Priorities

Clearly blogging has not been a priority for me. I have been so caught up in crocheting that I just haven't had the energy/desire to blog. So here is the what I'm assuming to be boring catch-up.

We are slowly recovering from our car issue. We set up a budget and attempted to stick to it but quickly learned that we aren't good at it. We are good at coming up with excuses for purchasing unnecessary things, but we are trying to be better.

Black Friday was so exciting for me. I finally got to go out and enjoy the shopping and craziness instead of being stuck in the JCPenney suit department for 12 hours. We made a last minute decision to buy a Kinect and split it between each other's Christmas budgets. We rushed to Wal-Mart about 15 minutes before the sale started and managed to get a Kinect at a rockin price. It has been wrapped and under our tree since then and I've been dying to get it out. We opened it tonight at my family Christmas party and we LOOOOVE it. It is so incredibly fun and a good work-out! Best decision ever. Our challenge since buying it has been to not overspend on games and accessories.

So like I said, I've been super busy with crocheting and I am incredibly grateful for that. I have received way more orders than I expected and have really had to challenge myself if someone asks for something different. The extra money has saved us through this expensive season. Things have slowed down this last week and I'm also really happy for that. It's been nice to relax this week. Since Mathew finished work a little bit ago, he's been staying home with me and watching me crochet. While we sit, we've been re-watching this:

ever seen it? If not, you need to watch it. We finished all the seasons a while ago but had nothing else to watch on Netflix so we started it again and it's still funny. We'd be very bored people without Psych. It's been keeping us happy while we've packed up our apartment too.

We get to move back to Rexburg on Tuesday and we are sooooo excited! I am so ready to be back in Rexburg surrounded by my peers and back in school. It's my second to last semester. Yay!! Since it's my last (and first actually) winter semester, we decided to take a plunge and buy season passes to Targhee. We figured we needed to take advantage of the student discount while we could even though we didn't really have that kind of extra money. Oh well. We went once already and it was so fun. I can't wait till there is more snow and we are closer and can go all the time!

I think that sums it all up. I pretty much have just been crocheting up a storm and watching Psych. I'm hoping to get some more business once I'm up on campus. I've got business cards and everything. :) Again, feel free to spread the word. Word of mouth has proved to be the best way to get sales. Thanks for all the support!

New Hobby!

I am seriously obsessed! With crocheting! I never thought I would be so excited and in love with it. With the long days that I worked at the beet dump, I knew I would need something to keep my hands busy otherwise I would go crazy! Here are some pictures of some of the things I've made.

In other news. The timing belt went out in our car. I didn't realize how horrible this was. Let me tell you...it's bad. Really bad. Especially if it's a Volkswagen. European cars are expensive to fix! Grand total for everything: $4,000. Yeah, that's right $4,000. We had to replace the engine and in the process the mechanic discovered the clutch was 90% worn down. Thankfully, the car was with my dad's mechanic so he treated us really well. We had planned to sell the car but then we started car shopping and realized we would be getting a car with three times the amount of miles for the same amount we'd sell ours for. So in the end, we decided to keep it for now.


With $4,000 of unexpected expenses, we are in need of some extra cash. So, I have decided to sell my creations. I have the time to make them and really love doing it. I would so love for anyone that is willing, to spread the word. Here is the website. Take a look! http://lovelydaydesigns.blogspot.com/


Also I would really appreciate any and all feedback!

Happy Halloween!

Saturday night, my family had a little Halloween/birthday party for my nephew Ethan. Last year, the only people who got the dress-up memo were my parents. This year, we made sure to spread the dress-up memo to the whole family. For once, I was SO excited to dress up. I've secretly always wanted to wear a couples costume and this year was my chance. I just got through reading The Hunger Games series...again...and couldn't get Katniss and Peeta off my mind. I was determined to be them for Halloween.

I basically had like tops two hours to make them on Saturday before the party. It took a little convincing to get Mathew to wear it and it's kind of ghetto and definitely looks homemade but oh well, I had fun!

Okay so definitely not the most amazing fire capes but again I had like two hours to pull it off haha. Next year's costume will hopefully be an improvement. :)

I survived...

I survived my first harvest! Harvest is the reason I have basically taken a leave from blogging. Let me tell you a little about my experience. Oh and I actually have pictures for once. So keep reading.

For my first harvest season, I worked at the beet dump. What the heck is a beet dump? Well, it's this awesome giant open place where farmers send their trucks full of sugar beets and dump them off in a giant pile of other beets. Pretty complicated right? My job was to take beet samples and record the trucks' numbers and their corresponding dirt weights. I worked 14 hours a day six days a week. Sometimes my days were shorter but that was the majority.

I got really dirty everyday.
I wore the same jeans everyday.
I showered at night...didn't do my hair...and didn't wear makeup.
I ate one sandwich or wrap for either lunch or dinner everyday.
I wore a hardhat, bright orange vest, and sweet safety glasses.
I spent all my time in a tiny little shack with two sometimes three whole windows.
I got to see my husband throughout the day.
I learned a new hobby.
I made friends.

That list could go on and on. I thought this would be such a stressful and exhausting experience but I have to say, it was amazing. I had no idea how depressed and lonely I was getting. I thought I was okay spending my days at home alone keeping myself somewhat busy. I cried a few times because I felt like I didn't have any friends and that my old friends didn't care about me anymore. But overall I felt alright. I was so incredibly wrong...I was not okay. My spirits soared once I was around people everyday. Talking. Laughing. Working. I hadn't felt so happy in a long time. I tried to embrace every experience with other people out at the beet dump. I met some seriously awesome people. I had such a fantastic time that I was actually somewhat sad to get my little pink slip last night. I knew it was coming but I'm going to miss having people to spend time with everyday. That little tare shack really brings out a person's personality...especially since you're in it together for 14 hours. Even though I was sad, I still met a couple people that I know I will keep up with and do things with. Brianne, if you ever read this, just know that you seriously made my experience out there the best ever. You rock.

Anyways here are some pictures so you can get a feel for what I actually did out there!

 Here is an almost unloaded truck. I forgot to get a pic of a fully loaded one.

 The giant pile of beets. The go up that cool thing called a boom and dump off.

 My outdoor work station

 I push those two levers...

 then wait for the beets to come down the chute...

 then push them again if I don't get enough in the bag...

 then secretly dump some out of the bag gets too full...

 then tie it up and carry it over to the box full of other samples.

 That little building on the left is where I spent all my time. Yes it's tiny, but awesome. The crate has all the samples in it.

 My indoor work station.

Pretty snazzy huh?

I'm so so so glad I got the opportunity to work out there. It was a new experience that I was nervous for but so many good things came from it. Soon, I'll post all my projects from my new hobby which will remain a mystery. I'm obsessed with it and can't wait to show you.

John Q

 *warning: political post*

I just finished watching the movie John Q for the first time and it really got me thinking. If you don't know the plot of the story, basically John's son's heart is failing and needs a new one. However, John and his wife are extremely poor. The operation is going to cost $250,000 and their insurance is only willing to cover $20,000. They are basically out of options and because of their financial situation, the hospital refuses to put the son on the donor list without at least $75,000 up front.

The first half of the movie, I was watching and thinking how horrible it was that the hospital was unwilling to help any more and how greedy the insurance company and other people involved were being. I mean, this poor boy is dying! I kept thinking, man this hospital director is the meanest person ever. She knows that there is no way the parents can come up with the money and that the son will die without the operation, yet she doesn't seem to care. All I wanted was for everyone around them to just be generous and do the operation for free or just accept that they would pay eventually. John pointed out that the hospital makes $75,000,000 on heart surgeries a year! I'm sure they could sacrifice this one $250,000 operation.

Then I thought of all the other sick people without insurance or health care. It's awful but it's a reality of life. Our economy is the way it is because of so many bail-outs and promises to pay. Our government can not be responsible for every single little thing, it's killing us. Every situation where a child is dying is a tragedy and makes me feel awful. I wish there was a way that every person could receive excellent health care without the huge costs. But it just can not work that way. That takes away incentive for doctors and insurance companies to work hard. Sure, they make tons anyway, but take that incentive away and why should they care if they get through as many patients as possible in a day? It sucks but it's a reality.

I feel like so many people live in this false reality that they should be able to get things for free...especially if they have a sad story. I'm sure I'm starting to sound as heartless as the hospital director but I believe there has to be a line. More plot: John eventually holds people hostage in the hospital in hopes of convincing them to save his son. The hospital director points out that if they give in, there will be guns at every hospital across the country. She says that people get sick and die everyday, it's a fact of life. I admit that I started to agree with her. As sad as it was to watch this poor little boy die, would it really be the best idea to give into him? What does that say to others? That it's okay to hold people hostage and threaten to kill as long as your own child, parent, grandparent, whoever it is can be saved? In a movie, maybe it's okay, but in real life, definitely not.

In the end, John's son receives a heart. A miracle. It is stressed that the miracle came from God, not as a result of John's little plan. At the end of the day, Heavenly Father is responsible for what happens to us. He knows what the right thing is and He will make it happen. As hard as it may be at times, His will is the only one that matters. The government can't play God and make our nation a perfect place. Bad things happen every single day and we have to learn to accept that. Don't get me wrong, I was happy that John's son was able to get a heart in the end. I wish every story ended happy like that. I believe there can be miracles. What I'm saying is that we shouldn't rely on the government to bail us out and we shouldn't hate the people in charge of something for not making an exception for our situation. Sometimes, rules have to be followed. There can be exceptions but we shouldn't just expect them.

Okay, so that was definitely a soap box. I just had so many thoughts going around in my head while I was watching that movie and I needed to get them out. Maybe my opinions will change when I'm in a similar situation, but in my current state, this is my opinion and I reserve the right to change it.

Garlic

Yesterday, I made and canned salsa for the first time. It was so much work and I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. I have never chopped so many vegetables at one time. Well, I went shopping for the ingredients by myself and purchased what I thought were ten cloves of garlic. I went to my parent's house so my mom could help me. Good thing she did too, because I learned that a clove of garlic looks like this...

 

and a bulb looks like this...

 

As you may of guessed, I thought that a clove was a bulb so I purchased ten bulbs! I'm sure to most, this would seem very obvious and stupid. However, I have never been taught about garlic bulbs and cloves. I just assumed that the pile of garlic at the grocery store was a pile of cloves...not bulbs...especially since I've never heard of a garlic bulb. This would explain why a pasta dish I made tasted so gross...I put in two bulbs of garlic instead of two cloves. Whoopsie. :) It's a very good thing that I did the salsa with my mom because otherwise, I would have put ten bulbs of garlic in the salsa instead of ten cloves like the recipe called for. I feel so silly. Now I have 9 bulbs of garlic to try and do something with. I left some with my mom thankfully, so I ended up with four or five. Any ideas on what to do with garlic? I've got plenty!