2014 Pinterest Challenge - Week 4

The fun continues with wine corks!

This craft was actually a lot harder than I anticipated - as is most crafts I see on Pinterest that look easy and are actually excruciating difficult to execute.  

I started with all my supplies:

And yes, the cutting board was crucial.

I had to viciously saw each cork in half - 

Like so: 

Any ideas what I could be creating?...

Getting closer?...

Wine cork magnets!! 

Amazing, I know.  Don't everyone go scrambling out to the liquor store at once now. 

I had originally planned on cutting four corks to make the magnets but then I realized that each cork makes two magnets, and eight "2 Buck Chuck" wine corks was a little too many for our fridge.

(For those that are not lucky enough to live by a Trader Joe's, "2 Buck Chuck" is the wine sold exclusively by Trader Joe's for around $3.00).  Quite a deal for tasty wine.  Trader Joe's actually is not allowed to sell wine in Maryland, so a family member who lives in Virginia buys it for us and smuggles brings it across the Maryland border.

You're welcome Trader Joe's for free advertising, and all my fellow Pinterest crafters out there - this was a very simple craft for those that don't value your fingertips.  Cut carefully! - says the village idiot   

What to read, What to read

I love to read.  I love to read all types of books but memoirs are my favorites.   I recently finished a book that I really enjoyed – The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian.

In this book, Omartian breaks down why we need to pray for our children, how to pray for them, and what specifically we can pray for. 

I wouldn’t consider myself a prayer warrior as some people are described.  I certainly believe in the power of prayer, but to be completely transparent, I don’t always turn to the Lord as my first response to the happenings of life.  After being a mom to Little Lady for about 15 months now (+9 months if you consider when she was cooking inside), I find myself turning to the Lord much more often because I am so blatantly aware how everything is out of my control.  There are so many things I hope and pray for Little Lady, and this book helped me learn why praying for your child is so important, at any age, and what specifically we can ask God for – everything from physical protection from harm, to attracting Godly friends, and identifying her God-given gifts and talents.

Omartian also explained that every summer when her family takes a vacation to the beach, she spends some time each morning alone with the Lord, creating a Master Prayer List for each of her children that she then uses for the next year.  Some prayers never change from year to year, but some are brought to the forefront of her prayer list for a particular year, depending on what her children are going through.  I felt very challenged by this and as I made my way through the pages of the book, I created my own Master Prayer List for Little Lady.  I am in the process of typing it up, printing it, laminating (because who doesn’t LOVE to laminate), and putting it somewhere that I can see everyday.

I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for Little Lady, and I am so thankful I am blessed to be her mom and pray for her everyday – says the village idiot.  

Sometimes it's hard

Deciding to stay home with Little Lady was one of the hardest and easiest decisions of my life. My plan was to return to work after Little Lady was 3 months old, to a job I loved, with people who do truly exceptional work everyday. But when I held Little Lady in my arms, I couldn't imagine leaving her. I tried and it just broke my heart. It didn't help that she wouldn't take any bottle we offered and consequently never took a bottle her entire year-long nursing career. I resigned from my job with 100% certainty I was doing the right thing for my family, and 100% doubt I would ever find a job I loved so much again.

Some people might say I was crazy; crazy to leave, crazy to fill my days with cloth diapers, library storytime, stroller walks, and everything else "baby", but it it made sense to me, and I love it everyday, and even on the days I don't love it, I am thankful for the opportunity to never miss a thing. 

What I never anticipated was the feeling of being left behind. Left behind in my career, left behind as a functioning member of society with anything more to contribute than what the best brand of laundry detergent is at the moment, left behind in all things "intellectual". People try and be encouraging by saying that I'm leaning new things, baby and toddler things, and by trial and error half the time!

And it's nice. 

But it's hard. 

It's hard when The Hubby gets a promotion and a raise, and I get pooped on - literally poop on my hands. It's hard to wonder what my skill set will look like when I return to the workforce someday in the future when our kids are grown. It's hard to not hear the words "you're doing a good job" more often than on Mother's Day.  It's hard when you are having a tough day for someone to say "but you're JUST taking care of the baby."  It's hard to not question if you did the right thing by staying home. 

I admire women so much who have careers and a family because that's hard. I also admire women who stay home with 1, 2, 3 or more kids because that's hard.  

There is no easy choice and there is certainly no right or wrong answer. Just sometimes, it's hard - says the village idiot 

The Ultimate Mommy Fail

One might think the ultimate mommy fail would be accidentally locking your child in a bedroom by themselves and having to call the fire department to get them out, but nope, the ultimate mommy fail is something much worse, much much worse...

Losing a Lovey 

I always wanted Little Lady to have a Lovey, something cute that she couldn't live without.  It would be a safe place for her when she was sad or if we dropped her off somewhere without mommy or daddy. Yeah, well, I did not anticipate what happens when said Lovey goes missing.

We lost a good friend today. A faithful friend. 

While avoiding the terrible horrible 9°weather outside mall walking today, we lost our faithful penguin friend. He was very soft and cuddly and might have been the perfect lovey. He and Little Lady must have been having a spat though because, unbeknownst to me, she tossed him out the side of the stroller. I noticed too late and though we made laps and laps around our mall, we couldn't find him. We checked the security office but we couldn't find him. We did more laps around the mall but couldn't find him. 

What is a mommy to do?...

Order a new one on the Internet when she got home!  Thank goodness for the Internet and online shopping. The new Lovey should arrive in 5 to 7 business days.  Let's hope she doesn't notice the difference - says the village idiot 

2014 Pinterest Challenge - Week 3

For the 3rd week of my 2014 Pinterest Challenge I decided to get creative with wine corks...

And no, The Hubby and I did not consume all this wine by ourselves!  

My supplies: wine corks and a glue gun

I pulled out all the corks that were ugly, or not made of actual cork.

This week's craft reveals wine cork trivets! 

The Hubby pointed out that I am cheating a little bit with this craft because I actually already made 2-3 wine cork trivets several years ago, but I wanted to make some more so now seemed like a good opportunity. I have a lot more corks left so I am going to experiment with some brand new ideas in the next few weeks - says the village idiot 

2014 Pinterest Challenge - Week 2

I am so bad at this.  I am practically already behind on my 2014 Pinterest Challenge. 

This week I attempted “The Christmas Card Book.”

This had to be one of the first crafts I ever pinned on Pinterest when I joined several years ago.  I LOVE receiving Christmas cards, especially photo cards, and I think it is always such a shame to toss them in the trash at the end of the season!  I particularly like what some of our friends and family did this year by including a little “scrap book” of pictures and descriptions of what they did throughout the year.   How fun! 

Hence – The Christmas Card Book – a hole-punched "book" of all the season’s cards we received.

I started out with my supplies: Binder rings, a hole-punch, and all of our cards

I then organized the cards in piles by size so I could get an idea for the smallest/biggest size cards

In order to make sure I hole-punched the cards in the correct spot, I punched one, and used it as a template for the rest

45 min later...

Voila! Our 2013 Christmas Card Book:

I am really happy with the way it turned out! 

I know I mentioned how much I enjoy receiving cards, and I usually enjoy sending them out as well, but this year Christmas snuck up on me and I did not make our usual photo Christmas card :(  I will do better next year!  And I might even include some of our 2014 high lights! - says the village idiot 

2014 Pinterest Challenge

Every December, The Hubby and I make goals for the upcoming year, as well as review our goals from the previous year. (We usually review our goals throughout the year as well to see our progress).  Sometimes we do great in achieving our goals, and sometimes we fall short, but that is why they are called GOALS. 

That brings us to our 2014 goal planning. 

Like most of the female population, I am somewhat infatuated with Pinterest and the endless craftiness it allows me to dream about. I am not what you would call a crafty person, but I try, usually to the amusement of The Hubby or anyone else who has the privilege of seeing my creations. 

For the year 2014, one of my goals is to attempt one Pinterest craft per week, with some yearly Pinterest challenges thrown in for good measure.  I am going to document my progress, including all the crafty success and failures. 

For the first week of January, I am just going to dip my toe in the craft ocean with something pretty straightforward…and hard to mess up. 

Enter: Pinterest Craft Week One

Duh duh duhhhhhhhhhh!

The Memory Jar:

Throughout the year I am going to add "memories" to the jar for us to review at the end of year 2014.  As you can see, I have already added two "memories!"  I am looking forward to all that 2014 has in store for our little family.  

Another challenge I have embarked on for the year 2014 is the "52 Week Money Challenge": 

The Little Lady and I babysit a couple hours a week for a sweet family that lives nearby.  I am going to stock away my babysitting money each week in the predetermined amounts for the entirety of the year.  I am excited to see my money add up without even realizing I am saving!  Let's hope it goes that smoothly...

I know some people are jaded by making resolutions every year that most likely won't make it past January, but The Hubby and I do find value in having goals to keep us focused forward and striving to grow ourselves in little ways over the year.  Does anyone else have creative resolutions or goals for the year 2014? - says the village idiot