From The Lake

Once upon a time there was a wonderful composer named Bobby Richeson. And Mr. Richeson had a dream. He dreamed of writing a rock instrumental that would appeal to the music lover in all of us.  He wanted to write something that would not only be his legacy. But touch people in the way that only music can. And from that dream From The Lake was born.

Bobby has been working on this project for years and I have been on the sidelines cheer leading to keep him going. He's a humble man and has no faith in his talent (though why not is beyond me).   And now that he has begun recording he needs our help. Don't get me wrong folks, he's fiercely independent and will finish this recording with or without us. But with our help it will be done sooner. And who doesn't love making someone's dream come true?

You don't have to be rich. You don't have to give even $10.  Only have $2 to give?  Give $2, $5, whatever you have will help.  If you can drop $4 on a Starbucks coffee, won't you give to help fill the world with beautiful music? And while you're at it, like the Facebook page. You'll be kept up to date on all the latest developments.  I gave, will you do the same?

PS. Just in case you missed it click here and listen, he did each of those in about a week.

10 things I hope to accomplish this year

I am not much of a New Year's Resolution gal. Mostly because I never end up keeping them anyways, so why bother making them?  A couple of weeks ago I was clicking from link to link skipping through the web one craft page at a time when I hit a really interesting post. I have tried in vain to find it again because I really wanted to share it here.  This crafty woman had made a list of 12 things she wanted to accomplish throughout the year. I happened to catch the year end version of this where she was detailing said crafts and the various blog posts about them.  One craft a month is a bit too ambitious for me. Heck the list I made for myself is a bit too ambitious for me.  But I thought, why not?  So throwing caution to the wind here are the ten things I hope to make/do this year:

Photo by Liss Burnell Budget101.com

I found this recipe when someone posted it on facebook. The thing that sold me on trying it was another mother whose son apparently works in fast food. And nothing had removed that fast food grease smell from his work clothes, except this! (or so she claimed) Well with three fast food workers in my house at the moment I could surely use something that will get that smell out. I'll actually be doing this really soon, I've already bought all of my supplies and I'm just trying to get motivated to make it.  Soon....

Photo by Marlena Rookiemag.com

Isn't that just awesome?  And it's knitted on your fingers!  I mean daaang. I plan to go through my yarn and try this one out ASAP. It just looks too cool not to do.

Photo by Emily @ Yesterdayssweetheart.com

I have a butterfly punch that I've been looking for a project for. So this was added to my to do list. 

Photo by Darlene Schacht @ Timewarpwife.com

I'm a big girl. I know y'all didn't know that because I keep it such a secret. And when I cook or clean, I make a mess. Usually a big one.  But it is really, really hard to find an apron that I like or that fits me. I love this pattern, it seems fairly simple and I think I can measure my fabric to fit me the way I want. So I'm going to give this a shot. 

Photo by Little Birdies @ makeandtakes.com

I have gotten out of the habit of making a meal plan, but that is wreaking havoc on my diet and my life. Things are so much easier when I can just glance at a sheet and know what I need to do for that day.  And I love this idea. I plan to add magnets to the back of it so I can put it on my refrigerator. We'll see how that works out.

Photo by Ashley @ makeit-loveit.com

Come on, admit it. That just looks cool as heck and you want to try it to! 

Ok confession time. I live in a mud pit. I do not say that lightly.  The path that leads from where we park (which is solid red mud when it rains) to the porch has no walkway. There used to be grass there but after years of people walking the same path the grass has died and now it's just mud.  I also want to get some gravel for our driveway/parking area.  But I can do this project fairly cheaply and at least we won't be walking in mud the whole way, right? OK shut up, I know we need to get some gravel.  

Photo by Tamara Kelly @ mooblyblog.com

Crochet Bubble Blanket isn't exactly the technical term for this blanket. But look at it. Shouldn't it be called that? I mean seriously, that's just what it is.  The pattern here is for a baby blanket, but I'm thinking if I double the amount of initial chain then maybe I can get a nice throw out of it. It's worth a shot.  That is if I can ever get myself motivated to start it. Then to keep at it. I swore I was never doing a blanket again. We'll see if I actually do this one.

Photo by don_mae @ thisyearsdozen.wordpress.com

My mama used to make these all the time. We had so many of them and I couldn't tell you where a single one is now. My dad now has all of mama's houseplants and so I thought I'd try my hand at making one for him. If it goes well I may do more than one. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. We all know that I'm all talk and very little action.

                                 

Ok no pics on this one because the current state of the bathroom is deplorable. Besides you'll see it when we do the reno.  The kids bathroom is tiny. And I don't mean like "Oh my bathroom is so little, I just have no idea what to do with it" When it has a double sink, linen closet, and a separate bathtub and shower. I mean 8x10, barely enough room to move, TINY!  And though the room won't actually get any bigger it, like most of this house, is in a state of disrepair.  And I'm tired of it. I'm really tired of living in a house that looks like it should be condemned. So I chose the thing that I felt I could go after cheapest and easiest to do first. The kids bathroom.  I'll detail what we'll be doing when and if I do a post about this. Which I do plan to do. But ya know, I plan a lot of things.  Happy new year!

Merry Christmas Mama

As Christmas draws ever nearer my days get longer and harder to deal with. Mama was born December 24th.  She was a Christmas Eve baby and I can't remember ever really celebrating her birthday with her. Of course we all would wish her happy birthday. And we would give her a gift when we were able. But there were no parties, no family dinners. It was always just lumped in with Christmas celebrations. How sad is that?  I regret that now, though I never gave it another thought then.  And I'm sure that she didn't either.

Christmas was mamas favorite time of the year.  She loved it. When she was still healthy and able the phrase "deck the halls" doesn't even begin to touch what she did. Mandy Lou always said that it looked like Santa puked all over the place lol. She decorated every tree she had in the yard. She would have a huge wreath hanging on the side of her house. Every single surface would be covered in tinsel and decorations. And when the day came she loooved the presents. Her greatest joy was watching the kids open theirs. And our greatest joy was watching her open hers. No matter what you gave mama she cried lol.  I remember one Mothers day we made her a DVD and gave it to her inside a box of tissues. We knew she'd need them. But you could give her anything and it could have been given the same way, with a box of tissues.  She loved the personal gifts the best. Things that you didn't necessarily buy but that you took the time to make for her. A letter, a card, a drawing; she loved and saved them all.

My Christmas spirit isn't gone, just running from me. I still love the holiday. I am anxiously looking forward to my kids opening their gifts.  But I find myself crying more, wishing she were here more often. All holidays may be difficult, but this will be the hardest for me. Because I always associated Christmas with mama. To me she embodied the very spirit of Christmas. And with her gone it's really hard to catch it.

I love you mama, Merry Christmas.

An apology and the finisher~

First off let me say that I'm sorry it has taken me so long to finish this gratitude challenge. The holidays have been especially challenging this year and there are times when I just don't feel like posting anything. And the last couple of weeks have been one of those times.  I've decided rather than try to keep up with any schedule of posting for now I will just post when I want to post.  That way when I'm feeling down I don't feel the added pressure of trying to post.  K?  k




The last week of the thankfulness challenge is titled Be grateful for who you are. Rather than try and break these down individually I figured I'd just attack this one thing head on and post 5 reasons I am grateful for who I am.  This should be good.. (said with a note of sarcasm)

1.  I am glad that I have a (mostly) positive outlook. No matter what happens in my life I can usually find the good in it.

2.  I am thankful for my face and hair. Though I'm not entirely thrilled with my face right now because of the weight gain I'd experienced since my mom died I do like it. I like my eyes especially.

3.  I'm thankful for my health. As I age more aches and pains crop up than I thought were possible.. I mean heck, I'm only 39.  But even so I am so very blessed. I have all of my limbs, my senses. I have full use of all of my faculties.

4. I am grateful for my attitude. I guess this kinda goes along with the first one. But I'm not only an optimist. I try not to force anyone else to have my opinion. Instead I try to live my life in such a way that they'll ask "What makes her different?"  And then I can tell them :)

5. I'm grateful for my family, both immediate and extended, by blood and by choice. Because they make me who I am today.

Day 12 - 14

Day 12 was about having a positive outlook on life. I try really hard to do this anyways but I really do fail quite often. It's the little things that irritate me, and sometimes it's nothing at all.  Have you ever had one of those days where you're just snappy and peckish but you can't figure out why?  I have those. The kind of days that I snap at everyone around me and my family spends the day asking "Are you mad at me?"  I've been trying harder to stop being that way. If I catch my self being snappy or hateful I reign it in and ask myself why I am upset.  And if I don't have a reason, well then it is time for me to get over myself. I won't say I've mastered this positive outlook thing, but I'm definitely getting better. The next challenge was to pick three family members and view their actions and gestures through a positive lens. Since this felt like the same thing as the day before I'm lumping them together.

And the final day in the week of being grateful for everything around you is simply to tell how this challenge has changed you. I haven't really enjoyed this week as much as the first because I feel like I try to be thankful about everything I have on a daily basis already.  But one thing I did realize was just how often I nitpick and needle and gripe about silly things. I really want to try and move past that and just be grateful for every person in my life. And not worry about what I perceive their flaws to be. Because Lord knows I have enough of those myself.

Thank you Notes and more

Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of life we assume that people know that we appreciate them. But it's always nice to hear it.  So today I'm going to write a few people a little thank you to let them know what they mean to me.  I won't be posting these here because this is a personal thing that I prefer to keep between me and them. But I encourage you to do the same.  Think about your life, is there someone who is always there to help you out? A shoulder you know you can lean on in times of need?  People who you are grateful to have in your life but haven't actually told them so in a while? Take a minute today and send a little note of thanks to that person.  Sometimes a thank you can make the whole world seem brighter.

By Flickr user vistamommy [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

 I think I already covered this one in the first week. So let me just take a moment to thank some of those I didn't cover then.  Thank you Emily for always being silly and sweet and making me smile. Thank you Drew for being a voice of reason and an open ear anytime I need to chat.  Thank you Ashley for being a sweet heart and sharing so openly with me.  And thank you to everyone else I know because you are all awesome people and I am glad you're in my life.

By Aravind Sivaraj (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

I am not exactly sure what I'm supposed to write about (this grattitude challenge is kinda bogus y'all. I feel like I'm writing about the same things over and over).  But the things I've seen today that I am glad I could see are: smiles, nature, my family.

I do this daily, because Logan is always here and it's easy to see everything through his eyes. He's a little bundle of joy and energy. So I am grateful for the time I get to spend with the little wild man. Soon he'll be off to school and that time will be over.