Barbie's new dress

Barbie has a new dress...

Quick and easy. I can see this is going to be extremely versatile, long skirt, slim skirt, straps, cap sleeves... this one is for a little sweetie's birthday party tomorrow. Doll Not Included. I got her a couple commercial outfits, because I just didn't know how much sewing I would get to do. And glad I did-- this one is all I had time for! This blog has some other ideas I am going to try as well.

Sewing has been frustrating with the loss of my machine cord. It is going to cost at least $80 to replace. So I bought a teensy Dritz machine for $19.95 at Walmart. So far have patched two pairs of pants and made this dress. It isn't heavy duty of course but I think it will be fine for little stuff. It is battery operated...
 I like the way the dress turned out, and have some other fabric scraps to use. This is from a fat quarter, it uses just 5 inches of the fat quarter so I could make a few from the fat quarter. 

So a satisfying time making her dress! I got a few other pieces to make others, so I guess MY Barbie collection will be well dressed, unless I give more away...

There's a great tutorial for this dress here:

http://www.craftinessisnotoptional.com/2010/08/barbie-dress-tutorial.html 

I did it a bit differently because I wanted the top lined. Turned out great! See what else I've been up to with dolls here...

be still...

JUNE 22, 2012

be still…

all I can think of is, breathe. More overwhelm than I want to mention out here in blog-land, even though I don’t think anyone reads what I write but me myself and I…

I see a picture in my mind. A bird in a nest, in the middle of a storm. Sorrow and grief and worry all tumble around me. I don’t know how or when this will end. Feeling like somehow I will get sucked up into the swirling tornado.

And yet, I am just watching the wind. Kind of in a daze. Like the freeze motion pictures…

The results of the storm are really quite beautiful, if we look at God’s perspective. From my perspective, it is pretty horrible…. thinking about a satellite view, a storm is just a swirl, it doesn’t look dangerous.

God is in control, God is in control… I will choose to wait in silence, instead of screaming like I feel like. I will trust You, Lord, even if I don’t understand.

So my thankfulness is only that today, Lord, that You know what You are doing, and I don’t, and that’s ok.

reluctantly thankful...

JUNE 15, 2012

 

Tonight I don’t even WANT to be thankful. I want to be angry. Of course, writing it makes me laugh at my childish behavior. I am thankful…

 that E. is safe after her attempt at escape from “the prison” (the facility she is now in where she doesn’t want to be…

that we have running water and don’t have to worry about contaminated drinking water…

air conditioning! Crazy that we have machines to even cool the air so we can be more comfortable.

for my “servants” the microwave, the stove, the oven, the dishwasher, the clothes washer and dryer… we have it oh so easy here in America. for the most part we don’t even SEE how easy and comfortable we are.

electricity. We take so much for granted.

That V. came through her surgery well today

That Suz is doing all right after her last session of chemo…

for the visit with my sweeties. Still thankful for that. I think it is okay to be thankful for that again. 🙂

 for the berries that are quickly ripening

potatoes!!!!potatoes!!!

And thank You, Lord, that my thankfulness is no longer reluctant. You are so amazing. I am continually blessed by how You change my attitude with my obedient heart. And thank You for the gift of that obedient heart. ❤

tough.

JUNE 7, 2012

 

It is so difficult dealing with my mother in law’s dementia. Tonight she told me it was MY influence over her son that made him put her in such a place. I know that isn’t true, but it still stings that she would say that.

rejoicing in trials....

 JUNE 4, 2012

rejoicing in trials…

I am sure I don’t understand why most of the time, why we are to rejoice in our trials. Our trials make us look to Jesus, that’s one reason. But why a musician should get arthritis is a hard one to be thankful for, and E’s dementia. Well, because of the episodes, K is finally convinced (I think) that it is time to put E somewhere she can be safe… I feel tremendously guilty that I can’t seem to deal with it… but the other night she was violent and attacking the caregiver, so we have to figure out how to manage it, at the very least. Be thankful? Lord I believe, help my unbelief, I will be thankful for whatever you bring my way, and do that in faith and not by sight. I can’t see. Such as where is my sewing machine cord… can’t sew without it, E’s machine is not functioning well. Be thankful? I am seeing that being thankful is not the same as figuring out why I should be. I have to be thankful NO MATTER WHAT. I go back yet again to the Holocaust. Living in a flea and louse infested place with very little to wear and a lot of hard work and maybe die there…. thankful? And yet.

Quotes from Corrie ten boom, a holocaust survivor…

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

“If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God you’ll be at rest.”

“Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings…It’s something we make inside ourselves.”

“Trying to do the Lord’s work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.”

“Don’t bother to give God instructions; just report for duty.”

“You can never learn that Christ is all you need, until Christ is all you have.”

“If God has shown us bad times ahead, it’s enough for me that He knows about them. That’s why He sometimes shows us things, you know – to tell us that this too is in His hands.”

“And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things too. Don’t run out ahead of Him.”

“There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.”

And so.

Thankful for this stuffy nose, sneezing, and pounding head

 thankful for the rain today

the snow peas I ate while I harvested… and that I got more than I ate into the house

there are still 6 more hills of potatoes

that I have friends who pray for me.

that E has a dr appointment tomorrow and we will make some progress finding E a permanent home…. bittersweet

that she has the money to do it

that I am making progress in the middle bedroom

that I have a wonderful bed to sleep in

thankful that I can be thankful for things more than one time… and thankful for the challenge that started this journey to having a thankful attitude… and thankful for the work that the Lord has done in my heart through this challenge.

So I am not exactly happy that I have this allergy/cold and that my fingers are getting more arthritic BUT I am thankful for whatever God is going to teach me through these trials. And I am not happy about the journey E is currently on, but I am thankful for the resources to help us.

Thank you Lord for birds that sing (even in the night)

Thank you Lord for everything.

assisted living...

JUNE 2, 2012

  

She is now in an assisted living facility. So far she has tried to escape several times and successfully escaped once. She is convinced that we put her in jail so she is really really angry. She insists that we didn’t talk about it ( we did; for TWO YEARS) and just keeps saying things like “he didn’t use to be this way” (about K) and saying that this isn’t the way you treat people…

It’s hard, and we have to keep reminding ourselves, DEMENTIA… we can think she is understanding something and then *poof* she doesn’t remember. She remembers SOME things (that she fell into the mud with her walker) which is good, but not others (that her hip bone is dead). Right now she is not wanting to talk to us because we abandoned her. Of course we did not.

She was too much to handle. Both of us are exhausted. We have not slept in the same house (well, ONE night) for two years. We have sacrificed a lot to take care of her. Not bragging… that’s what families DO. If our marriage is going to make it, we have to spend time with each other and get re-acquainted. It is hard to know what to do, on the one hand, feeling guilty for not being able to keep up that pace. But both of us had elevated blood pressure, K is diabetic, we are not young. Do we sacrifice ourselves for her? Jesus calls us to sacrifice. Is that what He meant?

This started out as a funny page to me. It isn’t funny any more. Then I remembered that she stuck a banana in the recliner so no one would steal it, and I sat on it… and that the toilet paper was in the vanity drawer, and her shoes hidden in the bed… and she says that someone switched her shoes, but didn’t… she went into her neighbor’s apartment and tried to use his bathroom, and now she is convinced she has to share hers… lots of stuff would be funny if it wasn’t so awful that she’s losing her mind. I told her she’s getting quite good at moving her wheel chair, and she said she was practicing… she wrote a note of things she wants to learn, and one of them is learn to drive… oh dear. At least there isn’t a car to worry about. Only a 98-pounds-soaking-wet little lady who is an escape artist.  We have to laugh at whatever we can or we would go even crazier.