Some Life Updates, July 29, 2013

I’m not setting goals this week...you’ll hear why in a second. Today I’d just like to share some life updates, so cue the random music!

First of all, I stopped on the side of the road to snap these pictures last night. This is the scenery I "put up with" each week on my hour-long ride home from church.

I absolutely love the beauty of that drive each week, and there are so many picture-perfect moments, but this sunset was one of the most beautiful. The entire sky was dark with clouds except for that one place on the horizon...so pretty!

But enough of the weather.

We had a great week at VBS last week! Did you catch any of my FB pictures? It was a challenging, tiring week, but we had one boy saved on Thursday night! He came back to church Sunday along with a neighbor, so we are thankful for the Lord’s working in those lives.

This week, our family is heading to Family Camp. We’ve never been to a family camp at this particular camp before, and we’ve never been as a family of 8, so it might be an interesting week! I’m looking forward to seeing some friends and hopefully having time for real-life chats. :)

If you are wondering about So Sew Organized during that time, here is the deal...I’m going to keep the shop open for those few days I’m gone, just simply be aware that orders will take longer to ship. Thanks for understanding! I hope you will take the time to browse the goodies over there anyway, and perhaps share them with your friends!

I’m sending more shop news via the newsletter today, so sign up for that in the right sidebar if you’d like to stay informed!

In keeping with the randomness, let me hear what random thing is going on for you this week! Exciting summer activities? Sewing projects? Life updates? What you ate for breakfast? Let's keep it random here today, folks! =)

My Beautiful new Wallet

Here is a peek at the adorable wallet I picked up a few weeks ago!!

I know I don’t normally share pictures of my wallet - seems kind of odd, right? But I’m trying to infuse a bit more personality into my posts...a little more of “me” than just projects, sewing, etc.

I actually picked this up at a Christian bookstore in Oregon.

I have carried this style wallet for years, and LOVE it! My old one was falling apart, however {it was white with cherries!} and I’d been on the lookout for a new one.

Lo and behold, I found these super cute ones with Bible verses on them! Score!

There were some other prints I liked even better, but this verse caught my eye above all the others. Last year during VBS we sang a song based on this verse, and it has become one of my favourites! When the woes of life threaten to get me down, I try to remind myself - It is the joy of the Lord, not of my circumstances, that will give me strength!

Of course, the happy teal colour doesn’t hurt my feelings, either. {wink!}

Inside, there are convenient spots for money, change, and plastic. If you are the type to carry 65 different credit/loyalty cards, I don’t recommend this style wallet. It only fits a few...but for my minimalist self that is perfect!

I love slipping this thin wallet into one of my medium totes and carrying it everywhere! It is easy to use and leaves plenty of room in my bag for other junk stuff. =)

Do you have a favourite style wallet or bag that you carry? What small items bring inspiration for you?


Linking up with: Womanhood with Purpose, Show and Tell Friday, Diana Rambles, Classy Clutter

No Goals, but Many Gifts!

I'm in Maine this week, before going to Oregon for about 10 days. So exciting! I'm thrilled to be taking a little time "off," visiting family, and taking a cross country trip. I just love traveling!

Oh, and when I got to Maine, look what was greeting me...

I shared this on my 1,000 Gifts picture series on Facebook, but I can't resist sharing it here too!

My Grammie told me I could pick some and put them in my room, and boy do they smell lovely! I just adore lilacs, they are my favourite flower, and now when they are just opening up they smell so sweet.

I had an interesting, blessed, hectic weekend. Sounds interesting, right?! I'd love to briefly share it with you, because God did some exciting things!

We were supposed to leave for Moncton, NB on Friday. Supposed to. I woke up Friday morning, preparing to leave, when I was informed we wouldn't be going anywhere...half my family had come down with the flu!!

There was a time when that type of news would have really disappointed me and really messed up my day. But I've learned to have a bit of a different perspective, knowing that God is in control of all of these unforseen events!

So, instead of getting bent out of shape about it...I went shopping. Therapy, right? :) I had a nice relaxing day, just in a different location then I had intended.

I was able to get to New Brunswick the next day, and got to take part in some evangelistic meetings with some friends and mentors of mine. I had a great time. It has been a while since I've been able to attend meetings like this, and it was so nice to just sit and soak in that spiritually encouraging atmosphere! And to listen to someone else play the piano...what a treat! :)

Although I didn't know any of the church people, there were some very exciting spiritual decisions made, including some salvation decisions. That always makes for an exciting day! It is so excited to see our God work!

So that is the update on my weekend...I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks being fun and exciting as well! I'm not setting goals this week, just taking the time to enjoy family and get ready for our trip on Saturday. Fun, fun times! =)

What exciting things are you doing this week? Are you setting goals?

25 Random Things About Me

Recently fellow blogger and friend MaryEllen posted 28 random things about herself. I thought I’d borrow her idea in honor of my milestone birthday, and share 25 random things about me today.

Yup, I’m turning 25. Remember when I said you’d laugh when you found out my age? Go ahead and do it now. :)


25 things you probably will wish you never knew about me...

1. I’ve lived in 3 states and one “foreign” country - Maine for 17 years, North Carolina for 5 years, Florida for 7 months and Nova Scotia, Canada for 2½ years.

2. ^ I can’t pick a favourite. I love different aspects of each place ^

3. I own an old Apple laptop (the iBook G4 to be exact) and I’m shocked it didn’t quit on me long ago. I’m saving up for a replacement.

4. I use fleece sheets for 9 months out of the year. The other 3 months I use flannel.

5. Cooking is my least favourite household chore.

6. I used to be very much of a “people person.” Now I consider myself more of an introvert.

7. I love blogging and sewing. If I had to pick between the two, I don’t know which I’d pick.

8. I always dreamed of going to Argentina, the western US and Europe. I am still waiting on Europe.

9. My favourite book of the Bible is Psalms. Or James. Or Proverbs. Ok, so I can’t pick just one.

10. I use Aussie hair spray. I love the smell!

11. I once mistook a squirrel for a baby goose. Some day I’ll tell you the whole story.

12. I also once mistook my aerosol hairspray for my aerosol deodorant. Ask me how THAT went.

13. I am the only child in my family not named after someone else. My name is truly all my own. :)

14. It would be very hard for me to go without my morning cup of coffee.

15. ^ I’m not picky about my coffee. I can only think of a couple times that a cup has been so bad that I’ve dumped it out.^

16. I’ve read straight through the Bible once in my life. I’ve started and not finished a bunch more times, but I’m making good progress this year!

17. I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 22.

18. You know the “3 times a bridesmaid, never a bride” saying? I’ve actually never been a bridesmaid, but I have been 3 times a wedding pianist. Am I still exempt??

19. Besides Canada and the US, the only other countries I’ve been to are Argentina and Chile. I guess we need to change THAT!

20. I made homemade white bread for the first time last Friday.

21. My favourite colour is purple. Turquoise is currently holding a close second.

22. ^ After living in Canada nearly 3 years, I’ve started typing in Canadian. Not sure when that started happening! ^

23. I can’t count how many times in the last year I’ve been asked what grade I’m in.

24. I almost never paint my nails. {Here is one rare occurrence)

25. Perhaps the most “daring” thing I’ve done is jumping off a cliff into a lake. So fun! I’m working up the courage to go skydiving some day. Maybe before I turn 30?


So there you have it...25 random things about me you probably don’t care to know. I’d love to hear what you and I have in common from this list!! Comment away!

Blogging News and Updates

Today’s post is just going to be a hodge-podge of random blogging info, because I have some exciting (and not so exciting) things to share about changes that are being made! So, I decided to cram them all into one boring post and call it a day. Ok? Hopefully you can stick with me to the end!

Item #1: Home Improvement Party

Yup, its that time again.. Time for our monthly Home Improvement Linky party! I had a blast seeing the super creative ways that you improved your home last month, and I’m excited to see what you have to link up this month! {note: all the participants last month also got a Facebook mention, so maybe that will give you a little motivation to get your party on?}

Remember, you can link up ANY type of improvement you’ve made to your physical home, or your way of living over the month of March. Our party is going to be held next Thursday, March 28th and will go live at 8am. EST. So head back over here then to link up your blog posts from the last months, or share in the comments section the improvements you’ve been making to your home!

Item #2: Newsletter

I’m always dreaming of new ways to make this blog’s community a fun, helpful place. One of my dreams has been to incorporate some kind of newsletter with behind-the-scenes info, news updates, and just more general randomness! Through the newsletter you will be the first to receive news about shop updates and sales, reminders about linky parties or other challenges, and other fun things I dream up along the way! I started sending a newsletter at the beginning of March to a handful of people that have shown interest in my blog or shop in the past. I originally thought I’d be sending this out as an email once every two weeks, but I can clearly see its going to be a weekly thing. :) So I’d love for you to sign up, and bear with me while I get the hang of this thang. So far it has been fun and I’ve had some great feedback, so I hope you’ll join in! You can join by simply leaving your email in the handy little box in my right sidebar {the one that says, "Subscribe to the Newsletter."}

Oh, and from now on, anyone who signs up for the newsletter will receive a free Home Management printable. Yay for free stuff!

Item #3: Boo for Spam

Over the past few months I’ve been getting what to me seems like a totally unreasonable amount of spam comments. Thankfully, none of them have had bad content, and my spam filter has caught most of them. They are actually quite hysterical sometimes… things like, “Great post, man!” or “Hey, you blog about the same sorts of things as I do” and then a link to their skateboarding site. Really? Skateboarding?

Lately, these comments are getting more and more frequent (sometimes 20+ a day!) and my spam filter has stopped catching them all. So daily, I have to come to the blog and delete 4-5 spam comments from my most recent post. That is obviously NOT what I want my readers to be greeted with when they come to my sight, and I personally think it deters you from leaving true, genuine comments {which I love and appreciate!}

So unfortunately, I am going to have to turn on that dreaded Word Verification for my comments. I absolutely hate doing it, because I hate that word verification myself on other blogs! {is it just me, or are some of them impossible to read?} Hopefully this will stop the spambots from coming to my blog,and after a time I can turn it back off. But for now, you all will have to bear with me, and verify that you are not a robot to leave a comment.

I hope that this doesn’t deter you from leaving comments, because I love, love, LOVE receiving each and every genuine comment from you sweet readers! It absolutely makes my day! So please stick with me. :)

Okay, back to more fun stuff...

Item #4: Pinterest Book Boards

You know that reading is one of my passions in life {right up there with drinking coffee} and I love finding books with great content that I can recommend to others. Each month in my Hot Happenings recap posts I share the books I’ve recently read and a brief review. Now you can find those same recommendations on my Pinterest board, “Books I’ve read {and recommend}.” Original title, no? I’m still working on adding to this board, but I hope you’ll head on over and follow along to get some great book titles to add to your reading list.

I also am working on a board of books I want to read...and I’d love to hear what books you recommend! I think organizing my reading in these two categories is going to be so convenient!


Okay, I’m done my rambling. Thanks for sticking with me this long! What are your thoughts in regards to these four items? Anything I could do differently to make your blog reading experience better? I love working to make this blog a fun, helpful place to be!

Psst! Don’t forget to head over and enter to win Leah’s giveaway! My tablet sleeve is one of the giveaway items, as well as some adorable handmade baby + toddler gear from 3 other handmade shops. You don’t want to miss out!

They Flock Together

I’m calling this tote, “Birds of a Feather”

I was asked to make this as a Christmas present for a local lady, but I’m pretty sure she’s not reading here, so I thought I’d share it with you. Because I absolutely lurve it. Which is odd, because I’m not that into roosters, chickens, or partridges, and this bag has ‘em all. Hence the title of this post.

And the turquoise….oh the turquoise.

Purple has always been my favourite color. But since turquoise is basically the new black, I’ve been enjoying using it more and more in different areas. Whoever designed this rooster/chicken material was brilliant to include such a rich turquoise color!! I had a blast matching it to line the inside and provide a pleasing pop of color to the outside.

This tote is an example of how fun it can be to take a certain theme that you adore, such as roosters, and tie it into a fun, stylish handbag that you can carry everywhere! I've done a similar idea with horses, and loved the result then, too.

And even though I'm not into roosters, I'd totally carry this one. I love it. Did I mention that??

If you were to carry a fun themed tote, which theme would you choose? Any rooster fans out there?

A toe-riffic solution to a toe-tally gross problem

This post is toe-tally going to be filled with toe-tal groaners...because it is all about my toes. Weird, I know. If you are one of those feet-fetish people (coughValcough) then you might not want to keep reading  - it includes pho-toes. (Ok, even I’m groaning over that one!)

Here is my toe story:

A year ago (yes a whole year!) I went and got a mani/pedi with some friends. I showed it to you here - and absolutely fell in love with the massage chair.

What I didn’t tell you is that beau-toe-ful nail polish was covering up a secret - a small dead spot on my big toe nail.

I wasn’t sure what it was, and just figured that it would go away or grow out with my toenail. Imagine my surprise, when, weeks later, I took all that toe-polish off and found that half my nail was “dead” - completely white and flaky. I’d never heard of such a thing.

I still thought maybe I had dropped something on my toe (even though I’m pretty sure I would have remembered something like that!) and it would grow out eventually.

But it didn’t. No matter how much I trimmed my nail, over half the nail remained, well, dead-ish.

So I asked a few people about it. And you know what they said?

“It’s a fungus.”

I had to whisper that part because it is so embarrassing...I mean, fungus makes me sound like a really dirty nasty person. I’m not. Promise. But I really and truthfully had a toe fungus. And I didn’t know of a thing I could do about it.

#failuretosociety

Then along about June, when I spent an unexpected week in Maine, my Grammie mentioned that my uncle used to struggle with athlete’s foot, which is a fungus (apparently this fungus thing runs in the family?) His doctor had told him to spray his foot with peroxide every morning after showering. (See? We really are clean...we shower every day.)

Couldn’t hurt to try, right?

I got a spray bottle from Dollarama, and started spraying my toes every morning and night. You can’t be too cautious about these things.

And guess what? The fungus went away.

It took a long time for all the dead nail to grow out, but eventually I reached the place where I was back to trimming healthy nail again.

And here is where I share those pho-toes: #warningitsafoot

This is after I noticed the dead part was growing out...there is just a small part that is still white and flaky.

This is after it is all back to normal! Excuse my super ugly feet...that runs in the family too...also excuse the weird wrinkle in my nail, not sure what that is. But it is a super healthy wrinkle.

Maybe this post was just the long way of saying: Spraying peroxide on your feet kills fungus. Bam. It’s that easy. Still just as horrific, but easy to get rid of. You can chalk that up to “things you never wanted to need to know.”

Have you ever had a fungus? How about a super cheap and easy remedy for an ailment? Do you have a foot fetish? I toe-tally apologize...

Will it be a Hard Winter?

For several months now we’ve been reading through the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We absolutely LOVE these books! Recently they have opened up an interesting topic of conversation at our house. The story goes like this:

In the book, “The Long Winter,” an Indian comes to De Smet (I almost said Walnut Grove!) and predicts the hard winter ahead. He does so based on a pattern he had seen during his long life - that every 7th winter is a hard winter, but every third 7th winter, or 21st winter, is the hardest of all. And that winter coming was a 21st winter.

And it was hard. He was right.

There were a bunch of other signs that Pa observed during the fall months that alerted him to the hard winter to come. The muskrats built their homes larger and thicker than he’d ever seen. The birds did not stop to rest and eat like they normally did...they just flew high and fast toward the south. Things like that.

So we’ve been discussing whether or not the 21st winter thing is still legit, and how do we know when the 21st winter is coming?

And maybe we’re just paranoid, but now we’ve been noticing some weird things happening as fall sets in and this area gets ready for winter.

I {love} blue jays! They are so brilliant! Excuse the sleeve reflection, lol!

The birds. They are congregating. Which is normal for the robins, geese, etc...but even the blue jays have banded together. And blue jays don’t fly south. Who has ever seen a huge flock of blue jays before?

Something is digging up our lawn. We’re debating weather it is skunks or raccoons. (We have both aplenty around here!) But it’s not just our lawn, it is lawns all over Nova Scotia… all our neighbors are sporting the same dirt patches we are. And everyone says how they’ve never seen anything like it before. Why are the skunks/raccoons so hungry all of a sudden?

And then we had that weird mink that was doing everything possible to find food and shelter a few weeks back.

Coincidence? Oh probably! And you might just call me crazy after this post...but I thought it would be fun to type this out and then see what happens! What if it does turn out to be a crazy winter?

So humor me for a bit...will it be a hard winter? Can we look to wildlife and nature to help us predict the seasons? Do you think the 21st winter theory still holds true?


***Note: post contains affiliate links

An Interestingly Minky Day!

Last Wednesday, we had an interesting day that involved a mink.

It all started when Mom came to my room saying, "There is a mink in the shed. I'm not sure what to do!"I armed myself with all the protective gear I could find (knowing how vicious these things are!) and headed out to see what I could do.

Sure enough, there she was, hiding out under some folding chairs.

I gingerly lifted the chairs out to be able to get at her better, (while sitting on top of the chest freezer...I didn't want to get bit, ok?) and then oh so gently started to prod her with a broom.

She hissed at it once, then proceeded it sniff it curiously, decide it wasn't dangerous, and curl up and go to sleep.

Yes, I was literally hitting her with the broom and she was doing this:

She would look up now and again as if to say, "Stupid humans! Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?"

I'll spare you all the details, but she ended up behind the freezer (after me literally trying to pick her up with my shoe and boot her out the door...nothing doing, she did not want out) and I knew I only had one option. Pick.her.up.

So, I did.

You'll notice that I was prepared. My dad's heaviest winter coat and two pairs of thick gloves. (Two pair, because each glove had a hole in one finger or another) It wouldn't really have mattered...she didn't even flinch when I picked her up!

I carried her up the lane to an abandoned house behind us. I figured, if she was so dead set on finding a nice dry place to sleep, she could have free reign of an abandoned house. Sure enough, she ran right into the cellar entrance. Phew. What an intense couple of hours. Glad thats over with.

NOT!

A few hours later, she was back in our yard, rooting around as if she was a rabbit or the family dog or something. Here is a short video to show you how calm she really was. And yes, she was favoring one of her front paws.

A little while after I shot that video, she ran down the lane (while I was walking up it...that was freaky, it was like she was the family dog or something running out to greet me) and went to the neighbors. And we never saw her again after that. Here's hoping she found a nice home in minky heaven.

Hey, I can hope that, can't I? The reality is she'll probably be back!

What interesting thing has been going on in your life recently?

My new "Gadget"

***Happy Tuesday! I found out today that I'm "stuck" in Maine a couple days longer, so you'll continue to excuse the irregular posting! Now I get to fill in the extra time with more family visits, woo hoo!

One of my goals for 2012 was to simplify, and one of the ways I strive to do that is to limit the amount of stuff I have. It is so easy to accumulate, accumulate, accumulate - not even bad things, just things! That is why I frequently weed out and donate items so they don't get built up.

But....


(You knew there was a "but," didn't you?)

Sometimes having things is necessary or better in the long run. Take my sewing machine and serger for instance. They get so dusty and packed up with fabric fuzz...similar to the lint that collects in your pockets over time! All that build up is not good for the machine and could cause serious problems if allowed to continue. So, I picked up this:

It is a mini vacuum, designed for computers and electronics! I actually picked this up at our local dollar store, at the whopping cost of $2!! Can't go wrong, right? They sell these things geared towards sewing machines, but the basic ones in Walmart that I saw were in the upper $20 range. I figured the $2 was worth a shot!

It has a simple on/off switch...

And two different attatchments...

And a usb cable....

Wait, a USB cable??? That is right, since this puppy is designed for the computer, it's only power source is through a USB port! It may look a little strange, but it gets the job done!!

I wasn't sure how well this little thing would work, but it is getting the job done! I'm much more positive about the life of my serger now that I can keep it nice and cleaned out. The normal vacuum attachments were too big and too "sucky" to clean the lint off, so I'm confident that this is the better route.

So there is my latest "gadget!" What handy tools do you have around the house that you consider important? What things get purged and don't make the cut?

Come Check Out Our Facebook Page! (and a hysterical picture of my cat)

Did you know that A Living Sacrifice is on facebook now? We are! It has been a thought of mine for a while, and now it has finally happened! So far it has been another fun way to connect with all my blogging friends!

For those of you that aren't following the facebook page yet, I wanted to let you in on a little contest we're having over there! I took a really hysterical picture of my cat last week that cracks me up every time I look at it! I put a fun caption on the picture, but I am interested what you folks can come up with.

Go over to our page and check out the picture, then come up with your own creative caption for it! I'll pick the best one and let you know at the end of this week. I think there will be some good ones!

Get your thinking caps on! :)

Some Friday Love: Recipe Binder Printable!

To celebrate this beautiful Friday evening (aren't Friday's just the best of days?) I have a FREE printable for you!

I have to admit that I don't have a recipe binder, but a reader asked if I could make a printable to match the others for a recipe binder. If there is one thing I love, it is making printables that meet the needs of my readers! This blog would be pretty boring without you, so passing on some love in the way of printables is the least I can do!

Anyway, back to the printable. How did I get on the sappy train?

I really was not sure what all is included on a recipe binder page, but here is what I came up with:

Then I thought that maybe there are some people out there that prefer to write teeny tiny and save space, and would like two recipes to a sheet. So I shrunk everything down and came up with this:

Hopefully this will be a help! I could totally do a B&W version or size it for a half sized binder, if you prefer.

After making these sheets, I began to see how useful and easy a recipe binder would be! No more recipe cards? I could handle that. Binders just might organize everything much better! So I just may be putting these sheets to good use myself, one of these days. :)

If you would like a copy of either of these printables, just leave a comment on this post (be sure to include your email address!) and let me know which sheet you prefer. Also, leave me the name you want included in the header, or if you would prefer it left blank for you to fill in.

Happy weekend, my friends! =)

Psst! I do have recipe cards, shopping lists, and other meal-planning helps available in my Etsy shop! Click here to find out more!

Burning our Field {In which we did NOT burn down the entire neighborhood this year}

Tuesday night was the perfect night for one thing: BURNING OUR FIELD!!

You might remember last year when we leveled the town burned our field. Go here to read that post and find out how quickly fire can get out of hand. Phew. We weren’t sure if our nerves could handle this again, but I’m here to report no harm done this time! (Well, except for the field burned. But that was supposed to happen.)

This is what our front yard looks like:

Beyond our lovely plow truck you can tell that the lawn changes to field - in the summertime, the lawn part is kept mowed, but the field part is, well, a field. A field full of rats and ticks that like to find their way into our house. Fun, huh? That is just one reason to burn this baby - everyone says that it helps keep the tick population down (and we have them in abundance here - thankfully not the lymes-disease-carrying ones, but I don’t them, nonetheless.) Another reason is that it helps keep the grasses in the field cleaned up and encourages good growth...but more on that in a bit.

I also should mention that in our area, this is the time of year our county is “allowed” to do this, legally. (You know you live in hick-town when….) I am not 100% sure of the exact dates, but I know the last couple weeks of March are included in the timeframe. It is a good idea to check with your city/county officials and find out when is the best and safest time to attempt a project like this. If you want to be all legal and safe, that is.

Here is how it all went down:

First we gathered buckets. Loooootsa buckets. That was one error we made last year, we didn’t have enough implements to fight the fire handy. There is a ditch that runs straight through the middle of the field, so we just assembled our pile of buckets near that water so we could scoop and run if necessary.

Dad found a nice pile of dry grass and just lit it with a good ol’ fashioned match. Then we just used metal rakes to encourage the fire to spread. Just keeping the grass fluffed up (as opposed to packed down and matted from winter weather) helps the fire to move along, consuming the grass as it goes.

As usual, we had lots of helpers!

The fire burned very slowly this year, thankfully. The weather was pretty much perfect. There were a few gusts of a breeze, but nothing too bad, and the breeze kept shifting as opposed to blowing our fire straight (and fast) in one direction. Instead, it seemed to send the smoke straight to our eyes no matter where we went! We were burning later in the evening, so things were starting to get damp with dew, which helped (as opposed to middle of the day hotness).

We didn’t get the entire thing done, but a good bulk of it. We’ll finish ‘er up on the next good, clear night.

Now, observe the difference it makes. In the following picture, just before the truck, you’ll notice a definite difference in the lawn...there is almost a clear line separating two parts of the lawn (and beyond the truck the field starts):

That different-looking strip of grass (where the truck is sitting) was part of the field last year. Observe:

It may be hard to tell, but look at the distance from our awkwardly-placed fire ring to the blackened field….

{2011}

As opposed to this shot from the same angle…..

{2012}

Can you tell? The lawn is bigger. Just trust me. Burning the field last year allowed us to mow a bigger section and make our lawn larger, providing more places for play and hosting parties outdoors. This year, the lawn will probably get bigger yet! Eventually we hope to get it at least to the ditch or even beyond. (How cool would a small softball field be for church family softball games? Or sand volleyball? Oooh, possibilities are endless!)

I am glad to report 100% safety and success with this years field-burning project. Hopefully this post has answered any questions you might have about this hick-town practice, but if you have any questions feel free to ask! If you have an area that would benefit from this, why not adding it to your spring cleaning list for this year?

Have you ever burned a field before? How about any other “exciting” burning experiences like ours?

Will Pinterest Make or Break Us?

There is a lot of hullabaloo over Pinterest these days. If you haven’t gotten your invite yet, let me just tell ya, its the greatest thing since sliced bread. Here is how most of us use it:

We jump right in with both feet when we get our invite, making boards, and repinning like crazy. Anything and everything gets repinned if it looks halfway decent (and even if it doesn’t). We don’t really think about the pins...we just repin. And usually we leave the description of the pin exactly as the last person had it...so our pin says “This is the easiest way to clean toilets!!” even though we’ve never actually tried it. Raise your hand if you’ve done that. Yeah, mine goes up. One day I pin a zillion recipes (because thats what my followers were pinning) and the next day I’m pinning wardrobe styles and the next day its DIY projects flooding the page. And I’ll probably never even look at those pins again. But its Pinterest...its eye-catching, inspiring goodness.

I was the above pinner, until I started reading some articles on the www that voiced some concerns. You’ve probably read them. And while it can be a big headache, trying to figure out if what you are doing is legal or not, being fair to other bloggers, giving credit where credit is due, etc, etc, etc….I don’t think it has to be. I think that each person just has to decide a method that works for them. So today, I’d like to briefly share my thoughts and what I’ve decided to do. If it helps you, I’m glad. If you skip this post, thats fine too.

Here are a couple of the biggest concerns out there:

1. People are going to pin images that are copyrighted, thus making them available to the public. So far, the word on the street is that this hasn’t started happening, but I guess it is a viable concern. Are we all going to get thrown into jail for copyright infringement?

While this may happen in some cases, I think people have to realize that we live in the internet age. You put something out there on the internet, and its out there forever. The internet doesn’t forget. I am sure the same concerns arose when YouTube came out. There are always going to be people out there that abuse the system. It’s up to me to make sure that I remain truthful and obey the “rules” of anything I do.

2. The wrong people are taking credit. With the liberty of putting inspirational pins on our personal blogs, those inspirational pins may get pinned off our site instead of the original blogger’s site. Make it personal - would I want someone else getting the credit for something I did? Nope, I sure wouldn’t. But it happens. (Again, we live in the internet age.) In my use of pins, however, I try my hardest to NOT let that happen because of my misuse. That is why I am especially careful if I use the embed feature of Pinterest. I check the link to make sure that it is leading back to the original blog/website, and then try to not only link back through the pin, but also link directly from my blog. If possible, I mention that blog/website/person by name to give them the full credit.

3. My pins don’t lead anywhere...there is no blog/website linked to a particular pin, and therefore no instructions to go with it. That is a huge pet peeve of mine, finding that the link is bad. What good is that? So I have made it a point to check links of every pin to make sure I’m really pinning good info. Normally, since I end up on the original website anyway, I just pin directly from the site, using the pinmarklet. This is another way to ensure that the original blogger is getting credit! I have also found that my pins get WAY more repins that way...maybe it makes the pin look more valid? I am not sure why, but one particular pin got nearly 100 repins and likes in the first few minutes. Wow!

Here are a couple other helpful hints: (mostly fueled by my Pinterest pet peeves. :)

Space out your pins. It is great to use Pinterest as a search engine and find, say, recipes for fried chicken. But I don’t necessarily want 40 recipes for fried chicken...when I get on pinterest, I don't want to see all pins on fried chicken. I’m looking for my own inspiration! So when you search, pick out a few pins on the subject to pin, and if you try all those and they are no good, go search again. This will help the rest of us to continue to get good inspiration in many different areas! Also, breaking your Pinterest time up into small chunks, instead of spending 3 hours straight pinning, is a help in this area.

In the text description, leave a concise description of the pin. “Oh, super cute!” doesn’t really tell me much about the pin. (And I know, a bunch of my pins say stuff like that, but that was before I was a reformed pinner) If the pin is just a fun picture or statement, a description may not be necessary, but if it is a recipe for country fried chicken, the description shouldn’t just say, “I need to try this!” It is also a good idea to give a call to action in the description...thus helping out the original blogger. “Recipe for country fried chicken...go see the special ingredient that sets this recipe apart from the rest!” or something else tacky similar to that.

Use the “like” feature and comment option. You don’t always need to repin...you can go back and see your “likes” too! If you have no intention of trying whatever the pin is, but you think it is a nice pin/good idea/cute picture, you can “like” it and always refer back to it if you want. Commenting on a pin is a great way to interact with the people you follow...or get their opinion on something you see. It is not all about repinning!

You might think that all of these conditions make my pinning harder. It really doesn't, but it does take a little more time, so I end up pinning less. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so! If I really see something that will be a help, I am willing to put the time into it. That way I am not just mindlessly pinning things that I will never use! I'd rather have a few good pins that I will utilize than thousands of pins I'll never look through again. I don't have that kind of time, anyway!

Those are my thoughts on using and utilizing Pinterest. What do you think? If you have any other questions that I didn't cover, just leave them in the comments section, I'd love to answer them! I'd also love to hear how you use Pinterest and how you treat these "obstacles" that arise.

You can follow me on Pinterest here, and if you want to learn more about the questions Pinterest evokes, there are two great posts here and here.

Click It Handwarmers

A couple Christmases ago, my mom gave me these Click It Pads as a gift. What are they, you ask? Well basically, they are like HotHands on steroids. :) I used to have a serious addiction to HotHands, the hand warmers fllled with activated charcoal that can be purchased in pretty much any checkout aisle. The trouble with those is that they are only good one time!

When my mom saw these, she knew they would be perfect for me since I am always cold. The best part is that they can be used again and again! Here is how they work:

They start out as a small gel pack, small enough to hold in your hand:

To activate the heat, you just "click" that tiny tin button you see inside. This causes some type of reaction in the gel that changes it to a crystallized form and produces heat. Don't ask me how they do it, but they do! Here is a little video I made to show you how the transformation takes place: (please don't mind the wigglyness, I had a bit of trouble doing it with one hand!)

Here is how it looks all crystiallized:

Isn't that the oddest thing? But it actually works! To reuse them, you have to boil them (I know, this gets weirder and weirder!) and they return to their gel state. All you do is bring your water to a boil, lay a cloth in it (to keep the plastic from melting, I suppose) and then put your click it pads on top of the cloth and boil! It takes about 10 minutes for them to completely return to gel. Don't leave any crystal at all, or they won't work!

And then, they are ready to be used again!

I love using these on cold days, or when I go ice skating or some other cold activity! They are a fantastic solution to cold hands! And they last for an hour or more, which is fantastic!

I have been unable to locate a site for these exact heat pads (the website on the material that came with them no longer exists) but I found these which appear to be the same thing, only a different name. Check them out!

I'd love to hear your options for staying warm during these chilly winter days! I guess we've come a long way from heating potatoes for our pockets, don't you think? =) Have you used HotHands or a reuseable pad like these? Which do you prefer?

Carrie

I told you that along with taking Rachel's pictures, I took some of Carrie as well! Her 8th birthday was back in October, and normally her pictures would have been taken then, but we waited to do it now. I don't know if she is just more photogenic, but we had no outtakes after all of these! They all just came out good!

Gotta love that toothless grin! Lets play the favorite game. I'm digging the fifth one down (or sixth...I can't make up my mind!) although the ones with that long hair are beautiful as well! Which one (or two, or three) are your favorites? Leave it in the comments below!!