Teething time!

That's the first name that jumped into my head for this post. DJ has been teething really badly today- super clingy, doesn't want to do anything but eat and snuggle. Awesome for mommy baby time, not so awesome for getting things done. He's working on his 8th tooth in 8 months! Crazy kid...

My main goal for this week was going to be getting to bed by 11:00. Last night should have been the first night for that- but I forgot to eat supper somehow, and then David made us awesome cappuccino blender drinks around 8:30 (right after DJ went to bed last night) and I had one. Caffeine on an empty stomach- bad bad idea.11:00 rolled around and David and I were in the middle of watching The Biggest Loser. I decided I'd stay up until that was done, or was it till I finished my round on my knitting? Either way, it was 1:00 before I started to head to bed, and I don't think I fell asleep until 2:30 in the morning. And once I did fall asleep, I had the weirdest knitting combined Biggest Loser dreams... very very odd.

I'm still going to try to get to bed by 11:00 the rest of the week- but I've switched my "official" weekly goal to having a menu plan.

Monday- We had Pork stew tonight, and I made bread for sandwiches to go along with the lunch meat David bought. That will be lunch for some of the week. We've got eggs for breakfasts (did you know that 2 eggs provides your minimum daily requirement for protein- in the perfect proportions?) and we've still got left overs for some lunches as well.

Tuesday night I'm making pizza,

Wednesday night we'll have LO (Left over) stew and I'll make corn bread to go with it

Thursday will be LO pizza

Friday is Friday nights (we host a knit group and one of the gals cooks for everyone)

Saturday we're having pancakes for breakfast, and mac & cheese, and any other left overs we've still got. 

Sunday officially starts a new week- I hope to go grocery shopping on Sunday, as well as make sure my next menu plan is figured out. :)

I tend to cook large portions, and it takes us a while to eat through them. The stew we had tonight probably could last us a good portion of the week if we ate it every day. I'd freeze some, but our little fridge freezer freezer burns left overs in 2 weeks time, and it gets really frustrating. We are looking at getting a chest freezer, but it might be a while before we get it... we'll see.

Ramble much? ;)

Finally, the picture you've all been waiting for: DJ kept grabbing at my knitting yesterday, so I gave him some waste yarn of his own to play with. He was concentrating so hard, trying to figure out what it is about yarn that mommy likes so much! He was even sort of making little "knitting" motions too- copy cat. ;)

It is a New Year

It's a New year, with new goals, new hopes, and new dreams.

I'll admit, I'm a little slow getting some things started this year. Budgeting and record keeping one of them- I really need to work on that soon.

But let me tell you a little bit about what my plans & goals are for this year. Let me share how I am approaching things.

I have four main areas that I am focusing on this year, with the most important listed first:

1) Grow in the Lord
    a) Daily devotions- reading His word & praying.
    b) Get plugged in at our church
2) Care for my Family
    a) David- make sure his needs are taken care of (meals, rides to school, etc)
    b) DJ- Make sure his needs are taken care of (feeding, changing, loving him. Hard job eh?)
    c) Keep our home as a castle- Be a good steward of what God has given us- keep it clean & tidy
3) My body as a temple
    a) Eat healthfully
    b) Exercise regularly
    c) personal upkeep - Even if I'm not going anywhere or doing anything that day, still get ready just in case
    d) Music
4) Etsy
    a) weekly updates
    b) keep good records
    c) keep everyone up-to-date via Ravelry, facebook, twitter, and my new blog.
    d) Other mis. business goals.

I'm approaching things backwards from the way New Years Resolutions often go. Instead of making a huge list of resolutions, implementing them all at once, and then watching them swirl down the drain, I'm starting slow. I've got one thing I focus on each week. The rest of them, if they happen, great. If not, no biggie- I'll get to them one of these weeks. If I mess up on one week, I'll repeat it- not always the following week, but probably within a month. (P.S.- this is inspired by Benjamin Franklin's 13 virtues and how he approached self-improvement. More info here.)

To show you what I mean:
In the back of my journal, I've got 52 lines set aside. 52 weeks in a year right? Well, so far,
1) Daily devotions
2) Get into a daily schedule, including preparing 3 meals/day, on time
3) Better dental hygiene (Start using a water pic, etc) [I failed at this one- it'll be a re-do in a couple of weeks]
4) (this week:) Smoothie or fresh fruit + a cup of tea every day

As I think of things, I add them to a list of things I'd like to work on this year. Some goals I've already got in place fairly well, without having a specific week to work on it. Some goals wouldn't fit into the one week system since they are once/month goals- like reading 2 books/month, knitting a pair of socks a month, participating in monthly spinning challenges.

What were your new year resolutions? How are you approaching the hope that this new year brings? If you feel like you've failed already, may I encourage you with a phrase I used last year: "February is my new January" Hey- for that matter, ever day is a new day! A new chance to start working on something good. Why does it have to only be once a year that we evaluate where our lives are headed?

If you've read this far, you deserve a little treat:

Goodnight all!

Etsy!

I'm full speed ahead working at developing an Etsy business. My shop name is ourhumblecastle (surprise surprise... )

I'll be doing weekly updates to my shop on Mondays, so keep checking back for new products! Right now I am focusing on hand dyed yarns and hand stamped or up-cycled cards.

I just finished an update, so head on over to

www.etsy.ourhumblecastle.com to check out the goodness! Just a fair warning, some of the yarns I listed today are already spoken for.

Group photo of some of my yarns

Of course, I must leave you with a picture of little DJ- he came outside with me on one of the photo shoots-

DJ, enjoying the warm fall weather.

Grandpa M look-a-like?

 Just stopping in with a couple pictures... what I know you've all been waiting for.



DJ sitting on the couch with some of his favourite toys





hard at work pushing buttons!

Doesn't he look like his grandpa M in that first picture?