Showing posts with label crochet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crochet. Show all posts

Saturday, November 7, 2015

A Fresh Dose of Perspective

I do love the movie Ratatouille. Disney hit the nail on the head with a lot of areas most people should improve in... You know, areas like "judgement". Or "assumption". Or "chasing your dreams". Most ironically, it all boils down to "perspective". (See what I did there, boils down.) 




One may say I've been "well seasoned" but the one thing I always want YOU to say is that you like my perspective. Everyone sees things differently, there's no news flash there, but today there are so many people that tip toe around everyone else. There are others who put so much pressure on each other that they're likely to spontaneously combust in 3....2....1....

Seriously though, I'm so tired of bending over backwards for everyone in my life that I've decided to take the bull by the horns and put me first for once, in over 12 years. 

I recently learned how to crochet. When I say 'crochet' don't get your bloomers in a bunch. I'm not running and opening an etsy shop any time soon.. in fact, I only know how to do two stitches. Thankfully, that's all I need to know to be able to crochet a kick ass, super soft and snuggly blanket. I started on one for my friend's daughter (who is now 4 months old). By the time I finished learning, I thought the poor kid was going to be in kindergarten! Any who.. I figured it out, and then realized that it was so damn soft, that I should make one for me, for the couch, because we're always snuggly on the couch, and a blanket would be nice. So I got yarn and BOOM, made a blanket. 

My bestie comes over and called me an old lady. My neighbor told me I'm "channeling my dead grandmother" who, by the way, NEVER crocheted (to my knowledge) a day in her life. My husband rolled his eyes. 

Then I went to my daughter's away softball game. When I say away, I mean literally, an hour away from Bumblefuck in North Bumblefuck. I was glad I brought my crocheting. The umpire was a jackass. Changing the rules, yelling at our girls, and pissing off the parents. Other parents were upset, and challenged his calls a few times. Then it got worse. So much so that my loud NY mouth shouted, "IF YOU'RE GOING TO KEEP MAKING OUR GIRLS CRY CAN YOU AT LEAST EXPLAIN WHAT THEY'RE DOING WRONG?! C'MON!!" This was after he made 2 girls cry. Our girls (except 2) have never played a day in their life before this season. They had placed most of the season with the same sets of umps, and none of them called these shitty calls, or changed the rules. I got a round of applause, and then the ump threatened to kick us all out of the stands. 

The kids thought they were playing correctly, because it was how they were taught, but according to the ump, they were playing against that field/leagues rules. Whatever. He had shitty perspective. And a worse attitude, making kids cry. I bit my tongue, picked up my crochet and began to stitch away furiously. A few plays later, one of the moms said, "Did you see that?!" to which I reply, "NOPE, I'm CROCHETING", and the stands crack up. Now, at every game where the ump makes a crappy call, the other parents joke and pretend to stitch.. or ask for me to pass the blanket. One husband asked his wife why I always crocheted at games, to which she replied, "For sanity, and so we're not kicked out of the game." See, that lady right there, has good perspective. 

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Monday, February 20, 2012

How about some LOVE from 4BabyAndMom +YouCanMakeThis.com?!

So after my week long trip out of state, my plane landed after 12:30am.. by the time I got home I was shot. I figured I could finish up pre-valentine prep on Monday, but I spent most of the day trying to get into the swing of home life again. So the day was basically spent calling doctors, setting up appointments, and all of that other fun stuff.

Monday evening, Babs finished her Valentines, and we attached her candy, and I realized they looked "cheap". So... thanks to Pinterest, I decided to make crayon hearts. Out to Walmart I trekked (on one of the busiest shopping days of the year!) and bought a mold, a gazillion crayons, and then went home- expecting to just whip up some crayons.

First, I will admit that they were a lot more difficult than I thought... unwrapping them, anyway. I used two different brands, just for some color variation. One brand was a little bit better than the other, but only once the hubster got out his razor knife, did the paper shells start coming off with ease.

We broke them into fourths, and piled them in the bowl. After the crayon prep was done, we put piles of them into the molds, threw them into the toaster oven (at 230*) for approximately 12 minutes. Fifteen minutes made the tops (back) turn darkest; at ten minutes, some of the crayon chunks didn't melt all of the way, so 12 minutes it was.

I placed the mold into a frying pan (just as a buffer) and placed it in the fridge. I checked on it in 10-15 minutes and turned it upside down, if they were cool enough they popped right out, if not, they went back in for a few more minutes. After I made about 40 of them, I called it a night. The last batch was the prettiest, by far, but I only took a picture of the second batch. The front of the heart (bottom of the mold) looked GORGEOUS!! A nice swirly (or chunky) blend of colors, but the backs of the first two batches were less defined, and more of a solid color. The last two batches had more of a distinct swirl of colors, but still were not as absolute as the front of the hearts (pictured above). 

All in all, I think they came out beautiful, and the kids enjoyed handing them out along with their Valentines.

Being pregnant and not feeling very well, I shamefully admit that was the extent of the craftiness this Valentine's Day. I did do Abbie's hair in a heart braid in the morning, but I couldn't really put my usual "oomph" into the day.

I love being crafty- really, I do. Earlier this month, I jumped at the opportunity to host a giveaway for YouCanMakeThis.com. 

If you've never been there before- you should definitely check it out. They have patterns for EVERYTHING, and tutorials showing you how to make many projects for around the home, kids, hair accessories, and so much more! They have great beginner items, as well as more advanced items- from crocheting, to sewing, and everything in-between!  

Our friends at YouCanMakeThis.com have offered one of our readers their chance to win this HOT Valentine's themed pattern prize pack!

To enter, just fill out the RaffleCopter form below- if you cannot see the form, CLICK HERE to load this page separately. (It may need a minute to load properly).
 






a Rafflecopter giveaway


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