Meet Morty the Monkey!
Isn’t he the cutest monkey ever?!
We were recently part of a fundraiser auction online that was raising money to help fund an adoption. The money is going to help bring home a young boy who will soon be aging out.
This monkey was one of the donated items and I bid on him and bought him.
He was crocheted and donated by a young girl. I don’t know her age for sure, but I’m guessing from ten to twelve. So fun!
I’m realizing that while I’m not an avid or professional knitter or crocheter, I love these types of hand-made items. They are so beautiful and somehow I can feel the warmth of the time and labor and love put into the project by the creator of it. I suppose because it is the same feeling I have when I write or put pictures together or decorate my home. It means something to me in doing and creating these things. I put heart into them. They are part of me.
Hand-crafted items are the same way.
Dishcloth chatter. I hadn’t been picking up my knitting much and then this past week I had opportunities to grab it and so I have this purple completed and, also, a variegated browns dishcloth, too.
The brown looked like fall to me! It reminds me of acorns and walnuts!
Just a tiny bit started!
Children’s Book Pick this week ~
Mrs. Mary Malarky’s Seven Cats
We picked this book up earlier this year at a book sale at our local library. It is a fun story and cute pictures!
I’m still reading along in the books from last week, except I did finish Anne’s House of Dreams and started Anne of Ingleside.
These two books have bumped themselves up to the top of my reading pile.
Many authors have been using Launch Teams recently to pre-read and help promote their books when they are published. I’m on the launch teams for both of these and received Advance Reader Copies. I’m pretty excited about both of them and getting to read them “early”. And spread the word!
If you are a mama or have anything to do with “mama-ing” at all, I think you want to read Hoodwinked. Look clear up at the top of the book at the byline ~ “Ten Myths Moms Believe and Why We All Need To Knock It Off”. Doesn’t that grab your attention?! 🙂 I’m not very far into it, but I do ExtrEmEly like it already!
This excerpt made me smile, “We all enter motherhood with our scenarios planned out. Maybe you planned an “all-natural” childbirth, only to beg for an epidural or be forced into a caesarean. I expected breast-feeding to be easy, only to find it so hard I was brought to tears over and over. How about toilet training? I vowed to train my toddlers by twenty-four months until reality hit and I had to succumb to a much easier method of waiting until they were three years old.”
So much truth. If I could tell young mamas anything, I’d say something along the lines of, “Don’t sweat it. Don’t compare. They quit taking pacis or sucking thumbs eventually. They don’t wear diapers forever. This is a marathon, not a sprint. We don’t need a “mama winner”. Walk this marathon together and chat and share the joy and tears. And do your best to let it go in one ear and out the other when a mama acts like there is one and only one method for training in some area or some way of doing something. Not always easy to let it slide off, but try!! And try not to be that mama! 😉 Goodness knows, the same methods don’t work with children in the same family!”
I already recommend pre-ordering Hoodwinked or requesting it at your library! You can pre-order on Amazon and most likely Barnes & Nobles or other book sellers.
Money-Making Mom by Crystal Paine from Money Saving Mom . I’m not very many pages into it, either. I like her emphasis on giving in this book and on her blog and in other books. This book talks about finding what you love and shares stories about different women who take their skills or interests and turn them into an entrepreneurial opportunity. Crystal also talks about and lists what the face of financial freedom looks like and opportunities it can open. She shares failed attempts and shares the experience she has learned along her journey.
What are you reading or crafting? And have you purchased any hand-made items for your home recently?
Linking up with Ginny and Frontier Dreams
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Evelyn says
Brilliant monkey 🙂 He looks very happy
deborah says
Isn’t he so great?! 🙂
Cheryl | TimeToCraft says
What a sweet monkey. Completely agree with the sentiment of putting love into everything I make. Difficult to let go of most.The picture book illustrations are so delighful. Nice to see.
deborah says
I so love children’s books. Stories and illustrations are so fun. I’m doing good to draw a stick figure, but I love beautiful art and fun sketches.
karen says
he is very very cute!! I love his colorful body and his happy smile!
deborah says
I know! I do too! He makes me smile every time I see him.