The Start of Something New

I've finally figured out something about myself. Others may have known this all along but never told me. I love new beginnings.

I love the beginning of each season and tire of them as they go on. Right now we are entering fall. I just cleaned the yard and got rid of all the dead summer plants. Tomorrow I will hit the West Allis farmer's market in search of mums, pumpkins, and gourds to brighten up the outside.

Is there anything more exciting than shopping for a new season of fashion? Putting away all the clothes you have been wearing for the past several months to start wearing something different. Even if the items are not new, but rather those which have been waiting patiently in your closet for their renewal. If you haven't worn them for awhile, it feels like welcoming an old friend home.

As each season progresses, however, I loose my enthusiasm and become anxious for the next new beginning.

My next craft...cute kitchen towels

I love beginning a new craft. Researching it, designing it, figuring out how to approach it, buying the materials, and completing it. After a while though, I like to move on to a different project.

I love the beginning of a vacation. Planning, packing, getting to the destination, settling in. By the end I'm always ready to come home and dread the trip back.

As much as I love the start of something new, there is something to be said for the feeling of safety and security that comes from that which is familiar. And I love that just as much.

In a Flash

The older I get, the more I realize I'm getting older. When I listen to the radio or look through magazines, there's a whole new crop of singers, bands, and actors that I don't know. I'm not familiar with their music, their shows, or their movies.

The other night I sat down to watch the recording of Oprah's kick-off to her 24th season. I had heard she blocked off part of Michigan Avenue to have a concert, but really hadn't heard much more. When I saw that the Black Eyed Peas were performing I was a little more excited. They are one of those groups you think you kind-of like until you look at your iTunes library and realize you must really like them because you've got a bunch of their music.

So they were the first performers on, and to Oprah's surprise and mine, they had coordinated about 800 fans in the crowd to do a choreographed dance to their new song I Gotta Feeling. Since I knew nothing about it, it was really cool to watch unfold. If you haven't seen it yet, see for yourself. (Although I have to say...it looked better on our high def t.v., but you'll get the idea.)

Here's where my aging comes in again. Apparently this is called a flashmob. It's when a large group of people assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, and then disperse. By its own name and definition it is something that comes and goes quickly. Had I not seen this episode of Oprah, it is quite possible that I would have lived my entire life not ever knowing what a flashmob was.

The more I think about it...I'm okay with that.

He's Just Not That Into You

I realized today that I missed the second episode of Glee earlier this week. Thanks to Hulu I was able to catch the whole thing on my computer. I don't know exactly what it is, but I really like this show. Maybe it's because I'm far enough removed from high school that I can appreciate the uncomfortableness without it affecting me anymore.

Which brings me to a very interesting revelation that my sister-in-law laid on me a couple of weeks ago. Her middle-school age son broke up with his first girlfriend. She talked about it with him afterwards and found out he may not have been very nice about the break-up. Probing further, he divulged that he needed to be callus in order to protect himself. He didn't want to cry in front of his girlfriend...so he made her cry instead.

Wow! If I had only had this nugget back in the day. It's like the Sex and the City episode where Burger lets Miranda know that when a guy has no follow through...he's just not that into you. The whole concept was spun off into a successful movie.

If my nephew could parlay this revelation into some sort of Hollywood script, maybe it would make the heartbreak worth it. But then again...maybe not.

I Wonder, I Wonder

As much as I make fun of my mother's sex talk (or in my case lack there of), I've realized that I may not be much of an improvement to my kids.

When I was younger my mother just left the I Wonder, I Wonder book out for me and told me to let her know if I had any questions. You'd think having older brothers and a sister some information would have trickled down to me, but that wasn't the case either. I don't think I ever actually read the book...just looked at the pictures.

So I don't know that I am very well equipped to talk about it with my kids. They always seem to spring it on me when I least expect it. Like today riding in the car on the way home. My daughter asked me how people get babies anyway. As I paused to collect my thoughts and quickly try to muster a response, my son chimed in, "They pray for them." God bless him.

Can You Believe They Even Make That?

I've said it before and I'll say it again...I LOVE kid art! I'm always looking for new ways to use it. Thanks to my friend and fellow blogger, Becky (Heart Biscuit) who turned me on to another blogger, Amy Karol (Angry Chicken). Amy has published two books and has a real homespun approach to living. In theory I love this, but in actuality, it always seems like a lot of work. I think I'm somewhere in between the two.

Recently she was on her local morning show to present some projects from her latest book. One of them was dolls using photos of family members. You may be asking yourself, "How on earth does she do that?" Hold on to your socks...did you know they make printable fabric? I know, just when you thought everything was already invented you get a great little surprise like this. I'm telling you, it's amazing and I was able to find it at a Michael's craft store.

You may be wondering how exactly it works. Let me explain. It's fabric that has a backing on it so you can put it through your color printer. Once you've printed your art, you take the backing off and it's just a piece of fabric ready to sew. The possibilities seem endless!

My niece is a very talented artist and did this cute drawing of her dog Mo. She loves purses and my husband had a sample of a canvas messenger bag. I scanned in her artwork, added a background, and made this cute tag which I hand sewed onto the front of the bag.

Then I took the same art plus a couple penguins my daughter did and made some stuffed dolls. I just used some fabric remnants for the back and sewed by hand again. (Note to family...gift idea...sewing machine!)

I've gushed enough about printable fabric. I need to gush more about the Angry Chicken blog. Did you know that you can make your own brown sugar? I did not. Apparently you just mix granulated sugar and molasses. Good to know. Check it out...it's one of the top 5 blogs in the stratosphere.