a day in the life of...

Same Kind of Different As Me

Three or four weeks ago, I finally got around to finishing Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. I was about 6 months behind everyone else at church, so I kind of caught all the hype and decided to just make it happen.

Can I just say that I’m so glad I cleared my reading schedule for this book? It’s a great story that’s made even better by the fact that it’s true. Ron Hall tells his and his wife’s story about how they started ministering to the poor and homeless and ended up becoming the ones who were ministered to. 

Not only is it a great story that pricks your heart for ministry, but it’s also just a really great story of two friends who come from two extremely different places and find in each other an ally and a community of faith. 

Try it out, it’s a pretty short book, I think it took me a week to read it (and I was only reading for 30ish minutes before bed) and it will inspire you to be more compassionate, to get out of your comfort zone, and to bring the love of God into someone’s life. 

whew.

My arms are sore, my legs are sore, my blender is dirty, my shoes stink.

Yup, it’s the January Gym Rush. I’m working on making it last past the middle of the month, when I’ll actually be able to find a free treadmill because the New Years resolutions have worn off. I have a support group of a bunch of girls from church who are going to start running together once a week as a little boost of motivation. 

What I would really like to do is run the St. Jude half marathon next winter. It’s a long shot because I’m an out of shape asthmatic, but I’m putting one foot in front of the other. I’ve run a little over 2 miles since Thursday, which is good for me.

Anyhoot, there’s an update for you.

New Year, new post

I’m the most unfaithful blogger that I know, but here I am again! It would be a shame to come in to 2012 without at least trying to resurrect this thing.

Last time we arose again with sewing and crafty things, this time I’m thinking food. A friend of mine is starting the Maker’s Diet (which I’ve dabbled in) this year and I would like to at least incorporate it into our lives here at the Hardy house. 

It’s unrealistic to think that we would abide by it every day at every meal, but I’d like to at least start adding a few meals a week. Here’s to the new year and some healthier choices!

Day 15

So one of these days I will catch up my posts from when I was gone. I have the things made, but just haven’t gotten around to taking pictures of them and explaining them. I’m a really lazy blogger.

That being said, my awesome friend Lindsey and I embarked on a food journey today. I put together a menu of 8 meals that can be assembled, cooked if necessary, and frozen for use at a later date. We got enough food to make each of us a really large lasagna, some spaghetti sauce, 4 mini meat loaves, 4 garlic dijon chicken breasts, 4 chili chicken breasts, 4 salsa verde enchiladas, 5 pork chop dinners, and 4 chicken hot pocket type things.

How much did all of this cost? $50 each. That is WAY LESS than I normally spend on a grocery trip that we don’t get nearly that much food out of. I’m pretty pumped about how much food we made and how easy it was with both of us doign our thing in the kitchen. We, shopped, chopped, assembled and cooked for a total of about 4 hours.

4 hours of my life and 50 bucks every time I want 8 ready to throw in the oven or crock pot meals? I think this is going to become a thing.

Day 13… what?

Oh come on, you know you thought I’d given up since I haven’t posted in- well, a long time. I was visiting the fam in the ATL (Hotlanta, A-Town, etc) and was seperated from my sewing machine.

That being said, I’ve sewn, crocheted, felted, and all kinds of stuff since I left here and got back. Hopefully tomorrow I can throw some pics up and redeem myself. Tonight, I am simply too sleepy. Take that.

Ok, so there are no buttons…

Nevertheless, I did make something today. I just happen to be short a few buttons and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find any just like the one I have, so I have foregone the buttons altogether until more can be purchased. Still, I say the amount of work that went into Day Five’s handmade thing more than makes up for the lack of being finished.

Yeah, that’s a shirt. A shirt in bad need of pressing and buttons, but a shirt all the same.

The thread doesn’t match and the fabric is a little funky because I was morally opposed to putting a lot of money into a project that I wasn’t sure I could even do. I learned a lot about shirt construction through this little adventure and would pick a different pattern next time. This one has some weird stuff with the collar and the facing.

Anyway, I’m super proud of myself for tackling something that I’ve wanted to tackle for a long time. Now it’s bed time. ‘Night all!

30 Days Handmade: Day Three

I don’t know if you know this, but today is Sunday. Once known as the day of rest, now known as the busiest day of the week. See, the Tall Man, the baby and I go to church early. Real Early. 8 AM early.

In order get the Tall Man and the baby ready and to make it to church by 8 AM I have to be up at- nevermind, I’d rather not think about it.

That being said, no one should expect much on the Sunday portions of these 30 days.

Several of you have seen and enjoyed the whimsy of my bright yellow KitchenAid. You think you’d like a brightly colored mixer too. That is, until you try to buy kitchen things to match it. Nothing comes already made in that shade of yellow. Mom made my curtains out of some fabric we found on one of her visits because buying curtains with even a single polka dot that color would have been a joke.

So, as trivial as it may seem to those of you with neutral appliances, here is today’s handmade thing:

I was tempted to post a picture of my other (bright pink)oven mit, but I was too embarrassed by how dirty it is.