Category Archives: Hobbies

I love photography, crocheting baby hats, playing “Fools Rush In” on my guitar, singing hymns and WRITING.

Some Guys Like to Fish…

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Some guys like to golf.  Some guys like to watch Sport Center all day. But my man is a gamer.

It’s weird because Eric quit gaming a few months before we met. So the whole time we were dating, I never saw him strap on the headset and click at lightening speed like he does every night now. It wasn’t until I started working at Walgreens a few months after we got married that he started playing again. I blame Walgreens. I was never home; what else was he going to do?

He plays a bunch of different games. One of them irritated me so much, that I prayed for him to stop playing it. (World of Warcraft) Luckily he stopped and I started making him dinner again. Just kidding about the dinner part.

I feel fortunate, though, because he has self control when it comes to his hobby. He waits to play until Micah has gone to bed and we have had time to talk and hang out for a while. Then I go to my computer and he goes to his. I think of it as a modern day version of me heading off to darn a sock and him going off to polish his gun. Except… this is much more fun than socks or guns. Also… I’m pretty sure Eric is still playing with virtual guns. I don’t know… it sounds like he’s killing something but I couldn’t tell you what it was.

Do any of you play computer games — or do your spouse’s play? What do you think of it?

Thursday Catch-Up

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Latest Project:

Last night I had to keep telling myself to breath deeply and be patient. And no, Micah wasn’t giving me trouble; he was already asleep for the night. I was determined to make my photography website design submit to my will. Unfortunately, coding is not my strongest point, and it took me forever to figure out how to put my sliced up Photoshop image back together with html and css. The result? A beautifully customized website that fits my style. It even has roll over image links. I hate templates. If it weren’t for the fact that I needed their structure to get me started, I wouldn’t use them at all.

I have a confession: I teared up a little when I was done because I liked it so much. Is that nerdy or what? Click on the image to go to my photography website and play with the rollover links. While you are there, click the “like” button on my Facebook plugin.

Micah’s Current Stats:

This morning was Micah’s 18 month appointment. He is 25.8 pounds and 32 1/2 inches tall, which puts him in the 50th percentile for his weight and the 90th for his height. Lean and mean: that’s how he has been described from the beginning. This checkup was not as traumatic for Micah as the last one. There were no shots and he only cried a little when the pediatrician tried to look in his ears and listen to his heartbeat. I kept him distracted with my phone and that helped a lot! The really great news was that he had no ear infections, which means the fever and irritability he experienced last week must have been nothing more than a seasonal bug – or teething. I guess we’ll never know. We are still waiting on those 2-year molars, as far as I know. It’s hard to look without losing a finger, know what I mean?

Photo of the Day:

This was taken on Monday morning at my parents house before I left for the dealership to have my new van looked at. (We needed to have the cruise control replaced at no cost to us.) I was excited to see fog because I am doing an engagement session this Saturday and our goal is to get that early morning fog. We are waking up super early. How many people are willing to wake up at 5am just so their photographer can get sunrise and fog shots of them? Not many, that’s why Danielle and Gustavo are so cool!! I’m so excited for that session; we’ll be hitting up the Milwaukee Art Museum as well as a few other places in the city. I love urban settings!

More Photo Fun:

Macro filters are blast to play with! The trickiest part is that the depth of field is so shallow, if you move ever so slightly, you throw your subject out of focus. The white flowers pictured below are very tiny in real life – they are technically a week and grow in clusters everywhere they shouldn’t. Obviously the purple flower is a clover! Do you see the little bug tucked in there? The blade is actually a small palm leaf from a mini palm tree I have growing in my kitchen. And Abe Lincoln never looked so good!

Favorite Games

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I work when Micah’s sleeping, I clean when he’s awake (he’s my little helper), and the rest of the time, we play! Here are some of our favorite games:

Pillow Pile: Our couch is essentially made up of a frame and a dozen pillows, so one of the things we like to do is pull the pillows off the couch and pile them on the floor. We can make two stacks and throw a blanket over to make a tunnel or a fort. We can line all the pillows up  in a row and jump on them. We can stack a few and plop down on our bellies (okay so maybe Micah is doing most of this and I am just spotting). It’s also fun to hide toys under the pillows and then find them again! It never gets old for a toddler, I tell yah!

Jump on Mommy: This game is simple. I lie on the floor and Micah jumps on me. It is a lot of fun for Micah! I scream and laugh, which makes Micah jump harder and attack me with slobbery kisses!

Typing: I am a blogger, so Micah sees me typing all the time. Micah’s daddy is a programmer/engineer, so he is also typing all the time, too. What do you think Micah wants to copy? We cut the cord off an old keyboard, cleaned it up with alcohol and a few swabs, and gave it to Micah. He loves his “computer” and types on it with me when I am writing my blogs. We sit at the kitchen table together. He has his keyboard and I have my laptop. He is very entertained by this! We like to talk about what we’re “writing.” Whenever I ask Micah if he is writing a blog, he says “no.” So maybe he is writing software like daddy? I will have to ask him next time.

Boo: We don’t play peek-a-boo or hide-and-seek in this house, we play “boo!” This game pretty much involves hiding behind any object, then popping out and yelling “boo!” It could be behind a chair, a table, the corner of a wall, or under a blanket. Sometimes we don’t hide at all, we just yell “boo!” for fun. Wherever it is, peeking out and yelling “boo!” happens 100 times in a row before we get bored and move onto the next thing. Boo!!

Horse: Lately Micah likes to pretend to be a horse. He whinnies on the changing table. He whinnies  in his high chair. He whinnies when he is holding his little toy horse and making it gallop around the floor or on the table. Sometimes he whinnies in his car seat. Usually after a good whinny, he’ll follow it up with a cluck-cluck-cluck of his tongue (the sound of a horse running of course) or another whinny just for kicks. Then sometimes he’ll exclaim “hoss!” (Horse, of course.) This has been happening a lot ever since we looked at the horses up close at the fair several weeks ago.

What are some “games” you like to play with your small children?


Facebook Photo Contest

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Dear Internet,

Please help me win a new Nikon D90. It would make my day. Actually, it would make my year! Haha. I entered a photo contest on Facebook through Edeeto. The theme is Summer, so I entered this photo:

I called it, “Beach Bum.” Haha! See Micah’s plumber butt? Too funny. This is right after he went swimming in the lake and his diaper has about 5lbs of lake water in it.

If you click on this link, you will be taken to the page where you can vote. I would love it if you would check the “share” box and let your friends on Facebook know that Mr. Micah wants his mommy to win a new D90! Talk about a serious upgrade from my D3000! I would love to get a D90 so I could buy the less expensive AF lenses. (The D3000 does not have its own auto-focus motor, so it requires the AF-S lenses that cost $$$$$. The AF-S lenses are very nice, but it would be nicer to to buy their cheaper equivalent without the built in motor.)

You can vote once a day. And go ahead and “thumbs down” any of the entries above mine. Haha! Is that bad?

Love,

Kim

Seven Things About Me

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I recently received a blogging award, the Versatile Blogger Award, from Vickie over at Victoria’s Voice. Thanks, Vickie! I am always excited to get an award. Blog awards are fun because they encourage us to check out new blogs that we might have never looked at before.

(I clicked back a couple times through past winners and found several different versions of this graphic… this is the one I like the best, so it’s the one I’m going to display!)

Now for the rules for winning this award
  • Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
  • Share 7 things about yourself.
  • Pass the award along to 15 other bloggers who you recently discovered and think are fabulous.
  • Contact the bloggers you chose and let them know about the award.
Seven Things About Me

ONE

I am very artistic. I love taking portraits, but I also love drawing them, too. Here is one I did of my husband when we were engaged. Drawing a portrait of your fiance: romantic, no?

TWO

I have been into photography since I was 18 or 19. I sort of picked it up because I was frustrated with my inability to portray the level of reality I wanted through my drawing. Some of the coolest pictures I took were with a simple Sony Cybershot camera. I used that camera for about 7 years!

The photo below was taken on a street on my campus at UW Whitewater, where I went to school to be a writer.

This one was taken during college with my Cybershot as well. Do you think I had the money to buy a DSLR in college? No way! This is my friend, Chrystal – she is a musician and singer. She sometimes leads worship at Central Christian in Beloit, WI. She is a very talented lady! This is an old pic – her hair is twice as long and she half this size now – time has been good to this woman. One of these days I’ll do another photo shoot for her, when she has time. I think I could do a way better job now, too.

You do not need an expensive camera to take good pictures. You just need to know how to use the light around you. Good light is everywhere, if you know where to look. Although, expensive cameras do make it a little easier. ;) Good light and lots of practice.

THREE

My toddler is totally into this new habit of wanting to stick his finger in my belly button when he nurses. Talk about awkward! And it tickles!

FOUR

Three and a half years ago, I totally slipped a disc in my back while working in the stockroom of a Walgreens where I was an assistant manager. We’ve since settled, but my back will never be the same. Every time I pick up the mini man or a heavy basket of laundry, I am reminded of my brokenness by the strange numbed throb and tingle by my tailbone. I seriously need to be better about continuing my physical therapy routine before I really screw it up. Really, though, it is a reminder that this body and earth is my temporary home. I will get a new back in heaven and it will be all good. Amen!

FIVE

I have this thing where I can’t do anything the same way twice. I always take different routes home (if there is one) and I never make the same crochet project twice. I also hate repetitiveness in my portfolio, which is why I’m always looking for new ways to compose a picture. I always do my hair slightly different, every day.  Maybe this is why I love being a stay at home mom so much. I can make each and every day original. I hated Walgreens because every season was the same routine. Every day we did the same thing. I can never go back to that kind of work. No 9-5 job for me!

SIX

I like planting flowers, but I refuse to cut the grass. In fact, I have never mowed a lawn in my life. I probably never will. On my tombstone, it will read, “You better mow the grass around my grave, because you know I’ll never do it.” Ha….

SEVEN

When I’m tired, my left eye twitches. It’s been twitching a lot lately. I’m not winking at you and I don’t have Tourrette’s.

********************

And now, it is time to give this award to 15 other bloggers who I have recently discovered (or loved for a while) and I think are worthy… (this is going to be hard because Micah is playing peekaboo with a book under my shirt on my back and it’s distracting.)

LAUGH WITH US BLOG

JOSIAH’S NEST

IS THERE A BATHROOM ON THIS SHIP?

MOTHERING IN A SHOE

NEW LIFE ON A HOMESTEAD

DELETING THE ADJECTIVES

THE SIMPLE THINGS

MIDDAY ESCAPADES

THE PREPPY STRAWBERRY

THE VERY BEST HOUSEWIFE. NOT!

TRUE FEMININITY

A GRACE-FULL LIFE

BLESSED WITH GRACE

MANDI MILLER BLOG

LITTLE HOMESCHOOL ON THE {BIG} PRAIRIE

Please go visit some of these blogs if you get the chance. They are all very good and it took me forever to select them!

Here is the code to grab this award for your post if you are passing it on:

How Do I Find the Time?

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My friend Sarah commented on a previous post that she doesn’t have time to update her blog as often as I do, which made me wonder why I have the time? What am I not doing? Why the heck do I have so much free time to sew blog and do my photography? Then I realized the major thing that is missing from my life that gives me the time (besides a job outside of the home): TV!

I don’t even know how this happened, because it was never this thing that I set out to do on principle or on purpose, but I don’t want TV anymore. I mean, I’ll watch it at other people’s houses if it’s on. I will occasionally watch a movie with Eric. Sometimes I’ll put on a Christian concert DVD in Micah’s room while we play. But in general, I don’t watch TV at all. I didn’t watch it that much before, but now that we moved our TV to the movie room in the basement, I never watch it.

I think it’s good for me.

Fleece Take 2

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So the fleecies were a really good idea…. in theory. On his butt, they were BULKY. I messed around with the folding and snapping of his covers, but it was just not working the way I wanted. It was to much fleece. Wrapped around the entire diaper made it hard to fold or bend, making them stiff. I was getting fed up. So….

This afternoon I started playing with a new idea. What if I put the fleece directly on the prefold? At first I thought it would limit the way he could wear the prefold – i.e. no more snappi – but then I realized all I would have to do is fold them “backward” if I wanted to use the snappi. Instead of putting the fold side of the diaper on his bottom, I would put the opposite smooth side against his bottom. I tried it and it works. The perk is that I can trifold it and place the fleece side against his bottom, and it keeps him dry without wriggling out of place and giving him a diaper rash. The trifold is great for toddlers since it is fast, thick (for large amounts of pee), and you don’t have to worry about newborn poo splashing everywhere. Yes, I said splashing, and I meant it.

Anywhooo, the first thing I did was snip the pocket apart. Don’t feel bad, the pockets took me 45 seconds to make, so it didn’t hurt to unmake them.  I only need half of the pocket for each diaper, so I’m also doubling the amount of liners I have without spending a dime. I trimmed the fleece to fit the center part of the prefold.

I then set my sewing machine to the widest zig zag stitch available and zig zagged my way around the diaper, centering the stitch over the edge of the fleece.

Tah-dah!

Ever since I started cloth diapering, I have been on a mission to find the best system possible. I like the prefolds because they dry so fast and they easily “transform” into whatever kind of diaper you want. There are so many different ways to put them on a baby. I think they also rinse cleaner because they are nice and thin when they are opened up, compared to an insert or an all-in-one diaper.

As soon as I started diapering Micah in cloth, I realized that fleece is an essential part of the system to prevent diaper rash. If I do not have a fleece liner on hand, I put Micah in a disposable, because that’s how bad his rash gets if he does not have that fleece wicking away moisture from his skin.

So all this time I have been searching for the perfect way to combine fleece and cotton to make a diaper that fits the following criteria:

1. It’s simple to put on  a squirming toddler. When the fleece was loose from the prefold, it would move around when I was trying to get the diaper on him and I would get frustrated. It always ended up looking like a McDonald’s hamburger: sloppy with the toppings hanging out the sides.

2. Easy to disassemble for washing. I quickly found out that the pocket diapers I made a while back and the fleece pockets I recently made required a lot of contact with soiled areas when I was trying to take them apart before putting them in the pail. Ew.

3. Must be easy to rinse off mucky poo. Sometimes Micah’s doo-doo resembles pureed pumpkin, and that does not fall into the toilet well. Scraping? Gross! Swishing? Works the best, but totally impractical when you are dealing with a large one-piece diaper. It was always easy to get off if it was just the fleece or just the prefold. I would just hold a corner, swirl and drop right into the pail waiting next to the toilet. I didn’t even have to touch anything!

4. Must be inexpensive. Prefolds are always cheaper than their fancier counterparts, unless you are buying silk and cashmere prefolds, of course. Do they make those? I don’t think so, but it would be kind of funny to say “we’re so rich, our baby poops on cashmere.”

I don’t want to jinx myself, but I think I may have finally discovered the holy grail of the prefold and fleece combo.  Do they make these already made? (*Googles it…*) I couldn’t find anything, but I didn’t look very long. If you find something similar, leave a link in the comments section.

The Best Thing I Ever Got For Free

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Have I ever mentioned how much I love Freecycle? One of the best things I ever got through the group was an old serger, which has sparked a real creative streak. Wait a minute, my whole life is a creative streak. Is that bad to say? Well…

I love my new serger.

I have been making “fleecies” – or fleece pockets to hold my prefolds and keep my baby’s bottom nice and dry. They work wonderfully. I’m not going to lie, Micah looks bootylicious (meaning he’s got extra junk in the trunk) when he wears his prefolds trifolded under a cover, but you cannot beat the absorbency. Nothing gets past these diapers, not even monster poo. Or coyotes. (The only reason I wrote that last one was there are literally coyotes howling outside my house. Scary! But not as scary as some of the poop I have to deal with on a daily basis.)

A serger uses two needles and four threads to make one powerful, can’t-pull-it-apart, stitch, all while perfectly trimming off the edge and locking it in to prevent fraying.

I also made a few cute little monsters out of felt. I actually made these with my standard sewing machine. One of them was received by and napped with a certain 17-month-old boy who shares my DNA, lucky him. He calls the monster, “baby.” The other two are going to a pair of really cute 5-year-old twins who belong to my good friend Lindsay. She does not know this. She may actually see this before the birthday party tomorrow, but that’s okay. I’m pretty sure the girls don’t read my blog. (Lindsay, don’t show this to them…)

The purple monster with yellow pigtails is going to Lana & the pink monster with blue & white hair is going to Kyla. I love how the monsters are wearing skirts. They are so fashionable. Micah’s monster is a trapezoid, and that never goes out of style.

Product Reviews: Make ‘Em Pretty For Me!

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Once in a while I like to do product reviews for my pregnancy blog on Families.com. Today a beautiful package arrived and I got to taste test and review three flavors of Bellybar snack bars and chews.  You can check out the review here. What I can’t get over is the presentation. Very rarely do these products arrive in any anything more than bubble wrap, but check out this pretty pink packaging. I love it!