Crafts

by

This Little Light of Mine

This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine

This is a song I loved to sing as a kid. It was one of my favorites because you could shout “no” with permission and there were hand motions. And in my young age of wanting to be a choreographer, I loved having excuses for dance moves.

But this morning was probably this first time I really thought about the words of this song.

In the past couple of weeks, the news has been plastered with coverage on the two most recent mass shootings-Oregon and Connecticut. So many lives have been turned upside down by these tragedies. It saddens my heart to think about the families and the lives lost.

It also saddens my heart to see that the first thing that the news goes to is “Gun control is the solution.” Once again the debate has been spurred-yippee. I am not here to argue one way or another about whether guns should be more controlled or not. In my opinion, it doesn’t make a difference whether it is a gun or not. People will still find the means to be violent. Look at this knife attack that also happened on Friday in a school in China. http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/14/world/asia/china-knife-attack/index.html

I have my own feelings on gun control, and I respect that you have yours. So I don’t really want to talk about whether we should regulate it more or not.

What I do want to talk about is that with these incidents the common denominator seems to be a human being. In my opinion, we need to look at a much broader issue than gun control and make it a human issue. Why do people think that this is their only solution? Why don’t we look at how someone becomes so desperate that the only thing they can depend on is a violent weapon? Why does a gun or a knife (insert other objects here), become their lifeline?

Recently, I heard a statistic that since Columbine in 1999, there have been 31 school shootings in the US. 31. This does not include shootings that have occurred in theaters, malls, churches, or elsewhere. 31 schools have been wrecked with this violence.

And yet, the only thing we can think of as an answer is gun control. Obviously that conversation is not working.

We are becoming more and more numb to these tragedies. I bet that within a few weeks, especially with the holidays, we will have other things to talk about and the photos will have subsided on the internet. Columbine happened when I was in 8th grade, so at times, I feel like I have grown up with great tragedy in the everyday life.

Let’s be clear, I am not trying to minimize what happened Friday. I am trying to honor those lives and ask why do we get numb? Why has it become ok that this is the new normal? Why is it so easy for us to hear about these violent acts and not think about changing how we act and treat others? Why do we move on so quickly? Why are we pessimistic and act like nothing can change unless our congress says there is stricter gun control? Do we no longer have power as individuals?

These children’s lives should serve a purpose and not be so easily forgotten. We should get our acts together and not just wait for someone else to make a change. Why can’t we lean on each other in times of need? Why are we so distant from each other that we need to depend on inanimate objects for satisfaction?

Have we all forgotten the lessons we learned in kindergarten? The lessons these children that were killed Friday were in the process of learning.

I don’t have any idea how to solve this, but I would like to propose a shift in the conversation to how we can treat each other better.

I see it everyday that we are more attached to electronics than talking to the person next to us. We are so distracted with what is going to happen next that we forget to live right now. We selfishly try to put our needs at the front of the line, and often times it may be at the cost of someone else. We are all guilty of it.

I do feel that we need to show more compassion to others and not be so consumed with our own lives. We need to open our hearts and minds to other people and show love. Yes that love may be painful, and we may not always get it back. It may be tough love. I read an article written about a mom who struggles with her own defiant son. He has gotten the rigamarole of diagnosis of ADHD, ODD, autism, etc. She showed her son tough love on more than one occasion to get him the help he needed. She understood that she may not be the best person to deal with him, but she loved him and was strong enough to say “I need help to keep my boy sweet and innocent.” We need to be able to say that and for it to be ok to do so.  And the world needs more love. People, not the guns/knifes/etc, need to know that they can go to another person for help. We need to feel safe with people.

During vigils, you see tons and tons of candles. The flame is supposed to represent the life that was lost.

And so I go back to the children’s song.

This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine

This song is about being an example. It is about showing love regardless of how others may respond. I also like how it emphasizes “my,” meaning that even one light can push away the darkness. We all can do something; we just have to be willing to DO it. We need to stop being bystanders. Bold statement here:  maybe if we ALL cared for others a little more and did a little more these atrocities would happen a little less.

I think these lights can be hope. They can be growth. They can be dreams. These lights can be anything. We need to stop letting people blow our lights out. There is so much darkness in this world, but we can help with one light at a time. As it says in the last line of the song- Let it shine, all the time, let it shine, oh yeah!

I will be the first to admit I could do more to be kind to others. So I am going to work on shining my light a little more and be a little more human.

Just think, what would those 6 and 7 year olds being doing right now? Who knows, but they would probably be happy playing with whoever. As a six year old everyone is your best friend, and everything is grand.

So I am not really sure how to move into my craft project seamlessly from this topic, so I am just going to say that I am done throwing my thoughts out there for now. I pray for the families and communities affected most directly. And I hope that these horrific tragedies challenge us to think about how we can be more human to others.

My craft tonight is another gift.

I used:

long wooden board

two colors of paint

small clothes pins

wood glue

DSCF4114

 

I forgot to take a picture before I painted the board blue.

DSCF4115

I then painted the letters. Then once everything dried, I glued the clothespins to the board.

I don’t have pictures on it yet, but the idea is to have pictures of the grand kids hanging from the clothespins.

I am really excited to give all of these gifts out! I hope they enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed making them!

 

by

When the Evening Comes

So I know I just wrote an entry about how I needed to not wallow and be sad, but I need to be honest about it. It still happens no matter how optimistic I try to be.

I spent the last week home with my family, and the question always comes “How are things going?” I was telling my dad and step-mom how ridiculously busy things had gotten in the last month. And of course they asked why, and I wasn’t really able to hammer down a reason, but more or less just started listing all the things that were in my schedule. My dad turns to me and says “You are doing what you do Steph-getting buried in ‘stuff’.”

I just kind of brushed it off at the time, but the more I thought about it on the many trips across KC and then back to Iowa, the more I had to acknowledge that my dad was right. Don’t you hate that?

Really, I don’t mind being busy, and it’s not all work stuff either. I have gotten more involved at my church, and I have really enjoyed that so far. I am training for another half marathon which requires some physical activity at least 5 days a week. SOIA basketball practice is starting tomorrow, so we have had some coaches meetings to prepare. These are all things that I feel keep me balanced, but do add some things to the to do list every week, if not every day.

Don’t worry, I still get my much needed me time and play time with Grace. (This entry is taking longer to write then needed because she and I are racing through the apartment playing our version of tag.)

Last week I was not able to talk to Tom much because of a mission they were completing that took them away from their base for a few days. So we went the longest we had gone without any communication-four days. 4 days doesn’t seem like much, but it can feel like an eternity. 4 days- I had to wonder about everything. 4 days of holiday goodness. 4 days of answering “How is Tom? And when is he coming home?”  So naturally, I just found more things to do while at home with my family. (I almost crocheted a whole blanket in this 4 day stint. I just ran out of yarn before I could. Ugh, only the border left.) Luckily, Tom was able to finally call on Turkey Day!

Anyway, back to my dad’s infinite words of wisdom. It hit me today that I am using my busy schedule to ward off some of the loneliness. Yes it took me a week to actually process and buy into my dad’s words.

I am not trying to be a Debbie Downer, I am just trying to be as honest as I can. The feeling does strike me at the oddest moments. I feel it at my desk at work, in a meeting when an opportunity for a “That’s What She Said” arises, when Grace and I go for our “family” walks, but mostly when I am in the apartment when the evening comes along. In theory, if I keep myself busy, that is less time for me to wallow. I have to move on to get things done-Where is my beloved to-do list? I would assume that some out there think that I am just avoiding the feelings, which to some extent I do. But if you want to hear it, I do cry. I cry a lot. Sometimes it hurts so much, I am not sure I can get myself ready for the day.  Sometimes, I cry, and I am not really sure even why I started so I start laughing at myself. But I know that achieving these “to-do” lists will subside some of that loneliness. It helps me feel accomplished, even if it is just doing the dishes or clearing out my inbox. 9 months is a long time to get lonely, so I have to focus on the small gains. That is one of my strengths, and I need to utilize that to stay balanced. With a busy schedule, along with the people that surround me, I can get through it.

So yea, I may be extra busy, but at a time when Tom’s calls are not consistent, I need the schedule and tasks. It is my way of coping, much like my honesty here. So bring it life.
Even though there may be more tears than I have had in awhile, I don’t want to give off the impression that I am constantly in a state of depression. That couldn’t be farther from the case. I have a great life-a job that fulfills me, great  friends and family to keep me laughing, the best dog ever, and a wonderful loving husband who is willing to do just about anything for me. Do I wish that circumstances could be different? Absolutely. I think we all do to some extent. Do I regret any of the decisions Tom and I made to get where we are? Absolutely not. We are who we are because of the experiences we happen upon. We are a stronger couple because of our challenges and continue working through more. And I will say that I wouldn’t trade this life for anything. My partner in life is pretty dang sweet, and I am so proud of what he has gone through. For better or for worse.

Love endures forever. We are just going through the “er” part right now. “Forev” will come, and it will be awesome.

This song {Give It Time} from my favorite artist Tyrone Wells really explains all that I am feeling right now. So good.

And really these crafts help with that mindless busyness that also doubles as my me-time. Winning.

Tonight’s craft is a gift for my sister in law…So I hope you like it Em.

It is a canvas with lights in the back to highlight the words of Emily and Mark’s wedding song. It is a fairly simple project that took me about an hour to complete total.

The things you need:

  • paint
  • sticker letters
  • canvas
  • lights

I first put the stickers on the canvas. Neither kind stuck very well, so I was really nervous it wasn’t going to work out.

Once this is done, you just paint over it. I was lazy and bought spray paint, but I would assume actually painting with a brush would do well too. I used white paint, but I would be curious to see how a darker color would work for this.

I spray painted until I couldn’t see the pencil marks that I used as guides. It took a few coats to do so.

Then you wait for all of it to dry, then peel of the stickers.

Then I taped the lights to the back of the canvas. I think it looks pretty good! I don’t think the picture really does it justice.

I debate the rope lights vs regular strands on the back. The jury is till out on that one, but it would be really easy to change it. I think you could put it in a window too without lights during the day for the same affect.

by

Gobble till you Wobble

It is probably cliche that I am going to write a post about gratitude the week of Thanksgiving. Well get over it, it’s happening.

I have been wanting to write a message of thanks to the outpouring of support my family has received since Tom went overseas, but I just haven’t found the right words to do so. I am still not quite sure if I can express all of my gratitude to those around us as eloquently as I wish too, but I needed to say thanks somehow.
With the holidays coming up, I have been wondering lately how I am going to get through a time where family is the focus without mine present. I just kept focusing on what Tom and I would be missing out on. I mean this is the first time in 5 years he and I will not have been together for the holidays. I selfishly kept wallowing about the fact that my husband left me for the holidays. The feeling of being alone is highlighted exponentially at this time. Then I did something absentmindedly last week that reminded me that even though there are parts that stink about this, we have so much to be thankful for. (And really he didn’t choose to be gone at this time of year, so I needed to get over myself and stop being a Lifetime Christmas Special Movie.)

So Iowa State has an obsession with listserves. There are listserves for everything and everyone. Well this week, I had a Dawson’s Creek moment like when Joey sent a private message to all of campus. Fortunately, mine had positive effects instead of the public embarrassment Joey encountered.   I have been sending out emails requesting help with sending Tom and his unit items they need or want. This week I added all the appropriate groups, and pressed send. A few hours later, I get an email from one of my residents saying that she had some letters she hoped that she could give me to send in Tom’s packages. I know that I have talked about Tom and said things during Friley Senate (our hall council meetings), but I was still really confused about the timing of this email. Then I realized what silly thing I did. Instead of sending this request email to the Upper Friley staff, I accidentally sent it to ALL of Upper Friley. Yep, all 630 of them. I then started having several conversations/emails of people wanting to give letters or items. After just  a few days, this was the stock I got.

Overwhelmed.

Here are students coming out to give items to people they have never met, just because I sent a very vague email about this dude named Tom. Seriously, I didn’t even mention that Tom was in the service, which apparently prompted many people to talk to their CAs on who Tom was. Double bonus-community builder!

Speechless and humbled. I still am not really sure how to react to all the donations.

Not only am I thankful for the students who have helped donate in this last week because of my slight of hand, but I am extremely appreciative for individuals who have helped over the last few months. Countless people have come and dropped off goodies for me to ship. I don’t even mind that now the post office knows me by name, and that they have to restock their custom forms and flat rate boxes every time I come in! Two other buildings here at ISU did Penny Wars to raise funds for donations and to help cover the cost of postage. Again for people they have never met; although, they did plaster pictures of Tom all over their hall desk. My sister-in-law did a request at the elementary school where she teaches, and has had similar reactions to sponsor Tom’s unit. Kindergartners are giving up their allowance to provide items for these soldiers. Isn’t that seriously the cutest thing?

There is so much bad press out there about the military, and I often feel that we are in our own little world sometimes. I feel that people forget those who are in the military and seriously misunderstand what they are doing for our country. And that sometimes, they just want a bag of Twizzlers to get them through the day (or the cold desert night). But this is the time that I want to say a big sincere thank you for the support that people have shown us in the last few months, even if it is just buying a box of easy mac or coordinating large scale efforts to show support. It reminded me at a time that I needed it that I have so much to be thankful for.

It’s nice to be able to send a little piece of home to Tom and his buddies, so thank you for helping make that happen. I am grateful for it all.

As for the family that I do get to see over the holidays-here is a little sneak peak of a gift I will be giving.

This Birthday Board project was the most in depth that I have attempted to do so far. I had to ask for help from my neighbor, Dick. And it took me a couple weeks to finish it.

You will need:

  • A long board
  • wooden letters
  • paint
  • wooden circles
  • screw eyes
  • jewelry circles
  • paint pen
  • a drill

First I had Dick drill holes into all the wooden circles and the long board. Thanks for the help Neighbs!

Then once this was completed, the painting began. This took me a couple days to complete. I didn’t realize there was so much to paint!

I painted each letter a different color, and I also did 4 of the wooden circles in each color. I used the thumbtacks to help make it easier to paint each item without getting paint all over myself. The wooden circles I painted both sides. Looking back now that it is complete, I could have dipped the circles into paint and covered the screws up completely with paint. That might have gone faster, but would have been a little messier and probably wasted some paint.

On each circle, I wrote someone’s name and the day of their birthday using a paint pen. (I just did the immediate family, so I made a lot of blank circles to accommodate others that this person wants to remember.)

I used some circle hooks that I found in the jewelry section of hobby lobby to fasten all the screw hooks together.

Once all the paint was dry, I glued the wooden letters onto the long board and added the white letters for the months of the year. I used some small foam letters that we had around as stamps.

So there is the final product of the family birthday board. And apparently on the Whitener side, I am the only one without a birthday month buddy.

It will be cool to see this grow as names are added!

Again, thank you for all the love and support as Tom and I go through this adventure!
Now it is time to celebrate the best holiday of the year because it is all about giving thanks, family and food! Gobble till you wobble friends!

by

The Can Can

Today is Veteran’s Day. It is the day that reminds most people that there are veterans around the country and in our past that have fought for our freedoms. Unfortunately, it may be the only day of the year that some actually think about what that means.

Our armed forces have protected our country for centuries, allowing us to live the way we do today. We, Americans, are pretty fortunate. The men and women who work for our military do it for many reasons, but whatever that reason may be it is still a selfless act to be in the service. Most people are not willing to give back to our country in this way. I won’t go into all the sacrifices hoopla; for that you can read other posts. I just want to challenge the thought of only honoring their valiant community service on just this one day.

So with this challenge I encourage you to think about how you give to others. Do you give back in whatever way you can? I believe that we all have the time and means to do something for someone. Maybe the way that you can honor those who are Veterans this year is to make a promise to do a selfless act yourself.

I have done a lot of reflecting this year with Tom’s new commitment and then watching my grandparents pass away on how I wanted to serve. I have always been passionate about service projects and make sure that it is a focus at my job as well as my personal life. I have my staff do service projects each semester, and I promote them in my building. One of my favorite things I have done is volunteer every year with Special Olympics as a basketball coach. This is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done, and I swear I get more out of the deal than they do. But thinking about these three individuals in my life and how they have selflessly given their time, I was impelled to do more. So my personal promise is to do at least one service project each month.

So far so good.

Yesterday, my staff and I went to Meals for the Heartland. This is a group that packages meals for villages in Africa. We spent only 45 minutes packing rice and protein powder in bags, and we still managed to make over 300 meals. The center itself made over 6,000 meals during this one weekend. We barely spent an afternoon there, but we still were able to make an impact.

It’s things like this that I believe we can all do to pay tribute to the freedoms we have. There are so many opportunities to help others, and they don’t have to be grandiose. I have had a lot of small opportunities in the community here that I have been able to give a little of myself. So I encourage you to get out there and serve one another, just as our Veterans are doing or have done for us.

I really enjoy this quote. It makes you realize that even if it is small it can make a difference always.

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as ever you can.

-John Wesley
And after you serve others, you can congratulate your good deed by doing crafts! Ok maybe that’s not for everyone.

My craft tonight is a present I will be giving away here soon.

It is pretty simple. You just need one of the glass blocks, glass beads, and a string of lights. I got a few different shapes of beads, and they come in all kinds of colors so you can get whatever your heart desires there.

I just hot-glued the beads to the box. It took me about an hour to do all the gluing. Then I stuck the lights in the bottom of the block where there is an opening.

And then you get this:

by

Who let the dogs out?

This weekend, I have had the pleasure of dog sitting one of my friend’s dog, Teddy. He is one of Grace’s besties, so it works out that she gets a playmate for the day. They have been a hoot to watch all day!

Grace and Teddy!

Having two little rascals really highlighted the fact that right now I am a “single mom.” When Tom is home we obviously share the responsibilites of letting the dog outside, exercising her, and just generally taking care of Gracie. I sure do miss having him here to help, especially now that it’s getting colder outside. It is nice to have someone else to help with the load.

I have been contemplating lately how I am going to do the holidays this year with Grace. Last year, Tom was here so we could trade off who would watch her while we were home visiting our parents. So it was rare that we would have to pawn her off to our parents to watch. Plus my parents are divorced, so I have to go to several different houses in order to see everyone, which means Grace has to move with me. Without Tom, there are a lot more things that I have to consider. It is not as easy to just go to Chili’s with Annette and Jeannette, because then I would have to leave Grace kenneled up alone or hope that my parents don’t have plans so they can watch her. And then there is the issue of just traveling alone with her. Grace gets really bad anxiety when she is left alone, so I really have to time out my potty breaks and hope she doesn’t destroy the car. Before Tom and I would trade off who would watch her, and it seemed so easy. And trying to get her kennel and all the other luggage out of the car while managing her is awful to do alone. Although, I am sure it is pretty comical trying to watch me carry as much as I can while juggling her leash hopping she doesn’t pull me over.

All in all, Grace and I have gotten into a pretty good routine that it works out alright. It is just on those really long days where I have meetings back to back that I feel like Grace is getting neglected. And I can’t just leave town or be gone all day shopping; I have to make plans around Grace’s schedule and make sure I have someone to watch her. I miss having my partner.

I also feel bad at times talking about how awesome our dog is when I am on the phone with Tom. I know he misses her so much, and here I am rubbing in the fact that I get to play with her every day. I mean seriously, I am supposed to cheer him up, not bring him down about missing home. So I have this argument with myself of whether I should be telling him how she runs laps around me at night when we go for our bedtime potty, that we had a really good snuggle that morning, or that she is somewhat getting the hang of laying down. It can’t be easy for him to know he is missing things and fearing that she won’t remember him when he comes home. But it is not easy for me either hearing how he misses her when I tell her the latest “Grace is great” story. I want him to be here to share these moments with me.

I know that Grace is only a dog, but it does require a little more planning now that I am raising her on my own, Which makes me admire military spouses who have to take care of children through a deployment even more. I am thankful that Tom and I haven’t started our family yet, because it would break my heart every day for him to be missing out on the little day to day things that our kids will do. It is a sacrifice that we choose, but that doesn’t make it suck any less. And unfortunately, the military is awful with it’s timing and will take parents away from their newborn children which makes them miss most of the kid’s first year. There is a family in Tom’s unit that had a baby the week after they deployed. To think about how that father missed out on seeing his child’s first breaths…sigh. The sun still rises and sets whether our significant others are present or not, so we also have to keep getting up too and keep our families moving and grooving. We have to do the best we can with messages and pictures to keep our loved ones in the loop. Thank goodness for the internet and modern technology! My heart goes out to the families that are here trying to make do without an intrical part of their family unit.

And this is a shout out to my parents who were single parents for awhile before they remarried. I still have no idea how they managed to get my brother and I both where we needed to be. Sometimes I feel like I cannot manage Grace let alone trying to wrangle two other human beings who were not perfect angles. But they both showed Randall and I what it means to be a family and caring for one another no matter what the circumstances may be.

Today’s craft was probably the easiest thing ever. It took me all of 5 minutes, while I was on the phone with Tom.

I made a shadow box holder for tickets. I have always wanted to do something with the tickets we have to events, movies, concerts, etc. It’s cool to remember what you have been to, and I am not big on scrapbooking to mark it that way. So I saw this Pinterest and made it.

All you need is a shadow box and scrapbooking stickers. I will warn you that shadowboxes are expensive. I waited until they were on sale and used a Hobby Lobby coupon. (On that note, I highly suggest signing up for Hobby Lobby’s weekly coupons and deals. Every week, I get a 40% off coupon for a single item. Not that I use it every week, but it does come in handy!)

And then you just slip the tickets in. Voila, craft done.