Well, hello there, friends!

It's so nice to be back!  The last few weeks have been busy, busy, busy.  My classroom has evolved from a giant pile of shelving pushed against the wall into a wonderful, bustling place where most every detail has been carefully attended to.  It's a good and a bad thing that it has to be such a precise place-- it makes my little OCD design-freak self so happy to be in there, and it makes my little OCD design-freak self so freaky to travel to-- no lie-- SEVEN different stores searching for perfect buckets.  Yes, buckets.  But they are found, in a variety of colors and sizes and I am happy.

I've squeezed in some time for a little bit of totally utilitarian sewing-- my favorite kind.  There's no better feeling that realizing you need something, zipping into the studio, digging through the fabric stash and emerging a half-hour later with something you can really use.  A pretty little bag with elastic top and bottom to hold grocery bags-- quick, simple and so sweet.

And in an effort to save both dollars and the earth, I've made lots and lots of very simple little drawstring bags-- perfect for snacks at school, with nothing to throw away afterwards. I'm trying my hand at turning a big box of prefold cloth diapers into fitted cloth diapers-- nothing very exciting about it-- but it makes the stand-up changes that are required at school so much easier for John Harper's teachers!  In news on the potty front, he's really starting to get the hang of using the potty-- he finds it great fun, and cause for much cheering and clapping.  Now if only he would get the hang of only using the potty-- not those utilitarian diapers his mama is working so diligently on-- we would be in great shape. 

I hope to be around a lot more-- we are finding our rhythms and routines, and I'm feeling settled for the first time in many weeks.  Whew.