Tuesday

We had Asher's heart doctor appointment today. All went well, as expected, but it didn't stop me from being extremely nervous this morning. I try really hard, in situations like these, to be realistic and to let go and let God. I'm pretty good at boxing things up and setting them aside and I truly believe that my worrying will accomplish nothing. This morning though... I can't recall the last time my stomach felt that nervous and my limbs were shaking a bit. I guess when your a mom there is a point when your body takes over. That physical connection we mothers have shared with our kids since minute one only lessens as far as the eye can see!

Well, Asher's fine. The doctor is 95% sure that it is a benign murmur. There is a 5% chance that he has a small hole in his heart but, apparently, that is also just as benign. So, in two years, he'll get another look-see. It ought to take me two years to recover from this morning!

Asher did really good, too. I was very proud. He had to have an EKG but he handled it pretty well. Even his Pooh Bear got to have an EKG! The whole appointment took an hour and a half- mostly waiting. Now, Asher did well but Dave... Next time I'll have to remember to bring something to distract and entertain my dear husband.

So, now I'm home and fed. Asher's in bed. Time to clean. At least the sun is shining. The dust motes absolutely sparkle;)

Enjoy your day!

"Springtime" Finis!

My "Springtime" candle mat and the pattern for it are complete. I know it's a week late. Life gets in the way a bit and you have to adjust. It's done! And I am very happy with how it turned out. It has been one of those projects that has grown past its original design- in a good way, too! Both the mat and the pattern will be for sale at the web shop and on Etsy. Give them a look see!

It's sunny and bright here. No seedlings have emerged yet (being that they were only planted a few days ago!). I keep watching them. If they could talk they'd probably ask me to back off. But, until they actually tell me to, I'm still going to hover- out side of the sunlight, of course!

Meanwhile, my ever-fertile brain has been growing some new ideas. I'm going to go play around with some wool now and see what emerges. Enjoy your day!

Busy Fingers

I've just added a bunch of new items on Etsy. Go check them out here.

It has been awhile, but...

I'm still here!

I've been a bit preoccupied, body and mind, with..... vegetable gardens! Mine in particular, of course. I really wanted to do it right this year and not just hope we get lucky. I want fresh, from the ground, from my hands vegetables. (Fruit, too, but I think we'll have to do some you-picking as far as fruit is concerned.)

I have recently started following a blog called "Thy Hand Hath Provided". She has graciously provided her followers with a vegetable garden tutorial and oodles of advice. I have also found a website, Gardener's Supply Company, (shout out to my mom for telling me about this) and, it too, has been very helpful. It even has a garden planner that helps you plan your garden, print out the plan and even provides info about growing the veggies you've chosen. Too cool!

So, Sunday we went out a purchased our seeds and, since then, I've been deciding on what to start indoors, what to plant outdoors and when each veggie should be planted. Lots of work but interesting and I am learning a lot.

I've also been working on where to plant our gardens. We live in the city, in an old neighborhood with lots of big, old trees. We live on a corner lot and our house faces north. Truly, the best place to plant is in our side yard 'cause when the sun makes it over there there is no shade or shadow to get in the way. It makes that side of the house uncomfortable in the summer but it's ideal for growing things.

So, I've decided on three raised beds, 4x5', in the side yard and a single, "regular" garden in back for those veggies that can handle not being in the spot light all day. I have also been learning about which veggie likes to be planted with which veggie (or not, as the case may be). Oy! That was a bit head-ache-inducing. It was like putting a puzzle together. I think I've figured it out, though and I am happy with how it looks- on paper.

Today, I've been getting my seedlings to-be in little newspaper pots that I made. There are three different kinds of tomatoes, broccoli and peppers. Later I'll also be doing some pumpkins and sunflowers. Now my pots are sitting in the only south facing window we have on the first floor. And that window happens to be in front of, you guessed it, my sewing/crafting table. Oh, well. Six to eight weeks will zip on by, right?

I took some pics, so check them out. I'm off to do more laundry and them I'm going to make my planting and harvesting schedule. Enjoy your day!

First off, a blog that I follow has a lovely post on "When Loving Is Hard". It's very well written and ties in nicely with the post I wrote on Monday. Check it out!


How was your St. Patty's Day? Ours was quite lovely and yummy! It was a beautiful day with oodles of sunshine. We had Irish Soda Bread for breakfast. We toasted it in the broiler and spread butter on it. I don't think I've ever had that before but it was quite good. And then, as you can see, we had corned beef and cabbage for dinner. It was divine! I do not exaggerate here folks- yummmmmmy! I don't know why I don't make this more often. It is super easy to make- kind of like a crock pot meal. And because you have to let it sit and simmer for three hours, the house smelled heavenly all day. What I'm trying to say is that it was good!:)

I'm not Irish but I love to read books (Maeve Binchy, Patrick Taylor) that take place in Ireland and one of my favorite movies is "The Quiet Man". And, when I read those books or watch the movies, I adopt the language- if not the accent. I like to think I could pass myself off as Irish, especially now that I have this red head with me all the time! But, alas, I'm not Irish. I'm mostly Portuguese. I like being Portuguese and would get behind a Portuguese holiday of some sort- maybe St. Manuel's Day? I'd probably still have corned beef for dinner, though.

How is my week going, as far as the 'Here's my chance!' challenge is going? Well, I've had my ups and downs. I won't go into detail but suffice it to say I'm not very loving when driving my car. Or when I find the aforementioned red head pouring salt into my creamer. I did have a bit of a breakthrough with my eldest last night though. Maybe it was more of a revelation on my part. Anyway, he got upset with me when I said it was time to go home from the park. He took off running (I had Asher in the stroller) and 'disappeared'. I eventually found him where the slides are and he walked over to me when he saw me. I didn't say a word- more because I was still counting to 10 million than anything else. He asked why I was upset and I asked him if I should be upset. He said yes, so I asked him why I should be upset. Etc, etc. With very little words and effort- and no yelling!- on my part, Nathanael proceeded to lay out for me what he did wrong, why it was wrong, what could have happened and acknowledged my right to be upset and his need to be punished in some way. It went really well! Don't get me wrong- Nathanael was quite upset. The difference was that he was upset because he understood that he had disappointed me. And I didn't yell!
I didn't have to yell. I didn't want to yell. Now I hope that I can keep up this approach when faced with little boy disobedience. I know I won't always be presented with a cooling off period, like I was last night, but that's my issue. Parenting!

Enjoy your day!

I should be stitching...

...but I thought you'd like to see the sweet things I whipped up this past Saturday.




The carrots are my own creation. Orange and gold wool, jute and mica flakes. The cross stitch is a free pattern from The Sampler Girl.






These are my own, too. They are made out of wool roving, using the needle-felting technique. It's quite fun; like sculpting with fibers and an insanely sharp needle. I bled quite a bit. I was worried it was going to look like I was trying to slaughter that poor, little chick for a tiny dinner. Have I mentioned that I want to raise chickens? That'll be another post....




This cross stitch is a freebie from Primitive Betty's.


And finally, one of the sweetest creations in my collection. He was a collaborative effort;)

Enjoy your day!

"Here's My Chance!"

In church yesterday, our pastor challenged us with a simple, cheesy (his word, not mine) phrase- "Here's my chance."

The long and the short of it is, as a christian, I have Christ in me and therefore have the ability to actually act like Him, if I choose to. If I choose to. If...
God's greatest command to us is to love. Love is commanded of us because love is a choice, not a feeling that we have no control over. And, as we know from the 'Love Chapter' (1 Cor. 13), love is patient, kind, slow to anger, not boastful and so on. So, the next time someone cuts me off in the Kroger parking lot, stealing the space I was patiently waiting to turn into, I need to say to myself, "Here's my chance!" and love that person. (Not glare at him and think that just because I didn't show him my displeasure with a particular finger that I am a good person. Or have not-nice thoughts about him and express those to a two year old who can't rat me out. Or continue to glare at him every time I run into him in the store. Poor man!)

So, I'm challenging myself this week to be more loving. Oy! Which, as I was thinking about it yesterday, also means not being so sarcastic/snarky/snide, or rolling my eyes or glaring at people or even threatening to pray for someone with a tone of voice that sounds like I'm really putting a curse on them. And, horror of horrors, I also realized that this means that I can't be un-loving in my mind! Even all by myself, with no one watching or listening. Oy! I picture a lot of turning the other cheek this week. I also picture my two year old saying, "Here's my chance!" by the end of this week.

Here goes! With a two year old and a seven year old this could be interesting. I'll try to avoid Kroger as long as I can, too!