Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe which is led by Angelica, Meaghan, Nicole, and Katy.
Every week we share what’s happening in our lives using the prompts. Technically we’re supposed to share every week but most of the time I start my post but don’t get it finished until the next Sunday is up so nothing winds up being posted. Ha! I’m hoping to play along better this year. 😉
Picking
Up the mess that Christmas leaves behind. We did better this year. We had no choice considering our finances, haha. But even so, the girls weren’t overwhelmed with too many presents from the whole family so the picking up didn’t take too long. Lots of boxes to go in the recycling bin and of course for the first time ever the Recycling truck passed by before 7am (they normally only get to our street around 4pm!). We’ll borrowing our neighbours recycling bin until the next pickup in two weeks.
Telling
You all that I’m planning to cut back on blog tours and such this year. I like hosting tours but working full-time doesn’t leave much time for sewing and blogging and hosting. And hosting tours doesn’t pay so I have to work. 🙂 Also I’m going to be pickier on the tours I participate in. I like them when they’re more open and free and not restricted to a specific pattern or designer (because of the lack of time it’s easier on me when it’s less restrictive for some reason). I hope to get back to hosting a tour from time to time but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Debating
Changing up the blog. Right now I’m not doing much sewing. I’m mostly working and spending 2.5 hours commuting to work daily on public transportation so I’m doing lots and lots of reading. I think I’ll be sharing a little more of the books I read and life type things and hopefully incorporate some sewing and kids crafts from time to time as well. But at the same time I kind of want to keep it mainly sewing and craft related. Hmm..
Mixing
Up dough. Every time I make a batch of bread, I think to myself “Why don’t I do this more often? It’s so easy!” But then I don’t. I need to change that. Homemade bread is so good! (And even mixing and kneading by hand is easy and oddly relaxing).
Humming
“I’m the littlest Christmas tree! Ho ho ho! Hee hee hee!” My 6-year-old had her first Christmas concert at school and performed that song with her class. The song is stuck in my head after listening to her singing it for weeks on end! Silly Bean was fantastic btw. She is so shy at school the teacher is always saying how during oral presentations she turns bright red and talks so quietly no one can hear her and during class she sits quietly and never says a word. (Hmm sounds familiar) But here she was during the song singing along being on point with all the movements. Out of roughly 30 kids there were five others who were also dancing along the entire time, but she really was the star of her group! I was expecting her to be like some of the kids who were kind of shell-shocked being in front of the strangers
(And you know what? I still would have been proud of her in that situation too for standing up in front of all the people watching. There’s no way you’d get me to go up on stage and dance to a song in front of strangers).
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Ok.. I didn’t start the Sunday Lately’s from the beginning, but my brain can’t always figure out a new title each time, ha, so I’m going with the weeks that the organizers are on. 😛 This week’s themes are Completing, Visiting, Repeating, Applauding and Scheduling.
COMPLETING
My 5 year-old’s back to school capsule. I haven’t actually completed it, but I’ve gotten a lot closer and finished a couple items and will have a few outfits to share in a couple weeks when it’s my turn on the tour being hosted by Melissa of Rebel & Malice.
VISITING
The doctor! I saw the oncologist this week and got some fairly good news. He thinks it’s probably a hemangioma on my spleen but they want to be sure so I’ll be having another ultrasound in three months as well I also did some extra blood tests too. . After the followup in three months with the oncologist I’ll need to see my surgeon as well to discuss possible surgery. Because while a hemangioma is a benign lesion, the spleen can be injured easily and there’s a risk of rupture and bleeding out, blah blah blah. So, while it’s not a definite “It’s not cancer” yet, and there are still other things to think about, it’s still fairly good news so I’m happy with it!
Just finished reading this book. It’s a really good read.
REPEATING
um.. nothing.. hmm.. Well, I posted the picture of I Am Malala just above so I’ll repeat that it’s a good read. 🙂 So, interesting to read how things are in Pakistan from a personal viewpoint, it puts the news you read everyday into proper perspective. Plus the history is interesting. I admire her and her family so much for sticking to their convictions. I wish I had read this book sooner! I had followed her story in the news at the time but really, until I read the book, I didn’t really “get” how much she had to face. I suppose I’m repeating myself here, ha, but really it’s a good read. I could go on about the book, but I’ll stop now.
APPLAUDING
All the sewing bloggers out there who are able to stick to a schedule and get things done on time! I’m so behind on so many projects. Granted, I have a fairly good excuse but I still don’t like it…
SCHEDULING
My 2-year-old for some playgroup activities. Apparently there’s a toddler reading group at the school my older girl will be attending this year which isn’t too far of a walk. It’ll be good for Miss V to be around other kids I think because I know that she’ll be missing big sis while she’s at school. (Plus it’ll force me to squeeze in some longer walks every week).
I was looking through some old posts of mine and remembered that I used to link up to Weekly Wishes hosted at The Nectar Collective. I was all “I gotta get back into that!” but then saw that they’re no longer doing it so at the end of my Sunday Lately posts I’ll be posting a few ‘weekly wishes’ or goals that I’m going to try to meet for the week. Here they are:
Week of August 30 Wishes:
Stop the pop drinking! I was doing sooo good. I had stopped for a long time, but then a few months ago I started drinking all Coke all the time again! Nooo! Then I was hospitalized for the appendicitis and I didn’t drink any for two weeks after that, but then I was soooo tired all the time and started drinking pop again two weeks ago (I don’t drink coffee ever and tea rarely so Coke is my caffeine fix). No more! I’m going to cut down first to just two per week, then go full monty after. (Honestly, if it were up to me I wouldn’t buy any and keep them in the house, but hubby buys them.. 🙁 )
Spend no more than 30 minutes a day total on FB. This might be harder than stopping the pop drinking. But I need to get act together and sew, sew, sew! Facebook is just distracting me from it all.
Work on the next step of KonMari. I’ve gotten rid of the clothes I don’t like, now I need to move to the next thing!
Updating this blog on the adventures of the medical issues that are going on right now: I had a repeat CT scan on the 13th and saw the surgeon the same day. The lesion on my spleen is still there but hadn’t grown since the scan three weeks before so before he goes ahead and books me for surgery to remove my spleen he referred me to Oncology to get their opinion to rule out any sort of cancer. When I dropped the referral off at Oncology they told me it could take up to 1 year! I was freaked out! (Internally, I don’t freak out at secretaries -or cashiers for the matter- being one myself and knowing the stress they deal with!) A lot could happen in a year. Luckily they called me back this week to give me an appointment for this week coming. Yay! It will feel good to have a better idea of what’s going on.
Reminding myself to take time to enjoy my girlies while they’re still little and before the hecticness that is school starts. 11 days to go and my oldest starts Kindergarten! wah! For now we’re spending the last few days before school starts chasing butterflies and looking for dragonflies.
Needing more hugs and cuddles with my girls. I miss them when I’m at work.
Wearing my store bought dolman tees. I know, I know, so exciting. But everytime I wear them I realize that dolman tops suit me and I remind myself to sew some up (but then never do! I should fix that!)
Being grateful for work. When my hubby lost his job in February I was able to pick up extra shifts and work full-time for a few months. Then I went back to working part-time while hubby looked for a new job (I can only change my availability at work once every three months so hubby could only really look for work once I was back to part-time as the girls aren’t in daycare). After two months of looking hubby now has a job. No more stressing about mortgage payments! (I’m also grateful that Canada has an employment insurance program if you get laid off -which we pay into through our taxes- and we could afford to live off my salary for a few months, because, to be honest, even full-time my salary couldn’t cover all the bills without the assistance from EI). Also, my workplace is pretty decent too. After the appendectomy, the doctors put me off work for a month and my job offers salary insurance for sick leaves so I was able to get paid for 3 of the 4 weeks I was off. That was pretty helpful and I totally wasn’t expecting it.
I have to say I had a bit of a hard time with the prompts this week. I felt I had to stretch a bit to get the things on my mind to fit the prompts, ha. Anywho, I have a few things to finish sewing up for this week, along with a couple medical appointments so hopefully I’ll get everything done! I’m also going in full prep mode this week getting Silly (and baby sis) up early this week to practice getting our routine down so we don’t miss the school bus! The last 5 1/2 years we’ve been so relaxed staying in our pjs for most of the morning for the most part (and if I’m honest, some days we’re in them until lunchtime), so needing them both to be up and dressed and fed all before 8 am will be a bit of a struggle. Luckily it’s only a 40 minute walk to her school, but I don’t want her to be getting to school late all the time. Plus I need to figure out what to do for the first day of school pic! Ack! I need to get more organized.
Sunday Lately is a weekly list of prompts that I found out about from Katy’s blog Wild & Wanderful. (Katy sells some pretty cool screen printed tees in her Etsy shop, just sayin’). I’m always trying to stick to a regular schedule of blogging and write about things other than sewing so hopefully this will be the boost I need.
So without further ado, here’s what’s been up with me lately. 🙂
Planning
Silly Bean is starting kindergarten this fall and I’m taking part in the Time {for school} Capsule blog tour. So I’m spending my free time planning which patterns to sew up and the fabrics to use. I’m trying to use as much as my stash as possible and Silly has informed me her three favourite colours are pink, purple and gold. Hmm… Not sure if I have any gold in my stash. 😉
The patterns I plan to use
Loving
I’m loving how excited my daughter is to start school! Every few days she asked me how sleeps left until school starts! Hoping the excitement lasts all through school!!
Wishing
All the wonderful kiddos (and adults in my life) a happy birthday! In the last three weeks we have celebrated 6 birthdays in my and my hubby’s families. (My daughter, a nephew, a niece, my mum, my hubby and my sister-in-law).
This little kiddo turned 2 recently!
Reading
For the last six months I’ve been slowly reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up by Marie Kondo. I want to attempt the methods but I’m such a procrastinator, lol.
Feeling
I’m feeling a little anxious. Last week I wound up in the hospital with appendicitis and had to have an emergency appendectomy. When they did the scan to confirm the appendicitis they also discovered a lesion on my spleen. So I have a repeat scan two weeks from now to check if it has grown or whatnot. As the ER doc said, my blood work was normal so it isn’t leukemia yet. Yet?! That word freaks me out a bit. So this lesion (mass, tumor, whatever you want to call it) could be nothing (but likely requiring surgery if its growing and gets in the way) or it could be something. For now trying to listen to the nurse’s advice and not worry about it, but still.. I’m feeling anxious.