Jack is a “Chick Magnet”

Jack has a shirt that says “chick magnet.” Normally we don’t have a huge appreciation for such masculine prowess displayed textually on a shirt but I had to make an exception. Jack is definitely all boy and this is how the conversation went:

Mom: Jack, this shirt says Chick Magnet.

Jack (putting on shirt): Now I’m a magnet for all chickens.

Mom: You know that chick really means ‘cute girl’, right?

Jack (furrowing his brow as if I’m mistaken and silly): Nooooo, it doesn’t! It means chicken. They bounce off you and the feathers stick.

I guess I can’t argue with that! He’s completely satisfied with being a magnet for chickens but not for girls. Pretty typical, I suppose for a 5 year old boy. I would have to worry otherwise…

Thanksgiving Sappy Post

It’s been two days without a post (who knew pre-Thanksgiving would be so busy?) and I have some fun posts lined up for next week but I wanted to take a few minutes and write a post about what I am grateful for (in no particular order, really!).

1. My husband, who is willing to do many things most husband’s aren’t. Plus, he’s a “real” man and comfortable in his own skin. Except he gets nervous at any drive-thru which still cracks me up after 17 years of marriage. He likes to weigh his options!

2. My children, of course. Although today I said something like, “Really. I do not want any more children.” Even though yesterday I was SURE I wanted another baby. Or two. Meanwhile, Bennie is crying for me from his bed. Better go check it out… [Next morning] I love boys who have crawled in bed with you Thanksgiving morning – their cold toes don’t bother me a bit.

3. Food. Yes, I’m really thankful for food. I could get specific: avocados, bacon, artichokes…but the list would be too long. I once taught a gospel doctrine lesson for the New Testament in which the biggest thing I was grateful for was that after he was resurrected, Christ ate with his disciples! I was so relieved that in the next life we’ll get to continue eating if we want to!!! I’m not really sure on that but the passage gives me hope that we can if we want to! Plus, I’m thinkin’ the preparations will be a whole lot easier.

4. Extended family and Thanksgiving at my house. Yes, sometimes I would rather go somewhere else and have them prepare everything (we thought about dropping in on the Halls this year…where are you today, Annette?) but I love the ease of having it here for my kids. When we move to Texas, I’m guessing I’ll get to do the whole thing myself but I love having family come and bring items to share. This year for me: turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, cranberry relish, rolls, homemade bread, cream puffs. My mom is bringing: salads, pumpkin pies, green bean casserole and a relish tray. My cousin and Aunt are bringing chips and drinks. Another set of cousins are bringing themselves. Love, love, love feasts with family. My only concern is how to protect the new carpet. We are still trying to sell our house, after all!

5. Missionary work and temple work. Wow – I’d have never thought missionary work would make a personal gratitude list in my lifetime, but I do love it. I get so much joy from sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with anybody and everybody. I’m sad that I never served a mission but I thoroughly enjoy going with the sister missionaries in our branch now. They have taught me so much and I look forward to the time when Don and I can serve a mission (or two) later in our life. Temple work is great – it’s like missionary work without the slamming doors. I have had a wonderful time getting to know relatives young and old, alive and no longer living, near and far away (thank you, email!) while doing family history. I’ve come to know that my ancestors were very hard working, loving and interesting people and I look forward to meeting them someday!

I’ve got many more things to list but it’s pretty sappy and it’s time for me to go rearrange furniture now for our feast. Happy Thanksgiving! xoxo, Lizabeth

Making Felted Wool Hand Puppets!

These turned out so cute. The first one took about 4 hours because I’m inept at sewing, really inept is giving it a positive spin. The second one only took about an hour because I had figured it out and knew what I was doing! I can’t wait to make more. I hunted for pink wool to felt at Goodwill today so that I could make the pink mouths like in the book Warm Fuzzies by Betz White which can be purchased from Amazon here. The boys have loved these and now I’m in love with felted wool projects. NO finished edges – I can handle that! We named the first one, Gus – he’s got the red nose. The second one is named Lucy. They’re coming to church with us tomorrow.

Christmas Stockings

I am having a thing for Christmas stockings. There are some innovative ones on etsy and of course they’re all over magazines right now. I have been ripping pages out of magazines like crazy because I am in love with them. The pics above are from this month’s edition of Country Home magazine.

And The Online Giveaway Winner Is…

TeresaB who said, “I just found your site through the City Farmgirls Blog. Fun fun!” Yes, it is fun! I think I like offering giveaways even more than winning (who’d of thunk it – I only wish everybody could win)! We had a peek at her etsy site here and she has some great ideas for your swiffer or sh-mop so be sure to take a look. Prepare yourselves for the next giveaway – it is going to be FANTASTIC and I’ll announce it tomorrow. Really. I-was-gonna-keep-this-one fantastic.

A Very Classy Christmas Card for our Soldiers

My friend, Alison, sent this to me today…what a great idea! Just one extra card this year for you but if everybody participated, our soldiers would feel a little more appreciated. Send a heartfelt note for Christmas today (it’s never too early for love and gratitude). Cards can be sent to:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
POB 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 27091

Please pass it on!

[Before you start thinking that I’m demeaning our soldiers with the above pic indicating it is “play” (uh, duh, we all know it is anything but)…the army man pic was taken by my boys while camping and I couldn’t help but appreciate the symbolism.]

Quilt Museum at UNL (aka quiltstudy.org)

Fabulous Saturday morning outing to Lincoln to see a quilt museum. It is fantastic! Thank goodness they had a soft voice recording repeating “Please, do not touch the quilts!” because you could hardly stand to not touch them. Especially when we got to the Korean quilts that were silky and thin (why can’t those words describe me?) and with a rolled French hem. There was a Korean display of Pojagi – the art of wrapping gifts in fabric. Very interesting! Must. Google. Pojagi. Now. Gorgeous!

Amigurumi Love

I am officially in love with amigurumi. It’s probably not an eternal love but definitely infatuation. Let’s hope it lasts awhile! My elephant turned out pretty darn good – the stitches aren’t super tight but he’s a cutie and my kids were fighting over him in record time (always a good sign). Ben gave him a good go around with a squish, kiss, tickle and hug (all captured in the pics above). We haven’t come up with an official name yet but we’ll figure that out.

Star Wars & Indiana Jones Amigurumi

The above pictures deserved a post of their own! The Star Wars amigurumi can be seen here and the Indiana Jones amigurumi can be seen here.

Learning to Crochet – Elephants & Amigurumi

I love amigurumi (say ahm-ah-goo-room-y)! My wool and cashmere elephant is coming along nicely. I have his body all crocheted – twice – because i just taught myself two days ago and had to redo the original chain foundation ring on every piece I had already done. He’s my first so I’m not expecting much and he’s bigger than most amigurumi but I wanted him to be big enough that I could learn easily. On the down side, my living room is a mess; my kitchen island is a mess; my office is a mess; my clothes are a mess (seriously need a shower) but I intend on finishing this little guy today! For a fabulous tutorial on how to correctly do the foundation ring, check out this video. Thank goodness for the internet!

Healthy Meals Under $10

Found this article today – looked like pretty good meals and they serve at LEAST 4 people. Worth a try, anyway – especially since I went to the grocery store the other day and about passed out at the prices. They really are going up! I figured I wasn’t the only frugal person in search of such recipes. Check them out here.

Image from health.com attributed to 123rf.

Homemade Pop-Up Christmas Cards!

Well, three Christmas cards and a pig. He was just so cute I had to include him – I guess the pig is symbolic for the new year? Hmmmph. Learn something new every day. Anyway, they all look so easy and adorable and are by Robert Sabuda. You can check out his instructions and patterns here. My kids will love trying these this year but I won’t promise to get any actually mailed…

String of Purls & Knitting Projects: Finger Puppets & Stockings

So we were running errands on Saturday and my sweet hubby suggested we stop by the knitting store since he knew I was hankering for a project (yes, hankering) but I didn’t know what. I needed something more advanced than scarves but I’m not ready for tiny-needle socks. Thank goodness for local yarn stores! The owner at Omaha’s String of Purls is so kind, she pointed me in the right direct — pun intended — and I picked up this book on knitting finger puppets! You can buy it here on Amazon for less than $14 (I paid $19 in the store but supporting my local yarn store is so worth it). This way, I can get used to size 1 needles – double pointed, no less – but only have to work with a few stitches instead of a whole sock. I began the Baby Monkey last night and it turned into a mouse since I was using gray yarn…a very bumpy mouse…I practiced french knots all over the body! Now that I have the techniques down, I’m going to give it another try!

Before we checked out, I saw another book lying on a table and remembered that I wanted to knit our Christmas stockings someday. I couldn’t resist this book, either. I haven’t started this one, yet – have to get the right size circular needles. Looking forward to it as well as another trip to the yarn shop (I just never seem to get there enough!).

The knit doughnuts are from Fawn & Forest. The knit elephant, leopard and zebra are from Polka Dot Patch. So cute and inspiring – great giveaways or wrapping accoutrements for Christmas!

Amy Butler Designs & Ohdeedoh

Ummm…delicious fabric and patterns! I’d never visited Amy Butler’s site before but there is a ton of great images there for inspiration and a severe case of gotta-have-it-itis. Be sure to check out her site here (pictures are from her site) as well as the site Amy mentions called ohdeedoh (great design there!). Fun stuff and great design; being a midwestern girl myself, I especially enjoyed the Midwest Modern preview and collection.

Links to More Online Giveaways

There’s a couple of giveaway links to share this morning (besides my own giveaway listed below, of course):

1. www.makemorescents.com – gives away a large scented candle every Monday (you have to click on the free drawing icon in the upper RH corner of the website). Watch this one – you will receive ads from their site to whatever email you put in (be careful if you don’t like to use your delete key!), and

2. The Inspired Room, which, I’ve posted about before — lovely site — is giving away an Urban Botanic fragrance thingy that is sure to make your home smell lovely for the holidays. Click here to enter that contest. Pic above is from The Inspired Room.

All rules and regulations per the hosting site. I just wanted to share the love links.