Get Ready for Giving Tuesday - December 2nd

Are you ready to join the world in giving more this year? December 2nd is this year's Giving Tuesday, a global day of generosity and giving.

What I love about Giving Tuesday is it's not about any one organization, charity, or need, it's about supporting the causes you feel are most important, regardless of the cause. After several days of wanton shopping (ahem,) Giving Tuesday is my reminder to contribute in a way that resonates with our family.

There's something about being grateful for our plenty enough that we share it. A few years ago I discovered how the practice of gratitude can change the way I see the world. In short, what you put into the world is what comes back to you. If you help others, you will have help when you need it. It's not a tit-for-tat thing, it's a more abundant way of seeing how much you already have and sharing it--because so many of us have resources regardless of circumstance. Giving Tuesday is a day that you can join with me, and the entire world, to share your plenty with those who are in need.


I'll be back on Giving Tuesday with a few of my favorite organizations and I'd love to hear from you about causes that you love to support--it would be great to share them!

Help me get the word out about Giving Tuesday! Giving Tuesday is coordinated by the United Nations Foundation with a presence on every major platform. Follow Giving Tuesday or just post your own Giving Tuesday ideas.

Giving Tuesday on Instagram:
Post an #UNselfie
#GivingTuesday tag

Giving Tuesday on Twitter:
@GivingTues and the #GivingTuesday tag

Giving Tuesday on Facebook:
Post any update and tag #GivingTuesday
You could also upload an #UNselfie

Giving Tuesday on your blog:
Post a blog telling your network about Giving Tuesday, use the #GivingTuesday tag when you share your post.

Women and Education Conference at BYU

I'm thrilled to be speaking at the Women and Education Conference at BYU this Friday, March 8th along with some great friends: Courtney Kendrick, Amy Hackworth, and Sarah Z. Wiley. 

I have a lot of energy around making sure women pursue and accomplish their educational goals. I didn't title my session, but there's certainly plenty to share around what professional and personal dreams have to do with education. 

If you know a woman attending BYU, please let them know! If you're a woman considering how a degree could fit into her life plans and will be going to college soon, there will be a lot to learn as well. It's free and no registration is required.

If you're interested in balancing family, work, and church, you should come, too (chances are you already know about the rewards and challenges and you've heard it all before, so maybe just come and take a siesta? You've earned it.)

2013 Women and Education Conference

10am Keynote Address - Courtney Jane Kendrick 3222 WSC

11am: Megan Faulkner Brown 3222 WSC, Jennifer Brinkerhoff Platt 3224 WSC, Caitlin Connolly 3220 WSC

12pm: C. Jane Kendrick 3222 WSC, Amy Hackworth 3224 WSC , Carina H. Wytiaz 3220 WSC

1pm: Katie Liljenquist 3222 WSC, Grad Student Panel 3223 WSC, Sarah Wiley 3220 WSC

Clear the Air Challenge!

(Wow, this is turning into Stuff I Care About Week)

I love Utah. I love living in Utah. I have to sit on my hands so I don't punch people when they say mean things about Utah. But there is one thing, specifically, that always concerns me: the inversions and smog problems we sometimes struggle with during some seasons. The mountains are beautiful, but they can also as the sides of a bowl, put an air-pressure lid on top of those mountains: all the vehicle and building emissions, fires, and other junk just stays put in our valleys. We get notifications on the news that the air is harmful to children and those with respiratory issues. Oh, that's just great.

But you can do something about it. 50% of air pollution comes from our vehicles. If we can make some small changes, we could really reduce poor air quality, and make it safer for our kids to be healthy.

A few tips from Clear the Air:

• Consider replacing car trips less than two miles with family outings on foot or bicycle
• Set up a Walking School Bus (a group of kids who walk together to school with adult supervision.) 
• Approach other families about a neighborhood carpool with a schedule and ground rules
• Look into public transport options (I can't wait until we get more light rail!)
• Think about your errands before you get in the car and plan an efficient route

Cool Things that Could Happen

• Decreased traffic congestion
• Reduced energy consumption
• Saving money
• Improved health for our families
• Maybe even improve our health long term and prevent environmental damage

So, what can you do? You can take the Clear Air Challenge! Governor Herbert and Mayors Corroon and Becker, are challenging us to a month-long competition, August 1-31st 2012, to reduce our emissions and choosing alternatives to driving alone. Register here and set your goals. Sign up to focus your family's efforts to drive less. Put a plan into action. Log the trips you save using alternatives to driving alone. Use the TravelWise Tracker to see your impact in miles, gas, dollars, and saved energy. I signed up when we went to the Hogle Zoo a few days ago. It took me less than a minute and only 3 baby screams. 

I think the Clear the Air Challenge would be a great project for kids working towards a goal or merit badge. And if you're feeling this, join me on the TodaysMama Team when you sign up! We can all see how we're all doing and encourage each other. Rumor has it they also have prizes for keeping up on the challenge.


Kisses!


Air Kisses!

Clean Air Kisses!

Vaccines Shouldn't Be Special - Shot@Life

Last week when I was at EVO Conference, a woman named Devi took to the stage to talk about her work with the United Nations Foundation and the global effort to vaccinate children. The work they are doing is unreal, both in its scope and in its profound effect on the world. I started crying half way through her presentation and didn't stop entirely for probably two days. It's just so simple:

If we can vaccinate children they do not have to die.

You and I have the luxury of deciding whether or not to have our children vaccinated. We can sit in our air conditioned homes, with clothing both pleasing and covering, car keys in our wallets, drink clean water from the faucet, send our older children off to school, have dinner prepped in the fridge, and DECIDE on a vaccination on our next well-child visit. We might even get a little heated about vaccines, and whether we'll modify the recommended schedule, or not vaccinate at all. We throw around words like "eradicated" and "not seen in a generation."

How stupidly lucky we are.

What a luxurious choice.

Shot@Life's Mozambique Measles Campaign

All around the world 1.5 million children DIE because they were not vaccinated. They die of measles, pneumonia, diarrhea/rotovirus, and from a thousand other vicious bugs. As Devi said, she didn't cry until she found out that in some sub-Sarahan African cultures, women don't cry when their children die, because they expect their baby to die.

They expect their baby to die.

And I'm annoyed when I can't get the kids in the car on time for the 7 minute drive to my pediatrician, where my baby's vaccines are waiting for whenever we show up.

One mother in Mozambique walked 15 miles with her toddler on her back to get him vaccinated. Why? Because she didn't want to lost any more children to measles.

"Any more."

GAVI, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations, has committed 7.2 billion US dollars since 2000. 80% has been committed towards the purchase of vaccines. Because 1.7 million children dying every year from a vaccine-preventable disease is unacceptable. It costs $20 to vaccinate a child and more than $200 to hospitalize a sick one (if they can even get to a hospital.) Pneumonia, diarrhea, polio, and measles, for just $20.

You can learn more about how you can help vaccinate a baby by visiting Shot@Life. One of the easiest things you can do? Call your congressman, write them a letter (they take emails these days,) tell them that you think it's stupid that children die because they don't have vaccines--that you will not accept anything less than their full support.

In the meantime, go kiss your babies. Snuggle a nephew. Read to a niece. Take them to get their vaccinations. Or if you don't want to vaccinate your kid, take that money and buy a vaccination for a child in Mozambique. Whatever you do, know that you have a choice, you get to decide, you are the luckiest.

Update to the Great Recession

We are fine, everyone, we’re fine.

I feel like I need to update The Great Recession post to add a few details.

First, we are fine now, we aren’t in desperate need. Do not worry over us. The worst is behind us (I hope!)

I wanted to write about how the Great Recession had affected us because I think our children and grandchildren deserve to know about how hard times can be blessed times, how the struggles of everyday life can make us better people, even when the slog through tires you to your core. You should write about it, too.

On the face of it, there’s nothing special about our journey. There are a thousand of you who read that post and nodded along because it was the same story as yours, not in the details, but in the belt-tightening, white-knuckling of daily life during these times. We are far from the only ones, and we are far from the worst of it. We are ordinary. Some of you struggle as single parents; some of you lost houses, cars, or more tragically, loved ones; some of you had trials that were awful, scary, and unbelievably difficult. I learned that no one gets out of this life without experiencing terrible things, that we would do well to be kinder to everyone because someone else’s journey can make yours seem like a ride on a carousel.

The flip side are the grousers who complained about the bright spots, that I got to go to Hawaii on a “vacation.” The truth is that I choose to call it a vacation. I was working, I was in meetings, interviews, and working the whole time. I spent 30 minutes with my feet in the ocean. I spent most of my time in the hotel room with Lulu. And guess what? I still call it a vacation, because I was in freakin' Hawaii; it was in a hotel room in Hawaii. I am GRATEFUL for the chance to work, even if it has to be in Hawaii. Comparison is the thief of joy, y’all.

Get ready, here come the squishy parts...

I believe in the power of tithing. We made a commitment to give back 10% of what we earned in tithes. I know that because we made that commitment, we were continually blessed. When things would get down to the last $40, we’d take a deep breath, and not worry. Something would always come in. A client would pay their invoice. I would be approached for more work. Those ends would always meet, eventually.

And you know what? It was a blessing to learn that if you are open to what the Lord would have you do, if you will try your best, and work really hard, eventually, things have a way of working themselves out. You just have to give the Lord space to work his miracles in his time. Sometimes it isn’t immediate, the route may be circuitous, or come in a way that you expect, but it just works. All things will work together for your good, y'all.

Finally, I have two really great employers right now, one of whom is TodaysMama. I need to publicly thank Rachael for her unceasingly hard work, her brilliant mind, and for the chance to work for her. She makes dreams come true (HAWAII.) The rest of the team I work with are so high-trust and outstanding, it’s wonderful to share the load. There are great things on the horizon for TodaysMama, and I can’t wait to share them with you.

It's been quite the journey, and it's not over. Love you all to pieces!

I haven’t even told you the Parable of the iPod yet, kids, but trust me, it’s a good one. Stock up on tissues.

The Great Recession

Three-and-a-half years ago we were stable and steadily growing. Then the economy tanked, so did my work, and we've been living by the skin of our teeth pretty much ever since. I know that so many of you have been in the same boat: all of us, floating along, furiously bailing out the vessel to keep it from totally sinking--even bailing out when the water is up to our chins and all we're really doing is moving water from the lake on our right side to the lake on our left. Sue recently wrote about the bankruptcy and foreclosure she went through, when it seemed like there wasn't much to be happy about, and the swells threatened to overtake.

I've been there: staring at the rapidly dwindling food storage, making meals out of the freezer, thankful for the wheelbarrow of free produce a neighbor left on her driveway. Spending an unemployment check on bags of flour and rice, confident that I could make bread instead of buying, knowing that rice will stretch and that cheap dried beans are even tastier than canned. We were blessed because my frugal childhood taught me how to cook delicious meals from scratch. Putting the electricity bill on the credit card. Letting the tires on the car go bald. Going without a car for weeks when we couldn't afford to repair it. Negotiating with the hospital. Feeling terrible guilt for taking the money grandma would give to the boys for their birthdays and recklessly blowing it to buy them things like food...and shoes. Taking the scraps of leather that Susan gave me and patching the boys' pants. Patching those pants a lot. Living the old pioneer creed: Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. Our grandparents were shaped by the Great Depression. Our children will be shaped by the Great Recession.

We're the lucky ones. We'll never starve because we have family that can help, if it gets really bad. We have a church that can help us if we need it. We have health insurance. We are educated. I can always work retail. The baby was a good nurser and we didn't have to buy formula; she was healthy and didn't need the doctor. All the kids were mostly healthy and I could duck the well-child visits with their serious co-pays. I can mend, cook, and let things go. Every time we got down to our last dollar, our last line of credit, some work would come and we'd be OK for a little bit. Each mortgage payment made felt like a victory. We made it on a wing and a prayer and a shoestring and a hundred other cliches. I stopped worrying, because it felt like I would worry myself to death. I learned to take a deep breath and trust that good things would happen.
Joe and I would laugh, "We're broke," I'd say.
"Yeah, but we're broke in this house."
"We're broke with (sometimes) two cars."
"We're broke with kids and a good family."
"We're broke with the lights on."
"We're broke with Internet."
"We're broke with insurance."
"We're broke and you went to Hawaii."

And it's true: I went on a Hawaiian vacation paid for by Disney, and our family had $40 in the bank for the rest of the month. I brought my food to eat on the flight so I wouldn't have to spend money in the airport and make it $30. Hawaii is the kind of miracles that kept happening and left us not feeling bereft, but loved (thanks, Rachael.) Feeling taken care of, knowing that the worst had happened: we'd lost our security, our family members had ill health, but we still had so much.

"We're broke and we have enough."

If there's one thing I learned, more than anything else, is that if you are grateful for the little that you have, if you thank Providence, or the God of your heart, you will find the happiness in the small things. I am grateful the TV I bought in 1995 still works. I am grateful for strangers who drop new furniture by the door. I'm grateful for friends who would pick up my check if we were out, refusing to let me pay. I am grateful for the work and the companies that hired me; they were generous and I have learned so much. I am grateful for Zoloft, for a pregnancy without complications, an easy delivery, and for not being pregnant anymore. I am grateful for mild summers and winters, and for warm sweaters. I am grateful that sometimes we could share with others (I cried when a check came in before Christmas, allowing us to give our children a modest holiday and pay for a few bags of food for the food bank.) I am grateful for friends who make me laugh until it hurts, letting my burdens lie easily on their shoulders. I am grateful for neighbors who understand when we can't fix the mower. I am grateful for a thousand and one mercies I have experienced in these years.

Every night we'd say a prayer to give thanks for our bounty, because even in our lack, it was bountiful.




I have been thinking about the Great Recession recently, since it feels like we may have turned a corner (if the Eurozone doesn't plummet...and let's not go there.) Would you do your grandchildren a favor and write down what the past five years have been like for you and your family?


UPDATE here.

Neon Trees Show for Autism!

I heard you were hip (it's just a rumor.)


So hip that you're crazy for the Neon Trees, Provo's own rock band made good. So hip that on Sundays you spin The Lower Lights after you've Sabbath'd up the joint.


So hip that you think that kids with autism deserve the best start in life at a great preschool with early intervention. That's what I thought (you're so totally hip.)


This Saturday, April 7th, The Neon Trees and The Lower Lights are playing a benefit concert to raise funds for Giant Steps Autism Preschool. The tickets are cheap, only $20. The show is at Mountain View High School (I just went to a performance there and the venue would be awesome for a rock show.) 


What do you think? Will you be there? 

Tickets at www.24tix.com
Velour Live Music Gallery in Provo
and at all SLC Greywhale Locations


DO IT!

Single Parent Scholarships!

Get an education.

Yes, you, the girl who is coasting along in school. Go to college. It's important. You need something other than your high school degree. Why? Because you could be Megan, who became a single parent and needed to support herself and her child.




(I don't think you should just get an education JUST because you MIGHT become a single parent, I think you need to get one because you are an important person who deserves all the benefits of higher education. Full stop.)

A confluence of events lead Megan back to school so that she could support herself and her daughter. A scholarship opportunity changed her life and will make all the difference for her child. There are other single parents out there who struggle to provide for their children. LDSBC is gathering donations that go directly to scholarships for single parents, especially mothers, to help change the course of their lives. You can help. Click on the box below to help fund a scholarship. Make a difference.

On This Memorial Day...

Last night I watched 60 Minutes. It was an amazing episode. I highly recommend watching it for today, Memorial Day.

You'll meet Staff Sergeant Sal Giunta, who is the first living solider since Vietnam to win the Medal of Honor. You'll also spend time in the Korengal Valley, near the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the men fighting there. It's worth your time, and depending on their age, your children's time.

This is no video game.

For Japan

Get involved here.

This is Brody Young. I went to school with him. He's a really cool guy; quiet, and kind.

Brody is park ranger. During a vehicle stop on November 19th at the Poison Spider Mesa trailhead, he was shot in the arm, leg, and stomach. The shooter is still at large. Since then, Brody's been in and out of surgeries and remains in critical condition. He has three little ones under the age of six. If you have a couple extra dollars to throw in his hat, that would be really cool of you.

Read more information over at Ranger Brody.

Fortune Favors the Grateful

My Loves,

Did you know your prayers, candles, and Budda-bellies worked? Consider yourselves officially part of a miracle. Thank you.

In point of supernatural fact, this whole week has been full of small graces and kind wonders. Wednesday was full of bounty: from Izzes dropped by the manse, to people dropping everything to make a child's Christmas unforgettable. The devastation we see all around us, the mire of this world, is lightened by how we care for each other. You have cared for me.

And did I mention the Marvel of the Red Lentils? I made red lentil soup and the children had three helpings a piece? It was a phenomenon of the first order; I'm submitting to the Vatican.

(Smoked ham hocks simmered for an hour in water. Saute carrots, celery, onion, turmeric, pimenton [smoked paprika] in a little olive oil. Pour the ham broth in with the veggies, add two cups of red lentils. Take the meat off the hocks and add back into the soup. Season with salt and pepper. You could sub a holiday ham bone for the hocks.)

And now, to pass along the love, the Lower Lights Winner:

Single Pot Josh! You're the winner! Now all you need is hope against all reason that I'll go to the post office someday.

I hope your Thanksgiving was even more lucky than mine.

Justin Hackworth's Show Tonight (In Case You've Been Living Under a Rock)

Justin Hackworth's 30 Strangers in 30 Days (2010) opens tonight.

(Hey Spooner, love this picture of you.)

Hackworth took the portraits of mothers, sisters, and grandmothers whom he'd never met. In lieu of a sitting fee, each donated to the Women and Children in Crisis Center. Which is very cool. The shelter is in a secret location to protect the abused and neglected in our community who need a refuge. It's a charity that I've supported over the years and that is incredibly important to me.

During the show, you could have your picture taken by Justin and also make your donation to the shelter.

You know, for kids.

6:00pm
26 West Center Street
Provo

See you there? Yes?

The Casserole Changes Hands

Friday morning one of the neighborhood ladies arrived at my home to pick up the casserole I made for the homeless. She bustled up to the door, dressed to the nines by 10:30am, her immaculate 20 year-old Mercedes coupe idling in front of my house.

I handed her the big aluminum tray filled with some sort of nearly unidentifiable, possibly unholy mixture of egg noodles, ham, veggies, cheese, cream of chicken soup, milk, sour cream, seasoned salt, and topped with corn flakes (hand-crushed.)

"Oh!" she said, "It's homemade!"
"Uh," I answered, "Yes, it is. Is it not supposed to be homemade?"
"No, that's wonderful! And so kind! Normally people just buy a casserole from Costco. They will love it at the shelter!"

I...

I'm Pretty Much the Worst Mormon Ever

A few women in my neighborhood work with a homeless shelter in town. These women do great work, and I'm just lucky to live even near them. Every month they send around a sign up list to have a few of us make casseroles to be used to feed the homeless. That's our scene: I need to make a casserole for the homeless.

Let's make something clear: I am not a casserole snob. I just didn't grow up with them, my parents never cooked them. In fact, every year on my birthday my friend Jenny actually MAKES me a potato casserole called "funeral potatoes" which thrills me to no end (two months and counting.) Unfamiliar as I am with those peculiar American gastronomic beasts, casseroles are things of awe and confusion. I do not know how to make them. I can guess, I think, but really, they're stupefying in their complexity. How do you know what to put inside? What is the sauce? I'm at a loss. I'm the worst Mormon ever. What Mormon doesn't know how to make a casserole?

Which is how I ended up at the grocery store tonight aimlessly pushing a cart and having Petit Elefant, raised good 'n' right as a renown casserole expert, talk me through the experience.
"Are you at the grocery store?"
"Yes. I have to make a casserole for the homeless."
"Of course you do."
"Only, I don't know how."
"Seriously? You take a bunch of stuff, mix it all together, throw some cheese on top of it, bake it and done."
"Ooh! Cream of chicken soup, I use that don't I?"
"Yes, or mushroom."
"Oooh! I could mix cream of chicken and cream of celery together! Oooh! I could mix the chicken and the nacho cheese soup together!"
"It doesn't matter."
"I should get some frozen vegetables, right?"
"It doesn't matter. Sure."
"I feel like there should be sour cream. There's sour cream in casseroles, right? Should I get the full-fat or low-fat? Are the homeless concerned with calorie intake? Hey! I could make tuna casserole!"
"No."
"I like tuna! That sounds good."
"No, you can't make tuna casserole for the homeless, promise me you won't."
"What about Canadian bacon! Is that a thing? I could do Canadian bacon in a casserole! That could be yummy."
"It doesn't matter."
"What kind of pasta should I use? Egg noodles, rotini, radiatore..."
"*Snicker* What kind of pasta...EGG NOODLES."
"But what about a nice penne?"
"Listen to you. No. EGG NOODLES."
"I need a topping. All I have at home is Japanese Panko crumbs."
"Stop it."
"Should I buy corn flakes? That's a topping, right? You know, if it was me, I'd toss the flakes in a bit of butter to help with the browning and then sprinkle them evenly on top."
"*SNORT*"
"Do the homeless like season salt? I think I'll put some in, that could be good. I should buy cheddar cheese because I only have gouda right now."
"Do the homeless..I can't take this."

I piled all the ingredients into the store cart, paid, and made it home. I started opening cans and packages, stirring, trying to taste the beige glop as I went. I have to say, cold canned cream of chicken soup is not tasty, not even with season salt. No measuring, just stirring. Weird. I figured out that I would probably need to cook the pasta first (right?) I did make sure the noodles were drained a touch before al dente so they don't lose all integrity when baked. Wow. I'm hopeless. You casserole people are so mysterious.

Anyway, I hope the homeless like my casserole. Maybe next time I'll go bananas and put tater tots on top. That's a thing, right?




Read what happened the next day here.

Something Old, Something New

Old news comes from my Giveaway Giveaway. Random says that Clyde won!

Clyde said...
My daughter's classmate father passed away about a week before Thanksgiving... He was the only income in the house (three kids, the youngest is 2 1/2 years old) so it's a heartache to know that this Christmas will be a hard one - without a dad and some little new things to play with.

Thanks for this generous giveaway!... It will make a lot of a deal for whoever is the lucky winner.

Clyde, drop an email to jetset dot azucar at gmail dot com.


Something New!

Did you know I get phone calls from my friends asking me questions night and day? It's true: my friends treat me like I'm their Wikipedia on speed dial. Sometimes a girl gets tired answering calls all the time, even if the phone is ringing Jay-Z. That's why I started a new blog to feature things I like, things I don't like, and soup, which I could eat, or not eat. The blog is called Jet Set Galore. And while it will not tell you on which aisle you can find the balsamic vinegar at the Wal*Mart, and a recipe for balsamic dressing (Shannon,) today Jet Set Galore will tell you where to get the best facial in Salt Lake (of course, it's the only facial I've ever had in Salt Lake.)

I would be genuinely delighted if you'd pop on over and tell me what you like or don't like, or talk all about soup.

(I like olives.)

Giveaway Giveaway: Day Two: Boy Toys!

Not THOSE kind of boy toys.
This isn't a normal giveaway. No one is sponsoring this post.
(Well, my pocketbook is sponsoring this post, but I guess that's a something, not a someone.) Read on.

My friend Miggy had a great idea: why not do a holiday giveaway, but make it a Giveaway Giveaway instead?

I'm giving away a brand new wooden crane and a brand new wooden train set.

I'm crazy for little boys, and little boys need great building toys. If you know a family who has a little boy (or two) that are in need, please, nominate them. The wooden train set is probably my favorite gift of all time, my sons spend hours arranging and rearranging the tracks. The ideal age for these is about 3-5.


Giveaway Giveaway Guidelines:

-- In keeping with the spirit of Christmas this giveaway is meant to focus on others--therefore you are to enter only in behalf of someone else. We ask that this person be someone who is in particular need this holiday season. We appreciate your honesty in this.

-- Enter by leaving a brief and vague comment about the person you are entering for and why. Something along the lines of "I'm entering for my friend who has had a rough year." Please don't be too specific!

--1 entry per person.

-- Each giveaway will be open for 2 days. We will then draw a name randomly and announce the winner at the end of the 2 days.

--Once the winner has been announced they will need to send us an email with the name and address of the person they entered for. All packages will be mailed directly to the 'person in need' and all packages will be sent anonymously.

Want to giveaway more giveaways?
Go see Liz at Say YES! to Hoboken
A Good Grief
Melancholy Smile

Project Project

As you're reading this paragraph, this very one, I will be attempting to stuff a quilt into the small right-hand section of the sewing machine, pushing the batting and fabric more compactly to squeeze in the stitches--I may even break a sweat.

I will also be experiencing full on desire for chips and salsa. I haven't been able to find a good salsa lately, do you have a recommendation? The first person to say Pace will receive a crusty-eyed squint and significant derision in mixed company.

Is there a worse snack than chips and salsa when quilting? Maybe triple fudge cake that you have to eat with your fingers because you don't have any utensils. (Rest easy, homeless children, I don't have triple fudge cake, either.)

Tamsin asked me to guest post for her, on the occasion of finding out that her baby will be a boy. I thought long and hard about what I would say to a woman who just found out she is carrying a boy. (Lock up your Sharpies! You can't leave those utility knives laying around anymore! Do you have enough trains/cars/planes?) I came up with something called Beautiful Things.

Craft Hope Blankets

A couple months ago a friend shared the Craft Hope website with her network. Crafters had volunteered to hand make dolls to give away to orphanages in Nicaragua. What does a doll represent to us? An evening? A few hours spent sewing and stuffing? When to these girls, who have no parents, no real hope, nothing truly of their own, gifted hundreds of unique, beautiful, personalized dolls, they represented a piece of love wrapped in flannel and yarn. "I can do that," I thought, and waited for the next Craft Hope project to tug on my heart.

The current project is to create quilts for homeless children in Michigan through Margaret's Hope Chest. These children move from place to place, unsure of where their next meal or next bed will be. If you have young children you know how hard it is for them when they sleep in a new place A quilt represents something permanent, something that is always theirs no matter where they go; a piece of movable home. For many of these children, this will be the only hand made item they have ever had. A quilt? I can do that.

I decided to make two quilts for two little boys. I can't hand quilt them right now because I ruined my wrists last year making a quilt and a few other items by hand (I had to sleep in braces for months) but I can machine quilt them.

When Craft Hope updated that they needed to make sure that some of us were making quilts for 10-12 year old boys, I picked up some more flannel. Three quilts it would be.

These are the pictures of the first quilt for Craft Hope that I made last night, intended for a 3-5 year old boy. The pictures are terrible because they were taken with my phone, but you get the idea. It took me 4 hours from start to finish (including ironing the cleaned flannel, through the binding.) I wanted the cars and trucks to look like they were driving on the horizontal stitches. If I have the time, and my wrists can spare it, I'll use some white yarn to make dotted lines on the 'road' (unless they'll just obscure the print.)

I sewed a tie onto one end so that a child could roll up the quilt and button it for easy transport--and I made it tie loosely, so that some little boy out there can sneak in a few other treasures in his blanket and still have the tie button.

This morning, La Yen sent me a link to Rachel Cox's blog, who is gathering quilts and blankets for children in Appalachia. I immediately decided to split the quilts, sending two, including this smaller one and the one for the 12 year old boy, to Craft Hope, and the other smaller quilt to Rachel.

If you want to make a quilt for Craft Hope, they're accepting them until November 15th, and be sure to subscribe to her blog to be alerted to new crafting service opportunities. Rachel's blog is seeking ongoing donations of blankets, quilts, tie quilts, knitted, crocheted, anything that is machine washable and will keep a baby warm.