this is a cute little knitter’s bag for my friend shea. i gave you a sneak preview last week and now it’s finally finished. i’m pretty happy with it.
the goal of the bag is to keep their kitties from attacking shea’s yarn in that oh-so-iconic way. i think it will serve her well!
you can’t see it super well in the picture, but yes i did add piping to the bottom seam-i told you i was addicted. : )
even though i’m not pregnant, sometimes my intense food cravings make me think i am. for the last few months that i haven’t been pregnant, i’ve been craving eggs. all the freaking time. i’ve been eating at least 1/2 dozen eggs a week, all by myself. and this has been going on for months! i blame it on the switch to organic eggs, those things are so darn good!
other things i’ve been intensely craving are tuna, yogurt, bananas and weird vegetables like kale. what can i say, i’m on a healthy food craving kick!
well, once again, real simple has tapped into my mind, and said, “let’s write another magazine just for lisagrace.”
in this months issue, they had a whole TEN ideas for eggs! it’s a beautiful two pages in the magazine.
i’m trying out their recipe for spaghetti with herbs, chilies, and eggs [sorry, it’s not on their website, email me for it or pick up the april issue of the mag], and their awesome egg in a hole idea.
oh how i love you, real simple.
i was planning on tackling “homeschooling, ami style” this week, but it’s taking me longer to say everything i want to say about it.
so in an effort to produce high-quality blogs, i’m going to work on it another week. this week, i’ll explain yet another ami quote. [check out the new ami quote tab at the top!]
my mom chose not to vaccinate us [another post to save for later], and we never had anything like that hateful tylenol stuff in our house. that would be an abomination! [catch the sarcasm, please] instead, my mom put onion juice in our ears for ear infections, and lathered us up in melaleuca oil when necessary. essentially, my mom was into homeopathy, though i never recall that word being used.
but mostly, and more specifically, my mom’s mantra was that sleep could heal almost everything, and that sickness was your body’s way of telling you to slow down. it seemed to work well for our family.
“mom, i don’t feel very good.”
“take a nap.”
“mom, i have a fever.”
“go to bed with extra blankets.”
“mom, my stomach hurts.”
“drink some water and take a nap.”
get the idea? oh yeah, my mom’s second favorite thing is water.
water and sleep, they can cure the world.
so the next time you’re feeling ill, just remember, when in doubt, sack out.
[photo credit]
‘member that time when my baby sister was born on my six and halfth birthday? and i was just so excited to finally have a sister?
‘member how my grandma was all like, hey lisagrace, let’s get some new clothes for your sister at target, could you help me find it? and i was all like, yeah, i’m six and a half, i can give good directions to target.
‘member how i knew where the first turn was, but i just could not figure out where the second turn was and i kept telling my grandma to turn right one block too early? ‘member how we went in like six circles before my grandma just stopped at a gas station and asked where it was and the dude was all like, yeah, it’s just like a block over.
and now when i’m lost, i always go further then i think i should.
[it’s ‘member that time monday at the van voorst‘s blog!]
did you doubt me? were you worried that i’d fallen off the crafting cliff? i’m sure you really didn’t care, but i have a craft update for you anyway!
i’ve been crafty as usual, i’ve just been lazy about getting pictures up to complete my crafty blog posts. sorry! i don’t have any completed projects from this week, but i have some progress pictures.
this is almost finished, it’s a knitter’s bag for my dear friend, shea. it’s not perfect, but i think it coming along nicely, you’ll likely see the finished project next friday!
speaking of knitting, can anyone guess what this might be?
i’ll give you a hint, it’s from the book i just finished reading: a knitter’s home companion.
still no clue? i guess you just have to wait and see!
happy crafting, and sorry for the late posts!
from january until last week, i took louis [my cousin’s one-year-old whom i watch on tuesdays and wednesdays] to this class every tuesday called music together. it’s a pretty adorable class, and though i can’t see myself paying for such a thing with my own children, i’m happy i know some of the songs from it!
there is a cute little girl in the class named naomi. she’s usually pretty shy and sticks with her dad who brings her to class. but apparently, she’d been admiring me from afar, because it turns out she named one of her dolls lisagrace! how cute is that?!
i almost cried it made me so happy! okay, i did cry.
yep, that’s all. this is just one of those braggy blogs about how children love me so much. : )
my mom has lots of “famous quotes” that we repeat as a family. one of them was mentioned in the last post, “what does that mean?” i wish you could really hear my mom say it, because the tone is everything.
to name a few other quotes,
“when in doubt, sack out.”
“the whiter the bread, the sooner you’re dead.” [this is more of a loretta original, my mom’s mom]
“fruit ’til noon.”
“yes mom, coming mom” [what she would make us say when she called for us]
today, i want to highlight a quote that has had a particular impact on my life. she used to say, “deprivation is key.” the key to what? well, happiness, contentment and gratefulness mostly. basically, we didn’t have much growing up. we had enough to stretch between eight people in my family, but we never had an excess of anything and understandably so.
but instead of focusing on the lacking, my mom as well as my dad always focused on the character-building that came from the lacking.
for example, every single person in my family has been excited about a simple glass of milk. why? because my mom only let us have milk in our cereal, and that was it for the day. deprivation is key. a simple glass of milk brought us so much gratefulness.
this has applied to many things for me. i often test myself just to see what i can go without. not in a fanatical way or anything, but in a “do i really need to buy some more clothes right now?” way or “do i really need chocolate, or is it more of a severe want?”
this principal has ultimately instilled in me that i don’t need stuff to make me happy.
so, moms, the next time you think you just have to have something for your child, the newest innovation, the coolest toy, the most convenient item, remember that your kid might just be happier with the cardboard box or the homemade drum [aka pots and pans]. be encouraged!
well, after being anxious for weeks, we finally found out if we are to receive any financial aid for this upcoming school year. we didn’t. nothing at all! i was kind-of surprised. i was so counting on it. even just a little would help. and we made a whole ten thousand dollars less than the year before and we received almost a full scholarship then.
i suppose i sound completely selfish and ungrateful right now. after all, we’ve been able to get bryan through three years of school without any loans. that’s not something a lot of people can say. but, all the same, here i am complaining about how we didn’t get any free money. boo hoo.
well, i’m only human, i guess.
so, for those of you who have been reading a while, and know that our main financial goal right now is to pay cash for college, i’ll tell you what we’re thinking. we have a little over $1,000 saved up just set aside for tuition. all of bryan’s income over the summer will also go straight into the tuition fund. thankfully, we think that should cover almost all of the first semester of tuition. we’re not sure what we’ll do for the rest. i might start giving plasma alongside bryan to earn some extra money, maybe i’ll actually sell some crafts for profit too. bryan may get a part-time job while still in school too, but i would like to avoid that if at all possible.
although it’s even less desirable, we may have to take out a loan for the second semester, but we would definitely get a loan that doesn’t accumulate any interest for six months after graduation. they still have those right? is it obvious i know nothing about student loans? we’d almost surely be able to pay it all off within 6 months, but it would set us back a bit, especially as we’ll likely need another car when bryan graduates. i don’t even want to think about coming up that money as well. arg.
if you have any encouragement for me, i’d be so thankful for it. sorry for the not so humorous post, perhaps i’ll have a sense of humor about finances soon, but i tend to take it all very seriously right now.
‘member that one day when my big brother levi was left in charge of us for a while? ‘member how i was being incredibly annoying while he was washing the floor? ‘member how i kept singing [and managed to get my brother mark on board too] my own little parody to an amy grant twila paris song [as corrected by my mother] where i repeated over and over in a sing-song voice: “god is innnnn control! not leviiiiiiii!” ‘member how i sang it so much and taunted him about bossing me around that eventually i got him to crack and he ran after me, tackled me to the ground and started jumping on me in a rage fit for an eleven year old?
and ‘member how he ended up spraining my wrist and my parents made him pay for the doctor’s bill?
yeah, i was a horrible little sister sometimes.
[it’s ‘member that time monday at the van voorst‘s blog!]
i can’t remember where i saw this, but i think it was in real simple. i immediately fell in love with idea.
the idea is simple:
wah-la! or not.
they look cute up there ^ but on my fridge, well, this is what they look like.
i guess i need much stronger magnets. i’ll probably try again soon.
*you don’t necessarily have to use hot glue for the magnets, but as i’m mildly obsessed with hot glue, that’s what i did.
alsberries 
