Back to School for Families of all Types

Looking around the blogosphere you can read about families of all types. Recently I became introduced to Carol Shwanda, she blogs about her blended family. Her blog is an interesting read about their travels and everyday activities, including recipes an more. Her latest entry is about back to school.

I'm dealing with back to school like every other parent right now too. Here is my current project for my daughter, a 6th grader. She wanted a tote bag instead of a backpack and chose the fabric herself. She also drew the pattern for the felt letters she wanted appliqued onto the bag.

So, I had better get back to work since I need to get it done by Monday! Have a great week everyone!

Home Again....One Less

I've been gone all week, school starts the 24th so it was time to take my oldest son back to college and move him into his own apartment. He spent his freshman year in the dorm and was excited about moving into his own space. You always want things to be perfect for your kids and my oldest has not chosen the easiest path. He refers to himself as an artist and works at it every day.

The part of town he chose to live is near the school and he has 3 other close friends he is rooming with. They leased this apartment sight unseen off of the internet and it met all their criteria, mostly number of bedrooms, location and price. My husband walked in and was left with mouth wide open. The walls needed another coat of paint, the floors in the bedrooms were just rough wood, the front balcony needs some serious dry rot abatement on one end, and the whole place sort of slants to the rear. To be fair this is a 1930's 3 story apartment building and it is charming in it's own way, just not my husband's way!

We spent the next two days moving things in from storage, buying out Target, putting together furniture and on the whole very stressed out. My son was ready for us to leave, my husband was wondering what had gotten into my son's head and why he was choosing to live there and I had a serious backache! Well it's funny how little reminders come from the most unexpected places. The morning we were going to leave we were at breakfast. We were going to get a few last minute things and meet my son later at his apartment. My husband was still a little disturbed by my son's choice of living spaces. I got Rev Run's Daily Word on my blackberry and it said, "Criticizing is easy, Art is hard".

So, with renewed respect for my son's path we finished our job and left him to create happily in his new space. I'm happy for him and glad to be back home, minus one child, who is happy in his new one.

This is one of my son's pictures from several years ago, he won a competition with is and it is still one of my favorites.....