At the Root of it All

I was talking to a friend who was excited that it was warm outside and I went outside and it was not warm....in fact, it was 36 degrees.  (At 32 you can see your breath.)  That is not warm to me.  But then again, if you compare 36 degrees to the 17 and below that we had for two or three weeks in the heart of winter, it is warm...really warm.

It is all perception.  If you base your perception on the benchmark of 0 degrees being cold and anything above, say 30 being warm...then today is warm.

Most of what we believe is based upon perception, which may or not be factual or true.  Take for instance these turnips.  I have been getting fresh veggies along with our meat and dairy from our local farm and I never know what they will give me.  These are Hakurei turnips.

I have never seen turnips this small.  My previous perception of turnips was a root veggie that you need to slow cook because it is dense.  I've added them to soups and stews and slow-roasted them before and I really enjoy their taste.  But these Hakurei are not at all like their bigger, denser cousins.

My son and I were fascinated by this new veggie and read up on it.  These little guys are harvested in cold weather when they are young.  They are almost like a radish without the hot bite...maybe more like an apple because they have a gentle sweetness to them.  My son really liked them and we sat eating them raw.  They have a great crunch to them.

If you want to keep that crunch then think water chestnuts, and add them to the last part of the stir fry process or in a saute.  They will meld into any flavor and make a great addition to most meals.

They are sown in late Fall until early spring.  They need cooler temps to germinate so I guess it was good that it really wasn't that warm here or I might have missed out on this amazing veggie.

I can't wait to see what new food they send to me next!  I should have taken a picture of the bounty of food we got.  Along with the Hakurei turnips, there were green beans, Roma tomatoes, a garlic bulb, broccoli, butter lettuce, carrots, red potatoes and red pepper.  All these fresh vegetables are forcing us to make even more healthy choices.  Last night we had the most wonderful salad, everything was just bursting with flavor!

Tonight I am making potato soup to have with my salad.  I love potato soup.  I used to put butter and cream in it but now I can't so I am using a bit of olive oil and coconut milk to give it that creamy taste that I love.  The biggest thing that I put in my soup is love...really.

• I peel and dice the garlic or if there is the time I will roast it and add it in.  Today I will just cook it a bit in the oil to get out the yummyness before I add the broth.

• Then in goes the broth.  I'm using chicken so that it doesn't overpower the gentle flavor of the potatoes but you can always use veggie broth to keep it vegan or even beef broth if you want a deeper flavor.

• I peel and wash the potatoes and cut them up a bit so they cook faster in the broth

• I gather herbs - but they are still a bit lethargic right now so dried will have to do:  depending on my mood I use different ones, today I'm using rosemary and thyme for that comforting woodland feeling I get from them.

• Add any broth you need to cover the potatoes so they cook evenly and you just leave them alone for a while - about a 1/2 hour.  I still check them after 15 minutes just to make sure there is still enough broth.

• When the cooking is done I mash the potatoes in the broth and at this point, the broth turns into a thick puree.  I add in the coconut milk until it is a creamy blend and check the seasonings like salt and pepper and voila - cream of potato soup

Now in our family, we usually would then proceed to add in cheese, bacon and/or green onions to make loaded baked potato soup.  I don't have any green onions today and I can't have the cheese (I will add the cheese and bacon for hubby) but a little sprinkle of bacon really adds a little flavor and a bit of texture IMHO.  If you want to keep it vegan then some fried onions would add a bit of crunch and a lot of flavor.  Really, you can top it however your heart desires, this soup is a very giving at its base because it starts with love.

**********

On the knitting front, I finished more squares and put some of them together.  What a burst of color! These little squares are adding the dash of hues that I need to tide me over until spring really makes it appearance here.  I need to make a bunch more but I am truly enjoying how individual each one really is.

I've played around with using crochet or an I cord to edge them with and I think I will go with an I cord because it is lovely and you can use the Kitchener Stitch to attach the ends seamlessly together. I will show that to you later in the process.

Happy crafting!
Ruinwen
:)

Ostra

please ignore the trash can and our fresh food delivery cooler

I've been working all weekend on coming up with a new class for the LYS and it has been a slow mental grind of numbers and stitches.  Not all patterns come in a flash of inspiration as evidenced by this previous post.

I wanted to make something with flowers to evoke spring...but I'm not sure that spring is quite ready to make an emergence here.  Sure we've had some beautiful warm days but this morning it was back in the 30s and there was frost on my windshield.  Brrr.  Was that snow today?

My LYS wanted something challenging but not too challenging...something with new elements but not too difficult...and something that can be taught in two hours.  There were many, many flowers before I came up with this one.

what a great way to use up leftover sock yarn

I had hoped to have a finished project by the weekend, and now I am just happy to have a flower to show you.

I've never tried something like this before.  You see it was Pi day and I was thinking about how that translates to knitting when you are doing something in pieces and I started doodling with charts and decreases and the like and I came up with a huge mess that curled into itself.  My second flower had a huge...errr...protuberance on the front that made it impossible for it to lie flat.  And this is the 3rd incarnation of my original idea.

I was thinking that it would be nice to be able to use up leftover sock yarn when making this pattern. But you could also pick out colors and stagger the flowers in a pleasing way as well.

What pattern you say?  That remains to be seen I suppose.  I have an idea but I need to knit a scad of these little darlings and I'm feeling a little under the weather so...I'm just going to do the best I can.

I've been so good about being focused and working on the secret project, but coming up with a new class sort of put all that on hold.  I think that is what always happens.  I almost finish something and then I get a deadline and just never get back to working on the first project.

I am determined not to do that this time.  That is why I put all these projects into my little app.  My app remembers that I did not finish the secret project and keeps moving it to the next day for me.

I'm trying to tackle my goals the same way that I managed to get rid of my debt:

There are three categories that I assign to everything:  have to, small and long-term

There are the things that you just have to do that must be done first.  These could be things you want to do or have to do but they take first priority.

Then there might be things that seem really small and so you keep putting them off.  These are the things that you should do next.  The reason is that finishing something, even a small something is an accomplishment.  It gives you space.  In Feng Shui one learns that there must be space around things for the energy to flow.  It is the same with your projects...or anything for that matter.  If you finish something then you can breathe a little easier.  The Fly Lady (an organizational guru that helps you get a handle on everything in your life one day at a time) says to start with your sink...and all else will follow.

In between your have to dos and your smalls you might get another have to do...and that shouldn't put you off because life is about ups and downs and doing things and having to do things and if all those things are more or less balancing out then...then sprinkle in a little love, fun and family and that my friends, is living.

After you've got rid of those smalls it is time to take stock of what long-term goals you have going on as well.  Revisit these projects and see which ones can be broken down into smaller goals and treat that section as a small goal working in have tos when they pop up.

When you finish that smaller goal of a larger goal then take on the next piece of your larger goal and work on it...soon your larger goal will be completed and you can move onto the next one.

It is kinda like making a salad.  When you make a salad you don't take on the salad as a whole you break it down into manageable parts.  For example:

• Clean and wash lettuce and spinach and cut or tear into manageable pieces, put in a bowl
• Clean and wash pepper and dice, put in the bowl
• Clean and wash garlic, mince and stick in oil to meld while I make a salad
• Clean and wash tomatoes and cut up, put in the bowl
• Clean and wash carrots and pare, put in the bowl
• Cut up broccoli florets, and pare stems, put in the bowl
• Mix in some seasoned salt, Craisons, and bacon bits
• Mix in the oil and then the vinegar

...and voila...I have a salad.  This is the salad I ate last night with some roast beef.

When we make a salad we know that there will be lots of ingredients and steps and that is okay because that is how you make a salad.  If we take that same mindset towards say a sweater then we accept that making a sweater has a bunch of steps as well.  This breaking down of a bigger task can really be applied to anything and makes any large task very manageable.

What does it mean for me?  Right now I am in my have to stage on this new project, but as soon as it is done I will get back to the "secret project" and then I am getting back to finishing up a whole bunch of smalls.  I have patterns that just need a tweak here or there, projects that just need the ends put in, adding a blog roll to my blog and charts that need to be imported.  In a few hours, I could really accomplish a lot...and then I need to start chipping away at the next long-term goal and break it down into small goals.

On the whole, even though there is a lot on my list of projects in their various stages, it feels good to know that I've had all these ideas.  When I have an idea I make a folder right away for it and then I add in any notes or swatches or whatever will help me down the road when I get back to it.  Then it goes into my idea drawer and when I finish something I grab one of my idea folders and start working on it.  Not everything works out and most things evolve into something else but that is okay. Life is ever-evolving and changing and our goals need to be fluid so they can change as we do.  

I wish you a very Blessed Ostra!  May the dreams that you plant today grow beautiful vibrant fruit.
Hugs,
Ruinwen
:)

I can't think of a title...so I'm going to make hummus...

I started off the week with a FO (finished object).  This is a shawl that has a lot of meaning to me. I made it for the first time for my Mom as a prayer shawl and I blogged about that here.  It was ruined here.  And I made a new one here.  I still have the brown one down in my knitting room.

I believe in prayer shawls.  I believe that when we craft, we not only put a bit of ourselves into everything but we can put our energy as well.  I made this for a woman who took time to talk to me about my Mom and Dad and her Mom and the things we have to face when we are letting them go. I cried and she cried and we both admitted one thing: in the end, it is all about love.

I know the last thing I said to both my parents was, "I love you."  I never leave a conversation with someone I care about without saying that.  If I am with them, I always give them a hug.  I hug everyone that I care about, I think it is important to leave someone with a little love and light.

A prayer shawl is like a hug that you wear.  When our knitting group makes blankets for the assisted living, the residents love that these blankets were made for them.  They use them all the time and talk about them.

Little things really can make a difference.  Kindness does matter.

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

I normally don't share things like this.  But this touched me deeply.  It is hard to watch without feeling some sort of overwhelming emotion.

My Mom had dementia her Mom had Alzheimer's.  My Mom was very confused on and off in the last few years of her life.  She would forget things like how to turn on a light or even her beloved TV. Thank the Goddess she always remembered us.  I send blessings of love and light to all those people who are faced with people they love forgetting who they are.  You are angels filled with love and compassion.

The experiment really opened up a window on the things that we cannot see.  My prayers go out to all the families struggling with this horrible disease.

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

I cast on something new this week, but it is a secret for now.  Unfortunately, that doesn't give me much to talk about on the knitting front.  lol

I sent Caitlin off for her photoshoot and I'm so excited to see the pics!

Oh, and this:

I am going to be making some things to sell and see how it goes.  You'll be seeing FO's in the weeks to come after I finish the secret thing.  That is Knitpicks Brava Bulky yarn and it is really soft and has bright and pretty colors.

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

On a totally different note...I've been looking for hummus without lemon for a while now and I couldn't find any so I made my own.

I have a recipe that I've tweaked over the years with little adds to make it yummy for me so it may be way too strong for you if you don't like garlic.  This hummus is perfect to help ward off anything if you have been around too many sick people or vampires for that matter.  lol

Ingredients
15 oz chick peas/garbanzo beans
1/4 cup tahini

(tahini can cause a reaction if you have a peanut allergy; so please omit it if you are allergic)

2 tbs of olive oil
a head of garlic cloves with the skins removed (use less if you don't like a lot of garlic)
1/2 cup roasted red pepper (roasting really brings out the flavor)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder

(you can make a delightful little chili powder with the heat and chilies you like by taking dried chilies and heating them to get the moisture out, and then pulverizing them when they are crisp - but don't do what I did and lean over to take in how good the cooking chilies smelled and basically pepper-sprayed myself in the face.  I was totally blind trying to find milk.  I ran outside screaming for help and then couldn't find the door again...so be careful with the chili powder concocting...it can be really dangerous.)

...but I digress...

Emeril says to take the garlic and the salt and combine them to cure the garlic a bit; so I put those in first and blend them into a bit of a paste before I add in the roasted red pepper.  This way the garlic permeates into every bit of the hummus.

Then, I add in the cumin and chili powder and blend that into my paste.  Next add the tahini, pulse for a bit and then add the garbanzo beans / chick peas and slowly drizzle in the oil as you pulse.  When the whole thing is blended you can let it sit over-night to deepen the flavors or just enjoy it on anything right now.  I like to eat it on yellow or orange pepper sticks or high grain crackers. Sometimes I will put it on my salad as a dressing.

If it is too thick you can add a little water a tsp at a time - more oil just makes it more oily IMHO

Yum!  Can you smell the garlicky goodness?  Hummus is super good for you, especially with the red peppers and garlic!

And hummus is not just healthy snack food.  You can:

• take veggie curls and stuff them with hummus
• use it as a spread on sandwiches or wraps
• coat meat in it before putting it on the grill; it will come out moist and tender
• make a cold pasta salad with it as the dressing
• make a warm pasta salad with it as the sauce
• use it as a dressing on a salad

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

Happy crafting,
Hugs!
Ruinwen
:)

NOTE:  The prayer shawl is made in Dark Horse, Fantasy Multi #FA-36.  I love this yarn for softness and it really shows the stitches nicely.

Also, we've been updating the side bar.  Wow!  Things were really out of date over there.  We still have a blog feed app to add...we are looking at different ones right now.  Hope you like the changes. Hugs!

Caitlin

Irony is when you get up at the crack of dawn as a family and go outside with shovels and pix axes and other implements of destruction and chip away at the ice so that the kids will be safe walking on the sidewalk, only to find out when you get back inside that they closed the schools.

We have had some harsh weather this winter and I've really felt bad for my work dog's walker.  It takes a lot to walk dogs in snow and chip away at frozen water dishes.  Her heart is as big as they come so I wanted to do something to make it a little easier for her.

This is Caitlin, the versatile little cowl that you can pull up to cover your nose or act as a hood.  It will keep your neck warm on those blustery days and it is vibrant with color reminding us that spring will come...eventually.

I made it with 480 yards of  Frolicking Feet Transitions in the Summertime colorway.  This yarn is so yummy!  I have loved watching the colors change.  The blues are so vivid they help me to remember what a sky looks like when it is not grey and dripping with ice.

I also have some Coastal Crusin'.  I'm planning to make a second cowl out of it because I will probably end up giving one to my friend.

This cowl is user-friendly.  It has a simple repeat of four rows of gentle ribbing with a CF4 cable dancing in between the columns of color.

Look for the pattern on Ravelry in a few weeks.  I have my fingers crossed for a professional shoot. How cool is that?

So, I have to tell you about something that I just have fallen in love with 24me.  This is a little app that all of a sudden has just changed my life in so many ways.  First of all, it is hard to define what it is...is it a calendar?  yes ...is it a reminder?   yes...can it store lots of notes in one place and allow me to sort them into categories that are easy to find later? yes...can I ask it to remind me to call someone to schedule something?  Yes...yes...and yes...and so much more.

It all started with my post its.  I had tons of them all over with notes about different things that I needed to remember but I kept losing the notes.  I put all of them into 24me and now they are sorted and I was able to add reminders and other things to them as well.  That was awesome!  I feel like I just completed a Herculean task organizing all those notes!

I set up a grocery reminder that I can add items to. When I run out of something it goes on the list for later.  I set up appointments with a call reminder set up the day before to make sure everything is on schedule.  I feel giddy... it's like having my own little personal assistant.

I was talking about helping my focus a few posts ago and this little app does that!  It moves any task I don't complete to the next day and it doesn't get lost in an abyss somewhere.  I'm only using a fraction of what it does do...but this is enough to really help me schedule my life a little better.

I feel great: a post, a project and a new pattern all in one!  Yay for focus!  Hugs everyone and stay safe and warm.

Happy crafting,
Ruinwen
:)

I am not affiliated with 24me or Frolicking Feet I just adore both of them.  :)

Orange You Glad?

So funny story...I've always thought my color was red.  I'm talking about my karmic color; the one that guides my entire being...but I took my day of birth and added it up and it came out to be orange.

Over the years I have been buying a lot of orange yarn.  The first sweater I ever made was orange.  I never really thought about how I've been drawn to color-ways that have orange in them more and more.  I've never really embraced the whole orange vibe but here is an excerpt from a page on my color and most of it really seems to fit.  This list has the good and the bad traits of an orange personality.  

• You are warm, optimistic, extroverted and often flamboyant.  You are friendly, good-natured and a generally agreeable person.
• You are assertive and determined rather than aggressive - you are more light-hearted and less intense than those who love red.
• You thrive on human social contact and social gatherings, bringing all types together.

• You enjoy partying and socializing and planning all types of social events - orange people are the life of the party, the uninhibited performer! You are often the loud talker in a group.
• While you are charming and sociable you do tend to be a show-off.
• You get great satisfaction from helping others and they find you inspiring with your vitality and positive energy.
• You are tolerant and accepting of others just the way they are.
• You are a people person, motivated by what others may or may not think and always trying to keep up with the Jones'. You need people around you - being alone for too long makes you depressed and you then allow negativity to engulf you.
• You live your life based on your 'gut reactions'.
• You are a free spirit 
• You enjoy being physically active, particularly in the outdoors, whether it's simply going for a walk, or competing in high-level sporting competitions.
• You are full of life, always on the go, determined and competitive, always looking for new challenges - and this can lead to restlessness and impatience with others who do not have this need.

• You may be lousy at housekeeping as it is not that important to you - you love having fun too much and don't like the mundane - a little dust on the mantelpiece is not that important to you. However, you love to cook.
• You move on easily from life's setbacks.
• Patience is not one of your virtues and you can be quite forceful and domineering over others when under stress.
• You can be indecisive, inconsistent and unpredictable.
• When feeling fearful, orange lovers feel it in their abdomen, as though it is tied in knots.

The most significant thing about orange people is they are happiest when they can be helpful to others.  They need careers that allow them to uplift and provide some sort of support to people in need.  

When I can help others is when I feel most alive.  Creating patterns that make knitting easier or empower someone to try something new is how I embrace my soul's purpose through my career.

This Ostra I am asking the God and Goddess to help me focus on where I need to be going with my career.  I've been slowly going forward and working towards my designing goals. I've continued to teach and now I have a years worth of classes that I've created to learn various techniques.  I've been slowly getting patterns up to Ravelry and working on editing the ones I have to the new format.  I've been working on new designs, trying new things, working with new fibers and creating patterns that people have requested.

I keep feeling mired by the fact that I feel stuck but in fact I am not.  I have been moving forward; true it has been slowly but there is still forward motion.  I think that I am always too hard on myself and my focus is lousy.  I am always being drawn to the next shiny thing before I finish the thing I started.  It is so hard for me to finish things no matter how I try.

That is why I am asking for focus this year.  

The squirrels taught me to stow things away to work on during the long winter months and I have patterns that are 1/2 done or knitting that just needs a tweek here and there.  I have things to do...I have all these ideas that I keep writing down...I just need a starting place.

For now, I am going to reconnect to my blog and springboard my ideas here so I can revisit them later.   Baby steps...

Happy crafting,

Ruinwen

:) 

Building...

The beginning of our spawn village

So after visiting with family and festivities, we played Minecraft.  This world will have a spawn town of sorts and we have all been taking some time to make it more realistic with municipal areas.  Yesterday I built the tree park.  I am actually quite proud of it.  The interlocking motif has a fountain in the center and trees of every kind surrounding it.  There are flowers and it is very lovely IMHO.  

The big thing was I had to flatten and then re-terrace a hill, a large and boring job to some.  But I really like the mindless chopping and clearing and then re-terracing.   

Here is a closer-to-the-ground shot of the tree park.  It is really lovely at night with all the glowstone. 

Here is my sister's teleport hub.  It is amazing!  I love the roof and the stones she used.  It is so bright and lovely at night too with all that glowstone.

As I mentioned, we have been taking our time.  My hubby has built roads and bridges so each place is accessible.  This oak house is my house.  I had always wanted to build a house with different hight roofs and it really intimated me.   But I really like the way my house came out.  I have a little cottage garden around the sides and my sister built me a fishing pier like hers.  Her house is behind mine and it is adorable...of course.  :)

I have no witty things to say today.  This has been a lovely holiday where we have just relaxed and had fun.  I hope that you have done the same.

Bright Blessings to you and yours in this season of light,

Ruinwen

:)

Good Night

 

So I'm going to share something that is kinda personal to me. For years I've had trouble sleeping in the same room as my husband because he snores. We have tried everything. Earplugs made my inner ear troubles echo like a train was running through my head and they made me a bit woozy. We got two white noise machines that allowed me to stay in there half of the night but as soon as he got bad it would break through the white noise. He has tried supplements and herbs; medicines and everything under the sun. I have tried everything from herbal remedies to a shot of sherry (this was very infrequent as I don't drink more than a glass of wine now and then these days).

In short, I love being with my husband and look forward to that special feeling I get as he holds me at night. It frustrated me to have to move in the middle of the night and my sleep suffered greatly. But we kept trying to find some magic combination of something that would allow us to make it through the night together.

Over the last few months, I have been working with Sleepio, an app that helps you understand your sleep and find ways to improve it. There was a whole section on outside noises, including snoring, and how they affect your sleep. Sleepio explained how over years and years by trying to avoid the snoring, I've created a reaction to the snoring and that was part of the problem.

My sleep coach taught me a piece of the puzzle that I hadn't even understood; I was projecting this inability to sleep. Since I knew the minute I heard the snoring I would have to move I was all set up to do so. Over the years I had put out clothes and water and stuff to bring over to the other room. I always make my bed up that night so it would be ready for me with the covers pulled back. I was creating a habit of moving every night and reinforcing it by my actions.

So slowly over the course of a month, I stopped doing all those things to prepare for my moving. I created a stronger "want" to stay under the warm covers with my loving husband then to move into the cold air and to try and find all those things. I made the getting out of bed the frustrating part and one morning I found that I was still there and it was a wonderful feeling to be warm and snuggly with my husband.

That was step one because even though I had fought my way back to sleep through the snoring; I still felt wasted that morning...like I had fought a huge battle. I kept telling myself that I was making strides and I needed to keep up the work.

Step two was to choose not to be affected by his snoring. I started off the night as I did my nightly reiki saying a dialogue of me the next day happy and totally unaffected by any sounds in the night. I projected me already making it through the night until I was done with my reiki and then curled up with my husband and was shocked when I woke up in his arms the next morning. This time I was well-rested and I knew that his snoring hadn't woken me up.

Now some nights I would make it through and then others I would not. But this was better than never making it through. I continued to use the new tools that I had created to help me but something was still needing to be changed and that was me.

The sound of snoring would set off an emotional response in me. If I heard it out of context, it would still cause some serious anger, frustration and other negative emotions to arise...my sleep coach said these had to change if I was truly going to get a good night's sleep.

I needed to take my negative feelings about snoring out of the equation. Little by little I needed to make a new pavlovian response to the sound of snoring. So every time I heard snoring I began to relax.

I would tighten my muscles up in one area of my body and this would be my old feelings about snoring; angry, unchanging and negative and then I would release that area of my body and say relax as I did so and this would be my new feeling...relaxing, serenity and good deep sleep. I kept this up for another month. In the beginning, I would have to wake up enough to focus on the relaxing but now my body just sort of does it as I hear the snoring and the next thing I know I am waking up really rested. Now the snoring actually relaxes me as I no longer have a negative emotional tie to it and that is fantastic!

It wasn't easy to get here. It took months of working with my surroundings and the support of my loving family...but I did it! Last month I was actually able to make it through the entire night every night. When my hubby rolled over and I was still there he was so happy because that is what he has wanted all this time for us.

So I found you really can change things...you have to do it slowly and it takes time and everyone's situation is different. But if you can change just one thing at a time and let that change sink in then the next change is a little easier until the moment when you realize that you have done it. You have really changed your life.

In Minecraft survival, you start out with nothing. You have no food and no shelter. The monsters will eat you at night and life is really challenging when you are starting out. But as you gain tools and supplies, things change. Slowly you start to feel that you are going to be okay and you can tell you are getting stronger. The monsters aren't as dangerous and most times you can avoid them. You keep getting stronger and you grow crops and have collect animals. Now you don't have to worry about food so much. Each achievement makes you stronger and you grow as a character.

Gaming teaches me about life and life teaches me about gaming. In all these games you start with nothing and create a world where you get stronger and stronger and that totally works in real life too. The gaming is easier then the actual real world where you have to change up everything and really make an effort but the truth is that you can do anything if you really break it down and work on it and believe in yourself and the process.

Bright Blessings and a Happy Yule to those that celebrate,

Ruinwen

P.S. The above pic is two half-linen stitch infinity cowls. This one is my Holda pattern: I wanted to show how different yarns really change the effect of the cowl. I love the rainbow one it reminds me of an Egyptian neckpiece. And I still love the winter one with the grey on white. It is such a fun stitch!

Reflections

I took this photo from our room in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in DC.  My DH is having his annual company shindig and we are staying the lap of luxury.  We are having a blast and the food is wonderful; they have a gluten-free menu and I've really enjoyed trying some new things.

I usually find all these things that I want to change when coming to a wonderful hotel like this.  In truth, it was the Mandarin three years ago that helped us to solidify what kind of shower setup we wanted. Last year I fell in love with the bed we had because it was soft and I fell into it like a cloud, which in turn helped us to look outside of the box for a new bed.

But this year we have a new bathroom and I really appreciate the ADA height in our toilet...especially in the middle of the night.  Our bed is a thing of absolute relaxation built to our specific needs.  The thing is while this hotel is amazing and we have this beautiful suite and you could live in our bathroom...but I love my house more.  I appreciate the way we built it together and every time I look at our countertop I remember that my son picked it out.  I love the way my house feels like a home again and how very thankful and blessed I truly am.

Life is really what you decide it is.  Each day you make a choice of how you are going to see the moments that string together.

Tonight I will dress like a princess but in truth, I can feel like that in jeans and a warm sweater.  I feel special every day because of the people that I am blessed to have in my life, the talents I am blessed with and all the amazingness that life has to offer.

My son said to me the other day that he didn't know what to ask for when people asked him what he wanted for Yule because he is really blessed.  He has everything he wants.  He then gave me a big hug and talked about getting gifts for poor kids that don't have a way to afford gifts for the holidays.

There was a story they told in church about the pastor wanting the community to collect money for a needy family for the holidays.  This one family sat down and even though they lived paycheck to paycheck, they worked out how each of them could make a little money by doing chores for others. The family agreed that the father and mother could work a little overtime and the kids would help around the house.  I don't remember all the particulars but all the family even the little ones collected money by doing various things.  In their heart was the idea of helping someone else and how beautiful it would be for a family in need to be able to have a good holiday season this year.

The family was so proud that they were able to do this wonderful thing for another.  They all had to work a little harder than usual but they proudly offered the money to the pastor and he looked at them quizzically.  "We were collecting for you," he said softly, "We know that you wear the same outfit on Sunday and are just making ends meet."

The family was confused.  "Money is a necessary thing, yes," the father explained to the pastor, "But we have good jobs and our children go to school.  Right now they may not have a lot but we have each other and in that we are richer then most."

The pastor got tears in his eyes at the generous and beautiful heart of this family.  He saw that they were living the words of God in every moment of their lives.  What he had seen was lack had been through his understanding of the word; but in reality this family was blessed and prosperous beyond measure.

From our family to yours, may the blessings of the season bring you joy, prosperity, love and light,

Ruinwen
:)

Just Checking In

Santa was posing in ESO the other day so I had to get a pic.  My dark elf is pretty shy, so she is the one behind Santa with the red hair.  :)

This week I have nothing really to show you - although I did make a beautiful cowl for my Secret Snowflake and she seemed to really like it.

I've been working on me and how I see the world but that really isn't something that is easy to explain without believing in the Laws of Attraction and Equivalent Exchange.

I've been writing character sketches each day and it feels good to write again.  It is something I have always enjoyed.  So, I'm not sure how you write a character but mine talk to me and I write them the way they present themselves.  I've had these characters in my head for what seems like a lifetime now and I never knew that they had partial color blindness.  Maybe it isn't something they share a lot or maybe it is such a part of them that they forget that others are different.

I was trying to understand that part of them this week from a writing perspective.  I was trying to find a way to duplicate what they see so that I could understand them a little better.  Here is how my main character might see.  The first shot is without any filters.  The second shot is with a red-weak filter and the third is with a red-blind filter.

As you can see, how this character sees would change the world he lives in.  What challenges does he face on a daily basis that I take for granted and he had to learn to overcome?  How would he decorate his room?  Would it be garish to me because he used colors he could see...that were pleasing to him? How does it help or hinder his job?

It is all perspective.  Life is shaped by how you see it.  That view can be changed by others if you choose to believe their truths over your own; which then becomes your true life view.  Or you can take your truth and change it to whatever you want it to be.  Is that easy?  Not always...sometimes...no...yes.  

All I know is that is what I've been working on.  POV.  How I see the world...or should I say how I choose to see the world.  And in this season of the light being reborn in different ways all over the world; I choose to let in and embrace that warm and fuzzy glow of goodness and hope that is the calling card of this season and share it with as many people as I can.

Hugs!

Happy crafting,

Ruinwen

:)

A Perfect Day

"Everything in life can be nourishing. Everything can bless us, but we've got to be there for the blessing to occur. Being present with quality is a decision we are invited to make each day."

-- MacRina Wiederkehr

Thanksgiving was perfect.  It wasn't stressful like other years; there was a subtle shift that made it a moment to treasure instead of a hurried crazy mess of hungry people waiting for a turkey.  

It started with a snowstorm.  It actually was quite beautiful and the roads stayed mostly clean while the trees and grass were covered.  I was able to get my yummy smoked turkey with no trouble at all and my sister got here before I even got home from work on Wednesday.

After doing some chores, we began cooking.  It usually takes us about 2 hours to get the casseroles prepared for baking the next day.  This year we were able to do all of the flavors we consider traditional while staying gluten and dairy-free.  It was amazing to me how good everything was!

I should have taken a picture of all of it.  We had a yummy smoked turkey, sausage stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, spinach savoy, drunken sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin bread.  Everyone loved everything.  The flavors were like when Mom made them and everything stayed happy in my tummy.  

We chilled after doing the dishes and watched a movie.  Then there was more clean up and lots of Minecraft.  Sis and I built this little island for getting leather.  All the design is Sis.  Her architectural skills kicked in and she was having a ball just creating some beautiful coordinating pens, a house and an enchanting room.

Our island leather farm and enchanting house

We started this little endeavor because when we upgraded to 1.8 we lost all of our achievements. We both needed to get the enchanting achievements and last time we traded for the bookcases from the village for days before we got enough to build a really nice enchanting nook.

Ahh Serenity

My Sis had wanted to travel somewhere new, so after many days walking on water, I found the above scene.  I knew that I wanted to explore the caves in that mountain and look at all the coal...but what I love is the flowing waterfalls...so serene.  

Two scenes from the same window in my Mesa House

One of the big things in this game is every house I have has to have windows.  In most survival scenarios I have windows before I have a door.  :)  One of the things I love about Minecraft is the beauty of the world.  My family knows this...each of us have that thing that is important to us and we all try to honor each other's little nuances that make the game special.  Mine is windows.

Windows allow us to see the world; sometimes we see things from a different perspective that help us to appreciate them more.  Windows also open up and let the light in.  Both are ideal to appreciating the beauty that is around us.  

I think what made Thanksgiving different this year was that I opened myself up and let the light in.  I tried to look at everything from a different point of view and not judge what I saw with my perceptions or preconceived notions.  I really tried not to stress about how everything would come out and focused on enjoying the cooking and creating a beautiful tapestry of a meal, that as a whole became something even more beautiful.  Instead of focusing on what I couldn't eat anymore, I opened up a door of possibilities of things I could use to substitute with.  But most of all I had a little mantra that I said until I believed it, "I intend for Thanksgiving to be wonderful."  ...and it was.  :)

Blessings to you and yours, this day and every day,
Ruinwen 
 :)

Finding Balance

Here is another shot in my diamond world Shiny.  I couldn't decide on the title for this post: Fire and Ice or Temperance.  Having diamonds in abundance makes so many things easier like weapons or armor are no big deal.  I could build a house of the things and probably will at some point...just because I can.

But Lapis, for example, is so rare, I have only found 23 of them so far.  So if I want to enchant all that beautiful diamond stuff, then I need to find some more.  Redstone is really hard to find as well. I've traded my diamonds for everything else.

This was just an experiment to play with the sliders and stuff but in reality, I have offset the whole natural order of Minecraft.  Changing things up can be fun but there is always a price to the delicate balance that runs through the Universe.

I've been trying to change things up in my life as well.  My symbolic "diamonds" have taken over a bit and I'm trying once again to balance work, career, knitting, being a wife, being a good friend, housework, bills, being a good mother, taking care of myself and my gaming.

This cold snap has sapped my energy.  And when I say cold...I mean there was ice on the ground the other day.  Fall was here and then, it suddenly was not.  The shift was abrupt and none of us were ready for our Winter to begin...now.

Winter is the time when I take and clean out my stores and look within.  That is why there is this big holiday in the middle of it...so people remember to find the light in themselves and others.  For many, the loss of actual light causes depression and despondency.  I'm someone who gets up with the light so I really dislike getting up in the dark and going to work.  My body rebels instead of greeting the day...I just kind of stumble into it...and I just hate being cold.

So sometimes I find it really hard to greet the day with joy in my heart at this time of year.  But the Goddess is on top of things and for the twinge in my back, I now have heated seats.  For my morning blur, my DH makes me a hot breakfast with coffee to boot...I love that man more each day.
(insert heart here).  When I feel the darkness downers, my son is there to give me a hug and that my friends is the greatest blessing of all.  When you have a loving family and wonderful friends imagining joy is not a struggle at all.  I just think of my happy thought and soon I am soaring through my day.

So as the days get shorter and colder I am reminded that I indeed have a wonderful life and am so blessed.

This year we are attempting a full gluten-free, dairy-free and citrus free Thanksgiving.  The BBQ joint in town is smoking our turkey for us...my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  We are making all our traditional dishes with a twist and I'm even attempting pumpkin pie.  I'm hoping it all tastes close to what we remembered.

We made the gluten-free stuffing and gravy last year and you couldn't tell that it was GF.  Everything was really good and everyone liked it.  So I am hoping to add the other dishes back to our holiday that are harder without dairy to make.  I'll let you know how it works out.

But it's not the food that is the big thing...it is the family around the table.  And even though some are missing, and some are in heaven...they are all here and a part of our lives.  They are all special gifts that we are blessed to have in our lives.

So, from our family to yours...have a safe and beautiful Thanksgiving with those that are precious to you,

Hugs!
Ruinwen
:)

Holda and Uttu

So I was fooling around yesterday in creative and built a little house out of the different forms of Prismarine and Quartz.  Sis wants to build a little seaside villa type deal in our family world and I was playing around with the way that the blocks can go together.

Please forgive my field of lava and the pig spawners in the background.  Everyone was coming up to my door and I made the lava field to discourage any solicitors.  This is my working world where I can try out anything.

If you could see in the other direction you would see a roller coaster of sorts, a beacon, a zillion pigs from trying to figure out how to make a spawner, a working skeleton spawner, the start of a tree and tons of other things that I was trying out here before wasting blocks in survival.

This is one of the things I really love about Minecraft.  You can make a creative world and try out anything.  All the blocks are there for you to use and the monsters don't hurt you.  Of course, you can change over to a creative world at any time in your play but this is a flat world that was made just to create.

So here is my bedroom in my little house.  I really like it.  I had fun building my little seaside house that is surrounded by lava.

I know it is a bit hard to see, but here is my new avatar in Minecraft.  I spent a good 2 hours working on her.  

I made my first avatar at dinner with my son and I didn't really understand what I was doing.  This time I took my time and created something that had some meaning to me, and I'm pretty happy with her.

Shift to knitting...

On my day off I went through every pattern that I had started designing in one way or another and made a kind of triage plan for them.  The ones that already have been branded are first, then the ones that I made a pattern for, then the ones with pictures and finally the ones that might only be an idea jotted down somewhere.

I started off with Holda.  This is a half-linen stitch infinity scarf, with a bind off in pattern.  The winter tones fit in perfectly with the snow and ice storm we got this week.  

The goal of this lengthy project is to get my patterns from their various states of being to Ravelry.  

I have also decided to create a sister to Holda; it will be the same exact pattern except using linen stitch.

Holda

Uttu

The two stitches, while close in nature are both very distinctively different.  They both look woven but the half-linen stitch is more rustic while the pure linen stitch is smooth to the touch and more like a fabric.  Both stitches show off a variegated yarn and bring out its inner beauty and they both add texture to the fabric that is intriguing.  It is hard to not see how each stitch can bring something new and exciting to one's knitting; which is why I made two patterns, both named for Goddesses of weaving.

Back to Minecraft for a sec.  (yes, this is how I talk, it's the Aries in me, I can never focus on one thing)  :)

This week on my day off, I not only made a new avatar and created a triage sheet for my knitting, but I also created a diamond world.  I tweaked the settings to spawn diamonds like dirt on the levels where they could be found.  This was an experiment in playing with the settings; I had no idea what would really happen.

OMG DIAMONDS!!!!

I treated this world as any other survival world and I found myself in a biome I have never started in before; the savanna.  My savanna starting place was right next to a chasm which it took me all week to get into since I needed to build a house first and plant and harvest food and all that normal stuff.

But it is glorious.  I'm like a little kid when I find a hole in the earth.  Maybe it reminds me of me and Dad going to places where they were building to show me the beautiful stones that were hiding under the soil.  I remember him showing me quartz for the first time and how it sparkled in the sun.  I remember being obsessed with stones after that.  They don't even have to be gems or anything; anything can be beautiful.

Later when I took metaphysical classes I found out how important simple quartz can be to so many aspects of healing, cleansing, charging, protection...really you name it and it is the stone that will guide you through it.

I still love stones; my altar is proof of that.  I love the windows and rainbows that you can find in them.  I love the colors and shapes.  I love the way their energy feels as it mingles with mine.

So maybe I take a little of that into Minecraft with me.  And every time I find a vein of iron or spy some red stone it is like being that child again and seeing quartz for the first time with my Dad. Regardless of the reason, I really like caving in Minecraft and turning a sock heel...no story behind that one except I really like it and I have no focus today.

Happy crafting,

Ruinwen

:)

Building with Borders

As you can see I have settled into the first Captive Minecraft and established a homey base of operations.  The animals are downstairs since they trample everything and tend to kill themselves by suffocating in the border.

The problem with CM1 is that all the portals are wonky and you suffocate on entering them; so I did a bit in Creative but it was the only way to get the achievements...and this game is all about the achievements.

The Captive Minecraft games are also about working with a border.  You know in Vanilla Minecraft you can deplete a mine and then move on to the next one, but in this world, you only have so much that you can work with.  Coal becomes scarce and iron is almost non-existent.

The rail achievement is not possible in this game, but it provided a chicken a bit of fun.  :)

Since I am going to do every achievement, I find myself now mining every scrap of the world out for resources.  I even started mining around the bedrock in the Basement.  I'm not going to tell you where, but there are goodies in the Basement at the bedrock level and you will know that you found them because they are marked with Obsidian.

So even if your Nether portal suffocates you, there is hope because there is a blaze rod in one of those troves.  The game gives you a lot of these little helpful items, for instance, the one lone piece of sugarcane in the stone growing in a little bit of water can be a lifesaver.  Cane makes sugar; thus cake and cane make paper; thus books.  You can make a bookcase with books and an enchantment table.  That is three achievements that can be grown from one little piece of sugarcane that is nurtured and cared for and cultivated.

I've found some strange items in these special chests that are scattered all over the world.  I found some mycelium so I made a giant mushroom because I like them.  I found some horse armor that is so beautiful but I never been given a horse.

I have four achievements left and the fifth cannot be done: so say the creators.  So I'm off to find some skulls to make a Wither because that is what is next on my to-do list.  I was thinking of letting him loose in The End so if I can't kill him then he can terrorize the Endermen, but I'm not sure yet. I've only ever made a Wither in Creative and he is still running around there I believe.  Scary things Withers.  But killing him will give me 2 more achievements and then I will have two to go: make a beacon and kill a skeleton from 50 blocks away...that one is hard.  You have to set it up just right.  50 blocks is like a Robin Hood shot...I will need a super bow...good thing my enchanting room is coming along nicely.

A Wither Skeleton with a pumpkin on his head celebrates All Hallows Eve.  :)

I wish you all a Happy New Year for those that celebrate and for everyone else I wish you unexpected blessings and beautiful moments of joy,
Happy crafting,
Ruinwen
:)