Wednesday, May 16, 2012

A Personal Post

Life has been busy in a good way. I make no apology for my absence, but life demanded a certain amount of attention that I could not divide with a blog and do both well. Coming very soon, there will be a great number more posts on a more frequent basis. Here are some of the reasons I've been away:

Reason 1. Just after the new year, my husband's amazing grandfather passed away. When I was a girl growing up, people didn't pass away or die, they just went to be with the Lord. That was the terminology my family and church culture taught me. We minimized our loss to recognize Heaven's gain. We miss him, but we believe that he is enjoying himself much more than he ever did while he occupied his body on this planet.

Reason 2. My daughter asked me at Thanksgiving {while making my very first dining chair slip covers} to *MAKE* her a dress for Christmas. Um. I haven't made a dress in thirty years. The last time I actually sewed a garment was about 16 years ago. It took a great deal of time to re acclimate and do the dress well. Instead of merely making her one, I made her two, just in case one was horrible. Guess what? One wasn't so great. Here's the one that took so much time. It was red velvet. It was worth every minute.
Well, shut my mouth. I did it! I prayed to my sewing wizard Grandma Jones {not that I think she could talk back or be channeled through my hands or anything} and held my breath for LONG periods of time as I stitched and pinned and fretted. One should really not hold one's breath for such things. Passing out is a dangerous thing to do with electric needles a flyin'. Surprisingly, the project was pulled off without wounds to myself or others. I call that success.

Reason 3. I've been sickly. A lot. We'll leave it at that.

Reason 4. My last child is entering kindergarten in August and time with him is irreplaceable. I have no doubt that spending the last month playing Harry Potter with him on the Playstation has absolutely been the right thing to do with my "spare" time.

Reason 5. I'm a genealogy addict. I've spent a HUGE amount of time putting together a hand transcribed family pedigree tree for my mom and sister. With the help of some diligent aunts, grandmothers and cousins, I was able to get a decent start, but from my father's line, I only knew my grandparents and aunt and uncle's names. Over the last five years, I've done enough work on that line to be able to trace our lineage back to some really remarkable people, some remarkably brutal, some remarkably smart, some remarkably royal. I've been toying with adding a page to this blog just for genealogy stories and photos I stumble upon as I research. It's a great hobby. It's liberating to know from whence one has originated.

I'm looking forward to a family visit very soon. I wish you all peace and much joy until the next time. {If you're not in a peaceful and joyful place, know that you are not alone and you are loved, but mostly, know that it's a season that will pass. Keep persevering!}

4 comments:

Sandy Krout said...

that. dress. lawd i'm in love with it. good job!!

Vicki M. said...

You rock! I love a woman who has her priorities straight!

Domestic Empress by Design said...

Thanks, Sandy. =) It's Burda Young Fashion pattern 7739 and is rated as "easy." While I agree that it is not overtly complex for a highly skilled seamstress, it's not terribly easy for a beginner. There are a lot of moving parts to construct, but the directions include almost everything one needs to know in order to piece the puzzle together. I'm looking forward to trying another version of the dress in a lighter fabric to see if it's less of a hassle, which I suspect would be the case as velvet tends to move a smidge as it is sewed.

Domestic Empress by Design said...

;) Thanks. You're good for my esteem. I'm thinking of making my mantra for the year, "Wonder Woman is a fictional character."

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