Joanne Heim

Making up for lost time

Here we go...three posts in one morning!

Now that it's summer, we're out and about and having lots of fun. We've been swimming nearly every day; the girls and Toben went to the movies yesterday while I spent time with my friend Emily; I've been to tea at Kimberly's house (lovely and delicious and so fun to sit on someone else's couch and talk for an afternoon while the rain poured outside); we've played some tennis; we've had lunches outside; we've sat on the edge of the deck eating cherries and seeing who could spit the pit the longest...and we're not even one week into summer vacation!

Toben's taking much of the summer off and it's great to hang out as a family. Since we didn't have a summer last year with packing and moving and business trips and such, we're really, really excited about these next few months.

The girls are up--time to make some breakfast.

Baby update

Kristen sent a bunch of pictures of Tyson, so I thought I'd share. He's already eight weeks old!

Isn't he a cutie?

(If you live in the Denver area and want family pictures or pictures of your kids, give Kristen a call. She's such an amazing photographer! She does weddings too. Her link is over there on the left...)

Sewing stuff...

Did anyone else go to the big Memorial Day sale at Jo-Ann's? Look at all the fabric I bought! The clearance fabric was an additional 50 percent off--so I got all of that decorator fabric for $1.50 a yard. Hooray! Book covers and bags and backpacks and zippy purses galore...

And I finished my skirt made from that Urban Outfitters bedspread for $4.99. (And it took less than half the fabric, so I figure it's my $2.50 skirt.) I made up the pattern based on the twirly skirt idea--but didn't make it nearly as full and added a waistband instead of a drawstring. It ties in a big bow in the back.

I've also been working on a new dress (out of another UO bedspread). I measured myself and made the size recommended by the pattern, but it's too big. So I need Mom to come over and help me pin it so I can take the seams in before continuing.

This is my Father's world

...and--wow!--is it beautiful. We spent the day in Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park with my parents who've been up there camping. And what a day!

At Mom and Dad's campsite

Picnic at Sprague Lake, followed by some fishing...Audrey got a nibble, but no fish this time

Mom and I sat and enjoyed the sun while they fished

Then we hiked up to Alberta Falls:

It was a gorgeous day...the pictures hardly do it justice. Warm and sunny until it was time to head into town for pizza, then it poured rain until we were done eating. We drove home a new way and saw four moose along the way (not to mention elk and deer and funny cows). All in all, a great day.

As we were sitting on the side of a mountain looking at it, I was struck by how blessed we are to live here. So thank you to all those who've given their lives so we could live in freedom. We remembered you this Memorial Day.

The view from my chaise...

Happy "last day of school, no more lunches to pack, summer vacation is here, break out the orange polish and paint everyone's toes" Friday!

P.S. For all of you who do the year of color thing with Amy, that is Colorado blue--but I don't think it's in the crayon box.

Rouille (rusty!)

My French, that is! Valerie left a comment half in French on my post yesterday. I had no trouble understanding what she said, but it took me about ten minutes and two dictionaries to write her back! But I'm so excited to get my French back up to par by reading her blog and writing back and forth with her.

Isn't blogging incredible? I just love having new friends all over the place and look forward to meeting some of you face to face. Stacy and I are going to vacation in the same place this summer (Lake of the Ozarks, MO)--but a week apart--darn! Maybe next year. I'll keep an eye open for Kimberly at the Sweet William Market on Saturday since we're both going. Anyone else want to go?

I went to Anthropologie today to visit the bag in person and think I know where to go from here. I worked on my sheeting version some, but need to go handle shopping before going any further. I did find a great coverlet at Urban Outfitters today and started a skirt. But I overestimated the size of my waist by about six inches and need to rip off the waist band and gather the skirt some more! (Think it's because I didn't measure too well first, and because I tried on swimsuits today and we all know what that does to you...)

(Do ya'll know about the amazing fabric at Urban Outfitters? Big sheets of great patterned cotton--90 x 108--on clearance for $4.99 with some frequency. I have five or six big sheets of fabric from there to use for bags, skirts, and whatever else strikes my fancy. Think the "mom bag" will be made out of some of this fabric for the first go 'round. Seriously, go check it out next time you're at the mall if you can stand the LOUD, awful music they play...)

I love this bag...

...and am determined to figure out how to make it.

I'm making up a pattern based pretty much on my memory of it (from Anthropologie, of course!) and have one side made up in some waste fabric. I'll make the other side exactly like it, but then have to figure out how to get the two sides joined up. Lining things always makes it more difficult to figure out how it all goes together, I think.

This is such a cool bag--each side opens seperately and I think it'd be a great mom bag. One side for me, one side for the mom stuff. It would have been especially great for that "post-diaper bag, but still carrying around a spare diaper or two and snacks" stage. Here's the link...go check it out up close--I couldn't figure out how to make the picture show up bigger.

Here's what I've got so far--it's a little hard to see in white, but that's the torn up sheet that I had to work with...

I'll keep you posted on how it goes...

Four more things...

I was tagged by Valerie to share Four Things about myself. I recently did here. But she had a few additional categories:

Four TV shows I watch:

Little House on the Prairie
M*A*S*H

Yep, only two--and only rarely. Love the Hallmark channel for those. Though I must admit I come running for Daniel Cook on Disney; I'd like to adopt him, I think! And I did enjoy watching Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel.

Four places I've been on vacation:

Because my family lived in Europe, I've been to a lot of great places on vacation, so it's hard to pick just four...

Carmel, California (honeymoon)
Paris (my 30th birthday)
Kauai (love, love, love it there!)
Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri (my whole family goes almost every summer)

Four things I wouldn't eat for anything in the world:

Any kind of insect, bug, creepy, crawly thing
Dog, hamster, or any other weird meat eaten in some places in the world
Birds' nest soup (after seeing that on Planet Earth, no thank you!)
I'm sure I could come up with another one if I thought long enough

Four things I do when I'm online:

Check my email
Check the weather forecast
Read a blog or two or three or five...

Pretty sure I covered it--and hope I got the categories right; my French is a little out of practice! But now that I know about Valerie's blog I'm hoping it'll all come back to me. (She does often translate into English--so go check it out!)

Bye Terri

I just got home from taking Terri to the airport; it was hard to say goodbye. But Audrey and I are headed to San Diego next month so I can do a radio show; we'll stay with Terri and her family for a couple of days and see other friends and family too--something fun to look forward to.

So, hmmm...what have we been up to since I blogged last?

Thursday

I went to pray at school in the morning, came home to clean bathrooms and mop floors, and went to Daisies at school. Toben picked Terri up at the airport and brought her straight to school. All the girls met her and yelled, "Happy Birthday!" Audrey showed her around school while we finished up our Daisy meeting; Emma showed Terri her class while I talked to some Scout moms about bridging on Saturday.

We had a birthday dinner of chicken tacos (thanks, Marla, for passing on the chicken/salsa in the crockpot recipe--it's soooo yummy!) and I gave Terri her present.

A totally Terri tote and zippy purse to match. All the fabric in my stash is more me than her, so I was thrilled to find this fabric that is perfect for her. I was planning to do a basic tote, but then saw these bamboo handles and fell in love with them. I made up the simple pattern based on a Trader Joe's tote my mom brought me from her last trip to CA.

Friday

We got up and went on a walk. It was fun to show her the paths I walk almost every day. I'm sure the neighbors were all happy to see me talking to someone they could see, rather than me talking and singing all by myself like usual!

We ate yummy bran muffins for breakfast, got cleaned up, and headed to Vail for lunch. The weather was gorgeous, the food at Sweet Basil awesome as usual, we sat outside and drank coffee, we looked at flowers, and talked and talked and talked.

We got home and had dinner with my whole family (Toben and the girls; Mom and Dad; Wade and Kristen and the kids) at our favorite pizza place.

Saturday

We got up and went for another walk, stopping to look at playhouses and garden borders and poppies and such. When we got home we baked more muffins and sat outside for a couple of hours, drinking coffee and talking while the girls played.

We wandered through Hobby Lobby (she's hooked--and wants them to go to Southern California too!) and picked up the cake for our Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony. We were kind of disappointed with the bakery's decorating job (they only put on the certificiate--and crooked at that--and the light green frosting), so we came home and embellished it! Terri was full of great ideas to make it better and it turned out so cute.

We did a family picnic for the ceremony, and it was great to see our Scout families hang out together and have fun. Mom and Dad came to see Audrey and Emma bridge, and so did Wade and Kristen and the kids. The sky got gray and dark, it rained a couple of drops, but we prayed for God to hold off the rain and he did! Hooray!

Today

Got up and made more muffins for breakfast, headed to church, and came home for Sunday dinner (roast and gravy, oven roasted new potatoes, squash and zucchini, Joanne carrots, grilled artichokes, lemon pound cake). Mom and Dad joined us and we ate and ate and talked and talked. Such a great afternoon.

***

So that's the weekend in a nutshell. Terri said to her husband on the phone that she was here just being part of the family, and that's exactly what it felt like. I'm so glad you came, Terri! Thank you!

Terri

Tomorrow is my friend Terri's birthday...and she's coming to visit! It totally feels like I'm the one getting the present for her special day.

I met Terri for the first time when Audrey was in kindergarten in San Diego. We had lunch duty on the same day and I remember her telling me about the scented geraniums taking over part of her yard. "I'll bring you some," she said. And she did.

We met smack-dab in the middle of finding out Toben was bi-polar; life was crazy and it was all I could do to keep it together. But I remember being so touched by her openness, her vitality, and her thoughtfulness.

It was really at the end of Audrey's first grade year that we became great friends. We began to lead the girls' Brownie troop together and we just instantly clicked at that time. We joke that planning Brownies always took so much time because we always had so much to talk about that it took a while to get around to the meeting plans.

It was really, really hard to move away from San Diego because it meant leaving such a great friend behind. She often calls me on her morning walk along the beach at Cardiff and I'm so excited to take her on my morning walk on Friday so she can picture where I am as well as I can picture where she is.

There's something really important about being able to have my friends really know where I am.

All that to say, Terri's coming to visit tomorrow afternoon and I can hardly wait!

Me and Terri, last spring

From free to fabulous

I received three white chairs while we lived in San Diego that someone was getting tossing out. They sat outside around the firepit for a while; one became a desk chair for Audrey; one is the chair I use downstairs now when I sew.

One got put by the front door this winter so guests would have a spot to sit and put on their boots before heading outside in the cold and snow. But it just wasn't very pretty...until now.

I made this cover/skirt for the chair last week (or was it the week before?) and never got around to sharing it. So here are way more pictures than you probably need to see! (The light is kind of weird in these...the ruffle and pillow are a sage-y color green in real life.)

(That's Daisy Mabel walking by.)

Here's what it looks like close up. When I finished, I decided it needed a little pillow to go with it too.

It ties on with big floppy bows.

And Joey likes it too!

Back from Seattle

I had a great trip, but there's nothing quite like coming home again. The wedding was beautiful; I spent some time with my aunt and uncle in Lake Forest Park; I drank lots of champagne. But coming around the corner in the airport to my girls running toward me with huge bouquets of flowers and yelling, "Happy Mother's Day!" was the best part of the whole weekend...

The wedding was at the Molly Ward Gardens in Poulsbo--beautiful and lush and green. The weather was nice for the afternoon and the flowers were incredible.

Sarah and me

My friend Emily and I are making Sarah and Josh a quilt to snuggle under for their wedding gift, and I made a card to look like a quilt and added all kinds of movie candy and popcorn for their at-home movie nights since we haven't actually started the quilt yet and wanted to be able to give them something for a gift!

I took along a tote bag filled with wedding/plane/honeymoon goodies and necessities--toothbrush, decks of cards, mints, a mending kit, snacks, Shout wipes, and such. Isn't this fun fabric? I also made a big zippy pouch out of it and lined it with a fun pink and green stripe. My favorite part of the fabric is the part that says, "Because I'm the bride that's why"!

Off to Seattle...

The suitcase is mostly packed--except for stuff I'll need in the morning.
The house is mostly clean--and what's not is only noticeable to me.
The garden is planted.
I've checked in online.
The wedding gift is ready to go.
Little surprises are wrapped and ready.
The ipod is charged.
I've entered the numbers I'll need into my phone.
Clothes are sitting out for the morning.
My camera's charged and pakced.

Think I'm about ready to go...

I leave first thing in the morning and will be back Sunday night. I'm not taking my computer on this trip--can't remember the last trip without my laptop!--so I'll talk to ya'll then!

Hard day

It's been a long, hard day--very emotional. I didn't sleep very well last night and woke up this morning to realize how much of my own pride has been wrapped up in this whole thing.

It's also been good--it's given me an opportunity to love Audrey in ways that challenge me, to recognize some things in me that need to change, and to learn and grow with her. I still don't understand everything that's going on, but am praying for God shed light on the whole thing.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support--I can see it making a difference.

For now, I'm off to bed to get some rest.

Humility

So I've been thinking about humility a lot lately and what that would look like in my life. Praying for God to destroy my pride and breed humility in me.

Let's just say that he answers prayers like that.

I've had a totally humiliating experience today regarding one of my children that may have some long-lasting ramifications. It's embarassing and I pretty much feel sick to my stomach over it.

And, yet, in the midst of it, I'm trying to "embrace the humility" as Beth Moore teaches. To accept it without excuses or arguments. It's okay to hear about it at a conference, but not so much fun to live it out.

Treasures!

The Paris Street Market was definitely successful!

A full shopping cart (the granny cart is one I got at the same market about four years ago, I think. And the liner came from curtains that hung in my house three houses ago!)

The ironing board has become a sofa table in the family room. I've been looking for one of these for a while now and found one at the right price.

Kristen and Janna both have one of these stretchy file thingies, and I've always been jealous. But I've never seen another. (Theirs came free from the office where they both used to work.) This one fits perfectly on my bookshelves to hold magazines.

I met two great gals at the market yesterday. They run the Sweet William Market that runs the last Saturday of each month. My calendar's marked...

And with the start of the street market season, the granny cart is out to stay!

Decadence

There are a few things that feel totally decadent to me...

Going to the movies in the middle of the afternoon
Eating strawberry shortcake for dinner
Spending a day at the spa
Watching movies all day long

This afternoon I spent an hour or so in the tub with my new Country Living magazine, eating cookies and drinking sparkly pink lemonade. Definitely makes the list!

***

Tomorrow is the first Paris Street Market of the season in Littleton (and mentioned twice in the new Country Living). Hope to have wonderful treasures to share tomorrow!

Starting my day

I was over reading the Living Proof Ministries blog the other day and Beth asked readers to describe where they meet with God each day. I commented there, but thought I'd share some of what said there, plus a little more.

I meet with God each morning in "my" chair--one I picked up at an antique store that was painted a hideous blue and orange and black. The cushion was old and smelly and covered in scratchy 1970s couch upholstery. Yes, it was that gross. But it had a drop-leaf table attached to one arm that called my name. (I wish I had a "before" picture to share; I'm not sure you can appreciate how cute it is now without having seen its hideous past life!)

I painted it white, added a red mattress ticking cushion, a huge patchwork pillow for a back rest and it's my favorite chair in all the world.

I set the coffee the night before, shuffle downstairs, turn on the coffee, feed the cat, let the dog out, and grab my favorite mug. I sit down, tell God good morning and enjoy a cup of coffee (or two or three) with my Creator.

We talk, study, and plan our day together ("Teach me to number my day aright..." as Moses wrote in Psalm 90). It's my favorite time of day and I can't go for more than a day or two without it. I get grumpy and mean and not very much fun to be around.

While getting up at 5:30 is not always my idea of a good time, it's worth getting up to me. Sleeping in doesn't make up for what I miss by not rolling out of bed and downstairs.

Happy May Day

Out of the blue, my friend Marla sent our family a package. Look what was inside to go on our fridge... (sorry it's so blurry)

...and she says she's not crafty. Thank you, Marla, you crafty girl you!

***

I spent the afternoon digging in the dirt...such fun. I planted herb seeds in my flower boxes, geraniums in pots outside my kitchen window, a pot of marigolds and one of petunias, and a huge barrel of mint. I also bought some raspberry and blackberry canes (I want to say canes--isn't that right?) to go along the back fence. But I need to do some major cleaning up back there before planting.

I'm also thinking about a playhouse for the backyard. I passed one today on my walk and my imagination just ran wild. Something makes me think that it might not happen, but I'm going to keep dreaming about it. I've always wanted a playhouse.

There are leaves coming out on all the trees and I'm just so thankful every time I step outside. I've missed them!

Tomorrow I'm going to order dirt for the garden...