My First Earnings as a Stay-at-Home Mommy

Yesterday, a woman I met at the yarn shop I used to work at, brought her six-year-old granddaughter to my home for a knitting lesson. She is also making plans to bring two teen girls from her church over in the fall and have me teach the three of them how to make Christmas stockings. I only charge $10 for one hour lessons, so it's not like I made much money yesterday, but it felt significant:


I have never had any problems with the concept of staying at home. I never had huge career aspirations, and I'm more than happy that our family lives on Darin's income alone. It's such a privilege to stay home with Lucy and be able to be the primary shaping influence in her life as she grows. But there is just something about being able to use my skills and creativity in small ways to earn a little money... it feels nice. It's a financial contribution to our household even if it is a small one.

I feel much like I did as a "tween" when I had my first babysitting job (which probably earned me more money than my lesson did yesterday!). When I took that first job, I had hopes that the family would then refer me on to other families. Sure enough by the time I graduated high school, I had quite the list of families I babysat for and had to turn down "jobs" often. Similarly, I find myself hopeful that yesterday's lesson might lead to another, which may lead to another and so on and so forth.

It will be fun to see what, if anything more unfolds!

Craig's List Joys!

I don't mean to gloat, but I'm just so pleased with myself, I could do the dance of joy!

I've been feeling a little bad about the fact that my sister-in-law and parents-in-law have way more toys for Lucy to play with at their houses than we have at our's. I can just hear an articulate Lucy a few years from now saying, "Mommy, can we please go to Aunt Dawn's? Her house is more fun than our's!"

I actually don't want to flood our house with toys, I'm too afraid that an excess of play things will end up stunting Lucy's imagination and creativity. But one toy that I've been wanting Lucy to have for awhile now is an exersaucer. It's a stationary "walker" of sorts with a swivel seat and plenty of audio, tactile and visual delights in primary colors. Its essentially a mini-wonderland for 5 to 12 month olds. I picked one out that I liked at Babie's 'R Us, but I didn't like the price.

So Craig's List entered the scene. It's like E-Bay but local to your city and no bidding or shipping costs. I managed to locate the exact exersaucer I wanted--gently used, in great condition and HALF the retail price! Joy!!

Not only did I go purchase and pick it up yesterday, but I think I may have made a new friend! The gal who sold it to me ended up chatting with me for a bit. She's part of a local moms' group called "The Hip Mamas" (with a name like that, how could I not be intrigued?) and has invited me to check out some of their events with her!

I'll keep you posted on how all of that develops. In the meantime, enjoy this cute pic of Lucy showing off her mama's purchase:

Doesn't that look like the face of a little girl who thinks her house is REALLY fun? I sure think so!

Boy, Oh Boy!

Since I have four nieces and one sweet daughter, it just turns out that most of the items I make for babies are for GIRL babies. Crafting for girls is oh-so fun, as I have known for... well, 12 years now (Happy Birthday again, Abby! I can't believe how grown up you are!).

But I have recently discovered the delights of crafting for baby BOYS!!! : ) Darin and I have some friends from church who gave birth not long ago to their second boy. I purchased some light blue fleece to make a gift for this couple when they were expecting their FIRST son a year and a half ago! Now that they have two sweet little guys, I decided it was about time to turn that fleece into something special. So I put my creative thinking cap on and made Titus a blanket to congratulate him on becoming a big brother! I suppose baby's Tobin's blanket is to congratulate him on being a new baby. Here's a glimpse of the finished products:

I think I might be hooked on crafting for boys... it's kinda fun!

My "Good" Dog

I suppose it stands to reason that we've been dealing with a few... ummm, shall we say "behaviors" on the part of the pooch, Minnie since we've adopted Lucy. It's just plain fact that Minnie is a wee bit lower on the totem pole these days. As I'm caring for Lucy's needs (which trump Minnie's) I haven't gotten out to take Minnie on as many walks as I used to, I haven't made as many purchases of chewy treats for her, and umm, I haven't worked with her so much on her obedience training that we learned in the "puppy kindergarten" class we took last fall at Petsmart...

It's easy to get frustrated when I find evidences of Minnie's "behaviors" around the house... and I've decided that maybe my frustration has more to do with my outlook than anything else. I think I'm on to something here: perhaps Minnie has been "misunderstood" recently. What may appear to be Minnie's regression into past puppy-like naughtiness may actually be advanced skills she comes by naturally.

The first skill is likely Minnie's attmept to chip in and "help" me with all my responsibilities since becoming a mommy. For example, here is Minnie "helping" me do the dishes:

She also likes to "help" me give Lucy her baths:

The next skill she seems to be practicing is a little something we'll call "Quality Control". I think that a few days ago when I walked into the bathroom and discovered one of Lucy's toys looking like this:

that Minnie was only conducting a quality control test... she helped me discover that indeed, this toy of Lucy's is NOT durable enough to withstand doggy encounters.

Nor, might I add, are a pair of shoes that have been faithful companions of mine since my junior year of college:

It would seem that with all these extra chores that Minnie has taken on recently, she wouldn't have time in her busy schedule anymore to give to the role she came by so naturally when we brought her into our home as an 8-week-old, 3 pound furball. But, she's so selfless that she still manages to squeeze in time to be the cuddly, sweet, comforting companion we know has always been in her... somewhere.

My Baklava Adventure

My sister's husband, Greg, is pretty famous in our family for making scrumptious desserts. His cheesecakes, creme brulee, and tirimasu are pretty much legendary. (I haven't sampled the tirimasu yet, but hope to someday-better yet, I hope to acquire his recipe and attempt it myself).

Well, I guess I'd have to credit Greg as my inspiration because in recent years I, too, have set out to master some fun dessert recipes. For awhile now, Darin has been hoping that I'd add baklava to my repertoire. Perhaps it stems from the time he has spent overseas, I'm not sure, but he just really likes baklava. I've been a little reluctant to try it because it looked like a complicated, laborious project; something I figured I'd be able to "mess up" too easily.

This week Darin has been facilitating one of his week-long trainings for work and it has been particulary draining for him. So I decided to rise to the occaision and finally attempt to make baklava as sort of a reward/surprise for Darin at the end of the long hard week.

I began this endeavor with the help of a great website I learned about from a friend's blog (thanks, Tara!) called Recipezaar. There were multiple baklava recipes to choose from... here's a link to the one I chose: http://www.recipezaar.com/4213

I've had such a fun afternoon diving into the baklava-making process today, that I thought I'd share my "baklava adventure" with you in photos:

Step One: Making the Syrup



Next I prepared the three components that make up the nut mixture (1. sugar, cinamon, allspice and egg 2. graham cracker crumbs-my substitute for breadcrumbs which I forgot to buy at the store 3. chopped up almonds). Lucy was great company for me throughout the lengthy process:

Then I began the task of layering the tissue paper-thin sheets of fillo dough, melted butter and nut mixture in a 9x13 pan:



With the layering process finally complete, I cut the top layers of dough into diamond shapes and pressed a whole clove into each piece. It was then ready to bake at 350 degrees for an hour!

As soon as it came out of the oven, I was able to pour the cooled syrup over the golden, crispy layers. About 2 hours later, the flavors were set together enough for Darin and I to sample it! It turned out to be quite a tastey and rewarding experience!

The End!

One Year of Blogging

The Knitting Hummel is one year old today! I've been wanting to do something special to celebrate the first anniversary, and I think I've finally come up with an appropriate way to bring in year number two ...

You know how sometimes talk shows will follow up on certain stories to see how the guests fared after their show aired? Well, I thought I'd post a few "follow-ups" if you will on some Knitting Hummel posts from the past year. So if you'll humor me as I take a little trip down memory lane, you might even have a little fun with me.

But before I do that, I just want to say that the BEST part about blogging (and what motivates me to continue blogging) is the way it has kept me connected to you! I know that many of you who read my blog are friends and family who live far away from me. While I LOVE living in Iowa and have truly found my "niche" here, I so badly miss those of you in Texas and other places scattered about. So blogging, reading your comments on my posts and reading many of your blogs has helped to bridge these distances a bit! And I LOVE that! : )


With that said, I'd like to go ahead and bring you up to date on some of the stories that have seen me through this past year:

The Cell Phone

Some of you may recall my (over) dramatic story of acquiring a brand new cell phone, losing it a couple days later in a grocery store, and then promptly locating, bidding and buying the exact model on Ebay. It is with great satisfaction and a full heart that I share that the replacement phone has been with me ever since the happy day that I received it in the mail. It may be a little worse for wear (meaning it has a couple dings and a scratch), but it is still serving me faithfully!

Our Niece

I remember how fun it was to share with you the news that Darin's brother, Dave and his wife, Natalie had their first baby, Savannah Ann on August 4, 2007. Looking back, it is also fun to realize that while we were rejoicing over the birth of our beautiful new niece, we had also JUST begun to pray for a young woman we'd learned about through some friends of ours. She was a college student who was pregnant and just beginning to consider adoption for her baby. Little did we know that she would be the birthmother of the beautiful baby girl whom God was preparing US to parent! We love the fact that Lucy and Savannah are so close in age and will undoubtedly have a BLAST growing up together! Just a fun fact: both Lucy and Savannah weighed 6 lbs and 12 oz at birth, and Savannah was only a quarter of an inch longer than Lucy at birth at 20 1/4". How 'bout that?!

Here's an awfully cute picture of Lucy and Savannah with Grandma Judy. They already look like they're having fun together, don't they?

Cupcakes

Well, I've got to admit that my love affair with cupcakes has only deepened since I first posed the question, "Are Cupcakes the New Latte?" on the The Knitting Hummel on October 7, 2007. I have become a frequent customer at Des Moines' very own cupcake bakery, The Carefree Patisserie. My favorite cupcake there would have to be the Vanilla Malt with the Chocolate Cabernet running a close second. Their cupcakes are reasonably priced and absolutely delectable. I have a feeling I could single-handedly keep them in business. Come and visit me in Des Moines, and mark my words, your cupcake is on me! I've also acquired a few cupcake cookbooks and enjoyed trying some new cupcake recipes at home. And of course, I've been incorporating cupcakes into my knitting and other crafting as much as possible. Here's my favorite cupcake endeavor so far:

Lucy's Room

In my post on March 29th, I asked you to help me choose a name for Lucy's bedroom by voting in a poll I created. Our choices were: Land O' Lucy, Lucy Land, and Little Girl Land. As I recall, the votes were pretty close but "Lucy Land" won out. Lucy Land has pretty much become my favorite room in the house... I hope Lucy ends up loving it just as much as I do when she's old enough to appreciate it! : )

The Possible Nose Piercing

No post on the Knitting Hummel stirred up more controversy or generated more comments (22 to be exact) than my announcement that I was only contemplating piercing my nose. For those of you who are wondering, no I haven't taken the plunge yet, but the door isn't shut. Regardless of what the future holds for my nose, reading your comments on the "issue" was perhaps more fun than actually getting the piercing! Thanks for all your input and reassuring me that I can always count on you for honest advice! : )

Well, that wraps up year one of the Knitting Hummel in review! Let's see what year two holds!

For Lucy's Grandparents

Alright, Mama Gail, Grandpa, Grandma and Grandpa Dan!

Lucy finally had her 4-month appointment yesterday so I have some stats:

• 13 lbs 3 oz
• 55th percentile on weight
• 25 inches
• 90th percentile on length!

Our Lucy Goosey is a growin' and just keeps getting sweeter everyday. The latest fun things she's doing are rolling over and GIGGLING hysterically when Darin rubs his whiskers on her! Thought you'd enjoy a quick video: