The Common Thread No. 1

Well, well, well. Look at me now. Welcome to The Common Thread by Needle and Grain. I asked my employees what names they thought our newsletter should be named, and this one stood out to us for a few reasons: thread - back to our roots of quilting and sewing, community - we have always wanted our store and shop to feel like you're a part of a community whether you come to a book club, story time, or a class but as a customer too, and finally connection: I love thinking that we are all connected in someway living in a small town or following each other online. There's a reason we came together for something, so it's exciting to have this newsletter connecting us each week.

Bryson and I are headed on a work trip this week for his business in East TN. It's the second trip away from our kids, but the longest we've ever been away from them. If I'm being completely honest, I'm sadder than I thought I would be but only because this might be the end of our breastfeeding journey with Nora. She's still nursing just at morning and night, but I don't plan on pumping while we are gone. So, we'll see what happens. We are excited to spend time together and explore some new places we haven't been before! Send some happy vibes to Bryson's parents as they take care of our kiddos for almost a week!

We had a busy week last week with cross country, 2 baseball games, and just trying to survive homework every day. I'm typically one for not doing more than one activity at one time, but CC is a short season. So, it felt okay to commit to that and baseball. I guess we'll see how I feel when we have other kiddos who want to do extracurricular activities.

Owen is learning to be brave and try new things even if they are hard, and that's a tricky new piece of parenting we are learning. You want them to be courageous and try new things, but also don't want to push them too hard to do something they don't want to do. It's also teaching them that two things can be true - it can feel scary to do something new, but you also can have fun while doing it! If you have any pointers, let me know! I'm all ears.

Here’s my weekly favorites from last week:

I finished this book, and it was a good enough read! It was spicy, so if that's not your thing, then I would skip it. It was a solid 3 stars for me.

My wedding rings and engagement ring have gotten too small, and I got a quote to resize them that was way too out of budget. So, I just found these after deciding I just wanted something to wear and not really caring if they were real or not. The engagement is comically large compared to what I had, but it's fun to change it up and dream about having a 3 carat ring one day!

My face is very dry especially in the cooler months. I get that weird peeling around my nose, so I grabbed some of this night cream to see if it would help. So far, I really like it: it hasn't broken me out, and my skin doesn't feel as dry!

I have probably posted about this recipe before, but it is too good not to share. My kids normally love meatballs, and I like that there are minimal ingredients. It's super easy to throw together and cook while your pasta is boiling! I also love that it's super easy for me to make them gluten free.

I need to admit something: I am completely overwhelmed by consignment sales. I have signed up for 2 this year, and I have bailed on them. The idea of having to tag, price, steam all your kids' clothes is sooo overwhelming to me. I also get overwhelmed by attending them. The aisles are super close, and there are so many clothes that I just completely choke. So, I've come to terms with it, and I have found this site. I'm totally obsessed with Hanna Andersson things, so this is perfect. The key is to purchase things from one seller if you can to save on shipping. I also just listed 4 items to see if they sell. If you sell items, you get 100% of the credit if you choose to get it on a gift card which is amazing. So, I'm releasing my overwhelm and realizing I can shop secondhand for my kids on my own terms - thank you Lauren for helping me with this!

**These links may contain affiliate links from Amazon and LTK. **