To My Mother, Just 'Cause

Lately I've been thinking about the women in my life who've made the greatest impact on me. Lots of people come and go and leave impressions of varying depth, some more noticeable than others. In this spirit I have decided to do a series of posts as tributes to these women. The first person who immediately comes to mind is my mother. While most people's mothers are good (there are of course some crazy women out there who do very bad things to their children, but I think that they are by far the exception, rather than the rule) there are so many people who do not get along with their mothers. I have been blessed in that my mother has not only been a wonderful parent, but also one of my best friends for many years. One of the hardest things about having been so far away for the last several years was not being able to see my mom. Sure, we talked on the phone for long periods of time, sometimes nearly every day. But it's not the same as being in the same place. You can't do things together. And there are things that you just don't want to talk about over the phone. She has guided me through so many struggles, and continues to dispense her wisdom. She has supported me through everything and let me choose my own way, while still making sure things were right. When Michael and I would come back to visit we would always split the time between his parents' house and my parents' house. At first he didn't understand why I insisted on staying with my parents, after all his parents have a queen size bed, while here we have to sleep on a double (we're used to sleeping on a king size bed). But I have to stay with my parents after being away for long periods of time in order to reconnect. If we were staying in separate houses my mom and I can't stay up talking until after midnight, when we should both probably be in bed, laughing and just enjoying each other's company. I love spending time with my mother. It is from her that I have learned what it means to be a wife, and what it will mean to be a mother (though, that prospect is still far away). If I am able to raise my children half as well as she raised hers, I will consider myself fortunate. I love you, Mom.

On The Nature of Colds

The last few days have mostly been spent under a pile of used kleenex. Lovely image, isn't it? My family has been passing around a cold over the last couple weeks, and I was the last to fall victim. Normally I dread colds and do everything in my power to avoid them. This is because, in my experience, what is just a normal run-of-the-mill cold in anyone and everyone else that blows over in a few days turns into a raging infection once it takes hold in my head. The normal course is that it progresses normally for a few days, lulling me into a false sense of "maybe this one won't be so bad," then, just when I should be getting better, WHAMO! it turns into a sinus infection. I have had enough of these that I can recognize them with a certain amount of accuracy, but, lulled as I have been, I hope I am wrong and delay the inevitable visit to the doctor's office (this is combined with my general dislike of going to the doctor, as they are prone to poke you with sharp things like needles at the least provocation, and, despite my vast experience with my upper respiratory system and it's usual m.o., they often don't believe my diagnosis and protest my requests for antibiotics so that the infection doesn't spread). This leads me to the next step. When untreated as a sinus infection, the "cold" moves into my chest and becomes bronchitis, thus I am infected from the top of my head to the bottom of my chest. Doesn't that sound like fun? The last time I let it go that far I ended up at an urgent care clinic (in Abilene) with a fever of approximately 101 degrees, where they insisted on giving me a steroid shot "to help me feel better." Upon receiving the shot I immediately felt worse, mostly due to the fact that the nurse basically punched me with the side of her fist and a hypodermic needle coming out of it. Michael almost punched her.

Fortunately, this cold doesn't seem to be one of those. While I just admitted that I often try to convince myself that my sinus infection really isn't one, I always know that it really is one. This time, I really am starting to feel better when I should, not worse. Perhaps this is because I am able to get all the rest I need, since I have no obligations such as school or work to get in the way. We are still hoping for a change in that status before too much longer, so as to facilitate our ability to not live with our parents forever. For now, my only wish is that I did have my own place so that I could go to the soon to be closing local animal shelter and adopt a dog before they "terminate" all of them. I want a puppy dog.

Gasp!

Prepare yourselves. I have a confession. I just spilled approximately eight ounces of water all over the computer desk and floor in my parents' basement. I came down to innocently check my email, look up a few random things, surf around a bit and I brought my water with me as I tend to be thirsty most of the time. New rule for Jessica: all beverages must be at least three feet away from the computer and related equipment or in a container with a closed lid. After the spill I ran up the stairs to the kitchen and grabbed a towel to try to mop up the mess. After about ten seconds of trying to get the corner of the towel to absorb the droplets of water in the crevices of the keyboard I gave up and went for reinforcements: paper towels. They seemed to do the trick, being thin enough to fit between the keys to absorb the little drops hanging out waiting to cause irreparable damage to my mother's still fairly new computer. I used the towel for the giant puddle on the carpet. Fortunately, nothing terrible seems to have happened, and all of the keys of the keyboard seem to be in working order. (Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to type this.) I wasn't planning on posting tonight, but for some reason I felt the need to air my clumsyness to the world. There you go.

Purses!

So, I have finally finished my mom's felted purse. I finished with the knitting and the felting nearly two weeks ago, but actually put the finishing touches on it (i.e. the pocket and the snap) on Saturday. This was due in part to a snap conundrum (how to attach the snap to the flap without having to look at the back of the snap on the front of the purse? Solution: make a little patch, attach the flap half of the snap to the patch, sew patch onto flap and voila) and also because of my general dislike of hand sewing the pocket and snap patch onto the purse. But, when it finally came down to it, it wasn't so bad after all. It was seen at church on Sunday and I'm sure will make more appearances in the future. But, for those of you who were not fortunate enough to see it in real life, here are some pictures.


Also, here is a photo of the purse prior to being felted.


Anyway, I have moved on to other purses. I am in the process of making a tote inspired purse for the Coeur d'Alene Christian School auction. I think it'll look really neat when it's finished and I'll definitely post a picture of it. Also, I am in the process of making a purse similar to my mom's for my mother-in-law. Unfortunately it has been relegated to the back burner for now, because the purse for the auction has to be finished by February 13 (one week from today, I might add). My mother-in-law's purse should have been finished already, but due to some unfortunate decision making I had to rip the whole thing out and start all over. So, it's been restarted, but is going much slower since I'm focusing the majority of my time on the other one. I'm hoping to have the main body of the auction bag finished by Friday and have it felted on Sunday, giving me Monday to sew in the details. We'll see how well that works out.