friday randoms

o1) let’s start with the heavy stuff, first.
thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your emails and comments on my post.

here’s the thing: so many of you said “i know what you’re feeling because i’m feeling it too. but i can’t/won’t/don’t know how to say it.”
listen to the momma: i can NOT stress enough what a difference it makes putting it out there. is it scary? YES. 150 times YES. but the simple act of revealing it—saying out loud or on paper and knowing someone else knows your “secret” is unbelievably liberating.

unbelievably.

i’m not really a talker. let me qualify that: i LOVE to talk. about the weather, about sewing, about funny stuff my kids do, vacations, jokes. i babble incessantly. i’ll even talk to you about your issues and depression and problems and try my darndest to give you some sage advice. but ask me about my problems? i’m like a clam.
i blame my german gene pool.

but i can write. i can do that. and then i hold my breath and i hit “publish” and there’s no going back. (well, yes, technically there is. but you know what i mean)

saying i don’t seem to be doing well right now feels like—almost instantly—a weight is lifting off of my shoulders and suddenly SUDDENLY i’m doing better. acknowledging it to first, myself, and secondly allowing someone else to share that knowledge makes it real. it forces me to stand up and take stock and say this is NOT the road i want to go down and so i have to choose a new path. RIGHT. NOW.

so should everyone run out and fill their blogs with sad tales of woe and depression? not necessarily. it’s the route i took. but do something—talk to someone, anyone. write it down—if not on a blog at the very least write it on paper and give to your husband, your mother, your BFF and let them read it.

get it out there. let someone know. you won’t regret it.

phew. okay, moving on.

o2) got a winner for the crochet pattern giveaway! woo hoo!

congrats, charlotte! yes, number one DOES win sometimes! looks like your grandson is getting his dragon hat now ;)

o3)

i’ve also got a winner for the Venus/Blogher $50 gift card giveaway!

congrats to you too ms. jenspurg! you’ll be hearing directly from blogher regarding your prize.

(p.s.—i’ve hidden all the comments from this contest since so many emails were listed)

o4) guinevere started cyberschool tuesday. she’s been so excited to start, and even though we’re only 2 days in we both love it so far. i fully intend to post more detail about it once we get some more cybering under our belts. in the meantime, this year’s “first day of school” pictures look like this:

yup. she wore slippers to take her younger brother and sister to school. like a little extra twist of the knife.

and then the rest of the pictures looked like this:

awww…look how much they love each other. ;)

o5) every. stinkin. time. i’m walking around the house thinking oh! i need to blog about that! oh! and this too! oh yeah, and this random thing! and then i have an entire mental list, so i decide to do a “random things” post and about 4 “random things” in i have a complete brain fart and totally forget EVERYTHING ELSE i wanted to say. ugh.

o6) i got fabric for harrison’s suit. i wanted something cheap so if i mess up it’s no biggie. a muslin, basically. but nice enough that if it comes out okay on the first shot he can wear it. $2/yard suiting and $1/yard striped lining from jomar fit the bill nicely. now i just have to wait for the pattern.

o7) i’ve got another awesome giveaway coming up next week. here’s a clue: my face is smooth as a baby’s butt, and you can have a butt face too if you win. ;)