Thursday, June 17, 2010

autism awareness table cover

A few weeks ago there was an "accident" and our table was ripped. This is just a little play table, so I wasn't too concerned, but I had just gotten it and wanted to at least keep it nice for a while. My girls had a friend over, and the friend got mad at something and just took it out on our table!


yeah, pretty bad. I was mighty mad. I do some reupholstery, and knew this would be pretty  basic. Since the set is colorful, I decided to use what I had left of my autism awarness fabric to cover the table and chair she ripped (yeah, she went after a chair too).



I *love* the way the table came out. It looks 100 times better than before. I also used a medium gage plastic over the fabric so I can just wipe it down when dirty.



Here is the chair. I aslo did another chair. There are 4 chairs in the set, so eventually I will have them all covered, but for now I just did the damaged ones!



Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Vacation Bible School Southern Style!

If there is one thing I have found about Southern Ladies, it is that suble is not in their vocabulary. From putting a face on to go to the store or even pool, to taking charge of events, low key is not an option. That is one thing that differs from being a northern mom.

Here is an example. When I lived in Ohio, the standard uniform for the middle class stay at home mom was yoga pants, a tee shirt, and a ponytail. We had kids, we were tired, who cares what we look like? Here in the south, you put your face on before you leave, even if you were just running to Walmart. Ladies also dress. At least jeans and a nice top, with a little color. At first I thought this was wierd, why bother? Then I realized it is taking a measure of pride in yourself and appearance.

In Ohio if there was to be a bake sale for let us say the school, you would have a few volunteers and a few people who would bake. We would drop off our goods on time, and stand around in our yoga pants and organic nonfat chai lattes complaining about how hard it was to fit it into our schedule. We would have been happy to make $75 for the cause.

Here in the south, Southern Ladies take charge. If there was a bake sale for the school, everyone would volunteer and there would have to be a committee of 2 or 3 Ladies to be in charge. There would be a theme. I kid you not, a theme. Along with the bake sale, they would get donations from local businesses and have raffles for baskets. They would dress in costume for the theme, and the whole gym would be filled with tables full of baked goods.

These Ladies take pride and care in everything they do. If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right.

And that brings us to VBS, which is this week. I was floored when I walked into VBS, I was floored. I was used to VBS being in the sunday school buildings, and run like a class. Not here, oh no. Everyone was in costume to go with the theme.



They transformed the gym into an egyptian market, with stations for the kids to do a variety of activities from brick making, to jewelry making to weaving, and so on. There were a ton of teen volunteers helping,



 The chapel was decked out like a temple.

The walkway was the river nile.


When I say all out, it was all out. The kids are having a blast, because there is so much for them to do and relate to.








I think a lot of it is being that best at what you are doing now. So much of my converastions before coming down here were about going back to work, because staying at home raising kids was not what modern feminist do for an extended amount of time. Here, the conversations are about what we are doing, with the kids, hobby wise, volunteer wise, faithwise. Being a mom and staying at home is a blessing, not a curse.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Talkin' South

For those Northerners that come down South: Don't get offended when a Southerner invites you to their house to smoke a butt. They are not offering you and your family illicit substances. To "smoke a butt" means to make bbq. They cook what is called a "Boston Butt", or pig shoulder, in a smoker for a day or so and when it falls off the bone, smother it in bbq sauce and that is bbq. It is very tasty, especially for a Pittburgher to whom bbq meant Isaly chipped ham in the crock pot with Hienz barbeque sauce. No one else calls the shoulder meat a butt either, I asked my friend Nicole (being the highest athority on Boston, her family has been there for generations) and there are no Boston Butts in Boston -- unless you count the Bruins.

Another phrase I found out about yesterday was "Bless your heart". It is the southern version of the term "what are you, stupid?" I found this out after a woman at the pool came over to her friends that were next to me, told them her story of woe, to which they kept saying, "why bless your heart". When the tale of woe lady left, her friends rehashed the story and couldn't get over how she delt with everything in the totally wrong way.

I also heard the expression "5 pound bag of sugar" for sweet. I like that one.