Our new furry-boys managed to grab hold of my husband's camera's sd card after the last time I uploaded photos. Thankfully it was AFTER I uploaded photos and not after but it also makes me nervous that I don't have CDs/DVDs unpacked yet so that I can back up the photos on my computer... The thought of loosing all of my son's pictures from the past two years terrifies me. I hope to at least locate dvds today and get them backed up MULTIPLE times by the end of the week. I'm thinking of mailing copies to my parent's house so that if there was a fire or something that I had back ups elsewhere. I hate to do that as I have breastfeeding pictures which were my first moments with my son after my "emergency c-section" and hours of separation... With my luck my mother will immediately print ALL of our pictures and take them to show them to everyone she knows..
Spring has quite definitely sprung in NC (pictures to come later) but I'm continuously finding hints of FALL, not winter, but fall on our long walks. I can only imagine how jealous my friends the PA squirrels would be if they knew of the abundance of acorns scattered over our sidewalks, grass and still clinging to leaf-bare trees!
I think I've seen maybe 3 squirrels in total since we moved here and they all hang close to the lake down the street from us (again.. pictures to come later!) There is so much beauty here.. not that there wasn't where we lived before but there is something about this neighborhood that is just gorgeous.. maybe it's the gigantic library a little over a mile away, maybe it's the trails around every corner, or perhaps it's the lake and wildlife that surrounds it steps from our complex.. but if we had a place of our own (non-apartment) I would probably truly be in heaven. Some days on our walks I feel like I'm in a dreamland.
I've been horrible at getting pictures of my art work lately.. I've resorted to using my old camera that does not take the best pictures and the indoor light tends to be very difficult to capture pictures in. I managed to whip off 4 full dish cloths to send back to PA with my parents when they visited so that a few members of my extended family would have a small Easter gift from us. I made about a gallon of liquid hand soap from a ziplock full of tiny broken soap bars from random places (hotel stays mostly) for the cost of a gallon of distilled water ($1.20 I believe?) I ran out of empty soap pumps (for once I got rid of something I should have kept, ha) and refilled the gallon jug from the water (more than half way.) Some days it seems like I'm plowing through yarn....
This is one of my latest yarn purchases with what is left of my gift card for the craft store. I can't remember exactly when I purchased it but it couldn't have been much more than two weeks ago.. w/in less than a week the two stripped skeins to the left were gone. as they're what I used for dish cloths. I have a little nub of the red left over and a stitch holder holding together the left over piece knit into most of a dish cloth. I picked up 3 more skeins (well 5 if you count the two that my mother purchased for me to knit her a scarf to go with her new winter coat) over the weekend as well as my first pair of circular needles and my first set of double pointed needles. My mom was nice enough to purchase the circular needles that I was so excited to try out. Of course demon dog managed to get a hold of them and they are no more :'-( Well.. it's not that they're no more.. but I'll never get to use them for a real project.. I'm pretty much just using it as I would straight needles.. The cable is so chewed I'm sure it would catch on the yarn and fray it. Most of what I get stuck using is acrylic (I really, really love cotton and have never had the opportunity to try wool or any "good" yarn) so maybe it wouldn't really matter.. I guess I'll find out since I don't have $70 to blow on a nice set of interchangeable needles.. especially since I have a demon dog (I really do love him and say that in the most loving way possible) looking to chew through them.
I'm trying really hard to just be appreciative of what I have and not stress over the things that get destroyed.. they're just things... if I don't have it, I'll just have to live with out it. I have to admit there are little things that we've been given or picked up here and there for little to no money that have significantly made my life easier.. like my new drainers.. They make rinsing beans and quinoa SO much easier! They even hook over the edges of our double sink (something else I'm thankful for) and allow me to use our hose in the sink (something I've never really had and am VERY thankful for!)
I know my husband is always saying that I "always want something" but I think he fails to notice that most things I "want" are things that tend to make our lives easier and most of the time I'm more than happy to just live with out. Of course there's always things on my wish list.. like more children, a fancy set of interchangeable knitting needles, a more dependable vehicle that fits all of us more comfortably, a home of our own... you know.. the things/ life you can dream of but aren't begging for because you know that they aren't realistic at the time.. My list of non-necessities that I'm asking for right now are some shower curtain hangers so that I can set up a spare shower curtain that was a moving in gift from one of our last complexes in our spare bathroom (of course I always have my eyes peeled for nice baskets to help keep us organized and a heavy duty laundry basket but I've been on that search for going on 3 years)... Wow, I want to spend a whole dollar! I realize that a dollar is a dollar and with no one working we really shouldn't spend a penny but it would be nice to allow my parents to shower in the bathroom off of my son's room when they're in to visit instead of trying to make 1 small bathroom work for 5 people. This honestly is not meant to sound like a husband rant, I think sometimes he forgets the costs that are involved with maintaining a house hold outside of our $40 a week grocery budget... We do occasionally need to pick up paper products (about once every 3 months) and about once a year I run low certain cleaning supplies (I tend to buy refillable bottles and a bulk bottle or something that needs to be diluted.. There are moments I want to remind him of the things that the "average" woman likes to spend money on.. like new clothes, jewelry, shoes, purses, make up, etc. I purchase 90% of my son's clothing (that is not handed down for free) from 75%+ off racks and thrift stores.. Other than a few pieces of maternity clothing (6 or so pieces? 2 pairs of pants and 3-4 tops) the last piece of clothing I purchased was before we were married.
Well now that I've found a radio station that makes me feel uplifted I suppose it is time to get back to my house work so there is time for fun tonight once DH gets home from the library.. some spring break he's having!
