birds and hedgies {KCCO}

After searching the internet I had found 2 tutorials for needle felting a little spring bird. They gave some great instructions and inspiration and can be found here and here . Ryguy had also been asking me for some hedgehogs since our evening/bedtime song involves squirrels and hedgehogs so I decided I would try to tackle those too. Not too shabby I think!

What are  you crafting this week?

A trip out

Since my health started getting worse after Gid was born we don't take many trips out anymore. It wears me out physically and emotionally as it can be rough wrangling so many kids in and out of car seats, missing naps and delayed lunch.... well you get the idea. It often is not worth the struggle and the result of me being down for a day or so afterwards.

We decided one day that since it was so nice out that we would try to go out to one of my favorite places, the zoo. We pulled out my grandmother's old wheelchair to try to save me energy and off we went. I will say that using the wheelchair as frustrating as it is, allowed us to stay longer and me not to feel like I would collapse by the end of the day. I did still take a nap afterwards but it did not feel as extreme as it has in trips past.

Although I am young it is a huge pride thing to have to use a mobility device. However sometimes you do crazy things to see smiles on your kid's faces again...

Our together quilt

I do apologize for the lack of posts lately. Between the plague (the flu, bronchitis and pneumonia) and myself finally blowing up the engine of my little black car it’s been a hectic few weeks. Randy and I have been married over 5 years now and it seems that we always have had struggles. Between 5 moves and job changes, custody disputes with crazy exs, sensory kiddo and our own health issues it has been a very trying marriage. They always say if you can get through the first 5 years you are set... I can say at times we barely survived. It finally hit probably its worst peak since our marriage starting as now we have custody of all 7 and our changing of values. Some of the olders missed that memo and have tried straining our family life and started providing a not so good example to my littles. This of course infuriated me.

 

For a while I begged Randy to knuckle down and enforce our hard fast rules however my husband is a peacemaker. It was very stressful for me to consistently be the bad guy and sometimes kids just need to hear it from Dad vs Step-mom. I do not want to be that woman that everyone hates in the Disney movies. There are running jokes as is from their mother’s family that I only feed them seaweed and kale and I’m a hippy that practices witchcraft…. Yes. Really.

 

We finally had a discussion and really considered divorce. Not a happy conversation but one that was truly needed. We did not have a consistent rhythm and lived our life previously by the seat of our pants. We did decide some major changes had to be made but that we did want to try to save our marriage. My husband did blow me away when he did reach out to my church for help as he is not a Christian but wanted some council for both of us from people that I trust and respect.

 

We have finally started getting some major bugs worked out after a massive family meeting. Randy has really stepped up and laid down the law. Homework is now being completed and the house couldn’t look better. I am not sure how long this will all last however I’ll take what I can get.

 

We have started going through The Smart Stepfamily Marriage: Keys to Success in the Blended Family to try to continue working on communication and building our marriage back up. I do like that it is targeted and geared towards 2^nd marriages/relationships. Many marriage books I have seen were made for first marriages however they do not have some of the obstacles that we do such has blended families and exs.

 

We also started working and planning a quilt together. Randy’s grandmother taught him to quilt forever ago and now her health is on the strong decline. We decided we would try to work together on this project before she passes. It is bright, colorful and simple so I’m hoping to have it finished before Easter.

 

I am hopeful we can get this resolved and get through this rough patch so if you would like to pray for our family it would be appreciated.

 

Project bags

I am joining One Grey Elephant for her project bag swap. It is a mama swap with a project bag filled with all sorts of goodies. I finally have borrowed a sewing machine from my in-laws and was able to whip it up quickly now that I have a machine that actually works. I am still working on the hearts for Peyton's heart project as well and have a ton to go before Easter gets here.

What are you crafting this week?

Goals for Lent

"Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It is a time of self-examination and reflection. In the early church, Lent was a time to prepare new converts for baptism. Today, Christians focus on their relationship with God, often choosing to give up something or to volunteer and give of themselves for others."  

What is Lent

As our family varies in our stages and levels of faith I chose to encourage the teens and littles to GIVE of themselves this year vs fast or give something up. I chose the following 2 volunteer activities for our family to fill our time while we prepare our hearts for Lent.

The Peyton Heart Project 
This initiative's goals are to open discussion between teen bullying, suicide, and depression by spreading little hearts with encouraging words as their acts of kindness. Our goal is to do 250 hearts of various mediums during our handwork time. They also have a huge social media platform which was encouraging for Beanie and Kirky as they love Facebook and Instagram #peytonheartproject
https://www.instagram.com/peyton_heart_project/

Phil's Friends
Our littles will be making cards for people with cancer. Simple and meaningful since our Grandma Adeline was just diagnosed with skin cancer again and I lost my Gama to cancer right before I became pregnant with Nanners.



We also will do some fun things as always such as our egg hunt, resurrection rolls and maybe work through the resurrection eggs.

Oats Cowl {KCCO}

So I have finally figured out knitting...well ish. I attempted the Tin Can Oats pattern and butchered the ribbing. Wrapped the yarn around the bottom for each of the stiches so it has a nice tight spiral bound edge. Pretty, however not even close to the idea of a rib. I gifted it to Nanners as she was excited to have something that Mama made.

I have begun again with my Ravelry notes to make a real one for myself. I am using this beautiful fallish colored yarn. It is one of my favorite color combinations. I have been trying to push myself in more colored accessories vs all black so I  felt it a was good start. My goal is it will be able to hide my TENS unit if i need to be a little more socially acceptable and not have to answer dumb questions about all the wires around my neck.

What are you working on today?

BTW Happy Ash Wednesday! I will have a nice update regarding our Lent goals in the next post.

Got the kids...and the dog!

Some time to reflect on the last few weeks and share some things that have made me grateful.

No time to be depressed when you are happy for what you have.

**************************

my car breaking down on payday and not before as we would have been too broke for tow...

a kind police officer that called another officer to bring me to IHOP vs sitting in the cold, and NOT giving me a ticket...

finally getting custody of Randy's old dog from his ex... now we have the kids and the dog!

yarn. all that's ever needed...

a kind friend reminding me this morning that its OK to ask for more than you ever think you are worth since more often than not you are selling yourself short....

the kids laughing about my lack of knowledge of newer social media and making me figure out how to use Instagram...


finally getting the strength to tell my one boss and her boss about some problems at work. I'm still nervous and waiting on resolution but it felt so good to stand up for myself and my team as we have had these problems for years...

finding out the growth on my ear is for sure a keloid. it will always look funny but won't kill me so we will take it!

 

a new TENS unit. great for pain relief with back and neck pain...

 

Giddy baby being a big boy and playing with play dough...

 

 

nature walks with the Magnar and the Gid.

 

what are you grateful for this week?