Work

Today I'm exhausted. I know that that's a lot of days for a lot of people, but I'm usually pretty good at not being exhausted. I'm a real trooper and I can push through most things, but I've had this feeling lately, that hangin-on-to-the-edge feeling that I'm pretty close to a collapse. I feel like I'm just doing too much. Do you ever get that feeling? Like if you add one more thing to your list you may just break-down and that will be the end of it all? Yeah? Well that's me right about now.

I feel like I have the normal stuff under control. Things that I and others, like my husband and son, expect me to do.

I keep the house clean.
I cook dinner every night.
I do the laundry, fold it and put it away.
I work my 20 hour weekend at Lowes.

Then there's the other things, the things that I feel like aren't so 'normal' and yet others still expect me to do them.

I make a 45 minute trip south once a week to spend with my grandmother.
I am completely taking my husband's full-time course load this semester.
I attempt to run my photography/crochet business on the side.

Maybe it doesn't sound like much to anyone else. But I'm pretty much on the edge. I do everything at home except for mow the grass, I go once a week and spend a day helping my grandmother do the things she's not able to anymore, I work hard to try and please my clients (And it seems like every single one of them has canceled on me last minute lately. Despite the fact that I've requested time off of work and everything else. HUGE bummer.), I dream of new crochet designs and then beat myself up when I don't have the time to do them, I work at Lowes on the weekend and miss everything that's going on; family events, church functions, fairs, concerts...you name it, I seem to miss it. Work all week, work all weekend. It feels like all I do is work!

Throw my husband's daily homework assignments, weekly essays and projects into that mix and all the projects I've been trying to accomplish in our new home and I'm ready to break.

Do you ever get that way? Am I doing too much or is it just me?

Homemade Toddler Paint

I wanted a safe, simple recipe for paint for Little Bit to use and enjoy on a rainy day. I had high hopes while scouring the internet but I didn't want to make a huge amount because I know how Little Bit is and it would undoubtedly have to be thrown away after first use. Upon finding oodles of recipes that were at least a cup for each color, I decided to just wing it. As usual.

It actually turned out great! Here's my recipe:

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of flour

2 tsp of water

3-4 drops of food coloring

Just mix until there are no lumps. It shouldn't be really runny and it shouldn't be real thick either. I would say a pancake batter consistency would be about perfect. If it's too thin - just add a bit more flour and if it's too thick - just add a bit more water. Easy peas.

Henry had a great time and the best part? Not only did I not have to worry about him ingesting something icky, but it was easy to clean up too!

Jenn's Jams - Featuring tobyMac

It's been a long, tiring day so far and I have a TON to do tonight so I thought I'd stop, listen to a few of my favorite songs and attempt to recoup while Little Bit is napping. Whenever I'm feeling a little down, a little 'eh' or just need a pick-me-up, these two songs are my go-to's. I just love the upbeat, beautiful music and the voices, - these girls can sing! So if you're looking to add a couple of uplifting (and addicting) songs - here they are. We won't even get into the fact that tobyMac is featured in both, haha!

Jamie Grace ft. tobyMac - Hold Me

Mandisa ft. tobyMac - Good Morning

Pro-Life

I am anti-abortion, pro-life and truly believe that every life is a life once it's conceived.

I know that voting season is upon us and I'm not trying to tell you how to vote. I am already sick of the numerous political rants, ads and opinions of others that are shoved into my face every time I turn around. That's not what this is about.

This is about life. It's about why I can't wrap my mind around the fact that abortion is legal and even celebrated in so much of our world today. This is about tiny babies being ripped from their mother's wombs, never even given a chance to live, to strive and to contribute to our society. This is about murder - because we are taking into our own hands the life of another and destroying it. There is no way to sugar-coat this.

I know what I'm undoubtedly going to hear and here is my response. You made the decision to have sex, and in most circumstances you made that decision hastily and without thought of being responsible and using some sort of protection. Quit pretending that every mistake you make is 'okay' and that you can just find a way out of it. You did the deed, now own up to it. Murder should not be an option here.

Then there's going to be those of you that go there.

'So what you're saying is that if I get raped in a dark alley and get pregnant, I have to keep the baby?'

No. That's not what I'm saying. But upon scouring the internet for some sort of statistic on the amount of rapes that result in pregnancy, the HIGHEST number I could find is 5%. The most common number I found was less than 1%. So I don't know how many rapes actually result in pregnancy, but to be safe let's say that it's 5%. There is about 207,754 victims of sexual assault each year.

Let's do some math. Assuming that all of these victims of sexual assault were actually forced to have sex (which is not the case) 5% of 207,754 = 10,387. There would be approximately 10,387 pregnancies that resulted from rape in the United States per year.

Hmm...I wonder how many abortions there are in the United States each year?

1,300,000

Let me spell that out for you. One million, three hundred thousand tiny lives ended each year.

The honest fact is that almost all abortions are the result of a woman making a mistake, hopping into bed foolishly and then not wanting to own up to her decision. I will never understand how the term 'pro-choice' is used when they are taking the 'choice' away from someone to live. If we went around saying 'I just don't feel like dealing with you, so I'm just going to kill you instead' to the children that we already have - that would be an issue. But apparently just because they're not here yet, it's okay.

I'm not trying to make a big fuss here. I just get sick of this being the leading argument as to why abortion should be okay. The fact is, abortion is performed mostly for those who are careless, not those who have been raped. Abstinence, safe-sex and adoption should be our option here, not abortion.

P.S. - I used RAINN: The nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization and The National Abortion Federation to get these figures.

P.S.S. - Abortions because of medical reasons (birth defects, threat to mother's health) makes up less than 1% of all abortions in the United State - cause I know you're going to hit me with that one too.

Rooooaaar!

I made the executive decision yesterday that Henry was going to be a lion for Halloween. I don't care if it's overdone and I don't care if it's cliche; I figured this will probably be the last year that I get to make the decision on what he gets to be. From here on out, I'm sure he'll have an opinion (and that's fine, he should) but for this year, he's all mine and this is what mama wanted so this is what mama is gonna get.

I made it all in one day. (I may have been overly excited to finish it and see how it turned out.) Either way, it turned out GREAT and I can't wait to show it off when we go trick-or-treating this year. I figure I'll match the hat, tail and foot collars with a beige shirt and pants. No need to go toooo overboard. (I mean really, I think that hat is enough. No?)

Lion's Costume

It's really not that hard to make either, I made a simple crochet hat with ears, earflaps and braids. 

There are plenty of free patterns for such - just Google it!

From there you add the fuzz that make your hat fantastic. 

Starting at the bottom of the earflaps, I attached my yarn, holding two different colors together. I single crocheted over each previous stitch on the earflaps until the entire earflap was covered. For the main part of the hat, I attached my yarn, still holding the two colors together. Then 'chain 4,sc' all the way across and up several rows until you have a mane as thick as you'd like. Chaining throughout the top part of the hat really added an extra fuzz that I loved.

I attached my ears after I crocheted the mane because I wanted them placed in the middle of two rows of fuzz. Also, when I braided the sides, I added a few strands of the fuzzy yarn to make it fuzzy too.

The tail was super easy.

Chain 3, slip stitch to join.

"dc in each sc around, slip stitch to join each round"

" " repeat this until you have the length that you'd like of the tail

When you've reached the length that you'd like, chain off of your last stitch until you reach the length that you need to go around the waist of whoever will be wearing your costume. When you reach the last chain, leave your end in a loop, pull a little extra yarn so that the loop is a little bigger and then tie a knot (or two, or three) so that it won't come undone or unraveled. Then sew a button onto the top of the tail, this way you can just slip the chain around and button it in the back - easy on and easy off.

To make it fuzzy, do the same as you did to the hat. Attach your yarn, holding both colors together and chain 4, sc all the way around and up as far as you'd like. 

For the cuffs (I just made ankle cuffs, but you could make wrist cuffs too and it would be super cute.) I just chained as long as I needed for it to fit around my son's ankle's, then slip stitched to join the chains, then I dc in each chain and slip stitched to join. You don't need these to be very thick. I then just added the fuzz the same way I did the others, only I only chained 3 this time.

There you go! Homemade lion costume! I really did this in about 18 hours, crocheting on and off. It's not that hard and the end result is just gorgeous! Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try my best to answer them!

Bucket List Tuesdays

It's Tuesday which means it's time to link-up with me and tell me one thing that's on your bucket list and one thing that you've been blessed enough to cross off!

On The List:

I'd love to be a professional photographer. And by professional, I mean someone who is absolutely persistent in their quality of work, someone who is confident in what they're doing and someone who is respected in their field of work. I'm working on it. I have a small client base, but it's a client base. I am confident when it comes to some sessions and a nervous willy when it comes to others. My equipment however is anything but professional. I still use the original camera that Jeremy surprised me with almost four years ago and it was the cheapest model (clearanced from the year before) that we could buy. But, it was all that we could afford and as much as I'd like to go out and just buy a new camera - it's not that easy. Cameras are expensive and considering the four or five lenses I have for this one, I'll stick with it as long as it will be useful to me.

Crossed Off:

I know I've only been married for four years. I know that my marriage could potentially crash and burn at any time or it could blossom into something even more precious than what it is right now. But no matter what happens, and no matter what the future brings, the marriage that I have now and have had for the past four years has been one of the most beautiful parts of my entire life.

Not to mention, we have this little boy - and really, does it get any more beautiful than that?

Jenn's Jams - Addison Road - Hope Now

When I hear this song, I stop, I am drawn in and I am with God. When the world has broken me down, His love does set me free and the hope here, the comfort is something that I cherish.