Crochet Mania

OK - OK! I will admit that I stayed up WAY too late last night looking at creatures to crochet online. I don't know who I would make them for, I don't know who would want them, I know my husband doesn't want them piled on our bed, Micah's too old and Grace doesn't need one more thing resembling a stuffed animal. But I couldn't seem to help myself! Check out this website that has TONS of patterns to make them. Must have a floppy flamingo? How about a fuzzy penguin? Or a Rainbow Fish? Caterpillar? (I want to make the fish or the caterpillar for the first person I know having a baby. I will put little cat toys with bells in them inside so it rattles...) I need to make the Lil' Squirrel Fridgie for my Grandparents who have a love/hate relationship with squirrels. Want a 'Deer Purse'? You know you do... Or a cute Reindeer Hat for the holidays... Obviously I could go on and on... but I won't If you don't like this stuff, you are already bored!

I do want to show you a couple pics, though. Last night after posting here, I thought that I could whip up a book worm, so I did! Here's a picture of it:
Grace asked if she could just use it as a toy - sure, I knew it would go to her anyway... We had fun showing people the bookworm on the way to school today - the 40-somethings all remembered the bookworm! The little 'I love you' item next to the worm is a crochet I did for my mom a long long time ago - 30 years? When she passed away I found it tucked away in her jewelry box next to a box of my baby teeth - what a treasure!
And here is one more treasure from my mom. She went through a crocheted fruit potholder phase and when she asked me what I wanted I said I wanted a blue strawberry as above. I was into being very non-conformist (my best friend and I would earring shop to find the most bizarre hook earrings we could and then split them and wear multiple different earrings in each ear, 3 or 4 in each hole and then I'd take them out before I walked in the door at home...). But my mom made this beauty for me! I can't remember what other fruit options there were and don't dare google it or I will go down yet another rabbit hole! (But you can!) Fun memories!

HaHa! I found this as the descriptor of the Apocalypse Knits blog - Too funny!

When the apocalypse comes, the knitters will be revered as gods. Their ability to churn out inexpensive, stylish knitwear will be valued beyond measure. Knitting cures radiation sickness, helps keep you warm from that pesky nuclear winter, and a chunky sweater (100% wool, of course) can keep a family of four fed for a month.

I was going to, and probably still will, make vanilla extract for family and friends for Christmas (it's 8 months away - please forget by then!) but now I just want to think about what I can make them out of yarn!

A Smattering of Stuff

I've been running in 11 different directions, mentally anyway, and haven't been able to articulate very much at all. So I've taken a break. I'm still pretty scattered, but here are some of the things I've been thinking about.

My favorite dishcloths are the ones my mom knit, but I don't know how to knit. I can crochet, my mom taught me, and I know I can still make 'bookworm bookmarks' so when I saw Daiquiri's post on crocheting dishcloths I thought I had to try. Very fun, and I like the pattern so much that I am tempted (and being asked/begged by Micah) to make an afghan out of it. I think will try the knit dishcloths next, here is a pattern called 'Idiots Dishcloth' just like the ones my mom made. My friend at work will teach me and I have yarn and needles ready to go!
See how ratty the edges of the old ones on the left are? I even keep using them holey, though I did find a brand spankin' new one at the bottom of the drawer! Yay! A little bit of my mom!
Here's the three washcloth's I was able to crochet with the pattern above. Woo-hoo me!

Micah, our 13 year old, has started track! He has quite a head of hair - my curly, unruly hair - and he doesn't want to get it cut although all the 'more mature' members of my family we saw over Easter made sure to note it and let me know how he really could use a trim. If this is the worst thing he ever chooses to do - I am SO OK with a long-haired son! It's kind of small but here's a picture of him at the beginning of one of his races last week, hurdles. He's the second runner from the right - the one with all the hair flying back from his face!
Grace has a favorite baby blanket which she likes to remind me that I bought a a garage sale while she was still in my tummy. I bought it because I liked the 'old, well loved T-shirt' texture of the material. It was just an Old Navy blanket with leaves and berries on it. It had a little satin tag on it stating the materials and she would love to rub it, rub it, rub it and I knew it was going to fall off so I made her a little blanket with satin tags all around it. She wanted nothing to do with it, and it's SO cute, and taggy. So now she uses it for dolls once in a while. Now the treasured blanket (the first one) did not come back from a trip that Grace just had to have it on. Emergency! She and I have been talking for a while about the necessity of replacing the old blanket because she is getting so big and the blanket is so small, and ratty, and getting holey... and she was all for replacing it as long as we got the same kind of material that 'feels and smells cold.' (old t-shirt material) So we took a trip to the material store and checked out their choices of cold material and they were all pretty much nothing I would choose... but Grace did pick something and we got 1.5 yards x 60" width and took it home. It should be big enough for her for a long time! Because the blanket needed to be done NOW, I just zigzagged the edge - both because it was easy and a super stretchy material that I didn't want to fuss with too much AND because the effort in the 'taggy' blanket was not appreciated. And she is happy! No one else can share it, her feet don't stick out, and it smells cold! Yay! Some pics:

The 'Taggy' Blanket
Enjoying the new improved blanket
And the best way to use it!

And finally, I found these adorable baskets in the blogosphere, linked from a link from a link... and I can't stop thinking about who I can make this for! I want to make 3 or 4 of them in different stacking sizes and give them to new parents, or newly weds... or SOMEONE!!! Don't you love them?

And I love this snowman embroidery in a little house frame. I am thinking about making one with a slightly bigger house and doing a nativity scene, and them something for Valentines Day, and Easter and... LOVE it! (I have to admit that now I can't find the right blog, only the picture of the thing I liked best - sorry!)

Thanks for reading!

No Condemnation

Romans 7:14-8:4
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (Life Through the Spirit) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

We had long night. Micheal and I are both feeling the emotions of the crappy economy (truth be told, I have avoided the news for at least 6 months because I just can't allow myself to get as upset as it makes me), Easter with family (which was good but always stressful with an over-stimulated 4 year old), normal house & finance stresses, and then the sleep-on-the-bathroom-floor-stomach-flu hit Micheal quite suddenly last night. And I had a check-the-clock-every-20-minutes-night last night. Which naturally cycles into the 'why me?' and 'what have I done to deserve this?' monologue... And this verse sprang to mind, specifically verse 8:1 in bold above. So here is my paraphrase:

I am unspiritual.
I keep doing things I know I shouldn't and don't want to.
God knew I would, and knows I do, and He sent Jesus anyway.
Jesus is my Rescuer and Hero!
Nothing I do changes God's love for me!
No condemnation! Today I am resting in that. What a gift!

Recycled Post

This went around on facebook around new year's and I am swamped at work, and swamped at home (20+ Jr. High boys at our house tonight!), and swamped with church scheduling stuff (see # 9) and can't think of a single thing to write about other than those things, so I'm recycling my '25 Random Things' post, with a few updates and a bonus none of my facebook friends have seen if you make it to the end.

Here are the Rules as posted: Once you've been tagged, you can choose to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

My 25 random things:

1.I work at the University of Minnesota Duluth in the IT department, and I'm terribly technologically challenged.
2. I am running a 5K in April if it kills me. (now May 30th, my anniversary)
3. I have been married for 17 years at the end of May.
4. My 20 year class reunion is this August. 20 YEARS!!!
5. I'm sad that it's so hard to think of 25 things about myself.
6. I try to not sit on the computer at home - I spend all day at work on the computer!
7. This year I want to become a more frequent photographer, if not a better one!
8. I just finished the Twilight series for the 2nd time and I still really like them.
9. I play keyboards for the worship team at the Duluth Vineyard Church one weekend a month and at a weekly smallgroup. (We are in a brand spanking new building beginning this weekend! You should come! Learn about it here.)
10. One of my new 'old' favorite music is Peter Gabriel (Red Rain, Your Eyes...).
11. My favorite spot to be is having BBQ dinner on the deck at home with my family.
12. This year I WILL conquer Photoshop and attempt to get caught up on digital scrapbooking.
13. My 13 year old son is taller than me now.
14. I am passionate about the both the written Word and the written word.
15. Quotes are one of my favorite things. Oh to be remembered for a single profound soundbite!
16. Organizational tools and equipment can keep me busy for days on end. Show me a new filing system that allows great efficiency and I'm thrilled!
17. I do the Isaac Asimov quiz every work day at lunch. (And I suck at the geography questions)
18. I do SuDoKu obsessively. I need a new hobby.
19. I love blogs (here I listed my blog address, but you are here, so whatever...)
20. I am a PC, but wish I were a Mac.
21. I hate bananas. Can't stand their smell, mushy texture, stringy peels... yuck!
22. I love chocolate, any kind of chocolate, and will too often go to excess. :O(
23. I am an only child, and I have two only children (9+ years between them).
24. In my ipod right now I have a mix of worship, country & 80s music.
25. I have been putting off painting my kitchen walls & cupboards for about 6 months now - who needs doors on cupboards anyway? This save time! And time is worth a lot! (This is now actually all painted except for the cupboard doors and one window frame - pictures soon!)

WHEW!

Bonus 26!!! I can curl my tongue (big deal, it's heriditary), I can turn my tongue upside down (yep, stick it out, now flip it over), I can fold it in half (don't use your teeth or lips to hold it there, just fold it over), I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue AND pretty much even put my tongue IN my nose. Since we are in cyber space, you may never see it, but I hope you rest easy just know I can do all these fabulous tricks! Let me tell you, I am a BLAST at dinner parties! Just ask my hubby (I did this on our first meeting but no embarrassment for hubby - I was there with my boyfirend!).

I don't know if I will blog at all over the weekend... I hope you have a blessed Easter and that the true meaning of Easter will touch your heart! And a little chocolate bunny couldn't hurt, either!

When God gave Me Dirt

Another blogger I follow, Daiquiri, recently wrote about being content and it reminded me of the time God gave me dirt. Well, actually, sod. But it still reminds me of how He provided for me when I felt forgotten.

We had been in our first house for about a year. Our $28K house. It was nice, but little, no driveway, no garage, just a narrow strip of lawn on either side of the house. We had a small backyard and a postage stamp front yard with a sidewalk and another narrow patch of grass between the sidewalk and street. We moved in before Micah was born and when he was about one, the city came and took out a dying ash tree on the boulevard. First they used chainsaws and cut the tree down to the ground, chunked it up and threw it in a truck. Then they brought out a huge truck with a stump-grinder attachment and ran this huge blade full of teeth back and forth over the stump and ground, mulching it all up. A couple men with shovels pretended to smooth out the remaining mess of damp earth and wood chips, then sauntered off to the next tree down the street. I remember Micah being about one because we watched it from our front porch, he being the age where any type of construction truck is amazing.

Later that summer some good friends bought an amazing house. It was an old 3 story victorian, lead and stained glass windows, touret, sun room, hard wood floors... needed updating, but so beautiful. And they got it for a song before it even went on the market. Can you tell I was green with envy? I really wanted more than we had. Frankly, I felt entitled, like I deserved more than our wee little house.

Meanwhile, the mess left by our diseased tree was a daily eyesore and as usual, my emotions snowballed. Somehow my unhappiness made the little spot of uneven ground in the front yard a HUGE sore spot in my life. 'They' get 'this' and I get a crappy little yard full of holes & ruts??? Truth be told, it was a pretty small area and no one other than me probably gave it a second look. But all my frustration was poured into my dissatisfaction in the 'ginormous mess' in the yard. So I stewed about it, and eventually prayed and tried to release my dissatisfaction to God.

A few days later I noticed the couple across the street had some men prepping their yard to put in sidewalks. They were over there with a sod cutter, throwing the sod in chunks in the back of a truck and laying cement forms. I was outside with Micah and asked what their plans for the sod were: nothing! Did I want some? Um... Yah! So I got a bunch of sod, got to cover the all consuming scar in my front yard, and I felt better. And as crazy as it sounds, I knew that God gave me that dirt. He planned it, He created that moment, and He used it for His glory because I learned that I am not forgotten. I can rest in Him, I am not in freefall flailing for a handhold, His steadfast hands hold me fast. He even cares if I have dirt, such a profound truth in a simple gift. He takes care of my needs, He sometimes changes my wants and He always provides exactly what I need. Today, I'm content with that.

To 'Linger' is Passive

I linger,
I long,
I wait for You.
Supplicant,
head thrown back,
arms out,
hands raised to praise,
heart waiting to receive.
The deep places of my heart
thirst for You alone.
But I am too easily distracted...

With haste, I return to You
and wait for You to rain Your love,
Your grace and Your mercy down on me.
Rain on me.
Reign in me.
I long for You.
I linger.
Come.

Spring in Northern Minnesota

Spring has officially been here for a couple weeks, Easter is less than a week away and true to tradition, we will reach a high of a whopping 41 degrees today. In the sun, no doubt. In the morning, we walk over frozen mud, in the afternoon we avoid the salty sludge and try to keep the mud off our shoes - no small feat with a 4 year old. And the fight over winter boots or mud boots or tennies is getting old. It's the time of year where a winter coat is almost too much to wear in the morning and definitely too much in the afternoon but a spring jacket is not quite enough to ward off the damp chill. A common sight during our drive home in the evening is watching retirees shovel the mounds of snow plowed & packed on the edges of lawns into the street to hasten melting. We are DESPERATE people! Our 13 year old has broken out the shorts and flipflops, wearing a hoodie instead of even a light fleece jacket, but always with a knit hat, too long hair curling around the edges. Impatiently shoving hair out of his eyes, he denies the need for a hair cut. But the sun is out, gardens are planned and even planted indoors under sun lamps. Come on spring! We are waiting for you! We are desperate!

Grace-ism

Grace - Mom, You're the big super hero and I'm the little super hero.
Kathy - What's my super power?
G - Feeding the dog! (with no hesitation)
Please note, I do not feed the dog unless Micah is gone. I don't think Grace has ever seen me feed the dog. Great super power, Grace. Thanks.

Flashback Friday

WILD CHILD

I scanned a bunch of photos from when I was little and
when all our photos were moved to our backup system
we evidently lost the tags on them.
Another task looms in front of me.
I didn't find the photos I was looking for
as I got sidetracked by some of these photos
of our WILD CHILD.

This is what happens when my lotion bottle meets a curious toddler over a freshly shampooed carpet.

4th of July Parade, 2007

We didn't have a digital camera when Micah was little
so I also have a scanning project in my future.
Happy Friday, everyone!

Grace-ism

Kathy - We need to hurry, Dad's cooking supper at home.
Grace - What are we having for supper?
K - Fish & potatoes.
G - I don't like that.
K - Do you know what fish does? It's brain food. It helps your brain learn and grow. It's good for you.
G - I like my little brain. I'm not eating it.

Not much happening

Not much to write about today, which is a good thing! I thought I'd do some quick housekeeping ('blog-keeping'?) and put up a few photos from recently. Here is hubby throwing boiling water into the air on a frigid Minnesota Saturday. Fun experiment! It really does turn to steam.
Micah did one, too, and the steam burned his hand. We are great parents. He's OK.
Grace playing Micah's Guitar Hero drums down in the basement. Her feet can't reach the bass and she really doesn't have rhythm, but if it keeps her happy...
A friend at work gave me a link to plant seeds outside in the winter. Hubby & Grace picked seeds; sunflowers, pansies and stuff to make salsa!
Watering...
Making a face about onions. Yuck! She promised to try everything they grow.
The results! We're saving more milk cartons to do more! Here's the link to see how to do it. Since we did this, NO SUN! Not sure how it'll go with out the greenhouse effect...
More results...
Love the boots (Raining Cats & Dogs...), hate the old mustard color/weird henna print floor. She's outgrowing the boots. Bummer. I've outgrown the floor...
What Micah did while the planting party was going on.
Finally, my lunch yesterday. Mmmm, Thai buffet. Jasmin iced tea. Something else really good over rice where you thought you were getting a potato and it was a chunk of apple, then you'd think, 'here comes another apple' - surprise! Potato. Good stuff! Lunch with work friends.

Oh - I do have something to share! I thought this was a brilliant idea, maybe you've all had it before. I'm always behind on correspondence, of the paper variety, and while trying to catch up with my 85 year old aunt it occurred to me to print some of my blog posts! Then she gets the news, and bonus pictures of the kids, and I don't have to rewrite it! I still wrote a personal note in a card, though. (She always wants to know 'who puts that stuff out there [on the internet] anyway???' I do!) See? Brilliant! Everyone must have people who don't use technology but would like to see your blog, right?
One last pic of Grace eating cereal, and mostly watching Saturday morning cartoons, at a little card table & chairs that were my aunt's or maybe my dad's in the 50s. I love the table & chairs, her expression, the hand on her hip, and her little crossed legs.

Glasses, New Perspective II

Old glasses.

New glasses