Happy Birthday T-Rex!

My baby turned four on Saturday!  He made out like a real bandit.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. 

Current Hobbies

So I wanted to do a post that showed off our current hobbies. They're probably more like our current creative interests. Maybe that's what I should have called this. 

Brad has been enjoying his camera and different lens options. So heres a few pictures he took.  I am too.  He gets better and better with each shot!

I don't know how we'll they post to the blog page.  There super clear and just plan cool!

Since I'm getting lazier and lazier carrying this baby, I've become stuck sitting around with back pains and so on.  I forgot what pregnancy is like for a moment...I remember now!  So I've picked up knitting like a bat at of hell. I'm really enjoying it to. I posted some of my creations already but since then I've done a few more. I'm also obsessed with Ravelry and all the millions of projects they have. It's great!

And I'm a faster knitter now :-) 

Finished baby blanket

Hedgehog

Newborn hat

Booties- Texas Rangers inspired! 

And a bag for my yarn

So what's next?  We'll see. I'm on a roll!  

One last photo before I close this up. 

Hound dogs. To the left of this photo a tickle fight was going down. The dogs hate the noise and howl at the top of their lungs. Silly puppies! 

Loosing the Paper

People produce trash and lots of it. I think we can agree there. In my quest to make less of an imprint in the trash of the world, I've decided we need to go paperless. He'll, we recycle glass and some plastic.  We hardly ever get take-out. Plastic bags are hard to come by because we use reusable bags I sewed up several a few years back...and some canvas totes. Additionally, the chemicals are just about out of here. I make homemade hand soap...just ask if you want the recipe!  We buy all organic body care stuff. About the only thing we haven't transitioned is the laundry soap. It's almost out anyhow (been ordering from Almay for years).  Soap Nuts or homemade detergent is next up.  Probably take out trash every two weeks, most goes to the compost or to recycling. 

Alright, so back to this paperless thing-- Paper Towels is what I'm talking about. Not TP...not ready for that, seriously...probably never. Yes, we're going to loose the paper towels for good. I've come to realize that besides little mans nighttime pull-ups, meat packaging, and junk mail, paper towels are what's filling up that trash can.  Of course were going to have a baby soon and I'd be down for the reusable diapers but I'm not the one who's home all day. One thing at a time!

So, here's what I did...

Napkins on the right for wiping hands and faces...light stuff. All sack flour fabric and those little baby rags. Both work very well.  Rags on the left for the big stuff. 

Here's where they go after they've been used (I find we can use napkins for several days before we have to "trash them"). Right to the bin and will later be washed and used again. 

In the process of doing all of this I did a fair share of sewing. I basically bought sack flour towels and cut them in half, thirds, fourths, etc. I then sewed up the cut edges so they wouldn't frey in the wash!  I used vibrant colors to for the fun of it. We've also got "fancy napkins" set aside for holidays and visitors. 

This has been going strong in our household for about 3 weeks now and they boys don't seem to have an issue with it. Very easy transition.  Washing has been easy too...I made so many that so I wouldn't have to do laundry but every other week. No bad smells either. 

One more thing- we still have a few roles of paper towels stashed away for those just in case. Big thing was bacon grease...and the ocasional dog pee incident. 

Charli

It's been a while

A lot has happened since the last time I posted. Well, really nothing much has happened...a lot of rain! My husband has been taking tons of photos with his new camera so if I get some time I'm add those on. Lets see...what have we done?  Went to Cancun Mexico (which was wonderful), worked in the garden a lot (and boy has it produced!), worked, bought Tristan a twin size bed, worked, knitted, worked, grew a bigger belly, worked, and worked. I'm sure there's more I'm missing but I can't recall.

Sunburns in Mexico.  Yes, we called ourselves daytime super heros!

Tristan picking produce from the garden at Wateree Rec Camp. (Not our garden I was referring too). 

Baby blanket...which reminds of the biggest news we've gotten. This little peanut is a baby girl. We are very excited!  

Strawberry picking time. We made a lot of freezer jam. Then we had a freezer incident in which we nearly lost all the freezer jam to a raw chicken.  We managed to save it all after switching out containers. Only time will tell if that batch is still good. 

Again, not from our garden. This was a giant zucchini from a friends farm.  

Here's a few shots of our garden. The beans went south from over watering but they have improved significantly. The tomatoes have gone crazy!  

Little yellow guys are Lemon Drop Tomatoes. I've already started canning those because we have so many. Okra is coming in, beans too, and picked our first bell pepper today too. Now just need to get a picture of our sunflowers!  

A blurry shot of my little superhero! 

And, of course, my husband with his fancy new camera!  

Ok, more pictures to come and maybe some of my growing belly!  Later for now. 

On the way

Yep, we've got one on the way. This photo was taken a few weeks ago with our nifty new camera. Baby is due in October. And one of these days ill get to posting more photos...but I'm tired. Too much to do and not enough time to do it...ever!

Recent Activities

Just wanted to load a few picks of what we've been up to lately. Fishing, beach, and strawberry picking!

Here lately...

Last night we went to dinner. It was already late by the time we got into the big city. Not realizing that it was St. Patty's party night and all the crazies were out was our first mistake. Well, second since we started out for dinner later then we usually eat. I'd say that was the first mistake. It had already been a long day to say the least. T-Rex was driving us insane as any 3 year old would. He'd been driving us insane for the entire week. It's like the terrible 3's blew up and stuck to us like skunk spray and there isn't a thing that will make it go away except time. No tomato juice for this one. We finally got into a place that we wouldn't have to wait for 40 minutes to eat. We ended up sitting at a community table...didn't even know they had that kind of thing...where, with a 3 year old, hopefully no one else would have the gall to sit with us. Sometime during the course of dinner it occurred to me, you know that saying about how toddlers are like drug addicts. I know you've probably seen it somewhere...Pinterest, Facebook, failblog...somewhere along those lines. Well, it's true. While I'm standing in the bathroom with a 3 year old in flip flops trying to stand on top of my stilettos so he's tall enough to reach the toilet, I fall out in full on laughter. It's so true. This kid is like me when I'm 3 sheets to the wind. Who falls out of their adult stool in a fancy to do restaurant while dressed to the nines?--This girl. Who talks for hours about things that make no sense at all to no one?--This girl. Who wants to make out with the moon?--This girl. (Sometime after he fell out of the chair he decided loving the moon was his next endeavor.). Who tells jokes that are not funny and then laughs at them? Who can't find their shoes? Who mispronounces words and continues to repeat the same words with certainty they are being said correctly?--This girl. I could go on but I believe the point is apparent. How can anybody stand me...oh wait they are all usually 3 sheets to the wind too. Oh this child...for now I suppose I will continue to accept this phase and be glad he is cute!!