It's (Almost) the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Fall is almost here!  If you read this post's title and thought about Christmas, you are wrong, my friend!  I think autumn is the most wonderful time of the year, and for so many reasons. Yeah, there are pumpkins and gourds (gourds!!!), colorful leaves and crisp days, but I also get my husband back after a long, hot (and very pregnant) summer.

In fall we get to celebrate many family birthdays, including Nathan's (can you believe he'll be three?), our anniversary (this Saturday, yay!) -- and this year, we're welcoming our second son into the world.  A wonderful time, indeed.

I've updated the seasonal look of my blog to reflect my excitement for the season. Now that I'm officially on maternity leave from my freelance writing career, I hope to be in this space a bit more during the next few weeks while we wait for baby to arrive.

I have a few more pieces of the baby's nursery to show off before I do the final reveal (for now you can read about my lamp makeover, a Scandinavian birds embroidery piece and my fabric pennant banner + tutorial), a tutorial for homemade carseat strap covers to share and an original knitting pattern for newborn socks that actually fit that I'll let loose very soon.

And since I have a ton of blocking to do, I'd like to share all the baby knitting I've been up to and do a stash-busting update (remember The Challenge?) and link-up soon.  Get ready to join in and share what you've been knitting from your stash!

Looking forward to next time,
your friend,
Kelly

I made this maternity dress over the summer and haven't yet shared it.  I wish I had a better photo!

 

Summer Fun

In between the heat waves I'm doing my best to enjoy summer. It's been unbearably hot for the 'normal' person, so toss in the fact that I'm 30 weeks pregnant, and well... it's been hot.

Luckily, Nathan's been pretty understanding about the whole thing (as much as a two-and-a-half-year old can be), and we have a young whipper snapper of a babysitter who doesn't think twice about taking him out in that sauna on my work days.

On those few average-temperatured days we:

...enjoyed watermelon.

...kept an eye on a the first ripening tomato -- I picked it yesterday, well after this photo was taken.

...ran around the yard to get a little someone's energy out before dinner.

...stopped to pick a weed...

...and watched some butterflies.

As much as I don't want it to be, this summer feels like it's a bust and I'm already thinking about what next summer will be like when we have two littles and our standard three-member family has already been four for a while. 

A Sewing Lesson to Remember

Today I had my first sewing lesson ever.  My mom taught me how to sew on the same sewing machine that her mom used to teach her how to sew.  On the surface it may have seemed like an ordinary sewing lesson, but I was really moved by the generational thing.  I'm so impressed by my late grandmother's sewing skills, and I'm so happy my mom had an interest in learning to sew when she was young.  And I was just plain tickled that my mom could teach me, and on this machine:

My grandmother bought this sewing machine 60 years ago for $500.  I did some quick research and a little math to determined that $500 in 1950's money is nearly $5,000 in 2012.  Wow.

The machine is almost completely manually operated compared to today's standards.  No automatic threader, no drop and sew bobbin, manual adjustments for tension and stitch length and width and -- get this -- discs you switch out to change stitch types.  Instead of a foot pedal, you press your knee against a pedal that comes down from the desk it's mounted on.

I almost laughed at the manual -- it says it's automatic.  I asked my mom what about it is automatic and her smiling answer was classic Mom: It uses electricity.  I laughed at myself.

It came with the desk it's mounted on.  I looked in the drawers to see all of my grandmother's tools and notions.  I sewed with my grandmother's pins, which my mom kept in their original yellowed plastic container.  And I felt this strong connection to my grandmother, who I was so fond of.  She passed when I was just 16.  I knew when she passed that we hadn't spent enough time together and wished we could have had more of it.  She was a really awesome lady.

I'm grateful for this simple sewing lesson for so many reasons.  I hope someday that I have a daughter I can one day pass my sewing skills down to, knowing that they started in earnest with my grandmother.  If we do end up lucky enough to have a daughter, her middle name will be after my grandmother, Kathryn.

The Great Outdoors ~ Just Being

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~ A weekly series chonicling something that took place outdoors this week.  If you recently took photos outdoors that you love, join in and post a link in the comments! ~

Nathan and I rediscovered a grassy, secluded clearing on the farm where we can just be.  A special place that's just for us, where we can play and pretend and roll around in the grass.  Maybe it's selfish of me to not have told the babysitter about our special place and where it is... but she has the swing, the tricycle, throwing rocks in the lake...c'mon.  She has my son during his best time of day, while I'm working, so maybe that's enough.  Maybe my husband can join us in our special place for a picnic lunch this fall...but for now, it's just for me and Nathan.

There's a little hill for running up and down.

Mostly down.

It's a great place to listen for occassional airplanes as they fly overhead...

And then locate them.

Oh, look, a digger!!!

Back up the hill.

It's the perfect place to go hunting for pinecones and seed pods, especially if you plan to wear them as hats.

The nearby pine grove and stand of black locust trees is where our family picnics will take place... soon!  Can't wait for Labor Day to be behind us so my husband can spend more time with his little family, and in our special little place.  Where we can just be.

For other posts in the Great Outdoors series: The Great Outdoors

Summer’s Home Stretch, Looking to Fall

I love summer just as much as any other outdoors-loving gardener, so I’m just going to come out and say it.  I’m glad summer’s almost over.  And I only feel a small twinge of guilt for saying so.  My garden’s still producing lots of red tomatoes and the zucchini are still doing well…but the demands on a caretaker’s wife in summer are wearing on me, and I’m afraid I’m burning out.  I feel this way every year starting in mid August, but this is the worst case I’ve had yet.  Maybe it’s because Nathan’s crazy toddlerhood is wearing me out and I could use a little help.  Maybe it’s because I’m tired of doing everything myself, by myself, and feeling like a single parent most of the time.

Or maybe it’s because I’m tired of having no family life and interrupted family dinners, or nonexistent ones.  Or maybe I’m sick of seeing my husband dote on someone else’s family while ours feels neglected on the back burner, without a support system nearby. 

It’s hard to describe this feeling—it’s more than just burnout from physical tasks.  There’s an emotional component that can leave me feeling depressed, overwhelmed, lonely, mentally exhausted and almost physically sick—and sometimes wishing for a different kind of life.  One where I don’t have to share my husband with anyone outside of our family.

The straw fields are my favorite view in early summer; by late August they signal that fall is near.  Thank God!

Goodbye, Summer, I am counting down the days.  For, after Labor Day, I’ll get my husband back, and Nathan will have his father back, and we can feel whole again.  And maybe I’ll get to rest a bit.  I’m hoping we can take a mini-vacation to the beach; we haven’t been away together in three years, and Nathan’s never had a family vacation.

Summer is just a few months out of the year; I don’t know how military families do it for years at a time while husbands (and wives!) fight abroad.  Maybe the noble cause does something to offset the strain on the family.  Or maybe the built-in support system and benefits help to make a difference.  It’s quite possible that military wives (and husbands) are stronger—and less whiny—than I am.

I’m looking forward to the extra quality family time outdoors this fall and establishing a new and better rhythm.  Cool, crisp air and low humidity.  The brilliantly colored leaves—and the earthy smell of brown ones.  Collecting acorns, seed pods and whatever else we find that strikes us.

The last two weeks are always the hardest to get through.  But knowing we’re in the home stretch certainly helps.  The farm will be beautiful this fall.  Even if the fields, well, aren't.

Homesteading on a Farm of Our Own…Someday

A few weeks ago when my car was in the shop, I got a ride in the car dealership’s shuttle to go pick up a loaner car (it was a long eight days without my car!).  It was nice to finally be a passenger for once and to enjoy the rural scenery on our quiet ride.  The driver took me down some country roads I’d never driven before, and I saw some amazing farmhouses that literally took my breath away.  I picked up my jaw from my lap and processed what I’d seen:

Freshly painted late 1800s/early 1990s farmhouses boasted beautiful covered front porches with bright red wooden benches. White picket fences cordoned off the yards from the rest of the farmland around them, and I imagined the beautiful flowers I’d grow in the yard and the rows and rows of crops I’d plant if the home were mine.

And then it hit me.  We’d been so busy living our lives on someone else’s farm, that I almost forgot about our dream of homesteading on a farm of our own—rather, I forgot that my husband is actually into it.  Right now, because of his job as a caretaker, he doesn’t have the time or energy in the summer to help me garden and preserve the food we grow—and we don’t have the room and the storage space to homestead the way we want to here.  I’ve been doing the best I can by myself all along, but it’s just not enough.  We’re not really homesteading the way I want to be.

Before we had Nathan, I tended a 1,000+ square foot vegetable garden and a smaller herb garden on my own and I desperately wanted chickens.  The chickens were out—we’d have to ask permission and it’s just better not to—and I can’t manage a garden that big by myself now with a little one in tow.

I wouldn't mind a view like this from an attic window someday.  This is a photo of a painting hanging my craft room/studio.

I’m so glad for that car ride down an unfamiliar country road.  It reinvigorated me and reawakened my homesteading spirit.  I want it so badly!  And I'm glad to remember that my husband wants it someday, too.  There must be ways for me to homestead more here, on someone else’s amazing old farm, in a home we’re glad to live in but don’t own.  I will find a way.

In the Moment

Last week a friend and I were talking about our desire to live in the moment and what a real challenge that can be. We're both planners and doers, crafters and homemakers, thinkers and moms to toddlers -- and we both work part-time, too. We agreed that we spend too much time and energy thinking about what's next and not enough living in the present moment.

And for me, all the knitting, crafting and blogging isn't helping any.

I wasn't going to write a post tonight, but I realized today how badly I am doing in this department and I needed to get it out. From now on I must make more of a conscious effort to get out of my head and into my life with my family.

I took these photos on my cell phone while Nathan and I were on our afternoon walk. The weather was gloomy but the air was crackling with carefree fun as we put rocks, leaves and acorns in the wagon for a spin. Time to smell the acorns. Er, roses.

Gifts to a SAH, WFH Mom

I’m a stay-at-home, work-from-home mom in a rural community.  And as you might be able to imagine (or maybe you’re going through it, too!), I can sometimes feel pretty isolated.  Days on end go by where I don’t [get to] leave the house (or the farm, which feels like the same thing).  Sometimes there’s nowhere to go, or it takes too long to get there in between naptime and dinnertime.  I don't even have neighbors to chat with. 

I get out when I can and go shopping or meet up with a friend, but it’s not as often as I’d like.  Nothing (and no one) is nearby, so everything requires advance planning and extra time for driving.  This is one of my excuses for a gift I just got myself—I call it the gift of connectivity.  Really, that’s just a fancy way of saying I finally broke down and bought myself the new iPhone.

And can I tell you something?  I LOVE THIS FRIGGIN’ THING!  Until now, I’d always scraped by with old, lame, useless phones (meaning, all they did was make calls—hah!).  It’s sleek and shiny and the screen looks amazing.  I can  go on and on about all the features it has that I don’t use… but I’ll spare you.  At first it was a little scary (read: addicting) to be able to so easily check e-mail and Facebook way more often than is necessary, but the newness has worn off a bit and I can really see the value in this phone-that-does-just-about-everything.  I really like having connectivity at my fingertips.  It may sound silly, but it feels good to be able to see what my friends are up to and check on things—including my work e-mail—without getting completely sucked in.

My other excuse for the new phone is to stay in better touch with you, my readers and friends, through my blog’s Facebook page and Twitter page.  Please go check them out and join in on the two-way conversations!

 

The other gifts to myself involve much-needed exercise.  For the past two or three weeks I’ve been waking up in the morning before Nathan to do yoga for at least a half hour.  Yoga leaves me feeling energized and invigorated, and I can already feel myself getting stronger.  Muscle memory is incredible—restarting a serious yoga practice after a nearly two-year hiatus has been easier than I expected it to be.

My favorite, most vigorous yoga DVD so far is Power Yoga - Total Body Workout with Rodney Yee. Some easier workouts that I do in between the harder ones are A.M. Yoga for Your Week (five workouts each with a different focus!) and Power Yoga for Stamina.  I know yoga well enough that I don’t need to follow DVDs or sequences in a book, but my mind often wonders, so direction from Rodney Yee really helps me concentrate and get the most from my practice.  If anyone wants more good DVD or book recommendations, hit me up on my Facebook page or leave a comment here.

I’ve also been going for walks after Nathan’s in bed at night—the epitome of “freedom.”  (You can tell I don’t get out much, and when I do, I’m never alone, thanks to my husband’s job.)  A few weeks ago I took these awesome sunset photos and really felt the weight of my responsibilities lift, just a little, and for just a few minutes.  These walks are the only time I’m truly alone.  It’s relaxing to plug into my iPod (now, iPhone!) and go wherever I want on the farm without a stroller to push or hold me back.

The efforts and time spent have been paying off—I’ve already lost 2.5 pounds!

A mom deserves some gifts to herself every now and then.  I hope you moms out there find the chance to do the same.  I think I'm going to find other ways to "give" to myself, similarly to how I give my all to my family every day.