Sunday, October 25, 2009

This Hat Changed My Life Forever


As yet another halloween approaches I can't help but think back three years ago to this little hat, that has changed my life forever. How do you ask can a hat change a persons life, and forever at that. When I was pregnant with my 4th munchkin, Fish, I found my way to babycenter.com and the June 2007 Board. And posted on this hat on the crafty mommas thread. One of the other mom's on the board oooh'd and awe'd over it and asked if I would consider trading the hat for some of her uber cute bows. I thought about it for awhile because well, I wasn't THAT kinda mom, you know the one that matches each outfit to a bow, but none the less I agreed and put the hat in the mail. You see the Fish has two older sisters who would have loved for me to be THAT mom *wink*. This was in February of 2007, just 4 short months before our June Babies were due and that hat was mailed to Jess. Soon after the hat was made Jess and I found each other on Yahoo and began chatting regularly. We discovered we both had a love for all things ribbon and fabric (or a sickness rather), had our first child at a young age (19 to be exact), and were stay at home mom's who just loved to create in our spare time.

Fast forward to October when our Juners (well my mayer, he was early) were about 4 1/2 months old, I realized I had mailed my pumpkin hat to Jessb and my Fish didn't have one, crap! I stayed up til 2 am on October 30th so my cute little guy could have a hat of his own. Whoops...guess I asked for that one. As more time passed we talked more and more often, moved to a private message board with 25+ of our favorite people from baby center. We share stories of our new babies, pictures of our latest craft projects, our heartaches and our joys. Being a military wife I have learned to deal with losing friends to distance and making new ones with each move, but having someone in my life as a constant was helping me to deal with the bitter sweet moves in ways I still can't explain.

Jess was there for me when I was dealing with the loss of my mom, and I for her when she lost her grandfather, the man she grew up calling "Dad". All of the boy's scraps and bruises. Their first smiles, first steps, first words, and first time outs. We talked about it all, and still do. We discovered Skype about a year ago and have since talked via Skype almost daily.

Last October Jess mentioned how she has always wanted to walk 60 miles in the Breast Cancer 3 Day, now most people's first thought would have been, "Are you CRAZY", my reply was "ME TOO!!!!!". Shortly there after I signed up for the Seattle 3 Day, knowing I would be living in WA at the time, remember we are military and move every 1.5 years. And came back and told her I had done so and there was no turning back. A few weeks later I received a call from her husband asking what I was doing one weekend in November, you see he had a surprise for Jess, he was flying her out to Rhode Island to meet me, I was ECSTATIC! He told her we just couldn't possibly wait another year to meet, it was just too long.

A couple of weeks later I found myself in my van on the way to the airport to meet the woman I had come to call my best friend. I was nervous, excited, scared and a million other emotions. Would we really like each other as much as we thought we would? Would she have a good time?? And most importantly, would we really finish all the craft projects we had planned????? She brought me my beloved Birdie Bag (Amy Butler's purse pattern), and who's to judge it was only a year later :P. Let me tell you those days flew by, WAY TO FAST! I found myself wanting to make her miss her plane home, even though I knew she missed her boys like crazy.

A few months later it was time for our family to relocate from Rhode Island to Washington State and wouldn't you know, I made the detour to stop at Jess' house along the way. September was still way to long to wait to see her again. It was a whirlwind 12 hour visit but worth every hour of the detour to see her and her family. Unfortunately the hubs was at a school in Florida and was unable to meet her family, but we had fun none the less.

From March until September we worked hard to raise the funds required to walk in the Seattle Breast Cancer 3 day, $2300 each to be exact. And although it was a lot of work it was worth every letter sent, every percentage of sales donated and every annoying facebook post begging my friends to donate. We also talked about our new crafts, the boys haircuts, the kids school projects, sports, etc. We also talked about when our husbands annoyed us, come on admit it all husbands can be annoying at times, and when they were uber romantic, because yes that does happen on the rare occasion.

September came and Jess flew in and we were excited to begin our sixty mile journey. Although talking about it in the weeks leading up to it we decided we were going to wait at least two years before committing to the challenge again. The fundraising was really really really hard work. On day one just 5 miles in that all changed, we saw what this walk was all about and we were already talking about where we would be walking NEXT YEAR! The entire experience was AMAZING and lets just say Jess is UNSTOPPABLE. You can read her story about our journey here.

We have since chosen San Francisco as the city where we will be walking in 2010 and have opened an Etsy shop where will will be selling items donated by fellow Etsy sellers who want to help us reach our goal of a combined $4600 in order to walk in the 3 Day again. I can't think of anyone else on this earth I would rather go from 0 to 60 in 3 days with. Love ya Jess, I don't know what my life would be like without you in it!


Wednesday, October 21, 2009

We Too Are THAT Family

Having four little munchkins running around my house I often wonder if I have completely lost my mind, and most of the times the answer is why yes, yes I have. Between my husband almost losing a finger while cutting butter (he's talented like that) and my daughter going in for a well child check only to find out she has a golf ball sized lymph-node that turned out to be a result of mono at age four (makes you wonder who she was kissing) we are constantly on our toes.

I have been cleaning the house this week to get ready for the hubs to come home from a 6 week mini deployment and wouldn't you know, the day after I get the sheets clean, the hampers empty and the bathrooms scrubbed Lippy Lou decides to get the flu. So last night I had fire up the washer and dryer to get her sheets clean again and then scrub the toilets once again.

Oh and to top it off, I had payroll ready to run yesterday and let the office clerk talk me into waiting just one more day, only to be kept up til midnight holding Lippy Lou's hair out of her face while she prayed to the porcelain god's. So today I go to do payroll groggy and foggy all while listening to Lippy Lou wretch some more, it was ultra fabulous!

I could probably blog a story a day about how we are THAT family...which reminds me of the time I came home from work early in the hubs and I's relationship only to find him in the shower yelling for ice. What on EARTH would he need ice in the shower for. Turns out he was cutting habanero peppers to put in his lunch and had to use the rest room. Silly guy didn't wash his hands first and of course wasn't wearing gloves, turns out habanero oils on your hands don't go well with using your hands to hit the target in the bathroom if you catch my drift. I am quite certain it was at least a year before he used habaneros in anything. If he EVER reads this blog I am so DEAD!

So what makes you THAT family??? Head over to visit Kristen, share your story and link your blog to Mr. Linky on We are THAT family's blog for you chance to win one of 10 great prizes. Make sure you wish her a Happy 2nd Blogaversary!!!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk Blog

My friend Jessica and I walked the Breast Cancer 3 Day walk this September in Seattle and within the first five miles we decided it was something we would do again and again and again. Raising the $2300 for the walk was not easy, by any means, but it is not meant to be easy. It is a struggle, but looking back I know it is nothing compared to the fight the breast cancer patients face upon learning their diagnosis. I, just like those patients, had the support of my family, friends and even strangers. So again we are calling upon all of you to help us raise the funds so we as a community can help fight that fight again. Our team this year is the Nip Cancer Girls, and we are calling upon are fellow artists and creators to help us raise the funds to win the war against cancer. We have started a blog www.nipcancergirls.blogspot.com where we will be featuring many different Esty stores that have donated items for us to sell to raise funds for the walk. Every item sold in our shop will be donated to us free of charge and 100% of the price less listing/paypal fees will be donated to the Susan G. Komen 3 Day walk. Please show your support by shopping our Etsy store and by following us on our blog.

I am also accepting donations via my 3 day website at www.the3day.org/goto/inhonorofcatherine

Sunday, October 18, 2009

I ♥ Faces Pink Week Entry



This week I ♥ Faces is having a Pink Week contest and I couldn't resist posting this photo of my Breast Friend Jessica and I after going from 0 to 60 in 3 days.



Jessica and I did the Seattle 3 Day in September of 2009 and have signed up to do the 3 Day in San Francisco in September 2010. If anyone is interested in donating to my walk please visit www.the3day.org/goto/inhonorofcaterine

Check out all the awesome faces at www.iheartfaces.com

My Two Flappers

I have been working on these Flap Happy Hats by Susan B. Anderson from Spud and Chloe's pattern line for about a month now and they are finally done and ready to show off. They were a quick knit but I ordered Annie's Pom Pom Tree and it took way to long to get here, so that held me up.

The girls are over the moon excited about their new hats.



Lynner gave it 2 thumbs up!






Lippy Lou loves her's too...







These were knit with one skein each of Spud and Chloe's sweater weight moonlight, splash, popsicle and watermelon on size 7, 16 in circs.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Dinosaur ROAR

My friend Kate over at Tot Toppers wrote the cutest hat pattern that I fell in LOVE with. This hat was knit for my friend Jessica's son Cameron and is being modeled by my Lippy Lou.







I have been on a little bit of a break from bloggy world and I am hoping to hop right back into things. After my friend and I did the 3 day life got a little crazy. Being a Navy wife things get that way sometimes. Anywho, no excuse is a good excuse so I will just aim to do better in the future!