All the princesses

 I don't remember wanting to be a princess when I was a little girl. No, I take it back.  I did want to be a princess.  I wanted to be Wonder Woman- who is of course a SUPER-godess-Princess.

My girls all had (or are currently having) a princess stage.

Much of our princess inspiration came from shoes.  They all liked dresses for a while, tiaras, jewelry etc- but the shoes . . .  They needed to wear the princess shoes at every possible opportunity. I wish I had a picture of the shoes of the other girls once they had finished with them.

The shiny shoes, the 'high heels,' the bows, the sparkles, and the beatdown that little kids give to their favorite shoes.

E's first word was 'shoe.' One of her favorite pairs of shoes was a pair of shiny pink cowboy boots. She wore them until they were two sizes too small, and worn down to nubs. Then we got her a new pair of cowboy boots.  She wore them down too.  Now she's a Converse girl, but sometimes the heels still call to her.

L's favorite shoes were red flats with red glitter all over them. I would find red glitter all over the place. No matter what other color she was wearing, she also had to wear those red "there's no place like home" shoes. She was so hard on shoes that she wore out the first pair, and when I said she couldn't wear them anymore because they fell apart she wouldn't stand for it.  She insisted that she NEEDED those shoes. I went and bought another pair.  This one is very picky about shoes and socks.  If they aren't just right for her she refuses to wear them. I've learned that Sketchers usually work.

T's favorite shoes are above. These are 'Elsa shoes.' I had to throw them away in secret.  Even though they haven't fit in over a year- she would try to stuff her little feet into them if I gave her a chance.  This girl is now working through a pair of pink princess shoes, but she'll need something new soon.

My girls are all excited that this year they are transferring schools.  The new school does not have a uniform- which of course means they can wear any color and style of shoes they want.  

Viva the princess shoes!

spinning right-round-baby-right-round like a record baby right-round-round-round

 Some years ago my husband bought me a spinning wheel.  It's quite an expensive item.  I call it an apocalyptical hobby. When the world falls apart- we're still gonna need socks and sweaters.

I found my first attempt on the wheel the other day.  I didn't have a teacher- just me and YouTube on the loose with a spinning wheel.  My first spin was all the things.  It was overspun and underspun- meaning it had too much twist or too little twist.  It was all the sizes possible from as thin as thread to what is standardly called "super bulky."  

I didn't know what to do with it, so I put it up on a shelf and forgot about it.  

I went on to join a Facebook spinning group and committed to spinning 20-30 minutes each day.  It got easier if not better. :) Last summer I did the same and since my spinning attempts were pretty terrible I bought some "practice roving." AKA cheap, mostly synthetic "wool."  My Facebook group was not happy about my choice- something about microplastics- blah-blah-blah.  

I spun and spun that cheap-o fiber- I think I made some good improvement to be honest.  Then I started teaching at high school and I haven't touched my wheel since. 

Boo- but this summer I'm back to it- starting maybe this weekend.  I'm going to do a little practice spin to get myself started, and then I'm going to spin some of my collected wool- my pretty, and expensive wool.  

Darling- do you need to hear this as much as I do?  Don't bother saving your nice things for a special day.  You woke up . . . so today is special!

I kitted a swatch of my first spin.  

Summer list 2024

 I have a list of the things I try to do each day in the summer.

I don't get to all of them, but this is a way of building habits.

1. I listen to the bible in a year podcast. (I completed the 2022 podcast, even if it did take 1.5 years)

2. I study Spanish on Duolingo. (I got a 400+ day streak in French.)

3. I complete some training required for work. (I'm trying to get all my online training complete before classes start, AND get my curriculum worked out for each six-week grading period during this summer= GOALS.)

4.  I work on the never-ending tasks of laundry and dishes. What can I say? We love to eat and get dirty.

5. I draw or paint something. I completed my little notebook last year- I've been working on my "Praying in Color" notebook.  I have about 35 pages left. Here is Joy from the Fruit of the Spirit series.

6. I 'yarn' something. This is what my children call anything I do with yarn. I am *ALMOST* done with last year's goal of 100 baby booties to donate.  So close now!

7. I organize- or try to organize something- this includes getting rid of things we don't need. Need?  We don't even want lots of it.  We are all pack rats.

8. I clean something I have been actively avoiding for a while. Yesterday I bleached the floor in the bathroom.  I'm allergic to bleach- so even though I needed to do it for ever so long- in the end it wasn't really that bad of a job.

9. I read a few pages (or more) from a book that I want to read.  I'm rereading The Red Tent now.  I'm not sure what's next.  

10. I relax.- I mean half of the things on this list are relaxing things- but I make sure to include it just for funsies. This usually means watching TV and knitting or taking a nap. 😏

There are a few more things I would like to add- but I haven't yet.

I would like to take a walk each day.  

I would like to sew something each day.

I would like to start spinning again.

Yesterday while organizing I found my long-lost first spool of spun wool.  That little gem deserves its own  post.  

I would like to write something each day.

I would like to sleep more too, but I have so many other unnecessary things to do!