A New Project

Have you ever heard of “Lands’ End”? Of course you have! To be honest, the closest I ever get is drooling over the catalogs.

Have you ever heard of “Warming Families”? http://www.freewebs.com/warmingfamilies/

How about “One Heart Foundation”? http://oneheart.org/

Well these organizations are working together in Lands’ End “FeelGood Campaign” extending from September 1, 2009 through December 2009.

Excerpt from http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=ind_focus.story&STORY=/www/story/09-01-2009/0005086370&EDATE=
“This fall, Lands' End will kick off the FeelGood Campaign, a terrific way to shop - and feel good about giving to homeless individuals and families across the country. Beginning September 1st, for every Lands' End FeelGood sweater purchased, the company will donate signature FeelGood yarn to One Heart Foundation's Warming Families, a nationwide knitting charity. Lands' End expects to donate thousands of pounds of yarn to the charity where volunteers plan to knit up to 25,000 hats and other items to warm the homeless and displaced.”

After learning about this, I signed up to help. And since they didn’t have anyone in Arizona to help co-ordinate things here-I signed up for that, too!

So I am busily crocheting hats and T is continuing to work on his loom hats. Right now we have 2 of the large blue IKEA bags FULL of his hats!!!

Working with “Warming Families” as a Chapter-Area Volunteer (CAV) means I also get to find other volunteers to knit or crochet hats for this particular campaign and to help with the regular hats/blankets/lapghans/etc.

If you or anyone you know, would like to help with the “FeelGood Campaign” you can go to the websites below or contact me.


Warming Families http://www.freewebs.com/warmingfamilies/
One Heat Foundation http://oneheart.org/

Enjoy the Ride

A wonderful friend just sent me this little video. Thanks, Robin, for your random email of kindness. I loved it.


http://lshs64.com/enjoytheride.html


Made me feel calm and happy about what I will do today.

Helped me remember what is more important-
people more than things,
life more than rush.

Best of all--It made me smile!

Happy Birthday S

I have the best daughter-in-law in the world and

today is her birthday.

Just a few things I love about her:

1. She loves my son and is the best wife I think he could have chosen.
   


2. She is a wonderful mother to my grandsons.
   


3. She enjoys the mischief and mayhem that comes with two little boys and still loves them with all her heart.
   


4. She is the only one I trust completely with my hair.
   


5. She can do things with a blog that I can’t begin to duplicate (and I am trained on computers)!
   


6. I have never heard her raise her voice, for anything.
   


7. She is beautiful and very feminine.
   


8. She loves to cook and make bread and do all the things that go into creating a happy, loving home.
   


9. She supports my son in everything (even when I probably wouldn’t have).
   


10. She has a loving smile that makes you feel like she is smiling just for you.
    


11. She loves Christ and you can tell by her actions that she does everything she can to live as Christ would want her to.
    


12. She is accepting of everything. (Sometime I’ll have to get her to tell me what she really feels!)
    


13. She is the most well-rounded, gospel loving, happiest woman I know.

Happy Birthday S!

We love you greatly and miss you a lot!

Too bad she doesn’t have the best mother-in-law,

or she would be getting a handmade card instead of this blog.

Little boys need toys

Yesterday at the doctor’s office, the waiting room was full, it was standing room only. There was a father with a little boy, about 2 years old or younger. I don’t know how long they had been there, but the little guy was definitely ready to leave. He was whining and Dad was doing his best to keep him occupied, but he hadn’t brought any toys or anything else to entertain the boy.

Being the dutiful crocheter that I am, I had taken a project with me. So an idea struck me. I would quickly make a little toy for him. My mind ran through all the options I could think of; I settled on a snake.

Quick Snake Pattern
I used yellow yarn. Chain the length, about 5 inches. Dc twice in each ch st. In the last ch, work 4 dc bobbles to create a head. Leave a long end to pull through the bobbles for a tongue. I used a red marker to draw eyes and to put red on the end of the long tongue.

The father and son had gone back to see the doctor before I finished, so I asked the nurses to give it to him. They said that the sweet little guy even smiled when he took it. That made it all worthwhile.

It was so funny how everyone in the waiting room watched as I crocheted as I worked on the snake. I had talked to the father from where I was sitting and asked if it was okay to make a little toy for him. So everyone knew what I was doing. All eyes were glued to my hands. It was a little intimidating to have others watching me make up a pattern as I worked. Luckily it turned out okay. I which I’d had a camera with me. It feels good to do something to brighten someone’s day.

Have you ever seen the TV commercial that starts with a delivery boy pulling a woman out of the street so he doesn’t get hit by a car? There is a man watching who later does something nice for another person, who in turn does a nice thing for someone else. It repeats about 6 or 7 times and ends with the woman pulling the delivery boy out of the street. What goes around, comes around. That’s what I’ve always been told and what I have tried to do. It seems to be the best way to live life.

I have never understood not helping when you can. That seems a closed way to live. Why not share a smile or a hand when you can? Just the act of doing so opens you up and it gives a warm feeling to someone else.

I remember a story about Spencer W. Kimball that shows this perfectly.

Stranded in an airport because of bad weather, a young mother and her two-year-old daughter had been waiting in long lines for hours trying to get a flight home. The child was tired and fussy, but the mother, who was pregnant and at risk of miscarriage, did not pick her up. A doctor had advised the mother to avoid lifting the two-year-old unless absolutely necessary. The woman overheard disapproving comments from people around her as she used her foot to slide her crying daughter along in the line. Nobody offered to help. But then, the woman later recalled, “someone came towards us and with a kindly smile said, ‘Is there something I could do to help you?’ With a grateful sigh I accepted his offer. He lifted my sobbing little daughter from the cold floor and lovingly held her to him while he patted her gently on the back. He asked if she could chew a piece of gum. When she was settled down, he carried her with him and said something kindly to the others in the line ahead of me, about how I needed their help. They seemed to agree and then he went up to the ticket counter [at the front of the line] and made arrangements with the clerk for me to be put on a flight leaving shortly. He walked with us to a bench, where we chatted a moment, until he was assured that I would be fine. He went on his way. About a week later I saw a picture of Apostle Spencer W. Kimball and recognized him as the stranger in the airport.”

Wouldn’t it be great to be the one person who helped when others wouldn’t? That is what Christ would do!