A Productive Lazy.

I've become quite lazy pertaining to certain areas of my life (more on that later). Overall, I'm a rather lazy person. It's true! Don't get me wrong, I quite enjoy having excuses and activities that turn the lazy into productive. But usually the lazy in me is more dominant. My lazy does involve reading (to myself and to my little men), watching netflix with my man after the kids are in bed (usually while knitting or perusing Instagram or Facebook <--- read: keeping up with friends and family)... ya know, a productive lazy. Not the sleeping-all-day-watching-TV-with-glazed-over-eyes-and-powdered-sugar-all-over-my-mouth-all-night kind of lazy. But to be completely honest, I would rather read than exercise. I would rather wear sweats than find a cute outfit if I'm just staying home. And I would rather munch on a cookie than a clean piece of lettuce. And that's just the tip of the lazy iceberg. There are way more areas in my life that need a kick-start.

Such as...

The Creative Department.
I can tell Summer is almost over and Fall is right around the corner, due to my knitting needles coming out of hibernation over the Spring/Summer months. I have one custom order in the makings for a friend's husband (shh, it's an anniversary gift) and I just received word that my SIL procured a table at our Church's annual Craft Boutique. She's graciously sharing with me and so I have a small spot to sell my goods this coming November!! I'm excited...and nervous! Every year that I've gone, I've thought about getting a table and selling some of my crafty things...and I finally get to this year!! It'll be great and humbling to set out my things and see what sells (the great part)...and what doesn't (the humbling part).  So now, I need to start coming up with a list of things to make and sell. What I'll probably end up doing is emptying out my Etsy shoppe and go from there. 

The Business Department.
My Etsy shoppe. I really want to be better about keeping this shoppe current. I need to rethink the things I sell, promote more (I hate that part)...and retake pictures. Oh my GOSH, some of the pictures I have up in my shoppe are SO dated and awful. 2009 called and they want their pictures back. Yeah, it's that bad...and that dated. I think this craft boutique will be good for me. I also, need to be better about consigning my old clothes and posting more on Poshmark. Also de-cluttering this house and selling on Craigslist. Not really business oriented...but it helps to bring in extra money. So it kind of is.

Spiritual Relationship Department
Devotions. I'm behind. I haven't had a date-night with Jesus in a long time. I like to think of my time with the Lord as a date night. Not many people think of their alone times with their husbands as date nights. But I kinda do. I personally look forward to spending time with my husband each evening after the boys are in bed. It's special and I'm enjoying this stage where the boys still go to bed at a relativity early hour. It's just him and me. Even better, having the opportunity to actually get out, just the two of us, makes me super happy. There's just something special about looking forward to time alone with the man that you love most of all. I think the same should be for our time with the Lord. I'm still working on this mindset. The mindset of looking forward to opening up the Word with happy anticipation. And making the quite time happen. The time where I can hear His voice speaking gently to me. Just as my husband appreciates undivided attention, so does my First Love. No distractions, no excuses, just Him and me. You would think that after 25 years, I would have this down. But I don't. I still don't have an exact time as to when we get together. Morning, afternoon, evening...right before bed? Thankfully, He's patient with me. And He's okay with me being spontaneous.

School Department
I was hoping by this week we would be on a schedule and have things going smoothly when it comes to Simon's schooling. But no. We've hardly done a thing. He's working on memorizing how to spell and write out his last name (poor child - 10 letters is a lot to memorize!!) and my phone number. He's also working on his reading. He's getting the sounding-out-of-letters down and gets so excited when he can figure out words by himself. Last week we studied the Solar System. He loved that. And I did too.  But that's about it. I need to come up with activities and a solid schedule. This will help us both. I also need to research schools and what he needs to know to enter Kindergarten. Even though he's 5 (he just turned 5 last month), we're holding him back a year. So he'll be starting next Fall. Plenty of time, right? Ha!

Blogging Department
Enough Said.

Pictures Department
Posting pictures to both the blog and to Facebook. I've gotten so spoiled with taking pictures on my iphone and uploading them to Instagram - literally a less-than-60 second process. It's now SUCH a chore to actually turn my netbook on, put my SD card into my card reader, transfer to a folder and program so I can touch them up, AND then finally upload them to Facebook/blog (which is a process in and of itself). Lazy much? Granted, I'm uploading more than one picture at a time, but still. What takes such little time on my phone, takes 5x the amount of time from my amazing camera. And you know what? It's totally worth it in the end. Most of the time anyway. The pictures tend to look SO much nicer and there's no question when it comes to the quality. And they're a heck of a lot cheaper to print out (no matter how adorable the instagram prints are).  Plus, I tend to take way more with my Sony than with my iphone. So yes, I need to be better about uploading and sharing on Facebook...for my family's sake if nothing else.

Here are some examples of Instagram vs. my Sony NEX 5 camera. With the right filters, you can almost pass the iphone pictures off as the real thing. ;)

^Instagram

^Sony

   

^Instagram

^Sony

^Instagram

^Sony

**Blog post finished. Time to get off my lazy butt**

Ramblings of a pregnant lady.

I haven't blogged in such a long time. It's not because I don't have anything on my mind, it's actually the complete opposite...I think I have too much on my mind to sort through. I've had this to-do list running through my head for the past couple of months and it doesn't seem to be getting any shorter no matter how much I cross off.  There's a hospital bag to pack, there's a birth plan to write out, there are meals to prepare and freeze, there's a house that needs dusting and sweeping every other day (not to mention a good cleaning), there's a baby room to prepare, there are baby clothes to wash and books to read and emails to catch up on....and and and and....wow. My days don't seem to be long enough...and yet they seem to last forever. Haha! 

My son has been extra needy and whiny lately. It grates on me. I wonder if it's because he senses a big change is about to happen?  Or it could be that's he's hit 3.5 years (I've heard that the half years are the hardest). Who knows. Naptimes have become extra precious to me (as bad as that may sound). I'm grateful for a husband who comes home every night to give me a break from being a "single parent". He was a huge blessing to me on Saturday, I didn't know it was possible to be that patient with such a needy child. But he was and I found myself admiring and loving him all the more for it.

33 weeks

This last trimester has been a lot more rough than I remember it being with Simon. I've had a lot more contractions (braxton hicks and back cramps) and a lot more pelvic pressure - I think baby dropped around week 30. I'm at week 33 now and my midwife confirmed with surprise that he has indeed dropped. I'm not sure if he's engaged yet though. Knowing that he's dropped hasn't really surprised me, it's just confirmed my suspicions of why I've been so uncomfortable. I really should buy a pelvic belt...but knowing that I only have a few weeks to go is making me not want to spend the money on a contraption that I've never used before and have no way of knowing if it'll help or not. Sometimes I hate how I stingy I am with money. :-/  

I've hit the dreaded 30 pounds with 7 weeks to go in the pregnancy. I hope I don't go past 35 pounds. Ugh, I was really hoping to end with 30 pounds.  I tell myself that it's all baby since all of my clothes are still fitting the same, but then I freak myself out that I'm having a large baby and so I go back to thinking that I'm just getting fat. I don't know which is worse. ;)

Pain, awkwardness and weight aside, It's kind of fun being pregnant with a baby in the dead of winter and knowing that he'll be here when it's still cold out. I've been inspired to make him his own traveling blanket and a hat to match.  I can't wait to see him in it.  Knitting for babies is one of my favorite things to do...and it's such a stress reliever when I can put my feet up, watch a show/movie with my husband and knit away. Woosah.

Well, I blogged. Hip hip hooray. Now it's time to tackle some projects off of my to-do list (the boring projects that is: cleaning the house - gotta have a clean house for company tonight!).

Toodaloo. <3

Knitting.

I've been all about knitting lately. I sat down last night and took out my current project (mittens for Simon) and knitted for 30 minutes. It was so relaxing...and just what I needed after a stressful week. 

I've set my crochet hook down and have picked up not 2...but 4(!) needles in happy anticipation of what my multiple needles will create. I can't thank my mom enough for showing me how to work with double-pointed needles (dpn).  It took me quite a few tries, getting used to the awkwardness of using more than 2 needles...but I conquered and came out a winner. I still don't like starting off a pattern with dpns, but the more I do, the easier it gets.  My very first project using dpns was an owl. A very cute owl at that. Once I dig out all of my yarn treasures, I'll post a picture of it (I still have to create felt eyes and such for it - so, for now it's a cute little blind purple/yellow owl).

The more I learn, the more I love working with yarn.  I think my next project will be fingerless gloves. They would come in quite handy (ha, no pun intended) for when I sit down to blog, or text, or...knit.  I will leave you with a few pictures of my *hopefully* upcoming projects.  (I doubt I'll do them all...but I can dream).