March

If you live in the same general area March came in like a roaring lion.. Good grief, so done with winter, snow, ice. And so ready for my kindergarten student to have normal weeks of school. Most of March found us inside, cuddled under piles of blankets praying for warm weather to be outside playing. I have spent a lot of time knitting. Shocker. Is it weird to give a shout out to yourself? Whatever. It's my blog! And so is this one --> Brandie's Basket <-- check it out. It's a place where I can document my wip (work in progress) and also remind myself of patterns and what I have made.

Family is doing well. Ready to spend time outside, getting to know our neighbors :)

Onto the opinions, reviews -----

CHOCOLATE!! Seriously, do I need to say anything else? Of course I will ;) Dark chocolate with a hint of tart cherry and an almond crunch. Hello, yum. I may have done a little happy dance while eating it :) It's probably a good thing for my waist line it was a sample instead of an entire bar.

 Shampoo AND Conditioner First of all let me say that I am glad this came to me as a set. I hate, no loathe, it when my shampoo and conditioner aren't used evenly. What do I do with all the extra!? I'm curious to try a No-Poo shampoo, but this size is perfect for traveling and a good sample size.

 Coola BB Cream! Stoked! I was so excited to try this out, but I was quite disappointed :( I may need to use it as a layered product, and use it for the sunscreen, but the coverage was awful. That put me in a search for a BB cream for the summer. I think I found my new favorite! Benefit's Big Easy! This cream adjusts to the skin tone, and also has a powdery finish. I wore this to work (in a fast paced environment and I tend to glisten by the end of my shift) and I was NOT oily. Sold. Love it.

 Hand Cream Blech. Too floral for me. I prefer a more subtle scent to my lotions. 

Coffee Night Cream(?!?!!) Coffee beans in an night cream?! Yes, please! First, when I see "night cream" I think a very heavy, thick cream. This was not! It is light, has a fresh orange-like scent and was amazing. Totally recommend!

Holy cow. Been busy!

So, I just realized it's been almost a month since my last blog. Needless to say, things have been busy! My part time barista job is going well! I enjoy being able to get out of the house for a little bit, make money for our family... Plus, it also gives me, and my kiddos, a break from one another. I love them, but we certainly do appreciate each other when we are apart. I'm feeling much more comfortable completing the tasks at hand which is good! Still learning, and slow, but I think I'm doing well...?? Hopefully!

House --- We've had some interest, nothing uber serious, yet... I feel like we are in a hurry up and wait phase of selling. There is an interested family that is also selling their home, so we will see. We have seen quite a few homes in our new area that we can cross off our list of potential future homes. But, as of right now, it's okay. We don't have any time restrictions to force us into a place. We have had quite a bit of interest in the past month.. We are just waiting for an offer to begin seriously looking for our next place.

My blessings

Kiddos. Oh dear. They are ridiculous :) Audrey has a date for Kindergarten registration (seriously, when did THAT happen?!) and I know she will do amazing. If she is able to focus on the task at hand. She's doing very well in preschool and she loves it. This girl loves her toys. And she loves to line things up and have elaborate stories.  However, she doesn't always clean up as she should. So, every item I have picked up goes into a bin and she can earn as many back in a day as she wants through picking a task, helping out around the house, being kind, or because she's just been a good kid for that moment.

Did I mention she turned 5!?

Her task - clean under the couch. She took it up a notch and vacuumed almost 2 rooms.

Landon. OMG. This boy. He's a hoot. And, if he could, I think he would be able to eat his sister under the table. He is learning and using signs! It's been amazing watching and hearing his vocabulary grow. He can sign please, more, thank you... He loves 'ba' <-- banana and will eat an entire one to himself. He has no interest in walking, but he can crawl in a hurry to get what he wants!

Bath Time!

Digging in the girly toys

Did this yesterday. I am sore today! LOVE IT!

The other thing I have picked up, again, is working out. Jeans I bought a few months ago are tight, and I hate it. I hate feeling limited in my clothes that I am comfortable wearing. I want to wear the trendy, cute items. So, I have joined Planet Fitness and I am also trying to be more aware of what I am eating, what I give my kiddos to eat, and how much water I drink. I follow other moms who have lost crazy amounts of weight and realize there is NO REASON why I can't do it too. That being said, my first goal is to loose 25 pounds by June 1. I want to be at least 50 pounds lighter by the time another baby comes into our lives. A dear friend has started a support group on facebook and it's been so encouraging to hear how others are DOING IT. Making a change, eating well, seeing differences in their bodies. I really do need to take some dreaded before photos, and measurements, so I can see where I was and how far I have come. (Note to self. Add that to the To Do list!)

Black sparkly headband

In all this chaos, I still make time for yarn. Love my yarn time. A chance for me to relax and unwind.. I seem to be on a bit of an animal streak -- snake scarf, monkey hat, frog hat.. I just realized that! HA!! But, I've also made headbands, fingerless mittens, and working on a blanket for Landon. And, yes, that blanket may end up being huge because IT'S THAT SOFT AND I WANT IT! We'll see. It may happen. 

Snake scarf

Monkey hat.

Gloves I almost kept for myself! :)

Gray headband with flower pin

What have I been up to....??

I am so excited to tell you JUST that! Ha. About a month ago I started taking a knitting class in town. I have been wanting to learn how to knit, and YouTube just wasn't helping me at all. I have learned so much in the past month! My first project was a washcloth and I couldn't tell you how many times I ripped it apart and started over. So it has a big hole in it, but I didn't want to start over when I had less than 10 rows to go (whole thing was 60ish). Anyway, it's done, we use it, and I feel more confident about basic knitting stitches. 

Second project was, and still is, a pair of pedicure socks. One is done and the other will be started within the next week or so. 

Within the past month I have also toyed with the idea of making craft items to sell. Starting with some basics - hats, scarves, flowers.. My latest find and fun thing to make are fingerless gloves/mittens. Kinda love them!

In my bag of tricks I have accumulated quite the collection of items -- above mentioned, and add to that fingerless gloves, knitted headbands (LOVE these!), and I'm about to make a prototype coffee sleeve. I'm not sure what may be added, or where this will take me/us, but I love being able to create things. 

OMG I forgot - add to that some basic beading. If you or someone you know has a teething infant I TOTALLY recommend an amber teething necklace. If you have chronic pain (I broke both my wrists in elementary school, 3rd and 4th grade, do a lot of needle crafts - see above - and I have a lot of pain in my wrists in the winter months... Even with adding more crafts, my wrists don't feel as bad as they normally "should". I have been wearing amber bracelets on each for about 2 months.) I also recommend Amber. There are so many healing properties in a number stones. Have an ailment? Let me know and we can talk. 

Wanna see things on a regular basis from me? Become a fan of my facebook page here --- Brandie's Basket. Catchy name, huh? I like it :) 

Have a great day folks!