Fifty...

Tomorrow is a big day, and I have been thinking about it for some time. Tomorrow is Easter, and it is also April Fools' Day. I learned on the internet that this will happen again in 2029 and 2040, then not until 2108. The last time it happened was in 1956.

There is something else about tomorrow...it is my fiftieth birthday! I would not say that I am "excited" to be fifty, but I am glad to still be here, watching my grandchildren grow and celebrating life with people I love! I am even ok with having to share this day with Jesus...lol! His resurrection is certainly a much bigger deal than 50 candles on my cake, and I live in the celebration that He conquered death so that I might see my fiftieth birthday with more faith, hope, love and joy than a body has a right to! 

In the last half-century, I realize that I have learned a thing or two. I am so grateful that I can be taught! Sometimes I doubt myself, as even the simple lessons get past me, but eventually I have managed to catch a few truths about myself and this lifetime. On the eve of the conclusion of my first 5 decades, I would love to share some of them with you...maybe they are true for you as well:

50 Things I Have Learned in My First Half Century:

1. Jesus loves me
2. My mom loves  me
3. My dad loves me
4. My mom and dad are not perfect, but they have always done the best they could do
5. I am not perfect
6. I want to be perfect
7. I want to be enough
8. I am enough, even though I am flawed
9. I am loved more than I know
10. My husband loves me
11. My children love me
12. Even though I love them, I still fail them...more often than I would like
13. I am human and broken, but I can still be kind
14. I am smart
15. I am funny
16. I like people, most of the time
17. People are people, wherever you go
18. People, even Christian people, will let me down
19. I will let others down
20. God will never let me (or anyone else) down
21. God is good, all the time
22. Just because it sounds cliché doesn't mean it isn't true
23. Everyone leaves
24. Everyone loses hope
25. Everyone doubts something
26. Everyone struggles with issues of faith
27. I am not alone
28. My dog loves me unconditionally
29. My cats have conditions
30. I should love like my dog
31. I love my husband more than I thought was humanly  possible before I married him
32. I struggle with that love when times are hard, but I still love him
33. I love my children more than I thought was humanly possible before they were born
34. No matter what they do or have done, I love them beyond measure
35. I love my grandchildren way more than I thought was humanly possible
36. There is nothing they could do that would separate them from my love
37. God loves them (and me) more than any human could ever love
38. God loves me (and you) so much that he gave his one and only Son away to death, so that whoever believes in Him will never die but have eternal life
39. Eternity is a very long time
40. Fifty years is not very long at all
41. Fifty years is a lifetime
42. Death is certain for everyone
43. What happens next is up to me (and you)
44. We have options because Jesus conquered death
45. Losing someone you love is hard
46. Grief is part of life in a fallen world
47. Friendship and love soften grief in this lifetime
48. There is a place where there are no tears, no pain and no sorrow
49. Worship restores my soul
50. When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!

Ok, it is not an exhaustive list. I could probably find another 50 things if I wanted to, and it would likely not take me half a century! But I think this is a good start for Easter weekend 2018, and the fiftieth anniversary of my birth.

Whatever your age and wherever you are, I hope you find some truth for yourself in my humble list. I also hope that you find love, joy, hope and faith in Jesus this Easter!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

PS - Yeah, there was no knitting (again) in this post. Rest assured, my needles are still clicking! Barbie is getting new clothes, and my family has warm hats and mittens on this cold Easter weekend in Ohio! Happy Easter friends!

Dancing Enough?

Dancing. What do you think of? Do you think of going out to "the Club," or are you more of a dancing in the kitchen gal or guy? What are you wearing? If you are Pretty, you are most certainly wearing hand-knit socks, which means that Pretty confesses here and now to being more of a dancing in the kitchen gal...in a new pair of socks...completed just last month!

Bonus! The yarn is one of my all-time faves (sadly, now discontinued), Dancing by Knit Picks. The last time this yarn was offered for sale was somewhere in 2014 or 2015, but while I was tossing the stash earlier this year, I found two socks' worth in my sock yarn bin! I was probably saving it, knowing I can never get any more...but on a whim, I pulled it out and knit it up, and today I am wearing happy leggings and new Dancing socks! Quick! Somebody take me to the club! 

Hahaha! No. Nevermind. No clubbin' for this gal...

Barbie, on the other hand, loves to go out dancing! She also enjoys walks in the park, horseback riding, feeding the homeless and advancing in her very prestigious career! But, as my granddaughter reminded me last week, she is also always on the lookout for a new outfit! She enjoys new clothes so much, in fact, that she is happy to accompany me to knit night for the occasional fitting and photo shoot! (Even if this is what her ride looks like...)

Especially since most of her photos are posed in a bedroom, perched precariously on the edge of a folded TV tray, some in less than optimal lighting situations (girls, back me up here...lighting is so important)...

She is so glad to feel the sun on her face once in awhile!

Sometimes she prefers the shade, too...

But whatever the lighting situation, she always enjoys a new outfit. I mean, just look how happy she clearly is in every. single. photo! (Even in bad lighting!!!)

Barbie never has a bad day, hair or otherwise. She never has a "what did that smile look like?" moment after snapping a selphie. She is so very plastic. Her happiness is so very plastic. Her whole life is so very plastic.

I am glad that my life is not plastic. Sometimes I am not glad that my life is so messy... Sometimes I wish that every smile, every expression, every word or thought or deed was more photo-worthy... Then I remember that I am enough. Exactly what I am right now, messy or not, it is enough. I am enough because of my Savior. I am not perfect, and I never will be. But, because he died for me, I am always enough. 

I look forward to the day that God looks at me in person and sees Jesus. Not to rush things, I will wait for his timing, but it will be nice to be free of the mess of this world. A dear friend passed this week, and although I have not seen him or his wife often in the last few years. I know that he is glad to be free of the mess of this world, of this life, of his illness...and there is such a sense of relief for his family in that freedom. There is also grief and loss, to be sure, and that will remain throughout their days, but life looms large for them in the promise that they will be together again in eternity.

As the Easter season winds down this week, and Christians all over the world remember the sacrifice our King made, I hope that the world is watching. I pray that one lost soul will learn the truth that he or she is enough, no matter their mess, when they believe the claim that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and he is their Lord and Savior. If you do not believe this applies to you, I hope that you will reconsider someday. 

I want to dance in Heaven with you, praising our Savior all the day long!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit (and Dance) in Good Health!

Green Socks, Barbie Frocks...

Last week, while the cats were hacking into my blogger account, I was knitting green socks (which I finished in time for St. Patty's Day today! Yay!), and taking a lovely trip with Sweetie. 

We were on the way to Nashville, but we never made it...lol! Along the way, we found ourselves tempted by a cave in Kentucky, and bourbon. We saw the sights in Mammoth Cave, which is not a great place for cell-phone selphies, but we took them just the same. Fat Man's Misery, Tall Man's Agony, and 2 miles of limestone paths, narrated by Darren of National Park Rangers fame (lol!), was a pretty good time, even though there were a LOT of steps to climb at the end!

We also toured the Jim Beam distillery in Clermont, and there was a tasting. I generally am not a whisky drinker, but how do you turn down the chance to taste some pricey bourbon when it comes with the price of admission? As it turns out, I have expensive tastes...and if I were going to become a bourbon/whiskey drinker, I would need to start a savings plan! Still, it was a fun time, and I learned something new about something very old, which was super fun!

We also worshipped with a mega-church on Sunday, and Southeast Christian Church in Louisville is pretty amazing. Shout out to this church, with a mega auditorium, that still managed to make these two strangers feel at home. It was very cool, and I'd love to go back again someday, but 6 hours is a little too far to drive for weekly attendance...

Once we got back home, a day early, we decided to play the home version of The Tourist Game! We visited the Rock Hall downtown, and had a great time. I fan-girled all over the guitars, and some of the shows were spectacular. Again with the learning, I was all over it! As a bonus, the "muzak" there is the best I have ever heard in a museum setting, hands down...lol! Long Live Rock!

To top off a week that started strong with a little vacation time, my granddaughter texted me on her birthday, "Hi gramma can you please knit me more Barbie doll clothes love [Peanut]." This means that I now must stop blogging and get back to the Barbie skirts and t-shirts, in purple, pink, red and yellow, that she has requested. I love being a gramma and also a knitter! And I love those littles!!!

Today will be less about the green (although I am wearing green, right down to the socks I finished just yesterday) 

and more about the knitting! Perhaps Barbie would like something green, too? I dunno, it is not on the list, but we shall see what comes off the needles!

What are your plans for the day? Will you eat green eggs and ham? Will you enjoy a green beverage or set leprechaun traps? Whatever your plans are, thanks for stopping by for a moment to admire my green socks. Knit in Good Health!

Pet the cat!

Dear Blog Readers,

You know how sometimes she blogs, and sometimes we blog? Well, we have decided that we don't like it. If she wants a blog, then she should blog, instead of just knitting all the time. Or cleaning. Or working. Or whatever else she does.

Except feeding us. She should keep feeding us. It would be a tragedy if we could see the bottom of our bowl. Oh, and petting the cat takes precedence over everything, naturally!

The cleaning is the worst. Every week, she undoes all of our hard work! You know, like when we mark our territory with hairballs? She cleans those up! And, and, and, we do our best to make the couch as comfortable and fur-covered as possible, as it should be in any good home..and she brings out the noisy, suck machine, then fluffs the cushions! We protest!!!

Oh, and if she is going to continue to knit with both hands, refusing to pet us every minute of every day, then we will take these hostage until she repents and changes her ways!

Yeah. She better look out. And she should probably change her blogger password. It was super easy for us to decode! 

In closing, we'd like to thank all the cats for stopping by. And we would like to remind all the humans to put down the knitting and Pet the Cat in Good Health!

Sincerely (or not so sincerely, with cats you just can't tell),

The Cats

Babies, Bunnies and Buttons

I have tried to write this post three times, and deleted it twice. What this tells me is that I am not really ready to say what I want to say. Sometimes when that happens, it is better to just post some baby knitting, so here you go:

As some of my friends of child-bearing age are starting to wait until birth to learn the gender of their newest additions, this forces my knitting creativity. Here is an idea I've used before, but I do not believe I blogged it all the way through.

I know, I know. It is a baby hat. Not that impressive, but here is what makes this one special: See the bow? It is removable! It buttons on (or off, and the cute bunny stays), and I will package it with this poem:

I know there's a bow,
Even though you don't know
If Baby's a "he" or a "she."
You can keep the bow,
Or un-button it so
The hat can be both, you see!

Put together with a sweater and a pair of booties, in gender neutral colors, and voilà! Baby gift for boy or girl!

Bonus: if you add some cute little bunny buttons, gah! The cuuuute! The cute will do you in!

So, I suppose that is what I blog today. Babies and bunny buttons. After all, as I say from time to time, this IS a knitting blog!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!