December 4, 2013 by Stephanie

Crocheting Props

A couple weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to photograph some friends of ours and their sweet family. I made this blanket/throw in a few days for the family shoot. With all the military families around here, I felt that I could use this as a prop for various shoots.

I ended up using the family’s blankets more than this one, but I am glad that I have it now for the future.

Hobby Lobby had this “Old Glory” yarn which made it really easy to make an American blanket without switching skeins. I am all about convenience.

I did break my rule of not trying a new stitch or pattern, but I was trying to make it simple so it wasn’t the main part of the photo. I also needed to make it quick, so I alternated a single stitch row and a treble stitch row for the entire blanket. With the color switching yarn, you don’t want a lot of details anyway because it can get lost lost.

And per usual, when I try to take my blanket photos, Grace feels the need to be a model. She is pretty cute.

This is the only time I can get her to sit for photos. Crosby was no where to be found, or really just taking advantage of having the couch to himself.

To end, I leave you with some crafty videos from Ellen. These are my two all time favorite segments from the show!

Happy Hump Day!

December 3, 2013 by Stephanie

Happy Birthday Dad!

My dad turns 57 today!

I have some pretty awesome memories of this man who raised me.

a daddy’s girl

Growing up, whenever we had to write about “a hero” or the person we wanted to be when we grew up, I always wrote about my dad. He was funny, smart, knew how to swim, played basketball, and sang. This was pretty much every essay I “wrote” in elementary school.

I thought he was so cool. And there wasn’t a subject that my dad didn’t know about. I thought he was the bomb{dot}com.

Our apple tree…and ranger panties circa the 1990s. Also don’t judge that my brother and I have the same haircut.

I still do (even with the hair halfway down his back).

He taught me how to work hard for everything, and he never seemed to give me a break no matter how much I pouted for it.

He showed us how to be compassionate, encouraging, and care for others. I saw this in how treated our babysitters and his basketball players growing up and how he gave meaningful gifts to our teachers every year.

He was my coach for basketball and science teacher for several classes in high school. He never just let me have it and made me search for answers on my own so I could be independent. (Which at the time, I was so teenage angsty about it, but now I am eternally grateful.)

He was always there for me when I asked him to be, and yet knew when I needed my space to grow up a little bit. Or those times when I didn’t even know that I needed him and he was there. Like my birthday when Tom was at basic training and he and my step-mom drove 3 hours with my favorite ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins in dried ice just so I could have some piece of home.

Can you tell that I am his daughter?

He never gave us special treatment, but always managed to make us feel special.

He kept us grounded in morals and taking the high road. Like that time in third grade when I ripped my neighbor’s shirt and beat him up at recess after a game of Power Rangers went horribly wrong. He and my step-mom made me go apologize to his mom that night. My one scuffle at school…that apology made me never want to get into trouble again.

(My step-mom, dad, and I)
One of my favorite things growing up was watching sports with my Dad. He loves all things KC, so naturally I am a Royals and Chiefs fan. We have spread out into college teams now with Clemson, Mizzou, and ISU. We text constantly during our favorite teams’ air time with the lows and highs of the game.

He taught me so many things: how to fish (although I’d much rather do the swimming that he taught me), the Glinn dance, that nothing in life is free, how to drive a bike/boat/car, how to perfect a jumpshot, how to crochet, how to laugh at myself, persevere, forgiveness, and most of all love.

My fondest memories are:

reading bedtime stories like “Shepherd of the Hills” and “Anne of Green Gables”
going camping
making Malt-O-Meal on Christmas and jello and chocolate ice cream whenever we needed a pick me up
ice cream on the first day of school
anything basketball
Chinese food Sundays
our trip to the BVI
church mission trips

Happity hippity, hopppppyy birthday!

I take on a lot of traits of my dad (other than his head of hair and blue eyes), and I couldn’t be happier about that!

He’s cool, he’s happening, he’s hip, he’s now. (Whenever my dad is trying to emphasize he is not getting older and can still relate to the younger crowd, he says this to himself and anyone who will listen)

Here is to many more birthdays! Happy Birthday Daddio!

And this is a reminder that you are getting old and turning into Grandpa!
(Which I have to say, is not a bad thing in our family!)

December 2, 2013 by Stephanie

Talks with Tom #14

This weekend, Tom actually watched the Clemson football game with me. I blame the loss on his viewing.

Anyway, this is some commentary from my husband. Talk about loss…

Tom-When I die, I want the funeral to be like a football game. There will be beer and a half time. On one side there would be people who like me, and the other side people who hate me. There would be arguments of which side is right. There would be a ref that came in and make a call that hurts the side that is winning for no reason.”

Long pause.

Tom-Who do you think would be my sponsors?

Tom-Evan Williams.

Tom-Nah it would probably be Iams.

Tom-I would think Jeep, but we would need to time travel to have it be the 1999 Jeep not today’s Jeep.

Long pause.

Tom- And you can do the Clemson chant 1234 1234 T-O-M-I-S-D-E-A-D.

Me-(my jaw on the floor)

The thing with being married to an infantryman is that they have no problem talking and poking fun at their mortality.

So yes this conversation happened, and actually continued with talks about John Stamos and treasure maps at the funeral. Yes part of my duties as the widow is to get Uncle Jesse at Tom’s funeral.

Also I want to note that my husband must really love me because he is making his funeral plans around my love for football since he hates the sport.

Yes this is morbid, but I take the sweet moments where I can get them.

December 1, 2013 by Stephanie

Feeding the Army

Our first solo Thanksgiving went pretty smoothly.

We are adults! Whoop whoop!

The only hiccups were that we did not plan ahead on our grocery trip and waited until this week to get stuff. We had to make a couple trips to different stores to find what we needed. And the other, is that I over estimated how much time the noodles needed to be cooked for my Glinn noodles addition, so half of them were paste instead of noodles. Whoops.

Everything else went great.

We managed to have 8 adults, 3 small children, and 3 dogs in our small little kitchen. We literally fed the Army.

It was so great in comparison to Thanksgiving last year. My husband and the other 4 guys were deployed, so really my competition of Thanksgiving pasts was pretty low. I was most thankful to be able to share the day with my hubby and start making some of our own holiday traditions since this was the first time to celebrate any holiday under our own roof.

Of course I had to craft for the day. Since I knew that we were not all going to be sitting at the same table, and also that it was Army men I was feeding, I was not really concerned about place settings, chargers, napkin holders, and table runners. Someday I will, but not this year.

However, I still wanted it to be a little festive.

Supplies Needed:

scrapbook paper
canvas boards
paint
letter stencils
string

supplies

First, I painted the boards a nice fall brown. I only needed one coat.

Second, I picked out several sheets of scrapbook paper. I cut out flags for one board. I put the string on top and glued it down. The other is supposed to be a turkey, but it looks more like a flower.

I used a hot glue gun to put these in place. I am sure you could mod podge them, but I have never had good luck with mod podge doing what I want it to do.

Then I used the stencil to paint the saying on each one. It took awhile because I had to let each letter dry before moving on to the next one. I would have used my Cricut, but I cannot get it to cut scrapbook paper without ripping it, so if someone has advice I would love to hear it!

I have been wanting to do something with this saying for awhile!

We had a feast for the Army for sure.

The bird before.

The bird after.

I always struggle with making deviled eggs not look like I threw them back up. They always taste great, but I don’t have the knack of making food look great. So I was pretty impressed that they turned out decently this time.

Yes we bought paper plates. And I think they count as decoration. And so does the PT belt.

some of the sides

the rest of the sides

It was a great day with our Army family. So much to be thankful for!

These are all the leftovers. Tom and I will be eating Thanksgiving for awhile. Our fridge is like a puzzle every time we want something. Anyone want to come over?

We had a great time hosting, and we learned some tricks of what to do in the future. For our first time though, we did pretty awesome. High five to us!

I hope that your Thanksgivings were filled with fun and good eats. We had the best weekend in the Whitener household!

November 30, 2013 by Stephanie

My Favorite Holiday

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. I love the message of being with those that you love and being thankful for what you have.

It is a time for us to focus on what really matters: our relationships. It gives us moments to cherish one another and deepen the connections we have with those that we love. It is a time to create memories and reconnect with fellowship.

As a kid, it was a time where a family who seemed disjointed by divorce was able to have togetherness and celebrate that family is what you make of it. These moments around the holiday table made me realize that I had a normal loving family even if it looked a little different than a cookie cutter family. So I always enjoyed the holiday get-togethers. And who doesn’t love three Thanksgiving meals?

I love that it encourages everyone to be thankful for what they have. It just is a happy holiday for me.

And then Friday comes.

I have never really understood Black Friday. First of all, I am a woman who loves my sleep, so getting up that early has never made sense to me. Also I hate lines, so nothing seems worth waiting in line to get into the store, then another line for the item, and yet another line for checkout. My time is worth something people.

Most of all, I feel that it is completely opposite of the meaning of Thanksgiving. The idea is erroneous to me. It is like the day before was a sham and all that we were thankful for is no more. To me it is a day spent being greedy and wanting more of things we don’t necessarily need. (Don’t even get me started on the commercialism of Christmas.)

I am human just like the rest of you, and I would be lying if I didn’t say that I didn’t want a new car or a new laptop like the rest of you. I am no better in that I have those urges too.

I do also know that for some people Black Friday is a family affair and it is time spent together. For some people it is a rush to get those deals, and they find so much joy in the activity. If that is the case, rock on and have fun together! I will remain in my pajamas on my couch eating the tons of turkey left overs.

But for the most part, I fundamentally disagree with the idea of the day and the message it sends. As I said, it seems as though the world is dismissing the day of thankfulness we had not even hours before. (For some stores they are doing Brown Thursday-What?) It perpetuates this desire to always want more. The stories out there of people fighting over linens and getting trampled to get that new thingymabob just boggle my mind at what we are doing as a nation. We compare ourselves to what others have, and we become envious. If you live your life always looking for your happiness in the next thing or sale, you tend to miss out on what is happening right now and enjoying the little blessings that you already have.

1 Timothy 6:6-10 “But godliness with content is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Thanksgiving was extremely important to me this year. I have talked about how this fall I have been on the struggle bus. I have been waiting for the “next” thing to happen. I have been wasting my life in a line of unfilled expectations waiting to get a bargain in my career. These wants of having a big time job have had a disastrous effect on my psyche and my relationships. My anxiety was controlling my life, and all because I wanted to be in a different place.

All the while I was missing out on the wonderfulness of right now.

I have spent a good amount of time the past month pondering on a few verses. I needed to refocus and re-center myself around what matters.

I needed Thanksgiving.

my Thanksgiving decoration…

Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God”

I wrote about making this a reminder to help with my anxiety. I have this verse on repeat in my head when I am having a moment. It is so helpful just to throw up your requests to God.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus”

I have really tried in the last few weeks each day to count my blessings. I have a notebook where I jot down things that I am thankful for. Some are simple things like having a DVR or the chocolate chips in my banana bread, and others are more grandiose things like the ability to cultivate a long distance relationship over the phone with my parents or having all day yesterday to lay around with Tom and just be in love. If I am having a really low moment and have lost sight of where I am, I can look back at these scribblings and know that I am truly blessed.

God has blessed my life, and that is something worth taking a moment to be thankful. I don’t want discontent to run my day.

Psalm 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Walk faithfully with God every day of your life and enjoy each gift he gives you now. I have been amazed at how my attitude and perspective have changed once I stopped the comparison game and was more content with where I am in life and the things that I have.

So if Black Friday is your thing, awesome. I’m not one to stand in the way of a good deal. You do you, and I will do me. I just hope you remember to be thankful for what you do have and focus on what really matters in life. I will tell you those sheets on sale isn’t it.

Thanks to Susannah for the Thankful for All link up idea!

Simple Moments Stick

How do you remember to be thankful? Do you keep a journal; do you say them out loud to yourself in the car? How do you remain mindful of your blessings?