Random thoughts

Since Christmas (or just before), I have purchased a blender and a juicer. I regularly make almond milk, and the boys and I drink a smoothie (banana, frozen berries, splash of almond milk) almost every day. We are eating cucumbers like they are the last food on earth. Carrot sticks are a close second in the vegetable category, although Matt chokes on them almost every time, and spits out dozens of huge chunks of half-chewed carrot into his napkin. Hmm... We are also eating our weight in grapes, apples, and clementines. And I have almost entirely banned high fructose corn syrup from our cupboards.

In the past several weeks, I've watched Super Size Me and Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. I also read the book Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type. I found Super Size Me and the blood type book to be depressing. Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead was rather inspirational.

I haven't made juicing a habit (yet?). It's SO much work to clean the blessed thing, and it takes a LOT of produce to make a little bit of juice. And sometimes the juice turns out nasty. Which feels like a waste of food, time, effort, and actually, it seems like quite a bit of money. Produce is expensive.

I really, really, really want to run a half marathon this year (and my two top picks for races are in April and May)... but I haven't run one single mile since about Thanksgiving. I just don't have it in me, I don't know. I just can't do it. It's really weird. I literally cannot get started. I have set my alarm to get up and run early at least a dozen times, and turned it off without getting up. Intentionally. I don't get it. It's frustrating me.

I recently bought Jillian Michaels's workout DVD 30 Day Shred. She promises I could lose 20 pounds in 30 days. Let's hope not. It has made me realize how pathetically weak I am, though. I don't consider myself out of shape, cardio-wise, but good gracious am I weak. It's depressing. I like working out, though. I enjoyed that Barefoot Cardio Pilates class I took last semester, too. I'm taking a spinning class this time around. Wonder if that will be "fun" or not...

I've been sewing a bunch. It's fun. I made the boys and Josh pajama pants for Christmas, and I have to say, I was pretty unhappy with how they all came out. They look OK, and for goodness' sake, they are pajamas, but there are a lot of imperfections that give away how rushed I was. I made Ben a pair of "backetsball" pants the other day, though, and they are pretty darned awesome if I do say so myself. Most awesome is that he loves them, which makes me so happy.

I volunteered to make something handmade for the first five people who commented on my Facebook status and reposted the status to their page. I got four true responses. I made three scarves, all different, and one fabric headband. I bought all of my fabric either in the remnant bin at Joann's, or "harvested" it from gigantic knit dresses on clearance at Old Navy. The remnant bin is also where I found the fabric for Ben's pants. Two gigantic dresses + Ben's remnant of mesh fabric for pants = <$10. Pretty awesome.

I read the entire Old Testament, every word, in 2011. I also read all of Proverbs. My goal was (is) to read all of the OT and Proverbs last year, and all of the New Testament and Psalms this year. So far I am failing miserably, but honestly, it's very easy to catch up. I happen to be on track at the present moment because I had a big catch-up session last night. And the NT reads like a suspense novel compared with the OT, sometimes. Maybe next year I will find one of those Bibles that has you reading the text in chronological order - that seems really interesting to me. I'm kind of proud of myself, though, because this is probably the first 'resolution' I've ever kept in my life, ever.

Josh's sister talked me into reading the Twilight books. I thought I would never get sucked in. Um, I'm sucked in. I'm 2/3 of the way through the final book, and then it's on to the movies. It is insane how much reading you can sneak in here and there when you are totally addicted to a book! I am going to have Twilight withdrawal after I'm done. I've been through it before though: Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, the Series of Unfortunate Events books... I wonder how many books I'll read in 2012.

Goals for this year: Read the NT and Psalms. Run a half marathon. Pay off my school loan. Sew myself something to wear that I would actually wear (and not just a scarf). Relax more. Pursue more, or more intentionally (yes, I recognize the contrast between those last two). Eat more vegetables. Make even more dinners at home. Read lots of books. Potty train Matt. Maybe even get the little guy into a big boy bed. Blog more? Take more pictures. Spend less time on Facebook. Spend more time with real people. Finish quilting the quilt that I pieced together months and months and months ago.

:)

[More] Things I've Made

This was (one of) my nephew, Teddy's, Christmas presents this year.

Here they are a bit closer up:

The necktie. A must-have in every baby's closet! I wish I'd made it a bolder color. I have a red paisley fabric that would have done nicely. Ah well, you live and learn!
Far and away my favorite, the dino:
The dog. Kind of creepy with the eyes, but I literally could not find sew-on eyes any smaller. I even searched online, eBay and everything! I figured the glue-on eyes are not smart for babies, in case they fall off. You know, choking hazard and all. Oh, and I made the dog black because Teddy's real-life dog is black. :)
And the obligatory-yet-awesome monogram. I chose the colors because I thought his mom would like them. :)
Sometimes people tell me I should sell these things on Etsy. You know, I'd love to - I just worry that I would lose the enjoyment of it, if I had to make things 'to order.' When I make gifts for people I know and love, I do it on my own time and I like doing it. Not sure if I'd like doing it for strangers. That said, this is my plug/offer: if you want me to make one (or many!) for your child(ren), just ask. I would LOVE to make them for you!!

And here is the blackberry pie I made for Thanksgiving. It wasn't too exciting. I mean, it was good enough, if you like pie, but I really don't. My mother-in-law ate one piece, I assume to be polite :), and I had the rest all to myself. Which means I ate one piece on Thanksgiving day, another piece a few days later, and then guiltily threw the rest out! Sigh.

What I've learned from being off Facebook

I deactivated my Facebook account on December 4. I did it largely to prove that I could... but also for a few specific reasons that I don't really want to detail about here. Anyway, I missed it a lot at first, but I don't miss it nearly as much now, and I'm both excited to return and am dreading returning. I miss catching up with people, and I miss the easy access to, well, everyone... but I dread the feeling that I need to check in regularly or I'll miss something. I dread the bazillion emails (I know I can control this, I know), and I dread the easy access to, well, everyone. Because that easy access means you can read c-r-a-p about anything and everything that might be going on in anyone and everyone's lives. Back to the post. Here's what I've learned:

*Facebook makes me crazy. I was thinking about it all the time. I was thinking, "Oh! I didn't follow up on that last comment I made on Laura's picture about her new haircut. I said something like, 'You always have a cute haircut!' and she said, 'I don't get it cut that often...' and I thought that maybe she misinterpreted my comment, which was intended to be complimentary, and instead she took it as me saying she gets her hair cut all the time..." It's foolishness. You can pretend you are above this pattern of thinking, but I don't believe you.

*Facebook is an addiction. Again, I was thinking about it all the time. Each time one of my kids said something really funny or cute, I wanted to put it on Facebook. I got to go to New York City with my mom and saw the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, and I was thinking, "Maybe I should hop back on Facebook and make my status that I'm so excited to go to Radio City!" Not only do I think it's unhealthy to constantly mentally update one's Facebook status, I also think this bit ties in well to the idea that we often post unrealistically happy, cute, funny, or exciting things on Facebook. Next point:

*Facebook posts are like a fake snapshot of our lives. Even when we post that our children are being naughty, it gets funny responses and "kids will be kids" types of comments. I so enjoyed this article, suggesting that Facebook might be making us sad (thank you, locopenelope, and please let me know if you'd like me to remove that link!). My favorite line is something like, "Overestimating other people's happiness is nothing new..." OH MY WORD. It is *so* true. We all think that everyone else is more put together than we are. They're happier, their marriage is healthier, their kids are cuter, their teeth are whiter, they do more fun activities, they take better pictures... Facebook only exacerbates the feelings of inadequacy we feel when we compare ourselves to others. I know that whole comparison bit isn't healthy in the first place, but it's worth mentioning that we do it without even thinking when we're reading others' posts. If we were privy to the *whole* truth, other people probably aren't as happy as we think; their marriages have rough patches, too; and they only post the cute pictures of their kids... not the 900 others with fingers up noses and busted lips and peanut butter-encrusted fingernails and runny noses. I have lots more to say, but I think I've made my point. It's sort of like when we clean before we have company: we provide an inaccurate (though more pleasant) picture of what our lives are really like.

*Facebook can be a cop-out. Bear with me on this one, because it takes a trip around the barn, but... here we go: I have these two friends. We three are friends. I got off Facebook, and Friend 1 noticed that Friend 2 had posted something sad on her Facebook page. She happened to mention it to me in an email in order to suggest that we all get together soon. At first I thought, "Oh, I wish I were on Facebook so that I could write an encouraging comment to Friend 2!" but instead, I called her up and invited myself over for coffee (lest you think I am completely impolite, I did bring the coffee... and hot chocolate for myself!). The take-home idea here is that being off of Facebook forced me to find different, more personal ways to connect with the people around me, and I'll bet my self-imposed coffee date was more helpful than a Facebook comment anyway. It happened again when I got an unexpected gift from a friend in the mail. Instead of leaving her a Facebook message, I texted her. It's only slightly more personal, but the immediate response and back-and-forth that followed was definitely more meaningful than a few messages over a 24 hour period.

In all honesty, I'm not sure that I've totally detoxed from Facebook yet. So why reactivate my Facebook account at all, you ask? It's a good question. I don't really know. I think if I stayed off of it for a few more weeks/months, I could choose to never return and I likely wouldn't miss it. But in spite of all that I've discovered in the past weeks, the truth remains that Facebook connects me to people I'm not connected with in any other way. Old high school buddies, former co-workers, professional contacts, church people, parents of Ben's classmates. I've enjoyed the break, and I will mostly likely change a lot of my email notifications... but I'm also glad to have the connection with the rest of the folks in my life. I hope to rejoin the Facebook community soon. But if you notice that I've disappeared again, you'll know why. And maybe you'll follow me in taking a little break. Maybe we can get together and talk, face-to-face. Maybe you'll notice that my laundry isn't folded, or that my son is occasionally kind of mouthy and it really gets under my skin. I won't like it when you see my crusty dishes in the sink or the crumbs on the floor, but maybe someday I'll see your house/life in a state of disarray, and we'll begin to understand each other a little better. Better than we ever could on Facebook.

*stepping off soapbox*

It's the most ... wonderful tiiiiiime of the year!

Hey-o! Short-ish random thoughts, holiday-style!

• Our Christmas cards are ordered and have arrived! (I actually did do this back in October; there was a CVS photo shop sale.) I started addressing them but had to stop myself so I'd have something fun and Christmas-y to do in later November and in December!
• Our Christmas shopping is mostly done. At least, a great big chunk of it. I don't know what's gotten into us this year. We did a lot of shopping on Black Friday last year, and this year we are even ahead of that. It's fun, though; kind of frees up the season to make cookies and go to parties and whatnot.
• We were invited to another Ugly Sweater Christmas party this year. You should see Josh's get-up. Actually, I'm sure there will be a photo op, and that I won't be able to stop myself from documenting his 'look.' I still have to check the Salvation Army to get my fashion on. They didn't have their ugly sweaters on display yet, last time we checked.
• I am excited about a few of the gifts we've found this year. I started thinking Christmas at our local Putnam sale, which is a basically a GINORMOUS warehouse full of books for 90% off. I got books for all the little boys in my life!
• Buying online is so much fun! It's fun to scout out the gift itself, search for a better deal, Google for free shipping codes, and then - the best part - you get FUN mail in a few days/weeks!
• We are getting a real tree this year. I always swore I would never have a fake tree, but we did go ahead and sell out and buy one a few years back. It's the real deal this year, though, and Josh talked me into colored lights. Shudder. ;) At least I talked *him* out of the "globe" bulbs... mostly. We did get rounded lights, but they are much, much smaller. The ones I linked to are golf ball-sized. Yikes.

Birthday Shirts!

I came across a website the other day called "Crap I've Made." I thought about stealing that for this blog post's title, but really, I don't think they're crap, and "Birthday Shirts!" is more fitting. Anyway....

Here is the first one I ever made, for Ben's first birthday. I got the inspiration from a blog that I was reading at the time, and the mom had made a bib for her child's first birthday with a "1" on it. I thought it came out cute!

Here's the one for Matt's first birthday. I wanted his to be a little different, not only in color, but in style. I always do the block numbers for Ben, and I wanted Matt's to feel a little more artistic.
I recently made this one for a friend's son. She said they were doing a dinosaur theme for his birthday, so I went with the reptilian green. I think they liked it.
On to the twos! Here's Ben's....
...and here's Matt's! I apparently forgot to take a picture of the shirt before he was wearing it. Oh well. :) This was the first shirt I did in a color, because the red shirt was on clearance for $2.29 or something. I wasn't happy with the red-on-red, though, so was going to put an additional outline color of blue behind the red felt. Once I attached it to the denim patch, though, I liked how it looked, kind of squarish. So I left it!
I made this birthday shirt for a friend's daughter's birthday which will be in November. I used the leftover pink fabric from a number you'll see below, and I wanted a white shirt... but they were sold out of the size that I needed. At $3.88 for the purple one, I'll take it! I love the ruffled cuffs and gathers at the shoulders you can find on girly shirts. :)
Here's Ben's three... this was a difficult one. Threes have a lot of round edges. :)
And here is my first 4! This was made for a friend's daughter this summer. The only direction I had was "pink." I was looking for a way to girl it up a little (in addition to the ruffled sleeves and gathered shoulders), so I found the flower embellishments. There were six on the card, so I put four on the number and one each on a pair of socks. Cute cute.
And that's all I have in my repertoire so far. Ben will get a blue 4 this year, and I think I'll make him a 5 the year after that and then that's it. I'm stopping at the 5s. I'm sure I'll already hear about it when I'm 50 and my kids are looking back and complaining that I dressed them in these lame shirts... we shall see. :) Oh! And Josh told me that he prefers the block styling of Ben's numbers to Matt's rounded edges and whatever... so I guess maybe I'll try a red block 3 for Matt next year.