Missing Mondays

This is a catalog of the things I miss having in my life so I can strive to add them back in.

Today, I am missing scrapbooking retreats.

This is me and my friend Mandy at a weekend retreat in TN. I miss her and I miss our craft times together.

Ribbons and Blessings

I am a terrible procrastinator. I seems to always be caught at the last minute when it comes to gifts. But I am also very good at coming up with something at the last minute and on a budget. With the extended unemployment this year, the budget was very low to almost non-existent and I got a last minute notice that friends were adopting twins and their church was throwing a shower. I absolutely love and adore the couple and I had to do something for them. They have been wanting children for years and this was just such an extreme blessing that I couldn’t miss out on it. I want to cry just writing about it now.
So, what do you do when you want to make an impactful contribution but you have absolutely no money? Here is how I did it.
During the Spring/Summer, I did some cleaning out around the house and took a lot of movies, books and my Kindle Fire to my local used book/movie/music seller and came out with a ton of credit. You can check out that post here. What better way to welcome little ones than with books? Actually, just about every gift I give includes a book.
I had no idea what kind of book to get and I thought about getting a couple of movies as well, but kids are so picky about movies once they get to a certain age. These boys are two and starting to recognize what they like so I’ll let the happy parents deal with that. But books are a little different in my opinion. Books are more universal and as long as the pictures are super pretty, the story could be about anything.

Well, if you want pretty pictures, you can’t go wrong with Doctor Seuss. I combed the Doctor Seuss section and picked no only titles that I know and love but some that I had never heard of. I didn’t know about the body part books.

And since these are all used, the prices are super affordable. But just to spread the reading love a little more and allow for some movie shopping as well, I asked the store to split my credit so I could give the boys credit to come back. I think I was able to give $50 and still have plenty of credit left over for myself.
So, that takes care of the gift. What about wrapping? For that, I went into my supply closet and pulled out my bucket-o-ribbon.

A gift bag would have been a little too impersonal so I pulled out a mix of ribbons in lengths long enough to wrap around the stack of book a couple of times. I mixed different fabrics, textures and colors. I wanted something that was fun to look at and fun to get in to.

I was thrilled with the result and mommy was too.

So what do you think? Any fast thinking gift giving you want to brag about?

Could You Be A Blogger?

While 700+ Blissdom attendees are still coming down from such a high HIGH, there are quite a few of them that are sitting down at their computers and starting their very first blogs. Not everyone that attends these conferences are actual bloggers. Some are thinking about it. Some are writers that want to use social media to sell their books. Some are crafters that are looking to expand. Some are going through life changes and want to do something new.

Blogging brings all kinds of people together to a common medium and gives them all a space and a platform to display their voices. Could you be one of those people? Do you have a voice that needs to be heard? I am always encouraging the people around me to start blogging, especially women. Blogging is such a wonderful outlet for creativity and frustrations but also a wonderful way of finding people that share your interest. It could even lead you to the interest that is or is to become your passion. I am an avid book reader but there aren’t many in my closest groups of friends that read or strive to carve out the time to read. The same goes for my love of technology. I can’t exactly discuss rooting an android device with the people around me. That conversation would be lost on them. But with my blogging and other online mediums, I can find just the crowd that will understand the projects and gadgets and interests that are floating around in my life.

The first thing I typically hear from people when I encourage them to blog is “I don’t know what I would write about”. There are three people in particular that I’m trying to encourage. For the sake of this conversation, I will call them D, K and R. They may not think they have anything to share but I learn so much from them each time I’m around them.

D is a stay at home mom that home schools her children. She is a beautiful Christian woman that counsels and teaches and has so much to share about religion, family, homeschooling, container gardening, vegan cooking and so many other things. The dinners I share with her family are fascinating and I always walk away with so much inspiration if nothing else. I think that is worth writing about and sharing.

K is a stay at home mom who prior to staying home specialized in working with kids with disabilities. She is such a fun and interesting mom and she is often the person that is learning right along with me when I am looking to learn something new. I love people like her because they never stop learning. Not only could she share her love for children and working with kids with disabilities, she could also teach you how to have the best kids playroom ever, how to start a small garden at home, how to entertain and how never to be afraid of learning something new.

R is a beautiful young girl with a quiet spirit that just draws you in. She is a young professional that is about to set off on the greatest adventure. I won’t speak much about it but meeting her and hearing her know exactly what she wanted out of life and marriage influenced me greatly. She is young but she has so much to share and I think she minimizes the impact she could have on the world. I met her at a time when I was struggling with the idea of being a wife and being able to talk with her about it brought clarity and comfort to my situation. She is a budding photographer and I can’t wait to see the shots she takes as she treks around the world learning about her heritage.

These are just three of the women that inspire my life everyday. They don’t think they have much to share but I see a multitude of possibilities in each of them. They fuel me to keep going if for no other reason than to find others that need to have their voices heard. Are you one of them? Do you know people in your life that could be sharing so much? Make sure you tell them how much value you get from them and maybe they’ll be encouraged to share that value with the rest of us.

Lorax and Trufella

A few weeks ago, my nephew came to town. I wish I could say he came to visit me, but I was just an unneeded bonus. He actually came to visit the children of friends of mine. It’s amazing how little ones bond with each other. If you want to see what childhood depression looks like, separate a four year old from a friend that he knows he won’t see for a few months, if not longer. It was heartbreaking to tell him it was time to go after visiting with them and playing hours of dress up (spiderman is my nephew). I got over it later when I found out he didn’t want me to go to the movies with him and his friends. I was the one that set up this little long distance play date, but that was lost on the young one.



The main event of their multi-day play date was catching a marathon showing of Dr. Suess’ The Lorax. I read the book to my nephew the night before to try to get him interested. He barely made it through it but after seeing the movie, I hear the book is keeping his attention a little better.



He likes it so much now that my sister called to inform me that my nephew has requested a yellow sweater knit from trufella trees.

Thanks, Dr. Suess!

On My Bookshelf

One of the goals that I have set for myself this year is to increase my reading.  You wouldn't believe how many books I have around the house, on my Kindle and in my Audible account that I have yet to read. I'm announcing to the world that I am a book hoarder and I need help. In an effort to control and reverse my book buying habit, I have a subset of actions that I will take.

1. I will read at least 100 books during the 2012 calendar year.
2. I will not purchase any new books (unless I already have them on pre-order). New titles will come from the library.
3. I will sale, trade, donate or gift at least 50 books from my shelves. This does not include books that I need to return to friends.
4. To keep myself accountable, I will keep a running tally on the blog and do at least one book review a month.

Being that January is almost over and I have not read anything, I am terribly behind. To make it through 100 books in a year, I have to read roughly 8+ books a month, but since I'm down to 11 months, I'm looking at 9+ books a month.  I need to get started!

My first selection of the year happens to be written by a friend of mine, Victoria Thurman.  I met Victoria a few years ago at a book conference (I meet such great people at conferences!) and we have been friends since. When I am dying for wine and curry, she is one of the first people that I call. Her book, The Dating Dilemmas of Delilah Dunnfield,  hit the shelves in October, but I have been waiting to start reading it until my other wine-and-curry buddy, Angela, got her copy over in Indonesia. She confirmed receipt last night so we are ready for a Read-A-Long.  If you are interested in reading along with us, leave me a comment and I will include you in our discussions.

I'm sure many of you can relate to the opening lines of this book.

I have often heard it said of life that there are watchers and doers.  It doesn't take a genius to figure which of those I am.

When I read these words, my heart jumped then sank because I was just thinking this of my own life. As I am gearing up to meet a boat load of inspiring women at Blissdom, I can't help but think of all the things in my life that I keep saying I will do but haven't made the time to do. I have to stop watching and start doing.  Hopefully as I read along with Delilah's journey, I will make some changes in my own life and thinking.

You can read an interview with Victoria over at Elizabeth Byler Younts' blog.There is also a giveaway so go over and say hi. And if you think of any other questions for the author, let me know.  I'm sure I get her to dish a little more over a glass of wine and a curry.

Abandon The Place of Secrets

I am not a fan of secrets. I can never remember what I’m supposed to tell and what I’m not. This also make me incapable of telling lies (big ones at least). :)

But I seem to be surrounded right now by people that keep secrets. Sometimes it’s done for “protection”, sometimes to minimize business impacts and sometimes to just be deceitful. Whatever the reason, keeping a secret sends the same message, I DON’T TRUST YOU!

If you are in a relationship and you are holding secrets because you feel like you need to protect your significant other or you want to avoid drama you’ve experienced in the past, YOU DON’T TRUST YOUR PARTNER. You don’t trust them to communicate effectively and you don’t trust them to be understanding.

If you are a business keeping secrets and you are trying to protect your intellectual property or you are trying to minimize business impacts, YOU ARE SHOWING A LACK OF TRUST IN YOUR BUSINESS SETUP. Intellectual property is protected through good contracts and through choosing good business partners. And if you are operating in a place where there is no transparency, you may want to evaluate the goals and mission of your company.

It goes without saying that if you being purposefully deceitful, then you trust no one. More than that, I think a deceitful person can not trust themselves. You can not trust yourself to obtain what you want in life without truth.

I encourage us all to abandon the act of keeping secrets. It’s a much healthier way to live. But do what you think is best for you but please don’t tell me secrets you want me to keep because I WON’T. (Please note that privacy and secrecy are not the same--maybe I’ll go into that in another post).

If you are keeping a secret from me, I suggest you reevaluate our “ship” because you obviously don’t trust me.

Crafty Friends

I love the crafty friends that I have been bonding with lately. There is nothing better than spending time with like minded people making something you love using a skill you love.

Sunday was family day at the Hunter Museum in the Bluff View Art District which also meant it was free. Every first Sunday is free day!! Check your local museums for events. It's well worth it. So I spent early Sunday afternoon gallivanting through the museum listening to the Satellite Sisters on my iPod. I may make this a monthly thing. It was really nice and such a beautiful day. The view from the mansion on the bluff is gorgeous. Someone was even getting married on the terrace overlooking the river. I made it through the museum in about an hour and a half and I was hoping to find a nice postcard to send to a penpal oversees but I didn't like the selection.

I met GailR at Rembrandt's for tea, sweets and knitting. We were there for hours and it was such a nice day. The bride from the museum even walked by taking her pictures using the backdrop of the art district. Sorry I didn't take any pictures that day. I wasn't thinking.

So the rest of my week (hobbywise), I've been prepping for a sew-a-long with crafty friend AmandaH. We're doing an Amy Butler frenchy bag and actually I am doing two of them. One or both may end up being gifts. In needing to choose fabrics, AmandaH pointed me towards Sew Bee It in Ringgold, GA. This is such a cute and fantastic shop. The ladies were great and very helpful and I know I will be spending time with them in the future. I chose six fabrics that I absolutely love and I spent some time last night getting everything cut out.











My goal for today is to get my bobbins threaded and possibly get all of my pieces basted as needed. I may not get to sew until next week as my little sister is graduating from college this weekend. More on that later.

With that, I'm signing out to clean. Happy crafting!!!

Chattanooga Knit Night

In the midst of all the craziness that has been going on in my life lately, I've had some new friends to emerge. And they are just what I have needed. Who better to have a weekly counseling session with than my local knitters. They are a fabulous group of women and I am so grateful to have met them.

I'm looking forward to our time together tonight and hope that you find a similar group to sit and knit with in your area. When I really get myself organized and up-to-date, I'll link their blogs so you can meet them to.

HAPPY KNITTING! Tonight I finish I my socks!!! yeah! (If I don't talk too much that is :) )