The 2 Hour Nap

Aurora's hit a growth spurt, which means lots of cranky time and lots of nap time.  The former = lots of mommy trying to figure out exactly will make the cranky go away (usually her Minnie doll, thanks Amy!), and the latter = lots of mommy planning her day only to find that an unexpected 2 hour nap can throw a wrench in whatever plans I try to make. 

Don't get me wrong, I love the 2 hour nap.  I really do.  It's great for getting cleaning/laundry/dishes/various other projects going without having to watch where I'm walking and/or doing my thing while holding an increasingly heavy 18-month-old.  Working out, reading, watching a tv show that doesn't involve muppets or badly rendered CG animal children can all be done within the sleep vortex that is the 2 hour nap.  And seriously, Aurora sleeps like her father...a marching band going through her room couldn't wake her up.

But the 2 hour nap is always more...appreciated isn't the right word...utilized, I suppose, when it's expected.  When it's not expected, I inevitably wind up thinking it's going to be a half hour nap and spend the time screwing around on the internet, reading Facebook, looking at my Google Reader subscriptions, and blogging for the third day in a row (admittedly, not a bad thing).  In other words, I don't do much in the way of being productive because I don't think I'll have the time to actually get into a project.  I have too often found myself having to hurriedly wipe sudsy dishwater off my hands to go tend to a toddler who is suddenly very awake and very irritated to find herself in her crib in a dark room, usually with a wet or dirty diaper (she's really not a fan of that).

Though, the unexpected 2 hour nap does always seem to come when I'm at the end of my rope irritated and totally need a couple of hours to just be mindless, so really I suppose it's a good thing.

In other news, I finally organized my sewing patterns (yes, during the 2 hour nap today).  I have them all in page protectors and I'm going to get a nice big (hopefully zippered) 3-ring binder to stick them in. 

Also, I need to be better about labeling my posts.  I'm terrible about that.

The Boob Shirt (A Retrospective)

Years ago, I bought a tank top.  It was before I really knew how...ample my bosoms would eventually become, I think I was about 14 when I bought it.  It was the first article of clothing that I bought.  Not that I picked out by myself, the first one that I bought with my own money while shopping by myself.  In a much larger way than I'd care to admit, it represented my burgeoning freedom and independence.  I hold no delusions about my teen years, they were crap (not the total crap that other people I know went through, but they were not fun and I wouldn't relive them for all the gold in the world), but there are a few things that make me deeply nostalgic about my youth.  This top is one of them.

When I tried it on, I knew my parents wouldn't like it, and that's what I liked about it.  Yes, it looked decent on me, and I liked the material and the pattern, but it was just revealing enough to make my parents noticeably uncomfortable with it.  My mom was convinced that I had bought it just because it was "fashionable", but it was more than that.  I had picked it out, I had chosen it.  It was mine in a way that very few things had ever truly been mine before that.

Later in high school, my sister hit a phase where she was jealous of how well I was filling out my shirts, and teased me relentlessly for being "too big".  I don't remember exactly when, but during this phase she dubbed the tank top "The Boob Shirt," and the name stuck.

It's one of the most comfortable pieces of clothing that I have ever owned, and I still have it (though I've long since stopped wearing it in public because it just doesn't look flattering on me anymore).  This year I'm finally going to have to retire it.  The threads in the seams are all falling apart, and it's been washed so many times that the pattern is barely visible anymore.  It pains me a little to just toss out something that I look at with such rosy glasses, but I really should toss it.


Maybe I'll give it another year.

In Which Liz Makes a Triumphant (?) Return to teh Interwebz (not a repeat)

It's been busy in the House of Liz.  Really, I wish I could blame that for my long hiatus, but in reality I can't.  At least, not entirely.  Looking back at my archives, it hasn't been as long as I thought, but it's still been too long.  I also wish I could say that I'll fix that and start blogging more often, but I know myself and I know that it probably won't happen...but I had a friend link to my blog in a recent post, so it's been at the forefront of my mind for a couple of days, so I thought I'd fire up the ol' keyboard and give it another go, without the empty "I swear I'll start blogging again" promises.

Aurora's getting so big.  She's walking, talking, throwing tantrums (not my favorite development), and starting to potty train.  I'm going to be so glad not to have to change diapers anymore!

School's on hiatus (again).  Going in the evenings didn't prove to be any less stressful (surprise surprise), and there's just so much else I want to do that school was getting in the way of.

I'm reevaluating where I want to go with Liz's Creations, and I'm super excited about the new direction I'm taking.  Hopefully I'll have some news about that soon.

Baby's awake now, so it's snack time for us.  Perhaps, if I get the mood, I'll blog again tomorrow :)