Homemade Love

....it's the name of my shop on Etsy.com which you can find here.  I just made a new batch of (Bubble Gum) lip balm last night, and have the labels ready to print to stock them in the shop, but since I was up much earlier than usual to get into a new workout regime, I am exhausted!!!  I will get them up tomorrow for sure.  As always, all of the ingredients are all natural, except the flavoring isn't (obviously) essential oil...it is a flavor oil.  My girls absolutely LOVE it, and I know all of your favorite little girls will as well!

Beyond my fabulous lip balm, you can see some of my knitting projects for sale, as well as some other natural beauty supplies, with more of those coming soon as well!

Enjoy
~E~

What a year!

I can't believe I have been such a blogging slacker for almost a year!  What a year it has been too.  I have a 6th grader, an almost 5 year old, whom I am casually homeschooling, my knitting is still a big part of my life, and I opened a small shop on Etsy with my naturally made bath products, and some of my hand knit items!  I am back in school temporarily, taking 9 credits, aiming towards ASL interpreting!  I forgot how much I loved Deaf Culture until I was back in ASL class.

I also became a vegetarian, however I do occasionally consume wild caught seafood.

"Semi-vegetarian diets consist largely of vegetarian foods, but may include fish or poultry, or sometimes other meats on an infrequent basis. Those with diets containing fish or poultry may define "meat" only as mammalian flesh and may identify with vegetarianism.  A pescetarian diet, for example, includes "fish but no meat"." (wikipedia)

As I said, I am only eating seafood occasionally, and only if it was caught in the wild.  I feel like our country's traditionally raised meat sources are so horrific anymore, that I would rather not consume from that supply, and since the grass fed, free ranging sorts of animals that I feel are treated humanely are so far out of reach for me where we live, and in my budget, that I would rather just not eat meat at all.  However, if I could afford to, I would eat meat that was treated humanely in life and death.  I do try to buy smaller quantities of the better meats for my family since they are still meat eaters, but as I said it is hard.  I wish I could convince them of how I feel about it, but I can't.

I wanted to put this out there because I have been catching a lot of flack from people lately, about my eating habits, and rather than sit and constantly try to defend myself, I thought this might help.

Busy Busy life

Obviously it has been a while since I sat down with something to say! The girls and I had a great summer with my family in Washington State, travels home went smoothly, and school started back up with no trouble transitioning to a set schedule. C is a 5th grader now *cry*, and J turned 4 in October *cry some more*. Daddy returned home from his long deployment and we were able to enjoy a lot of family time together, though we didn't leave home much, we enjoyed it all the same!

We have been working on some minor pre-school learning things with J, and keeping C well rounded and learning how to balance after school activities with school work, and play. We had some struggles in that area, but we are working back up to it again.

It is nearly Thanksgiving again, and we are ready for all things holiday! I have been busy keeping the house tidy and decorated nicely to go along with the seasons, as well as knitting hats and mittens and lots of other fun things!

I am so thankful for all of the things in my life!

Happy 4th of July

It is a day to celebrate our country. It is a day I am bursting with pride for my husband who is serving our country overseas as I type this. I miss him with all of my heart, and I know my girls do too. We proudly wear our flag colors, and stand proud and silent with our hands over our hearts during the National Anthem this morning at the parade. This is an older photo of hubby while deployed, but always a good one!

Spring has sprung: a past due update!

Grass is greening up, flowers and trees are blooming, and I feel all my energy coming back!

I have started working out with Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, and I love it!

My hubby is currently deployed, but we are plugging right on along with the daily stuff, missing him of course!

The girls are growing so fast. C will be 10 in a matter or weeks. J is learning things right and left, can spell her name for you out loud, and loves make believe play.

I have been knitting and crocheting lots of things through the winter, but now that spring is here, I know my projects will become more colorful and varied. I am also itching to get some sewing projects done for the girls, and even one for myself!

I hope you are all doing as well as we are around here!

<3

Merry Christmas

It has been a wild, and amazing year, I can't believe how fast it has gone!

I hope you have all had an amazing year as well.

Shutterfly

As a mom I have taken many, many photo's of my lovely daughters over the years, and since coming into the digital age of photography, I have checked out the numerous websites to store and print my photos from. Shutterfly.com has been one of my favorites just because of its ease of use, and their prices are always awesome!

I would love to get a couple of these wall art prints at some point, they are super cute!

This year for Christmas I decided to do some photo calendars for all the grandparents and great grandparents! They are turning out amazing so far, if I do say so myself. I also have been thinking about doing photo Christmas cards to send out this year as well, there are just WAY too many to choose from, but after I had picked out a few layouts that I like, I saw a post on Facebook about Shutterfly doing a special for bloggers...http://bit.ly/sfly2010.

I always have regular prints in need of order too, and they come out so perfect. Family photos are always the perfect gift for any occasion for your extended family, Shutterfly even has an option to send something directly to the recipient!

You can't beat that now can you?!

Check out Shutterfly for all your photo needs too!