Hooded Scarf for Mom

I made my mom a hooded scarf for Christmas.  This is a little different that most of the hooded scarves out there because there is no seam on the head.  The hood fits that head perfectly.  She really liked her scarf so I was really pleased with how this project turned out.  So here is the beginning of the projects that I could not show.

Crochet It Forward and The Holidays

Yesterday I taught someone how to crochet fr the first time.  I didn't teach her a ton of stitches as time did not permit.  I did however teach her the chain stitch, and the double crochet.  I also left her with a tutorial book.  It was fun to pass along the knowledge that I have learned to one of my friend's.  My hopes is that she will not get frustrated with the learning process and quit.  The first couple of projects can be quite frustrating because it is awkward and new to crochet.  Robin is very smart though and I am confident that she can become a very talented crochet artist.

Then when I got home last night I decided to have a baking party.  I baked 48 sugar cookies, 48 chocolate chip cookies, and a pan of raspberry chocolate brownies.  I am making all of this for a party that I am having with a couple of friends of mine on Tuesday, and for Christmas with my parents.  I will post pictures of both later.

I will also post pictures of all the crochet projects that I have not been able to post after Christmas.  Most of my crochet projects are Christmas presents and I have not wanted to spoil any ones Christmas.   So there's more to come!

Here are some pictures of my Christmas tree and my Christmas decorations.  I hope that you enjoy!

My New Cowl Scarf and Hat Set

I just got done crocheting myself a hat and cowl scarf set for winter.  Thank goodness too because it is starting to get cold here in Michigan and I am thinking that snow is just around the corner.  The scarf is very warm as it wraps around my neck completely.  I am very happy with the way this set turned out.  All together this took me about 7 hours to complete. 

Little Health Expirament

For the next two weeks I have decided to not use the following artificial sweeteners; Aspartame, Cyclamate, Saccharin, and Sucralose.  The reasons that I am doing this is because over the years I have heard really bad things about these sweeteners, and because the other day I was reading a magazine and came across some very interesting information that lead me to believe that I am suffering from Aspartame poisoning.

Some of the symptoms of Aspartame poisoning are depression, anxiety, weight gain due to increased cravings, Fybromyalgia, fatigue, headaches, worsening PMS, shortness of breath, frequent urination, palpitation's, seizures, nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, fluid retention, excessive thrust, frequent infections, itchy skin,  limb numbness, facial pain and restless legs, dizziness, confusion and impaired memory function.

Seeing since I have had a few of these symptoms I thought that now would be the time to stop poisoning myself and find out if that improves things.  So here goes nothing.  Good by diet Mountain Dew.  I will have to drink regular Mountain Dew or Throwback for now.  Hopefully, this is a beneficial move.  Day 1 is almost over and I am about to head to bed.

In closing I have included a picture of some pop that I bought at the Health store today.  This is a diet pop that is made out of Stevia instead of artificial sweeteners.

                                  http://www.zevia.com/  You can buy some here!!!  Its called Zevia.

10 Things I Love About Mom; Happy Birthday!

So, its my moms birthday today and this year I decided that I would write a blog and highlight the top ten reasons that I love my mom.  Of course there are more than ten reasons, but this is a blog, not a book.  So for all of you who do not know this is my mom.

Her name is Robin.  This picture was taken this summer when we went to the Art Barn in Douglas, Mi. for my birthday.
Here are the top 10 reasons I love my mom;
1. She taught me about a faith in God.  I would not have the faith that I have today if my mother had not taught my about God and instilled that in me.  She took my sister and I to church and made having a relationship with Jesus important to me.

2.  If I am sick at 2 o'clock in the morning or if my car breaks down the first person I am going to call is my mom because I know that no matter what she will come to where I am and try to make it better.

3.  She still celebrates my birthday and the little milestones in my life like my smoking quit date and my sobriety date with me.

4.  She is my friend as well as my mom.  She shares her struggles with me, and allows me to help her.  She allows me to see her imperfections.

5.  She still cooks for me on occasion.  Once in a while mom will bring over some dish that she made just because.

6.  She is a wonderful grandma, and I am so proud of the way that she is with Lilly.  I know that when I have children, they will have a wonderful grandma.

7.  She is kindhearted and giving to strangers, and that is part of the reason that I love helping others.  She taught me to help those less fortunate.

8.  She loves animals.  She rescues every stray cat in her neighborhood.  I love that my mom can't let an animal suffer.

9.  She is not lacking in motivation.  No one can ever say that she is lazy.  It took a while but I did learn some of this from her.

10.  She is always trying to learn new things which is amazing.  She learned how to drive on the highway, she learned computer, ect. 
I love you mom.  Happy Birthday!!!!!

Why I Hate Winter

OK, so I have whined about this for the entire day to anyone that would listen, and now I know that what I must do is write a blog about it, and just get it out of my system so that my friends can stop having to listen to me complain.  Tomorrow's weather forecast is calling for snow flurries and I am almost wanting to climb under my covers and go into hibernation until next spring.  I HATE WINTER!!!!  No only is it cold but there is no sunlight.  Today we had about 11 hours of potential sunlight but we did not actually receive 11 hours of sunlight because it rained.  So actually there was no sun today.  And since there will be snow flurries tomorrow and the next day then we will not have any sunlight the next two days either.  It seems like with the limited sunlight comes so many things.  First of all people actually go to bed earlier.  I am a night owl so this is not so good for me.  In the summer everyone is up to being up later because the sun does not set until ten pm.  However, in the winter, at like 7 pm people start wanting to go home and go to bed because that is when the sun sets in the winter.  Then in the morning the urge to sleep in longer is stronger because the sun does not rise until almost 8 am.  Also, you can't spend as much time outside so you constantly feel like you are being cooped up like a prisoner.  Everything that you go to do for entertainment costs money because it is inside.  You can't exercise as much because you can't get outside.  Therefore you are eating fattening foods due to the holidays and gaining weight because you can't get outside to exercise it off.  All together these are the reasons that I hate winter.

Dyed My Hair

Before

After

So, I have not posted on here in a couple of days.  I have been working on a couple of projects for Christmas and I can not post the finished pictures until after Christmas because I do not want to ruin the surprise.  So I have not quit crocheting, I just can not show you what I am working on because it will ruin the surprise for someone else should they look at my blog.
Well, I was on a quit smoking site today and I read a very good quote that I would like to share with my recovering friends.  "A trigger is not a command."  That is so true, too.  Just because we are triggered to smoke or drink it is not the same thing as being commanded to do it.  It is not like we are being forced.  This is how we need to look at it.  I think in early sobriety I looked at my triggers for alcohol like they were commands.  That is probably why I relapsed so many times.  Luckily, I can learn form my mistakes and now I have almost 3 years of sobriety.  Now I can take what I learned from quitting drinking and apply it to quitting smoking.  And I am proud to say that as of today I have 2 months and 3 weeks smoke free!

Third Hat for Charity

This is the third hat that I have completed for Warm Up America and Save the Children.  As promised it is a boys cap.  I did it with green denim yarn that did not show up very good when I took the picture.  I really need a better camera.  Hopefully I will get one for Christmas.  Anyways, the hat only took me about two hours to make so I think I will make another one with the blue denim looking yarn as well.

Drinking Coffee for a Good Cause

Tommorrow night at Jumping Java which is my favorite coffee house there's going to be a fundraiser for Transformation Life Center which is a Christian center that helps men with addictions.  There's going to be live music, and a part of the proceeds for all of the drinks sold will go to the center.  This would be a great opportunity to get out and enjoy time with friends and family and support a cause at the same time.  As you all know I am a recovering alcoholic this is a cause that I think is very worthy.  Please come out and get a coffee or smoothie.  You can check out Jumping Java on facebook.  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grand-Haven-MI/Jumpin-Java/153975304616848?ref=search&v=wall
I will be there tommorrow night and I hope to see you here too!

Don't Quit 5 Minutes Before The Miracle

Recently a few of my freinds have been going through some hard times and as I am watching them struggle it is reminding me how important it is not to lose faith.  Sometimes in life it can seem like hope is gone and we are as far down as we can get.  I have been there and I know how that feels.  But something that I have learned from being in that spot is that usually when I am at the darkest spots in my life, those are the times that I am closest to a new dawn.  I don't know when I am in the darkness that God is going to make the sun shine again, but he is. 
When I was at the Unity festival this summer one of the artist talked about one of my favorite bible verses.  Phillians 4:7 "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"  What this artist pointed out is something that I had never thought about before.  See I had always focused just on the peace part of this verse.  What I failed to see was that at some point in my life there would be a time that God would give me peace when it would make no sense for me to have peace.  That is why it transends all understanding.  At some point my life may be so bad that no one will understand why I am at peace when everything in my life is going haywire.  Now, how can I have peace like this.  I think I know the answer to this today.  Because the God I worship has conquered this world.  Nothing in this world can hurt me.  John 16:33 ""I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." 
So don't quit before the miracle.  And don't lose your faith.  God has come through before and he will come through again.  Maybe in the struggle you will find your blessing.

Pink Hot Chocolate

I was at Jumping Java in Grand Haven with Joe, my best friend, the other night enjoying our nightly coffee that we have on the days that I don't work when I purchased some hot chocolate that I thought looked interesting.  According to the package the hot choco will turn pink when you prepare it.  This caught my eye immediately.  First of all I love hot choco, and secondly I love pink.  I had to have it!  It was different for sure.  But the real question was does it really do what it says it does.  So I took it home and this is what happened.

The hot chocolate when I bought it.

Right before I prepared it.  All the supplies are ready.

Sure enough, it turned pink.  And it was delicious!

This was really good hot chocolate too.  It was made out of white chocolate which is my favorite form of chocolate.  Plus some of the proceeds go to benefit breast cancer awareness.  You know me.  If it helps a cause than I probably will like it.  You can go here to purchase some for yourself or someone else.  http://www.mcstevens.com/item124742singleservepacketsbreastcancerawarenesspinkhotchocolate5packetssaveon3ormore.aspx

Or you can pick up some packets at Jumping Java in Grand Haven if you are close to that location. 

Meeting Naia

So, on Wednesday I had the pleasure of meeting my close friend Robin's little girl, Naia, for the first time.  I met Robin when I was 2 years old on Halloween night when we were trick o treating, and we share quite a beautiful history together as friends.  Because of this it was such a great honor to be able to see and hold her baby girl for the first time and I felt very honored and blessed by this.  Here are some pictures of this encounter.

Robin and Naia



Another of Robin and Naia

Beautiful Naia



Me and Naia

Another of Me and Naia

Second Hat for Charity

So, here's the second completed hat for the Save the Children and Warm Up America charity.  This one took me a little longer than the last one to finish because I completely forgot how to make a pom pom.  It has been a few years since I made a pom pom so it completely slipped my mind on how to make one, but I am glad for the refresher.
The next hat that I am going to make will be for a boy and will be a completely different style.

Today is World Animal Day

Today is the official World Animal day so I thought that we could all just take a moment to stop and focus on animal rights.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am an animal lover to the core.  My life revolves around my two cats.  I have an orange tabby cat named Milo and a black and white tabby cat named Zoey.  They are my babies.  If I could I would take in more animals.  I have always loved animals.  One of the things that saddens me is the thought that animals are treated poorly.  They don't have their own voice.  We must be their voice.  We must speak out for them.  So if you have the time today to stop and donate 5 or 10 dollars to your local Humane Society, or even pick up a bag of dog or cat food and drop it off there that would be a great way to show that you care on this day.  Or just give that stray cat in your neighborhood a bowl of milk and a little love today. 
Here's one idea.  Its a little out of the way but it is from now until the 8th of this month.  There is a fundraiser at the Oceana County Animal Shelter today.  They are taking returanable bottles and cans to help their shelter.  The address is 8214 W. Hazel Rd Mears Mi. 49436.
Another place you could donate to is The Pet Pantry.  The Pet Pantry is a local non profit in Muskegon, Mi that helps people who can afford food and supplies for their pets so that they don't have to lose their pets or put them in shelters.  You could donate food or money to them.  The web site to them is http://www.petpantrymi.org/donate.html
OK, I will get off my soap box but I just wanted to take a moment to let everyone know that today is World Animal Day.  I also wanted to show you pictures of my kitties as a celebration of this day.  You can check out world animal day at http://www.worldanimalday.org.uk/

Milo

Zoey

A Gratitude Entry

So I was reading another persons blog today about gratitude and it inspired me to blog about gratitude.  That and the fact that tomorrow I will have two months free of smoking.  I just can not believe that it has been two months since I have picked up a cigarette.  I never thought that I could make it through the first 24 hours with smoking a cigarette, yet God has helped me make it 2 months.  I really think that I may never smoke again. 
Some day's when I think about the person I was 2 years and 9 months ago and the person that I am today, it doesn't seem real.  I am not that person that I was when I quit drinking.  Somehow, with Gods help everything has changed and I am so grateful for that.  That today my biggest challenge is how not to pick up a cigarette, and not how to get through the day without a drink, is something to be grateful for. 
And when little things in life go wrong, or stuff doesn't go my way, all I need to do is think about how it used to be and I can get through it because today I know that there is hope.  Today I know that I am OK and safely held.  Today I have a faith that works. 
I am also grateful because I can be a friend to others today.  Its not all about me and I don't have to be the center of attention today.  People can count on me to be there for them.  My family doesn't worry about me.  They don't have to worry that I will drop a bomb on them today.  They know that I am OK.  They know that I am doing what I need to do to take care of myself.  Now I can be there for them too. 
I am not paralyzed with fear, or running away from myself or running away from you.  I am not hiding from God or hiding from my feelings.  I am free to be me even if that person is imperfect and flawed.  I can accept my imperfections and loved myself despite them.  And I can accept you imperfections and love you despite them.  So that's what I am grateful for today!

The First Hat for Charity

Here is the first hat that I have completed for the charity challenge.  It only took me one and a half hours.  I just used old yarn that I had laying around the house.  Finally, I have something I can do with all of that left over yarn!

I also want to include a picture that I took last night on my lunch break at work.  It had just gotten done raining and I was able to capture the prettiest rainbow ever.  It is good to know that God still keeps his promises.  What a picture of hope!  Maybe this was God's way of telling me that my hat project is a good idea?

Winter Project for Charity

So this winter I have decided that I want to do something that is a little more meaningful than just sitting on my butt and wishing that it was warmer.  A year ago I was working as a director for a drop in center that helped people with severe mental illness.  Now I am a greeter at Walmart.  I really miss doing something that is meaningful and that makes a difference.  Even though my job is a lot let stressful and I am very grateful for that, it just does not have that level of satisfaction that I used to get out of going to work.  So I decided that the answer to this predicament is a project.  I am going to combine my love for crochet with my love for helping people out.  Warm Up America and Save the Children are asking people who can crochet to make baby hats for newborns and send them in before February 28, 2011.  One of the reasons newborns die in third world countries are illness due to not having their head covered properly. So I am going to try to make 1 baby hat a week between now and then and send it in.  So the goal is to make 21 baby caps between now and February 28th. 
I also would like to challenge my readers to come along with me on this journey.  You can visit this web site and either donate $10.00 to the cause, or you can make your own caps to send in.  http://www.goodgoes.org/caps Lets make a difference for some little boy or girl that is just trying to make it through the first year of their lives.  If you donate or decide to make a cap it it would be nice to hear from you through a comment.  Lets start something cool!

Inspired to Blog

So last night instead of going out and running all over the town with a friend like I usually do I stayed home for a change and watched a movie.  The movie that I watched was "Julie and Julia"  which was a movie based on the true life stories of two women.  One was Julia Child the American woman who wrote a book on cooking french food, and the other was Julie Powell, a young woman who became famous because she spent a year cooking all 520 or so recipes in Julia Child's cook book and then she blogged about it.  What made people fall in love with her blog was that she was so inspired and so honest.  She was authentically herself.  She knew who she was and she wasn't hiding it, she was embracing it, and that is what people fell in love with.  So that is what inspired me.  I have always loved to write but in some ways I feel like my writing has been inhibited and not as honest as it can be.  So here's the challenge.  This blog is going to be the authentic me.  Its going to be about the things I love like crochet, reading and my cats.  But more than anything it is going to be about my thoughts before the editing.  I am not going to hold back.  What you see is what you get.  I am tired of writing about the weather or how nice the weekend activities have been.  Sometimes I think as adults we become so good at holding back that we almost forget how to let go and be authentic.  So now I will express myself authentically.  If you disagree with me that's fine, I didn't write this blog to impress you. 
   So what else is this blog going to be about?  One of the things I am going to blog on is my crochet projects.  Here is a hat that I made this summer for my niece, Lilly, who is 1 year old.  I have included a couple of pictures of the hat for you to see. 

The other things that this web page is going to be about is the books that I am reading.  The reason I want to write about this is because I really have a passion for reading.  I feel as though I really can escape when I can find a good book to read.  My favorite books to pick up and read are usually Christian fiction, or inspiration, or science fiction.

The last thing that this blog is going to be about is my life in recovery from drugs and alcohol and my recovery from anorexia, and my new recovery from smoking cigarettes.  Everyday I thank God for freedom from these chains.  I have 7 years free from Anorexia, 2 years 9 months free from Alcohol, and 2 months free from cigarettes.  Everyday God gives me a beautiful gift and I want to share this gift with the world.