One Foot in Front of the Other

This morning, I ran three miles without stopping. I never ran in my life until last January, and I couldn't run a mile without stopping until March. It was hard, and I wanted to stop a lot! Our Sunday school lesson yesterday was on being a good example, and I thought about it as I kept going. No one in my family has ever run or been in a race of any kind as far as I know, and I want my kids to be healthy, so it's up to me to push myself.

I have many excuses--asthma, arthritis, low blood pressure, and a bad knee (I've had surgery on it.) I've weighed as much as 198 pounds, and I never ran even one lap in gym class, let alone a mile. My feet are "pathologically formed" (a quote from my podiatrist,) so even finding comfortable shoes is a problem. Add to that the fact that sweating makes me freak out until I can get a shower, that I get bronchitis every other month, and I use the restroom sometimes several times in an hour, and you can see why I'm as shocked as anyone that I've even come this far.

My daughter has a Girls on the Run club at her school http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=gotrhunterdon, but the only way to make it happen for her was to volunteer. (None of the coaches were returning because of re-districting.) So I am now assistant "Coach Leigh." I have never coached anything before. I'm hoping the fact that I am a beginner will encourage the girls. I'm excited to join with a great organization, and I want to do my part to keep it going in our community. We need something positive around here just for girls. Check out this video for more information--

http://youtu.be/0Zr7owI8PDw

Making a Purse or Tote Out of Plastic Grocery Bags

I made a tote bag/purse out of grocery store bags almost two years ago, and it is starting to wear out. I used it constantly, so I need a new one ASAP. Plus, when I visited my mother-in-law at Easter, she wanted one, too. Let the plastic yarn making begin!!

I like this shape because it holds a lot, and it goes across the body like a messenger bag, so it's hands-free. I've used it a lot for trips to the zoo, boardwalk, etc, and especially on trips to the city. When it rains, I wear it under my coat.

I got the idea talking to my friend G. She described how to make the yarn from a tutorial she saw online. I have no idea which of the many instructions she saw, so I can't credit anyone, but I know people made rugs out of bread bags years ago, so the basic idea has been around for a while. I started making the yarn that night from her description, even though I was really busy--I couldn't help myself--it was just too fun to not try right away.

OK, I will recycle you...

Cut into strips about .5 inches wide. They are cut across so they are loops.

I place the loops over one another, pull one end over and through...

...and pull gently until the knot is small.

My ball of plastic yarn, ready to go.

I just crochet with it like usual, I chain how wide I want the bottom to be. Here I chained 27.

I crocheted (single crochet) around both sides of the chain, increasing on the ends each time to make an oval base for the bag.

When the oval was the size I wanted, I stopped increasing on the ends so the sides of the bag started coming up. I always crochet bags inside out because they seem to end up tighter that way.

Close up. Ironically, I haven't had a problem with anything slipping out between the holes--except for crochet hooks!

Hooray for new bags! Let me know if you would like to see more pictures or for me to explain a step differently.

Couch Slipcover out of Granny Squares

I'm posting this as a public service because I couldn't find a picture for inspiration when I was making this five years ago...yes, your dreams could come true--and you, too, could make a slipcover out of granny squares!

No, my 10 and 7 year olds don't use sippy cups--this is an old photo.

Keeping the Boy Occupied

The girl is at camp all week. So the boy is an only child. It's been a mix of frustration and sweet moments. Here's some of the sweet moments...

He likes balloons...

...a lot.

These leftover sparklers look great in this dead plant, don't they?

He's thrilled with his blacklight from ebay. He makes his own glow in the dark puppet shows.

Church knitting/crochet group gone global!!!

A mother sits at her son's hospital bedside praying and waiting for months for the transplant that will save his life. Someone delivers a handmade quilt to the room for her son, made with love by someone she will never know. A simple act of kindness. One of her son's doctors teaches her a few crochet stitches. A second act of kindness that helps her fill hours of waiting and praying. From these blessings came the idea for our church's group that knits and crochets for those in need. Her son is doing great now, but she started the group while he was still sick--a good reminder that our lives don't need to be in perfect order for us to encourage others.

The pattern for the yelow hat can be found at http://thedaintydaisyblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/shell-stitch-beanie.html It's also cute with a flower, but I wanted this to work for a boy or girl.

Our church is having the fun adventure of construction this summer/fall, so I get to have everyone over to my house each month--very cool. Last night was our July meeting.

I set the drinks up an hour early because I was excited--I think I need to entertain more often!

I know a lot of people judge a group's success by numbers--especially when it comes to church activities. My husband's a pastor, and when I meet someone new, one of the first questions they have for me is "how many people go to your church?" I don't know the exact number, so I usually mumble that it's a medium size church and change the subject. Now, I don't want to seem like I'm bragging...and I felt this same way in the years my husband wasn't on staff...but when it comes to my church, I would say we have the best quality people. Seriously if twelve of us met in a library, it would be awesome. Okay, bragging over.

So back to last night. We had quantity and quality! One of our best turnouts in a while and every one a woman or girl that I am so glad to have a relationship with. We've been meeting once or twice a month for a year and a half at our church to make handcrafted items for those in need in our community. We have beginners who have gone on to finish many projects, and some who have knitted or crocheted for decades. I don't think there's another group in our church that has an age range of 8 to 80's!

We've made children's items for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, blankets for pregnancy centers, dishcloths to be given away at a local food pantry, and lapghans for our local nursing home residents. Our group has even sent items to Papua New Guinea and Brazil! Our latest project is hats for babies and children at a hopital in Togo. (Scroll to the bottom of this post for a quick baby hat how-to.)

A rainbow of hats for babies in Africa.

Whether it's a mother in the heat of Africa receiving a hat for her newborn or a homeless man shivering in Philadelphia, I know our items are meeting a physical and a spiritual needs. We all want to feel loved and seen. (How can someone believe in a God who knows and sees if they feel invisible and alone?) But we are also blessed by having the physical reminder in our laps for a few hours of someone who needs our prayer and concern.

If you are a part of a group like this or crochet/knit for charity on your own, I would love to hear from you. It's always fun to see what other crafters are doing.

Quick baby hat how-to: knit or crochet a rectangle, then...

Sew or crochet two sides together to make a tube. Gather and sew the top. Fold up the brim! Let me know if you make one!

Sampler Afghan Completed

I like it! If you crochet (or make anything, I guess) you know that sometimes you like it, sometimes you don't. When you crochet an afghan, it can be hard to tell until the very end. I followed the pattern for the squares and the border, but I changed the size, colors, and yarn. This is about as neutral as I get.

Working on the border while watching Power Rangers. As you can see, we needed a second afghan--the kids wouldn't even wait till it was finished!

Working in the ends...

My signature. Now on to the next project.

The Henry's go to The Grand Theater

For years I hoped my kids wouldn't find out that movies existed. Around here, it can cost $40 for a family of four to get in to see the obligatory Disney flick. And my husband and I aren't hugely into movies, so we waited until movies came out on DVD, then tried to borrow them. (Told you I am cheap.) I've only ever bought one DVD, and that was off eBay. Anyway, our first movie was Up, so that was probably 2009, and my kids were 7 and 4. After that, we only took them when it was clear they would lose their will to live if they didn't see a certain movie. The first time we went, I bought popcorn and two sodas, and it was almost $20! So all told, it cost $60 for their first movie (but it was a good one). I don't think we ever bought popcorn again--our reasoning was that the kids would have more fun just eating out first, which would cost the same amount.

So fast forward to a few weeks ago. We decided to try out "The Grand," a theater in East Greenville, PA. I had heard it was cheap, but I had my misgivings because when I was a teen; my dad's business was upstairs from it in the same building, and the theater seemed like a dump. (I know, I'm cheap and picky--it's great.) Its name at that time alone made me gag--"The Valley."

But I heard so many good things about this theater, that I wanted to try it out. The website drew me in with promises that the theater had been restored to its 1920's glory. Just imagining the Upper Perkiomen Valley in the 1920's is crazy to me. For many reasons. Anyway, my husband and I love old movies and the 20's and 30's, so I checked the listings and made my plans.

I'm going to describe the theater in a minute, but here's the bottom line: for an evening show, the tickets cost $20, and the biggest popcorn is $4! So our movie plus snacks equals less than half of what we would pay at a regular theater. Woohoo!! Here's some more practical info:

*CASH ONLY--this is a biggy for me, because I don't carry cash so I need to plan ahead. Matinee tickets are $3, and evening tickets are $5. Popcorn is $2-4, soda is $1.50-2, and candy is a little over $2. They don't have Raisinets. Just so you know.

*You might not fit in the seats if you are large. I always look at chairs because I have large people in my family so I think about those things. The people that run it seem to be nice, so if you called ahead, they could give you some measurements.

*It's not a huge screen. If you are looking for a huge screen/theater, this is not the place for you. We don't really care about that, but a movie lover might.

*The movie starts on time. There aren't as many previews and ads, so you should get to the theater early and settle in.

*There is one men's room and one women's. I go at least three times a night, and I never had to wait more than a minute. There is a line when the movie is over. The restrooms are right off the back of the room, so you can continue to watch the movie as you wait. It's perfect if you want your kid to use the restroom by themselves, because they don't have to go out to a lobby. The snack stand is also right in back of the theater, so you don't miss anything if you grab more snacks during the movie.

*Park on Main St. (Rt. 29)

*They get movies about three weeks after they are released. Check out showings here: http://www.thegrandtheater.org/

The decor is beautiful. I love the wallpaper. There is an antique organ, flag, and flower arrangments in the front. My husband likes being in there so much, he says he never wants to go back to the regular theaters. I have to say that now, after the second time, I agree with him. It's not just the money, it's the atmosphere. It feels clean and I enjoy my time there.

I guess it is partly the money, because I feel like we can go more often as a family. I'm also looking forward to taking my kids to a matinee sometime (For the three of us, it will be just $9) When this theater was originally built, movies were so affordable that people could go to multiple shows in one day, or enjoy a movie every week. I won't be doing that, but it's nice to know that when a kid's movie comes out, we can all go enjoy it together and eat our fill of popcorn popped in a machine from the 1940's. Cool.

Putting it together...



I crocheted the afghan together!




I have been sick with a stomach flu--and when I am sick, I crochet. As promised, here are pictures of how I put my afghan together. To join two squares (or any shape--the real term for a piece of crochet that will be joined with others is "motif") together, hold them with the "right" sides together and single crochet across, putting your hook through just the back loops of both squares. I use a hook one size smaller to do this, because it's easier to work into all those little hoops, and it makes it a little firmer. So I crocheted the squares with a "H" hook, and I'm putting them together with a "G" hook. You can also sew squares together if you don't want a ridge on the wrong side. Since my squares are mostly single crochet, the feel of this afghan is a little stiffer, and so the heavier crochet joining works for me here.

Here's a close up of the afghan with the squares joined vertically. The hardest part is joining the first few squares, because you have to figure out what goes where. I drew a diagram and I still had to take my first row out. I'm not really good with the whole left-right thing. After all of the rows are stitched like this, then I start working across. Don't forget to leave your yarn ends nice and long to work in later. Nothing's worse than putting in a lot of time making an afghan just to have a bunch of short yarn ends poking around.

This doesn't take as long as you think!

This is what it looks like on the right side when it's joined.

It's all together now! All that's left to do is the border and working in the ends! I really am excited, because I usually make items for other people, so it's special to make something the whole family will enjoy for years to come.

"Epic Shopping Trip"

At least that's what my impressed children said. It's not easy having a cheap mom. Sharing a soda at Wendy's, using ziplock bags that A) are generic, and B) fold over instead of zipping, being told you will probably never make it to Disney World before puberty... 

But they were impressed with our haul at Old Navy last night. I only go clothes shopping when I have a gift certificate, a coupon, and a sale. A sale on clearance. And last night was one of those nights.

I have a Gap Visa credit card, and I use it for everyday purchases (I sound like a commercial.) Anyway, they offer a percentage back of all your purchases back as gift certificates. I put my gas on it ($10 back) and pay it off each month. So I had a $30 gift certificate.

I had a coupon for 40% off so it was time to do some back to school/camp shopping. The main thing we needed was a one piece swimsuit for my daughter to wear to camp. There are to be no belly buttons at camp. And she's picky, so when we found one not on sale, we threw it in the cart anyway ($19.94 retail). Then my son picked out two back to school shirts, also not on sale ($9.94 each). I, being the mother and always putting myself last (cough, cough), bellied up to the clearance racks and looked for a yellow shrug. I found a greenish yellow shrug and a skirt. 

Next I found two tops. A green one in medium, and a navy polka-dot one in large. Wait!! What size are you!?! That's one of my secrets to clearance shopping. If I find an item that I like, I buy one in another color. And I'm not too picky about the size. The medium one fits normally, and the large one is baggier and comes down further so it will be cute with jeans and a tank under it. For 2.38 a piece, if someone notices I have a couple of the same shirt...so be it.

And then my heart was warmed as my two babies came back with a shirt from the kid's clearance area! What smart little shoppers. It's scratch and sniff. And when we checked out, we were given a free tote--my daughter wanted a new tote for her math stuff.

So our grand total for $136.13 retail after 40% off and my $30 reward certificate was $8.11. EPIC!!

A free canvas tote and a scratch and sniff shirt (yes) for the girl.

A shrug, or as Jon would call it, a sweater

Skirt for me.

A bathing suit the girl needed for camp.

Two tops for me.

Two shirts for the boy.

Something like this...

One idea for the layout...I only need three more squares.

I will finish this afghan!!

I've been making these squares off and on for a year and a half. I'm following a pattern from a magazine, but I changed the colors to coordinate with my living room. There are four people in my family, and just one afghan my grandmom made years ago. So I'm trying to get it done in time for cooler weather. Just a few more squares to go, and it will be time to put it together! Some friends have told me that they like making granny squares or other crochet motifs, but don't know how to put them together, so I'll post how I sew the afghan together as I work on it.

Here's a close up. I'm using Red Heart yarn and an H hook.

The other four colors and patterns.

The well-worn magazine picture of the afghan. I need to finish the afghan before the magazine I got the pattern from falls apart!

.

The pile of squares is growing.