A Healthy Diet

...people you know who eat practically whatever they want and stay lean and healthy — what is their secret? It is quite simply that they have never fought their bodies, never made themselves feel deprived or starved, their metabolisms never got damaged and this allows for good levels of energy and a stable healthy body weight. - Guest blogger Chris, Zenhabits

One of the truest healthy diet* explanations I've ever come across. I will be there someday!

Read the rest of the post :). It's a good one!



*di·et¹  /ˈdaɪɪt/ Show Spelled [dahy-it] : "food or feed habitually eaten or provided" definition, rather than "a particular selection of food, esp. as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease"

I think I can I think I can I think I can

I'm feeling excited, more like myself than I've felt in years. Yesterday I had a few inspirations that let me to what I'm about to start shooting for. And yep, this is another post about crochet. You can stop reading now if you were hoping for Aly and Lorelei updates/pictures :).

Everyone thinks the ennui-challenged are my biggest fear. While that and mental patients are my prominent corporeal terrors, fears of humiliation and rejection have been beating me down for years. They aren't unfounded; many times when I have become passionate about something, I became an object of slight derision and condescension, as if I am a child to be indulged, with behavior to be repeated to others with a bemused laugh. Others more confident than I shrug such reactions off, but of course I take it to heart, making me hesitant to share my fervor.

Now, about this, I don't care. Ok, ok... that's a lie. I do care, I'm just not going to let it beat me down and halt all creative process. 

A few months ago I had an idea to create a crocheted rose and attach it to a fine chain. I didn't know how to do the chain, so I focused on items I could make then. Another pitfall came when I searched Etsy and found a seller who had the same ideas I had, including the variations; except she had her idea a year earlier. I've quibbled that point for several weeks, wondering if I should even try. Her necklaces look great; I didn't want to create their poor cousin.

My beautiful sister quipped "There's nothing new under the sun" in relation to something completely different, but that thought stuck with me. There are definitely reasons why I shouldn't try to create something in a handmade market that already has something similar, but I decided to look at it positively. Her necklaces are beautiful, and have sold. So this isn't just another one of my ideas that look great in my imagination but flop in tangible reality.

Meanwhile, I have been selling a few custom crocheted items. Most of these are from another's patterns. Although permission had been given to sell items created from those patterns, I still didn't want to sell on Etsy items that weren't mine in conception. Then yesterday I had some inspiration on the Etsy/Bigcartel front, and I know what I'm going to do!

I am going to make an Etsy store, and create things to be sold "ready to ship" rather than made once orders are given. My products will be in the jewelry/accessory niche, with me creating those crocheted roses, motifs, flowers, etc to attach to variants of necklaces and headbands, as well as making a few scarves and jewelry frames. That way I won't feel rushed to make something in time, my paranoia over getting too many custom orders = too little time to finish unfounded. I'm still going to offer those custom orders on my blog, but now I'll just create a custom listing in my store to ease confusion. Once I can get enough customers and press, I'll move to Bigcartel, but that's another story.


I still have things to do, like finding packaging, tags, tinkering on the designs, but I feel that is attainable. I'm not going to let my doubts rule me. Wish me luck, and send your prayers.

Happy Day Day!

Thank you Matt, Danny, Wes, and Dan for being such great men and wonderful fathers. We love you!

Winter Is Coming

**crossing fingers** Here's hoping that Alan Ball never ever touches this.

I'm gonna hug him and pet him and call him George!

I have a new computer! Yay! My old computer was great, but was tending to have some problems and run games very slowly. Brian (aka Andrew) gave me his former computer and it is awesome. There have been a few problems getting it ready but thankfully it is all worked out.

I used the word former because to say 'old' indicates (in technology terms) that it is out of date, borderline useless metal. This... I think might turn into a Transformer. The computer is a monster. I can't even describe all the technical terms that Matt would use in order for you to realize how much better it is than my previous one, so you'll have to take my word for it. Not only are things running faster and better, George is freaking huge. We had to take out a shelf just so it would fit in my computer armoire.

To thank him (since we are po') I made a fireflower amigurumi. There is a whole world of geeky amigurumi and crochet out there, it's amazing. I don't know when we'll be able to get it to him, but I had to post the picture. It's way too awesome.

My sister's birthday was two weeks ago, and typical of me that I have just now finished her gift. Are you noticing a trend here? Yep. If you're getting a gift from us, for a while now it will probably be crocheted. Sorries!

Anyway, I decided to add a little happy in the package for Andy. I hope he likes it :).

Jewelry Frame

I've seen some things like this on Urban Outfitters and I personally love the idea; especially as I could hang a picture with my jewelry and would thus get it out of my kids reach :D. I was thinking of making one just for myself, but then wondered if this would be something a lot of people would like. I'd use a wooden frame, though. The price would have to be a bit steeper than the other things because frames aren't cheap + yarn + other materials + my time. What do you think?

Some things on Etsy that made me happy today :)

Heidi Faux Vine Crown by whichgoose

A Place of My Own nightlight by sugaredfrippery

Alice in Wonderland Eat Me/Drink Me Party Favors by pinkcherrymama

Bring on the Rain

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

Anne Dudley Bradstreet

Life down here is starting to feel a bit more like normal. Matt is working, there are PAYCHECKS! WOO!, the girls are growing, and I believe our grass is some sort of super grass/weed mix that grows a foot tall two days after you've mowed it. We've still a bunch of kinks to work out, namely finding me a job, but I'm sleeping a little easier at night knowing that we've crossed the biggest hurdle.

Our biggest problem right now (at least in my mind) is whether or not to keep the house. Matt's pay and hours aren't enough to pay all the monthly bills at the moment, so we're looking into lowering the monthly mortgage bill. If that doesn't work out and/or I'm not able to find a job, we're probably going to have to sell. Keep us in your prayers that everything will work out the way it's supposed to.

Aly and Lorelei have been growing in leaps and bounds lately. Sometimes I see Aly and I'm a little shocked at how tall she is... she's able to use light switches now without a boost. Maybe that's normal, I don't know, but it still has been an awakening :).   She has started wanting to do a lot more for herself, which has been nice. She had a few rough weeks, behavior wise, around the time Matt got his job, but we've been able to work through that. She has lately become Mommy's little helper, taking initiative to clean up her own messes and gaining a ton of satisfaction from helping me accomplish something. I'm hoping that once we get our financial situation under control that we'll be able to send her to ballet as we planned.

Lorelei has officially started her terrible twos, albiet at only 21 months. She loves to say no, dig in her heels, and sometimes even throw herself on the ground crying if something is suggested that she doesn't want to do. She gets into everything that she knows she shouldn't, and then tries escape by flashing her cutest grin when she's discovered.

Lorelei's language skills are still a little behind what Aly's were at this age, and Aly was a bit slower at that too. She seems to understand nearly everything I tell her, she just isn't quite able to get past the baby blargle. She's saying a lot, don't get me wrong, giving orders sometimes, just all in incomprehensible speech.

Matt's job has been going well. When he got the job he was to be employed at a Hattiesburg Gamestop, but due to Petal's assistant manager going on sick leave Matt's been only working at that store. He seems to really enjoy every part of the job, and I love that for him. Seeing the difference of how he goes to this job and how he went to Frito-Lay is a big indication of just how much he hated working at Frito. He actually comes home happy; not just because he's happy to be home, but because he truly enjoyed the hours he just put in at Gamestop. He is still tired all of the time, but that's more from trying out games with his new friends than from having to put in rough 16 hour days. He is willing to help me out a lot more, and he is able to spend a lot more time with the girls. :) :)

Current Loves

Aly: Scooby Doo, cleaning, playing in the dirt, baths

Lorelei: "No," lollipops, slides, baby dolls

Matt: Starcraft 2, 30 Rock, Cracked.com, sleep

Bethany: natural fiber yarn, ravelry.com, Doctor Who, me time