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Change

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Since much of what I do when facilitating equine assisted learning or coaching parents is helping people experience positive change, the idea of change has been high on my list of things on which to do further reading. Currently I'm working my way through Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. (I'm enjoying it and finding it interesting a quarter of the way through.) This quote came very early, but I've been thinking about it quite a bit since I read it, so I thought I'd share it with all of you. Really, it comes down to learning to be compassionate towards ourselves, I think. We're fairly good at being compassionate to others, assuming we think they are worthy of our compassion, but we're really not very good at being compassionate to ourselves. "And when people exhaust their self-control, what they're exhausting are the mental muscles needed to think creatively, to focus, to inhibit their impulses, and to persist...
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Fiber Monday on Tuesday - Exceedingly slow fashion

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I finished the jacket and lining I was working on, so that meant I could begin on the next step... the embroidery. Remember that I wanted to use the lining as a basis for the embroidery on the front.  The first step was to create a design to play with. I decided that I would use the muslin I made before I sewed The Dress to play around with design and stitches and whatnot. I tried to use the window to transfer the design to the muslin, but the fabric wasn't cooperative. (I think I need to invest in a light table before I actually start on the actual jacket.) So because it was just for experimenting I ended up free handing the design onto the muslin.  Then I picked the palette of thread which is always fun.  And then finally I could begin stitching. Stitching for the practice jacket in order to be able to stitch the actual jacket which has to be done before the lining can be sewn into the jacket. Possibly the only way I could have made this take longer would have been to d...
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Nine years and the first day of school

I realized this morning that last week, on the 9th and the 11th, was the nine year anniversary of Y.'s and R.'s adoptions . Nine years feels like a pretty significant amount of time. I'll admit that there were quite a few years there with R. that I didn't think we'd survive to nine years. But after two years of finding the correct cocktail of seizure meds, I'm happy to report that they are still working. I don't actually like to think about the post-ictal psychosis years. They were hard. It was a journey to bring these two girls home and our family wouldn't be complete without them.  Y. also had a big day today in another way. She started her first college classes at the community college where J. works. Many of our children have done dual enrollment college classes for which they received both high school and college credit. I'm excited that Y. gets to start doing this as she's ready and I think she'll really enjoy it. Age said her first day...
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Look!

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What don't you see? No Christmas tree No Christmas decorations  No Christmas decoration boxes No red No green No pine needles  No leftover bits of Christmas stocking swag It feels very, very good to have it all put away for another year. And since this week promises to be a little bit busier than usual, I'm glad I don't have to spend it wondering when I'll get around to putting it all away. Future me thanks this past weekend me for being responsible. 
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Two random items make a blog post, right?

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Having cajoled their father into driving them to a store to get bleach and dye, there is a(nother) hair transformation in progress. Because you never know what color hair a child will turn up with.  Then on a totally unrelated topic (so totally unrelated that I can't even begin to come up with an appropriate seque), I listened to this YouTube video today. If you are at all interested in the current state of the garment industry and are concerned about fast fashion, this might be of interest to you. 
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Escapist cat picture

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Some days all you can do is look around you and be thankful that at this moment you and your loved ones are safe. The news is hard these days, isn't it? I find this to be especially when there is so much I can't fix or have any control over.  So for this evening, maybe just a cute cat picture is in order. This is one of W. and MC's cats having a snooze in the sunshine. 
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New textbook

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A new textbook arrived in the mail today. Now, since we are homeschoolers and we occasionally use textbooks, this wouldn't necessarily be exciting or blog worthy news. But the textbook which arrived wasn't for a child but for me.  (Ignore the cover art, it was published in 2008 and it shows.) I am finally, after years of wanting to, going to get to take a pattern drafting class. It is the first of a series of four classes (I think it's four) that teaches all the ins and outs of drafting a pattern. I really cannot tell you how excited I am to finally learn these skills and not just try to figure it out on my own.  The text is pretty large.  Inside it seems pretty comprehensive, from starting with drafting pattern blocks then moving on to how to manipulate them to create just about any style you want.  I don't know if I'll be able to complete the series in just one year, but it feels good to be actually starting. 
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