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a jolly good read...

if perchance you are looking for a jolly good read today then may i suggest the latest issue of 91magazine

and if you happen to turn to page 62 you'll find a spiffy feature about our Mossy Shed and a nice little write up about my book.

i am quite the fan of 91magazine, the articles are beautiful and i even find myself enjoying the ads which is nice i think, sometimes ads just do not sit right amongst the pages, but not in this magazine, no sirree! they fit peachy perfect, hurrah hooray.

yes indeedy, it is the perfect read with a cup of tea on a winter's afternoon.

many thank you kindlies to Caroline and indeed Chloe for inviting me to be part of such a spiffy publication

her mother hen heart has been put through the mill by her chickie peas today ~ Tif

fabby fabric from a silly old suitcase...

oh golly gosh, nothing quite like a piece of fabby vintage fabric to get my creative soul feeling a little crafty and that is exactly what happened when a wonderful parcel full of peachy goodness arrived on my doorstep a few weeks back.

lovely Maartje from silly old suitcase blog had a give away, a very generous give away where upon several of us won! when i heard the news i was pretty giddy with the anticipation of what my little prize would be. for just one look at Maartje's world with her crafty vintage talent has my little heart beating faster. on a side note here, if perhaps you are amidst the blearghy winter feeling where every thing around appears a little dreary and drab, may i suggest you visit Maartje and her 'silly old suitcase', to me it is a 'light box' blog, one that is bound to lift your spirits and you are left feeling like a little ray of sunshine has been to visit. such colour and such prettiness abounds from every photo you come away ready to fend of Mr Deary and Mr Drab with a "be gone dull guys! i do not have time for your depressing ways, no sirree, i am filled with happy sunny colourful thoughts thanks to Maartje and her little old suitcase filled with happy things"

and so my package of goodies arrived before Christmas, where upon i hung several dingly danglies around the shed made by Maarje's own fair crafty hands and then i sat and hugged the other part of the parcel, for it contained a length of vintage fabric like no other i had seen before. a fabric worthy of a long hug, my very fabby fav type of vintage fabric...

ugly pretty no less!!

with a shed full of gleeful decorations and clan, i wisely placed my new love where i would see her daily, reminding me of things to come when the shed was cleared of decorations and clan. so i waited and whilst i waited i pondered, for such was her ugly pretty beauty i knew i needed to do her justice.

roll on to January, i was in full on shed clearing mode and along with the crappity crap things like cleaning out drawers, recycling and thrifting, i interspersed it with jolly things, like re-covering our old IKEA couch with a pair of wonderful vintage Sanderson curtains found on Ebay, which had also been biding its time waiting for a quiet moment. once the loose cover was miraculously made, i realized my couch was no longer a couch, but a settee, for a settee sounded so much grander and Sanderson fabric is grand in my books. i dared to wonder if the handcrafted gods were on my side, after all i had managed to make a slip cover out of 2 curtains surely they were...

and they were, for unfolding my lovely bit of 'silly old suitcase' fabric i discovered there was enough to make 3 spiffy back cushions for my newly Sanderson-ed settee.

oh joy, oh happy day, when once again i stood back to see the completed transformation of IKEA couch into a settee of vintage Sanderson goodness along with some ugly pretty cushions worthy of a joyful tear or two

how marvellous i think to myself every night whilst sitting upon our settee, that i was lucky enough to win such an amazing piece of fabric and my hope is Maartje will see just how suited it is to living in our Mossy Shed. thank you kindly Maartje, for your lovely fabric, your wonderful happy blog, for cheering up the cold winter months and indeed your silly old suitcase filled with crafty vintage goodness

once again she finds herself waiting in anticipation of Mr Postie and what he carries in his Van ~ Tif

Ordinations to the Subdiaconate

Saturday 28th January saw the ordination of seven young men to the Subdiaconate at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary.

The future Subdeacons processing into the chapel holding a candle in their right hand, and, hanging over their left arm, the tunicle and maniple in which they will later be vested.

The candidates prostrate themselves before the altar.

Br. Martin Mary, F.SS.R. was given the great privilege of cantoring the Litany of the Saints with one of the other seminarians, which can be seen in the video below.

The camera used to film the Litany would not go beyond ten minutes per clip, so there is a small jump in the middle where a new one was started.

the tradition of the instruments to the Subdeacons, who touch the cruets...

...and the chalice.

The amice is pulled over the head.

The maniple is given them to reverence,

and finally they lay their right hand upon the Epistolarium, from which they will now chant the Epistle at a Solemn High Mass.

May God make them all good and holy priests!

12 eggs = 2 embryos

Source: lucyina.com via Tina on Pinterest

Got the call this morning, nothing else made it to freeze. So I had two embryos from the whole cycle. I'm feeling really good about that. Best case scenario we have baby #3 and #4. Worst case scenario we move on as a family of four. Either way we did our best and I'm at peace with whatever happens.

Statistically we did exactly what we were supposed to with IVF #3. Our embryologist told us before this cycle started that on any given IVF, 17% of the eggs you create will achieve embryo status, but only 8% will actually have the potential to become babies. The same way things work in the non-ART world.

So me making 2 potentially baby making embryos out of 12 eggs is spot on. Now I just hope that one of these little guys sticks. One week and counting.

thrilling friday's instant images...

yesterday i got waylaid in my studio, dabbling with Miss Ethel and the epiphany i had before Christmas and stored away in a little drawer in my brain labelled

'little drawer of epiphanies worthy of returning to'

like all crafting epiphanies one never knows till one attempts them. then after some attempting has been done, only then can one step back and assess the situation.

"is it pants, or is it peachy?"

today however is friday!

hurrah hooray, thrilling friday and with it my 'instant images' post. yes indeedy, it comes as no surprise Ivor Ipad and myself, having found ourselves after several months of living near each other, are in the throws of a love affair. Ivor Ipad apart from being rather attractive, has many qualities about him i admire, but none more so then his 'instagram' button. so i thought it might be nice, a sort of nice thing to do on a friday, sort of thing, to show some of the instant images Ivor Ipad and myself have taken together.

perhaps i may have a story behind them to tell, perhaps i may not.

perhaps i may only show one, perhaps i may show more.

perhaps they may be blurry, perhaps they may not.

who knows and who really truly cares.

all i know is, Ivor Ipad is the bees knees with his little button of instant imagery

attempting a roundie crocheted cushion with the help of Little Olive the other evening

a snippet of hand embroidery hanging around Mossy Shed

oilcloth bunting from my Aunt Hetty, braving the snow

Little Olive & Used Dog tired out from listening to me marvelling at the joyous vintage Sanderson fabric found on Ebay

during my manic January clearout, our bedroom was treated to a shuffle around, resulting in this corner where once our bed was placed

a snippet of store goodies i am working on for february

a woodland gathering inside of Mossy Shed where it is warm for little critters feet in winter

i do hope your weekend is peachy and not pants in the least, yes, only peachy weekends all round

Tif

Snuggle In Tight

My transfer was today, I'm very happy with the outcome. We had ten embryos on day 3. By this morning two had arrested, four were early blasts, two were morulas, one was graded a 4AA and another was graded 4BB.

We transferred the 4AA, this guy right here (I think he looks like Joe).

And we froze the 4BB (also, quite cute in my humble opinion).

Our embryologist will be watching the other six embryos today and tomorrow morning as possibly cryo candidates. Our clinic doesn't freeze anything graded with a C or below. Statistically speaking, with 12 eggs I should have made one, maybe two blasts. The fact that we had one to transfer and one to freeze is perfect. And while I would never wish that the rest arrested, I would be relieved if we didn't have six embryos sitting in a cryo bank.

So now we wait and see. I'll get a call in the morning with our cryo update and my beta is next Saturday. Joe is out of town so I get to take the kids with me to clinic (oy vey) and then to swim class alone. Should be enough of a distraction until the phone rings.

And for those of you that know my reputation with pregnancy tests, yes I'll test early. I plan to POAS today to test out my trigger. With the twins I was trigger negative at 3dp5dt AM and pregnancy positive at 3dp5dt PM (yes, I POAS that often). With the singleton I lost, I didn't get a BFP until 9dp3dt. I'm thinking the earliest I should test is Wednesday? Thoughts from the POAS peanut gallery?

New Build

Once upon a time, a long time ago I said if we stayed in the area this guy would build our future home. Well, we've decided to stay in the area and we are building with him. Exciting times. We're actually meeting with the design team tonight to get drawings started. I just spent the last 90 minutes of the babies naps printing off inspiration images that I've been holding for this next house.

Source: thatkindofwoman.tumblr.com via nikinikinine on Pinterest

Source: decorpad.com via nikinikinine on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via nikinikinine on Pinterest

I have more than a dozen pages printed filled with pictures of mudrooms and entries, sunrooms and playrooms, kids bedrooms and kitchens, family rooms and studies. And in my collection process I realized that I have ZERO pictures of ideas for the master bedroom. This is probably why after living in this house for SIX YEARS our master bedroom is still not decorated. This is the only picture I have saved, and I'm not even in love with it.

Source: Uploaded by user via nikinikinine on Pinterest

What is my mental block with the bedroom? (Please, no ill-intended jokes.) I can't even think of what I would want our bedroom to look like. I feel like maybe it should have a sitting area, but maybe not. Maybe it should be relaxing, or maybe romantic, or maybe some combination of masculine and feminine, but I fear you risk wandering into androgynous...

I'm really stuck with this one. What should a master bedroom have?

Deep Silence, Mutual Listening, Continual Prayer

Deep Silence.

Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist. In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves.

Mutual Listening.

By remaining silent we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself; and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested. In this way, space is created for mutual listening, and deeper human relationships become possible.

Thus the Pope speaks to us about the internet, blogging and social communications. We are involved in Internet communications. We hope that our sites also breathe religious silence.

Silence

The latest edition of our newspaper Catholic is in the post.
It opens the subject of continual prayer.
I invite you to subscribe to this newspaper and read quietly
- away from Internet, in deep listening silence -
about the continual prayer.

Fr. Michael Mary, F.SS.R.

Attention should be paid to the various types of websites, applications and social networks which can help people today to find time for reflection and authentic questioning, as well as making space for silence and occasions for prayer, meditation or sharing of the word of God.

Pope Benedict XVI.
24 January 2012.

He who prays is certain to be saved.
He who does not pray is certain to be damned.
All the elect are in heaven because they prayer.
All the damned are in hell because they did not pray.
St. Alphonsus

The Mindfu*k that is IVF

Or my day 3 embryo report.

Source: flickr.com via Krista on Pinterest

All ten embryos have fertilized. Whaaaat? Yes, all ten. The six that they originally observed still going strong, and somehow the other four fertilized too?

Our embryologist explained that since we did ICSI, she knows the exact time they were injected with sperm. The fact that she wasn't able to observe fertilization after 24 hours means they either fertilized too fast or too slow, so they're not "normal". These other four embryos have been put aside for separate monitoring and observation.

We're scheduled for a 5DT on Friday.

Lately

The kids seem to be getting bigger by the day. They are obsessed with drinking from cups. Especially cups with straws. They will chug water, trade cups and chug some more.

New favorite past times include trying to break the safety locks off the cabinets, opening doors (or at least attempting to open them), shaking my living room lamps by their bases and climbing the stairs.

{ monkey sasquatch }

Ryan has also decided that he will only eat off of a fork from now on. It's cute beyond cute. He's a very determined little eater. I'm amazed at how he will swipe his fork at his tray pretending to stab food and then move the fork to his mouth. I say pretending because he isn't very good at getting food onto his fork, so much of our meals are spent with me sticking food on his fork and him moving the food to his mouth. He is very good with yogurt and a spoon though :)

Reese is stringing together more and more steps. We got up to seven steps in a row this weekend. Chicken little still won't step out on her own, I'm wondering if she will ever walk unassisted at this point. I imagine her at 14 with me helping her get to her feet and holding her hand. Okay clearly that's a gross exaggeration, but this is a kid I thought would be walking by Halloween...

In addition to baby steps and baby breaking and entering, Reese has started smiling proudly. Except it is the weirdest smiley face you've ever seen. Crooked and full of teeth and a scrunched up face. I've been trying to get it on camera, but she gets all normal when I break out the film. Best I've been able to do is grab this video. You're welcome in advance.

things i like today...

in no particular order

thing one: my lads back in school

thing two: listening to Noah and the Whale whilst painting 3 coats of glossy white on doors in the shed

thing three: a postcard from Bernina to Panini regaling thrifty finds of goodness

thing four: snippets of black in fabrics around the shed

detail of a smocked roundie cushion i made, who despite my best intentions became a smocked oval cushion who mocks me, reminding me, roundie cushions are still out of my reach