Crafting: Learning to Sew

So, I've wanted to learn to sew forever and a day. I love being creative...but I've never been in an art/craft class, sewing included (wow! that's kind of shocking, right? since I come from a family of artists and my mom sews). Most of my creative projects come from my limited knowledge of craftiness- I know how to Mod Podge amazingly well, and that's about it. IMHO-You really need to know how to sew well to make practical and cool things by hand. Here's my lesson learned- creativity can only get you so far.

Oh, I've tried to learn on my own. There was the (poorly sewn) pillow project. A couple of (poorly) hemmed dresses. My mom even gave me a new sewing machine (that I wanted so badly) a few years back, and I spent 2+ hours trying to figure out how to thread and sew with this said sewing machine, to no avail (pretty pathetic considering I had the directions too). Then this year there was the Christmas stockings: I can cut out designs, use the iron to attach the felt, but once I needed to sew to finish the project- I choked.

All that to say-- I think it's finally happening! A friend of mine from church has offered to teach me to sew. And it's not just an offer any more- we have set a date (this Thursday) to get started with the lessons. I am completely ecstatic to learn from this master sewer! Who-hoo! She's going to help me learn how to make a padded Kindle cover for my new Kindle. :) I'm super thrilled!!

Beware, you may soon be gifted with an amateurish hand-sewn thingamajig ;)


xoxo, Rebecca

Being a Mom: Winter Funfest

Check out a slideshow of recent pictures of Sadie: Enlarge window and click "Show Info" to see captions in the top right

XOXO, Rebecca

Making the MOST Impact

I was introduced to Vitamin Angels today. Apparently this one of the charities that is making the most impact in our world.


Mission: Our mission is to mobilize and deploy private sector resources to advance availability, access and use of micronutrients, especially vitamin A, by newborns, infants and children in need. Vitamin Angels reduces child mortality worldwide by connecting essential nutrients, especially vitamin A, with infants and children under five. Essential nutrients enable young immune systems to fight infectious diseases, helping children attain good health and the opportunity to lead meaningful and productive lives.

Pretty neat.

See video for more about Vitamin Angels:

Vitamin Angels: Be an Angel from Vitamin Angels on Vimeo.

Thoughts? Have you all heard of Angel Vitamins before?

Books: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, By Rebecca Skloot

Interesting read. Skloot goes on a decade-long journey- researching the family behind HeLa, the cell line of Henrietta Lacks which has been pivotal in medical research over the last 60 years. The cells were taken from Henrietta's cervix in the 1950s (without her consent) for cancer research. In Skloot's book, the quality of the writing was satisfactory (weak in parts)- but the human interest aspect of it kept you reading.

Skloot spends a lot of time with the Lacks family in her research of the book. She goes on week-long adventures with Henrietta's daughter, trying to uncover as much as possible about the Lacks family history and the HeLa cells. Even though some have reported on the origins of HeLa in the past, the reporters did not have as much access to the family as Skloot did. Also, much of the previous research into the origins of HeLa cells were full of fallacy. As Skloot does research for the book (which is part of the narrative), the Lacks family finally learns the extent of the impact HeLa cells had on science. The family is able to resolve the personal rift they had with the medical field, and they are able to find peace about the death of their mother/grandmother.

Throughout the book, Skloot is trying to communicate that she's not in the business of writing this book to exploit the Lacks family. Yet, at times, it feels like she is indeed exploiting the family by exposing their simple mindedness and their glaring misconceptions about science. I feel like Skloot tries to justify her research intentions- rationalizing to the reader that it's okay to publish the idiosyncrasies of this family because she's different from all the rest- she's the nice reporter that's come to help the family. Hmmmm, to me it still feels exploitative. Oh well, still a worthwhile read.

4 stars out of 5

Life as a Mom: Complexities of Language

Little baby Sadie is quite the talker. Sometimes it's frustrating though...she has an arsenal of pretty complex words (for a 14 month old), but her favorite word is NO, of course. I get down on myself for letting this happen. I think, "Why is my baby so unfriendly and disagreeable?" or "I really should be able to 'parent' this out of her." But, alas, the "no" prevails every time.

In thinking about it more, it's pretty cool that she says no, in a way. She's picked up on our voice intonation and she knows when we're asking a question. She may not exactly understand our questions- Are you hungry? Do you want some lunch? Does Sadie want to take a bath?- but she gets that we want to communicate with her and that we are looking for a response from her. And her first response is no or no no no no no no, even though most of the time she is hungry and she does want a bath.

I'm a little worried about the next couple years; she's so strong willed already, I don't know what to expect from her when she's 2 or 3. Well, I love my little bundle, strong will and all, so we'll just have to deal with what comes our way (it's payback time, as they say).

Here's a pathetic video of her "no"ing me:


Here's a video showing off her smartness. Maybe she does know what we're saying...in the video I ask, "What does a cat say?" and she makes a cat sound, pretty cute :)




XOXO Rebecca

PS As I'm signing off, Sadie picked up my glasses and shook her head dramatically and said no. She's right, that's a no, no.

Little Miss: Walking :)

Here's a clip of Sadie walking.  Just a couple days later, she has so much more balance. Last night she was a walking machine...people tell us that we're in trouble! This morning she started climbing, she successfully got to the top stair of my wobbly step stool on her own, oh no! We shall see...


On another note, Mark and I have the tradition of volunteering on MLK day. Any good ideas of local volunteer work we can do with Sadie in tow?

xoxo
Rebecca

PS. It's my favorite sister's bday today! Make sure you send some bday love her way- because she is just that fabulous!

Playtime

 Here are a of couple recent videos of Sadie on her new horse from Gma Ruff (a new fav), and another of her strolling along with a friend. Good times. She's officially walking, so I'll upload a video of that soon! She's gaining more and more balance daily- It's fun to observe her progress.





xoxo, Rebecca