The Crocheting Mom

I made a post a while ago about gift ideas for a crocheter.  You can find that  here .  For the original post, I polled many people in the crochet Facebook communities.  There were some great ideas that I, myself, would love to have.  This post, are ideas that I found that I think many crocheters would love to have as well.  Some are for fun, and some are to make crocheting just a bit easier.  I'm sure it's hard to buy for us crocheters.  We are VERY picky about which yarn we like, and everyone likes a different one!  We all have our favorite set of crochet hooks, and even our own favorite stitch.  I'm hoping that this post will make it easier for you to buy that special crocheting someone a gift that they'll love!

School is here!  And whether you are in person, or elearning, this time of year always gets me excited for the Fall. With the start of this glorious season, my children always start asking me about Halloween and discussing what they want to dress up as. I have been dreading having this conversation with them.  They LOVE Halloween.  They love going trick or treating with their friends.  My oldest loves being able to run around the neighborhood without the boring adults.  My littles love seeing all the costumes and seeing how much candy they can get.   This year, though, will be different.  The droves of people that come to the neighborhood will be slight, if any at all.  I'm not even sure if the town is going to officially allow Halloween.  Even if they do, I'm sure not many people are going to want to partake in it.  I know I don't want my children going from house to house, getting candy from the hands of people I don't know. ...

My path to teaching was a long one.  Most of the time, from what I've seen, it's not super hard to get into the profession.  Often times, you can get offered a position at the school where you student teach, or at least get a recommendation from your principal to a school in the same district.  What happens when you're moving around though?  My husband was in the military, so I wasn't in one place for long during these important years.  

I'm a mom, and I desperately want/need to work out.  I say want, but the need part of that is much stronger.  If I "wanted" to work out, I would.  I wouldn't complain, or find excuses, I'd just do it.  Well no time like the present right?  Working from home, kids are getting a little older, slightly more time on my hands.  This is THE PERFECT time to start up again!  Right?!?  

It is now May and Mother's day it just a week away.  Have no fear though!  I've found the perfect projects for you to make your Mom!  Being a mom myself, homemade gifts from your babies, no matter how old, are always okay in my book.  It shows that you are actually taking the time to think about her, and not just buying whatever you see on the store shelves.  It is made with love.  Most of these do not take too long so you still have plenty of time!

Wow , time flies when your busy! I can't believe its been 2 years since I've written on my blog.  Since I've rambled about my thoughts.  Since I've shared my love of crocheting.  But it happened.  I lost touch with the art of expressing my thoughts through the internet.  I'm back though, partially thanks to this quarantine, partially thanks to work slowing down, and partially thanks to me missing this.  I have lots of ideas and thoughts I want to share with all of you.  I'm excited to hop back in to the world of typing and blogging! So, where have I been for these past two years you ask?  I've been teaching, becoming a chauffeur for my kids, handling the house chores, and just being as present as possible for my husband and my children.

I am part of the MyMagazine Sharing Network, and for my honest review, they send me free products to try out. When I was offered the option of trying out Stok Cold Brew coffee, I accepted immediately.  I love coffee.  I live on coffee.  If it wasn't for coffee, I don't think I would make it through my day.  Seriously.  With the three kids, two school-aged and one toddler, I need coffee to give me the energy to get everything done in the day.  Between carting the kids around to activities, regular household duties, crocheting, blogging and everything in between, I have a lot to get done each day.  

Mother's day is quickly approaching and as a Mom who knows how hard it can be find the perfect gifts for Father's Day, I thought I'd help some of you out.  I've put together a list of gifts that I have found on Etsy, with various price ranges, that I believe any mom would love.  I know I'd love to get any of these items (hint hint to the husband...).  I have listed them in no particular order, so enjoy!   **One thing to note:  When I emailed all these sellers about permission to use their photos, they all responded within a few hours!!! Great customer service! **

Are you looking for something to buy that crocheter in your life?  Are you at a loss as to what crocheters would really want?  Well, honestly, most of us would be happy with anything!  I wanted to make sure I provided a list that all crocheters would agree with.  Therefore, I polled my fellow crocheters in the Facebook groups that I am a part of.  With their help, I came up with a list of items that will sure to be a hit with the crocheter you are buying for.  These gifts will be perfect for Christmas, birthdays, Mother's Day, anniversaries, or just a Wednesday!

I have kids, hence the Mom Blog.  With kids, comes messes.  I have a few stains on my carpets, that regular cleaner has not been able to get out.  They have been there for a couple months, and I have not wanted to fork over $100 to have someone come in and professionally clean my carpets. So when I was offered a free bottle of STAINMASTER Carpet Cleaner , for my honest review, I was eager to try it.  I hate paying for stuff that I don't know is going to really work or not,  so it's hard for me to find something that I can have as a go-to.  I'm writing this review to hopefully help others out there with the same problem.   Kids .  Oops, I mean, the MESSES that kids leave!

Where I grew up, we didn't go back to school until AFTER Labor Day.  Now, living in a different state, my children go back to school in beginning of August.  That's crazy right?  I feel like it's still summer until at least the end of September. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm am definitely ready for school to start, but I just feel bad for the kids because it's still hot out, and perfect weather for playing outside!  The kids do get out of school in the end of May, though, so they are still at least getting 2 and half months off.  I feel like when I was a kid though, summer lasted so much longer.  I guess as a parent, days just go by a lot faster because we have so many more worries.

Money is a big part of life.  As much as some of us may try to say it isn't, that money doesn't rule our lives, it does.  You either are trying to figure out how to get more or trying to figure out what to do with what you have, or most likely, both! From a young age, when children start to get an allowance, birthday money or even just finding change on the street, they want to spend it.  They don't care how much they have, or even if they have enough, the second that glorious money hits their possession, they want to use it.  I'm not sure if its because it makes them feel older, being able to buy something by themselves, or just the adrenaline that they receive from getting a new item, but they want to spend it as quick as possible.  This is why it is so important to teach them at a young age the importance of saving money.

There are so many different ways that you can price your crocheted items (or other crafty creation).  In the many crochet FB groups that I'm a part of, I see it almost daily "How much should I charge for this?"  "Is this too cheap/expensive?"  It's hard to know what to charge.  We don't want to sell something to cheap, where we could have gotten more money, but we also don't want to price it too high and then we get no bites on our products.

I've written before about my children during chores in my home, but it's such an important topic I wanted to give some more tips.  I won't say it's easy, but my husband and I are trying to make it second nature for our kids. We want them to understand that having chores is just a part of being a family.  We all need to help out in the house, and as a family, we can keep the house clean.  I have created a list of different ways you can help acheive this goal.

My husband and I are both the baby of our families, each with three children.  So when we decided to have our third child, we though things would be easy peasy.  Or second child, wasn't even two when we got pregnant so things seemed normal to us.  We had no idea what we were in for. I always heard that about "the middle child syndrome" but never though it held any weight.  I used to think that it was just something parents said to give an excuse for that child's behavior.  Boy was I wrong.  They were right on all accounts.

If you are looking for a place to travel to with your kids, and you even remotely close to Indianapolis, I highly suggest you make a trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum.  It is over 400,000 square feet and spread out over 29 acres.   It is THE largest children's museum in the world.

I started blogging way back in 2014.  January of 2014!  So it's been a while.  When I first started, my husband kept telling me little tidbits of what he was reading here and there about blogging, but for some reason, it went in one ear and out the other.  I basically just wrote about my kids and what was going on in my life.  I did it pretty regularly for the first few months, and then I faded off doing only a few here and there.  In 2015, and 2016 I probably only did a handful of posts.  I wasn't seeing much come out of the blog, so I wasn't as motivated. Then in February of this year, for some reason I started to look into it again.  I wrote a few posts, did some research, wrote a few more and did some more research.  Then, all of a sudden it clicked.  After reading through lots of articles about blogging, and reading LOTS of books ( I'll write about my favorites in another post), I was finally starting to get the hang of this bl...

My 8 year old daughter LOVES to play games.  It started way back when she was younger with memory.  A great game for her, because she found something she can always beat Mommy at!  She was drawn to most games, naturally because her parents are also very competitive. Board games, card games, mental games (I spy...) and physical games (basketball) were all fair game for games.  Lately, she really enjoys playing card games though.  Maybe it's because she's realized that I will say yes more often than not to card games, because I love them as well.  Playing cards reminds me of when I used to sit and play double solitaire and cribbage with my Grandfather.  So when she asks, it's usually a YES of course!

As a fellow parent, we all get lost in the monotonous daily chores and routines.  Even if your not a parent, sometimes days will go by before you even realize it's the next month.  We get so busy with our lives, and our children, that sometimes we forget about taking care of ourselves.  It's just as important to make sure that YOU are taking care of, even if its just for 15 minutes at a time.  I realize that even 15 extra minutes can be hard to find in your day sometime, but for your own self satisfaction, I urge you to find it.

As a crocheter, I bring my current wips (works in progress) almost anywhere I can.  Usually it's quick trips while my kids are at their sports, or just being able to do a few rows while I'm waiting to pick them up from school.  Those trips do not require much thinking though, because if I forgot something, I'd be back home within the hour usually. Taking long road trips are another story.  I check my stash over and over again to make sure I have everything I'll need.  My husband does the driving, so I have plenty of time in the passenger seat to crochet.  Well, in between making sure the kids are entertained enough.  Our trips are usually to go to visit my husband's grandmother, who lives about 8 hours away.  That's a long trip, and you better believe I'm going to take advantage of all that time sitting there to get some inventory completed.