T - Shirt Quilt

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

 For middle child's high school graduation, I am making him a t-shirt quilt.

I have amassed a pile of t-shirts from his robotics tournaments and such not over the years, and I have piled them all up into a great, large pile of shirts to make into a quilt to give him when he graduates.  (Yes, it's in less than a month.  Think I could have waited any longer?)

The most important part of making this quilt is to make certain that all of the fabric has been sized, and gone through the washer a couple of times.  I have three new t-shirts for this shirt that he's never worn before, so I've run them all through the washer and dryer several times over the last week, so that they will have shrunk up, much like the older shirts that he's worn many times over that are going into this quilt.

The next step is to cut the shirts up.  That's where I am now.  The shirts have been cut apart, so the arms and backs have been removed.  I have just the fronts, uncut, with the logos and pictures on them. 

I also have the backing from the fabric store.  There is a special backing that is ironed onto the back of the cotton jersey in order to give the fabric stability, so that it won't stretch oddly out of shape when it is sewn together with other t-shirts, or with the cotton squares I'll be using for contrast.

I bought other fabric at the store to tie it all together.  I'm not expecting to have enough shirt fronts to fill an entire quilt, so I am going to alternate blocks of t-shirts with blocks of fabric. 

And now, we arrive at my conundrum.  I have all the t-shirt fronts, but the designs are all different sizes, and I need to find a consistent size that will hold all of the designs so that I can cut the fabric blocks the same size. 

Ahh... Math.  I always wondered when you would rear your ugly head!  If only my math teachers in high school had told me that I'd need to know this in order to do craft projects, I probably would have paid closer attention!

Seriously.  I have a large mat - 36" x 36" for cutting out quilt blocks.  I'll be pulling out the mat later on today, and measuring the designs on all of the shirts and finding the one consistent size that I will need to cut every block.  I'm planning on going for the shirt with the largest design- and then adding an extra inch and half on every side- so that there is a fabric border around the picture, and 1/4" all the way around for seam allowance. 

I'll post the pictures tomorrow.  This promises to be an interesting experience today!

Spring Cleaning

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

I should be cleaning the house right now, but I decided to take a break and write for a while.  Okay, I'm procrastinating.  With graduation looming, the house needs to be cleaned.  I decided I start in the basement - in the family room.  It's a disaster area.  Literally.  We had some flooding over the winter downstairs.  While we've dealt with some of the damage, much of our stuff was just tossed to the side while we attempted to stop the onslaught of flood waters.

The source of the flooding is evident- our house was built in the 1970's.  I called a plumber out after the flood, he took a look at the house and said

Two Things need to be fixed before you start renovating the basement:
1) The house has settled.  You need to call in a professional to re-grade the slope around the house and then you need to add new landscaping.  Those bushes planted next to the foundation are the original bushes, aren't they?  Most likely, the roots are tampering with your waterproofing on the foundation.

2) Replace the gutters.

Okay, so we still haven't tackled the landscaping.  I want to be able to pay cash for the landscaping, I don't want to do it on credit.  My goal is to have $1,000 in cash before we contact someone.  We are very close to achieving that goal.  I don't even want to talk about the gutters.  I know they need to be done, but the roof will need to be done at the same time, and I'd really like to add a porch onto the front of the house at the same time.  That is not going to be a cheap endeavor!

But the fact remains that I still need to clean out the family room before graduation.

I began early this morning.  I've found notebook paper.  Lots of notebook paper, scattered all over the basement.  Nothing is written on it, it's just evenly spread across the floor.  Lots and lots of old e-mails.  Those are gone now.  I found the smashed remains of an old Easter basket, and socks.  Oh my heavens, the socks.  I know where the other end of the black hole for socks on the East Coast is now- it is in my family room.  I am currently running a washer load full of socks.  I seriously doubt if any of them have a mate, but I'm willing to sort through them and see what matches up.

Pencils.  So far, I've liberated 100 pencils.  They are all sharpened, and the erasers are all hardened, but I don't think we're going to have to buy any new pencils in this house again, ever.

I am curious what other treasures I will find down there while I'm cleaning.  I'm beginning to think of this as a treasure hunt.  Wouldn't it be nice if I find a couple thousand dollars while I'm at it?

It Takes a Village

 This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all!

It's a trite saying, and we've heard it often.  It takes a village to raise a child.

I have been thinking of that statement a lot recently as I look back on the experience of getting the middle child through high school. 

Middle child has always been a challenge.  He sees school work as more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule.  He hates the drudgery of assignments that require you to regurgitate information, but lead to no actual learning.  He has a winning, smiling attitude, but if you are a teacher and he is bored in your class, you are going to have an interesting challenge on your hands.  I've had calls from teachers over the years as he's done everything from pounce on their math errors to submitting pages of information on grammatical and spelling errors on the school web site.  Let's not forget the 24 page lab reports for the chemistry teacher who told him he didn't give enough detail in his first assignment.   Fortunately, most of his teachers have been understanding and have taken this as a sign of him needing a greater challenge and have risen to the occasion and given him the challenge he desired.

However, nothing met this need for him as much as FIRST robotics.  In his Freshman year, his homeroom teacher snagged him for the robotics team.  He began working on the public relations team, and enjoyed the educational outreach.  He found out more about programming and began programming, and worked on the build team, helping to make the robot better.

Throughout the last four years, he has had all of the project based, meaningful learning that his heart could desire.  Keeping up with the drudgery of classwork was difficult, but he did it because the team requires a 2.5 average to remain on the team. 

The other parents are, without a doubt, my village.

Each of us has stepped in to guide a child when the parents are fed up and the children won't or don't want to hear what is being said to them.  The firm parental guidance of another parent (mentor) who respects your child and yet will also listen to them and help them through their frustrations with school, family, significant others, and yes, parents, has helped each of our children succeed.  They all know that there are other adults they can safely talk with, who respect them, and who will help guide them through their turmoils.

I have watched my son grow and mature over the last four years.  I can look at the three mentors who have worked so devotedly with the build team, and I can see the influence each of them has had on him.  Where 5 years ago, he would have yelled and thrown something if he didn't understand a new concept, I now hear the voice of one of the mentors as he says "Can  you go through that again for the dumbest guy in the room?  I got lost after you said....".  Everyone laughs, tension is relieved, and he gets another explanation of whatever it is that had tripped him up.

We have all taken each other's kids under our wing.  We are a family - a village - of people with one common interest.  Some people find their village through church, others find their village through scouts, or sports, drama, or music.  It doesn't matter where you find your village.  What matters is that you get to know the other parents of the children your child is friends with.  Only then can you help each other out, and watch each other's backs where the kids are involved.

I have been very fortunate.  I found my village.  I have helped many other teenagers through the challenges of high school, and I am truly blessed.  These are amazing kids who will go on to do great things with their lives, and make the world a better place.

Do you have a village in your life?

Getting Ready for Graduation

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

My middle child is getting ready for High School Graduation in a month.

It's hard to believe that so much time has passed.  It seems like only yesterday I was tracking down birth certificates, residence requirements, and shot records to register him for kindergarten.

When I think back over the trials and successes of the last 12 years, I can't believe how much we've been through.  The struggles with learning to read.  The frustrations he had when his school curriculum wasn't challenging enough, and the joy we experienced when we finally found teachers and schools who pushed him - and kept pushing him- until he finally found the thrill and joy of learning, and began to push himself to do more. 

I look back fondly on the last four years of high school, and I am so thankful for a staff that has allowed him to reach, stretch, grow, and try new things.  I've watched him become a self-confident young man with plans and dreams for his future that include earning a PhD.  He's come a long way for a child who didn't learn how to read until he was almost 9.

I've been working on his graduation paper work today.  Lots and lots of paperwork.  I think I'm tracking down almost as much paperwork now as I did when he started school.  The school wants the list of where the kids are going to school, their scholarships, number of seats we need for graduation, permission slips for the end of year activities, and the list goes on and on.  The senior handbook is 50 pages long, and I've ignored it for far too long.  There is much that is due in the next month - both to the high school and to the university that he will be going to in the fall.

It's a bittersweet time.  I'm thrilled beyond words that he has discovered what he wants to do and is ready to launch out into the world.  I am also sad, that my little boy is no longer my little boy.

*sigh*
 

A Day in Baltimore

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all! 

My youngest takes a class in Baltimore on Saturdays.  While she is in class, I take the opportunity to roam around the neighborhood.  I am always surprised at the beauty I find, hidden in between row houses, waiting to be discovered.



I found this little gem next to a row house.  Like most of the Mid-Atlantic, spring has not quite yet sprung.
Flower bulbs are out, but the bulbs are still furled tight.  You can see the daffodils on the far side of the pond, but the tulips are still deeply furled inside of their green leaves. The forsythia hasn't even come out yet!

Finally!  A tree full of cherry blossoms!  This was the only tree in bloom that I could actually find. 
Look at the blue of the sky.  I love when the sky is this shade of blue.  It's a sure sign of a great day with low humidity!
You can tell that not all of the blossoms on the tree are out yet, but there are many that are opened.

This is the door of a sweet little Catholic church.
Gorgeous wreath.  And look at the iron scrollwork on that door!  It's amazing!  The doors are big doors- old doors.  The church itself is well over 200 years old, and I'm thinking that the scrollwork is the same age.  I'm not sure about the doors.  They may have been replaced once or twice.  They are very thick, heavy wood doors... I think they are close to 10 feet tall.. it's part of a set of double doors, there were two sets on the bell tower - one set on the main street, and one set on the side street.

When I finally got back to campus, I sat and watched a game of "Zombies vs. Humans".  A rather hilarious game, since the kids were dressed in morph suits, tagged with plastic ribbons as to whether they were zombie or human, and carrying Nerf guns and large cardboard war hammers.  I tried hard not to laugh at the kids, but they were so cute, running around, chasing each other through the green grass and hiding behind trees.  The energy and joy of youth!  I'm glad I had the opportunity to sit and watch them, and share in their unadulterated joy for a while!

(By kids, I do mean college students.  I guess the better term to describe them would be "young adults".)


Cherry Blossoms

Yesterday, I traveled down to Washington, D.C, hoping to see the cherry blossoms with my daughter.

The Cherry Blossom Festival was in full swing.  Tons and tons of tourists lined the Tidal Basin.  The reflecting pool was surrounded by people.  The line to get into the National Archives was over an hour long.

However, try as we might, we couldn't find open cherry blossoms anywhere.  Right as you enter Washington from Virginia, there is a beautiful garden that is usually full of tulips this time of year.  We found ten tulips in bloom - and hundreds- literally hundreds - of green tulilp foliage that was about 6 inches tall.  If we looked closely, we could see the tulip bud still wedged, deep inside of the greenery, waiting.

The weather in the Mid-Atlantic Region has been unseasonably cold.  We had snow last week.  Snow in March is practically unheard of around here.  Even stranger, this was our second March snowstorm. I think the tulilp bulbs are hiding so far deep down in the tulip greenery because they are afraid to come out.  They know that spring still isn't really here yet.

Finally, after much searching, daughter and I stopped and sat on a bench near the Tidal Basin, looking across the water to the Jefferson Memorial.  There was a cold wind blowing, and the water in the basin was very choppy.  There were two paddle boats out on the water, and the occupants were struggling to keep the boats going. They were attempting to paddle upstream towards the bridge, but the water was blowing so hard, they couldn't go anywhere.  They were in the middle of the basin, but making no progress no matter how hard they paddled.  Finally, the Dad climbed over from one boat to another, and moved one of his children to the boat with his wife.  He paddled the first boat back to the pier, dropped off two children, picked up a rope, paddled back out, and tossed the rope to his wife and then towed the wife and remaining child back to shore.

It reminded me of one of those logic math puzzles we used to get back in school.

My daughter and I got up from our bench and began walking when we saw IT - across the basin - next to the 14th street bridge.  One lone cherry tree, in blossom, all by itself.  The crowd around the tree was massive.  We counted over 50 people stopped around the tree.  They were all taking pictures, posing with the tree, and taking pictures of all of the people crowded around the tree.  It was kind of funny.

And then, we saw IT.  On a tree branch, right next to us.  A single blossom had opened it's petals, wide and welcoming to the world around.  Oblivious to the cold, windy day around us, the flower was open and spreading the joy of new beginnings to everyone around it.

My daughter and I took pictures of the flower.  We were standing in the cold, shivering, and a light rain had just started when all of a sudden, we couldn't stop smiling.  Somehow, the miracle of the single cherry blossom had brightened our day and made the trek and the traffic worthwhile.

As we walked away from the trees, searching for the nearest Metro station, we looked back at the tree, and we saw a group of 20 people, huddled around the tree with the blossom.  As we watched, one young man dropped down on a knee, and handed a small box to a young woman who started crying and nodding her head.

Even though we didn't see all of the cherry blossoms in bloom this particular day, we saw so much more. 

Mission: Accomplished

Five years ago, I began to work on my Master's Degree.  I've been sidetracked by family illnesses, death of loved ones and life in general.  Over a year ago, I made a promise to myself.  I was going to finish my Masters Degree.  Come hell or highwater, I was going to finish this degree and get it done.

I had a child go off to college.  The last one started high school.  And I kept plugging on along.  College applications for the middle child have gone out, and a college has been chosen.  And through it all, I've been plugging and chugging, working on my Master's degree.  The papers have been steadily written.  My laptop has  gone on vacations with me, and I've been reading papers and writing papers and completing projects on the side of sports fields, in hotels around the country, and in libraries around the area. 

And the perserverance has paid off.  Last night, I submitted my final posts on Blackboard.  I submitted my last project.  Everything is finally finished.

I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry with relief.

My kids were thrilled beyond words for me.  They have sat with me while I've worked on papers.  We've gone to Wi-Fi hot spots and bitched about our homework together.  I've maintained a straight-A average, and the kids have seen the amount of work and dedication that has gone into keeping those grades up where they belong.

This last class has been the most frustrating of them all.  I loved the class before this one.  This class was not a good match for my personality.  It has been a struggle for me to slog my way through these classes, assignments, and readings.  As of now, I have an A in the class, but there are still 3 papers that I have submitted that have not yet been graded.  As long as I get a C in the class, I will graduate.
HOWEVER, I would really, really like to keep my A average at this point.  I'm patiently waiting to see what will happen next.

It is a strange sensation.  Earning my Master's Degree has been a goal of mine since I graduated from high school.  25 years after I graduated from College with my Bachelor's Degree, I will be graduating with my Master's Degree.  I've accomplished a major life goal.  Knocked a major tick off of my bucket list. 

Within 10 crazy days this summer, my middle son will graduate from high school, and I will walk across the stage and receive my diploma.

I love the feeling when you accomplish a dream.

This post originally appeared in my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I moved it to this blog at the request of my kids, who wanted to have all of the various posts that accompanied their high school years in one place.  I've matched the publication dates here to their original post date.  If you're reading these posts, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to go back through them all!