Oh blog...how I've missed you!

This spring has been crazy busy for us.  It's meant I have been kept busy keeping my family going, with precious little time to sit at the computer and record my thoughts.  I am excited to see summer at my doorstep (we have our last day of school this Wednesday!!  WOOOHOO!!) when I will have time to catch up here at the Sole Woman, on the house, and with my kids.

April was a month of drastic changes for my family.  On April 2nd, my wonderful Grandma Rose passed away.  She was just short of 90 years young.  She was miserable at the end, and was dealing with congestive heart failure, so in some ways her passing was a blessing.  I am filled with happiness to know she is once again with my Grandpa, her parents, and her brothers and sisters.  After loosing my Dad, I have a different perspective on death.  Death is so hard on those of us left behind, but I have a new respect for the joy they must be feeling in heaven with Jesus.  In many ways, I don't know if I've been truly able to process her death.  I am still feeling pretty numb from Dad's death.  Her funeral and the events around it were a little too much to deal with at the time.

Two weeks later, on April 16th, my little brother Creighton married the love of his life, Lindsey.

It was a perfect day and a perfect ceremony.  I love them both beyond measure, and I am so excited Lindsey is my official sister.  I've felt that she has been for awhile, so it was nice to make it official formally true.

The combined effect of the funeral and wedding plus Easter the next weekend all made us feel like we were a bit bipolar and having massive mood swings.  We are all looking forward to a little down time, and some recovery time.

Looking forward to seeing my blog on a regular basis!

The best gift I've given this Christmas season...

Just popping in to tell you about this GREAT cause, this WONDERFUL little boy with Down's Syndrome who YOU can help, just like I did.

His name is Cliff, and he is alone in an orphanage in Eastern Europe.  A blogger named Janette is helping to raise money for Cliff's adoption grant fund, so that when he finds his forever family, their expenses will be paid for.

Please read about him here.

Won't you join me in helping him?

Kitty Cat Hats

A couple of weeks ago, on cjane enjoy it, Courtney showed a picture of her adorable son The Chief wearing a handmade knitted kitty cat hat. Modeled by as cute a chubby cheeked youngster as The Chief, the hats were irresistible. I loved the cat ears on the top, and I knew Charlie and Sammy would too. Courtney mentioned the hats were made by a talented reader of her blog, Amy, who has a business called Something to Meow About.

I emailed Amy right away to ask if she would make a Kitty Cat Hat for Charlie and Sammy. Look what came in the mail today:



I love, love, LOVE these hats. They are gorgeous, and the attention to detail is amazing! The boys love them so much they spent the rest of the day wearing them and pretending they were kitties.

You too can have one of these scrumptious creations! Just email Amy at: ladyamybug@yahoo.com

Thank you Amy!!

Blog Love

Look! It's here!! My blog just had a beautiful make over.

Emily over at The Blog Fairy did an amazing job. She was so easy to work with, she was fast, and she knew exactly what I wanted, just by me answering a few questions in an email.

Seriously. I could just sit here and stare at it all day long!! (Which would be bad...as I may have about 20 loads of laundry waiting for me.)

Thanks Emily for making The Sole Woman beautiful!

She Hit the Nail on the Head

Go read cjane's post today. She hit the nail on the head, and said everything I have been trying to write here within the last couple of months. Only she did it much more eloquently.

In fact, cjane is one of the most eloquent ladies I know.

So! Go read. What she says is so true, and I am so there with her. Are you?

Inspiring

If you have an extra second today, go visit here and read the amazing story of a mom with four children who will soon be going to Uganda to adopt 2 beautiful daughters.

I so wish that adoption like this would be an option for us. I would love to open our hearts and home to a child in need. Unfortunately, the expense is huge, and I think my husband would need a brain transplant to want another child. Although I may have to add this to my prayers and conversations with God. Miracles can happen, right?

At any rate, get a dose of inspiration at Moments with Love. You won't be sorry.

Don't Miss Out

I wanted to tell you about a wonderful give away being held at one of my favorite blogs with Christy from Real Life Adventures.

Christy is offering a chance to win a print of one of Beth's awesome photos (Beth writes over at the blog I Should Be Folding Laundry). Beth just opened a new Etsy shop here. Check out her awesome photography! (And if you aren't yet a reader of her blog, go check it out. She is a wonderful person, blogger, and mother. She inspires me daily.)

The wonderful thing about this give away is that all sales from Beth's shop until April 30th will be donated to Team James and Jake March For Babies Team. Beth lost her precious twin boys, James and Jake, at 19 weeks gestation. Beth and family and friends will be walking this weekend to raise money for the March of Dimes.

Good luck in the giveaway! The March of Dimes is such a wonderful organization, and one that helps families to continue on after the heartbreak of loosing a baby.

Look Over There ------>

Check it out! I feel like I am an "official" blogger now, because the uber talented Christy from Ruby & Roja (who did the design for my blog) created a button that readers can add to their pages. If you want to of course. I'll just mention here that if you did I would be SO happy.

Isn't it cute? And doesn't Christy do great work?!

I'd be honored if you'd grab it!!

An Instruction Manual for My Husband

My cousin Teresa wrote on her blog a couple of weeks ago about a book she was reading on marriage and being a wife. I decided to order it from Amazon and read it myself. I love my marriage and the relationship Jeff and I have, but I always feel like I could do better at being a wife, especially with three kids running around. Sometimes I feel like I am so focused on them, and work that I leave poor Jeff out of the equation.

After reading the last two nights, I feel like the author has been sitting in a corner of my house for the last three years observing me, and then wrote this book about me as a way to bang me over the head with a frying pan and say, "Get a clue girlfriend!"

The things she says to describe pitfalls many wives fall into are me to a T. She says that husbands usually fall into one of three personality types, and my darling Jeff is Mr. Steady (her term) to a T. It's as if she were writing the chapter about him specifically. In fact, last night I read him some of the chapter, and he said "That's EXACTLY what I have been trying to explain to you about how I am and how I feel! FOR THREE AND A HALF YEARS!" Poor man!

The biggest thing I am learning about myself is my problem with having a negative attitude. My personality type could be labeled Mrs. Bossy. Top that off with being a first born and you have MRS. BOSSY PANTS WITH A BAD ATTITUDE. I have a strong need for control, and when that doesn't happen, I get grumpy and negative. Funny thing about marriage-you are not in control of everything anymore! To continue my downward spiral, when I cause tension in this way because I don't get my way, I react in bad ways by trying to punish those around me by being cold and unfriendly. I know this may sound stupid, but the book helped me to realize that this doesn't help at all to change anyone's behavior around me. It's probably things that I should be able to see on my own, but I didn't. And it's great to feel like I have a new insight into myself, and my Jeff, who God Bless him has been so patient with me acting like a doofus.

So, the past few days, I have been praying for wisdom. Wisdom to be cognizant of my behavior and reactions. I have been making a huge effort to have joy in my heart, and to be thankful. And you know what? It hasn't just helped my marriage, but also my job. Being a teacher can cause a lot of burn out. It's a hard job a lot of the time. But when I focus on what I can change, and being thankful, it makes a huge difference. I have loved being with my class this week. I feel renewed in ways that make me feel like I am back to the excitement I had as a first year teacher.

I am also thankful for Teresa and her blog, and for sharing such a great nugget of information with me. Isn't the wide wonderful world of blogging amazing? It's a gift the way that people can touch others' lives in ways that weren't possible just a short time ago.

Generations of Love

A few days ago, one of my favorite bloggers, Sharon, did a post called An Object With Unexpected Significance. .

I've thought a lot about her post her post ever since I read it, and yesterday while I was doing some baking in preparation for Sammy's birthday party, I found my own objects with unexpected significance.



The rolling pin on the left belonged to my wonderful Grandma Sophie, and the pastry cutter and rolling pin on the right belonged first to my Great-Grandma Adeline, and then to my Grandma Rose. I love to use all three of these things, which would probably seem like ordinary objects to anyone else. When I am baking something and using my rolling pins, I can feel my grandmother's hands on mine. I feel how their hands touched the very handles that I am using. I imagine all of the cookies, pies, and meals these rolling pins helped to make for their families. Sophie had 10 children, and Adeline had 8. That's a lot of hungry people. Adeline came from Germany, and her husband Henry, who later lived with my Mom when she was a child, often spoke of the German tradition of ALWAYS having a freshly baked desert after every meal. I am sure they both got a lot of use out of these everyday tools.

In fact, one of the handles on Adeline's rolling pin was reattached by my Grandpa Dave, when it came apart after much use in the '70s. The bolt doesn't match and looks totally different from the rest of the rolling pin, but I love that too. It reminds me of my handy man grandfather, who used to love to putter around and make, create, and fix.

I love that these tools are helping me to make food for my own family now. They are truly precious to me. Anything that can help me remember the smiling faces of my grandmothers, their heartfelt laughter as they worked in the kitchen, and the love they served their families with will always hold a special place in my heart.

I am sad that I don't have a daughter to pass these on to, and continue the tradition. Who knows-maybe one of my boys will be a baker. Or maybe I will be blessed enough to have a daughter in law that I love like my own. One thing is certain-whoever I pass these along to will be the type of person who can see my hands in the mix when I am gone. Someone who can see these simple rolling pins as a symbol of generations of women in our family, taking care of the ones they love.

Check It Out!

The awesome Christy and Beth over at Ruby & Roja designs (they did my new blog design and I LOVE them!!!) are having a blog design give away! If you enter the contest, you can win a FREE-yes-FREE Christmas blog design plus four FREE blog designs to take your blog in style through 2009.

Go check it out! You'll be glad you did!!!

I'm a Slow Learner

Check out the great post today at Looky Daddy. It's a hilarious take on something we have around here-Irish twins. I may take up The Dad's suggestion and start referring to Charlie and Sammy as my I'm a Slow Learner Twins. Which is true!

I love it!

Seriously. I could just sit here and look at my new blog for forever and ever. I love the job that Christy from Ruby & Roja did. (Go check them out!)

I am so excited, that I want everyone to see it! Tell me what you think!

What do you think?

Do you like the title? (Donated by the awesome Sarah!)

So fitting for life at my house with three little guys and a husband.

I knew someone else would have a better idea than me.

Thanks Sarah. I owe you. Again.

Help Me Out

Hey all you creative lovely people out there...along with my blog redesign I have the chance to rename my blog. I have never been able to come up with one I like. Can you think of one? One that reflects my life as a mother of three boys?

Come on! I know you have great ideas!