Here is a very long, random update on several fronts.

 

 

On the crafty front

Last week marked the start of the second trimester for me, and I realized today that I must be feeling better as I’ve been bitten by the sewing bug again.

I’ve got some things I want to finish up for the boys, and my mom brought me this great Italian suit wool that I’m supposed to use for Elvie but I may use for myself.

I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole of sewing for myself again after finding a skirt on Etsy that I really liked quite a bit, but couldn’t quite bring myself to pay $120 for (despite its being hand designed, hand-printed, handmade, all that good stuff.) I ended up searching the internet for something similar, only to find something else that caught my eye but that I could definitely make myself. So in a day, I went from planning on buying a skirt to looking for fabric for making something completely different. This is my life.

I’ve also found a dress I think I can duplicate for a robe/gown for when the baby is born. I will have to shirr the waistband, though, to make it work for those first few postpartum weeks. Having something nice and comfortable to wear after birth is a very tall priority for me, but I’ve had trouble finding things I really like since I’ve moved on from the t-shirt and pajama pants stage. I thought with Eldore I would have to make something myself, but this time I think I’m going to skip the whole search process and just go ahead and make this. I have some homespun cotton with no use currently that I think I will use to practice.

on the janderhil renovation front

We’ve been anticipating this week that we’d be out of power for a day while we had cables buried, an electrical box swapped out, and a new light/utility pole put in. But the power company surprised us by coming to put in the pole a few days earlier than we thought, and we’ve been without power in the main house ever since. More than ever are we thankful for the Ham House and the fact that we were able to leave the power on there! Jeremy has been walking down to my aunt’s house next door for work, since our internet is out due to the power being out. Now it is raining, and the cable burying/re-running is having to wait, so it looks like it’ll be a few more days yet. It’s really not a big deal (the only concern was our freezers/fridge at the main house, which we’ve got plugged into the Ham House via extension cords) except it is a little cold over there with no heat. But the boys are enjoying going to bed with flashlights, and I am dealing with my fear of stepping on those huge wolf spiders that invade the house this time of year when I get up to use the bathroom in the night.

I’ve got the drywall finishing about half-done. Hopefully I can finish that this weekend. Once the electric stuff is done, I think outlets and things can start going in.

The boys’ bunk beds were built last week by Jeremy and his dad, and they’re exactly what they were hoping for. There are six bunks altogether, and they’re built from wood reclaimed from the colloquium renovation.

on the needless renovation front

The bunk bed wood has a wonderful color to it–and I’m thinking it would look great with walls painted the french grey I painted our sitting room back in Georgia. So that’s what I’m hoping to do. Sometime.

Also on my list is finishing the book page wall in our room–it’s been…um…a while since I started it. And it needs to be finished because I think our bed is going to have to change walls, since now we share a wall with the boys’ bunk beds. Ha!

On the pregnancy front

I am fifteen weeks and one day. This week I had a lot of trouble with feeling sick again, and also just emotionally drained and, well, depressed. I am feeling better now.

We’re five weeks from finding out what we’re having (YES we find out, and YES you will know basically as soon as we know–I don’t like keeping secrets on this. Maybe I’ll write a blog post about that. It would fit in nicely with the other potentially inflammatory things I’ve been writing. You should see my drafts folder.)

On the blog front

Speaking of drafts, I am really itching to write more about our lives, but honestly I get hung up on worrying that people will think it’s silly or a waste of time. Just being candid for a second. When I started writing, on Xanga, waaaaaaay back fifteen years ago, I felt a lot more free concerning what I could write about. Now I feel a lot of pressure of having things be perfect or absolutely unique before they’re shared online. And very nice pictures. Maybe I will post this post with no pictures at all.

Anyway there are a number of things I’m thinking about, and I will share them here.

I’m working on the second part of the Hope and Home series. It’s dealing specifically with the philosophy surrounding staying home (including why I think we call it that nowadays) and how we don’t (or won’t) understand the significance of it. Naturally I have a lot to say about this, and my draft is already too long, and I haven’t said everything I want to say. So I may even end up having to split this into two parts…and I have four parts total planned already. This would make five. I’m a little miffed about having to make this part into two, and I wish I could just be concise for once.

I have another post (that’s going to have to be split into parts as it’s far too long and convoluted–I am terrible at this) that concerns how we water down things for children and how that has backfired on us culturally.  It touches on matters of learning and literature, but mostly looks at what this has done to the Church.

I’m also hoping (and failing) to write more about this pregnancy, but am torn between whether this is helpful (for me or for others) or just obnoxious. This is a sensitive topic for me.

I’m also wanting (yet again) to make and share about a maternity capsule wardrobe. I’ve wanted to do this when I was pregnant with Elvie and with Eldore, but haven’t because I’m just not a fashion blogger (nor do I look like one) and I don’t have a mainstream style. Nevertheless I am seriously considering getting over my fears and doing it anyway.

And oh, I need to write Eldore’s eleven-month update! Goodness.