It begins...

A friend recently forwarded an email to me titled "The Invisible Mother," a short essay comparing the tireless and often thankless job of a mother to the builders of Europe's great cathedrals. Both give their whole lives for a work they will never see finished, both make sacrifices and expect no credit, and both are fueled in their passion by the faith that the eyes of God see every detail. The writer of the essay was inspired by the thought that our endless efforts in motherhood, invisible as they may seem, are worth it and can make an enriching life.


For many of us, the way we choose to hold our invisibility at bay is by creating something tangible. For me, my days often end with knitting - my love of fiber and the need to do something relaxing end up producing something I can hold and look at. Nobody will know how many times I swept under the high chair that day, or how many toys I picked up, or how many times I tried to coax a "please" or "more" or "sorry" out of my 5 year old. But a darling, handmade infant hat? That you can see.


I start new projects every day, and my 10 year old does the same. In this process of creating (and yes, often not finishing our projects!) we connect with each other and a bigger picture of ourselves in the process. My plan for this blog is to share the projects that excite me and bring some accessible proof of my existence in this invisible world of mothering!


So, this blog is dedicated to the mothers out there whose days are filled with the minutia of tasks that build our children and our families. I often tell people that I haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up. But for now, I am the builder of a great cathedral. With every shoelace tied, lunch packed, and forehead kissed, I build.


And I can hardly wait to create something new...


Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Cookin'

Well, besides the turkey chili from Friday I have not been doing much actual cooking this week. (Sorry, Brad!) But the craftiness has been turned up a notch, and despite a cough and achy head, and two sick kiddos, YOCL is being satisfied! (It's a good thing my girls like to have couch snuggly time when they don't feel good - and they don't mind if I knit whilst snuggling. Score.)
My second hat is almost done for the school auction. I just need to make 5 more white petals and get those babies sewn in place. Oh so cutie!
And I'm inching ever closer to finishing the Bear Booties as well - dang, those dudes are time consuming! Getting the ears on correctly is tricky, and the face needs to be just so, and then there's a trillion ends to weave in because of all the color changes. But MAN are they cute!  I just need to finished sewing the seam of the second bootie, weave in a few ends, and tack down some ends that are sticking out.
Yesterday morning, once Brad's parents were gone I decided to tackle Casey's Baby #1. 
An hour into it, the floor was a maze of cabinet pieces (all with screws jutting out) that Brynn was having a lot of fun exploring. Oh so child safe. Between wiping her nose every 3 minutes, steering her away from sharp stuff, and constantly hiding my screwdriver I think it probably took me 3 times as long to build the dang thing. Oh, and the bottom board that goes right in front has a gouge out of it, dangit! There's just no way I would pack all that back up and deal with shipping/returning it for a scratch, but dang! Here's the new baby, flaws and all...
ooo, and I finally finished putting the comments in the family photo albums, and filled in the missing pictures Rowan had borrowed for her school project. Those puppies are caught up through Christmas! I'm going to say CHECK for now. (And I have now set a calendar reminder every three months to update the dang things so I don't find myself a year behind again.)
Last, but not least, I grabbed a wee bit of naptime yesterday to create some auction item "tags" as well as "business cards." I decided to not get all OCD with myself. I just wanted something simple, easy, and low-tech. I chose a decent graphic from my "yarn" search in the PowerPoint clip art files, found a font I liked, and threw them together. After a color suggestion change from my Dad (a graphic artist) I printed some out and can CHECK that off YOCL.
I don't have the energy today to tackle File Cabinet #2, but I think I might be able to finish those booties and the hat. Cross your fingers that Brynn takes a decent (and much needed) nap today. With the cloudy, rainy day I am tempted to nap myself...nah. Knitting is way more fun! Gotta keep on cookin'.
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2 comments:

  1. Christy Z.March 8, 2011 at 3:24 PM

    I like the cards!

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  2. KathyMarch 8, 2011 at 9:59 PM

    Love the cards, too. I can see how they really look in the photo. :) The hat is adorable, and those booties are THE BEST!!! I can't believe I've not made that pattern yet. I know three people who have babies coming up. I MUST make them some booties. What yarn did you use again? It just looks so perfect! File cabinet looks awesome, gouge and all. :)

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