How fun!

Logged in this morning to find myself the recipient of this award. That's kind of fun!


So, now it's my turn to pass the love. The idea is I let you know what my 5 favorite things to do are, and then give the award to 5 of my blogging friends.

My Five Favorite Things To Do are:

1. Crochet
2. Read
3. NAP! (I don't get to do it as often as I would like.)
4. Sew
5. Lose my soul in Facebook (ok, that was a little sarcastic, but seriously that page is like a black hole. It's really hard to escape from once you get sucked in.)

I'm passing the award on to a few bloggers I enjoy reading. I think you'll like them too!

1. One of my absolute favorite of all blogs because she does rad giveaways and has the most fun style of writing is Tamara over at "Mad Boastings of a Cheapskate Mom"
   
2. Sarah at "Grabba Cuppa Joe" (she's my superstar crochet buddy, who's blog has been slightly neglected lately due to the recent birth of her third child, son, Aristotle)
3. Melissa at "Frugal Creavtivity"
4. Rima's "Yarny Days" because I totally love her Bombay Love pattern, and will be following her blog hoping I can beef up my crochet patterns with more of her very cool stuff. (And she has a very adorable little baby too.)
5. The super creative Cassi, who runs the blog "Bella Dia." I got linked into her by a friend when I was looking for a good heart pattern to crochet for my daughter's first birthday. She was born on Valentine's Day, and she had a great pattern for making a garland/banner out of crocheted hearts. They made great decorations!

Can you say no?

Because I know I have a really hard time with it....especially when it comes to crafting. I'm most definitely the "Queen of Works In Progress" (WIPs). I am always coming up with something new to try out, really more for the practice than anything else. I'm having a hard time progressing from "easy" ability in crochet, and I won't even start to discuss my sewing abilities. (I don't have any.) When I get done, I like to give it away as a gift, because I always feel better giving a gift than trying to sell it to make some money. I know my husband probably wishes I was selling it so I could at least recover the cost of the yarn.

Every once in awhile, I make something and post a picture of it to show the finished goods off, and someone will really like it and request one for themselves. I don't mind making it but feel uncomfortable, hoping when they get it they will like it as much as they liked the picture. Well, this time, I got a little in over my head. Using a pattern from my buddy Sarah, I made her a sock monkey hat for her soon-to-be-born third child. I still can't believe Aristotle was so big he could wear the hat- a 0-3 months size- when he was two weeks old. Well, someone saw it, loved it and wanted one too. So, in my queue that went. Shortly after that, I finished making an Elmo hat for my little girl. That one was a big hit, and in my queue went two more. I also had a request for one of each for someone who's having a baby in March. Add that to the fact that I also have 4 baby sets to make as gifts, and I think I will be spreading Christmas cheer until Spring Break.

My head is spinning from all the "balls I have in the air" and I'm still thinking about stuff I want to make for me and Fionna....does that show you what I mean by the title of this post?!

Here's the links to the stuff I am working on now because I think the patterns are awesome and the designers should get some love.

Baby kimonos
Newborn Hats and Baby Booties

Here's a link to a similar Elmo hat which inspired the one I made.

Finished the 21 Day FLY Lady Challenge!

Well, it took me a few days to get around to this because a visit to my parents got completely re-planned while I was there. I'm not complaining though, because the change in plans was my husband flying into town to spend 4 days with me. That was much needed rest and quality couple time!
However, back to FLY Lady....
I really liked the plan when I was able to keep myself to it. Yes, it's easy to get sidetracked. I didn't sign up for all the emails, and I didn't follow all the steps. It did however help me accomplish much more than I would on a daily basis my way, which is what I was hoping to do, so I vote it's a keeper. (For me at least!) I don't know if it will work for everyone, but if you're place is super messy or extremely disorganized, I can guarantee you that it will most likely work for you no matter what degree you follow her guidelines. She recommends small steps, has a ton of info for when you are starting out, and explains things quite well. You can decide to journal to help you see what you need to work on and how far you've come. I did everyday during the Challenge, and found it did help me to see where I struggled. I also really like the fact that she encourages you not to slouch in your personal care if you are a stay at home wife or mom. She pushes dressing for the day (as in NO PJ's!) before you get started, and incorporating at least 15 mins. of exercise daily. I hate keeping myself on a schedule because with a one year old running around that's almost impossible. But, working in short segments turned out to really help a lot. I didn't Zone clean like she recommends, but aimed to do a little in each area or room every day so that I could see more of an improvement, and also because I thought it would help me to have a change of scene as I went about my business. Also, it can be hard to clean or organize in area away from my daughter during the day, so doing it in small doses in each room actually enabled me to get more done. I am planning on writing a short article about it for Associated Content and including more detail on how I went about it, so hopefully I can link the article once I am done. :)

I am now obsessed with Ravelry.

Thanks to Sarah. DOH! Ravelry has more pull than Facebook, if you are into crochet or knitting, that is.

Unfortunately, I am seriously into crochet. I have two projects in my queue right now, but in reality, it's more. I am also working on some wash cloths for a friend, and I am making the design up as I go. If I like what I finish with, I may write the pattern up and post here later! I haven't decided, but I may also make a few extras to save up for when I finally get around to starting my Etsy shop. Who knows when that will be though...and I shouldn't mention that I just found the awesomest pattern ever for an infant beanie cap that has the sock monkey face on it. Oh, that's going to be gifted and gifted and gifted since I know about 5 pregnant women right now. Want one Sarah?????

Not enough time in the day!

I know that's an old cliche. But it's the main point of this post. You'll hear everyone say it at least once in their life. Even us moms lucky enough to stay home during the day will say it. Probably more!
But seriously, there really is never enough time in the day. I was recently sitting at the computer thinking I really needed to find a way to make my life just a little bit more manageable, and I suddenly remembered talking to my MIL about this subject sometime pre-birth of my toddler. At the time I looked it over but blew it off. Now, it seemed like a good time to review. Coincidentally, about the same time, an online buddy of mine posted about challenging herself at some things.
When she finished her blog post asking what we would challenge ourselves to, I decided it was time to do this. I accepted Tamara's challenge by making myself a 21 Day FLY Lady challenge. All I needed to do is see if this produced results, and would mesh well with my lifestyle.
Today is Day 15. So far I have noticeable results, and can definitely tell that when I adhere to the tips I chose to use, it works very well with me. I don't use all her guidelines, and don't receive her emails. But just using a few of the basics has given me a great boost in productivity! This despite being sick for a week, too. Once the entire challenge is finished, I plan on posting about it in more detail. For now, I think I will sign off by leaving you the link to FLY Lady here.

Well, I think its time for a revamp

I haven't posted in so long, I need to go back and read what I have been writing! That's kind of sad.

No, but seriously- Life has gotten so hectic since the last time I posted. I had great intentions with this blog, but oh man, life sure has thrown me for a loop. I have so much going on, and my mind is so cluttered! But, I am planning on cleaning this one up and adding a little to the theme, and then I will aim to post at least once a week. *Fingers crossed!*

Change your search engine

I just got an email newsletter from National Geographic's Green Guide and it had a fantastic blurp in it that I JUST have to share! It's talking about changing your search engine so that you can use one that saves energy. WHAT?! They have that???? YES! Two in fact! Yeah!
Blackle.com is an entirely black background. A big difference from the Google white homepage, but probably won't be as popular- even though it saves more energy than http://www.thegreenspider.com/, which has multiple choices for background colors. Take a look, I bet you'll switch! I am!