Caden's Gansey

Here's the sweater I knit in my knitting class. See the Needlework album for the upclose pictures of the upper chest, and his initials at the bottom.

Beginning of KJ's Scarf

Here's the scarf I've started for KJ.

Knitting Update

I finished NJ's scarf last night, and I've started KJ's. I am getting less done than usual because I've been taking a knitting class (Christmas gift from N !!!) to make C a gansey (fisherman sweater). All I have left is the neck so I was able to get some work done on my other projects. I have so many projects floating around in my head right now that I am really excited to knit, knit, knit.

Thoughts, Feelings, Actions

Thought-wise I'm having a bad day. My thoughts whirl around my head, and I try to chase them down, make them stay in line and behave. It's a lot like chasing C, my external whirling dervish. Anyway ....

I am thinking that I need to construct some kind of vision statement. Spend some time putting my thoughts down on paper. Kind of organizing my thoughts so that I can quit struggling and find alignment. Develop a structure so I can see how my life today fits into the whole of my life. I am tired of surviving the day. I want to thrive and really appreciate all my blessings, instead of dwelling on my failings.

So I ask you ... do you have goals or a vision for your life? What kind of actions/steps are you working on to meet your vision? How do you maintain your focus when a bad day or a rotten circumstance cloud your thoughts and feelings? Am I just crazy? Perhaps I should just let go in the whirling thoughts that swirl and swirl around my brain?

Just one of the lessons I've learned from G

On the train coming home from NYC, I realized how friendly I found most of the people in NY (although we didn't have to drive anywhere. Typically, I find people in Baltimore friendly until I get behind the wheel of a car. Back to the topic ...) The people were friendly because I was friendly and I talked to them like they were people. G is really the one responsible for teaching this to me. Ever since G was born, she has liked to be talked to. In fact when she was newborn, the only I could get her to stop crying was to talk to her. She is a chatterbox, and really always has been, but she really likes to be talked to and she likes explanations even if she can't always understand. It was hard for me to learn to keep up the running commentary when she was a baby. Now it is easier because she just keeps asking me questions. I think that G feels the most loved when I talk to her, share things with her and so forth. I am learning that others like to be talked to as well. Out and about in NY, N and I found many friendly people and we wouldn't have known that they were friendly if we didn't talk to them, usually we talked to them first. Of course, part of talking to people is listening to them when it is their turn to talk.

Now I just need to continue to talk to G and help her to understand that sometimes Mom needs a break from the talking and the listening.

NYC was GREAT!!!

N and I had a great time. We loved the train ride and all of the walking. Our hotel room was upgrated for free, and it was really quite lovely. We had the absolute best gyro that I've had in years from a street vendor at the corner of 55th and 6th. We had a lovely horse carriage ride around Central Park. We visited St. Patrick's Cathedral and it was so beautiful and just filled with peace. The quiet spirit of the place felt tangible and real. We saw the beginning of a wedding while we were there. The bride, bridesmaids and flower girl were stunning. Unfortunately, I messed up with the charging of the camera battery so we bought a disposable camera and it will be awhile before we get pictures.

Gotta go fix lunch.

Happy 3rd Birthday C!!!

Yesterday we had C's birthday party at Pump It Up Party. Everyone had a great time. I will be posting some pictures in an album in a minute.

Magic Thinking Take 2

I don't think I communicated what I intended.

G does ask questions about magic, but I am more concerned about my own desire to have things instantly. I understand that G is just imagining and experimenting. I think it is great that she uses her imagination and I think this will only help her problem solving skills in the future.

I am more concerned about the adults who seem to have Magic Thinking. Instead of using our imaginations to help fuel problem solving. We just get bogged down in the "Why isn't this happening faster?" Well, things that take work and time end up being more meaningful than things that happen instantly. Life becomes more meaningful when we are able to slow down and add purpose. Weight loss lasts longer when it slowly comes off. Handmade heirlooms take time to create. Gourmet meals are slowly simmered and they are made to be savored.

I want to teach G to think outside of the box and encourage her creativity, but I also want to teach her the value of working on a project over time. Of course, the latter lesson might just happen over time

The Law of Attraction

This is a universal law that basically means "like attracts like." In the Bible, it is phrased as you reap what you sow. I have heard versions of this my whole life, but lately, I have heard and been thinking a lot about it.

Oprah had a show yesterday called "The Secret," and her guests talked in great detail about how the law of attraction works. Of course, they are trying to sell The Secret book and DVD. However, the show did give me a lot to chew on.

What you focus on is what you attract into your life. When your thoughts, feelings and actions are in line, then you can attract anything into your life. This works postively and negatively.

For example, if you focus on how you have been hurt by a man in your past, then you will either keep attracting the same kind of man into your life or you will not attract any men into your life because you are already focused on the hurt.

For me this manifests itself with weight and health issues more than anything. I tend to focus on how I'm not measuring up and year after year, I don't meet my goals of getting fit and trim. This year I've been telling myself that THIS IS THE YEAR. This is the year that I am going to figure out how my body works to get it into the healthiest shape. I have stopped focusing on the weight I have to lose and started to focus on how many steps I can get in today. As I have increased my steps, I have focused on my progress, how well I'm sleeping, and how my energy is improving. I have worked on my attitude and being grateful for all of my many blessings. It is amazing how less stressed I feel when I focus on what I am doing. Instead of focusing on the things I am not doing, I just tell myself that I have plenty of time to get to it, and I will get to it in time.

They talked about forgiveness in the Oprah show as well. Forgiveness was defined as when you become grateful for the bad thing that happened to you. This was particularly hard for me to swallow. Although I guess I do usually eventually come to a conclusion that I learned something from the bad experience, even if the only thing I learned was that I could get through the experience.

This is a long post, and I needed to get some of these thought out that have been floating around in my head. Please let me know what you think.

Here is the post to Oprah's show on The Secret.

http://www2.oprah.com/spiritself/slide/20070208/ss_20070208_284_101.jhtml

Magic Thinking

It seems like lately that I have had many conversations with G about magic. I think she is watching too many Disney movies. I think that our world happens so fast ... fast food, TiVo, microwaves, iPods that we have come to expect everything to happen instantly. Our expectations have changed to the point that our patience dwindles due to what I call magic thinking. Magic thinking is when you mentally wave your magic wand and expect things to happen: the meal to be on the table, the house to be clean, the book to be read, the movie to be on. G has asked me why I can't just say the magic word and do .... or have ... appear.

Quite honestly, we should expect things to take WORK. Worthwhile things happen with work or action NOT MAGIC. The law of attraction only happens with thoughts, feelings and actions in alignment. If one of these is not in alignment, then positive changes don't happen. The law of attraction is not about how to Think thinks into existence or as some Christians have put into play the "Name it, Claim it" theory. God doesn't work that way and Nature doesn't work that way. I hope I can teach G that true wonder comes from action not from magic. People, places and things are transformed by actions. This is wonderful and awe-inspiring. Of course, I also believe that prayer is an action. Gratitude is an action. Forgiveness is an action. Am I just talking in circles?

Bad Hair

OKAY You asked for it. Here is a picture of my bad haircut. Please keep in mind, that this is after it has grown out for 6 weeks and I got another haircut to even it out because it was razored unevenly.

Congratulations to Beth

My sister, Beth, is now officially a RN!!!!

Way to go!!!

How do I explain ....

that some names are not acceptable? My sister, Beth, gave the kids these long horn stuffed animals. They are so cute, and the kids have to know where they are at all times. C calls his "Big Horn" or "Long Horn", but G wants to call hers .... HORNY. She explained this to me while we were waiting for C to get out of school, in front of about 10 other Moms who were trying very hard not to burst out laughing. I calmly said that "Cutie" was a much better name. "Cutie" is what she was calling it the day before. Anyway, G did drop it for a while, but she tried to argue with me on 2 other occasions that it should be called HORNY. I finally had to say, "Enough already; the absolute final answer was that NO she couldn't call the cow HORNY. " OH, what to do ... what to do ...

C is so excited about his birthday, and I found the perfect place for him. I have rented "Pump It Up", and I invited his preschool class and some friends that I've made at MOPS. Pump It Up is a place filled with giant inflatables, and you only pay for the kids, even though adults can play on the inflatables too. They have slides, bouncers and climbers. I am going to attempt a "Thomas the Train" cake that I saw on a kids tv channel, called Sprouts. You make a track out of cookies and crumbs, and the train is made out of cake baked in mini loaf pans. The face of Thomas is a vanilla wafer. It looks cute and fairly easy. The only catch is that 2 of the kids coming are allergic to peanuts and tree nuts so I have to make sure that all of the cake, candy and cookies that I use are allergy free. C has been getting really excited about the Cars characters and dinosaurs although he still loves Thomas the train, and there is lots and lots of Thomas the train stuff that he doesn't have. He has plenty of clothes, but he goes through about 3 pairs of pants a day because he is really interested in water here lately. I can't seem to keep it out of it. He is still in 3T pants. The 4Ts are just too big around the waist and too long. He can't seem to where his pajamas either without getting them completely soaked or smelly, but he does where 4T in the pjs.

About my hair, I went to this place that I had been before. She does do a good job on my hair. She evened it out, and it is growing out nicely, but it is still too short for me. It doesn't really look short because I have this thin layer of shoulder length hair. Its my layers on top that are really short. Anyway this place is kind of on the expensive side and they are always trying to sell me all of their services and products. It is a full service salon with all kinds of services. I get kinda tired of the sell thing. I just want to relax and enjoy my time. I might keep trying other places until I find someone who is more reasonable in price and won't butcher my hair. I much prefer having to go back because they didn't cut enough.

I have been recovering (catching up on the housework) from being away at my mom's, and last night G started vomiting. She hasn't vomited at all day today, but she is really grumpy and lethargic so I don't think she is quite herself yet. She doesn't really have a fever either. Anyway she hasn't been warm enough for me to take it.