cancer free

kris is cancer free!
you may remember this post from last year. a lot has happened to my friend kris since her surgery (many things she keeps hidden away from all to see), but today is a joyous celebration!! her oncologist said the words she fought so hard to receive- "you're cancer free!" yippee kris is cancer free!!

praise the Lord for this blessing!

at some point during her chemo treatments, I remember asking kris "how do you know the treatments are working?" she replied, "we don't. we just trust that based on previous patients this course of treatment will work." wow! trust that it will work. faith that it will work. kris trusted by praying her way through each and every visit.

being a survivor will bring it's own set of challenges. but in kris' words- each day from here on has sunlight shining on my face. blessings to you kris, my dear friend, blessings indeed.

65 minutes

when I'm in an "off" kind of mood, I go to comfort activities- cleaning and organizing. so today, stacy, encouraged her readers to see what they could do in 33 minutes. I had a little more time than that, so in the past 65 minutes I have:

:: cleaned the bedrooms- dust, swiffer, sweep, straighten

{these are my favorite crying pictures of the boys that sit on my dresser. after all, they're not always smiling.}

:: put away three small loads of laundry
:: started 1 one load of towels
:: put my newly developed pictures in my project 365 album :: watered our three plants

:: swept and wiped down the van
:: made spencer a small art gallery of projects on his desk :: updated the pictures on connor's picture tree

:: and returned these "lost" items back to their homes
so, what do you do when you're feeling blue?

still knitting?

yes...I am still knitting (although you wouldn't know that by my posts).

here are a couple 2009 project updates:

a gift for someone special:

Pattern: Pro Bono by Angelina Fagan 2007, via ravelry

Yarn: Harmony by Ironstone Yarns

Color: Shade #1217, black

Needles: US 10.5" size 16 circular needles

Mods: none

********************************************************************************

for my sister- kathy's toasty pattern by leslie; to match her criss-cross jabot scarf.

Pattern: Toasty by Leslie Friend

Yarn: Merino 5

Color: 9798, variegated reds

Needles: size 7 dpn

Mods: none

*********************************************************************************

connor's toasty

so I guess I need to find a more rugged yarn and pattern for my little one. only one mitt made, and I've made three repairs and a new hole appeared yesterday. not sure I'll make the other mitt. maybe he'll just wear this one while playing "beat it" on guitar hero.

on my other needles: another rosebud baby hat for one of Mark's co-workers and a few projects in mind for myself, before spring comes and I can't wear them. happy knitting everyone!

more card creations

connor was home again today from school, so we had a quiet, low key kind of day. along with other work, I was able to carve out some time to complete my remaining card projects. big thanks to lisa for letting me borrow her stampin' up 'block party' stamp set to do these cards.

so with these thank you, birthday for her, and birthday for him cards, I should be set for a couple of months. project complete. check. check.

three posts; one night

mark blessed me with time tonight. time to update my flickr and blog. thank you for your love bud man.

so with all that time I share three {count them} three posts, so don't miss a bit- crafting wip, big rocks of my life, and card making. thanks for visiting my family and friends!

crafting wip

I'll be updating you on my knitting in another post, but for now one of my works in progress. I wanted to get away from my knitting for a spell, so I started this punch needle project. I purchased this awhile ago with lisa, but put it aside when I started knitting.

if you aren't familiar with punch needle, you can visit country stitches to get more details and see more projects. the basics-you work from the back of your project punching floss through a pre-printed canvas with a punch needle. this project is an easy traveler. I took it to basketball practice tonight and got a big portion of the background completed. so this is what I've been up to lisa.

big rocks of my life

one word + big rocks = big rocks of my life project

this year ali edwards encouraged her blog readers to choose a word for 2009. a single word that would be your focus for the year. take the time to read her post and then read the words her readers shared. this idea was one part of the inspiration for my big rocks of my life project.

over my years of using the franklin planner system, I've heard the illustration of rocks a few times. in case you haven't...you have a collection of large rocks, pebbles, and sand. your job is to get all three items into a glass cylinder. where do you start? you begin by putting in the large rocks then add the pebbles then pour in the sand. if you visually imagine yourself doing this, you see yourself setting in, planning for, arranging everything to place the big rocks. when you add the pebbles you don't have to be as precise because they will fill the space the large rocks couldn't take. and the sand, well the sand can go anywhere. this illustration is shared to relate back to your life and your task list. when you begin with your most important tasks (large rocks) first then add important tasks (pebbles) and finally the sand (least important) you have a much more balanced life. balance-humm that could be another word for 2009. this was the second part of my inspiration.

the two ideas came together, and I created the "big rocks of my life" project. I started with rocks found during my time walking, purchased my favorite paint colors and a paint pen.
this past weekend the project came together. as we started creating cards, I also started painting rocks. "what are you doing with those rocks, mom?" "painting them" "for what?" "a project I'm creating." over and over again until they were done.

after the rocks were painted, I added my 2009 words: grace, discipline, act, create, bless, love, joy, and peace. these are the qualities I want reflected in my life. I'm praying that God will add and increase in these areas, and I will decrease. when others see these shining they will see God shining through me.
my big rocks now sit in my fiesta ware bowl on my dresser. I see them every morning when I rise and every night when I go to rest.

card making

this past weekend aunt karen and uncle tom came up for a visit. what a weekend to come to michigan-the coldest of the year!! aunt karen brought her new cricut, so we spent a day creating cards!

I love to send handwritten notes! I enjoy this new online medium, but I'm one of the few left who still send handwritten thank you notes, birthday cards, and general correspondence via cards. this love of the written note comes with costs (the card and the postage), both of which I am willing to pay, but have you seen the cost of a card lately? $4.00 for a card? you're kidding! so now I try to make as many cards as I can, so I can send even more love through the mail.

so here are the cards we created:

and these cards were created with my new favorite stamp from Michael's.
thanks for sharing your new machine with me aunt karen. I can't wait to share these cards with family and friends.

happy birthday katie!

I've known you longer than any other friend. we had only a few short years to be "best friends" while living in the same state, yet reconnecting and staying connected with you has been a treasure in my life.

I remember: activities with your youth group-especially christmas caroling; tretorn sneakers-they always looked great on your feet, not so much on mine; your never ending creativity; changing schools with you; long talks; sleepovers; laughing; whether happy moments or sad, we were together!

Make new friends, but keep the old.

One is silver and the other gold.

I pray blessings on you and your family in this year and all to come. continue blessing others with your talents and gifts. I will forever be a cheerleader for you. birthday blessings!

happy birthday!

we send birthday blessings across the miles to our special cousin John Samuel! have a wonderful day celebrating! love you lots!

link love

for today, a few links that go away from my sidebar favorites.
:: lisa leonard has a few new designs. beautiful.

:: and on her blog in her January 9th post on recipe help, lisa asked her readers for easy mealtime solutions. some of these sound so easy and so delish! I hope you try a few.

:: I'm not sure how I found A Year of CrockPotting, but I'm sure it will be useful this year. this site has plenty of recipes to try in my new crock pot.

:: and simple mom, well if you're like me and sometimes have a difficult time starting with the most important instead of the most fun, this post is for you (and me)!

:: and stop by passionate homemaking for a book give away.

hope your wednesday was wonderful!

blessing the boys is so much fun!

today I had fun blessing all my boys!

blessing #1

It started early...I buttoned up and went out to start pmr's car and clean off the inch of snow covering it. I try to start it and warm it up as many days as I can. I know how much I hate to get into a freezing cold car {I'm now so spoiled with my remote start}, and I want him to enjoy his ride to work in a warm car.

After bundling up sor for his walk to school, cer and I went outside to play in the snow. you see, yesterday he got new black snow pants and was eager to try them out! so he ran around the backyard, while I used the snow blower to clear off the driveway. after that was finished I started making snowballs.

"what are you doing mom?"

"making snowballs for you and spencer."

"for what?"

"I thought it might be fun for the two of you to have a snowball fight after school. what do you think?"

"sounds fun. will you make some for me too?"

"yes. I'll put all the snowballs in the flower box and you can share them with spencer."

"oh. okay." and off he went leaping into the snow.

blessing #2

I made 60 snowballs for them to play with. they sat in the window box all day until my boys arrived home. I looked at them so many times today and smiled each time thinking about all the fun they would have when they arrived home. **see more about the snowballs at the end of this post**

blessing#3 was motivated by our goal of simplifying in 2009.

I was inspired by erin's packing list to create an errand list for cer in an effort to help him 1. stay occupied during errand days and 2. begin spelling and reading on his own. I listed our usual errand stops along with an illustration to help him figure out the word, added a box for him to check each stop off the list, and made copies. here you'll see our first list with cer's check marks and my numbers showing the order of our stops.

and here you'll see his clip board and the letters he practiced along the way. how fun is that?

you should have seen cer's face as I presented him with his own clipboard, errand list and pencil. he was so proud to be my helper. I explained how the errand list would work; we went through each word together; and we were off! it was so fun! I'm so proud of cer and to be honest, I'm proud of myself as well. my list wasn't perfectly written or illustrated. it wasn't on special paper. it wasn't...perfect. I resisted my perfectionist tendencies and did the project anyway!

back to blessing #2

the fun the boys had didn't disappoint. cer on one side of the yard; sor on the other. throwing until their pile was gone and then restocking and walking back to their positions. it took all of about 20 minutes for the snowballs to be thrown and end up somewhere in the backyard. well worth the time it took me to make them.

"blessing the boys is so much fun!"

snow much fun

the snow started last night and continued all day today. I couldn't believe it snowed all day long!we think we received a total of 12" (based on our own scientific measuring). our family is probably in the minority-we love the snow. the snow seems to make the grey (that is michigan during the winter) all worthwhile. the snow covers up the yuk, adds a new color, makes ordinary items look almost pretty, and improves our moods just a bit.

so we were all out in it today-taking photos, making snowballs, throwing snowballs, using the shovels, blowing with the snow blower, warming freezing fingers, and getting some exercise.

waiting for inspiration

I've been waiting to come to this space when I was inspired and had something wonderful to say. I guess if I wait until that happens, I won't be here very much. life is happening...I've been busy getting back to what is our routine.

:: I took down and packed away all the Christmas decorations. {I think we'll put up less next year.}

:: I did loads of laundry. {I completed it all this week; trying not to do laundry on the weekends.}

:: I cleaned and purged rooms to re-purpose old items and make room for new treasures. {we need to do this more often.}

:: I've gone through piles, piles, and more piles of mail and lists. {I need to find one place for all my lists!}

:: I've been baking banana breads. bought a huge bag of bananas at the market for .99 and knew they would be perfect for lisa's recipe. that .99 bag of bananas went a long way- into 16 mini loaves of bread. {we've already blessed 5 others with loaves, and have tucked the rest away in the freezer for when we need just the right treat.}

:: pmr and I started a new study- The Love Dare. {the daily dares have been fun!}

:: I volunteered my time at school doing the estimation station. {love using that spiritual gift-helps!}

:: I've been knitting; just no models to take pictures of during day light. {one hat done and fingerless for boys}

:: I started the 365 project- day by day in 2009. I will be taking a photo a day and sharing it out on flickr, then scrapbooking the day in my new 365 project kit from becky higgins. {inspired by leslie, erin, and becky. it's been a fun start to 2009 using photos.}

:: I've been balancing checkbooks, paying bills, and using my favorite thin markers-flairs.

:: I've been planning for 2009. {more on this in future posts}

:: so, I guess this week my daily routine was the inspiration. {that will have to be enough.}

:: have a wonderful weekend friends!

:: and since I don't like to post without pictures, here are a couple from my week: