The Gamble Life

Some Sewing Time

I've been sewing since I was about nine; I even went to college with an entire wardrobe of clothes I'd made myself (including my winter coat!).  I love to sew, not just clothes but all kinds of things.  These past few years though I have hardly sewn at all.  I miss it too.  Just this week I did manage to find some time, and since my sweet family doesn't seem to mind eating dinner every night with my sewing machines as dining table companions, I was able to make this cute pencil roll:

I put it together with this Bare Book (cover chosen by my son; thank you to SouleMama for turning me on to Bare Books) as a 3rd birthday present for a dear friend of ours.  We really hope she likes creating some fun artwork in her new book with her new colored pencils!  I am going to try and make some more of these for gifts since I really like the way this one came out.  I didn't include a pencil sharpener since I think most families already have one and because I could only find plastic ones at Target...I wanted very much to give a plastic-free gift as well as a gift that is for using and possibly/partially using up.

I really love coming up with fun kids' presents.

Labels: kids, sewing

Treasure

My son recently drew this Treasure Map.  It has three treasure chests; the large one is for him and includes a robot.  The divided treasure chest includes a gold coin for him and one for me; the smallest treasure chest includes a gold coin for Chris.  The baby does not get his own treasure.

Apparently tickets are required to use the treasure map and go hunting so he also drew us tickets.  The real treasure for me are these tickets--his first drawings of us!  He is on the left, wearing his swim goggles.  I am in the middle, with the "M."  His Daddy is on the right, but that is not a "D" next to his head, that is his treasure.

The drawing my son has been doing this summer is just amazing.  It's like overnight he went from scribbles to full-on drawings of people, things, scenes and stories.  It's amazing to see.  I never make any suggestions either, it all comes from him.  Actually, this summer has been a real growth summer for him in a lot of ways.  He started the summer afraid to put his head under the water and now swims almost all the way across the pool, dives for toys on the bottom of the pool (3 feet), sits on his bottom on the bottom of the pool, takes the really big slide into the pool by himself and just generally loves it.  He makes tons of friends at the pool, shows and expresses no fear, and doesn't need me to get in with him (although we both have a ton of fun when I can--depends on a sleeping baby though).    

He's a lot more independent in so many ways:  walks to the neighbors house on his own (even when we don't want him to!), has regular family contributions around the house, can fold his own laundry and help with the baby's, and has developed a real sense of himself as a "big kid."

When I stop to think about it I have two strong feelings.

First, I realize that it is absolutely the right thing to let kids develop at their own pace!  We try to introduce him to all sorts of things, but we've never pushed him to do any particular thing at any particular time (except dress himself!) and now that he's ready he is getting complete enjoyment out of his achievements.  I feel that if we'd expressed some need for him to do things sooner he might have not enjoyed them as much or felt like he didn't measure up in some way.  He's not riding his bike much yet, although he likes to get it out and try every now and then, and I just remember that he'll get there when he's ready, and frankly, if he inherited my bike-riding genes it'll be awhile (embarrassing but true:  I didn't take my training wheels off until I was 11!  I couldn't see why I should make it harder.  Then the six year old next door took hers off.  Ouch.).

Seond, it's wonderful to see him grow up.  But, as his mom, it's also not sad, but something like sad, and it makes me realize (again) how fast the time goes.

Labels: kids

Hiking the Smoky Mountains: Pictures

Kind of a grandiose title, but even though the beginning of our hike was in a touristy area, the bulk of it was nice and isolated.  We had a great time and saw a great many fabulous things in nature.  Here's a taste.

Many, many really interesting and unusual mushrooms:

Some hidden flowers that required an attentive eye to find:

Berries that sadly weren't ready for eating:

Several waterfalls; this one was my favorite:

Neat areas for exploring:

And my favorite of all, some really really neat spiders:

Sometime I hope to go back and go for a longer hike or maybe even camping.

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

I can no longer recall whose blog first mentioned this book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, but I am so glad they did!  In law school I used to bake my own bread from scratch, with Sundays spent kneading and watching/waiting.  In the past few years I've made our bread in the bread machine (a wonderful invention).  Both of those breads were good, healthy, and cheaper than buying bread in the store.  But the breads I can make with this book are awesome!  Just as easy as the bread machine, but yummier and the shapes are more pleasing.  Way easier than all the kneading, and also yummier.  So far I pretty much just bake the basic bread and these delicious sticky buns, but I have grand plans to try all the variations in the book, especially the pizzas.  I really recommend you try it out!  My library had it, yours might too, although I think you'll buy it after you try it, like I did.

Vacation?

This is the beautiful view* from our house in the Smoky Mountains on our recent vacation.  You never quite know what you are renting when you do it all online but we were happy with the house, especially because it had lots of room and we were able to sleep on a separate floor (with the baby) from the rest of our family.

This turned out to be tragically good as the baby got his first (and hopefully last) ear infection while on vacation.  He was up screaming all night the first night there (Chris and I took turns holding him upright which allowed him to sleep in some comfort.  Note that I said allowed him to sleep, not us.).  We spent most of the next day in the Emergency Room at the hospital where the ER doctor did not agree with my diagnosis of ear infection but instead decided he was having breathing trouble.  Now, he was very congested with a really stuffy nose, and this did make it harder for him to breath, but he was not having breathing trouble.  His pulse oxygen was 98% which is great.  He wasn't wheezing or having any other audible breathing problems.  Nevertheless we with left with equipment and drugs for a breathing problem.  Thank goodness we did not agree to give him the 5 day course of oral steroids the doctor wanted!  Yikes.  I'm still mad at myself for not being more assertive with the doctor in general though.  Our older son had/has asthma/RAD and I have lots and lots of experience of real breathing troubles in a baby/child.  In fact, he was younger than the baby when he had his first episode of wheezing and I can remember it clearly.  Just to say that I knew it wasn't breathing that was bothering our baby.

That night was okay, but not normal.  The next night was a repeat of night one.  It was no longer the weekend so we went to a pediatrician's office in a nearby small town and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  I walked up and down the hallway with him in a sling for what seemed like an eternity (the waiting room was full of sick babies and kids and the last thing I wanted was to add to our illness troubles).  I am a little bit proud of myself though because 1-I held him for 3 or 4 hours (I can't remember anymore how long I actually was there) and 2-I managed to nurse him in the sling, while standing up!  Finally when there was not one more person left waiting we were seen by the pediatrician who took one look and said "Ouch.  Ear infection."  Yeah, I know.  We got a prescription and were finally free.  And within 24 hours he was feeling so much better.  Not quite back to normal because the antibiotic gave him diarrhea, even with the acidopholus we gave him, poor little guy, but still much improved and able to enjoy the adoring and holding our in-laws were happy to provide:

Chris and I really look forward to the family vacations because 1-hey, vacation, 2-we love our family, and 3-we usually get a caring break from the kids too.  We don't mind taking care of our kids, we love them and enjoy them, but we never have hired a babysitter and now that we don't live near family we don't really get a true break from parenting (kids asleep upstairs is sort of a break, but it's not like going out to dinner just the two of us).  That didn't really happen this time.  The baby was only 3 months old, and then sick, so I didn't feel much like leaving him and he didn't feel much like having me leave him, and we were kind of isolated in the mountains so to go anywhere required a bit of a drive.  We ended up not doing anything on our own during this vacation and that was too bad.

Also, I think every person except my older son was sick during the vacation.  That put a bit of a damper on things as well.  So, I don't know, is it still officially a vacation when everyone gets sick, you spend a lot of time in doctor's offices, and you return home possibly a little more tired than when you left?  Not sure, but I do know that despite everything it was still a wonderful week and it was wonderful to spend the time with our family.  I especially enjoyed finding an old Battleship game and challenging anyone and everyone to numerous "salvo rules" games.  As a kid I used to try and play Battleship against myself, i.e., alone.  Yeah, that didn't work very well.

Here are some of the highlights:

On a hike through Smoky Mountain National Park (more on this in a later post):

Chris getting a chance to do some relaxing:

The kiddo doing some drawing out on the deck:

He chose to give that drawing, "Cardinal," to his Aunt Ellie and I will admit that I was very jealous because I wanted it for myself.  I made her promise to save it forever.  Here's another drawing he did, this time of his Aunt Ellie.  I think this may be the first person he's ever drawn.  Unfortunately it was at a restaurant on the paper tablecloth so we weren't able to bring it home.  I think it looks just like her!

What do you think?  This is her, me, and my older son roasting marshmallows for s'mores:

Oh, we had a family debate over the proper way and amount of roasting a marshmallow takes to be maximally delicious.  I am exhibiting the proper form here in this picture.  Here is a close-up:

Oh yeah!  Burned to a crisp and full of melty marshmallowy goo inside.  Yum.

There were several bird feeders on the deck at the house and got to see so many birds every day, including a pair of beautiful, awesome hummingbirds.

You like that beautiful shot of the hummingbird?  I know.  I'm taking so many pictures these days and I am butting up against the limitations of my (wonderful) point and shoot camera.  I am ready to own a digital SLR, but am I ready to shell out the $$ to buy one?  I used to do a lot of photography in high school, with real cameras, and I loved it.   I have to think about this because (off topic!) there are several expensive things I would like to have and I'll have to make some choices and/or wait awhile for some of them.

The house had a hot tub which was a nice touch.  It was warm though--swimming (that's what my son considered it) in a hot tub in 85 degree heat is interesting and warm.  Not bad though, we did it several days.

All in all I say, yes, it was a vacation, maybe not the best ever, but pretty nice overall.

* My camera has developed a gray blur, here is the close-up of the cloud that is not a cloud.  Also, this blur is in all my pictures, it just doesn't show up well against other scenes (thank goodness).

Quirky Boy

Unbeknownst to me until recently, this particular cabinet is known as the "sweets cabinet" because I apparently "hide" all the sweet stuff in it.  Not so hidden if it's got a family name, I say.  Not so hard to get into either, apparently.  I was impressed that he chose the dried cranberries instead of the chocolate chips.  I am pretty sure that was an aberration!

So my son has a few funny habits, including this rubber-band one.  A lot of vegetables come with rubber bands around them and at my grocery store the cashiers always put a rubber band around my carton of eggs so I've got this big collection of rubber bands and really almost no use for them.  I hang them on a hook magnet on my fridge.  And then my son comes along and stretches them all around the kitchen cabinets (and this time off the dishwasher) creating an elaborate connection scheme that makes it darn near impossible to open any of the cabinets or drawers.  He gets really mad if I take any of them off too!  They are in place because the cabinets are "for employees only" (luckily he's deemed me (and himself) an employee).

I know where he gets the "for employees only" fascination:  Costco.  They drive these forklifts and we can catch glimpses of them but aren't allowed into the back because...it's for employees only.  Also at the museum the elevator has buttons for three floors but we're only allowed on two because the third is...for employees only.

He really stretches these rubber bands tight too.  After a session in the kitchen during which I've had to actually open a drawer or cabinet or two the floor will be littered with snapped rubber band pieces.

Brothers

We found them cuddling on our bed.

Getting caught caused some laughing and being silly.

Then they checked out the camera-wielding mom.  I get the idea they were both thinking "no pictures" or something similar.

There's nothing like spending most of Saturday fooling around in your pjs.

The Pool

Still no pictures (too much water!), but we had a wonderful visit to the pool today.  There was one glaring blemish though--this dad had his daughter out in the water, she was in his arms but screaming and crying (real screaming and crying) and saying "no, no, I don't want to, no" over and over while he would dunk her under the water.  This went on for at least twenty minutes and was miserable.  Honestly, does he think this is going to serve some good purpose?  I can't imagine a regimen better designed to make her hate and fear the water (not to mention her dad).  And given what we've seen with our son this summer it's also completely unnecessary.  At the beginning of the summer he was still afraid of the water, wanted to be held at all times, and wouldn't put his face under.  Then he just wasn't.  Today he swam about 12 feet from me to the edge and back again over and over.  He loves swimming and diving to get things from the bottom, he's confident enough to play with other kids in the water, he isn't scared at all.  He lost his fear on his own time, in his own way, not because we forced him under the water and then tried to tell him "see you're fine."  Grr.  I was so mad at that dad.  If I see him again I'm going to have to do something.

We joined a private pool here.  Where we're from, Austin, there are lots of nice (albeit small) free public pools and several quite nice and large (reasonable daily) fee public pools so really no need to join a private one at all.  Here in Durham though that is not the case (nor has it been on other east coast cities I've lived in).  All the pools are private here.  We're lucky though to have a nice one right in our neighborhood.  Ever since we've joined it we've gone to the pool every few days and had a really wonderful time while we're there and I've been worried that there is some bad reason we like the private pool so much.  I've thought about it a lot though and I don't think it's any flaw in my character.  The pool is large, it has good lifeguards, two wooden gazebos that provide a lot of shade, tables and chairs, lounge chairs, a concession, indoor space, and so on.  It isn't very crowded, compared to a free public pool and that is really nice too.  And then, we paid for it so if we find ourselves saying "should we go to the pool or ..." we usually decide to go to the pool to make it more worth the money.  And the more we go, the more fun we have when we do go because we see the same people there, we develop a routine, our little swimmer gets even better at swimming and so on.  So what do you think:  "phew, not an snob!" or "snob using a good rationalization to feel better"?

Finished

This past weekend we spent a wonderful Saturday at the pool (no pictures 'cause my camera near all that water just makes me nervous!).  Chris and I take turns swimming with one son and sitting with another and we both got the chance to finish some books we've been reading.

I finished Exposed:  The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power by Mark Schapiro.  I posted about this earlier, when I was mid-way through the book.  At that point I was still in the sections discussing specific chemicals and metals which are prevalent in consumer items and quite dangerous to human health.  The EU, China, and many other countries are taking steps to ban these chemicals and metals from consumer goods based on the risks they present.  In the US we wait until a serious harm has occurred and then consider redress for that harm.  It's complicated, but I prefer the EU system since the risks are so great.  Regardless, the tide is turning in the world and the US is getting left behind.  The second half of the book focuses on how the US is rapidly becoming irrelevant in the world regulatory scheme.  You might think this doesn't matter but it does because if our products aren't allowed to be sold in the big markets of the world that does quite a number of our trade balance.  In addition, we become the dumping ground for products that don't meet the standards of other countries.  I hope everyone will read this book.  If you live in California your state has already adopted many of the same controls that the EU has adopted, but for the rest of us we have some work to do.

I also finally finished Cloudstreet by Tim Winton.  And I mean finally.  I hate not finishing a book so I continued to slog through this one but I didn't enjoy it.  It's full of Australian lingo that I didn't get and what's worse, didn't care enough to figure out ("Carn" anyone?).  It follows two families over twenty years and their lives are pretty grim and while I think the author probably thinks the overall message or ending is happy it just wasn't enjoyable to read.  I didn't even manage to keep straight the secondary characters (I thought one was a son when the whole time it was a daughter).  I guess the biggest problem is that it never grabbed me emotionally.  I love a sad story or a happy story, but for me, this was mostly a boring story.

I get most of my book recommendations from Oprah Magazine, friends, or Goodreads.  If you haven't checked out Goodreads, you should!  Make sure and "friend me;" my Goodreads name is "Maya" so it shouldn't be too hard to find me.  I'd love to see what you are reading lately.  Anyone with some recommendations for what I should read next?

Labels: books

My Friends Are Smart!

I just found out that another friend of mine is going to be publishing a book!  Congrats Alison!  Just add her to list of my brilliant friends:

Meira Levinson's dissertation (I'm pretty sure another book is coming along soon)
Cathy Kemp

I know there are more, because so many have phDs...if you're one of them send me the link/title and I'll include it here!