New Blog, new endeavor

Hi friends! I have moved over to a new blog: Crafting Things New. Hope to see you there and thanks for reading!

An Indoor Kind of Spring Day

Spring apparently did not get the memo. There’s snow on the ground here along the 42nd latitude.

I got this fabulous idea from Dana-Made-It for a butterfly sanctuary. I love her site! Bonus that we share the same name, towhead kids, and an affinity for sewing.

My children are not quite as good as coloring/ decorating as Dana-Made-It’s kids, since mine are 1 and 3, so I cut up the stash of scrapbook paper that I have had for 6 years. They can glue!!! I’m never going to start scrapbooking, so I might as well use up all that pretty paper. And let’s be honest, I truly don’t need anymore hobbies!

Everytime we walk through the back hallway, the bright butterflies bring a smile to our face.

We also made a sunflower version of our family.

I cut out petals of yellow, orange and yellow stripes, green stems and leaves, and a few accessories.

We glued them to an orange paper plate I have had sitting in my pantry for years because I keep forgetting I have them at Halloween and Thanksgiving! Didn’t she do a great job keeping with the simple pattern on this one?

Then we glued another orange plate over the petals to make it look all nice and neat and also to make room to personalize our sunflower people.

We used some sticky wax to hang our little sunflower family up next to the butterflies.

It may be frozen outside, but spring has sprung indoors!

Fat- Burning cookies- or so they say :)

My friend Debra has been asking me for this recipe for a loooooong time. Sorry Debra! Here is it- taken from the September 2010 issue of Oxygen Magazine:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups whey protein powder

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups low fat small curd cottage cheese

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup canola oil

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (I skipped these b/c I’m allergic)

1- Preheat oven to 350.

2- Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl and mix well

3- in a separate bowl, combine next 5 ingredients and whisk together with a fork, or use and electric mixer or food processor

4- Add wet ingredients to dry and mix with a fork (or mixer). Mix in oats, chocolate chips (and walnuts if you’re nutty!)

5- Drop by teaspoonful onto an ***oiled or parchment paper lined*** baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes until the cookies are slightlybrown on top. ***THIS IS IMPORTANT! these “cookies” will totally stick to your baking sheet. I use a SILPAT. Same idea as parchement paper. Love it. Worth it’s weight in gold***

Nutrients per serving (w/ the walnuts) 2 cookies: Calories 99; Total fats 3 g; Saturate Fat 1 g; Trans Fat 0 g; Cholesterol 6 mg; Sodium 72 mg; Total Carbohydrates 11 g; Dietary Fiber 2 g; Sugars 5 g, Protein 7 g

I love these cookies! You won’t feel deprived with the chocolate chips in there. I made them for my table at MOPS today. I don’t know if these actually burn fat, but that’s what they’re called! I definitely feel full and stay full after eating these.

Here’s a little blurb from the magazine about them:

“Staying slim requires eating satifying snacks that keep your hunger pains at bay. Key ingredients in these cookies include: cinnamon to keep your blood sugar in check, slow digesting prottein from cottage cheese paired with faster digesting whey protein powder to steadily suppress appetite, whole wheat flour for energy revving b vitamins, oats for their anti-inflammatory polyphenols and beta-glucan, which promote a feeling for fullness that subdues craving.” Only problem is you might crave more of these cookies! But don’t be mastered by your cravings!!!

Oxygen recommends these as a morning or preworkout snack. Yum.

Happy Healthy Eating!

On hearts and such

This was the year that Valentine’s Day crafts and projects happened. My daughter is finally old enough to craft and bake with me. Ahhhh!!!! (girly shrieking)

We made hearts. We used stickers. It was awesome.

And yes, that is my serrated bread knife on my table that I used to cut a large piece of foam into a heart shape.

We baked heart shaped cookies.

And “x” and “o” shaped cookies.

We learned about self control while frosting cookies. Can you see how much she wants to just eat one cookie? Or the entire container of sprinkles? This cookie-frosting-session went much better than Christmas cookies.

And I finished a new apron! I’m always cooking something in the kitchen, might as well have a fun apron to wear!

Simplicity 3752 Sew Pattern MISSES’ APRONS 6 Styles Vintage Style SIZE S, M, L

This is a great apron pattern. Lots of versatility. I’ve made a few of these, mostly for gifts. This was a first keeper for me!

Keith and I didn’t get to go out on Valentine’s Day, but we did get to spend our “date day” on Saturday on the slopes at a local ski resort. He got me new running gear instead of chocolate. Smart man!!!

One Year

So. A whole year. Wow.

I have missed the fun craft blogging community… and I’ve also noticed that some of the blogs that I regularly followed before I had children dwindled in posts because, well, your time dwindles when you have little ones!!!

I am breathing a bit of a sigh of relief right now, my eldest recently turned three and the baby is now one, so there is a bit of a reprieve. A two year old and an infant is exhausting! But just today, I was able to, GASP!, leave both of the kids downstairs while I took a shower! The Mickey Mouse Club gave an assist, but no playpen/ jumper was required in this endeavor. Hallelujah!

I have recently started knitting more regularly again and even signed up for a new sewing class with a friend. Hopefully some pics will soon follow.

I’m not sure what this blog with turn into, and evolution of my interests… which used to be God, my husband, knitting and crafting, running, yada yada yada… Now there’s so much more that I think about in addition.

My kids- do they eat enough? Do they play enough? Am I teaching them well? Are they safe? Loved? How much do their little minds understand the divine?

Fitness- oooohhh how I have developed an affinity for this. Slightly vain at first glance, but those pregnancy pounds really do a number on your physical, emotional and mental health. So I started working out with my sometimes destructive “all or nothing” perfectionist philosophy. Hit the weight room. Worked on nutrition as never before.

Spiritual Disciplines- a newer one… I have been a Christian for the past decade and gone through the regular “prescription” for Christian living… but have recently found myself yearning for more knowledge of Christ and attaining more Christlike character. If you know me, you know how MUCH ROOM I have to grow!!! But I have begun reading some great books on the subject- a departure from my usual dose of Surviving-Motherhood-All-I-Want-Is-Sleep-And-a-Housekeeper type devotional.

All in all, I’m still in pursuit of an abundant life in Christ. Some things have changed, but the main pursuit remains. Who’s in for the ride?

Jon & Kate

Really, Jon and Kate? I mean, really? What are you thinking???

My thoughts on the Gosselin saga are many… I think that Walt Mueller’s June post (the president of the Center of Parent/ Youth Understanding)  and Christianity Today’s article echoes most of my sentiments. The issues in the Gosselin home, or rather, the issues in BOTH of the parents, are the very same sins that lurk in our own hearts.

“This train wreck called Jon & Kate Plus 8 offers a clear window into the human condition. . . and ourselves. This is a couple whose deep, deep narcissism has made them oblivious to each other, their kids, their extended family, old friends, wise living, and perhaps even the God they so blatantly claim to serve. It appears they’ve forgotten the everyday reality of their human depravity and the constant dangers that it poses. They’ve let down their guard. The evidence seems to point to the fact that they are eagerly engaged in the pursuit and worship of created things, rather than their Creator. Life has become about the things they can get. Kate is embracing the life of a diva. But they are not alone. Each of us has the seeds of the same thing sitting in our own hearts. While you and I can sit where we sit and pronounce it as wrong – and we should – I wonder what I would do if I had the opportunity to receive what they’ve received. I know what I should do. I can say what I think I would do. But I know what I’d be tempted to do. So if we are going to fulfill our responsibility to speak up and criticize, it had better be done in a humble spirit that recognizes beyond a shadow of a doubt that each of us is only one bad decision away from the same thing. . . or perhaps we’re already dealing with this stuff but not for the whole world to see.”– Walt Mueller – “Jon & Kate… Too Late?”

I hope that they get off the TV, in interviews, appearances, and the show. I hope that some kind of person that they respect will come into their life and grasp them by the shoulder and give them a good shake.

It’s been a while

Yeah, it’s been a while.

I just got busy, I guess, but I have missed the blogging world and all the creative energy that comes along with it.

I made a new purse, just in time for us to go to Orlando in the beginning of the March:

It’s the “Covington Bag” by Amy Butler, a discontinued pattern that I purchased on ebay last year. I’m still looking for her “Big Nap” pillow pattern that was discontinued but have had little luck in finding it. The fabric I used for my purse was from the Stonehill collection that I picked up at Joanne’s for a very very reasonable price. I thought it was cute, kinda Amy Butler-ish, but much more affordable. I think the bag cost me about 6 dollars in materials (thanks to a sale and a 50% off coupon), and I have a decent amount of extra fabric left over for a small project. Maybe a matching wallet?

It felt so good to have a new bag to take on vacation!

We went to Sea World while we were in Orlando and checked out the stingray pool, among other things. The stingrays swim around the pool and let you pet them! Sweet Pea thought it was fun.

Another favorite activity of hers was the kiddie fountain at our hotel.

The water was really cold, but she didn’t seem to mind. Looks like I know what to buy her for this summer! A sprinkler.

Coming to fruition

After quite some time of conceptualizing,  my snowboarding sweater is on the needles!

I’m using some patons classic merino wool that I bought on Black Friday and it was quite a steal, as everything usually is at 6 am the day after Thanksgiving!

Distracted

“But Martha was distracted by much serving.” – Luke 10:40

Last Saturday night I found myself in a familiar place.

The kitchen.

I feel like half my waking hours are in the kitchen sometimes.

We had two couples from our bible study over for dinner; one couple just brought home their first baby and the other couple had an adorable, rambunctious toddler just a little older than our Sweet Pea. So I was in the kitchen, cooking dinner, cleaning up after dinner, making coffee and dessert.

But I wasn’t distracted by serving. I found myself thinking , “Hey, I’m in the kitchen and everybody else is chillin’ in the living room…… but I am totally OK with that… those girls deserve a break…”  I then started to pray for my friends while I was doing the dishes.

This was a markedly different thought process than I had several weeks earlier when I was once again in the kitchen, but that time I was distracted by serving.

After our guests left and I went to bed, I opened up a devotional by Charles Spurgeon that spoke about Martha from Luke 10:40.

Her fault was not that she served: The condition of a servant is commendable in the Christian. “I serve” should be the motto of all the princes of the royal family of heaven. Nor was it her fault that she had “much serving.” We cannot do too much. Let us do all that we possibly can; let head and heart and hands be engaged in the master’s service. it was no fault of hers that she was busy preparing a feast for the Master. Happy Martha, to have an opportunity of entertaining so blessed a guest; and happy, too, to have the spirit to throw her whole sould so heartily into the engagement. Her fault was that she grew “distracted with much serving,” so that she forgot Him and only remembered the service. She allowed service to override communion, and so presented one duty stained with the blood of the other. We ought to be Martha and Mary in one: We should do much service and have much communion at the same time. For this we need great grace…….Beloved, while we do not neglect external things, which are good enough in themselves, we ought also to see to it that we enjoy living, personal fellowship with Jesus. See to it that sitting at the Savior’s feet is not neglected, even though it be under the specious pretext of doing Him serivce. The first thing for our soul’s health, the first thing for his glory, and the first thing for our own usefulness is to keep ourselves in perpetual communion with the Lord Jesus and to see that the vital spirituality of our faith is maintained over and above everything else in the world.

I realized that I’ve had a really messed up view of Martha & Mary. I had categorized myself as a “Martha,” because I DO things. I get stuff done. I serve. I cook. I clean up. And most of the time, I like doing it.

I have a “Mary” in my life, and like Martha, “Mary” drives me nuts. She is always at the Lord’s feet, always reading a book, a devotional, resting, taking a nap, and hardly ever lifting a finger to help. It’s always been really hard for me to serve her and I think that might be because I was jealous and annoyed by her “Mary-ness”.  Sure, I would love to have several hours in the middle of the day to spend with the Lord, but somebody’s gotta cook dinner, Mary sure isn’t going to do it. Being around my Mary perpetuated my warped belief that I must be a Mary to please God. Leaving my  home in shambles and ignoring my guests to spend time with God.

“Hello Mary! There’s lots to do, this is why I spend my time with God BEFORE the day gets started! Could you get off your knees and make a salad?”

What I read in that devotional was SO helpful! I loved what Spurgeon said about being Mary & Martha in one! Yes, it is incredibly vital and pleasing to God that we have living, personal fellowship with Jesus; spending time with the Lord is vital to our soul’s health and time must be set aside for just that daily. We need that before we can be useful in serving Him, in serving our families, in serving others. And yet in addition to that quiet time before the Lord, we can commune with Him while serving. We should commune with Him while serving, otherwise our focus will turn to our service and not the Lord.

God wants us to serve, but he doesn’t want us to be distracted by the doing, he wants us to keep our focus on Him. He has given us areas of service- our husband, our children, our home, a ministry- but once we stop communing with Him during our work, things start to fall apart. You get stressed. Your fuse is super short. Everything annoys you. Nothing works. I know. I’ve been there and I’m sure I’ll be there again at some point this week!

I got it, that night I was serving my friends. I was serving the Lord by serving them. I wasn’t bitter that I was the only one in the kitchen, I loved that I was able to give them a break from doing dishes. I knew WHY I was serving them, my focus wasn’t on the preparations of dinner, it was them. Because I loved them. Because I love my Savior.

snow day

Our town has been walloped with snow over the past few days and the snowfall has been the main story on the news.

This evening we almost fell off the couch laughing so hard at the captions underneath the people who were interviewed:

Man snowblowing outside- “Joe Somebody- Surprised by Snow” – really? You were surprised? It’s only been forcasted for several days now….

Young man at a convenient store in enormous pickup truck: “Joe Somebody-Else- Shopping for Grandmother.”

Did anybody else find that funny?