baby room

This weekend I worked on the baby room for a while, all the time praying for the little one I hope will be living there sometime in the upcoming months.

I worked on the vines again and then began work on some animals on mdf board. I am SO HAPPY with how they are turning out! I am going to make a bunch of these for my Xmas craft fair in November this year!

Let me know what you think! I will branch out and do other animals (of course) and am happy to take suggestions on other topics! I have LOVED making these so far. They are about 2 feet tall and 1 foot wide.

OH! There is also an elephant finished (just not photographed) and a monkey and lion in the works.

flashback

Last night Joe and I went to the "Green and White Game" at his high school, Arlington High. Its when the team scrimages itself basically. The cheerleaders were cracking me up. They'd do a cheer (pretty unenthusiastically) and at the end...no jumps, no GO COLTS!! Just smooth out my hair and make comment to my friend. It was funny to watch.
After the game there is a fundraiser- a burger cookout! So we went and got in line for that. In front of us were 3 of those same cheerleaders. One with a boyfriend who, rightly so, remained very quiety among the giggly girls, pointing and commenting on everyone and everything going on. One of said cheerleader's mom was right behind us. So when we finally got to the grub, she fell behind with mom and the other 2 and boyfriend took off. I thought nothing of it. But when Joe came to sit down he said,"That cheerleader just said to her mom, 'I don't have any friends.' Mom said, 'Sure you do! They were just here!' and she replied, 'They ditched me. I don't have any REAL friends." And we looked over and there she is with her mom at the next table, a little teary.
My heart really hurt for her. That was me for a while in high school. At least at school. I LOVED my life at church. I was loud and silly and had tons of friends. That's where I could shine. But at school I felt really left out. The people I thought were my friends never treated me like one. They never asked me to do anything with them. That's what ultimately led to my quiting volleyball my senior year. Those girls were not my real friends. I found some real friends after that and life was so much better! So last night when I saw all this, I really wished I was bold enough to go talk to that cheerleader. Tell her that it sucks right now. That I'd been there too and I made it out. That there are friends to be made in other places. That going off to college and starting again is a great opportunity. And that high school is not the end of things. In many ways, it's just the beginning. Of course Joe and I joked abotu how I ended up marrying a football player too (could've added that in for humor's sake in my speech.)
I had just about decided to bite the bullet, go over and talk to her. But she ran out to the parking lot crying. I wish I had acted immediately. I thougth about her a lot today and how it would've made a difference to me if a stranger had had that talk with me 13 years ago. Crazy what life throws at you and how you forget pain from the past. Next time, I'm going to say something. :)

a bunch of little happinesses

I have been working on several little projects and they all are making me smile. I've been really pleased with each of them and thought I'd share, in case you want to use them yourself! They are all inexpensive little projects either at my home or at school. I'll let you know how much each cost even!
#1. This was the priciest: NEW SHUTTERS! I am so pleased with these. They make the front of the house look so different. Now I konw I'm biased, but I think our house is the best looking on on our street. Our lawn is a little patchy color-wise, but we have bushes and flowers and a tree and now...SHUTTERS! It's adorable! Got them from Home Depot for about $50 total. #2. New flowers in the front yard. I bought huge hanging arrangements of zinnias (I think) for $5 each! (what a deal?!?!) Now how long can I keep them alive???

#3. My old planters are so ick. They are grayed and boring. And I kill everything I plant in them anyways...so more gray and ick. I was at Home Depot the other day and I saw all these new ceramic pots in bright yellow, lime green, aqua!! But at $20 a peice, I didn't want them so much. Instead, I bought a couple cans of plastic spray paint (about $3.50 each) and sprayed my old plastic pots. Too cute...and a splash of color for plain ol' green plants!

#4. Vines on the wall. I am working on the baby room right now. It will be all ready when God decides to send us someone to live in it! I began the vines that will eventually go all the way around the green room. I wasn't too keen on the dark, glossy green that Joe picked, but once it was on the wall, I LOVE it! Joe was really pleased with the results we got too. So far...only cost was a quart of paint, about $13. Now it's just gonnna take some time.

#5. Printmaking at school. We tried something new this year. When we did printmaking, we started by doing color bleeding with tissue paper squares and water (great activity if you have little kids!!) Then we rolled black tempra on famous art rubbing plates and made a print on the wet colored paper. They turned out AMAZING! You can get famous art rubbing plates for $7 from Sax Arts and Crafts.

#6. Symmetry studies. This was easy too. Take picture of your child. Print only half of it. Have them draw the other side. These are so cute. This is one from a 1st grader.

#7. Finally, we are doing some large scale art pieces for the school. They will be permenant parts of the front hallway very soon. We decided to do children's books and each of my 10 second grade classes did a different book. Each child did a pencil drawing and the one looking most like the actual book was blown up to be painted. Here is one of the first finished so far. Cost of these was just under $4 each. They measure 3 ft x 2ft. (MDF was bought and cut at Home Depot.)

My water broke

Yep. It's true. My water broke today. No, I'm not in labor. My water isn't working in my classroom! I went to turn on the water this morning and nothing happened! Luckily, I had all my paint buckets filled and ready for the day already. (I did some prep the afternoon before). Also luckily, my classes that were doing printmaking did not require water to be refreshed (no rinsing brushes or anything in those buckets.) Furthermore, it was lucky that my 2 classes doing this project today were my 2 most weel behaved 2nd graders. They could be trusted to do tissue paper bleeds, black ink prints and go wash their hands in the bathroom down the hall without me standing with them every step and monitoring their every move. They even came back in quietly and got to work on the post-printing activities. Good kiddos! My water is still broken and no idea when I will get it back. Hard doing art with no sink!
This afternoon I was thinking, "My water broke" and realized the irony in that. If Baby Varney #1 had made it to term, my water would have broken today. It was my due date. God sure was showing his sense of humor!

pray

Hello blog readers!

This week is hard for me. It's mother's day again. Last year I said it would be my last one without a baby. Well...in some ways, that's true. I did concieve 2 children this past year. And while last year was hard, this one is harder in lots of ways. I have found myself crying, or at least tearing up a lot this week. It's hard to see Mother's Day splashed everywhere. It's hard hearing how awesome mom's are and knowing that's not me still. But its really hard because I should be delivering my first child this weekend. Baby Varney #1 was due May 12th. That's Tuesday.
Part of me wants to acknowledge this on Sunday, along with my 2 other girl friends who have lost babies this year. Part of me wants to avoid the issue all together. Last year was so hard, and honestly...the best time of my whole year was Mother's Day with Amy and Brian. I know it can be that way this year too.
So we are running away again, this time with another couple added to the mix and 4 babies lost between the 3 couples (2 of those mine). I hope it's a weekend of fun and laughter and not one of tears and heartache. If you're a mom, I hope you truly appreciate the gift you've been given. There are many of us who hurt very deeply because we are denied that same blessing.
Here's hoping this year is the year and next year this post will be filled with baby pictures.
Remember those of us in this crappy boat while you celebrate on Sunday.