Monday, January 26, 2015

OUR WEEK-END ADVENTURES...


I am going to try and put up a quick post this morning.  I have SUCH a busy week ahead of me with things to get finished before Melody arrives in two weeks.  I told myself the other day that I didn't NEED to feel soo rushed just to have things done when she gets here, (don't know why I always do that to myself) as the baby is not even due until late April and of course we will be heading out there when she is born.  But I plan to be working on the quilt and things for the nursery after she leaves so I do want to keep on my schedule as much as possible.  After the things I saw and experienced this week-end I DO want to keep the prospective that I need to on what is important and what is not, and be grateful for all that I have.

I so enjoyed our week-end and I hope you did too.  On Sat. hubby needed a hair cut so we ran over to Jessie's shop which worked out well for me too as I needed to drop off the finished hair turbans I had made for her business.  I have been kicking around for a while the possibility of "maybe" adding some leggings and possibly some leather moccasins to the things she offers in her business, and wanted to talk to her about my ideas.  She is launching her new spring line right now so it seemed like a good time.  I know that I do NOT want to have my own business.  I don't want to go to the hassle of promoting and advertising it the way I know you have to in order to be successful, nor do I want to deal directly with customers and the bother of sending out orders etc.  But I DO like the idea of making some extra money and doing it by doing what I soo enjoy doing.  Sewing for someone else's business seems to be the way to go for me.  I know that a lot of these businesses hire seamstresses to keep up with their demand, but honestly again I don't think I want to get involved with anyone other than my niece.  We discussed all this briefly while she cut hubby's hair, and she also told me what I needed to know about the leather moccasins that are soo popular with babies and toddlers right now and gave me some more to think about there.  After we finished there we had lunch at our favorite spot and decided to see the movie the theory of everything.  I could write an entire LONG post of what I thought about that movie, but I will spare you and TRY to sum it up as quick as I can.  It was a REALLY good movie with superb acting and I thoroughly enjoyed it in spite of the depressive story.  But honestly it did leave me with a couple of thoughts I haven't been able to shake. First, I am not sure I will ever complain again about feeling incapacitated with my arthritis in any way.  How on earth this poor man (a true story of course) has ever managed to live as many years as he has with such a debilitating disease I honestly don't know.  And of course he is just one of sooo many that do.  But mainly I was struck by the hopelessness of living without belief in God.  How truly sad and overwhelming that would be.  What on earth would be the point of it all?  I felt an urging to pray more diligently for the lost and hope that I in some way may be able to lead others to the saving knowledge of Jesus.  After the movie we met my sister Diane at Joannes so I could give her the finished blankets I had ready so she could crochet them too.  She showed me the progress she has made on the rosebud one and all I can say is OH MY GOODNESS!  It is SOOOO beautiful.  And yes, don't worry, I will post pictures when she has finished all of her beautiful crochet work.  After that we browsed the store for a while (no I can never NOT look for fabric, lol) and I discovered that they do not carry any leather.  I thought maybe I had seen it in the past though I had never actually looked.  They did not.  However, I did buy a very small piece of fake leather to practice on and see if maybe making those leather moccasins is even something I want to do.  I had spent quite a bit of time in the last couple of days coming up with the perfect pattern to use, and one that looks identical to the VERY popular one that see just everywhere on Etsy, Instagram, and Pintrest.  Even the fake leather is NOT all that inexpensive, but luckily for me it was on sale for 40 percent off and I only needed a quarter of a yard to make some up for the baby.  So for 2.75 we will see what I think.  It is on my schedule for this week (hopefully today but we will see).  After that we headed home and relaxed the rest of the day.

HOW CUTE ARE THEY?
 On Sunday we did not go down to San Diego to church as my son is in Mexico working with the orphanage that our church helps down there and so we decided to just listen to our old pastor online instead.  It was wonderful as always.  After that hubby had told me that he would take me into LA to the garment district to look for leather.  Now I don't know what any of you know about the garment district, or about LA and honestly I didn't know much myself.  I did know that it is where to go to buy fabric if you wanted to get a good selection and the best prices.  But I also knew that it is in a very bad area, parking is a nightmare, and it was not something I would ever want to do without him.  Hubby worked in LA for years and knows the area (thank goodness) like the back of his hand.  He knows all the freeways and the ins and outs of getting there as well.  I do pretty well with freeways (you almost have to in order to navigate them if you live in California) but the LA ones especially downtown do overwhelm me.  So I was very glad he was willing to go with me.  He supports whatever little idea or tangent I am on but that's another post, lol.  Anyway, we had researched the probable best spot for leather and headed there.  Let me just say this....I have never seen such a gigantic, overwhelming, hodgepodge or fabric in all my life.  To have gotten through all those stores looking at it all would
JUST A SMALL GLIMPSE OF HOW IT WAS
have taken DAYS let me tell you.  We spent almost two hours in a couple of the stores and honestly it was about all my knees could take and we finally left.  Here is the bottom line on leather.  Yes, you could find it there but you had one of two choices.  Either buy a piece of a hide, or little scraps of left over pieces.  We dug through both.  The hides varied greatly in size, quality, color and style and were pretty much WAY too expensive for my little ideas, and WAY too big.  I quickly switched to digging through bins of scraps.  And after all of that I only ended up with one little piece, lol.  I will make a pair for the baby out of it (2 bucks...just what I felt like spending, lol) and continue to look for other sources to get leather.  These gals have to be getting it somewhere, but I am very quickly starting to think this is NOT something I want to do, lol.  I did also pick up some other fabric, a couple of cotton pieces and 3 small pieces of knit, So all I really did was add to my list of things to make in the next couple of weeks, lol.  After our shopping we had a late lunch and then did our grocery shopping before heading home.   I was left dwelling on all the homeless people we saw in LA.  It was honestly pretty overwhelming and so very sad.  They were just everywhere.  With tents sat up and rolling around their grocery carts that hold their life's belongs.  As I dwelt even just a little bit on how it would really be to find myself in such a situation I honestly felt such gratitude that it has not been my lot, and an urging again to pray DILIGENTLY for those that do.

So I guess for now I will head back to my sewing machine and try to finish up somewhat on all I still want to do.  It was SOO warm yesterday and the wind whipped around kind of bad.  I am glad that it is overcast this morning and considerably cooler.  Not really ready for such warm temps yet.  I am praying the weather is nice when Melody is here for her sprinkle and we have our anniversary party in two weeks, but truthfully here in California it can go either way.  We could all be huddled around the heaters in Jessie's back yard, or even forced inside do to rain.  Or maybe it will be soo warm we will be sizzling in the sun.  But whatever it is, I am determined to keep it all in prospective and be grateful for the opportunities we have and the health we enjoy.  Hope you all have a good week!
Blessings, Debbie



12 comments:

  1. Wow! Sounds like a really busy weekend, but a fun one. Thank you for reminding me to be thankful for my life and to pray for others in need. Hope you have a great week!

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  2. I used to love going down to the garment district for great deals!

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  3. It's so wonderful to have a supportive hubby, isn't it! And it is hard for me to imagine a world without snow in January. LOL Hope you have a wonderful week, Debbie.

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  4. What a fun newsy post!!! I simply LOVE your attitude!! Praying for those who don't know the Lord is the most effective thing we can do apart from sharing the gospel with them. I can't imagine life without faith. I do want to see thta movie but will most likely wait until it arrives at our second run Starplex where the movies are just fifty cents on Tuesdays!
    I'll have to go back and read what the deal is on the leather! You have an awesome hubby!!!!!

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  5. Your husband is a dream! Mine would NEVER offer to do that for me!!! I can't wait to see what you come up with!
    xo Kris

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  6. I bet you can find some type of affordable leather on the internet. I don't guess I've seen the little moccasins for babies. I need to check that out for sure. Yes, your husband is a dream and so is mine. He would definitely have taken me and endured it. :o)) Wishing you a happy week of sewing!

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  7. As your other readers have commented, your hubby is a gem! :)
    How precious that the Lord moved in your heart this weekend. You must have "ears to hear"...

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  8. My Mom used to go down there all of the time. I just never had the nerve. I saw leather at Michael's the other day. I don't know if it would work for moccasins. I was really surprised to see it there.
    I love your weekends. You always have so much going on and they always sound so nice.
    We haven't got rain as of yet, but it should be here by bedtime. Have a lovely week getting ready. I can't wait to see how that outfit looks that your sister is working on, I have thought about that so much, I wish I had learned to do that from my Mom. She was always doing that to edges.
    Have a nice week.

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  9. What a busy weekend you had. And thank you for the reminders to be diligent in praying and in gratitude ... while we shouldn't need such vivid reminders, but alas, we do.

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  10. I thought your descriptions of going into the LA area to buy fabric was very interesting. I spent 8 years of my childhood in Southern California (age 8 - 16) and have been back only once since 1966 when my hubby was in training at Vandenberg AFB. My family lived in Orange County, Long Beach, and the San Fernando Valley. I understand it has all changed a lot since my days there. Thanks for the peek into your life and activities.

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  11. I too have a wonderful supportive husband, Debbie, we are truly blessed. So Melody is having a girl, I am so happy for them, what a beautiful family! As I am reading of your weekend, I am thinking of what a rich and full life you have! Your decision to sew for your niece is a great one, starting a business now days takes so much time, time that you could be creating, I wish you so much success! I always leave so blessed. Wishing you a very Blessed and happy New Year!
    Blessings,
    Sue

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  12. Hi Debbie, We are both so blessed to have hubby's that will go shopping for us-be in fabric or leather. Here's another idea for you-looking at thrift stores for old purses, leather jackets etc. When I was in college, I bought alot of hides and made purses out of them. Get yourself a strong sewing machine needle though.
    Loved hearing about your day. I'm still waiting to hear from the Dr.; hoping I can just have the cysts removed or the ovaries without having the complete surgery. Thank you dear friend for your prayers.
    Hugs, Noreen

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I am so glad that you would take the time to comment on my thoughts and feelings, it is such a blessing to me!