Put Some Character On Your Head

Whew. I have been off of here for quite a while. We have been busy, busy, busy. I really miss blogging and I'm not promising I'm going to start up again, but I will think about it. =)

I wanted to share all the hats I've been making over the last year. I've sold most of these to help with my Christmas gift shopping this year. I really love making these hats. They are so much fun!

I've had a lot of first time requests for hats I've never made. I"m happy to say they have all turned out better than I expected.

I really love seeing photos of the kids and/or adults who have received my hats. It gives them so much more character. I wanted to start selling them on Etsy or Ebay or something like that, but I was so blessed to be busy with orders from friends, or friends of friends that I haven't had time to make any to sell online.

The hats can be made from newborn size all the way up to large adult men size.

Let me know what you think.

This is my very first character hat from one year ago. They've gotten much better since.

Hello Kitty

These next photo is of my third through fifth character hats ever.

Perry the Platypus and Sock Monkey

This one is from a baby shower in April of this year.

Dinosaur baby hat

Pink and Brown Sock Monkey

Purple and Orange Sock Monkey

The rest of the photos are all hats made from August of this year through this past week.

Cookie Monster baby hat

Minnie Mouse in pink

Oakland Raiders colors - sock monkey 

Rapunzel

Horse/Pony

One-eye Minion

Sesame Street - Elmo, Ernie, Grover, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird

 Buzz Lightyear

This is my first attempt at a Minecraft Creeper. 

I've since found some really neat green yarn that makes it look more pixleated like Minecraft really is.

The minion hats have been the most popular of the ones I've made. I think I've done about 10 of them.

Kiley has requested an R2D2 hat, she's a big Star Wars nerd.

Thanks for reading as always. I'm sure I've lost most of my regular readers since I've gone so long without blogging.

Blessings to you and yours and have a Happy New Year.

-Kimmie

Migraines and Baltic Amber Teething Necklaces

I have had migraine headaches since I was seven years-old. They are genetic in our family. They have been debilitating throughout times in my life. During my working days, I lost more than one job due to missed work because of migraines. I saw several Dr's, went to a Headache Clinic in San Francisco, tried a myriad of medicines, special diets, vitamins etc: but nothing helped. At age 23/24-ish, I quit all the medicines I was taking and the number of migraines began to lessen - by age 25 they were gone completely.

During January of my 29th year, they returned with a vengeance  I was coming down with 3 or 4 a month. They would come around the same dates of each month: the 6th and the 8th and the 20th and 22nd. These were, "aura warning" migraines. I'd start to lose vision in one eye, and that was my 30 minute warning to get to a place I could sleep before it was too late. After 30 minutes had elapsed, the migraine was in full force on the opposite side of my head from where the blindness occurred. It was the strangest thing that they had started back up. I still have no idea what to attribute it to. Maybe because I was getting ready to begin my 30's? Who knows.

At that time, I was also a smoker, having smoked on and off starting from age 13. On March 1, 2009, a few months after the migraines returned, I quit smoking - cold turkey and never went back. I was hoping that this would finally help make the migraines go away. No such luck.

After a year, the type of migraine I was getting changed from the, "warning aura" to a sneak-attack migraine. The sneak-attack ones are not as painful (to me) but are not easy to predict and that makes it harder to take the medicine in time to end it quickly. I have always taken Imitrex to stop them in their tracks. It works well, but makes me feel dumb. It gives me a floaty, strange, not-all-there feeling and my chest gets tight. It's rather unpleasant, however the migraine goes away after a nap and I can return to my regular duties.

This bit of history now leads us to the point of this post:

I'm hoping I can safely say this now. I heard great things about Baltic Amber necklaces from several friends who used them for their teething babies. I did some reading in preparation for the day when we have another little one. I soon learned that the amber necklaces help to heal much more than just teething pain. On the list from the website they state: reduces arthritis pain, reduces and PREVENTS MIGRAINE HEADACHES, golfing pain relief, baseball pitching elbow and shoulder, reduces acid reflux, heartburn, reduces and eliminates eczema, psoriasis, balances digestive system and GI track, improves sleep cycles, lifts over all mood and feelings of depression.  

I'm ALWAYS  a skeptic about migraine cures, as any chronic-migraine-sufferer will understand. People, having the best of intentions, always want to heal your migraines or they know someone who used this vitamin or that vitamin. In actuality, someone who has suffered migraines for years, has already tried just about everything anyone can recommend.  Graciously smiling, I appreciate the thought and care.

I purchased two adult sized necklaces for Adam and myself from this Baltic Amber Teething Necklace online store. Click here for the one I purchased. I bought one for Adam because of his chronic pain due to the hard labor from working. I wear my necklace all day and night except for showering. I've worn it, mostly everyday since I received it three months ago. I'm a bit leery to put this in writing, but so far, I have not had one single migraine. I still have had regular headaches, which I believe are allergy or weather related.

I'm not positive it's the necklace working, or the change in diet I started back in July. Possibly a combination of both, but the diet started 3 months before I got the necklace and I was still having migraines up to that point. Now, I have a box of Imitrex in my medicine cabinet that has gone untouched for 3 months. Normally I would have to take 3 to 6 in a month.

I hope this information is helpful to someone.

This is the Baroque Cognac Amber Necklace that Adam and I both wear daily.

Crocheting and sewing for Christmas

Have I blogged about how much I love to crochet? If I haven't I really should. I really love it. It's relaxing, it's easy, it's fun. I love shopping for yarn; I love the way it feels. Okay, you get it. For Christmas gifts this year I crocheted A LOT. I made hats and bath-scrubbies for all of my children, plus my niece and nephews. I found a bunch of free patterns on Pinterest and through google searches.

This was my first ever character hat. Hello Kitty for my favorite niece (she's my only niece). Pattern found here: Hello Kitty Free Crochet Hat Pattern

August has been asking for a sock monkey hat for a long time. She loves sock monkey's and has about 15 of them. Along with her hat, I made Emily and Julia, Perry the Platypus hats.

The sock monkey hat pattern can be found here: at Crochet in Color. I used her pattern with a very large hook to modify it to fit August's head. I can't find where the Perry the Platypus pattern was from. But a simple google search can yield many free patterns. 

I saw these awesome book slings in the Family Fun magazine a while back. I saw them again on Pinterest and decided to make them for Emily and Julia. They always have a ton of books in their beds, these were perfect to hang on the wall next to them. They were also very simple to make. Link here at Penny Carnival .

Kiley and Haley both got slouchy hats, which I regret to say I can't find the link for the pattern.

One of my favorite projects were these monster bath-scrubbies. If found the free pattern at Ravelry.

 I found a skein of really cool Red Heart camouflage yarn, and made each of my 3 wonderful nephews a hat. Apparently I only took one photo of the camo hats. Ha! I guess I need to be better at photographing my work. This was for my youngest nephew who is almost 2. I used the pattern from the sock monkey hat and omitted the ear flaps. I used a smaller hook so that it would be baby size.

The other two hats, not shown were just basic skull beanies for boys/teens with no pom-pom. They are camo with orange stripes in the middle.

These are flower coasters. I made several sets of these in different colors. I even sold a set! Yay me. That was my first homemade sale. This pattern I found on Pinterest and it's linked here at Mollie Makes. I used Patons yarn. I would love to find it in similar colors as the pattern pictures, but so far I can only find blue, white, purple, black and gray.

Making gifts really saved a lot of money. It does take a lot of time. I started 3 1/2 months before Christmas to get it all done. I get really bad carpal tunnel, not the best thing for someone who enjoys crocheting as much as I do. I have to do it in small doses.

 Happy New Year.

~Kimmie

Have you been taught a lie??

Have you been taught the LIE of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture? Did you even know that it is a lie? Many, many, many believe they will be secretly whisked away by Jesus before the tribulation occurs. However, the King James Bible teaches an entirely different doctrine. Watch for free, share and make this viral. The truth of the Bible and the rapture that only occurs, immediately after the tribulation.

Happy 14th Birthday, Girls!

My sweet babies are 14!

Kiley and August turned 14-years-old last week. This past weekend we celebrated with some of their friends, and friend's mom's at a Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant, followed by a sleepover at our house. The dinner was a blast. Many of the girls had never experienced the teppanyaki-grill entertainment before. The food was absolutely delicious. 

My husband and two little girls got out of dodge for the evening and packed up to go to Oma and Opa's.

The sleep-over was very low-key to my amazement. All of the friends' mom's were invited to sleepover, but only one decided to party with us. The girls made a craft, got their sleeping mask party favors, sang Happy Birthday, and played some Apples to Apples. A few of their friends even got to have their hair done by a professional hair stylist (my mom).

Around 2:00am, I walked around the entire house to check on the girls and found 3 already asleep. This is unheard of for any sleep-over I had ever been to. August and a friend were in her room knitting scarves and the other two girls were in the kitchen having a conversation with the other mom. I sat on the couch and fell asleep.

I awoke in the morning to a clean kitchen (what fantastic girls), and 8 sleeping girls.

Pictures of our evening:

E and Haley

M, Kiley and our Spare Kid

My Mom

M and Kiley

Two of my good friends.
One brought her daughter and the other is a mom to only boys
so we invited her over to come hang with us and have some fun girlie time. 

My Pastor's wife, me and my mom

Onion volcano after the fire went out. The food was awesome.

Our sleeping mask party favors. We bought the masks
and then  customized them with our own personalized  labels. 

The whole gang. 

Their craft was making dry-erase memo boards from picture frames with pretty
 scrapbook paper inside.  I found mini dry-erase markers and magnetic mini erasers.

Finished frames

Finished frames

Drug testing for welfare and public assistance?

Should there be drug testing for Welfare or other Public Assistance recipients?

I see this question often on Facebook. Most people answer with a resounding, "YES", of course they should. Mostly the claimed reason is that the employed person, having been drug tested themselves to maintain their employment, is paying taxes that contributes to the welfare system. The fact that the welfare system is wrong and shouldn't exist is another post for another time. Since it does exist, and this drug-testing-issue is important to many people, I want to elaborate on why I say, "No, they shouldn't be tested". I'm sure I'm in the minority here but I'll type it out anyway.

First and foremost, I believe doing drugs is wrong. The Bible tells us we are to be sober, but you will not find prohibition there.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 1 Peter 5:8 

That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. Titus 2:2
Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. Titus 2:6; 

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, Titus 2:4 

This is my list of reasons/concerns and oppositions on this issue.

• It's discriminating against a specific group of people. Drug testing for a job is at the discretion of that employer, it is not the same thing. Welfare and public assistance are intended as a temporary help for those who are facing hardship. Singling them out for testing is discrimination against poor people. That being said, I do not believe that employers should drug test anyone either. What is the purpose? They already have the right to terminate the employee if they do not meet the performance requirements. I wonder is it only because drugs are illegal? Or do they also test for legal drugs like, alcohol and prescription narcotics, cigarettes, which can be more dangerous than illegal street drugs. If an employee comes to work sober, on time, works their scheduled shift and follows the requirements for the position why should the employer be so concerned with what they do in their free time?

• Privacy is invaded. The government wants us to believe that they set up Welfare/ PA to aid those in need, correct? Are these people no longer entitled to security and privacy because they have asked for help? This forces them to relinquish their 4th Amendment rights! Yes, I understand that they are receiving the benefits of another person's labor and paid taxes. Not everyone on welfare is refusing to work. If they are working, they are also having taxes deducted from their paychecks. The argument that only non-welfare/PA individuals are paying all the taxes, is false. Many of them have the same taxes withdrawn from their paychecks. This is what the people have allowed our government to do. I believe our government makes it extremely difficult to survive without asking for aide. They have taxed the people to the hilt, robbed them of their hard-earned incomes and then offered back their own money in the form of assistance. Wouldn't that technically be drug testing before returning their own money to them?

• The automatic assumption that families accepting welfare/PA are drug addicts is appalling. This is a slippery slope. It's a common assumption that people on welfare/PA are lazy drug-addicts who refuse to work while happily sitting at home getting one over on hard-working folk. In a time where "tolerance" and "equality" are shoved down our throats, this type of stigmatizing the poor is surprising.

• Where is the same concern for other recipients of our tax dollars? The same demands to test public and government employees paid through tax dollars doesn't exist. How often have we heard of their immoral financial choices? Are members of the Senate and Congress drug tested? Is the President? Maybe they all are, I don't know. If they all are I'll retract this part of my post. Why are we not adhering to "what's good for the goose is good for the gander"?

• Drug testing is extremely expensive and doesn't yield results that would be expected. Florida already implemented this at an exorbitant cost to tax payers. Passing such a thing will only lighten the pockets of tax payers while lining the pockets of drug-testing companies. At the price of drug tests it could very well add more than $4 million dollars to the annual budget in most states. This is not cost-effective at all.

• Most drugs, save Marijuana, are out of a person's system in 24 to 72 hours making it extremely difficult to detect. I wonder if the real issue at hand is to catch those using pot? I do not use Marijuana. I do not consider Marijuana a harmful drug. Actually, I don't consider it a drug at all, but a very beneficial plant when used appropriately. It has many, many healing and disease curing abilities. It is 100% less harmful than any illegal or legal drug/alcohol. No one has EVER died from an overdose unlike all other "drugs". It would be perfectly acceptable for a recipient on welfare/PA to receive morphine, antidepressants or benzodiazepine's even though all of those are harmful and addictive and have caused many deaths. All recipients would need testing several times each month to "catch" them. Can you imagine how much that will cost?

• How can we be sure that the test was accurate? They can give false results. What happens to a family, who has not used drugs, and then the test shows positive in error? They lose their assistance and all credibility through no fault of their own.

• The children of those people would be hurt more than the recipient of the assistance. If you have no experience with drug addicts you should know that forcing one to quit never works out well. An addict of anything will only quit when they realize they need or want to quit. Taking away the means to feed their families will not force them to stop using drugs.

• Those who are fortunate enough to not need help during a tough time become dictators of those receiving help. This is a problem with forced charity. It's no longer giving, it becomes forced taking and redistributing; in turn this causes animosity in the tax payer. They now insist that they control the way the welfare recipient uses their tax dollars.

Again, I think drugs are wrong. They, more often than not, destroy lives and families. But, they should not be illegal. The government should not have the power to tell anyone how to run their lives. As we allow them the power to tell us what we can/can't put into our bodies, it will get out of control and they will eventually start forcing their poison vaccine injections or consumption of their genetically modified garbage. You can't force people to do what you think they should do. They are just as passionate about how they believe; they want to live their lives just as anyone else.

The 4th Amendment in case you are unfamiliar: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, SHALL NOT BE VIOLATED, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Peanut Butter Cups

Don't you just love them? We do! A few weeks ago I was cruising around on Pinterest and found a blog. I quickly decided I loved this new blog I found. It is filled with tons and tons of DIY laundry soap, and cleaners and some very yummy looking recipes. I came along a recipe for HOMEMADE Peanut Butter Cups at One Good Thing by Jillee.

I followed all of the same instructions except, I used a long stiff-tipped paint brush to coat the sides of the muffin cups.

Please forgive my pictures in advance. I was using the camera phone.

Coated cups. The paint brush made it much easier.

Half peanut butter filled and half are done.

Fresh from cooling. 

Fantastic!!