a new personal blog

I just want to let you all know that I started a new blog over at http://loving-like-crazy.blogspot.com It will be more of a personal blog. So if you would like please change your bookmarks!

Joplin

It's been a pretty stressful week for the area with the Joplin tornado and all the tornadoes and threats of tornadoes most of the week. We feel very blessed that the big storm missed us. We had a houseful of youth group kids & no basement.

Seth has been in Joplin most days this week helping with debri clean up. Joplin really needs some prayers right now. There are still many hard days ahead with recovery but I know the town will rebuild stronger than ever!

These are just a few of the pictures Seth took on Monday after the storm.

Also be praying for all the other areas that have been affected by storms & tornadoes.

lots of changes

Wow so I realize it has been forever since I have last blogged but I think I have good reasons for this blogging break! A lot of changes have been happening in our little household.

We moved (again... I know!) to a smaller house just a few blocks down the road. We are with our same landlord though. We just decided the house we were in was too big for us and we wanted something cheaper and cozier. I had a hard time making the other house feel like a home but this new smaller place already feels like a home to me! I am loving it! Cheaper rent & utilities. Also means less to clean up! yay!

However the biggest change for us is about a month ago we found out we were pregnant! We are so excited & I'm so nervous! haha! We had been trying for 2 years and feeling a little discouraged but God's timing is always perfect! And prayers really work! Thank you to those of you that had been praying for us! It means so much to us that people truly care!

We are about 9 weeks along & due in November. We've already had a couple ultrasounds (one at 6 weeks & one at 8 weeks). Even though you can't see much & it definitely doesn't look like a human being, just seeing that something there really makes it feel real! And wow does it grow fast! It grew from 0.34 cm at 6 weeks to 2 cm at 8 weeks! So fun!

The real reason I haven't been blogging much lately is the 1st trimester symptoms. Wow are they no fun! I have been extremely fatigue & feeling queasy almost constantly. Luckily I haven't gotten sick yet but it sure isn't fun when my favorite foods don't sound appealing to me anymore!

So between the feeling tired and queasy most of the day I just don't have much energy to craft much less to blog about it! However I'm hoping that by the time we get to the 2nd trimester I will be feeling a little better and wanting to crochet some more!

Thanks for sticking by during my little blog break. I can't promise how much I will be blogging for the next few weeks but I'm sure I will get back into the hang of things!

the saddest yet greatest thrift store find

My last thrift store experience was probably one of the weirdest for me. Before I tell you about it I must tell you a back story on it.

Every Februrary the school that Seth taught at held an auction to raise money. I was volunteered to make something to sell at the auction last year. I had a hard time coming up with something and became frustrated when I couldn't think of anything I thought someone would want to buy. I browsed patterns online for hours. When I came across this panda pattern on the lion brand website I thought why not? It looked easy and fast.

I started working on it the day before the auction but it ended up taking much longer than I expected. Maybe I'm a super slow crocheter.... I don't know. But I finished him and I wasn't too pleased with the way he came out. He was pretty wonky. He sat funny because I must have not put his little legs on evenly. But after looking at it for awhile I thought it was kind of charming with his imperfections. Surely some kid would fall in love with him, right?

Well the night of the auction I was super excited to see how much he would go for. It seemed as though everything was going pretty high and then I took a look at the bids for my panda... there weren't any for a long time. Finally someone bid on him for a couple dollars. I was relieved he finally got a bid. I was a little bummed he only went for a couple dollars but at least he was going home with someone.

I thought that was the end of that story.

We ended up moving from that town in June & I missed the local thrift store there. Everything goes for super cheap.

This weekend we visited Seth's parents and we were going to go through our old town on the way home so we thought we should stop into our favorite thrift store! I was excited!

I browsed all my favorite aisles and then I got to the electronic aisle. I noticed something that didn't seem to belong in the electronic aisle. I spotted a cute crocheted panda. I thought "hmmm, that's cute. I used that same pattern once" but upon closer inspection I realized that he was much more familiar than that. He sat a little funny... He WAS the panda I made from that pattern.

After realizing that I became super excited about finding it again but then quickly remembered he was supposed to be loved by some kid that has already tired of him.

If you have been reading my blog for a while you may remember the post where I wondered what would happen to my creations when I was gone. Would they end up in thrift stores to be sold for cents or would they be cherished by those who recieved them? I didn't think I would find the answer so soon!

Well I couldn't leave him behind. I ended up buying him back for a dime. He now sits in the kitchen window where he makes me smile when I walk in the room.

an outfit post?

I haven't been feeling real well lately which explains the quietness around here the past few days. I haven't had much energy to do anything worth sharing on here & even if I did, posting it seems to be taking more energy than usual. Which is why I'm sharing an outfit post from Saturday on Tuesday night!

I'm not one to do outfit posts. I hardly even know how to dress cute! But Saturday when I had worked up some energy we decided to go to Pittsburg, KS to walk around. I had bought this outfit right after Christmas but never had the occasion. I normally wear jeans and tshirts but felt like dressing up just because this weekend before it warmed up to much to wear it!

romper: charlotte russe
cardigan: rue 21 (I think)
belt: charlotte russe
tights: tjmaxx
shoes: walmart
necklace: cottonlane on etsy

candle making

Seth decided he wanted to try to make our own candles so he went to Michael's and bought a candle making kit & some cinnamon fragrance.

We tried it out on Tuesday night. We made up our own version of a double boiler and melted the soy wax. Even though they were going to be cinnamon scented I didn't want to just go with the typical red coloring & chose to do purple instead so we mixed the blue & red dye to make this pretty purple color.

We had a little extra wax left over so I found a little jar I had laying around & we poured the remaining wax into it for a smaller candle.

The scent is so strong & lovely! The house smells wonderful even when the candles aren't lit!

We had a lot of fun and it was a lot easier than we expected. We will definitely be trying some more candle making!

crazy yarn

I spent the weekend with my grandparents & they took me to goodwill to shop. I found a scarf for $2 made from a really pretty and soft yarn. I wanted it just for the yarn so I undid the scarf and rolled the yarn into a ball for a new use.

I took some crazy green handspun yarn that I had spun when I was first learning to spin so it has all kinds of crazy slubs & plied it with the recycled yarn from the thriftstore scarf and came out with this really crazy and fun art yarn. I don't know what to do with it now but I think the yarn itself is just fun to look at! I'll make something from it when the inspiration hits. :)

I plied it with a few other yarns I had laying around but the green one is definitely my favorite!