Running With Scissors: about

Lynette is Joining Running With Scissors!

11:03 AM

This blog has been dying slowly. But get ready for an amazing resurrection!

My little sister, Lynette is coming on board and we are going to join forces!
So you'll get to see what each of us is creating!

Grandma's House late 80s

Maybe you don't know Lynette or remember her blog, Thinking In Shapes, which she deleted a little over a year ago.
Basically comparing the two of us, Lynette is Mr. Miaggi, and I am Daniel-son.

Get ready to be amazed by the master if you've been at all impressed with the apprentice.

HOW THIS CAME ABOUT:

We live 2 hours from each other, so we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like, as that would probably be every day if possible. But Lynette was over for a sleep over and after we watched Little Women and our kids were in bed we were chatting about motherhood stifling our creative capacity, and how we each love different aspects of blogging, but it's a lot of work. Lynette has recently started delving more into DIY and home projects (building her own bed) and wanted to share all her ideas. I was feeling burned out from blogging and after 7 years have been considering over and over just ending it and being done...but I always just keep coming back. So that night we both decided we'd both love working together and sharing our ideas with you.

the girls of our family: Lynette (9th grade), oldest sister Heather, Jessica (12th grade)

I think we both have things to share, and we're both excited to work together. She's the authority on sewing and she's who I call for my sewing or garment questions. She calls me with furniture and DIY questions. And let's be honest, we both call our mom with both. So get excited because we're going to have Sheila mom features coming too. I'm so thrilled about all the changes and feel like fresh energy has given my blog life, we're even getting the fuzzy header revamped and making things look like it's not 2009 anymore around here.

So I thought it would be fun to introduce Lynette. I'm sure in no time you'll realize she's the better sister creatively and as a person....anyone who knows us in real life can attest to that.

Lynette with our awesome dad, Scott

Here's a few of my favorite projects she's created just to brag about her a little:

And she's got a whole stack of posts in draft form waiting to bust out for you so get ready!

There's more new and exciting changes in the works, but this post already has too many adjectives so we'll save them for another day. I haven't been this excited about this blog in years!! So look out, here come the Kelly sisters with sewing machines, drills, paint, fabric, and scissors I guess.

Running With Scissors just got a whole lot better.

about

My Personal Style

2:45 PM

about

The Fan Thank You Heather Bailey Wished She Never Recieved

11:38 AM

about

Sewing Summit

5:30 AM

about

anyone there?

1:59 PM

Hello if anyone is still out there.

A lot has happened in our family the last few weeks and so the blog died but I'm going to try to revive it.

We sold our house we've lived in the last three years:

Which meant we had to move:

But my husband still had a month left with his program so the kids and I moved to the new rental and he stayed behind.

Luckily we moved to his hometown where a lot of his family is so I had some help to unpack and move in.

Then we had a family reunion and since I've decided a ratio of 1 adult: 3 kids is a bad idea for camping.

Trying to carry two screaming kids out of a tent to jump in your car before you wake everyone else, half asleep and blind without your glasses you just crushed isn't fun.

(the mound in the grass is Ellie where she just dropped and fell asleep)

Izzie is almost 6 months old and sleeping through the night which is liberating!

Then last Thursday my husband graduated residency as a physician in family medicine.

His education and training has determined so much of our lives, his dream became my dream for him as we went through the process together these 10 years, and it's thrilling and weird it's all over.

He'll still work a lot of hours as we're in a really rural town and he runs the Emergency Room 1/3 of the year, in addition to his regular job, but it has to be better than what it's been!

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So it's been kind of crazy and stressful for me this year on the home front.

The last few months I've really struggled, and have been thinking back and forth about quitting blogging.

I guess it's amazing how easily three kids could kick my trash before 9am most days.

I wasn't creating much, and the time it took to photograph everything and blog about it seemed like wasting energy that should be going to my family.

So I haven't blogged in weeks, and haven't really done much with blogging it feels since Izzie was born.

I don't look at my blog as a business.
I don't try to make money off blog traffic or sponsors.

I tend to loathe anything creative that feels like a job, so to ensure I still enjoy blogging and in order to try to stay authentic to what it's about--I am a hobby blogger.

It's always been just sharing things I've made with the few PDF patterns on the side.

So being a hobby, I've thought about just ending the blog aspect in general.

Then all my free time could be just creating and making.

But I found during the break I miss the interaction I have with everyone here,
and the documentation and info on the projects for myself.

I look back to get details on a lot of projects if I make them again, or do something similar.

And I really do enjoy blogging in general.

So I'm going to try to make it work.

I've started feeling better physically as I quit nursing and am sleeping better with baby sleeeping through the night now.
I've also had some mild post-partum depression and the fog seems to be clearing.

Plus we live near family and my husband lives with us now and won't be working 80 hours a week so my life will definitely be easier.

So I'm going to try to keep blogging and am just going to try to change my approach to the posts.
There are times where the photography, editing, and writing of a post can take 3x as long as the actual making of the project.

That's where I'm going to try to change how I work.

We'll see how it goes, I was never stellar at the blogging side of things so the thought of me putting even less into my crappy blogging makes me wonder if it may be better in the end to just quit.

But we'll see.

If it's just the ideas you're interested in, that should still translate.

So thanks for all the support I've had with the blog these last 6 years and we'll see how the new approach goes.

Coming up I have:

-bench made from old church pew

-striped inverted pleat skirt

-formal charcoal dress

-girls swim suit

and more I'm working on.

RJ drew a nose and whiskers on my face, and talons on my fingers so I could be a mean cat,
he was a bigger and meaner dog....the dog won the game.

PS Google reader died today, so you can follow the future of Running With Scissors on bloglovin here.

Import your google reader list and follow on feedly (which is probably what I'm going to use for the blogs I follow)

Or subscribe to get posts emailed to you.

You can also follow on facebook.

about

Thanks and A Mom Memory

12:28 AM

Just a quick post:

First, thanks for all the support I've received on the baby bedtime bag pattern!

I really appreciate all those who have purchased it and hope to see some of your versions in the flickr group so I can check them out!

Next, I also enjoyed all the comments on RJ's sharpie t-shirt.

I'm glad I decided to document it really fast.

As I was reading your nice comments, it reminded me of something my mom did for me when I was little.

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Here's my dad's all time favorite picture of my mom.

I was number three and not born yet, looking at this now makes me realize RJ kind of looks like my oldest brother.

STORY:

So I don't know how old I was, but pretty little.

I drew my family on a paper, and at that time humans to me were circles with arms and legs coming out of the head.

NOTE: I grew up with a "fun" mom.

She'd jump on the trampoline, build snow slides in the front yard, freeze us an ice skating rink over the garden in the winter, and even check us out of school to go see girly movies like Swan Princess and Little Women.

So anyway, this occasion she was impressed with my drawing of our family and decided to put it on a sweatshirt.

Which made me think I was amazing.

baby Jess around age 2

I remember she was using black puff paint (late 80s) on a peach Hanes generic sweatshirt.

The sweatshirt was laying flat on a couch that had brown, blue, grayish huge flower things on it.
Hideous couch looking back. It was the kind of print as a kid I'd stare at and see all sorts of fish or monsters in what I assume were flowers.

Anyway, my memory is standing by her watching her study my drawing, then puff paint the heads with limbs on the sweatshirt for an exact replica in my mind.

I assume it made a lasting memory so young because I was obviously so proud at how clearly awesome I was.
My mom apparently LOVED my drawing of our family so much she was painting it on a sweatshirt!

For her it was mainly a work shirt, but I do remember her wearing it once in a while and again just thinking how great I was.
I was great, and my art was great.

I don't know what happened to that peach sweatshirt, but I wished I'd stolen it from her to have it now!

So pretty much I had an awesome mom and I wish I was more like her.

Hopefully remembering that piece of childhood will help me give my kids more opportunities to feel their creativity is....(and makes them) amazing!

about

She's Here! Baby #3 born

2:44 PM

I had planned to post the final segment on the dollhouse, but ended up going into labor last Tuesday!

I was shocked, as it was 2.5 weeks early and I've never gone into labor spontaneously.

At 4pm I started having contractions and thought "Crap! I'm not ready for this!"

As much as I was thrilled to no longer be pregnant, I still had a whole list of things I wanted, or felt like I needed to do before she came.

But she was ready so she came!

We got to the hospital at 9pm after my husband got home from work and arranging for our other kids.

She was born at 11:30 pm, so a pretty quick, routine delivery overall.

I did hyperventilate during transition--which was weird. I was sitting on a birthing ball and had a monster contraction that lasted forever, and I guess my breathing got too shallow and fast because all the sudden my arms and hands went numb, followed by my face. Then they started yelling at me to breathe slower and that helped. Luckily my husband was behind me and I didn't fall backwards off that birthing ball or something. I guess whatever happens during birth, I don't want to become a funny story that lingers around LandD nurses for years to come! So that turned out OK once I decided breathing should be a top priority.

After the monster contraction, transition was actually over and I crawled back into the bed and rolled on my back, as my water exploded all over the bed, splashing onto the doctor and the floor, kind of reminding me of this scene from Coneheads, Luckily for the doctor, she'd already put on the gown when it erupted.

Then little Isabella was here in 2 contractions and our family went from four to five.

Here's the token "swamp hag" picture.

My friend said once she feels like such a swamp hag right after birth and I thought it was an accurate description of how I feel physically.

Some women look beautiful with right after the birth, but I never have styled hair or makeup.

I always look...like I just had a baby a few minutes ago, sweaty, worn out, but full of joy.

Despite not being a glamour shot, it's one of favorite pictures from having a newborn.

For me, it captures one of the best moments of my life to really hold my baby for the first time.

There's a side of so much relief, physical and emotional that she's here and safe and healthy, then just the overwhelming love of seeing your baby and looking in their squinty little eyes for the first time.
All the months of barfing, exhaustion, discomfort, physical deformity, and pain all become worth it in one moment.

The kids have adjusted well.

We were most concerned with Ellie, but she's been either loving or indifferent, so it's been good.

RJ's pretty excited to have another baby sister, but still mentions the "next baby is going to be a brother".

Mom's not even thinking about a next baby to further that conversation.

Here's the two sisters:

So little Isabella's almost a week old now and we're doing great.

My mom came up the day after she was born and takes care of pretty much everything.

I've recovered physically so much faster this time around.

I usually don't get out of pajamas for weeks, but on Sunday I actually got dressed and did my hair.

Shocker!

So we are doing great and have had such a happy week welcoming Isabella into our family.

We're looking forward to her due date next week because my husband only got the one day off to get me home from the hospital, and had to go right back to work.

He has an entire week off after the due date, which we're all excited for, and another reason my mom saves the day again!

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I do have some baby projects I started before she was born and will hopefully finish to post soon...or whenever it feels more interesting than cute little baby hands and feet!

We tried really hard to get a picture of me with all the kids, but this was probably the best in all honesty.

I can't believe I have three kids!

I've just felt so happy and grateful these this last week for the blessing of three healthy kids, and an amazing mom and husband.

We've just been living in this happy bubble of the new baby and family this last week and I hope it continues to last...although I haven't had to take them all with me to a grocery store alone yet.

And I still haven't figured out how to manage three kids alone at church when my husband has to work weekends...but I have a little time to figure out that one.

about

Family Photos

7:00 AM

Way back in June we had some family photos taken.
I made about half of the clothing and it was fun to have some summer shots of our little crew.

Photos taken by Kandice McDermott Photography
Kandice was also nice enough to get a head shot of me.
It’s kind of weird to get pictures of just yourself, but I’ll use them to update my blog and profile pictures which is a lot better than my old one which I took of myself in our bathroom 4 years ago.
Also, I think it will be good to have a nice picture of just me down the road for the family.
I know I’d love a professional picture of just my mother when she was a young mom to have now.

On to the fam.

junk I made:

Ellie: Finch dress and orange bow clip

RJ: gray lederhosen shorts

Me: Secretary Skirt, French Knot Blouse, DIY earrings, cheap $1.00 necklace I spray painted orange

My Husband: none

Family photos can be stressful on the mom, or at least they are for me.

We have to coordinate naps, snacks, etc to hope our kids behave…which mine didn’t.

Then there’s planning the clothes which is a big stress for me.

I think the days of everyone wearing khaki pants and black polo is dated, so to look like a cohesive group but not get matchy-matchy can be tricky.

So I probably worry about the clothes, hair, and everything else more than it matters.

But the actual photoshoot with Kandice was totally stress free. She had some ideas that my kids tanked for her, but she moved on and was really easy going.

You could tell she’s a mom and works with kids a lot, she kept them entertained with treats throughout and at the end RJ earned a package of Pop Rocks which rocked his world, he’d never had them. It’s also great to get shots of my husband and I since we really don’t take many of just us anymore.

So for all the pre-photo stress it was a really great session and so fun to meet and work with Kandice.

If you live in the Idaho Falls/ Pocatello/ Rexburg Idaho area you should definitely look her up!

Kandice McDermott Photography

KandiceMcDermottPhotography@gmail.com