Crochet Leg Warmers

I just finished one of my favorite projects for the fall. Leg Warmers.... I went with a cream to match my brown boots. I love leg warmers because I'm always cold and they fill in the space in my boots.
I also added some rose buttons to give some extra style.


I'm not good at recording the entire pattern, but I made the width to specifically fit around my calf, so make sure to measure your calf for correct fit. I always wanted mine a little long so it could scrunch up at the bottom. I first changed stitched the length then double crochet until I reached by desired with then connected the sides. Before I finished I added a more delicate row at the top with single crochet, skip, three dc, skip, repeat....

How to Read a Book

I Just started reading the book 21 indispensable qualities of a leader by J.C. Maxwell. I’m only on page XI in the intro when he talks about some chapters will fly by and you may be able to finish the book in one sitting (it’s not very long). I had to laugh because I had already thought to myself, “I can finish this book in just a day or two.” I am notorious for diving into a book and finishing it as soon as possible just to get to the next book.

 As I reflect, I actually don’t think it’s a good thing to read with this mentality. I shouldn’t rush through them. I have to stop myself and say, okay Cherie you shouldn’t ready anymore and stop right here. By rushing through them, I realized that I gain the knowledge of what the book is about, but I don’t gain the wisdom. Meaning, I don’t give it the time to seep and take root in my life. I don’t stop at one concept and assess how it can apply to me, implement it in my life and then practice it before moving on in the book. I realized there are so many books I’ve read that were wonderful but I can’t say how they’ve impacted my life. When reading a good book I should be able to say I read this book and this is how it helped me grow. If it doesn’t help me grow, then why would I take precious time to read it? There are some books I need to go back and re-read so that I can take them more slowly and let them impact my life.

So I encourage you as I try myself to take things slower a chapter or concept at a time. That may look like reading 10 or 20 minutes a day or if you want to spend more time reading you could read multiple books of different subjects, but make sure not to overwhelm yourself with too much information at once.

With fall here, I hope you can take some time to grab a hot beverage and site and enjoy a good read on a regular basis.

God’s peace and blessings,

Cherie

Family Time

Family time….

I just got back from family vacation in Mexico… it was such a beautiful, fun, relaxing wonderful time. It also came with its challenges. The vacation was for family to spend time together with grandma. Grandma’s health has been deteriorating the past year and half and we all wanted to spend some quality time with her. I live far from my family and I haven’t seen them in a year. It was very challenging to see my grandmother’s functioning having deteriorated so much.

It was such a blessing to see her sitting there watching us all interact and having the biggest smile on her face. Her moments of clarity brought tears to our eyes and lifted our spirits. Everything was worth just one smile from her. She seemed so happy to be surrounded by family even if all she could do was sit and watch. I think we tired her out just by having her do that.

This was a new experience for me, one in which I’ll take away many lessons. Every second with her on vacation was precious, I tried to soak it all in. I also wished that it didn’t take a vacation to make this happen.

I hope that you can take some extra time soon to really spend a day or few hours with a loved one, soaking in their presence, appreciating the looks they give you, the love in their eyes, their touch, and voice. Let yourself be in the moment. Sometimes the time we spend with others were distracted by other things and it’s like we didn’t spend time with them at all. We’re thinking of our to-do list, we have an agenda, were thinking about stress. I challenge you to be more present with those your with… don’t pick up the phone. I hope that you can have some time soon like I had with grandma to just BE with them.

God’s peace,

Cherie

Self-Care

Goodness gracious where has this summer gone. I can’t believe we are already in September. These past few months I’ve been working with PiYo and love it. It’s a great feeling to see in our challenge groups people making noticeable progress. A topic has been coming up a lot for me in regards to self-care. What is self-care? How do you get self-care? Does it have to cost money?

Let’s face it especially for the mom’s out there self-care seems absolutely impossible but it’s what is needed most in order for us to get through the stress and overload of everyday life. Self-care could be a glass of wine at night, reading a good book for 10 minutes before bed, locking yourself in the bathroom for fifteen minutes, playing golf, for me it’s dancing, or maybe your self-care is calling someone who makes you feel better about you. What you should know is that YOU are IMPORTANT and deserve self-care. Please take some time to think about what self-care looks like for you and do one thing for yourself this week. Sometimes we consider work out as self-care, which it is definitely needed as self-care to boost our mood, increase our energy and help us feel good about ourselves, but getting in that work out can almost become a stress in itself. So please do yourself a BIG favor and make you a priority.

I have to plan out my self-care and I don’t always get it in. Sometimes I plan, tonight I’m going to have a glass of wine, Saturday I’m going to watch Pride and Prejudice, my husband and I are going to have a date night, I’m going to take a bath with a glass of wine, I’m going to have a jam session with my favorite music on my way home from work. These are just some ideas of what I do for self-care.

DIY Floor Pillow

So I was so blessed to have my little sister Bethany visit with me for two weeks this summer. While she was here, of course we had to embark on a project. So we decided to make  a floor pillow that she can take to sleepovers, use in front of the TV on the floor, etc.

I didn't use an exact pattern but here is what I did use.

2 1/2 yards each of two different fabrics and 4 pillows. I had some old pillows that we didn't use, so we only had to buy one more.

I started sewing the top horizontal end and one vertical end and then I put in the pillow to see how wide I needed the fabric. Once I was able to measure the width I cut the vertical side to measure and sewed that side leaving only the bottom horizontal side left.
I then turned the fabric right side up.

I then began inserting one pillow at a time and sewing in-between. This part was tricky with the pillow, I recommend giving yourself room to work with. After the last pillow I cut off excess material.

It didn't take too long and I encourage you to try it. Sorry for not a lot of detail, but I am awful with using exact measurements. The other side is also a solid fuscia color. I really liked the colors she picked out.

If you make one I'd love to see it!

Cherie
 
 

Too Focused on Work

First, Happy Father’s day to all you dads out there.

So today I had one of those aha moments.

Cory and I were finally going to go to the park where he proposed to celebrate our anniversary (which was May 11^th). I have been wanting and asking for this as my anniversary gift since last year. There always seems to be something in the way. Last summer it was, I was too busy with my three jobs and weather, this year it was weather and more work.

I mentioned it to Cory today that it would be a perfect day to finally do it, the weather was perfect and we were not TOO busy. Cory was worried about getting research done for his new project, so I agreed that on the picnic he could do some research and I would read a bit.

As we got the park and found the spot where Cory proposed we, set up the blanket and took a seat. He then proceeded to try to do research and I decided to read a book on marriage therapy for work.

Just a few pages in I took pause…..WHAT WERE WE DOING? Here we are trying to have a romantic afternoon celebrating our marriage and we’re doing WORK. When did work become way more important that our MARRIAGE. Cory couldn’t concentrate on his research and with good reason… this was not an appropriate environment to do such an activity. I felt like a hypocrite reading a martial therapy book and not even giving attention to my own marriage.

I put the book down turned to my husband and asked him about his goals and dreams for the rest of the year. I knew what I wanted to accomplish and of course what I wanted HIM to accomplish, but wanted to check in on him. We then proceeded to talk about his dreams and goals, insecurities and work. I shared my goals (my first Disney world trip) and we got on the same page and connected emotionally and spiritually.

Such an important but almost scary question to ask is…. How do you think our marriage is going? This question can be anxiety provoking for anyone, even more so for those who view their marriage as having problems and wait longer and longer to address them. I wanted to make sure our life, our marriage is what he thought it would be and wanted. It’s so important to check in with our spouse every now and then.

So many times we can get caught up in life and just keep doing work. I hope you can take some time this week and ask your spouse how they think your marriage is going and their hopes and dreams for the rest of the year, next year, next five years. Take a picnic, a walk, have a nice glass of wine on your porch. Any alone time you can spare will be worth it.

NONJUDGMENTAL COMPASSION

I finally finished reading the book Christian Meditation by James Finley. As I was finishing it up two words stuck out to me nonjudgmental compassion. In the book he is referring to how critical we can be in mediation in relation to how distracted we can become; our racing minds, unsettled body movements, and not obtaining any spiritual consolations.  Contemplating this concept encouraged me to think beyond the discussed distractions, instead, focusing on how it relates to me in other contexts. In my profession I am trained to provide unconditional positive regard to my clients, in that no matter what they say or do I will remain accepting and nonjudgmental. This can allow a certain sense of freedom for the client to be able to address deep hurts and wounds. However, the second the client leaves I have to stop myself from being overly judgmental and critical of myself. Thoughts start to race in my head… did I show that I was tired, did I ask the right questions, is this even helpful, am I even good at this… How is it that I can actively convey nonjudgmental compassion to my client’s but not to me? How many of us strive to convey nonjudgmental compassion to our children, parents, spouses, co-workers but the second it involves ourselves we are our worst critics, it’s like we feel we are not even worth nonjudgmental compassion or any compassion at all. But we are!!!

First let’s define compassion, James Finley a fellow therapist describes it as the “love that recognizes and goes forth to identify with the preciousness of all that is lost and broken within ourselves and others.” When we have nonjudgmental compassion we are able to look at our weakness, faults, failings, and brokenness and not further criticize those parts, but lovingly approach them, accepting them in the moment. When I am feeling inadequate at my job I need to lovingly accept where I am at, still learning, still gaining experience and then let it go; surrender it to God. How many of us, especially when it comes to health and fitness goals, let our feelings of impatience and frustration with ourselves overcome us. There are feelings of frustration which are entirely understandable, especially when habits persist in spite of our best efforts to overcome them. As we continue to work towards our goals a subtle violence against ourselves starts that is fueled by our impatience for every extra calorie and every workout missed, which in turn makes us want to give up all together. How many of us have forgone dreams and goals because of our impatience with our own brokenness. If this is familiar it’s time to start being compassionate towards yourself.

The one person who practices perfect nonjudgmental compassion constantly is our loving Heavenly Father. He’s not just this way only some of the time, but He is ALWAYS seeing us and speaking to us in this way.  In order to start being “nonjudgmental compassionate” towards ourselves, we need to reflect on how perfect in every moment our Father is seeing us with loving nonjudgmental compassion. If you need examples, go to scripture, read the passage about the Prodigal Son or when Jesus dines with sinners, there are numerous instances of Jesus showing “nonjudgmental compassion”. Reflect on those instances, talk with your loving, compassionate nonjudgmental Father about them as well as how they speak to your heart; share your hurts and brokenness with Him. Let him teach you how to be compassionate towards yourself. Write what you hear down and revisit it when you start becoming impatient and critical.