Paper Embroidery

So while I had my niece Amber here, she was supposed to go tot he library for the "Tweens" activity and learn Paper Embroidery but she ended up leaving that day instead of Sunday and was really disappointed that she was going to miss it. So I decided (since I'm such a great aunt and all) to research it online and teach her myself! Not only did I come across as super cool (which I can fake sometimes) but I also learned a new skill! Wee! Happy! I meant to post about this before but I didn't because I thought I would have already told my family about this blog, oops, and I didn't want to spoil the surprise since I sent my creation to Kim for her b-day two weeks late. What do you think? Wanna do it yourself? stitchingcards.com has few free patterns. Yeah, they want you to try it and then buy some of their other patterns but the prices are all in Euros so I don't think I'm making said purchases, though they do have some really cool ones. I used their free designs for Kim's card. The butterfly with the beads was even not that bad, though I think I let Amber down by not helping her finish hers.

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And in other crafting news: I am using my first sock yarns, purchased from knit.etsy.com, where they dye yarns and rovings and I'm pretty sure they hand spin some yarn, though I don't think the two I bought are handspun. I am attempting to crochet my first pair of socks. So far I have made the leg of one sock and I realized it will be too small for me. I have never had reason to check my gauge before but I guess if I want to start making wearable garments then I should, eh? It is a new experience, and I am so down for it. Something else I want to learn to do is spin yarn, and I will someday. I hope I can get some the roving from Knit It Up. SO pretty!

MONEY

The WT party at Emily's house was mostly a success. Other than the screaming children and the more-people-than-I-comfortable-addressing-at-once-ness of it all, we had a lot of sales. I think there were 10 tickets I entered into the system, Emily got her free 1/2 gallon of GSO for having a party over $500, and I made a little cash. I'm happy. We did not, however, get the ALS fundraiser thing going, because Emily wanted to do it after the WT thing, even though I told her it wasn't a good idea... But I will be hosting a tasting here in a couple weeks so I will do it then. No worries, all is not lost, we will raise money for the ALSA and WT at the same time...

As far as other money matters go, we paid off our first loan last week. It was one of my student loans, and it was the one with (come to find out) the LOWER interest rate. If I had known that last year when I started budgeting... But whatever. I used to put extra principle on all of our loans (car, house, school...) and then I got this spreadsheet that helps with budgetting and I realized it I put all the extra principle I was paying towards 1 loan at a time, I would not only get to knock some of them off the list, but I would get them all paid sooner. So that's what I did. I AM SO HAPPY! I hate debt.

Right after I sent the final check off for that loan, however, I read my pen-pals blog and discovered that not everyone is having great times financially. I knew this already anyway, but it really put it into perspective for me. Yeah, my family growing up was never really high class, and indeed some of my siblings are not where they should be with their finances, but this girls husband lost his job due to the company having to layoff people and while they did have some savings, it doesn't look likethey will have enough to pull through this recession we're going through. I wonder what will happen. You hear about this kind of stuff all the time, but when it happens to someone you know, however distantly, it really hits home. They have had to start cutting hours a little at G's office, as in since they are so slow right now noone has to work on Saturdays, but fortunately G is on salary so it doesn't affect us other than I get my husband home all day for about 2 more days every month. That is GOOD for me! Who knew a recession coul dhave it's benefits?

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Yesterday was good. I spent most of the afternoon with a friend of mine and discovered some interesting things, and Russ spent time with her son discovering new things. (No discoveries were "in that way," I might feel the need to add.)
As for Russell's discoveries, he and Porter dressed up as cowboys and were going to explore a haunted house. Oh, dear! All with the creative influence of porter's 10 year old sister, I might add. They were so cute! Do you see? Russ was being the lookout!
As for my discoveries, we will start with the fact that the kick off for the ALSA walk was last Friday, which also happens to have been Kim's birthday (she even got a special birthday wish from the local news team!). So while I was with Em, we were talking some about WildTree and some about ALS and she not only decided to host a tasting, but she wants to have it part tasting/part ALSA fundraiser. As in we would be selling "Kimbo's cookies recipes" along with the WildTree stuffs. Which is great because that is what I was planning on doing at my next WT party! Woah! Come to find out, she decided a few months ago that she needed to start praying for service opportunities. Odd, I decided that a few months ago as well. Woah! Granted, Ihaven't been as diligent about it (been forgetting to pray, EEK!), but still...
So, not only do I have a WT party set up for Saturday, I also have a sort of ALSA fundraiser set up. I am excited. Like I said, yesterday was a good day.