Lindsay Ballard, Author at Makely

Today, I awoke with a renewed sense of Hope for our country. Regardless of your personal political views or ideals, it’s hard not to be moved by our peaceful transition of power. Many harsh words have been spoken, jabs traded, and yet today we come together as one with great Hope for our future.

I’m a former legislative aide who worked at the US Capitol. I was there for the last transition of power. I was outside the Supreme Court building when that historic decision came down. I was there to shake President Clinton’s had on the lawn of the White House just days before he left Washington for New York. I felt like I was the most jaded young person on Earth; the political process had in fact changed me. I’m a political animal at heart, and my heart hurt.

When my two year old woke up this morning and declared, “Today’s the day Barack Obama becomes President!,” I realized that a new day has dawned. I wanted today to be special for him. He doesn’t understand who the President is or what he does, but today is probably one of the most historic days he will experience in his life.

I thought I’d keep him home from preschool today so that he could watch the Inauguration, but he kept demanding to watch Wall-E, which just wasn’t going to work for me. So, I made him American Flag pancakes instead.

The pancakes were just spur of the moment, so I only had strawberry jam and raisins to decorate them. They weren’t fancy and weren’t pretty, but I think they that received DS’s vote.

Thank you to my DS for helping me to continue to have Hope for our future. And thank you to President Obama (!!) for helping to lead the way.

I have this weird little quirk in which I cannot touch textiles or objects with a certain “quality.” That quality is hard to describe in words other than “sends a cold chill down my spine.” I just cannot handle it without thinking I’m going to have a seizure. I wish I was kidding, but I am not.

At the top of my list of things I cannot touch, you will find velvet. Just typing the word makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Several years ago, I was working in a ladies’ retail shop and thought I would have to quit when the holiday collection began arriving in the store. It was all velvet – all of it! The worst part was that customers would come in, try on the velvet, and leave it wadded up on the floor of the dressing room…which meant I actually had to touch it to put it back on the hanger. Luckily, my co-workers thought it was funny (if not a little insane) and helped me with my velvet phobia by touching the velvet I encountered.

The next texture I have to avoid is sponges. I’m not talking about the kind that are hard when they’re new; I’m talking about the kind that starts off soft.

People use them to wash cars or to clean up grout. I remember my mother cut one in a triangle for me to use as a chin rest for my 4th grade violin lessons. On second thought, I may have just figured out where my phobia originated. Who needs a therapist?

This week, I discovered that I can add window seat cushion foam to my list of items that I can’t touch.

I’ll admit to putting off the making of the window seat cushion for our breakfast room since April. Oh, I’ve had the fabric since before we actually moved into the house. I was just really scared of the whole concept of a box with a zipper. Insane, I know.

I decided to bite the bullet this week when I realized that it wasn’t actually as difficult as I was making it. I measured the window seat, headed to Jo-Ann for some foam (at 50% off!), and sat down to work. Really, I just took the measurements of all sides of the foam and added 1 1/4 inches (for 5/8″ seam allowance on each side) to each measurement. For the zipper on the back of the cushion, I followed this great tutorial and had absolutely no problems.

The problem came when it was time to insert the foam into the cushion cover. The thought of having to handle the foam for that long made my teeth hurt, so I asked DH to do it for me. Knowing of my issues, he agreed, but somehow managed to put the cover on the foam as crooked as possible. Then, he turned to me and said, “Is this good enough?”

Um, no.

So now, I had to touch the foam so that I could get it in there straight. I kind of had a cold chill the entire time, but I was able to pull the cover onto the foam so that it laid exactly how I wanted it to lay.

Sometimes, I don’t think people realize the sacrifices I make in order to make my home beautiful.

PS – Do you think I need to add pillows? I feel like pillows are a little odd in the kitchen, but I feel like “something” is missing. What do you think?

Pride, Patriotism, and Pancakes

Touchy Feely Window Seat Cushion