Bumbershoot

In 2011 my kids were calling umbrellas "bumbershoots" it seemed very random and strange. It was the younger girls too, but they all did it. I even mentioned it in a blog post one day called "random".

Today I saw this posted by a fun "word of the day" fellow who posts daily on facebook:

You can follow his page here.

I had to laugh. Here I thought they were making up a silly word but they probably read it somewhere. I love knowing that my kids are are learning with out me even knowing it.

It's good to feel pretty.

I'm a hot mama.

Ok, sure, not to everybody's standards, but to mine? Yes.

Ok, am I kidding myself a little? Yes. But I’m trying to think more this way.

This is not an easy thing for someone like me to say. I'm 5'8", not huge but not thin. If I tell people my weight they are shocked, apparently I’m good at hiding it…thank you? I do have good hair and people say I have a pretty face and my husband certainly likes me, curves and all! What has taken me so long to realize such a simple thing? What is it that stops so many women from thinking this way? What is keeping us “down”.

I'm sure I could go on for days about who did this to us, the horrors of our society, how prudish I have always been, what sort of guilt is been tangled and mangled into our thoughts?...but I won't tonight, I'm too tired.

I think most women fall into the trap of thinking they are not hot. This can be quite dangerous for a young woman who has a tall, dark, handsome stranger trying to pick her up one night. Making her feel special for the first time. What girl in her right mind would want to turn that down? If he really makes her feel special, is he the only one who sees it? What happens if she lets him go? As a mother I want to remind my girls of their “power” so that they can use it for good or evil. But to know that they have it so that it can’t be used against them. It’s not a little thing.  

All I know is that every woman IS hot. But if you don't believe that, you are NOT going to be so. If you act like it and think like it, it really can be true. It's probably the only thing in a woman's life that you can imagine to come true and it can just by thinking that it can. The same can even be said for men. What is the most attractive quality in a man or a woman? Most people would say self confidence. Being self assured. Having "swagger". I wish I would have appreciated my beauty when I was younger and had more of it...but how would I have used my “power” would it have gotten me into trouble? Very likely.

I like my life. I like my husband. Perhaps my new found “hotness” is for the worst, perhaps I don’t know a bloody thing that I’m talking about. Either way, it is what it is…for now.

September 2012, 16th anniversary weekend. Sporting my very cute and very uncomfortable heels for the second time. Husbands apparently like heels. Who knew?

Edited 2/8/2013

And did I show you my quilt?

After I painted the kitchen my living room looked sort of off. On my birthday I made myself the quilt rack you see in the first picture. I bought the parts and pieces a month before but finally got a chance to build it. The shelf is wide enough to hold folded throw blankets for cold nights or movie watching.

The quilt haning on the rack is one my mom gave me from a great aunt or grandmother. It's period 1950s fabrics. The backing and binding are even turquoise! The binding is ripping and I want to fix it, but finding the exact match to that color is very hard!

I went back to Etsy and found a bunch of 1950s feed sack fabrics, but I didn't want a ton left over and wanted a good variety for a quilt. One woman had cut a bunch up into 6" squares and was selling a pack of mixed colors. I have them interspersed here with other fun fabric I found at fabric shops locally and some that were in my stash.

Almost finished! Just have a little Algebra to go...

Finished quilt. Just a throw size and just enough pop of color to really brighten up our new/used COMFY leather couches that a dear friend practically gave us.

Did I show you my new kitchen?

Fall of 2012 husband had to go to the East Coast for 2 weeks.

While the cat is away, the mice will play...

I took these pics on a sunny day with my phone/camera (that's all I have) so the pictures don't really do it justice. I love it to pieces...

I went out to eBay and Etsy as soon as I know I was doing this. I ordered one rotary phone on Etsy but it wouldn't work for my set up, so I found this refurbished red rotary one on eBay. It's wonderful. The potato cutter (vintage) I picked up a few years ago at a thrift store. The glass duck is from a moving sale and in front is our milking station where we keep the milking pails and jars.

Here's my lovely hoosier in all this glory. The stool was a hand-me-down from my mom, it helped choose red as a companion color. The turquoise on the hooser was painted on two walls in the kitchen to cover the old maroon color. The coke box and white colander was from my favorite antique store in town. The vintage apple towel covering was an Etsy purchase and the cracker box on top was an overpriced purchase from a favorite thrift store

My beloved vintage radio I bought on Etsy. They refurbish them and put an IPOD jack on the back so you can plug in your MP3 player to listen to. The yogurt maker is circa 1960s but still very useful and yellow.

Every 1950s kitchen had a pot holder for their cast iron pans. I made mine. There's a bottle opener in the middle I got on Etsy, the rabbit head hanger is from a moving sale, the vintage apron I found on Etsy and the large hook from the antique store. The pot holder/trivet having on the fridge is pink and turquoise and came from a grandmother I think.

New light over the table installed by my uncle, Pyrex bowl I convinced a woman to sell me, vintage tablecloth from Etsy, curtains sewn by me. There's a cute chicken feed pic on the back wall it's hard to see.

New valance sewn by me, canister "retro"fited with vintage stickers (saved a bunch of money found them on Etsy), rag rug crochet by me, vintage towel an Etsy find.

Here are some better lit "live use" photos:

Window washers. Note the vintage sewing machine my girls use when they want to sew with me.

After school snacks, oldest tuning out the littles with ear protection.