If you follow me, and I follow you, does that mean we're going in a circle?

Sort of reminds me of this comic- but that's not the point of this post. The real point is this: if you're following my blog and have a blog of your own, I'd like to follow it! That's one of the things that I've been enjoying about blogging on blogspot is the "Dashboard" where I can quickly link to blogs that I want to keep up with.

So if you've got one for me, just leave a comment after this post!

:D

Socks

Yes, I know I can buy socks at Walmart. But since I've started knitting my own, I don't think I want to anymore. If you've never worn a pair of hand-knit socks, you are missing out. The truth is that unless you can knit you probably can't afford a pair. Just the cost of yarn for a pair of socks can easily cost 15 dollars or more.  My first pair used $18 dollars worth of yarn, and I think I spent close to 40 hours on it so... at $7 an hour that's about $280 dollars... you've got yourself a pair of $300.00 socks.  I'm sure some people could afford that, and hey, if you're one of them who wants to spend $300.00 on the nicest feeling pair of socks you've ever worn, drop me a line, and we might be able to work a deal. ;)

But enough talk about the value of socks.This is a history of the socks I've made, so far. I'd love it if some day, I only owned hand-knit socks, and no more Walmart ones.

The first pair I made were for my dad for his birthday.

Gray Panda Silk sock for Dad

Dad proudly wearing his socks

One of DH's socks

I made my next two pairs by kniting the first sock of each before going back and making the second sock for each pair. One for DH, and one for me. DH's pair was finished first.

My "Happy Spring Socks"

One of the local yarn shops (Rae's Yarn Boutique) has started doing a "sock of the month" club. I bought the July kit, mostly because I know the designer, (Lynn H) and I've always wanted to have one of her patterns. What better pattern than a sock pattern?

Summer Squiggle Sock

 I just finished up the first sock tonight, and, as you would have it, I'm doing it again: I've got a sock for DH started that I'll finish before I go back and do second socks. But we'll see what happens once I start working on Christmas presents. Just a little "preview" of the sock- mind you, he picked the yarn, and he picked the pattern.

DH's sock in Extravayarnza's Wonderflonium yarn

True calling.

"One finds their true calling where their talents intersect with the greatest needs in the world."

There is a great need in the world today for strong Christians in every walk of life- business, medicine, agriculture, politics, just to name a few.

I believe I have talent in many areas, but many of them center around making a house into a home, such as my crafting, working in the kitchen, making music, and learning.

This is why my true calling is to be a wife and mother. This is why I want to have a large family- the potential to place more godly men & women in more avenues of life. This is why I'm dedicated to raising this little guy to love the Lord with all his heart.






Where does YOUR true calling lie?

Baby, Baby!

Our son David Douglas (DJ for simplicity's sake) is here! In fact, he's been here for 10 weeks already. My how time flies.

He's only a day old in this picture, chillin' on the quilt Grandma M made, wearing the coming home outfit that I knit for him.

He was supposed to be a July baby, but he ended up coming on June 22- my doctor induced me early, because my liver started doing funny things, and due to the high risk of still birth (Yikes!) they wanted him out A.S.A.P. once they confirmed my condition.

But all that was a long but fast 10 weeks ago.

A picture at 5w2d. Wide eyed & looking at mommy. That outfit doesn't fit him anymore- he's too long for it!

DJ & mommy in Philadelphia

At 7 weeks we went on a family vaccation, visiting Carbondale IL for a friend's wedding, Nashville on our way to Lynchbutg VA for a week, then Philadelphia & New York before heading home.

Our family by the Liberty Bell

Life is busier then ever, and I am being forced to learn how to make ever moment count, which will be a great blessing in the long term. I'm loving all the new, callanging, and sometimes frightening moments as they come. Here's to being a mom!

Go to the ant...

This week has been an interesting one. I know it's only Wednesday, and there is plenty more week to go around. I hope that the rest of the week will improve. 

Last week- on Friday-  I had a great day getting everything done on my list in preparation for my knitting group that night. I dusted, vacuumed and tidied up downstairs, the kitchen was in order, and I even gave the floor a quick wash down. I accomplished everything that was on my list before that evening. It was a perfect ending to a great week. I did have a few things on my to-do list that carried over to the next week... 

Que Monday. I don't really remember what I did Monday, probably because I didn't do much of anything. I have a dry-erase board in the kitchen that I use to write down the things that I need to do that day. It is in a high-traffic, visible location- perfect for reminding me of what I have to do. I usually spend some time first thing in the morning, or even the night before (if I am ambitious) writing out my game plan for the day. But Monday, I didn't. My whiteboard was just that... white. 

Tuesday, well... I know what I did Tuesday. I wasted time on the computer and didn't accomplish much of anything. I didn't even get ready for the day (dressed etc) until I had to leave for my Dr.'s appointment- at 3:00 pm. (Everything is average with both me and the baby! Praise the Lord!) David has spring allergies, but Tuesday morning he had woken up with a sore throat on top of the regular allergies... by last night (That was Tuesday night... I know it's past 12:00am Thursday now, but it still feels like Wednesday to me.) I had the same sore throat. I'm blessed I don't have allergies on top of it, but even with going to bed early last night, today was a bit of a "sick day" for me.

We have offered to host our Bible study Wednesday nights, so I needed to have the house in good shape for that. I needed to get work done today. It would have been so much easier on me if I had just worked a little better Monday and Tuesday. But sometimes it takes a while for us to learn those lessons. I worked at what I could today, and did get quite a few things done. One quote that kept coming to mind was from Emilie Barnes: "It doesn't have to be done perfectly, it just needs to be done". Sometimes -I'm wondering if that's what happened to me on Monday- sometimes I think that when I look at all of the things that I need to do, its hard to know where to start. Beyond that, I don't really want to start a task- say- cleaning out the fridge, (it needs to be done) because I don't think I have the time to do it as well as I want to do it at that point- so I don't do it at all. This quote encourages me to start anyway. I might not get it all done, but I can at least get something done. Today I started cleaning windows- a spring cleaning task that needs to be done- but I didn't have the time to get it all of the windows in our house done in one afternoon. In fact, I only cleaned the front and back glass doors... nothing else. But hey! I at least got something done. It reminds me of another quote: (which I just looked up and found out I miss-memorized it as a child. The real quote is first:) "Mile by mile, life's a trial. Yard by yard, it's not so hard. Inch by inch, it's a cinch!" ~Unknown 

(My version:  "Yard by yard, life's hard. Mile by mile, it takes a while. But inch by inch, everything's a cinch!" )

So tomorrow, inch by inch I will get things done.

Tomorrow, I will not worry about getting things done perfectly, just done! 

I want that Friday night feeling again, my to-do list full of check marks. 

Reaching goals feels good. But in order to reach them, I need to set them - every day.

The Blessings of Being Pregnant

Sugar gives me heartburn. Not spicy food, not eating too much, just sugar. I had two donuts this afternoon, and I am paying for it now...

I figured this out most clearly when I went in for my gestational diabetes test this last week. They had me drink about 350 ml of pure sugar water (a certain combination of dextrose and glucose and other sugars) within 5 minutes, ( I chugged it, cause the sooner I finished the sooner they could start timing) and then exactly an hour later they drew blood for lab work. That's all that was in my stomach that whole hour... just a mere 350 ml of liquid sugar, and it gave me heartburn. 

I really don't have much to complain about though. Of all the major complaints that people have about later on in pregnancy, such as heartburn, not very good sleeps, jabs to the ribs, tap dancing on the bladder, well, it hasn't been that bad for me. Tomorrow will mark the fact that I am unmistakably in the third trimester, so I suppose that could start to change things. ( I'll be 28 weeks then... although I'd almost say 26 weeks counts for second tri... depends on how you divide things up!) I rarely eat anything sugary, and I've hardly ever gotten heartburn this whole pregnancy. Baby Goo moves, and is plenty active, but only jabs in ways that hurt if I haven't been that active that day. (Sitting on the couch for extended periods of time isn't a good idea. I get jabbed in the ribs!) So long as I've been working in the garden, or going for a run, or working out using the Wii fit... Baby Goo is quite happy to be calm and kick gently. (Most of the time it just tickles!) It's great motivation to stay in motion!  I honestly hadn't felt any distinct kicks to my bladder until today. So far, it's not too bad... but I imagine it could get worse. :) As for not being able to sleep, God has blessed us with an amazing Tempur-Pedic memory foam bed, and the only complaint I am starting to have with it is because it is a king size! It comes in two twins joined to make the king, leaving us with a small crack between the halves of the bed. I used to be able to sleep on the crack (and close to my husband on his side of the bed) with no problem... but now I've got to choose: sleep comfortably, or sleep next to D!  He's been great about letting me sleep on my side and him coming over to the middle to cuddle for a while...

As you can see, I have plenty of physical blessings to count in this pregnancy. I've been able to run almost weekly for the last month or so, and have been so enjoying how good I feel afterwards. D and I actually registered for our first 5k together! It will be the beginning of May. I am so blessed! I hope to come back and read this blog post on my rougher days of pregnancy that I will undoubtedly face, and be reminded of how beautiful of a miracle pregnancy is, and how wonderfully easy of a journey I have been blessed with.

Count your blessings!

My berry patch

Spring is here, in full rainstorms and sunshine and glory.


My parents came down at the end of March, and helped with projects around the house and yard. You'd be amazed at how much needed to be done, as well as how much got done! It was such a blessing.


I really should have taken a before picture of the back yard just to show how far it has come. There was a sandbox that was full of weeds and maple tree seedlings, and now... it is perfectly cleaned out and is the home to my new berry patch!


We've been blessed with lots of space in our back yard- albeit a little bit shady thanks to the big maple tree- (Mom couldn't believe that all the leaves we raked were pretty much only from the tree in our back yard- over 20 lawn and garden bags full!) and I have been wanting to grow a garden so badly. One of the things that I have missed the most about farm life is the fresh raspberries in the fall. They are so expensive to buy in the store, and they're never quite the same as ones you pick yourself. Of course I wanted to make sure my garden had a berry patch of raspberries and strawberries. I put an add on Craigslist, asking if anyone had an established patch that I could come and get a few strawberry runners or raspberry canes from. I've gotten replies from about 3 people who are willing to let me get plants from them!  They each have different varieties, so I'm planning on getting some from each of them. Over the next year or two, I'll figure out which ones I like best and want to keep, and I can always thin out the ones that don't do as well.


I had posted the add earlier in the spring, before most people had gotten out into their gardens. I finally connected with one of the ladies today and got my first round of plants! It had been raining quite heavily the last while, but we thought we'd try to go out and dig them up anyway. I headed over, and by the time I got to this lady's house, it had stopped raining! Not only that, but it stopped long enough that I was able to go out and finish preparing my sandbox (Strawberries love sandy soil) and put them in the ground.


A few pictures to share:

 The new berry patch!

A close up of the strawberry plants.

One of the beautiful raspberry canes.

A bonus picture of our puppy, Lulu who was enjoying being outside with her mommy, and doing a very good job of learning to stay "out" of the new berry patch. :D