Thankful Thursday

 Being present is something I've always struggled with. This is an exercise for me in taking the time to notice the things throughout the week that I am thankful for. Not the big things like my family but the little things it's easy to miss in the hustle and bustle that is life. 

This helps me breath a little easier and sleep a little better. And I can't wait to hear how happy his dogs are to see him. We still miss them but I know they are so happy to have him home.

Thankful Thursday

Being present is something I've always struggled with. This is an exercise for me in taking the time to notice the things throughout the week that I am thankful for. Not the big things like my family but the little things it's easy to miss in the hustle and bustle that is life. 

We've had what feels like a lot of power outages since moving into this house three years ago.  We think it's a combination of above ground power lines and rural living with lots of tress along said power lines.  Maybe a lot isn't really right, it's more that when we lose power it usually stays off for at least a day or two.  I'll never forget the first one that happened about two months after we bought our house.  We huddled up in living room and camped out in front of our wood burning fireplace which I think we all know, is not a great source of heat.  Welcome to home ownership!  Thankfully that one only lasted about 24 hours.  Since then I can think of at least 3 other times we have lost it for a day or more. Luckily we now can use our propane fireplace in another room of our house which puts off some serious heat.

Last night a nasty storm rolled through bringing our balmy weather back into the 30's.  It also brought crazy wind which knocked out our power around 8 o'clock.  Garrett and I headed up to my room to do some reading before bed and Mike headed off to the gym figuring he should take a shower after his workout since there was no telling when power would be restore.  We were a little nervous about this outage because the temperatures are supposed to stay around freezing for a day or two and we are out of propane.

Thankfully, around 4:45 this morning we heard the utility truck pull up out front and saw two men with flashlights looking around at the back of our property line where the power lines are.   By about 5:00 we had power restored which was quite a nice surprise.  

Birthday Scarf

I finally finished the birthday scarf I knit for my wonderful neighbor Shelly's 60th birthday.  Of course I finished it up Sunday afternoon when the weather was feeling much to warm for scarf wearing.  We've had a nice few days of weather which has been much appreciated. However, the weather man tells us the temperature is supposed to drop from the mid 60's on Wednesday to the low 30's on Thursday.  Brrrr. Looks like there is still some scarf wearing weather left for us in March.

The pattern was very simple to memorize and easy to knit up.  I will definitely make this one again in the future.  It was my first cable pattern that I felt like I knew what I was doing.  I did miss one cable over (can you spot it?) but overall I was really happy with the way it turned out.  I loved knitting with this yarn but I can't seem to find the label to determine what it was!  I might have to swing by my local yarn shop and see if I can spot it and pick up some more. Garrett helped me pick it out for Shelly a few weeks back at their Superbowl sale.

Thankful Thursday

Being present is something I've always struggled with. This is an exercise for me in taking the time to notice the things throughout the week that I am thankful for. Not the big things like my family but the little things it's easy to miss in the hustle and bustle that is life. 

I ordered a new external hard drive over the summer because I couldn't find my old one. My computer was randomly acting up and I didn't want to be in a situation where I could lose all my pictures.   

Fast forwards 6 months later, my computer was still acting up and the hard drive was still in the box. On Friday last week I took some time in the morning and backed up all my pictures.  

I turned on the computer today and it was frozen so I rebooted. 

So today I'm super thankful I took the time to save my pictures on Friday because otherwise I would be freaking out.

Slacker Swapper

So when I signed up for this craft swap I had big intentions.  But suddenly before I knew it February was winding down, I had a birthday scarf still on my needles that needed to be given at book club THAT NIGHT, a cake that needed decorating and I came home to my swap box from Stephanie, reminding me how very behind I was on my box. Needless to say I was feeling a little overwhelmed!  So I did what every good procrastinator does and found something not on my list to do.  I kid (partly).  I tried on the new maternity clothes that had also been delivered that day.  Realizing I had been missing out on comfortable clothes with an expandable belly panel, I got to work on the most important task at hand: icing the cake.  I put the half knit scarf in a gift bag, still attached to a ball of yarn and delivered it to my neighbor Shelly with the promise I would finish it and deliver it soon.

Then I set to work on the boot cuffs I was knitting for my swap partner. Thanks to a two hour lacrosse try-out on Tuesday evening I was able to finish up the second one and get my package in the mail Wednesday morning and it should have been delivered on Friday.  I am such a slacker that the only pictures I have of the goodies are from my iPhone at my cube at work.  (Ignore the dead plant in the background)

I included a pair of boot cuffs, a jar of peach bbq sauce, curried tomato jam and a blank journal (she is a writer after all) with some random quotes I love sprinkled throughout.

It really was so fun to participate in this craft swap and I definitely jump at the opportunity to do it again.  It's funny, I was actually pretty intimidated when I found out my swap recipient was Mollie, the editor of Grounded.  I wrote about it in my letter to Mollie.  I stepped back and realized we are all just crafty ladies wanting to pass along our handmades and create connections.  I hope she enjoys the package!