Pillows!

I am staying with Elizabeth for a few days, and we are making new pillows for my couch!

This is my first sewing project since I got a D in home economics (I couldn't sew a straight line).



And this is the rest of the fabric we are using. We are also going to try to embroider something on the brown pillows.... wish us luck, because neither of us knows how!

More Spring Pictures... and questions...

Golden Glow... I think.I love our trees.

Another tree picture.
Columbine? Is it supposed to wilt like this?
Do I pull, or is it supposed to be there?
Definitely Lily of the Valley!

Job hazzards...

All day Special Olympic Track Meet+State issued expired sunblock= everybody at work saying, "Hello Ms. Cherry Tomato!" whenever they see me. Sigh.

Spring is here....I hope!

It was 87 degrees today, and so I decided that it is finally safe to plant stuff. We did window boxes today...

and yesterday I planted morning glories on the trellis in the back yard. We love our trees in the front of the house. I wish I could post the smell of them. They smell absolutely delicious.

And these are growig all over the place.... but I'm not sure what they are.

A Mother's Day Poem

To mothers that should be,

To mothers that would be,

to mothers that were and are not,

This mantle, this headpiece, this crown of light

This blanket, this girdle, this shawl of hand-woven warmth

falls onto few, fewer honor, fewer do it honor

Once this gauntlet is taken up, forever will it

hinder, protect, warm and cool

Children may come and go, live and die, but the

brand of motherhood is eternal, if hidden.

To those mothers of waiting, of loss, of hidden brands,

take heart for you are of the few hidden

forces of human nature, nurture, nexus.

The trunk of human life of buds never leafing,

of branches dry and empty, of blooms and seeds and

pock-mark scars of what once was,

Oh Motherhood- tree, with roots deep in

the rich earth, stands with or without bloom,

seed or leaf, but stands a testament to itself

To this arbor, to this canopy, to this barked

and branched pillar of life, endearment, and hurt

To thee I sing, hum, jump, dance, and shout,

To thee and thine I honor, respect,

and pay tribute with my heart and all that it is or was.

The Gym

I wanted to show off our new sign! This is Nathan's taekwondo gym- it is on Main St. in Aberdeen. I did all of the lettering, and Nathan painted the taekwondo and kumdo guys. We really liked the little guys on there, until one of Nathan's students told him the looked like Rock em' Sock em' Robots.

Spoke too soon... about some things...

Well, about three hours after I published my admittedly crabby post, we got a call from our realtor. Someone looked at our house right after she called us to tell us the other people weren't interested, and they made an offer! It was way less than we hoped for, but we decided to take it anyway. At this point we would do anything to stop paying $1100 in mortgages on the first of every month... not to mention the incredible heat bills for two houses.
So, we are pretty darn excited. We will know in about 2 weeks if it is a done deal, because everything is still pending an inspection. Keep your fingers crossed!

So bummed!!

Bad news on a couple of different fronts....
We were really hoping to get our referral before courts closed so that we could travel this summer, but it looks like the absolute earliest we will be able to get our babies is probably November, with December looking more likely. I'm getting pretty crabby about the number of Mother's Days that I've been not a mother.

Also, after almost a year on the market with not a nibble, two couples were interested in our house last week. Our realtor called today and said that the woman of the couple loved the house but that her fiance was very tall and kept bumping his head on everything... so they are no longer interested. The other people that were interested don't want it now because it doesn't have central air or a garage.

Plus, I got punched square in the mouth by one of my precious ladies today, so my lips are swollen and I look like a fish.

A crappy day all around. I am excited, however, because we have some mysterious flowers coming up in front of our house. It is kind of fun to be in our house for the first spring, because we don't know what we're going to get! I think maybe they something from the lily family.... and lily of the valley on the side of the house. Hopefully there won't be any more blizzards!

Mark your Calendars...

On May 13, Nova is airing a documentary called "A Walk to Beautiful."

"This inspiring documentary tells the heartbreaking story of five Ethiopian women who suffer from devastating childbirth injuries. Rejected by their husbands and ostracized by their communities, these women are left to spend the rest of their lives in loneliness and shame. Instead they make the long and arduous journey to Fistula Hospital in Addis Abba where they reclaim their lost dignity. The trials they endure--and their attempts to rebuild their lives--tell a universal story of hope, courage, and transformation."

It is supposed to be really wonderful. You can read an interview with the founder of the Fistula Hospital here.

WE HAVE A PROBLEM!

I can't introduce myself to anyone in Ethiopia or anyone who speaks Amharic. Apparently the word for "buttocks" in Amharic is Kate. I thought maybe that it wouldn't sound exactly like my name, but we got an audio file with a whole bunch of words on it today, and they clearly say buttocks=Kate. Mom, I think you should have foreseen this. Can you imagine my poor children when the people at the care center tell them that their new mother is named Buttocks Schutz? I've got to go... I have to look up all of the names we like in all of the other languages in the world and make sure they don't have any inappropriate meanings.

In Disgrace

Yup. That is our screen door with a huge rip in it. Stew saw a bird in the back yard and for some reason found it particularly offensive. He then forgot about the screen and ran full speed into it, sticking into the door like an arrow. As you can tell, he is feeling very ashamed... as well he should.