Happy Birthday to my Blog – A Self-Referential Post

A year ago this week I launched this blog with this nervous sounding post.   I offer my apologies to anyone who has waited for the promised sewing posts, they were few and far between.  And also I apologize to the many who arrived at this site searching for instructions for sewing a lettuce edge, my stats say there were lots of you.  I have sewn some lettuce edging, but my method seems to break machine needles and I am sure you will have better luck looking elsewhere like here!

I had been thinking about starting this blog for a while but I had a whole list of concerns. Do I have time for it? Would it detract from other writing projects? Would it be annoying and naval gazing? Would I find myself in a silly endless self referential loop blogging about my blog (like right now)? Do I really have to choose one topic when there are  so many things to write about? People are so busy, why would anyone ever read it?

I finally decided to give it a try and so far blogging has exceeded all my expectations.  While I don’t have a huge number of readers, those of you who do read this blog have been so supportive, and I will take quality over quantity any day.  It has helped me think through some of my decisions and feel less isolated as a stay at home mom.

I was happy to host a couple of guest writers,landscape designer Cheryl Corson and a jewelry maker Emily Rosenfeld. And I have been posting sort of regularly at a Jewish Parenting blog Kveller.com. I would love to collaborate more with other bloggers, and welcome ideas and guest writers.

Blogging here has helped me write more often, which in turn seems to spur more writing ideas.  I have somehow found time for the blog, during naps or while children dug around in the sandbox.  I have published a few articles here and there and I am gearing up for more magazine type writing and other creative writing.  Rather than distracting from other writing, it seems writing begets writing, so it is win-win on that front.

I am sincerely looking forward to year 2.  I am truly grateful to each of you who read this blog, I wish I could hand you each a cupcake, or a lettuce salad, depending on your preference!  I hope you stick around to see what happens here next!

And thanks to WordPress, for making it all so easy.

Chasing off Bad Dreams

My four year old had his first nightmare this week, or at least the first one he remembered and could articulate.  It came directly from a children’s book that I had been meaning to toss. One of those books where something seems scary and then they realize everything is fine (it’s only a hedgehog, not a monster), but in the meantime they throw in spooky illustrations.  It pays to pre-read all hand-me -down children’s books, but this one wound up in circulation even though I had glanced at it and knew better.

So, I googled for a solution and found lots of of great suggestions.  We wound up employing a three part solution.

1) First, we talked about it.  He told me about the dream slowly throughout the day and it wasn’t until my husband came home that we realized it it came straight from the book.  That was actually a relief to me, that he isn’t inventing his own scary things yet.  I think it helped to clarify that while dreams seem real and can be scary, they are not actually happening and cannot hurt you physically.   That seemed to reassure him a little bit, but not much.

2) Second, we made a home spun dream catcher.  We broke into my sewing supplies and quickly whipped up this dream catcher complete with lots of rickrack from a yard sale and a piece of my great grandmother’s thread for luck.   We also used an embroidery hoop, because get real, when am I going to take up embroidery?

This was a very age appropriate project for my son at four, he was able to do all of the material selection and most of the wrapping and twisting.  It turned out to be a pretty fun looking mobile that will hopefully keep bad dreams at bay for a while too.  He loves it and it was very much his project.  He even made the number 4 for his age a few times, you can see one in red rickrack above.

not that my son can read yet, but the label reads: magic sweet dream spray (banishes monsters too)

The second part of the solution was quick and easy and maybe even his favorite part.  We re-purposed an old spray bottle (California Baby Diaper Spray) into our own Magic Sweet Dream Spray.    This was not an original idea, it was part of what my google search turned up.   Since he already loves spray bottles, this one was a huge hit.  We filled the bottle with water and some vanilla extract and I let him spray away on his bed, his sister’s bed, and even the dream catcher.

When he asks me if these solutions will work, I answer that I think they will work but I am careful not to promise. I am sure we will see more bad dreams in the coming years, but so far this one did not return and the sweet dream spray seems to be working in as a regular part of the bedtime routine.   Even with a drop of vanilla, the spray smells great and since he is in charge of the spray bottle it is a huge hit.  Something tells me we will be refilling it often.

As an aside, I think this was a moment where blogging helped me be a better mother.  While we would have attempted to do this either way, the thought of writing about it helped ensure we did not get distracted halfway through and inspired the picture taking in hopes that it could be helpful to other parents.  Having an audience, even one that is largely imagined, can make us better people and parents.  So thanks for reading and being that audience, it helps!

A Little Shoe Repair with Antique Thread

Those of you imaginary readers who have followed my blog closely from the very start might have noticed that I originally thought I would write a fair amount about sewing.  Sewing was even in my tagline.  When I started this blog, I was in the midst of a sewing obsession that swept through like a passing storm, fast and intense and leaving lots of unused fabric in its wake.  I do still hope to get back to it sometime.

shoe in mid repair

So tonight I was happy to pull out one of my sewing boxes for my first ever attempt at shoe making.  A piece of leather was hanging off one of my favorite shoes.   I pushed these Dansko’s to the limit all summer and then wore them in some wet muddy conditions this fall.  Finally, one of the straps came unthreaded and was hanging off the shoe. Very dangerous, especially since I am often carrying my toddler.

I was so happy to  use some of my great grandmother’s super strong

Aunt Lydia's thread

“Aunt Lydia’s”  brand button and carpet thread.  I was lucky enough to inherit a small stash of thread from her early century New York dry goods store.  I want to  write more about her spools of thread sometime.  She was known for her excellent repairs and family legend says she would fix all the buttons and tears on the local policeman’s uniforms and in turn they kept an eye on her store.   I love looking at the old spools of thread that connect me to her store and the past.

It was actually easier than I expected, since I used the existing holes and a pair of pliers to pull the needle through.  My children were riveted watching and I am quite sure my son will brag about his mother the shoemaker in pre-school tomorrow.    I always feel so good repairing something instead of throwing it away or pushing it to the corner of the closet to gather dust.  The shoes will be a little more special now that they have an imperfect but workable repair — and a bit of thread from my great grandmother’s store.  Lets see how long it lasts!

As good as new -- even a little bit better