Thankful...

I am thankful for friends, new and old. I am thankful for my Lynchburg friends who knew me growing up and will always understand certain things about me because they know about growing up in our hometown. I am thankful for my William & Mary friends who knew me when I finally learned to let loose and learned to really enjoy life. I am thankful for my UVA friends, both classmates and neighbors, we had a wonderful year together in Charlottesville and I only wish we had longer to hang out. I am thankful for my Sylvan friends, the best work friends a girl could find. I still miss that job sometimes and love that we helped so many children and had fun doing it. I am thankful for good neighbors, both in Westlake and in Craig Ranch. I love having friends who are also neighbors. There are no pretensions. They know who you really are, how messy your house really is, how you look doing yardwork in your grubbiest of grubbies, and they still like you anyway. So thankful. I am thankful for my fellow mom friends, the ones who have helped me figure out motherhood and have been there for the triumphs and bumps along the way. I feel so blessed to have met so many wonderful friends through my children and I know that many of these friendships will be lifelong ones. I am thankful for my knitting and blogging friends who I have met simply through a shared love for this craft. I love sharing ideas with you and all the creativity you inspire in me. On this day where I get to see one of my best friends ever, I am so thankful for friends. So for all my friends, old and new, near and far, casual and best, I wish you a happy Thanksgiving Eve, safe travels and much happiness this holiday season.

Thankful...

N had his Thanksgiving feast today at preschool. I am so thankful for the wonderful preschool that he attends. I am thankful for the loving and creative teachers. I am thankful for the community of parents and grandparents who came together for the feast today. I am thankful that B was able to take off work to be there with N and I. I am thankful for the fact that I was able to bring my grandmother's Pineapple Hotdish, a favorite family recipe that always reminds me of countless wonderful holidays spent with my grandmother and other extended family members. I am thankful that I am able to attend all of N and J's school events as I am blessed to be a stay-at-home mom.


I am thankful for these two funny, beautiful, loving little boys. I am thankful that most of the time they seem to really like and enjoy each other. I have hope that they will be lifelong friends. I am thankful that they are healthy and generally happy. I am thankful that we are able to provide them with a secure home, a loving family and three meals each day.


I am thankful for B and the man that he is. I am thankful that he takes the time to be with his sons and works to help them be the men we want them to be. I am thankful that he loves me even with my lackluster housekeeping skills and haphazard cooking skills. I am thankful that he puts up with, and sometimes even encourages, my knitting and other crafty ventures. I am thankful that he's been in my life for the last 16 years and can't wait to have him for many more.



I am thankful for these sweet baby girls. I am thankful that they were in need of rescuing when we were ready to bring them into our homes. I am thankful that they are already such close friends. I am thankful for their sloppy kisses, their wagging tails and their unconditional love.

I am thankful for good friends. I have such great ones in my life. I am thankful for old friends who will always be there even when we go years without seeing each other. I am thankful for all my "mom" friends who are there with me as I travel along the challenging path of motherhood. I am thankful for my good Texas friends who are already like family.

I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my sister who will always be my very best friend. I am thankful for my parents, my brother and all my wonderful nieces and nephews. I am thankful for the family I married into as well as the one I was born into. I am thankful to grow up with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. FAMILY is such a huge part of my life.

This post could keep going and going. I am thankful for all the wonderful blessings in my life. Thank you for sharing this adventure with me. I am thankful for you too. Thank you for giving me a place to voice my thoughts and opinions and stories. I really am thankful for the audience you are and the support and feedback you give.

My Bucket List

I decided to enter this contest and thus I am posting about things I want to do before I kick the bucket. These are not in order of importance, but in the order I thought of them today.

1. Go skydiving--hopefully with one of my boys when they are old enough.
2. Go to Germany with B and drink beer and eat chocolate.
3. Go para-sailing with my sister.
4. Get a knitting pattern published in a magazine (or e-magazine).
5. Have a girls weekend away with my sister and best friend.
6. Go on a family trip to Alaska, Australia or Africa. J would be SO thrilled.
7. Design a knitting pattern that other people actually knit (one more complex than the Purse Scarf and the One Skein Chunky Cowl.)
8. Help make the world a better place.
9. Raise my boys to be confident, caring individuals.
10. Celebrate my 60th (at least) wedding anniversary.
11. Use all the yarn in my stash :).
12. Learn how to do something athletic--play tennis, score a soccer goal, hit a baseball, throw and catch a football, throw a basketball into the basket, go snowboarding or surfing--something that teaches me new skills and that I can play with my boys.
13. Take dance lessons with B.
14. Meet my grandchildren.
15. Go whale watching.
16. Knit B a sweater that he LOVES.

This was fun. I'm sure I will think of more things. How many of these do you think I will actually do? I hope all of them.

This is my entry in the Just Ask Bucket List Getaway Giveaway. Just Ask offers a breast and ovarian cancer screening and is encouraging people to share 15 things that I want to enjoy in my lifetime as a reminder to be aware of my health. Want to enter? Head over to TodaysMama.com to get the details.

So what's on your bucket list?

School

Can't believe how long it has been since I have blogged. I've been busy. Who knew that having both boys in school would mean I would have so little time? N is in preschool three mornings a week. J is well into Kindergarten. I've been volunteering a lot at J's school and trying to exercise and keep my house somewhat clean. I've also been working on a Halloween costume (for me) and slowing knitting on my sweater. I haven't knit much as I've been heading to bed early and am often cutting out items for J's teacher in the evenings. Anyway, J brought home this great picture and writing that he did at school today. I was really impressed so I had to share.
I love how he labeled the items in his drawing--especially the ladder. He told me that the words said "Me in my bed and my polar bear. I have my lion." I was excited that I had "read" it correctly. Wow. So exciting to see my little guy writing!

Juices are flowing

All of a sudden my creative juices are flowing and I have more ideas than I have time. (Thanks Pinterest!) Had to get some out of my head so I'm posting here.

Wreath of fall colored fabric flowers.

Fabric covered beaded necklace.

Fabric flower accessories.

Halloween costume (already got invited to a party and I can't wait).

Knitted lace bib necklace. Have seen some cool crochet ones, but not really knit ones. Need to chart out some stitch patterns from my old Vogue Knitting Stitch dictionary and play on paper before I can even consider casting on.

Lightweight knit sweater for B--yes, I think I'm finally ready to tackle that one. If I can only find the right yarn and afford a B's sweater amount of it.

Knit lace cowl. A long skinny continuous circle made up of a variety of lace/textured stitches. Probably in fingering weight. Lots of planning before I can do anything about this one.

Doubleknit coasters. Need to find or create a pattern. Never done doubleknitting, but it sounds interesting and I think the double thickness would be good for a coaster. I just started using a gauge swatch as a coaster because it was handy, but I think one made for this purpose would be even better. Maybe in grellow (gray and yellow <3).

Still want to knit a striped pullover with yarn I bought almost a year ago. Still need to design it. Trying to decide on neckline shape and stripe pattern. Here's my inspiration.

Just cast on for Folded. This is the perfect mindless knit so I can think of all my other ideas while knitting it :).

Pinterest

Well, I finally jumped on the bandwagon and joined Pinterest. For people who don't know about Pinterest, it is a place to create and save virtual pinboards. I have been avoiding it because I was scared of how much time I might spend on it, but I finally gave in. It's great. Now instead of bookmarking every knit pattern, inspiration piece, recipe or cool crafty idea, I can just "pin" them on one of my Pinterest boards. I love how easy it is to use. I love having access to the cool things I have found and the cool things others have found.

Anyway, being on Pinterest has made me want to do lots of crafty things. Two types of crafty things I've been seeing everywhere are felt and fabric flowers. I found and pinned a few tutorials and started playing. Here are the few I've done so far.

I found a really cool tutorial for felt flowers and made this one:
This flower was SO easy to make and I think it is quite cute.

The person who made the tutorial, also made a really cool wreath covered in these flowers. I was thinking it would be fun to make a fall wreath. Then I remembered some cool fabric orange and white fabric I have and thought the fabric would look cool on a fall wreath. So I tried to use this method to make a fabric rose. My first attempt was a total fail--the fabric was too thin and one-sided. Then I tried gluing two circles of fabric together and that worked a little better:


I'm still not 100% satisfied. I decided to try a different technique for making a fabric flower. I looked at this tutorial and this one. I didn't follow either of them exactly, but ended up with this on my first try:
Besides the fact that this fabric is boring (didn't want to use up any good fabric while I learned the ropes), I think this turned out pretty cute. Not sure if this method will really show off the cuteness of the fabric I wanted to use. Will have to play more with size of fabric strip I use (width and length). I also need to decide if I want to use the glue method or sewn together method. Mine right now are just folded together but not held together with anything. I did one last attempt with a more interesting fabric and here it is:


I only folded my fabric in half once because I like a little bit of the raw edge to show. I think it adds interest.

Anyway, that is my craftiness for now. If you are on Pinterest or decide to join, let me know so I can follow you and be inspired by what inspires you :). You can follow me too if you want.

Happy Anniversary, Love

Today is my 11 year wedding anniversary.

One of the lines in a current favorite song is "you put your arms around me and I'm home."

Whenever I hear it, I think of B. I've been in his arms for the last 11 years and I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be.

Happy Anniversary, Love.

Crayons

Opened up a brand new box of 64 Crayola crayons last night to color with my boys. It brought back so many memories. I love a new box of crayons. If only I could have found the box of 128.

Create...a Healthier Family

As part of my goal for myself to be a healthier person, I've been trying to work out more. In general, I am doing pretty good. I use the treadmill often and have also been enjoying doing Wii Fit activities like boxing and step aerobics and Wii Sport (mainly tennis). Currently, I do most of my working out when the boys are either at preschool or napping/having quiet time.

However, although it is nice to exercise without interruption, I've realized that there are two problems with working out only when the boys are not around. First, the time when the boys are not around is pretty limited and will only get more limited this summer--and I have a lot of other things I need to get done during the short time of N's nap time/J's quiet time. Second, the boys never see me working out and I think it's important that they see this part of my life--you know the whole showing by example thing.

Anyway, I am trying to think of new ways that I can get exercise with my boys. Then we can all be healthy and enjoy each other at the same time.

I know I could just chase them around the yard/park, but that's not all that enjoyable for me so I'm trying to think of other things to try. Here are my current thoughts:
playing soccer (want to get a little goal for our yard)
playing tennis (need to get some rackets and find a place to play)
rollerblading while they bike or ride scooters (need to get roller blades)
hiking (need to find some fun places to explore)
jogging (am considering seeing if J wants to start jogging around the block with me)

Anyway, I've never been a very athletic person but I want to be better. I want to do these things with my boys so we can all be healthier and have fun. Wish someone would teach a class for moms-of-boys like me who need to learn more about sports. Maybe a camp for moms and sons to attend together where we could both learn how to hit a baseball, throw a football, get a basketball in the basket and score a soccer goal. Anyone out there know of anything like that? It would be really beneficial and fun. If you decide to start such a camp, let me know. I'd love to attend!

So there's my rambling thoughts on working out and enjoying my family. I want a healthy happy family. Who doesn't?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Create...a healthier me

In my attempt to change my lifestyle and create a healthier me, I am trying to work out.

Today was Day 3 of using our treadmill. Yes, we own a treadmill. It's really B's as he's the only one who has ever used it on a regular basis.

I've done a pre-programmed 30 minute routine on the treadmill for the last three days. I did Program 1 (the easiest) for the first two days and Program 2 today. Program 2 kicked my butt. I am SO out of shape. I made it through the 30 minutes, but I was sweating a ton and way tired by the end. Pathetic, but true. I even jogged a bit when it went up to a whopping 4 mph.

Yes, I think this is reinforcing my need to workout more. Let's hope my knees don't start protesting. More importantly, let's hope I can do this regularly for more than a week or two.

Still trying to eat healthier and have started using Relish to plan meals. They are bit more complicated than my usual meals, but it's nice to plan them out in advance and try new things.

Here are pics of a few I've tried:
Robust Vegetable Soup with Cheddar Dill Biscuits (those biscuits were GOOD)

Pasta Fresco (cheese tortellini, prosciutto, Parmesan cheese, spinach, garlic, pine nuts)

Tangy Garden Salad (tomato, red onion, fresh Italian parsley, balsamic vinaigrette, lemon juice)

Other meals have included Lemon-Garlic Kebabs with Gorgonzola Dipping Sauce and Bistro French Fries with Parsley and Golden Fish Sticks. I picked the fish sticks for the boys, but neither of them would try them.

Of course, J hasn't tried any of these, but N has eaten and enjoyed a few.

So that's the "healthier me" for now. Will try to keep posting here in order to keep myself accountable and on track. Wish me luck!

Of course, since I started working out, my house is getting less and less clean. Must figure out a better way to fit it all in.

Create...a better home

As you all by now, we just put our house on the market. It's been a while coming. My husband started his new job back in December, right after Christmas. After weeks of cleaning, decluttering and rearranging, my house is ready and on the market. This has been a LOT of work.

Now my house is really clean and I have to keep it that way. Which means cleaning--multiple times a day cleaning.

I am not by nature a cleaner. I hate housework. I tend to put it off until it seems like such a daunting task that I put it off even longer. Then I get truly disgusted with myself and the state of my house and I clean.

I generally have a lot of clutter in my house and I generally only do the absolutely necessary cleaning.

In the last few weeks, I have totally decluttered and I have cleaned surfaces in my house that I hadn't touched in the over 2 and a half years we've lived here.

I thought by now I would be totally done with cleaning, burned out from it all. And at times, I have definitely felt that way.

But, surprisingly, the opposite is true. The more I clean, the more motivated I am to clean some more. I like having a clean house.

Now that my house is both decluttered and deep cleaned, it is easier to keep it clean. It is less daunting and more rewarding.

I may have discovered the secret to keeping my house clean. A little cleaning off and on each day and the whole thing seems easier---and much cleaner.

Who knew? I am on my way to creating a cleaner home for my family. And although I don't think "cleaner" equals "better," I do think it is a good start. I don't want my children to grow up thinking that cleanliness is not important. I feel good about this path I am on. I am creating a better home for my family and I like that.

I am so tired of cleaning, I could...

A) puke.
B) die.
C) be very happy if I never had to clean again.
D) just sit on my hiney and knit instead of cleaning anymore.
E) all of the above.

I have spent the last week cleaning my microwave, stove top, counters, cabinets, baseboards, door frames, doors, plantation shutters, windows, walls, showers, sinks, etc. (aka every surface in my house, many that I haven't cleaned in the two and a half years that I've lived here). I have gone through at least ten Magic Erasers. These are my next best friends:


Last week after several days of scrubbing, my hands were red, raw and cracking. With the help of my new lovely gloves from Target and a healthy dose of lotion, my hands are slowly returning to normal.

My brain on the other hand is really tired of seeing dirt and seeing my pink-gloved hands cleaning said dirt.

In fact, my brain is so tired of cleaning, it shut down tonight and refused to let me clean--it lead me to blog about it instead.

Okay, I've had enough of a break now. Must go clean at least a little more before I take the rest of the night off.

On a happy note, it looks like I'll get our house ready to be photographed by Friday and on the market by Monday! Say a prayer, cross your fingers, and let's hope this baby sells quickly so we can be together as a family again.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Heaven...in a Workshop

Yesterday, I read a post about SAW on Ravelry and have been dreaming about it ever since.

SAW is the Squam Art Workshop, a lakeside art retreat held in New Hampshire. Specifically I was reading about their Spring session this June 1st-5th. Ravelry usually sends two of their staff to SAW each year, but this year those two people are becoming parents in June so they are sending two Ravelry members instead. So I entered my name into the drawing for a spot. I know my chances of getting chosen are slim (last time I checked there were already over 1300 entries), but I still spent about an hour reading over the SAW website.

The class offerings are amazing. I know if I won a chance to go to SAW it would take me a while to decide what to take as there are only 2 1/2 days of classes and many of the classes are full day classes. One class option is Knitting Salon. This "class" involves hanging out with a roomful of knitters and one knitting teacher and knitting for a day. As a mom who never gets to spend more than a few hours knitting (usually late at night or occasionally snuck in during naptime) this sounds divine in itself. However, the chance to learn with the amazing teachers is too much to resist and I doubt I'd sign up for Knitting Salon because the other classes sound SO interesting.

One of the teachers is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee! STEPHANIE PEARL-MCPHEE! For those of you who don't know her, Stephanie has a great blog called Yarn Harlot. She's written lots of books and has the most amazing sense of humor and perspective. I love reading her writing because I feel like I can relate to SO much of what she says. It would be amazing to see her in person much less actually meet her or take her class.

Ysolda Teague is another one of the teachers who I would love to meet. She has so many beautiful patterns. I've loved watching her knitting career evolve these last few years. At first she was just someone who I saw on Flickr and Ravelry who had a few pretty patterns. Now she's an established designer and teacher who is a real known name in the knitting world. I see Veera Valimaki as someone destined to follow in Ysolda's footsteps. Other knitting teachers at SAW include Gudrun Johnston, Cat Bordhi and Mary Jane Mucklestone.

The class topics looks incredible. Stephanie is teaching one on Knitting with Matawa and one on Knitting for Speed and Efficiency. Ysolda's class is The Perfect Sweater. Gudrun has one called Shapely Sleeves which is all about the seamless set in sleeve. Cat has multiple classes, but the one that sounds the most intriguing to me is Inventing Stitch Patterns. The class is about exactly that--inventing your own stitch patterns. It sounds very challenging, but fun. All of these classes are perfect for a knitter like me, a knitter who loves to make sweaters and dreams of designing her own knits.

Knitting is my passion, but I love all crafts and have tried my hand at beading and embroidery and some painting and sewing and the other classes are just as tempting as the knitting ones. One class, Reinvention by Maya Donenfeld, sounds incredible. In this class "you will learn clever ways to take three common discarded materials: burlap, linen and t-shirt jersey and transform them into items that are both useful and lovely." --very intriguing! There are a few classes on embroidery that look great as I'd really like to learn how to embroider for real. Rebecca Ringquist's Stitch Dictionary class looks particularly good to me. There are also classes on botanical printing, quilting, woodworking, crocheting, sewing and yoga.

Anyway, as a person who loves to CREATE. This workshop sounds like a little slice of heaven. And as I know that I will not spend the money to pay to go PLUS the money to get there, I really hope I will win the Ravelry contest. So cross your fingers, say some prayers, think happy thoughts--and hope that I somehow get chosen out of all the thousands of people who enter to go to SAW this year. I know I'd have a blast. The only thing I could think of that would be better than going to SAW, would be going to SAW with my sister. Now THAT would be heaven.

One Word(s)

So I'm still pondering my One Word. I've heard more great ones from friends including Mindful and Balance (see comments below). I like both of these words. They both would motivate me to make changes that I have been wanting to make in my life, but as one friend commented I want to be more original and not just use someone else's word.

Word choices keep running through my mind.

Change: There is so much of it coming in my life this year. I should just embrace it.

New, Beginnings: So many happening. I need to reach for them and celebrate them.

Blessings: All of these new beginnings and changes are really blessings in my life. I have so many blessings in my life, but I don't always remember that.

Strength: I am often asking God to give me strength. I know I will need extra strength this year as life leaves the path of the known and the comfortable. I'm not one who loves change, or even likes it for that matter, so strength will be needed. I often ask for the strength to be a good mother.

Change: This word comes up again, but this time I was thinking more in terms of changing current ways I do things, approach things. I want to change the way I parent and be a more positive parent. I want to change my lifestyle and be a healthier person.

Health: More exercise. More vegetables and fruit. Healthier lifestyle. Typical New Year's resolution type stuff.

Grow: Similar to change, but more positive. I want to grow in my friendships. Grow in my skills as a parent. Grow to be a healthier person. Even grow in my knitting skills.

Create: A word I love. Similar to grow, but even more proactive. I like this one. I will be creating a new home this year. Creating new friendships. Creating a stronger bond with my children. Creating stronger children. Creating a healthier lifestyle. Creating a better me. Creating a ton of fun handknits. Hee hee. Out of challenges, I need to create opportunities. I like create. It puts the power into my hands versus giving the power to something outside of my control. I like that. Hmm... This might be my word. Will ponder further and let you know.

I really want my word to drive me this year. To motivate me to reach my goals. I want to end this year a better person.

Create. I think that's my One Word. What do you think?

Now I have to decide if I can resist ordering my One Word necklace.

One Word

I recently read a blog post (One Word/ December 30, 2010) by a friend from middle school and high school that inspired me. It was about picking one word that will represent your upcoming year. A word to inspire you. A word to focus on. A word to guide you through your year.

I think this is such an amazing idea and I've decided to try it. I imagine you will be hearing about my word throughout the year on this blog.

Now the hard part, choosing my word. So hard. One word for an entire year. My friend chose "joy." What a lovely word. Who doesn't want a year focused on joy?

I'm still pondering my word. At this very moment, B's new job and our pending move our prominent in my mind. I'm thinking of heading to a new place and making new friends and finding a new place to call home. So many words come to mind: change, adventure, beginnings, home, blessings.

Hmmm.... I will need to ponder this one longer. Will keep you posted on my word.

Will you have a word this year? Think on it and let me know if you decide to choose one. What a year this will be!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Yum!

Not sure what it is this week, but I am having serious cravings for baked goods...and I am NOT a baker.

Just looked through my November Everyday Food magazine and I want to make every dessert in there:
Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake
Pecan-Chocolate Chip Pie
Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins
Citrus-Glazed Pumpkin-Carrot Cake
Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Dulce de Leche
Pumpkin-Chocolate Tiramisu
I want them all!

Unfortunately, B isn't a big pumpkin fan and the boys aren't always adventurous when it comes to food--although N will usually go for any dessert. I don't think I can eat all these myself without being a two-ton-Tessy.

Anyone want to come over for dessert?

Accepting the Invitation

My friend Audra recently started a blog. Her reason for blogging is to share her pledge to make gifts for her children (instead of buying them) until Christmas 2011. Recently she extended the invitation for others to join her in her goal to give children (and others) quality homemade gifts. I've decided to accept her invitation and make Christmas gifts for my eight nieces and nephews this year. I'm still deciding the details, but my current idea is to make dolls for my four nieces--probably variations of this one. I'm thinking I'd like to knit little cardigans for each doll. The boys might also get some sort of doll, but I'm not sure on that. Maybe pirate dolls. I also found some patterns for knitted tools that might be an option or maybe a knitted robot. Still deciding. Anyway, just thought I'd share my thoughts here and pass on the invitation. Check out Audra's blog. It's a good one.

Painting :)

Last night in two short hours, I went from this:



To this:It was a little scary, but a lot of fun.

It's not a spectacular work of art, but it looks a little better at this distance:

And maybe even better at this distance:

I went with my friend Kim to Painting with a Twist. It's one of those places where they walk you through a painting step by step and everyone paints it at the same time. Here is Kim and her finished painting:If you look closely, in the background you can see our teacher Alison and her painting.

My painting isn't great, but I had a great time. Everyone was very nice and it was fun to learn a little and see how everyone's paintings turned out differently. I'm definitely tempted to go back and try again.

Book List: Food For Thought Edition

It's been forever since I've done a book list post, but I have been reading-- A LOT actually, but I haven't slowed down long enough to blog about them. To be honest, most have not really been blog worthy. They've been enjoyable reads, but nothing to write home about. Anyway, three of my recent reads have stuck out as books I'd recommend to others so here they are. I guess the difference between these and most of the others is that they really made me think a lot about different things and I think that is a good thing.

The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond: I started reading this book when I went to visit my in-laws in Ohio. I hadn't brought a book and was missing reading when I spotted this one sitting on a shelf in the guest bedroom. I picked it up and read the back and then put it back down. The next day I picked it up and read a few pages and put it back down again. To say that I was reluctant to read this book is an understatement. You see I get really into books when I read them. I get totally sucked into the characters and emotions and at times it can be very powerful...and this book is about a child disappearing and I just didn't know if I could handle it. But slowly I started reading a page or two at a time and eventually I got sucked in and went along for the ride. I found this book to be very powerful. It wasn't predictable and had some interesting twists and viewpoints. I would definitely recommend it. My only warning: ever since I read this book, I've been more anxious when out and about with my boys. I'm sure it will pass with time, I hope it will pass with time, but I definitely think about the possibility of child abduction more now.

The Ocean Between Us by Susan Wiggs: This is a book I read while visiting my parents in Virginia. My mom had bought it after I recommended the author. Most of the Susan Wiggs books I had read were romances, but this is just a good novel. It's about a woman whose husband is an officer in the Navy. As in her other novels, Wiggs does a great job with character development--both of the main characters and the more periphery ones. This one was a very powerful, poignant tale which just seems so relevant in these times of military involvement in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. I know several people whose spouses have been overseas in the military and I just heard of a friend whose little brother was just killed in Afghanistan so this book really hit home right now. I highly recommend it. I hate it when B travels, but at least I know it will only be for a week at most and that he is not actively in danger when he is gone. This book really puts things in perspective.

Lift by Kelly Corrigan: I just picked this one up on a whim from the library. It's a mother writing a letter to her children talking about her role as their mother. It's a quick read (I think I read it in about 2 hours) full of little stories and tidbits, but I found it to be very powerful and relate-able. She says a lot of things that I have thought, but she said it so much more clearly. She talks about how she is telling her children now about herself as she is now because when they are old enough to remember she will have become a different mother already. Anyway, there are lots of little "a ha" thoughts like that. I really loved it. It made me want to write a letter to my boys and tell them about their mom as I am today. It's hard to explanin, but this book really touched me. Must find and read her first book.

The Joy of Sharing

You know how when you learn a new skill or an interesting new tidbit, you are always looking for excuses to share it.

My dad, for example, loves to learn random little facts and then share them with people just for the joy of telling them something new and different. In fact, whenever I hear an interesting little tidbit, I always want to tell my dad because I know he will enjoy adding it to his arsenal of facts and using it in a future conversation.

My sister and I are also big fans of "show and tell." Whenever we get together, which unfortunately is usually only once every 3-6 months, we immediately start showing each other all the little things we've wanted to share while we've been apart. This might be little things like a new shirt that we picked up for a steal, a knitted item finished or in progress, or even a new book we've discovered.

In fact, blogging is a lot about the joy of sharing little tidbits and stories and accomplishments--a lot like my own little show and tell space.

This year in J's preschool class he gets to bring something for Show and Tell every Thursday. He is SO excited. This week he brought a library book about cheetah cubs. He came home and told me all about which children looked at his book afterward and was so excited that one boy looked at every page.

Anyway, N is learning the joy of sharing knowledge and his latest little tidbit is that green means go and red means stop. So now when we are in the car and he sees a stoplight, he immediately starts yelling "red stop, red stop" or "green go, green go." This has happened for EVERY stoplight for the last two days. It seems like a little bit of overkill to me, but he is only two and has limited chances to share things that he finds new and exciting so I will keep saying with a smile, "yes, green means go and red means stop." I also know the joy of sharing.