It's the Little Things: Heartbeats, carseats, and sewing

Like hearing baby's heartbeat as soon as the Doppler monitor is put on your belly. 

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Getting a brand new toddler car seat for free.  Our midwife had one and decided to give it to us. What a great blessing even though we don't need it for at least a year.  Still very thankful to have it. Unfortunately I have been terrible at taking pictures this week.  

Getting time to sew.  I thinking I'm beginning to find my niche.  I'm loving making coupon holders, purses, and today I made a very pretty (in my opinion) pink and b/w houndstooth clutch.  I'm very much enjoying this process.  

So the clutch will have 2 of those three fabrics.  I'm in love =D

Tomorrow I get to go to the Fall Festival at our denomination's camp for our area and take some product from my shop.  Praying that these items will be a blessing to others.  

We've also had some gorgeous weather this week.  I'm a sucker for dark cloudy rainy skies in front of you and beautiful sunshine behind you.  It makes the most amazing gray skies ever.  I just love them. And then it produces rainbows.  Amazing!  Too bad I didn't have my camera either time this happened this week. 

I'm linking up with Lindsay for It's the Little Things.  

What are you thankful for this week?   

Consider This Your Warning

That's never a pleasant phrase right?  

Well, in this case it might not be so bad.

Don't forget there are only 2 more days to take 15% off your order with the code: FIRSTSALE.  This code expires October 1st. 

Also I'm going to be going to a Fall Festival this weekend and taking some new items (which if they remain after that day will enter the shop) and some items from the shop.  

If you'd rather see this 

Or this:

or this: 

or this:

or this:

or anything else in the shop in your possession and not in someone else's you have today or tomorrow to place your orders.  

What's left will be going with me to the event on Saturday. 

Tell your friends, tweet about it if you'd like.  But, Consider this your warning, some of your favorite items may be gone soon.

P.S. I'm totally nervous about going to this as, I've never done this before and it's not exactly a craft show so I'm not sure if it will work well or not, but please be praying that if it's God's will for something to sell, that He would move in hearts for it to sell.  Plus, I'd be excited just to help out our local church campgrounds.  10% of whatever I make there goes to the campgrounds! =D  Yay for another opportunity to give back to God!

Refreshing

Unfortunately I have been out of a Bible study for FAR too long.  (Please tell me you've been there too.)

I led Bible study in college my junior and senior years.  I LOVED doing Inductive Bible studies (manuscript style, where I get to whip out some colored pencils and go to town).  When I got out of college though I didn't have the same community around me to do those Bible studies.  I started going to a young adult Bible study but it just wasn't the right fit for me after a while.  

Last year, when we were leading youth group, we did inductive Bible study with the kids and oh my goodness, I was so freaking excited!  I'm telling you I learn so much more this way it's not even funny.  Perhaps I really am a visual person and need to see it all laid out for me to understand it better.  But when summer time came, and I lost my job and Aaron hasn't found one yet, and our youths lives were being torn into pieces (please pray for them if you think of it, they have very rough home lives), our youth group disbanded for a while, because unfortunately Aaron's schedule varies and there's just not the funds there for us right now. :/

This was not manuscript study but still good.  Can I just say I miss them!

But then, 

in church recently, they announced that the former men's Bible study was going to be CO-ED!!! Happy Happy Joy Joy.  (Can you see me dancing for joy right now???) My husband had been going to this study and learning and growing and it kinda made me jealous last year that he was getting fed so much when I had nothing.  

Can I just say, that I'm so thankful for this study! Last week was mostly review but we did worship before the study, which to me is always so helpful to get my heart in the right place.  The study was ok last week but as there were a few new people it was mostly review and not interactive enough for me. 

This week, WAY different.

Oh My GOODNESS.  

Such a great study!

Do you mind if I share a little of what I learned with you??? 

I hope you don't because well if you do, please stop reading.  Ok, please don't, I think you will learn a bit and it's always great to grow in our knowledge and understanding of God's Word right? (I think I hear an Amen out there).

Ok so, we talked for 2 weeks about the relationship between  Christ and the Bible.  Now, I'm going to assume most people reading this agree, that Christ and the Word of God are one (John 1:1-2 ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning.)

So we know that already but what are some of the specific things that we can learn about Christ and Old Testament (since that is what we studied last night)? 

1. Christ often refers to the OT when he's talking.  He makes reference to at least 24 of the books of the OT in the 4 gospels.  (Too be fair, I know there are 39 books in the OT but, in the Hebrew Scriptures a lot of them were combined.)  Sometimes I hear Christians say, "Why should we study the Old Testament when we just need to know Jesus and study what He taught." Ok, well if we are to study what He taught then we have to study the Old Testament, He quoted from it or referred to it numerous times.  He also said in Matthew 5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

He is the fulfillment of the Law (the first 5 books of the OT) and the Prophets (everything from Judges to John the Baptist).  Well, technically not the poetic writings, but Jesus in Luke 24:44 addresses this issue "He said to them, 'This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.'"

My husband had a wonderful insight that I did not have, but that the Law is given so that we realize there is moral code to be kept.  The Psalms are written to show us that we can't keep that moral code.  And the Prophets point us to God's answer for fixing the problem.  

(Ok, he says it more eloquently than I can, but it's basically like that.)

2.  Another great thing we did last night was talk about the "types" of Christ in the OT.  I didn't really understand what the word types meant until I asked my husband when we got home, and wouldn't you know I can't remember now what he said, grrrrrrrr.  Hurry back husband so I can fix this. 

Anyway, the gist is that there are many things in the old testament that are supposed to be a picture to us of who/what Christ has done. 

These were some great insights that I don't think I would have necessarily seen on my own.

A. In Genesis,  Christ is the arc, when the flood comes.  Apparently the "sea" means the world when used in the OT.  He is our protection from the world around us.  He is our safety when destruction comes. 

B. In Genesis, Christ is Isaac (the sacrificial son).  What a perfect picture of Christ's trust of the father, Isaac portrays when he willingly goes to the top of Mt. Moriah.  What did Isaac carry up to that Mt?  What did Christ carry up the mountain?  Not only wood (his cross, but also our sins: which weighed much more than that cross).

Christ is also the sacrificial lamb.  Do remember what the lamb was in?  He was in thorns.  Just think about it. (Thanks for that one Brandon).

C. In Exodus, He was the Rock Moses struck to bring the people water. (Exodus 17)

D. In Numbers 21, He was the bronze snake.  I know, how can He be the snake right?  He had to be lifted up, and whoever looked at Him had life, so in that way, He was like the snake.  Also it was the snakes that were destroying the people, so they had to look at the thing that was destroying them.  Christ had to become the sin, that destroys us. 

There are so many examples I wish I would have remembered to take a notebook.  That's something we'll have to remedah. (Think Braveheart)

3. Last one for now, I promise.  We also discussed the pre-incarnate Christ. Whenever God appeared to someone in the Old Testament it would have to be through Christ because as John 1:18 says, "No one has ever seen God." Continuing on.  If you have questions at any point feel free to ask here or shoot me an email.

A. In Genesis 17, the Lord appears to Abram and tells him he is going to have a son. 

B. In Genesis 18, three visitors come to Abraham, they stay, have dinner and then go to leave.  Then the men head toward Sodom and Gomorrah, but Abraham still stands before the Lord.  It is thought that perhaps one of those men was the pre-incarnate Christ.

C. We all know the story of the three men being thrown into the fire.  But if we threw in three, how'd the 4th one get there??? Daniel 3

There were so many good things discussed last night and I can't remember them all unfortunately.  That's it, never leaving home without a notebook again. . .until the next time I do it, but I NEED to remember to take a notebook to this Bible study.  It's just too important.

I'm hoping some day that we will do a lesson/series on putting Biblical events in order.  I have such a hard time with this.  I can't seem to get anything in order on my own.  So this would be so helpful to me.  I hope so I hope so I hope so!

What are your thoughts?  What have you been reading lately in the Scriptures?  I would love to hear more about what you're reading!  

Tickle Me Tuesday

I haven't done this yet, but decided today I would link up with Sarah for Tickle Me Tuesday.

I hope you'll play along too.  It'll be fun to see what everyone is tickled by this week!

For me it's:

Vintage Sheets 

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Although I haven't been able to buy any yet, I have been wanting to get some to make some more sweater purses to put in my shop.  The one above is BY FAR my favorite I've found.  I just love it.  I would almost feel bad cutting it up.

Baby Items

I've been trying to work on our registry lately for baby items and have been eyeing up some beautiful treasures on Etsy.  The quilt below is one of my favorites that I've ever seen as far as gender neutral baby quilts go. 

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Sheep

I've always had an infatuation with sheep.  I really want to kiss up their faces every time I see them.  When driving to my mother-in-love's I pass by a sheep farm and call out to them to tell them I love them.  Yup, it's ok, you can think I'm weird.  I am!  But just look at this adorable quilt.

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Well thanks for playing along and listening to some things that are tickling my fancy lately.  Hope you have a tickley Tuesday (only not literally, I hate being tickled, but feel free to tickle others). 

Quilt Blocks, Behrend and Soup

This weekend was so great.  On Friday, Aaron had to pick up some health records from his alma mater.  So we got ready and set off to Penn State Behrend.  I miss that place.  It's such a beautiful campus!  They have been doing a lot of work there and we got to see part of it as there is a new Alumni and Visitor's Center.  It's a beautiful building. 

Sorry the picture isn't the greatest and doesn't do it justice but it was raining and well, I might melt.  Just kidding, just didn't want to get my camera wet ;). 

Then we went to my alma mater Mercyhurst so Aaron could hang up some fliers for his tutoring.  We were so happy he could do that.  They only let him put up one, but hey that's one more than was there last week! While there I stopped in and talked to my old boss from the box office.  It was so nice to see her and to chat.  It's crazy how different things look at Mercyhurst too.  There's a huge new dorm that wasn't there when I graduated.  Some of the people I worked under retired/got a different job, so that was sad I didn't get to see them all.  Although I did enjoy the little time we spent there.

This past week I've been working on a quilt with the ladies in our church for the missionaries that are coming in about 3 weeks.  We are hoping to get it done in time.  As far as I know, all of the blocks are now finished for the quilt which is awesome. :)

Then Saturday night I made some cheeseburger soup for us! Yummy!  Only I wish it were cooler outside right now.  2 weeks ago in the 50s - 60s.  Last week near 70 all week.  This weekend-today near 80.  Too hot for soup but that's ok, we ate it all up anyway! Yum yum yum.

It may not look super appealing but it's Delicious!

Then we rented some movies from a local place but didn't realize they were all due back the next day at 11 until we got home.  OOPS!  We ended up watching Jeremiah Johnson and X-Men: First Class on Saturday night.  Both were pretty good.  There were parts that I could have done without in both films but they weren't too bad.  I love the X-Men so I was so excited to see some more of the back story.

Yesterday after church, Aaron and I (well mostly Aaron) watched Earthsea.  It was interesting but being pregnant and not having gotten enough sleep the night before I missed about 45 minutes (oops).  I should never have grabbed that pillow and laid my head gently upon it.

Last night was also All Praise Night at church.  It was good, but I enjoy it more when it's not all special music.  I like to be able to join in the worship more.  We had a nice time of fellowship afterwards though which is always nice.  I enjoy that very much.

Today I've been pretty busy crafting.  There's a fall festival at our denominations camp this Saturday.  One of my friends from church offered to allow me to use part of her table so I'm making some crafts to take that if they don't sell will then enter the shop.  I've got the pieces cut out for 4 more coupon holders.  Woohoo!  I may also take some items from the shop so if you've been eyeing up something, now would be a good time to get it ;).

Unfortunately I'm all out of the stripey sweater though.

How was your weekend?  Did you have any fun plans? Did you stay home and relax?  Hope you had a terrific weekend whatever you did.






PS.  I forgot to say, today is the last day to enter for $20 shop credit over at Karen's blog!  Very few entries so far so a great chance to win! ;)

Don't forget

to stop by Karen's blog for a chance to win $20 shop credit!  There's very few entries so your chances are good!

Karen took the photo I gave her and spiffed it up! I love it! =D

FIRST SALE *INSERT HAPPY DANCE*

On Thursday I was contacted for a custom order which became my first sale!!! WOOHOO!!! I was so incredibly excited.  It wasn't a huge monetary value, but it was just what I needed to boost my confidence.  I have to thank the lovely Casey Wiegand because the person saw my item featured on her blog!  If you missed it, here's the link.

I finished up the custom order yesterday and got it in the mail yesterday.  It was also fun because I got to create a photo to use for my custom orders! =D Pretending to be a designer is fun!

So thank you Josie for making my week!

Gall Bladder Attacks

stink almost as much as a toothache right before you need a root canal.  Thankfully they don't last as long. 

Well how would you know this, Amanda, you ask.  Well last spring I had to have a root canal done because of a terrible toothache.  That was just awful.  The night before they put in temporary filling I literally cried all but 1.5 hours of that night (when I finally got some sleep).  I went to work and the sweet little girl I watch kept saying, "Madda, oo cying! What wong Madda?"  (Manda, you're crying! What's wrong Manda?) Sweetest little girl ever. 

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Anyway that was the most painful thing I've ever gone through, yet.  Not very much fun! That's how I felt, only imagine tears and red blotchy eyes.

Anyway, all that to say that today, I had a similar experience on the pain scale.  I was feeling super hunger and thought, hmmmm if I don't eat I'm going to be sick. So I made a baked potato (or 2. . . What? I'm pregnant and they were fast and I needed fast or so I thought.)  So I ate my baked potato and still felt "yucky".  

Then the pain started. 

 I tried going to the bathroom to see if that was it.  Nope, no dice.  

I tried laying down to see if that would help.  Would screaming count as helping?  Probably not. 

Then of course the tears started coming.  I was in agony.  The pain is right under your ribs and then spreads to your back in the same area.  

After 20 minutes, it still hadn't gone away, so I had Aaron call our midwife.  The 4-year-old adorable little girl picked up. "Can I talk to your mommy?" No response.  "Can I talk to your daddy?" Yeah, nothing.  

Apparently our midwife was actually at another appointment and had no reception.  Finally we were able to reach her husband who said as soon as he reached her, he would have her call us and took notes on all my symptoms.  

By the time she called back, I had finally been able to lay on my side enough to get some relief.  And fell asleep.  But when she called I woke up.  I told her my symptoms and she said, "Yep, I thought you were having a gall bladder attack based on what my husband said.  Did the pain come very suddenly, knock you to your knees and make you cry?" HMMMMMMM YES!!!

She sympathized with me, asked if I had any contractions or spotting (just to make sure baby is ok) and then told me some things I can do to prevent future attacks.  Apple Cider vinegar is good for my diet apparently and will help.  So will Olive Oil and some of the B Vitamins.  Then she gave me a list of things to avoid.  Uh oh.  I'm pregnant.  Things to avoid??? 

Black Pepper, ok, not so bad.  Apparently I can have cayenne. 

Coffee, no big deal don't like it.

Tea, that might be harder when it starts getting colder or I go to Chick-Fil-A.  Who doesn't love their sweet tea? 

Chocolate? JAW INSTANTLY DROPS!!! WHAT???? YOU CAN'T SAY THAT TO A PREGNANT LADY!!! You mean no more mint chocolate chip ice cream? brownies? nutella? wafernusse? NOTHING???? ***wail cry flail*** (No, I actually calmly said, OK, however, I did feel all those things).

Ok, after my heart attack, I convince myself it won't be terrible. 

Oh and avoid fried foods.  Not so bad. Trying to eat better anyway. 

Source

So that has pretty much been my Thursday.  I had an attack previously and then forgot to mention it during my appointments.  Now I know though which is great!  

Wonderful, now I want a sweet tea. . . ugh!

Who am I kidding, I need to just be praising God that all that happened was me having a gall bladder attack, it was pre-term labor, not a panic attack of baby, nothing truly wrong.  Praise God for that.

I hope your Thursday was better than mine!  I'd love to hear about it. 

Being Real

I'm not sure how this post is going to go over, but I need to talk about some real issues that Aaron and I have looked into lately. 

I know I often post about our week, things going on in our lives, or new items coming into the shop.  

However,

After watching Food Inc. on Monday night, I knew that I needed to write a post about it. 

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Have you seen this movie yet???

Not yet??? Then what are you waiting for???  If yes, then I'd love to hear what you thought. 

We watched Supersize Me earlier this year.  It completely grossed me out to learn that 5 of McDonald's menu items didn't contain sugar.  ONLY 5!!!! French Fries, Chicken Nuggets, Iced Tea, Coffee, and Diet Coke.  The man in the film ate 30 lbs of sugar in a MONTH! 1 MONTH!!! He gained 24 lbs!  He became depressed when he didn't eat McDonalds.  These were VERY scary revelations to me.  

Aaron and I try not to eat a ton of fast food but after watching Supersize Me we try to eat even less.

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I never really understood the whole "organic" phase.  My employers bought almost solely organic groceries.  I now understand why.  After watching Food Inc. I literally wanted to cry watching some of the images of the RIDICULOUSLY inhumane treatment of these animals.   I am by no means an animals rights activist.  I'm quite content eating my chickens (and lots of it), just don't ask me to actually butcher the animal.  

No thanks, no way, uh uh. 

Watching this movie though I literally started crying when I saw images like this. 

Warning: This may break your heart!

OverLooked: The lives of Factory Farm Animals

And not only do they treat animals so terribly, but there is also the issue of Genetically Modified Seeds.  If you need to read more about it you can do so here.

The reason I'm talking about it is because I believe it's WRONG!!! God created plants to reproduce after their own kind.  Stop messing with the way God designed things.  These GMO seeds often will cross pollinate with fields that are non GMO and then the companies with the rights to these GMO seeds sue the small farmers that are just trying to produce healthy food for us.  The GMO seeds also produce food that is very nutritionally poor.  It often doesn't have the vitamins and minerals that we need to be healthy. 

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While watching Food Inc, there were soooo many farmers that lost nearly everything they had trying to fight court battles because they were sued for trying to grow organic/non-GMO foods.  I don't know about you, but when I read the Bible, in Genesis 1:31 it says, "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day."

Now I'm pretty sure it says and God saw all that HE made.  NOT what man made.  In fact, just two short chapters later, man goes and screws everything up.  (Which was why Jesus had to come, die on the cross to pay for our sins, and rise again to be seated at the right hand of the Father).  Now, I'm way more apt to trust the things that God has made than to trust what man has made.  Especially now that my eyes more and more are being opened to the reality of what is going on around us.  

Our society has become a society of prescribing medicines instead of taking precautionary measures with our health.  My husband Aaron always says, "We can pay to be healthy now, or we can pay later, and usually later it's more expensive."  How true that is.  Americans spend a TON of money on prescriptions every year. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to eat more healthily.  Organic food just costs more up front.  I wish that we could afford to buy all organic food but really can't right now.  

And take a look at your supermarket ads, what are usually the items on sale? Fruits and veggies? Sometimes. Organic Food? Almost never.  Junk Food/Processed Foods? Almost always. 

What coupons do we normally find? Everything name brand, and usually the highly processed, really bad for you food.  

Don't get me wrong.  I love a Reese's cup (or rather a Reese's FastBreak) as much as the next person, but there is a problem when those are the types of items that are constantly being marketed to the public.  

Source

Did you hear about the Michigan woman who was facing 90+ days in jail for having a vegetable garden in her front yard??? No? Then check out this article.

 Photo Credit Julie Bass

What a pretty garden right??? Anyway since then, the charges have apparently been dropped. However, isn't it a bit frightening how much the government is infringing on our rights lately???

Oh and they are trying to say that Vitamin C is bad for you.  Really?  Vitamin C? That stuff that makes me feel better when I'm sick? Read more here. 

Anyway, enough of the bad things, right?  What are some ways that we can start taking steps to protect ourselves now?

• Eat Well Guide: This website is pretty awesome.  You can search for local grown foods and organic foods.  I did a search for a 20 mile radius of our zip code and look what I found.
  
• We can buy organic foods or foods grown locally.  At least that way, our foods aren't being shipped over 1500 miles to get to us.
  
• Plant your own garden.  This is difficult for Aaron and I because we are renting, however, if you are able to, plant some of your own vegetables, that way you get to control the amount of pesticides that go on your food.
  
• Drink more water.  Water comprises the largest part of our bodies so shouldn't it be the largest amount of what we drink?
  
• Buy rBST free milk.  rBST is an artificial growth hormone.  Not good! 

If you've made it through all the way to the end of this post CONGRATULATIONS!!! I feel like I just rambled and I hope I didn't lose you.   If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me.  Please let me know some of your thoughts.  

Woah, Casey Wiegand, REALLY???

So today, I was looking at the Wiegands blog.  And guess what I saw??? 

One of my items!!!

Woah, way exciting!

The beautiful Casey Wiegand, chose to put my product in her hair??? Awesome!  Praise God.

Casey has been encouraging me for a while that my shop can make it.  She is also honestly one of the sweetest people I've met in this blog world.  I had been wanting to send her some product for a while.  

She is just so totally sweet.  I can't believe that I've actually been featured on her blog though.  A bit surreal!

If you don't follow her yet, please do so.  She has such a heart for the Lord.  She is simply encouraging to nearly everyone and has the most tender spirit.  Just love her!

Sneak Peak

FINALLY!!!!!

A week can feel like FOREVER, that is 

when you just made some new items you can't wait to put up in your shop.

Have you ever felt like that?  And then the day that you get your camera back, it rains. So you have to wait longer. . . but who does that?

I'm so not patient enough to wait longer.  However, I don't want these really poor photos going up in the shop, but I did want to give my readers a sneak peak of some new items coming into the shop.  

Without further ado, I present to you the NEW FALL SWEATER Line:

These lovely bags are made from upcycled/thrifted sweaters that have been washed and paired with some beautiful scraps of fabric.  Have any fun names for any of the bags? I will definitely consider any suggestions!

This little coupon holder is my husband's favorite item to date.  He told me we aren't allowed to sell it.  I told him too bad =P.  He was joking mostly, but he really does like it a lot. 

I almost felt bad cutting up this sweater, 

almost. 

My mother-in-law suggested making matching leashes.  Anyone interested in that?

All of the above sweaters are going to be available in store as soon as our weather clears up and I can get some better pictures.  However, if you'd like to purchase one now, shoot me an email!  We'll talk about the details via email.

Also, this is going to be a custom order option as well.  If you have a favorite sweater that is too small, got a hole, or you just don't want to wear any more, ship it my way and let's transform that pretty staple into something new!

AND

Another new option in stores are custom order pillows made from upcycled T-shirts.  

The pillow in the back is a gift for my nephew for his birthday but the one in the front is available for purchase also.  

Do you have a favorite t-shirt you'd like to be transformed into a pillow??? 

Maybe not a pillow but perhaps a tote bag?

I can do those also!  

There's going to be an example of a custom tote bag available coming in the next few weeks so keep an eye out! 

I hope you have a TERRIFIC WEEK! 

And don't forget, everything in the shop is 15% until October 1st with the code: FIRSTSALE!

Wonderful Bloggy Friends and Giveaway

So I know I've mentioned her on this blog before, but I just adore Karen of Celebrate Life With Us.  She has such a wonderful heart for the orphan and is just oh sweet!  She has a wonderful little girl and today they are heading to Atlanta to meet up with Papa.

Well up on her blog today is a giveaway.  She very generously offered me the opportunity to do a giveaway on her blog!  I'm so thankful for that!  Why don't you stop by her blog, enter the giveaway and read more about how she and her hubby brought their sweet little girl home???

She also runs this adorable little shop too with lots of fun products with wonderful colors! 

Lessons Learned

***EDIT*** I forgot that Karen and her adorable daughter are heading to the US tomorrow to see "Papa" so she isn't doing the link up this week.  Feel free to stop by her blog anyway!  And of course comments with what you've learned this week are always welcome! :) *End Public Service Announcement*


My friend, Karen, does an awesome weekly link up party called Lessons Learned.

I've been meaning to write a post for quite some time now and have not been very good about doing that.

1. Do your Kegal exercises. Don't even ask how I know that.

2. Little boys are different to potty train than little girls.  Our friends Sally and Justin have the sweetest little boy Aiden.  I love him to death.  Last Sunday night at church, he wanted to sit with me then, he said he had to go potty.  I thought, "sure, no problem, I've potty-trained two little girls recently should be a piece of cake." Yeah, no.  I decided to go quickly so I just pulled down his pants.  Well he's a boy, which meant that he accidentally went on his pants.  Totally NOT his fault and if I have a little boy I'll need to learn to potty train him. Haha so different than girls.  Poor little Aiden.

3. You never realize how nice it feels to be able to make meals as you do after you've been unable to make meals for a few months.  So thankful that morning sickness is over for me and there's no more just laying on the couch all day for fear of being sick.

like making bread, for tuna melts. . . YUM YUM YUM. 

4. It's super attractive when your husband flips through the baby names book and starts rattling off names.  Although agreeing on the names is a different story.

Swoon!  

What have you learned this week???  Have you made any discoveries that you didn't realize before?

Feel free to write a post and go link up with Karen.  She's got an adorable little girl too ;).

Lessons Learned

Little Things: Of a Lost Camera

Last Friday when we visited our great friends, the Schulers, I forgot my camera there.  It made me a little sad this week because I couldn't take pictures to put up for my little things post.  However, here are some of the little things that I'm very thankful for this week.

CONTACTS

I put in new contacts I think Sunday morning.  I absolutely LOVE new contacts.  It's so nice not to have my contacts glued to my eyeballs any more.

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SALVATION ARMY

Praise God for Salvation Army!  Not only are they an awesome organization for the work they do to promote the Gospel, but I also love to shop there.  The greatest part is knowing that by shopping there I'm able to help others come to know Christ.  We were also able to donate our yard sale left-overs to SalVal this past week.  Its nice to have floor space again.  I bring this up because I was able to get some items there this week that will be transformed into new items for my shop :D.  We also got Where In the USA is Carmen San Diego? the board game!!! Can you talk about excited??? And for 2 bucks it's a steal.  Can't wait to play it with our friends!

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COOLER WEATHER

I'm so excited about the cooler temperatures. That means that fall will be here soon which means many things: many birthdays (including mine), Thanksgiving and after that WINTER.

And Winter means: Christmas, New Years and BABY!!!!! 

Also at SalVal this week, I got a beautiful coral sweater that I'm planning on wearing for my date night with my husband tomorrow!  Still not sure quite what we're doing but it'll still be fun!

MMMMM fall colors! Mums! Yay! 

(Taken Fall 2009)

VISITING FAMILY

This week we got to visit our Aunt Sally and Uncle Jack!  We loff them!  Aaron had tutoring in their town so we made an impromptu visit.  We ended up spending most of the afternoon with Aunt Sally and got to spend a little time with Uncle Jack when he got home from work.  We played Settlers of Catan with Aunt Sally and she decided next time we play, she'll skip the wine. HAHA it made for a lot of laughter though!

KICKS

This Saturday was the first time I felt baby kick.  I can't believe I'm thankful for kicks but I am.  I'd be even more thankful if I could feel them more frequently so I know baby is doing alright.  Can't believe tomorrow we'll be 22 weeks.  WOAH! Like 18 weeks to go, Scoob! (Excuse the random Shaggy impersonation). 

What were some things you were thankful for this week.  What were some of the little things that brightened up your day/week? 

Linking up with Lindsay from 

Aisle to Aloha

OH and I almost forgot.  I might get to meet my friend Karen this winter!!! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITING!  

Forgetful Me (A giveaway)

I know I've posted about the GREAT giveaway going on at my friend Laura's blog on Twitter, but I completely forgot to post about it on here.  I would hate for my wonderful readers to miss out on a fantastic opportunity to win some wonderful prizes.  

So why don't you stop over and visit Laura.

Along for the Ride

There really are some beautiful prizes up for grabs like this:

And this:

from Owls and Lillies

And you could win a $20 shop credit to Toaster's Transformations.

I'm so thankful my friend Laura included me in her giveaway this month.  I feel so bad that I forgot to blog about it until today.  The last day to enter is TOMORROW.  So head on over and get your entries in!

On A Less Serious Note

While waiting to make my first sale, I decided that I would reward those who take a chance on my shop with a 15% off coupon.  If you enter the code FIRSTSALE on Etsy when you check out you will receive 15% off your order.  Exciting right? So what are you waiting for head over to Toaster's Transformations.  The offer is good until October 1st!