A Year of Giving: February

This post is part of my Year of Giving series. You can read the background here.

In February we focused on economic exploitation. Rather than donation, I decided to make a conscious effort to do business with those who refuse to exploit, with business people in need of micro loans, and with refugee businesses.

I switched from Folgers to fair trade coffee. My first bag was from Nicaragua, and included support for Save the Children. The second was from Southern Mexico. I rarely make it to a high-end grocery store, so I just bought the Archer Farms organic fair trade coffee at Target. I may try Trader Joe's next, since there is one near where my husband works.

I made a $25 Kiva loan to Juana in El Salvador to help her buy clothes to resell.

I bought a gift from Hill Country Hill Tribers. According to their Etsy profile: "Hill Country Hill Tribers is a collective of artisans who were forced to leave their homes in the hill country of Burma and are establishing new lives in the Texas hill country. By creating beautiful traditional and handmade goods in their homes, they are honoring their past. Through participating in classes that teach English and entrepreneurship, they are transforming their future. Proceeds from the sale of each item return to the woman who made it. For more information about this organization, visit www.hilltribers.org."

In keeping with my plan to "give as opportunities present themselves", I helped with Loretta's Pay It Forward for Lent benefitting Eagle's Healing Nest. My grandmother, Loretta Giroux, passed away on February 7th. I've written about it a bit here. Later in the month, I helped my mom run a Facebook page for the fundraiser.

I didn't finish the blanket I began in January. This month has been particularly hard for me, and getting those seams in (all of the crocheting, minus the outer border, has been finished for some time) just hasn't happened yet. I'm more than halfway done--the first three strips of four patches each have been sewn and the first two strips are sewn together--working on attaching the 3rd one, now. Ultimately my goal is to finish that blanket as soon as possible and then make two small baby afghans by the end of March. That might not happen, but either way, I've learned something useful: no more patchwork afghans. Ever. Hand sewing is just not my thing. I tried to hem another pair of Sam's pants a couple weeks ago and, well, the pants won. I gave up.

So that's been February. Shortest month of the year, but sometimes it feels like the longest. March isn't much better, but by the time we hit April I should be over the SAD hump, so to speak. I just keep that "hope for spring" in my head as much as possible.

Staycation (on purpose, this time)

So Dan and I both took Thursday and Friday off last week, to have a 4 day family weekend. Here's what we did:

Thursday morning we took Sam to school together as a family. It was fun to see Dan get to see Sam doing his thing at school. Sam really seemed to enjoy it. He sat in Daddy's lap at circle time and participated in a lot of the songs.

After class we went out for brunch at Perkin's. Then we went home and got a few things done around the house, but mostly just vegged out. I made mushroom pasta for dinner.

Friday we took Sam to the Children's Museum for the first time. He seemed to like it, but of course, he found the very few things he was not supposed to touch, in a place where you're allowed to touch practically everything. (A security keypad and a fire extinguisher on one wall; also some cleaning equipment from one of the face painting stations being put away.) I think in another year when he's better at following instructions and we're able to get him more excited about imaginative play, it will be a cool place to go. We went with Jena and Reese this time, who have a membership, so Reese is an expert at having fun there. Afterward we had lunch at Subway as a group, and later that night Dan and I had the all-you-can-eat fish fry at Baker's Square, which was yummy. Sam ate our fries.

Saturday was busy. At lunch time I got together at Panera with four old friends from middle and high school. I've known these women for 20 years, though I've seen or been in contact with most of them only sporadically over the last decade or so. Our lives have all gotten pretty busy, but it was less awkward than I thought it might have been. Maybe because all of us are mothers now, we had certain things we could talk about--birth stories, breastfeeding, how we met our husbands, etc. There was still plenty else to talk about, though, too.

After that, Dan, Sam and I trekked out to Plymouth where my sister in law and her family were celebrating my niece's birthday by staying overnight in a hotel with a pool, splashpad, and hot tub. If we'd been able to get there earlier we might have had a little more fun, but by the time we got there the pool was pretty crowded and crazy (read: oodles of rowdy kids with drunk, inattentive parents) so we didn't manage to stay terribly long. It was still fun.

And Sunday was our day to relax and prepare for the week. I woke up with a terrible backache, took some pills and lay back down for a couple hours while Dan and Sam hung out. Once the pain meds sort of kicked in (read: no more crazy spasms but still plenty of pain) I managed to do some laundry, pick up my prescriptions, and we made a family Target run in which Sam passed out in the cart. He's been refusing naps and konking out at odd times, lately.

As usual, I completely forgot to take pictures. Here is one of Sam at the Children's Museum, fading into the blue screen in the "music video" type room.

 No idea who the little girl is.

Video Friday: "Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey" Theatrical Trailer

Saw this in the middle of a case of the Mondays and it put a smile on my face. Anything is possible. I so want to see this movie.

Recharging my batteries.

Today is my last day of work for the week, and it's my "short" day: only 9 hours instead of 11.5 or 10.75. I've been puzzling a bit about what to write about lately. I have several ideas for posts that will take a bit longer to flesh out, and one post about a project that I'd hoped to finish weeks ago, but haven't managed to complete yet. I spent a good part of yesterday working on a post that won't be published until the end of the month, and another part of it helping out with this. And that's while working a 10.75 hour day...luckily Maggie took a long nap.

Dan is taking a little time off work, and rather than leave town in the dead of winter, we're just going to try to find fun things to do around town. Probably a zoo trip, at least, and we may try to find somewhere to go swimming. I think a four day weekend of sorts (we do have school on Thursday) will be good for all of us.

I should have plenty to write about next week, and have time to finish my project and work on some of those other posts as well. Last night, though, I just needed to take a break. No post tomorrow, and there will be a video on Friday. Thanks in advance for understanding.

[I tried to take a cutesy "woe-is-me" webcam pic to add to this but they were all abysmal. I both feel and look like crap at the moment...time for a break.]

Finally changing my update schedule

Woke up this morning with no posts close to completion. Most days I've had the next morning's post scheduled and set the night before, and I would say that I've been slacking, except that I spent last night doing laundry and taking care of things that needed to be taken care of. Life's just gotten too busy for a 5x a week update schedule, so from here on out, it's going to be M-W-F.

OK. Now go look at these cute puppies. Thanks!

10 Things I love about crochet

Actually crocheting! 

• I like to single crochet, half-double crochet, double crochet, triple/treble crochet, and pick up new and fun stitch patterns.
• Stitching into spaces.
• Making shell stitches, v-stitches, bobble stitches, gathers, etc.
• Borders! Getting creative with borders on blankets is so much fun.

Getting things done!

• The feeling I get when I've finally finished a project.
• Giving away finished projects. Especially when the person is surprised at the quality of the work.
• Using or wearing finished projects myself.

Shopping and gear!

• Yarn shopping! Online or in a store, both have advantages. In a store I get to feel everything; online I get to read what someone else thought about how the yarn felt (and read reviews to see how it was to work with).
• Pattern browsing! I just love to dream about what I'll make next. Here again is a good place to read reviews and see what worked, and what didn't.
• Susan Bates aluminum hooks. So comfortable to use. I like the shorter neck and cut-in slanted throat (rather than a tapered throat and longer neck like Boye hooks).

Video Friday: "The Luckiest", Ben Folds

Heard this on the Valentine's show on The Current last night and remembered how much I love this song. When I was pregnant and hormonal (or post-partum and hormonal) I couldn't get through a listen without sobbing my eyes out. Not so much now, but I still like it.