Marmy and Daddy visits!

I am a tried and true momma's girl. I will always be the first to admit it. There is nothing better then getting to spend quality time with my momma!

We live 5.5 hours away from each other, but we talk on the phone every day. It makes my drive home from work far more enjoyable.

This visit was an amazing one, for many reasons! I didn't get to spend as much time with my dad this time, but he had another trip planned while my marmy was staying with me. More on daddy's trip in a bit. Stay tuned you don't want to miss that story! (This post got lengthy, check back tomorrow for Daddy's post!)

Marmy stayed with me for almost two weeks. Even though I had to work during the week, with an extra day off, we had a blast. Woot for hitting 90 days and having a personal day to take!

Our evenings consisted of Sonic runs to get half priced shakes, running to Wal-Mart, (I lost count of how many times we went!) swimming until the sun started to go down, and you can't forget the most fun we had curled up on the furniture watching tv and crocheting the night away.

Marmy took a break from crocheting to knit and Pixie is never far away :)

My hubby's birthday is in two weeks, so Marmy make Randy a stuffie Cthulhu!

This is not my pattern. Pattern for this stuffie can be found here.

I continued to work on stuffies for order! My house is turning into a zoo and I love every minute of it.

These are not my patterns. Patterns found for free on Pinterest.

I am grateful that my marmy taught me how to crochet when I was younger. It has really grown into a passion of mine. I love the connectedness that I have with my marmy and that we both share passion for some of the same things.

What skills have been passed down to you from your parents? I would love to hear about them! 

It's all in the little things...

I know that I have written on this subject before, but it is always something that comes back to me.

When days are long and times are tough always celebrate the little things in life.

Whether it is waking up on time to get on the road to beat traffic.

Whether is is having just enough creamer left for your morning coffee.

Whether is is being able to spend a little extra time with a loved one.

Even thought these things are seem pretty miniscule they all play an important factor in life.

Today, I had just made it into work when I started to see reports that all 6 lanes (northbound and southbound) of the highway I take to work were shut down. All because a dump truck was driving with their bed in the up position and ripped all the power lines down.

Today, I am thankful that I work an earlier shift.

I don't like coffee. I LOVE coffee. I need it on a daily basis in order to function. I can't drink it black I need to have some flavoring in it. Last week, I was low on creamer and had just enough to fix my second cup for the day. I had my coffee it was a good day.

The next morning I arrived at work and realized I had forgotten to bring creamer to work.

I am thankful for loving co-workers who also share my addition and offered to share their creamer.

I live away in a different state from all of my family. My in-laws live more then 45 minutes from me.

I am a tried and true Marmy's girl. I talk to her almost every day of the week and some days we talk a few times on the phone, in addition to text messages throughout the day. Every moment that I get to spend with my Marmy makes my life better.

Don't take the little things in your life for-granted.

There are people that would do anything to have a job.

There are people that can't afford to buy coffee and creamer.

There are people that would give anything to spend more time with a loved on who is no longer with us.

Life is a wonderful thing.

Even when the day is looking pretty grey and nothing is going right. Find that one little shimmer of hope in the day. 

Marmy and Me the first day she got to my house. 

I get to keep her until the end of the month! I may not let her go home :)

My break from blogging... Part 2 of 2

So, much has gone on during my time away from my blog. I have really missed it. I know that I don't have many followers, but thank you for being here!

Blogging for me and never been about the numbers, it isn't about trying to reach a level of fame, it has solely been about the fact that I like to write. My hope is that at least one reader is able to connect with something that I am writing about and make their day better. Even if small smile comes across their face I have done something important.

There are a few blogs that I read on a daily basis. One is for daily inspiration and one is to make me laugh.

I am really looking forward to getting back into blogging and getting on a better posting schedule. That is my hope at least. Life needs to stop throwing fast balls at me from every direction.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about my life and where I am at and where I would like to be at. All of this lead to me making a bucket list. Some of these may take my entire life time, but here is to having goals! I am 25 years old and I feel like I haven't really done much with my life. I want more for myself and for my family.

Amanda's Bucket List

Travel outside of the United States
I would love to visit Aom in Thailand. It was a lot of fun learning about Thailand and the culture there while Aom was living in Kansas with us. I would love to learn more about the culture being in the middle of it. I would love to see the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Travel through Europe visiting historic areas. Drink wine and eat pasta in Italy. Even visiting one of these places would  be beyond amazing!

I miss this girl!

 

Write a book and get it published (even for a Kindle only version)
I have started this! Be on the look out for another post about my novel I am working on. I am quite excited!

Become a better blogger
I would like to get better at keeping up with my blog and getting on a better blogging schedule.

Make more money selling my crocheted items then I spend on yarn 
HAHA! This makes me giggle even when I type it!

Photo from Google search

Set up an online store for my families crochet business  
P.S. for now follow Stitched Together on Facebook! We take custom orders.

Become a yoga instructor 
I have been taking yoga classes for the last year at my local gym. This is something that I have become very passionate about. Now to save the money to get certified! Taking donations to make my dream come true :)

Get another tattoo 
I have two more in mind :)

Love and Equality for All! 
So, I might not have much control over this, but people should be able to love who they want whether that is one person, two people or more!

Here is the start of my bucket list for life. I am sure that I will come up with a few more things down the road. I will be sure to keep you all informed as I make things off this list and as I add things.

What is on your bucket list?

Five Minute Friday: Lost

Every Friday Lisa-Jo Baker posts a word prompt.  The idea is to set a timer and write for five minutes. You would be amazed at how fast 5 minutes really is. Once the five minutes is up you jump on over to her page here and post your link. Once you link up visit the person before you and offer some words of encouragement for their writing.

I am lost without you. 
my confidant, my shoulder to lean on

I want to be by your side.
my friend, my lover

I need to be by your side.
my support system,  my everything

I want to get lost with you.

Just us together. Not a care in the world. 

The world is ours to conquer and we will do it hand in hand. 

Short and sweet this week! 

My break from blogging... Part 1 of 2

What has happened since I have been gone: 

As you can all tell I have taken quite a bit of a break from blogging here lately. I have used this time to do a lot of soul searching and thinking. Thinking about the past, thinking about the future and the direction that I what my life to go. 

I also really got back into crocheting. You can't find me anywhere without yarn someone near by. I love to crochet and it reminds me of all the memories I had with my Marmy when I first learned how to crochet. Summer 2013, my sister - Alene, my marmy, and my grandma all joined together and formed a small family business. Alene is also teaching her daughter to crochet.

Shameless plug here: be sure to visit us over on Facebook Stitched Together - creations by 4 generations. Once we reach 250 likes we will be doing a giveaway!

Our first craft show was December 2013. It didn't turn out as well as we had hoped, but it was still a lot of fun spending time together as a family. We were all worried that we wouldn't have enough items to sell at the show, but as we started the pricing process we quickly learned we had a huge amount! The memories really started to flood in when my grandma pulled out dishclothes that my sister and I made when we were first learning how to crochet. I think I was 7 or 8 when I made my first dishcloth. My grandma had hung onto these and never used them 17 years later!

Here is a small sampling of some of what I have been working on: 

 Spike Puff Stitch tote bag

 Jack Skellington inspired beanie

 Summer slouch beanie

Basketball Baby Blanket

I am pretty sure I have lost track of how many crochet hours I have logged. Crocheting is a stress reliever for me. After working all day you can always find me a yarn and hook in hand in the evening. If for some reason I take a day or two break I always find myself lost. I am one happy hooker and proud of it!

My hubs likes to joke with me about being an "old lady" who crochets all the time. I have to say that I am pretty proud that I have this skill and that I enjoy it so much. Skills like this will die out if families don't pass them to the next generation. I have just started branching out even more and I have started crocheting jewelry pieces stay tuned for photos!

What skills have been passed down in your family? 

P.S. Don't forget to visit Stitched Together on Facebook to see more of our work!

Five Minute Friday: Hands

It has been a while.... time to work on dusting off my blog again. 

Every Friday Lisa-Jo Baker posts a word prompt.  The idea is to set a timer and write for five minutes. You would be amazed at how fast 5 minutes really is. Once the five minutes is up you jump on over to her page here and post your link. Once you link up visit the person before you and offer some words of encouragement for their writing.


I love working with my hands. I do it on a daily basis. Whether its at work compiling reports or working on a design project, but one of my most favorite things to do with my hands is to crochet. 

To me there is just something special about taking time out of the day and sitting back and relaxing with a hook and yarn in my hands. I am a hooker and proud of it. 

I don't understand why there is such a stigma when it comes to crocheting. It isn't just an old people thing! If these skills aren't passed down generation to generation then one day all these beautiful hand made items will only be a memory and there won't be anyone that recreate these pieces.

There are only a few things I enjoy more then browsing through the yarn aisles at a craft store. Anytime my husband can't find me at Wal-Mart he always knows to the check the yarn aisle and he is bound to find me. 

Don't buy me flowers.... buy me yarn 
Don't buy me chocolate... buy me yarn 
Don't buy me a fancy dinner... buy me yarn 

Welp... that was my five minutes... until next week!

Smashing Sunday 9.1.13

I am a day late, but late is better than never! I was super busy on a fun project yesterday, more to come on this in another post!

This has been a really busy week for me, so I only got a few pages done.

I am still new to smashing, so I figured I would dedicate a page to why I had started.

I have found a new love for paint chips! The top one I used a glitter pen and it says,

" Don't let anyone take away your sparkle" 

Happy Smashing!