Life Lessons

I have a child that very much likes to be in control. He likes things done his way, the exact way he wants them, and if you don't do it his way the world ends right then. The problem is most of the time he forgets to tell you all his particulars until the world has already ended, and then he will proceed to tell you everything you did not do right. And when he gets upset he tends to just tell you louder and louder until he's yelling at you.

Tonight was one of those lucky nights. It was my husband's lucky night to take the rounds. After 20 minutes of debating which is what he likes to do, it was time to just step in, be a parent, and teach hard lessons. This is so hard to determine sometimes. When do realize that the kids has just had a hard day and needs some love, compassion and attention. And when do you realize that there is a deeper issue that needs to resolved, and lessons that need to be learned. Lessons like:

1) You treat people with respect. All people. It doesn't matter who they are, and you need to learn to communicate properly with them and learn to express yourself in appropriate ways.

2) You can't control others and make everyone do exactly what you want,whenever you want. You can not have everything your way.

3) You are an agent unto yourself. You do have control over yourself and how you will act, respond and what choices you will make.

4) ALL of your choices have some sort of outcome. Whether that is good or bad can not always be determined by you. Sometimes you may know what those outcomes will be though and you can either choose the option that will prevent an outcome or you must be willing to take responsibility for any choice you make.

5) You can not expect to procrastinate the day of your repentance, and wait till the end to say your sorry, to apologize and expect everything to change and revert back to the way you want it to be. There will a point where it will be too late, and you will have missed opportunities. Nothing you can do can change it. But you can choose to accept responsiblity for what you have done or the choices you've made and move forward.

How do you teach these eternal truths to a 4 year old. You become the meanest parent on the block and take them to bed kicking an screaming. You stand up for your spouse and inform them that you will not put them to bed beacause they want you to do it instead of dad. (I was technically still the nice parent until that point) . You inform them that their behaviour has caused them to miss out on songs and a drink, because that was a consequence of their action. And then you don't give in depite all the crying, arguing, promises to change and be good if we do what he wants, and you let him know that you were listening to everything he said, and repeat it back to him to prove you were listening. And you show a little love still by at least giving him his teddy bear and doggy to help him fall asleep.

When does this parenting stuff get easier?

Small and Simple Things

This year as I started out the new year, I knew I needed to make huge headway on many projects and yet wanted to simplify everything in my life. The scripture "by small and simple things, great things are brought to past.." kept going through my head. (More on this later).

So I decided to test my theory... and test it with my design work. I have very little time to design. Too often I pick a big project that takes forever for me to get it out and into the store. I might get one product out a month if I'm lucky, and then I get burned out so fast.

So I decided to only do "small" products this year. Ones that were quick and fast. Ones that I could literally finish in 2-3 hours. I only have about 1 1/2 hours in the early morning before the kids awake to do any designing. I wanted something I could easily get done in those few hours, and possibly get two done in one week on my good weeks. If I had a bad week with life and general it was still small enough to get in the store.

I wanted it simple. I wanted it to be doable. I wanted it to work with my ADHD when it comes to having new ideas I wanted to work with. I somehow believe that even though these things are small and don't make big amounts of money, that small, consistent things will bring greater results than random, in frequent large things. So far I'm feeling good about it. It's been very doable. So far I've put something in the store every week, which has not happened for a VERY long time. I'm sort of looking forward to the end of the year, to look back and see if my theory proves correct. That these small and simple things will help out greatly in trying to prepare ourselves for when Beau graduates and we start job hunting. That somehow out of small things great things will come to pass.

These new JIF 6 Kits can be found in my store.

When Inspiration Hits

Recently I ran across this treasury at Etsy. It immediately sparked some ideas for a Jif 6 Kit.Which lead to some sketches and ideas for papers and elements.

Which lead to the finished product.

And a couple of fun layouts to go with it.

Handmade Giveaway

One of the things that I want to do this year is make more time for sewing and making things. For both my house and others. I was able to work on a bunch of things before Christmas and it was just so relaxing and fun to create handmade gifts for people. So when I saw Laurel's blogpost. I wanted to join in on the fun!

So I'm going to give away 5 handmade items created by me to the first 5 commenters on this blogpost. I'm going to try and do my best to create something that you'll like, but it will be a complete surprise what it is. You've got to give me at least the next 6 months to get all 5 completed.

Here is just a sample of one of the projects I made for the Christmas season. A Baby blanket for a new little one our extended family. (I've been trying to teach myself how to quilt on my regular sewing machine... I have a long ways to go, but it's exciting to see all the possibilities.)

So is what is the catch? Be one of the first 5 commentors, post about this giveaway on your own blog, and do the same thing for your first 5 commentors. If you do not have your own blog but are willing to just surprise 5 other people with something handmade, I'll let that count!

I'm excited to spread some handmade goodness! What about you?

It's that time of year when I tend to pull inward and live in a far away place. My husband has repeatedly ask me if I was around. I can't seem to help it. Right after Christmas it just naturally happens. I start thinking about the last year. What went on, how I grew and where do I want to find myself a the next year. It seems to be my natural time for introspection.

I naturally start making goals, plans for things I would like to accomplish, growth I would like to see and