bread and butter

I'm still not 100% better from the upper respiratory infection I came down with on Easter. My voice is still hoarse, and I sound like I smoke 3 packs a day. By days end, I summon my energies to read to my children but I haven't been able to sing to them in three weeks. We recently finished reading the Hobbit, and are now beginning the Fellowship of the Rings.

Today at Church, while retrieving the boys from musical rehearsal, a fellow mother said, "Joyella, I don't know how you do it. I've been 'single mom' for the past six Saturdays while my husband is taking classes, and it's really hard." Whenever someone tells me they don't know how I do it, my response is always, "I don't know how I do it either." I often feel like Bilbo when he said he felt like "butter scraped over too much bread." Especially these days. Work has been picking up a little, which is a blessing in a time of need, but I'm getting overwhelmed. If you think of it, pray for me.

On top of it all, something has recently been brought to my attention that I'm very disturbed about, and I'm not sure how I need to go about dealing with it, but it definitely needs to be addressed. Add to that, a semi-dead beat.... and you've got a recipe for stress with a capital S.

Philly fun

I trekked up to Philadelphia on Saturday. I had a yummy brunch at Ida Mae's, the opportunity to meet lots of interesting individuals at a cookout (and other brunch) and did a little shopping at Circle Thrift, in Fishtown. Tif found a great faux wrap 100% silk dress in a gorgeous print (above), but lucky for me, it was not her size. It only cost $2 folks! It will need a few minor alterations, but TWO DOLLARS! And it still had tags on it! I also got another dress (which I will dye) and a pink t-shirt (for the chocolate bunnies decal below) for a grand total of six bucks. I love thrift shopping.

Also pictured (bottom), some fun cotton prints I'm looking forward to working some magic with this spring. For some reason pink keeps attracting my attention. I'm also happy to report I've gotten a few new clients recently, who actually want new dresses made, (not old ratty bedsheets mended.) Yay!




From Top to bottom: Warm pink/coral cotton batiste with Morroccan print in red and pink flowers, Pink and White floral (alternates pink on white to white on pink), two of the same print in slightly different color families --florals with butterflies and silver accents, Lipstick print (for a handbag), and last, Purse print (also for a handbag, I think).

Listening to the Smith's "How Soon is Now" and reading MK's excellent post "Numb," I thought I'd post a reaction or reflection of the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech.

I don't watch the news on T.V. very much, or read the newspaper, and even though I once listened to NPR almost religiously, I've slipped from that habit as well. The morning of 911 I was reupholstering my dining room chairs and thought, "It's been a while since I've heard what's going on in the world." So I turned on the radio and immediately heard about what had happened only minutes before in NYC. I had the same thought this past Monday afternoon and proceeded to turn on the news and heard about the shootings. The next day I heard about bombings in Iraq where hundreds were killed. I thought of all the hype over here about a senseless shooting rampage, and of those places where bombings are a part of daily survival and reported on almost casually now. I was thinking of the children who have been orphaned because their parents were killed because of "civil unrest"...we don't hear about them. It seems to me that Americans think we are immune to violence since we have so many laws protecting us. We seem more enraged when something horrible happens on our turf, because that kind of thing isn't supposed to happen here.

I don't like to watch or listen or read the news often because it depresses me. Not that I want to stick my head in the sand and pretend that all is well in the world. I know quite certainly that it is not. I just don't have any idea what I can do to make a difference. I pray for the victims' families and the orphans that they may experience the hope and grace of Jesus' sacrifice.

On top of Stone Mountain

My three children hamming it up on the top.

My kids and four of their cousins.

At the top, the skyride thingy we came up on.

In the "town," enjoying the little stream. Miss L (right and below) got completely soaked.

Too sick to blog

I came down with a nasty flu virus on Easter and have felt pretty wretched ever since. The symptoms are changing over now from fever, malaise and cough to sneezing,runny nose and stuffiness. It's the sinus pressure all around my eyes that makes me look and feel like going back to bed indefinitely.

Pictures from Atlanta's Stone Mountain are forthcoming.