I am a fan of lists so much so that last year I started keeping a bunch in folder on my desktop. I have a list of "Wants" that includes music, movies, books, etc that I want. I have a list of crafts I want to do/want to learn/need to finish. I have a list of projects we need to get done around the house. And this year I have started a list of ACCOMPLISHMENTS. This list I am keeping to help me keep track of what we have actually done because while I love taking things off of my other lists, when I do they just disappear; I have no record of them. That's not cool. So you wanna know what I did in January?
Crafting:
Sock monkeys x 4
Finger sweaters x 2
Felt cat toy
Etched glass
Cowl
Crocheted rose hair clips x 8
Crocheted hanging jars x ?
Book box w/ rub on letters
Stitch markers x 4
Bottle cap pin cushion
Paper
Paper bowls
Alice in wonderland ATCs x 3
Bird House
Caterpillar bag
Feather vial necklace
Apple trivet
Fabric postcards x 6
Felt mustache pencil toppers x 24
Home Improvements:
Fans in kids’ rooms
Quote on electric
Also in the word document I have a section for Books but since I didn't technically finish any last month, there are none on the list.
My goal this year is to do at least one crafty thing a day. I'm not saying FINISH one thing/day, but at least work on something. I have been doing swaps on craftster.org and those are helping me muchly greatly in the daily creation department. It is motivating and thoroughly enjoyable. It also adds to my anxiety. Ah well, that's a topic for another day.
03 February 2010
05 January 2010
Some random thoughts
Yay! Happy Holidays! I'm happy they're over. Russ now has too many toys and I really need to weed through them and see which I want to save for Alice and which I want to donate to something else. I am not looking forward to this. I got diamond earrings from G... let's just say he did better last year with the sewing machine. I will keep the rest of those thoughts to myself for now. He got, among other things, a super-dooper-bad-a** tool chest! I am the best wife ever you guys!
So I was talking to my MIL at Christmas about the whole "Trying to only buy from the USA" goal I had (and failed miserably at) this year. Turns out she wasn't saying "It's pointless; why bother?" like G led me to believe but rather "That's a really good idea. I'll try it, but OH! Darn near impossible!" It really made me happy that something I thought made sense to my MIL and she agreed. This doesn't happen too often. I usually have to hold my tongue when she expresses her opinion of my opinion just so G himself doesn't kill me for the harsh words I would like to share with him mother. But we agreed. And we agreed that it's just about impossible to take on such actions.
And on that topic, it IS impossible to buy anything at Target Made in the USA. Yeah, my aunt gave me a gift card to Target and while we were there last night nothing I wanted was made in the USA. I ended up buying some pants made in Cambodia and some socks (to make monkeys) that were made in CHINA but that was all I could bring myself to buy. I still have 20$ and really don't want to use it but it's 20$, you know? Maybe I'll just put it towards the next season of whatever TV show we need the next time we need more visual entertainment.
Vienna Sausages are yucky.
Inspired by Rhonda at Down to Earth, I have quit using my dishwasher. In fact I haven't used it in over 3 weeks, which is much longer than most of my goals. My goal started with trying to get them done every morning, and while that doesn't always happen, nor does it happen everyday, I'm still only doing them by hand. I do get them done most days and the days I don't the reason is more along the lines of there not being enough to want to use a whole sink full of water on than me just being lazy. Some my question my motives but I think it's obvious: when I start the day doing something productive I have a more productive day. Makes sense, no? And, to be completely weird, I have found it to be rather enjoyable.
It has come to my attention that people have commented on my blog! Oh! And not people I know, either! Amazing. I don't think I really have an opinion on this. Something I do have an opinion on, however, is people who leave rude comments. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but just because I don't have the same opinion as you doesn't mean I am unlearned or "haven't done my research." So if you're going to leave a comment, don't be a bitch about it, and if you find that difficult then at least don't be anonymous. Anonymous, rude comments suck and will get deleted.
So I was talking to my MIL at Christmas about the whole "Trying to only buy from the USA" goal I had (and failed miserably at) this year. Turns out she wasn't saying "It's pointless; why bother?" like G led me to believe but rather "That's a really good idea. I'll try it, but OH! Darn near impossible!" It really made me happy that something I thought made sense to my MIL and she agreed. This doesn't happen too often. I usually have to hold my tongue when she expresses her opinion of my opinion just so G himself doesn't kill me for the harsh words I would like to share with him mother. But we agreed. And we agreed that it's just about impossible to take on such actions.
And on that topic, it IS impossible to buy anything at Target Made in the USA. Yeah, my aunt gave me a gift card to Target and while we were there last night nothing I wanted was made in the USA. I ended up buying some pants made in Cambodia and some socks (to make monkeys) that were made in CHINA but that was all I could bring myself to buy. I still have 20$ and really don't want to use it but it's 20$, you know? Maybe I'll just put it towards the next season of whatever TV show we need the next time we need more visual entertainment.
Vienna Sausages are yucky.
Inspired by Rhonda at Down to Earth, I have quit using my dishwasher. In fact I haven't used it in over 3 weeks, which is much longer than most of my goals. My goal started with trying to get them done every morning, and while that doesn't always happen, nor does it happen everyday, I'm still only doing them by hand. I do get them done most days and the days I don't the reason is more along the lines of there not being enough to want to use a whole sink full of water on than me just being lazy. Some my question my motives but I think it's obvious: when I start the day doing something productive I have a more productive day. Makes sense, no? And, to be completely weird, I have found it to be rather enjoyable.
It has come to my attention that people have commented on my blog! Oh! And not people I know, either! Amazing. I don't think I really have an opinion on this. Something I do have an opinion on, however, is people who leave rude comments. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but just because I don't have the same opinion as you doesn't mean I am unlearned or "haven't done my research." So if you're going to leave a comment, don't be a bitch about it, and if you find that difficult then at least don't be anonymous. Anonymous, rude comments suck and will get deleted.
22 December 2009
Christmas Time!
So my plan for Christmas was to make most presents. What I didn't make I wanted at least handmade, preferably local, but handmade in general. And what I didn't get handmade I at least wanted made in the USA, definitely not Made in China. This worked mostly. In the above picture you can see what I made for my mother in law, Lynda. G's family is so hard to buy for. Segen wants everything, Bill doesn't really want anything, and Lynda buys everything she wants. So what do you make/get the lady who can buy it all herself? Bags to help with her purchases. I thought it clever. I have also made sock monkeys, finger puppets, and etched glasses and I'm planning on making today or tomorrow some bracelets.
The last part of my resolution, the whole all USA nothing China part, was really freaking hard! I honestly believe that the ammount of items we buy that are imported is a large factor in why our economy sucks so much. Why do we send our money overseas? Why don't we help our own people and buy local more? G was talking to his mom about it and she made the point that our country is programmed this way and me trying to shop local (US local) isn't going to make a difference. I'm not going to the change the world. Here is my disclaimer: I am not planning on changing the world. I am not trying to change the world. I'm trying to change myself and teach myself and hopefully my children in the future smarter shopping habits. It's the same reason I recycle and save things I can't recycle to use in crafts. It's the same reason I'm trying to become less materialistic. Why do we have so many things? And why are a large majority of these things Made in China?
As it stands Amber's present was made in Germany and I got some Lego's for Russ (couldn't help it) and a game made in Mexico. And, 3 days before Christmas, we have 6 presents left to go AND we need to get something for my sister for her graduation, which was last week, yes I suck I know. But we are getting there.
19 November 2009
Cord Blood
So I've been meaning to do a post about CORD BLOOD for a while now, but I haven't wanted to put the effort into it so this will just be really short.
You know what cord blood is? It is your babies raw genetic material, plain and simple. Stem Cells are a big issue of debate, but they shouldnt be. There are so many stem cells thrown out every time someone has a baby. Most people don't know you can save/donate your cord blood stem cells because it is illegal for doctors/staff to broach the topic to you, which again is stupid! There is nothing unethical about cord blood stem cells! If anything, it is good because it saves that much from going to wherever genetic waste goes! If you don't save it or donate it then it goes into the waste bin. Personally, I think that is ridiculous. I have saved it from both of my children. Here is a good site to get more info on what can be done with Cord Blood and what they are trying to do with it: blog.cordblood.com
I got a call from CBR-Cord Blood Registry, where we saved our kids' cord blood-about our collection for Alice. Turns out you need at least 100 million stem cells to creat a viable collection. Average collections run about 250 million, which means Russell's collection was just about average at 290 million. Alice has a count of 1,502,000,000 cells. That's over a billion! That's 15 times the minimum! Isn't that great? I am so happy.
You know what cord blood is? It is your babies raw genetic material, plain and simple. Stem Cells are a big issue of debate, but they shouldnt be. There are so many stem cells thrown out every time someone has a baby. Most people don't know you can save/donate your cord blood stem cells because it is illegal for doctors/staff to broach the topic to you, which again is stupid! There is nothing unethical about cord blood stem cells! If anything, it is good because it saves that much from going to wherever genetic waste goes! If you don't save it or donate it then it goes into the waste bin. Personally, I think that is ridiculous. I have saved it from both of my children. Here is a good site to get more info on what can be done with Cord Blood and what they are trying to do with it: blog.cordblood.com
Wish List Meme
Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme
TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.
1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?
1. Spinning wheel (or at least a pretty drop spindle from http://www.etsy.com/shop/zebisisdesigns)
2. Some pretty rovings to go with said drop spindle (from my favorite etsy yarn shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/knit)
3. A full night's sleep
4. A yard
5. A place to store all of my crafty stuff.
2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?
I can't really think of any at all.
3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?
Resin.
4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?
My alarm clock. I asked for it in 3rd grade and I still have it and use it 16 years later. Shyeah, I'm a nerd.
5. What items are on your kids' wish lists this year?
Russ wants the Handy Manny Play Set they have on display at Target. I think Mimi and Grandpy are getting it for him. Alice wants her real food supply to stop running out every few days. That Silimac stuff doesn't make her happy, and it doesn't make her poop happy either!
6. What is your favorite holiday food?
Ham. I love ham.
7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?
I learned how to etch glass and one of my sisters is getting a set of glasses. And I'm crocheting a bunch too. Some of our neices are getting some crocheted finger puppets. They are so great RUss wants a set for his stocking.
8. What is your favorite holiday movie?
Nightmare Before Christmas - I always thought of it more for Christmas than Halloween
The Muppet Christmas Carol - Hello! Muppets! Christmas! Can it get any better?
9. Favorite holiday song?
TSO has some great music, but the latest Mighty Mighty Bosstones CD has a great song on it about being together. Love it! Totally recommend that album for everyone. It is very happy compared to their old stuff.
10. Favorite holiday pastime?
I like to to do the tree. Fun stuff! Last year I made a bunch of ornaments that weren't really fragile and wouldn't hurt Russ if he ate them, which he did, and that was a lot of fun. I think I need to do that again but he can help this year!
TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.
1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?
1. Spinning wheel (or at least a pretty drop spindle from http://www.etsy.com/shop/zebisisdesigns)
2. Some pretty rovings to go with said drop spindle (from my favorite etsy yarn shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/knit)
3. A full night's sleep
4. A yard
5. A place to store all of my crafty stuff.
2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?
I can't really think of any at all.
3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?
Resin.
4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?
My alarm clock. I asked for it in 3rd grade and I still have it and use it 16 years later. Shyeah, I'm a nerd.
5. What items are on your kids' wish lists this year?
Russ wants the Handy Manny Play Set they have on display at Target. I think Mimi and Grandpy are getting it for him. Alice wants her real food supply to stop running out every few days. That Silimac stuff doesn't make her happy, and it doesn't make her poop happy either!
6. What is your favorite holiday food?
Ham. I love ham.
7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?
I learned how to etch glass and one of my sisters is getting a set of glasses. And I'm crocheting a bunch too. Some of our neices are getting some crocheted finger puppets. They are so great RUss wants a set for his stocking.
8. What is your favorite holiday movie?
Nightmare Before Christmas - I always thought of it more for Christmas than Halloween
The Muppet Christmas Carol - Hello! Muppets! Christmas! Can it get any better?
9. Favorite holiday song?
TSO has some great music, but the latest Mighty Mighty Bosstones CD has a great song on it about being together. Love it! Totally recommend that album for everyone. It is very happy compared to their old stuff.
10. Favorite holiday pastime?
I like to to do the tree. Fun stuff! Last year I made a bunch of ornaments that weren't really fragile and wouldn't hurt Russ if he ate them, which he did, and that was a lot of fun. I think I need to do that again but he can help this year!
04 November 2009
Halloween was almost cancelled
but I'm glad I got feeling better because otherwise I wouldn't have gotten this shot!
20 October 2009
Alice
Here she is! Sorry this has taken so long, my computer is over heating.
Alice Lynn Hansen
Born October 9, 2009 2:06 am
8 lbs 6 1/2 ozs; 20 1/2 inches long
Lots of brown hair (?) and looks just like her daddy's baby pictures.
Birthed without real drugs, btw. That's right: I'm a real woman
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