the lovelies that keep me up at night.

Here I am, updating you after 15 months of silence, little creature of craft. I am such a neglectful blog mom. I won't promise you I'll update often, because that usually means a longer hiatus. What I will do is try to get my latest crochet works posted, because goodness I've been making quite a few things! July is when two things usually occur: 1. I start slowly losing my focus due to the excessive heat. Here in Oklahoma the temperatures soar to quite a height. It's not a big deal to see triple digits around this time. But this area is still fairly humid, too, so imagine sitting in a hot tub fully clothed. Except you're walking around. And that water is your sweat. Not a pretty picture. Luckily it's been a mild summer here due to the insane rains and flooding that have occurred. Even now the state is still under a heat advisory in excess of 100. So a lot of time is spent swimming and trying to stay cool! Thoughts of fall float through my mind often. I...

Hey there!  I just wanted to give a little wave on here and say a huge Happy Easter to all of you in blogland.  We hiked, picnicked, and enjoyed spending time with each other: Oklahoma is gorgeous year round.  I've yet to wander all the parks in my area.  We're toying with the idea of making next Sunday a picnic Sunday, too.   I meant to post this picture a couple of weeks ago.  April 4th, as you know, marked one year that I've been on this weight loss journey.  Well, as of April 4, I'd stepped on the scales and I'd lost 50 pounds - YESSS!  I celebrated by heading to the store with my husband and..... picking out a decent visual to represent how much fifty pounds really is: Truth?  Fifty pounds is, well... HEAVY!  I struggled to get the big bag of dog food you see here in my arms - it's time to strengthen the upper arms, I guess!  Hard to believe I was carrying all that weight around on my body. ...

Well, it’s been one year. 365 days. One year ago today, I walked out of my doctor’s office scared, confused, and angry.  I had just been handed two difficult diagnoses, and felt so unsure of my next steps.  I had walked in with high expectations.  I was starting a new job which meant a move.  I’d be moving away from the city and the house we owned to a new destination, a town about two hours away where I knew no one.  Things I was aware of:  1).  We would begin the grueling task of moving all our belongings – and for two packrats, that task is daunting!  And 2) I had landed a position in education that I wanted to pursue.  This move meant leaving my husband for several weeks and living on my own.  It meant leaving our support system and friends I’ve known all my life and been in close proximity to…. for the unknown.  I knew no one in my new town.  But I decided to take a chance and try out this new adventure. ...

Do you know what's difficult, blog land?  Trying to have a blog that is made up of only  ONE kind of thing.  The reason I started this blog, for example.  I wanted to just talk about and post pictures of crochet.  Yarny yarns and hooks and patterns and projects in the making, and the finished (at last!  Finished!) projects.  Oh, I wanted to do those things, and those things only. But I'm not a machine.  A lot of my time is spent not crocheting and hanging out with yarny yarns and hooks and patterns.  I'm a human, and that means I develop new and varied interests and am curious about a wide variety of things.  And that's okay.  I will always crochet.  I love it too much to say adios.  But I've realized that having a blog dedicated to just one thing, for me, is a poor idea.  There are just too many things I like to blog about, and maybe there's a fun picture out there I want to share that doesn't fit in with crochet.....

So of course, I've managed to let a few months slip by without posting anything.  Honestly, there hasn't been a whole lot to post!  It's been a tough winter here in OK, with unusually cold bitter winds and quite a bit of snow compared to last year.  I don't mean to complain, but I will be pretty excited when spring has officially sprung!  This past weekend was daylight savings time, and while I really enjoy the extra light at the end of the day, I just hate giving up the extra 60 minutes of sleep!  I know it's only an hour, but I am dragging this morning for sure! One of my New Year's resolutions (the only one, honestly) was to complete a 5K every month.  I've been trying to attack this resolution head on.  In January I finished my first ever official timed 5K, the  Freeze Your Face-Off 5K  in downtown Oklahoma City.  It was such a great experience, and I got to meet up with a couple of high school friends I hadn't seen in over a decad...

Since April, I've been on a bit of a journey.  By "a bit of" what I really mean is a "HUGE WHOPPING CONSUMING TREK."  You see, it involves my body. Before you roll your eyes and click away, thinking, "yeah, I'm here for crafty things, not this,"  hang on a minute.  I just wanted to write a post to explain a little more about me, Lauren, the girl with the hook.  There are a few reasons why my posts have been few and far between.  Here's a big part of what's been happening the past 8 months: In April this year, I was diagnosed with some health issues, some of them likely relating to my weight at the time.  I was pretty shocked.  I mean, there I was, at 29, a gal who never took any prescription medications or was ever diagnosed with anything other than a little near-sighted action at my yearly eye appointment.  Yep, I was stunned. (on a side note:  I've been overweight my whole life.  I honestly don't have the best eating habits...

I know, I know.  It’s been too long.  I admit, I am not the world’s best at keeping up with much of anything. But I do have reasons!  I’ve been making some of these: Minion hats!  I found an absolutely wonderful little pattern on ravelry, and My goodness, people have been requesting non stop for me to make them/their kids one!  So, I’ve been hooking it up.  There are about one million more I would like to make for folks.  Alas, there don’t seem to be enough hours in my day… Another reason is that yours truly has been teaching a crochet class!  It’s offered through my work.  This all started when my office’s original instructor couldn’t teach due to a recent surgery, and since I’d  posted  a couple of pictures on facebook of my work… it got out that I know a bit about the basics of crochet.  I am a certified early childhood teacher, and I have taught at the college level, but let me tell you, I was nervo...