Hand-made for the Holidays!

Here are a few quick pictures of some of the things I have been creating for Christmas gifts this month. (I can't show a lot of it, or it would give away too much to the gift recipients!!) The crochet is free form, rather than following a specific pattern...

No Spending On Black Friday

Just a quick post today, folks. I want to remind everyone that although today is "Black Friday", there are alternatives! The holidays are about giving and being thankful, not about getting into a fist fight or stampede, just to try to get the latest "thing" that will be forgotten the day after Christmas! Sales are nice, but must we turn into monsters just to get the deal? Today, step back from this ridiculous consumer culture, cherish who and what you already have, save some money and sanity, and if you must shop... shop the little guy, the local guy, the non-corporate Mom and Pop shops, where every dollar really DOES make a difference!

Turn Off Your TV!!!

About 3 years ago, my husband decided he wanted satellite television. We had been TV free for about a year, and I was doing just fine without it, but we DID hook it up, and started paying that ghastly monthly fee. Ever since that day, I have been trying to get him to turn it back off.

I don't like television! The last year especially, I have noticed my children begging for everything they see on every commercial. I have seen commercials play in the middle of children's programming that are COMPLETELY inappropriate for children to see. I have watched shows advertised for younger kids that send out completely inappropriate messages and values. I have flipped through hundreds of channels, over and over again, only to find that there is nothing to watch. The price has gone up, while the number of channels has gone down. In short, I am very unhappy with the service!

This weekend, however, something awesome happened... my husband agreed with me... and we turned off the TV! The satellite service is CANCELED!! He finally saw what I was seeing, and decided that for our family, the right decision was to get rid of it! We still have movies, and the internet is available if we want to stream a particular show, but the crappy reality shows and the over the top commercials are gone!

Have any of you decided to take back control of your home from the obnoxious advertisers and network executives? Do you miss your TV?

Getting over some frustration...

I've been silent for a little while now, and I want to talk about why. A week or two ago, a blogger, whom I considered a friend as well, crossed over the line with me. I was accused by this person of stealing a recipe and claiming it as my own. Mind you, it was a recipe I have been using and tweaking for MANY years, it was NOT the same as her recipe, and the blog post she made a few years ago with her recipe was NOT a post I had read before. This frustrated me incredibly. I was approached with anger and resentment for something I didn't even do, and in fact I had shared some of her ideas on my blog before, giving her full credit and providing a link to her blog each time.

I want to make it very clear to you all... when I share an idea or recipe that belongs to someone else, I will ALWAYS provide a link and credit to the originator. If I make a recipe out of a cookbook, I generally share the finished product along with a picture of the book I got it out of, and not the actual recipe, so that you can get the book if you want to make the same thing.

I also want to make it very clear that when I do share one of my own recipes, I WANT you to use it, tweak it to suit you, and share the results! I see this blog as an opportunity to share and learn with each other. Please share my content, and credit me if you feel it is warranted. We can't build this community if we are focused on attacking and accusing, and when those accusations prove false, it weakens a path that could benefit everyone.