Home Front Economics

on finally figuring myself out

April 9, 2013 by Megan

Just over a month ago I had one of those rare light bulb moments that ends up being life-altering.
I figured out that I am in fact an introvert.

I’m assuming most people are fully aware if they are introverts or extroverts.
My Soldier is a text book introvert.
That man lives in his head.
Outwardly, My Soldier and I have completely opposite personalities.
I just assumed I was an extrovert because he wasn’t.
I can be boisterous, I LOVE a good party, and I tend to be spontaneous but (and here’s the kicker) I tend to reach a breaking point with people and social situations.
I basically thought I was an extrovert…but just a really awful one.

The light bulb moment occurred when I was reading this post on homeschooling as an introvert.
{and yes, i realize it’s odd that i don’t homeschool but religiously follow homeschool blogs}
It led to me taking this Myers Briggs personality test.
I don’t normally put much stock in this type of stuff but when I was reading the description of my personality type I let out a big sigh of relief.
I finally figured myself out.
{i’m an istp in case you were wondering – and that description is spot on}
And to keep me from sounding like a total idiot, apparently having a seemingly baffling personality is key characteristic to ISTP’s.

And in classic Megan fashion, I then started to study what it means to be an introvert.
Then, I stopped apologizing for being a bad extrovert.
I used to say ‘no’ to lots of social engagements, especially when My Soldier is gone, and I would feel riddled with guilt.
People often express concern with my hermit-esque tendencies which in turn would worry me that I wasn’t worried about not socializing and never feeling particularly lonely.
(not sure that makes sense but go with me here)
Now I embrace the fact that taking a time out from people (including my children) keeps me sane, makes me a better parent, a better friend, and has boosted my productivity.

How has it boosted my productivity; you ask?
Having never considered how my personality affects areas in my life I consequently never thought to play to my strengths or be proactive about my weaknesses.
I spend all day with a wee small gang of terrors known as my children.
I never took breaks from the chaos because isn’t that what naptime was for?
But, by the time naptime arrived I usually would have a mental shutdown and couldn’t get anything done!
And then when I took a survey of our home at the end of the day I would berate myself for being a lazy bum!
It’s not laziness, it’s self-preservation!
Seriously, as of a month ago I now take an intentional break anytime I feel like I’m going to snap.
{snapping tends to lead to me asking people for forgiveness for biting their heads off}
I’ll read or just take a moment to think, and then rejoin life a few minutes later, calmer and more focused.
Trickle down effect?
My house is suddenly cleaner and my children are 100% less annoying.
{and they all said hallelujah}
There are a couple of more contributors to the suddenly cleaner home front but not being a frazzled headcase is the biggest help.
So if you’re one of the few people I haven’t already pestered to take a thorough personality test I highly recommend it.
I made My Soldier take it, he’s an ISTJ, which incidentally is the same as my mother.

Category extracurricular, homemaking, housekeeping | Tags: | 1 Comment
the diabeetus and how it’s going

March 26, 2013 by Megan

The Cadet celebrating his first 100 blood glucose reading with a couple of Polaroids!

It’s been 2.5 months since The Cadet was hospitalized and diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.
Two months in and it seems old hat.
Something about being asked to keep your child alive forces you get a good grasp on the care plan REAL quick.
All of the ill effects of of his Diabetic Ketoacidosis have resolved themselves.
He’s gained back the weight and energy and is back to being a rambunctious little guy.
He’s not the biggest fan of diabetes but he’s so laid back and go with the flow that he has adjusted better than My Soldier and me.

About a month ago I had TOTAL diabetic parent burnout.
{not sure that’s a real thing but let’s go with it}
It’s a lot of work to keep up with involving a lot of math (so not my strong point}, endlessly checking blood sugar, giving shots, and worrying about what his blood sugar levels are doing.
It’s no less work, but I’ve adjusted to it at this point and we just keep trucking on.

I’ve never worried much as a parent.
I am actually probably laid back to a fault as evidenced by The Cadet being in full on Diabetic Ketoacidosis before we took him to the ER.
We just kept dismissing the symptoms.
We were at an Army function the other night and sat across from a lady who has Type 2 Diabetes.
She was asking about his diagnosis and she offers up,
“Wow! You’re lucky he didn’t die!!”
Thanks total stranger!
Why yes, we are lucky he didn’t die.
But don’t think I haven’t thought about it!

The other day at breakfast The Cadet said something profound.
{the kid has some mighty profound thoughts at breakfast}
He said,
“Mama, I will ask God to take away my diabetes.
But if God says, ‘No, I want you to have diabetes’ then that will be ok too.”
And then I cried.
{Out of the mouth of babes…sheesh}
He’s the one whose pancreas up and quit.
He’s the one getting stuck with lancets and needles all day and night.
And here I am with my panties in a wad over a bit of math {ok a lot of math} and administering injections that KEEP HIM ALIVE?!?

I’ve had the first part of this written for a while.
Weeks even.
I guess I don’t know quite how to wrap up a post on our friend Diabeetus.
There is no “wrapping up” something that is as essential to his life as breathing.
My feelings are far from wrapped-up either.
I also don’t know what to share in this space because it’s not just my story, it’s not just my battle, and it’s not just my victories.
On the other side, not sharing about The Cadet’s diabetes is preventing me from sharing anything else in this space.
So I guess that leaves me at a bit of an impasse?
I’m going to hit Publish before I leave it undecided for 2 more weeks.

Category diabetes, faith | Tags: | 1 Comment
kelly skirt in nani iro

February 19, 2013 by Megan

A few months ago I got pretty frustrated with this post-baby body of mine.
{pretty sure every female who has had a child or 3 has been there}
Still loosing rapid weight, but hadn’t plateaued yet.
Definitely a good problem to have except that the wardrobe that I ♥ so much was all too big.
This meant that eventually I could buy smaller clothing but since I was still loosing over a pound a week that shopping spree was a ways off.
So logically I sewed something.

This is my most favorite pattern sewn in my most favorite fabric.

It’s the Kelly Skirt pattern by Megan Nielsen.
It’s a dream.
{a dream i tell ya}
I sewed it in Nani Iro’s Painting Muji which is a lightweight canvas.
I loooove this fabric.
There is actually a panel of it hanging on my bedroom wall.
I hoarded it for the duration of my pregnancy saving it for this very project.

The pattern is totally sewable exactly as drafted and written.
It’s actually the second Megan Nielsen pattern I’ve sewn if you recall the Darling Ranges maternity dress I sewed last year.
The only changes I made were to use gathers instead of pleats, make the raw selvedge edge the hem, and to make the waistband and placket a bit wider to accommodate the larger buttons.
The reason I went with gathers instead of pleats is because the pleats weren’t very flattering on the post-baby-belly squishiness.

When I say I love this pattern, I’m not exaggerating.
The Nani Iro version was the 3rd version I had sewn in the span of 3 days.

Version 1 was made in a lovely chambray.
(pardon the instagram photo)

Version 2 was made in a rayon challis.
(and again with the instagram photo in my dirty bathroom nonetheless)

The only changes I made on these two was to do gathers instead of pleats.
I also used fusible interfacing along the placket of the rayon challis version because it needed the added stability for the buttons.

I hope you like them.
I sure do.
And if you sew at all I HIGHLY encourage you to try Megan Nielsen’s patterns because they are just that lovely.

I hope you have a happy Tuesday.
We are hunkered down at home on this gray and rainy day.
My Helper has a stomach bug so we are catering to that with lots of couch time.

Category sewing | Tags: , clothing, sewing | 3 Comments
my pegboard window

February 13, 2013 by Megan

Let’s get real for a second.
My house is rarely clean.
Certain areas of my home might be clean at any given moment but rarely is the entire thing clean.
Case in point:

This was my sewing closet a couple of weeks ago.
Sadly this is part of our bedroom.
{obviously I missed the Martha Stewart issue about the bedroom being a sanctuary}
I could easily blame it on the holidays, or the fact that I was the wedding coordinator for my brother-in-law The Hot Shot who got married at the end of December, or that The Cadet was diagnosed with The Diabeetus and spent a week in the hospital….etc.
but it probably would have ended up this way regardless.

I realize that I do MUCH better at keeping The Southern House clean and void of clutter when there is a place for everything
{even if everything is not often in it’s place}
so with that in mind I tackled organizing my sewing area.

I purged, and purged {and purged some more} and then folded heaps of fabric all so I could reward myself with a trip to Lowe’s!!

That nice man is cutting a discounted piece of pegboard for us.
It was $9 because Jesus loves us.

I also got to hit the antique mall because My Soldier loves me.
$25 later I came home with a loverly vintage window.

Here is the before:
{because it’s some unwritten code of the blogoshpere to have a before picture}

3 hours of indentured servitude was provided by My Soldier who smashed all the glass out of the window and then meticulously cut individual panes of pegboard to fit each of the frames.
{i ♥ him}
And here is the after:

Tada!
It’s mounted above Betty and holds all of the various things I frequently am reaching for while sewing.
There is even a tiny little shelf that is perfectly sized for my 2nd-7th cups of coffee I tend to consume while sewing.
The whole project came to around $40 with the damaged pegboard, the window, and the pegboard hooks.
I hope you like it.
I sure do.
So much so that I might stare at it for prolonged periods of time.
{i realize that’s not normal}

Cheers!

Category homemaking, sewing | Tags: , betty, cleaning, decorating, home, organization, sewing | 1 Comment
the day the cadet’s pancreas broke

January 27, 2013 by Megan

2 weeks ago The Cadet {my darling superhero of 4} was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.
{ugh}
After a couple of weeks of showing some bizarre symptoms (like constant thirst, frequent urination, and rapid weight loss) he ended up in the ICU.

I hope and pray that no one reading this ever has to see their child in the ICU.
For those who don’t know, {or those too ignorant to care} Type 1 Diabetes occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.
My son’s pancreas broke.
Without the ability to make insulin his body can’t use the sugar in his bloodstream for energy.
Without insulin you die.
So now my super-tough 4-year old receives shots of insulin all day, everyday, and he’ll continue to do so for the rest of his life.

So how are we doing?
We are fine.
Honestly.
{that’s not some estrogen-loaded definition of fine but a webster’s dictionary definition of fine}
That’s not to say that it didn’t affect me.
I did most of my concerned-parental-panicking the day before he landed in the hospital.
My heart just hurt, and continues to hurt, for such a big burden on such a little guy.
My Soldier had his break down the day he was diagnosed.
We both spent the whole of the week he was in the hospital learning everything we could on Type 1 Diabetes because it is now our job to keep The Cadet alive…literally.
In classic Megan-is-addicted-to-books fashion, I began reading everything I could get my hands on.
We now check his glucose levels 10-12 times a day including a couple of times a night, we count carbs, do lots of diabetes related math, and give shots like it’s nothing.

And God is good.
We’re grateful that The Cadet isn’t an overly emotional kid.
We’re thankful that by nature he’s super tough and totally adaptable.
We’re thankful that we didn’t have to make any major diet changes.
We’re thankful for the people who have come alongside us to help us through the crisis part of his diagnosis.
We’re crazy grateful for the healthcare available to us from The Army.
And I’m shallow enough to be grateful that There’s An App For That.

Yes it’s a chronic disease
but
we have everything available to us to give him a normal childhood.
With that in mind we hit the ground running and found our new normal and have been cruising ever since.

I’ll probably do a series of posts realted to Type 1 Diabetes {which we affectionately refer to as The Diabeetus ala Wilford Brimley in the Liberty Medical commercials} and how we live with it.
They won’t be frequent, but for anyone out there in the blogoshpere with littles with The Diabeetus I know that any info can be helpful.

For those of you reading who I actually know and have been praying for The Cadet and the rest of our family,
Thank you!
{seriously, we are so grateful}
Honestly, we have felt so loved and supported through this whole roller coaster and are so grateful for our friends and family scattered across this tiny globe.

Category army living, diabetes, faith | Tags: , T1D, The Cadet, The Diabeetus, Type 1 Diabetes | 1 Comment
quiet spaces

November 12, 2012 by Megan

My Soldier has been gone for 3 weeks.
I talked to him for the 1st time today.
I got to wish him a ‘Happy Veteran’s Day.’
It made my heart happy.
I’ve spent 3 weeks not really talking, doing my best impersonation of a recluse.
{a recluse with a caffeine addiction and short temper.}
In all of my time hiding from people I have somehow managed to sew a ton of clothing.
I can’t bring myself to take self-portraits so you’ll have to wait for me to share.

The Army Brats and I are en-route to Seattle for 10 days.
{and don’t get any funny ideas people of the interwebs, i have a trained killer house-sitting}
The Deep South was smothering me in more ways than one.
I’ve been lonely, quiet, and a bit sad; but I don’t want this blog to be a Debbie Downer environment.
I also don’t want it to be dominated by a negative overtone.
But I don’t want to be fake, so I tend to not blog when I’m in either of those head-spaces.
I hope Seattle gives me a bit of time to breathe.
This space will likely be quiet.
Quiet is often good, especially when Jesus meets you in those quiet spaces.
And now I must feed The Peanut and head to bed.
{which happens to be one of my favorite quiet spaces}

To the men and women who have sacrificially served our country,
Happy Veteran’s Day!!

Category army living, extracurricular, faith | Tags: | Comments Off
and so it begins

October 24, 2012 by Megan

My Soldier left on Monday to start the first of many courses in flight school.
So once again he’s gone.
And since he is gone, we have resumed a slower pace of life.
I make a point to remove all stress-inducers from our life.
Keeping busy is not how we thrive when My Soldier is away.
Business and I don’t really get a long.
Thankfully I don’t struggle saying ‘No’ when offers come our way.
I’m off to read some more and enjoy yet another bowl of leftover beef, vegetable and barley soup.

Category army living | Tags: , army life, flight school, The Soldier | Comments Off
my plate wall

October 11, 2012 by Megan

You know how your house doesn’t quite feel like a home until certain decorations are put up?
For some people that’s curtains.
{not so much for me, after all i’m still in my 20′s and thus curtains rank low on the priority list}
For me, it’s my plate wall.

my plate wall in the island house

I’ve had a wall-o-plates in every residence we’ve lived in.
I’ll even be bold enough to say that I had plates hanging on my wall years before it was every other pin on Pinterest.
{i know, how hipster of me}
And let’s be honest, grannys have been rocking the plate wall for decades.
[Granny = trendsetter]
Honestly, I just like pretty dishware.
But having a full set of trendy dishes from Anthropologie is both $$$ and impractical.
So I buy a random dish here and there when they are on clearance.

A few weeks ago I hung my plates on a kitchen wall in The Southern House.
I thought I’d share the process since I hang them in a non-traditional way.

You start with a collection of cute plates.
Mine are mostly from Anthro but there’s one that was handmade by a dear friend, a couple from TJ Maxx, and the clock is from Etsy.

my most recent plate
$6 from anthro

You also need Invisible English Plate Hangers which I found on Amazon.
I know that traditional plate hangers with the springs and hooks are easier to use, but I prefer the invisible look of these plate hangers.

Meticulously follow the instructions that come with the hangers.
It takes some finesse to get a secure hold, but once you do it’s ridiculously strong.
If your plate has a design element on the front that needs to be level, you’ll want to take that into consideration when you are applying the disc to the back.

::Forgive the iPhone photo::

After the hangers have had a good 24 hours to cure you can start arranging them.
Here I have all of my plates laid out trying to find the best design.
The trixy part is transferring that arrangement to the wall since the plates are all different sizes and the hangers are in different spots on each plate depending on how big of a lip the plate has.
There is more than a little trial and error involved in hanging them (read your wall might end up with extra holes) especially if you like your plates touching like I do.

And here’s the finished product!
That is the wall separating the kitchen from the dining room.
I like that I get to look at it while I’m prepping dinner.

I hope that was helpful.

Category homemaking | Tags: , decorating, home, tutorial | Comments Off
random thoughts on where i am now

October 9, 2012 by Megan

Nothing profound, motivating, or inspirational today.
Today I kind of just needed to vent to the vague world of the Blogosphere.
So just some random thoughts on where I am now.
Stuff that I’ve been thinking about for a while.

My Soldier leaves in just under 2 weeks for 7 weeks.
We’ve been spoiled to have a ridiculous amount of time with him over the last 6 months.
I think about how smoothly those last 6 months have gone and am thankful that My Soldier is who he is.
I’ve genuinely enjoyed every day spent together.
My Soldier is very much my BFF and that has been proved over and over the last 3 months.

Making new friends is hard.
My hermit-like tendencies make this harder.
Being a cultural outsider here in Bama makes it painfully hard.

I love my children.
I love being their mother.
I never elevated the office of motherhood to the mystical place I see other Christian women take it to.
I don’t quite get it.

Most of the time I wonder why I continue to blog.
I’m sure everything I say here has been said better by a long list of other people.
I also have zero clue who actually reads my blog so I kind of just feel like I’m throwing words into the vast interwebs hoping that someone reads them.
But then I write a post, and I enjoy the process.
So I continue, even if it’s just you, Mom who reads it.

Southern Hospitality and Biblical Hospitality are two VERY different things.
I made the mistake of confusing the two.

I want to be a runner.
I want to be a runner like I want to be Type A.
It means I could be in shape,
and if I kept my house spotless that would be a bonus.
When I really consider what it entails I realize I am totally content not being either.
Now that I think about it, all the people I know who ♥ running are Type A.
So maybe you have to be Type A to enjoy it?

I wish I voted in a swing state.
Maybe it would feel like my singular vote counts for something.
As it is, I vote for the state of Texas which is about as opposite from a swing state as you can get.

This time of year, as with most times of the year, I miss the Northwest.
I wouldn’t mind some cold weather and a justification for being bundled up indoors.
Apparently, I need to justify my hermit-like tendencies.

I’m addicted to sugar again.
That’s a problem.
I’m also addicted to juicing.
Specifically a mixture of kale, cucumber, ginger, apple, carrots, and lemon.
I’m hoping that they cancel each other out.

Category extracurricular | Tags: | 3 Comments
inspiration and completion

October 4, 2012 by Megan

It’s one of those days where I wish I was Type A.
I look around the room and see project after project in various states of completion.
In my head Type A people don’t struggle with this.

That belief stems largely from my knowledge that Type A people can’t go to bed without finishing the dishes.
I don’t think twice about finishing the dishes first thing in the morning.
{that’s after my 1st cup of coffee of course}
I promise that whether or not you are able to sleep without doing the dishes is totally relevant to every other area in the Home Ec world.
I also believe that if you and your spouse don’t have the same dishes-before-sleep philosophy it will at some point in time be a source of marital contention.

My sink is currently filled with dishes.

The dishes aren’t the only thing currently left undone.
I’m currently plagued by several unfinished sewing projects.
Including but not limited to:
a pattern that I am testing for a friend that needs batting;
a quilt for The Minimalist’s Baby H that needs to be basted and quilted;
I have a dress for My Helper that needs button-holes, buttons, and a hem;
and several sewing projects for myself that I want to start but won’t because I’m only 3 months postpartum and still dropping weight.

Am I the only person who can’t seem to finish anything?
I can’t be the only person who gets a bolt of inspiration mid-project A and suddenly has begun project B.
Sadly all it does is make my To Do list less manageable.

I’m off to attempt to accomplish something.
It should probably be eating lunch since it’s 2pm and I have yet to do that.

Category homemaking, housekeeping, sewing | Tags: , home, sewing | 2 Comments

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