My apologies for my chronic absenteeism lately. In between the regular rigamarole, we've been spending every extra minute in the yard--getting the garden ready, raking up the leaves we were too lazy to pick up last fall, you know the routine.
The garden is ready for our over abundance of seeds and starts now, but Mother Nature isn't. We've been dipping below freezing a bit this week so I'm holding off until this weekend's expected heat wave. We're expanding our growing space a little this year and adding a few new crops, like raspberries and corn. Growing corn breaks my gardening rule No. 1: only grow things that cost way too much at the store. But I'm hoping it will look pretty cool. You know, all "if you build it, they will come."
Speaking of saving money, I've recently become one of those crazy ladies who clips coupons. Is anyone else part of that sisterhood? Fred Meyer had to pay me $0.81 yesterday to buy a package of lasagna noodles.
I did manage to sew an impromptu Emmeline apron this week for one of Bo's teachers, who is leaving the school to take a new job.
Sometimes I worry that I feel my girls' pain too deeply, as if it were my own. I'm concerned about what this will mean when they're teenagers and they come home sobbing about some boy who's gone and broken their hearts. Ugh. I can remember that ache like it was yesterday, and now that I'm a mom I think of how my poor parents must have felt.
But Bo is still only 3, so her biggest heartbreak right now is me only letting her have two marshmallows instead of three today.
Except for the pending departure of Miss Kathleen, or so I thought.
I love this woman. She's like our very own ray of sunshine every morning when she greets the kids (doesn't hurt that her hair is a flamingly beautiful shade of red).
Miss Kathleen is taking a job in which she will help homeless women and their children transition to permanent housing. OK, OK. I will hand her over for that extremely worthy cause. But still, I think I will miss her as much as Bo will.
When I explained the situation to Bo, I expected her to lose it. We'd just seen a homeless man earlier in the day, though, so the thought of not having a place to sleep or enough to eat was fresh in her mind. So instead of crying over the loss of her teacher, she literally jumped out from under her bed covers, and then jumped on her bed cheering, "Yea! She's going to help the man!"
So much for wallowing in self pity. I could learn a thing or two from this kid.
I wanted to make Miss Kathleen a goodbye gift, and an apron seemed appropriate.
She can use this side when she's feeling more serious ...
Or this side when she's missing the kids at school ...
And just so she won't forget Bo, I added a pocket Bo helped make to the playful side. I asked Bo to draw a picture of Miss Kathleen and then I traced and embroidered what she came up with, like we've done before.
Here's Joe Cool herself, taking it all in:
Does anyone else think she kind of looks like the little boy in the movie "Love Actually"? Don't tell her I said that.
Oh! You are so good! When I had to leave my preschoolers, it was the heartfelt gifts-- a poem written by K's mom, a flower pot decorated by E-- that showed me I had been as important to my class families as they were to me. You can bet that that apron will be added to her hypothetical "Grab in an Evacuation" list. Also, that little pocket almost made me explode.
Posted by: mkpoggie | May 14, 2009 at 04:24 AM
Ms Kathleen will be so happy!
I don't know her but I know the feeling of getting a wonderfully thoughtful gift. I love the fabric did you get that at the top stitch?
Posted by: klay | May 14, 2009 at 09:58 AM
a wonderful gift.
Posted by: suna | May 14, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Love the Apron!!! No, not a boy....just very French!!
Posted by: Susannah | May 15, 2009 at 09:24 AM
Fellow couponer/sewer/mom checking in! I saved $30 off of $65 at Target the other night - woohoo! I used to use a lot of coupons before having our daughter, and then it was just too much work for a few years. Now I've discovered all of the great coupon blogs out there and they are making it a lot easier and a lot more fun!
Posted by: taramarissa | May 16, 2009 at 03:20 PM
Thanks so much, guys. I'm happy to report that Miss Kathleen loved the apron, especially the pocket. I need to get busy sewing ones for the other two teachers now!
Ha, ha, Susannah. She does look a little Frenchy there, doesn't she?
Klay, you won't believe this but all the fabric came from JoAnn's. The trees/birds one is from a line called Heidi Grace. I think it's new--do you know? Here's a link:
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat1273844&start=1
(the fabrics look better in person than online).
Taramarissa--I know what you mean about coupon blogs. I just discovered a local one for me--http://frugalchicliving.blogspot.com/
She even shares her meal plans and recipes, so I could live her life and spend just $50/week on groceries! FYI--that's waaaay less than I normally do, I'm ashamed to say.
Posted by: Megan | May 16, 2009 at 06:36 PM
Lovely apron!
Posted by: Jeanne | May 18, 2009 at 08:58 PM
Thanks, Jeanne!
Posted by: Megan | May 24, 2009 at 02:51 AM
Wow,looks too good to be just an apron! I just LOVE it! I just discovered your blog and I'm si glad I did! Gotta start sewing!
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