Storytelling - What The Red Herring - Page 29 Category
Me Made Meh… I mean, May

Me Made Meh… I mean, May

Do you know about Me Made May? Since I sew and follow a number of sewist bloggers (blogging sewists?), I’ve known about it for a couple of years now, but this is the first year when I felt like I had enough homemade clothes to do it. The idea behind it is that you show off homemade clothing during the month of May.

You might wear something you made each day. Maybe you only wear a few homemade clothes some days in May. Ideally, you post on social about it, so other people can share in your superiority and over-achievedness… but maybe I’m getting off track.

Running Away Together

Running Away Together

Ever since we’ve been married, my parents have supported the Chaplain and I by keeping the kids so that we can go away by ourselves about once a  year.

Last year at this time, we were spending a week in Portland, Oregon together. In fact, it was the first time since I’d become a mom that I’d spent Mother’s Day away from my kids.

The trip felt like an escape for many reasons. The Chaplain was at a stressful, demanding job. I was eight months pregnant with Seven. We had a busy home life. We were tired and tense.

I’d planned the trip on the back of a trip to Portland I’d done with my dad and siblings in 2014. We’d gone to celebrate my dad’s 60th birthday by climbing Mt. Hood. The week was spent hiking, with the mountain climb in the middle.

Building on that, I hoped to revisit my favorite trails, and try one or two new ones. I also wanted to spend some time in downtown Portland, which we hadn’t had time to do on the 2014 trip. The Chaplain and I both had some ideas and recommendations for places to check out in the city. And I really wanted to see a Pacific Coast sunset.

A Sense of Mastery

A Sense of Mastery

Above, me at nursing school graduation in 2007, with Two, who was 3 weeks old.

This past week, I went in for several hours of continuing education to keep my nursing credentials current. Due to some weirdness on my employer’s website and their internet sign-up for the class I was taking, I wasn’t sure until I arrived in the room whether or not I was even at the right building.

I was running a couple of minutes late. My education had to be completed by the end of the month or I would no longer be allowed to come into work. I had snagged the last spot in the class at 3 a.m. during a recent night shift.

What if I showed up at the wrong place for my class? Driving somewhere else would make me even more late! What if I couldn’t attend the class and had to find another one?

Pants on the Ground

Pants on the Ground

The photo above is of me in Branson, MO, wearing the pants I show how to alter below.

If you got the title reference, you know that I watch American Idol. I enjoy music reality TV. It often results in goosebumps. It’s full of feeling and movement and unexpectedly special moments. Know Pentatonix? We saw them first on the Sing Off, a show where acapella groups competed, nauseatingly hosted by Nick Lachey.

I was excited when I saw Idol was coming back.  In fact, while I don’t know Katy Perry’s (the new token female judge) music well, I really like her. As a fellow PK (BOTH her parents were pastors), I feel like I “get” her. And she has such a great spirit.

Even though it had been two years since Idol last aired, the Chaplain or I would make a Randy Jackson reference almost weekly. His “For me, for you, Dawg,” just doesn’t have a better translation in American English. Also, “I don’t know, Dawg.” or “That was pitchy.”

To get back to the Sing Off, we enjoyed that show so much that when they went on tour, we bought tickets and went to the concert. I am almost embarrassed to admit it. But it was such an adventure. I was fascinated to see who else watched the show (a whole theater-full of people, as it turns out). The concert was fantastic, and sticks out as one of my favorite date nights.

Where am I going with this? *grin* Stick with me.

Leaving Perfectionism Behind

Leaving Perfectionism Behind

Last night, I lay awake in bed while my baby cried.

He’s at the tail end of a cold, and was actually less congested than when we’d put him to bed hours earlier, but he was having trouble staying settled. I fed him, my husband changed his diaper, I put chest rub on him, and gave him Tylenol. I held him while he flopped around restlessly, wanting to be asleep, but unable to wind back down.

Nothing worked. So we did something we haven’t done before with this particular baby. We put him in a room by himself, and let him cry himself to sleep.