back to life
Happy New Year!
It’s back to life here in the Shackelford house.
Back to school, work, waking up at 6am (4:30 for Nathan), packing lunches, running 3 miles a day (and maybe it won’t be to run off those extra holiday calories…) regular blog reading, regular blog posting, and regular cleaning of my house! I hope to throw in some regular sewing too.
It seems that this time of year I feel the urge to sew clothing and I am hoping I can get quite a bit done. I think I need to focus on my girls and nothing for me…their body types are much more forgiving to fit. I hope to conquer using my zipper foot and to get really smart with my button holes. I am about to tackle Burda 9673- a cute tunic for Ellie.
It’s nice to start the year with a clean slate. After weeks of making Christmas gifts, I can just play around and go at my own pace. NICE. I do have a short “to do list”…want to see it?
- change my blog header and get rid of my “made for China” side bar
- make Simon a quilt for his birthday on 2/15
- finish my book club book “Eat, Pray, Love” (interesting book, but it just rubs me all wrong)
- create a fun Summer journal for my kids and maybe sell a limited amount
- try to figure out a way we can make our way back to California this summer for a vacation
By the way, if you live somewhere cold and Spring is in the distance- I suggest getting yourself a pot of hyacinths. Their fragrance makes me think that Spring is around the corner…although today it is 62 degrees which is unusually warm for the Chicago area. That’s okay, in a few days it will be 19 again and I will keep on sniffing my hyacinth.
January 7th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Carol: It’s great to see a new blog post from you! I love the new year for making “to do” lists and the fact that the Christmas pressure is gone. Yours sounds very do-able!
January 7th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Your list has inspired me and I will get the sewing machine out again tomorrow. I’ve had a holiday from it as I got myself too stressed with “must do” rather than “want to”!
I bought a basket of hyacinths for the hallway and had to chuck them out the kitchen window in the night (naughty I know but I was grumpy and tired!) as the smell was keeping me awake. I don’t know if it was just the type we had but they were “knock-you-out” strong!
January 7th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
i just changed my banner and cleaned up my sidebar. nice to have something off the list!
a trip to CA? do let me know… (lunch at the getty perhaps?) happy new year! xo
January 7th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Great post–I’m off to find the Burda pattern! I’m glad to hear someone else having mixed feelings about “Eat, Pray, Love”. She writes beautifully, and everyone seems to be reading it. It rubbed me the wrong way too, but I couldn’t put my finger on it–maybe it was all too neatly packaged for a book about personal struggle.
January 7th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
My grandmother and I used to plant a Hyacinth every year and leave it in a black garbage bag in a cold hallway until it was ready to spring to life. I look forward to carrying this tradition on with my daughter. Looking forward to the smells of spring…although it is unseasonable warm here too - so it kind of smells like spring today
January 8th, 2008 at 12:33 am
You run 3 miles a day?! I am so impressed and envious!
January 8th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
fun summer journal? cool idea!!
and 3 miles a day? what the heck. good for you!
and birthday quilt.. sounds like a trip to the
s & s is in order.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Sewing? Oh, I have piles of fabric to sew. The machine is calling but can I answer?
(
You have a nice - to the point - list, nothing extraneous or superfluous - can’t wait to see the new header! I’m currently without one because I gave up
Oh - and I LOVE hyacinths! Have you ever read this quote?? I don’t know if I liked hyacinths first and then found this, or if I found this poem first and then discovered the beauty of hyacinths — no matter.
If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
And of thy meager store
Two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one, and with the dole
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.
- Sheikh Muslih-uddin Saadi Shirazi,
The Gulistan of Saadi, 1270 -
January 9th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
While to me, daffodils shout “spring is coming” (and I always call them Lent Lilies in my head), hyacinths are right behind them. LOVE that!
January 10th, 2008 at 10:19 am
man, if i could figure out how to crop a picture properly for a new banner i would definitely do it, just cant focus on that photoshop tutorial! maybe changing my banner will be my one and only goal this year, ha ha! and if you call tracy for a date at the getty, i would love to join you two!
:)
January 11th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
really!!?? 3 miles A DAY! lucky lucky you! how do you find the time? where are your children? especially when it’s dark so early.
….oh….wait….do you have a treadmill?
i am thankful to get in three miles a couple times a week (and it’s been weeks!!! since it’s happened)…and that is always with the littles in tow (1 in jogger, 2 on bikes).
you have a good list going there, sounds refreshing, though i do love your blog header, i will look forward to what you put up there.
happy weekend.
January 13th, 2008 at 10:17 am
I got that book for Christmas but haven’t started it yet. I’ve heard mixed things about it too.
Isn’t this warm weather strange? Happy new year!
January 15th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
i’ve also been having some issues with, “eat, pray, love.” usually i devour anything about india, but i am stuck in that part of the book and can’t seem to move forward. i think there is a side of me that can’t imagine why i would want to subject myself to her personal struggle. but i hear the last part is worth the slog.