams and Tamala Hutcheson for thinking of inviting me! It was my first experience at something like this, and I learned a lot. Mama went with me and the company was so welcome. She helped customers and was my biggest fan :) Many of the customers who came through were employees of the facility, and others who visited brought their family members who reside there to shop or look around. Some people from the general public came in, and everyone was sooooo nice. But then there was one who just stood out...

I was standing behind the table and noticed someone coming in the door. At first, I had to look twice because, as Grace would say, the boy coming in looked just like "Mac Attack." (I think she may have a life-long crush on my former student--probably because he always should such chivalry to her.)

This young man wasn't alone. He was an employee of Andalusia Manor and was pushing one on the residents in a wheel chair. She was much, much older than he and I did not get the impression that they were family at all. I watched him the entire time he was in the room, and I so wished I could show my students this real-life example of chivalry.

He was so kind, so gentle, and so patient. He took his charge to every table. There were tables of jewelry, makeup, children's clothes (me!!), monogrammed bags, cookware, toys, Thirty-one items, Christmas wreaths, and Holiday decorations for sale. It was obvious that few, if any, of these things would be of great interest, but no one would have known that by watching him.

Mr. Knight-in-Shining-Armor stopped at each table and explained what was being sold. He even held up jewelry to her neck and ears and told her how good it would look on her. They stopped at our rack and he talked about embroidery and how everything was personalized. He took her to the makeup table and talked about lipstick and perfume. At the table selling decorations he talked about stockings and wreaths and Christmas. He was never in a hurry and wasn't the least embarrassed to be doing his job--his calling. 

I wish I had gotten his name so that I could mention it on here, but I didn't :( 
He certainly deserves to be complimented.

Andalusia Manor is blessed to have such wonderful people working with their residents, and the residents are certainly blessed to have such kind, caring individuals as this young man. I can only hope we have raised our boys to be as kind!

Thankfully Speaking...

There is a challenge going around on Facebook right now to post what you are thankful for every day in an effort to celebrate more of a thankful month than a thankful day (Thanksgiving). I think that is awesome. I wish I had time to do it. Or the brain to remember every day. But I get so bogged down in the "stuff" of life and sometimes don't even LOOK at Facebook except for ZiZi's page or to read messages someone has sent.

Carsyn is sleeping this morning and my day hasn't officially gotten started yet (even though I've been up since 4:30 A.M. and posted assignments, answered emails, finished  some projects, and washed a load of clothes). What a perfect time to reflect on what I'm thankful for.

• I'm thankful for my relationship with God and my church family. I don't know how people handle the hard things in life without God and church, and I'm glad I've never had to figure that out.
• I'm thankful for the amazing parents God chose to place me with. They are there for us all the time, always ready to do whatever we need and asking so little from us. My goal this year is to try to be more available to help them.
• I'm thankful for my siblings. David and Pam are the best brother and sister a kid could have. And their spouses are precious to me as my new brother and sister (I don't like the term "in-law"). Their children are like my children, and their needs are important to me. I don't understand people who can distance themselves from their families. So sad.
• I'm thankful for the wonderful husband gave made just for me. He takes such good care of me and our family. Ours is such an incredibly content relationship, and for that I am so blessed.
• I'm thankful for my second set of parents, Robbie's parents. They are so loving and supportive of all we do.
• I'm thankful for my three gorgeous children. God blessed me so much by allowing me to be the mama to Josh, Lauren, and Robert. Every moment I have or had with them is precious and cannot be replaced.
• I'm thankful for my new children--those that Josh, Lauren, and Robert married and brought into our family. They chose well and the joining of our families has been basically seamless. My newbies are as much a part of my thinking when I talk about my children as Josh, Lauren, and Robert are.
• I'm thankful for the little people that our couple kids have blessed us with. Gracie, our first, is the most verbal and LOVES to talk! Dylan, just 6 months and a day younger, is such a little man and helps take care of everybody when he comes to see us. Daniel has the most precious little lisp and his truly his daddy's mini me. Kaylee is quite the little boss around her brothers, but, my goodness, she has to be! Carsyn, the youngest, is sooo funny doing her arabesques and slinging her arms around for "Deep and Wide."
• I'm thankful for a school that says, "We understand you need to be at home right now. And we understand you still need to teach. So, yes, you can do the online classes."
• I'm thankful for a business that is growing stronger and stronger. My mission is to make cute clothing at affordable costs. My customers seem to appreciate that!
• I'm thankful to my daughter for including me in her gymnastics studio. I have such fun teaching those kids, and I look forward to their classes every week and their meets on the weekend.
• I'm thankful for my health. Sometimes I get headaches, and I have more aches than I used to, but that's just a part of getting older, don't you think?  I mean, what 29-year-old doesn't get a little stiff now and then?  :)
• I'm thankful for my friends. I have read that if one has 2 people he can call good friends he is truly blessed -- and that's what I can call myself: truly blessed.
• I'm thankful for those little things that make life easier-- computers, cell phones, Nick Jr., air conditioning, automatic transmissions, washers and dryers, microwaves, refrigerators-- but none of these things would make up for not having those items listed before.

So, what are YOU thankful for?

Pumpkins and Posers

I am a creator. I sew. I paint. I cut vinyl with my super-cool cricut and make cool snazzy things. I turn non-writers into authors (at least of essays).

Rarely do I have the misfortune of being bested by one of my creations. Maybe bested is not the right word. Attacked? Ambushed? Smothered and suffocated? I don't know. Anyway, here goes:

First, the pumpkins.

In the sewn category, there have been 2354 pumpkin shirts and outfits leave the Den of Stitches. That may be slightly exaggerated. But I'm sure at least fifty are ready to wear by little girls all over this area. Such a cute outfit too. You see why everybody would want one :)

Let me just say it has been a valiant effort to fulfill all these orders. I have bought every piece of orange and white fabric from Orange Beach to Birmingham. Who knew orange was a SPRING fabric and no more could be ordered!! Am I the only one who associates orange with fall???? Oh, well.  I am now to the point that I can offer to do shirts only...there just isn't enough fabric for pants. But that's good, right? That's what Robbie always asks me.

And then the tutus. Lord, at the tutus! I had to get Vicki and Grace to spend the night and help me! But these tutus were not for children...nope, no ballerinas in this bunch. These were all GROWN women who were dressing up for the run they sponsored. As one of the participants put it, "Nothing says I'm a serious runner quite  like a tutu." What fun! How cute!

Finally (and this is where I was held hostage by one of my own creations)--the poser. My niece Karissa is a budding photographer. She is not only learning to take sonographic (is that even a word?) pictures of a person's insides in school, but she also has her own photography business that is growing...and growing...and growing. But that's good, right?

So anyway, back in the summer she sent me a picture of a photography poser and asked if I could make one for less than the advertised $75. Ummm...yeah. So I searched the stores until I found a remnant of a vinyl/leather-like fabric (to be easily cleaned if wee ones have accidents) and put it aside. Then last weekend I decided to "clean out" some stuff that had been hanging around, stressing me with its not-done-ness.. I know, I know...not a word...

I should have had someone (a photgrapher, maybe?) taking pictures of this whole experience. First I laid the fabric/wild animal (it acted like one) on the floor. I taped a ribbon to a marker so that I could make a perfect circle, and I drew it off. Let me just say I was quite proud of myself. Cutting it out was not problem, and neither was the cutting of the band to separate the top and bottom. Karissa is going to fill this thing up with those little beads that go in bean bags, so it needed some expansion room and a zipper. Next, off to the sewing machine...and the relationship between me and the THING turned ugly.

Most things I sew are docile and yielding. They squish and gather and can be easily compacted. But not the poser. Oh, no. Here I was, at the machine, with the poser fighing me, trying to slip away, and, when that didn't work, attacking me!! I kid you not, the poser tried to kill me!  I was hunkered over the machine , sewing away, fighting to keep the thing under the machine and sew in a circle, when the part I was not sewing curled up and came over my head!

I can just imagine the headline: Female Seamstress Smothered by  a Poser

It would make for interesting reading, don't you think?

Anyway, I got it done--even got a zipper in the band (no small feat, let me tell you). And I sent it on its happy way to the new owner. Loving feedback as I do, I waited to hear from her...and waited...and waited. Fearing that the thing might have tried to take her out too, I sent a message asking if it worked. Her response: "It's still in the truck."

Hope it doesn't try to attack her when she opens the door...

Pioneer Woman of the South...NOT!

I am directionally challenged.

Truly this statement is a huge step...I'm bowing to my flaw. It's a pretty serious one, in fact. I have always been amazed at how other people (men, usually) can just sort of pick a road or a turn, guessing about where it comes out, and they always remember the way back out. Imagine all those pioneers of old just hooking up the horse and wagon and leaving...no maps.Amazing!

That, alas, is not me.

(As a side note, I should mention that this deficit in the gene pool has been passed on to Lauren. We cannot go anywhere without making at least one -usually several more- "U-ies." )

So you can imagine my elation when, not so many years ago, I gained through the internet the ability to print out a map with step-by-step directions to anywhere. WONDERFUL!! But what if there was a detour? Road work? A traffic accident? Heaven forbid.

Then along came gps systems for the car. Hallelujah!! A device that TALKS to the driver, recalculates if a turn is missed or blocked...could life get any better?

Maybe. Just maybe.

Saturday my uncle was taken by helicopter to the hospital in Dothan and I took Mama to be there for the surgery. We are a close-knit family and like to be together in times of trouble. There was no question that we would go. I looked up the address on the internet and printed it out. Then I got Lauren's gps (which she rarely uses until she has already had to make one u-turn) and programmed it. I was double armed. Finally, I consulted with Robbie about the way to go. He said, "Don't you remember when we used to go to Ashford?" Ummm - yeah. From LUVERNE. Through TROY. Oh well. Off we went.

At first, everything was fine. The directions were easy to follow (written and spoken), and Mama had been part of the way before and remembered it. AND THEN...Miss GPS said (in a very sultry voice), "In one-half mile, take the exit left." So I did. And then she said (still sultry), "Please make a U turn." What??? Mama and I just looked at each other! I didn't U turn, but she (Isn't kind of weird to refer to her as if she is a bitty bitty person LIVING inside the screen. Think she gets a kick out of giving people heart attacks?) got me turned around and to the hospital. I felt so accomplished.

After surgery was done and everyone began to leave, I once again depended on another source. Casey knew some of the way because of going down to see Teri. But after a while, she called and said her Verizon gps on her phone was "going stupid." So I turned mine on (I had just hit Take Me Home) and got in front. And drove. And drove. And drove. We saw NOTHING we remembered. Not a single familiar site. At one point, on a road with no turns, the demon from the screen said, "Make a left turn now." Where? Into the pasture? So I stayed straight, and eventually we came out in Elba and Brantley. Keep in mind that we did not even come CLOSE to those towns on the way down.

So I don't know. Maybe I'm not as directionally challenged as I think. Maybe it's a conspiracy between Google Maps and the GPS industry. Maybe I'm just supposed to stay home. Maybe there's a lesson I'm supposed to learn. Something like...hmm...IT'S NOT ABOUT HOW YOU GET THERE, BUT THAT YOU DO--EVENTUALLY.

Love, Loss, and Hope

For ten years, September 11 has been memoralized as a day for heroes. Men and women who rushed in to save people from burning, collapsing buildings -- those who drove planes straight into the ground to save our country -- people who called home for the last time on that fateful day -- these are the people we remember on September 11.

This year, the world lost another hero on September 11. Most people in the world will never hear anything about him, but those who knew him know he made an enormous impact on the lives of those around him.

Four years ago, Kenny learned he had cancer. From the beginning, it was said to be a cancer that was "easily treatable." Wrong! The devil played a mean game, and the doctors at UAB were constantly perplexed at how and where and when the cancer kept coming back. There were times that we all wanted to scream and cry and ask "Why?" But not Kenny. He kept his faith. He encouraged others. He worked to raise money for a relative who had cancer even when he was so low himself. He fought. Hard. And on September 11, 2011, he won.

Some people would say he lost that battle, but they would be wrong. He did not give in. He did not give up. He was not depressed. He did not, as Job's wife encouraged her husband to do, "curse God and die." Kenny's death was not unexpected -- we were not in denial -- but it was unexpectedly quick. Even in that, he won. Quietly, in his sleep, he passed gently from this life to the next. And I'm pretty sure as he stepped over, he looked back at the devil and said, "Thought you had me didn't you?" No, Kenny did not lose his battle. He is victorious, pain free, cancer free, in the prime of his life, without swelling or scans or needles or tubes.

And so now we are faced with finding the new normal. Life will certainly be different for all of us, especially for Pam and his girls. But we will all find strength in the way Kenny lived his life and the lessons we have learned from other losses. Over the past two and a half years, I have heard many well-meaning people try to make me feel better about losing Robert. Most of their little remarks don't really matter, because he is still gone for me. One remark stuck in my mind and has only recently begun to truly make sense. I shared this with Kelly at Kenny's visitation, and I pray that it will become a planted seed that grows and develops deep roots. This is the way I think of Robert: He is in my future now. For the present, he is absent, but he is not gone. Instead, he waits for me, and I certainly wouldn't want him to be disappointed by not showing up!

If you haven't read Heaven Is for Real, I can't tell you how good it is. I have always had faith, always known what happened to the soul of one who loved God, always been assured of eternity in heaven. But I don't deny that I have always wondered just how that would go--how it would happen. Would you just have to find your own way around, hoping to see someone who looked slightly familiar? Would Moses be the same in importance as Pigo? That didn't seem right. And then I read this little book about a four-year-old boy who becomes incredibly sick and later tells of his experience while his body was in the operating room. I say his body because his soul was not there. And so this is what I think happened at 4:43 on September 11, 2011: I believe Kenny's soul stepped into the next life as easily as stepping across a threshold; I believe that the first person he saw was Jesus and that Kenny knew Him immediately; I believe that Robert and Pigo and Granny and Mamaw and Grandaddy Hartin and Granny Hartin and all the others who were already there came to find him; I believe that every pain, weakness, and defect was gone; I believe that true to his personality he is laughing, telling stories, and saying to Jesus "You something else, ain't ya?";I believe that he is waiting--happily waiting-- for those who will come after him; I believe that when we go, he will be one of the ones who meet us at the feet of Jesus and offer to show us around; I believe he is in our future now.

In the last weeks of his life, Kenny and all of us claimed the verse Jeremiah 32:17, proclaiming that "nothing is too hard" for God. We will continue to claim this verse, because the hard part on earth is learning the new normal. It sure does make our loss easier to bear, though, to know that our loved ones are safely with God and with each other.

                                                 Kenny and Carsyn--Beautiful Baldies

                                                                  Kenny and Pam
                                                       Married September 19, 1981

A Birthday Card and a Life Lesson

I think it's a little ironic that Pam and I both celebrated our birthdays while she and Kenny were in Birmingham at the hospital. For that matter, Robbie's birthday was during that time also. Heck, if they had gone a couple of days earlier, Kenny could have had his birthday there too!

Anyway, I stayed with them several times during their five-week stay, and during one of those times Pam gave me my birthday card. Amazingly, I had looked at it in the bookstore and Pam (Sneaky Pete, I should call her) had already seen it and bought it for me! Great minds think alike, I guess!

I cannot tell you how many times I have gone back to that card and read it. There are so many life lessons to be learned from it. Life is truly about handling the things we don't expect. Everybody has youthful dreams of marrying your soulmate and living happily ever after with a house full of kids and a yard full of cars and a pool and bicycles in the driveway. No one plans in those youthful dreams what to do if a child dies or the soulmate gets sick. I guess it really is true that the situation you are in doesn't define you. It's how you handle that situation that says what you are.

Because I love it, I'm including the message from my card. I hope it touches some of you as it has touched me.

As we grow older it's important to remember that life is all about how you handle plan B.

            Plan B
Plan A is always my first choice.
You know, the one where
Everything works out to be
Happily ever after.

But more often than not,
I find myself dealing with
The upside-down,
Inside-out version
Where nothing goes as it should.

It's at this point that the real test
Of my character comes in...
Do I sink or do I swim?
Do I wallow in self-pity
And play victim
Or simply shift gears
And make the best of the situation?
The choice is mine. After all...
LIFE IS ALL ABOUT
HOW YOU HANDLE PLAN B.
                                  Suzy Toronto

Blessed are the flexible...
for they shall not be bent out of shape.

Now, really, isn't that just the neatest lesson? If you haven't already encountered Plan B, you will. Hope this helps!