Visiting Sunbeam (248:365)

Cryptic sounding, isn't it?

Actually it's a cute story.

We are visiting Scott's family right now and at church today little Dee was super brave and went to her sunday school class all by herself and wasn't sad! She is such a big girl! She even told us about how fun it was. When I was her age I was super shy (still am a little) and was not brave enough to do things on my own. Good thing my little sis came along only 3 years later so she could help me out.

Story time:

When I was 10 or so I wanted my ears pierced and me, my mom, and my 7 year old sister went to Claire's to get it done (still not sure why my sister got to do everything I did 3 years younger...). I was too scared to go first, so I made my sister do it first. She was crying, or course, so I took off. I wasn't about to suffer that pain! My mom came and got me and forced me to do it too since I made my baby sister go first. I'm glad she did, but why do we suffer so for beauty?

I also always made my sister call people on the phone for me and ask for the free cookies at Albertson's because I was too shy.

Thank goodness I've grown out of that phase.

Bravo to Dee for never going through it!

Patterns for Japan (243:365)

I've been eyeing a couple of patterns over at the fabulous blog MADE, one of my latest blog stalking obsessions. She is also LDS and is taking the opportunity to match all her pattern sale proceeds, from now until Sunday, and donate the money to the LDS Humanitarian fund, which will be 100% used to aid to Japan. I was so excited about this that I bought 2 patterns. 

Japan is in our prayers... 

My New Running Record (238:365)

Today I ran the longest I've ever done in my life!

25 minutes!

I did walk for a couple of minutes in the middle, but I ran for 25, my new record.

I am very proud of myself and am feeling tough and strong.

Unearthing My Creative Space (230:365)

My creative space has succumbed to an avalanche of chaos and I spent my "free" time unearthing it today. Kind of a bummer job, but it helped me feel a little more motivated to start getting on some more projects.

I also made a giant list of all the projects I want to work on.

Giant.

Here's to motivation and focus!

And, today Dee read "sat" and "am". Woohoo!

Mod Podge is Neato (194:365)

I made 16 of these this afternoon.

 

This afternoon, because I am a procrastinator and work best under stress and aggravation. 

Even still, it was fun! Dee was at preschool while Goose and I went out shopping for supplies. I went to a hardware store and bought my first piece of lumber. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Then the man cut it up into 6x6" blocks for me. 


Once we came home I whipped out one of my cool power tool toys that my step-dad John gave me. Look at this bad boy.

I used this sweetie pie to sand down the edges of the blocks.

Then I spray painted them all a couple of times. 


I'd found the cute little saying here, that I used for the project. I printed them out on regular paper and Mod Podged them to the blocks. 


I think they turned out pretty cute! 


I made them for the Young Women at church,so they could have something in their rooms that would remind them of the Theme for the year, the admonition of Paul from Phillipians 4:8 and The 13th Article of Faith.


See more about the theme here.

Whipped Out the Ole Clarinet (191:365)

Dee found my hidden talent.

Image from Here

The Clarinet.

It was stashed under some stuff by my desk.

She was really curious so I broke it out for her and played until my lips went numb, which took about 60 seconds. Pretty lame.

I buried my talent and now I a lousy clarinet player!

I think I'll try to practice more. I know the girls will love it.

What talents are you going to work on?

Goose's First Birthday Party! (177:365)

We had a lot of fun having a baby party today. We played with balloons (yes, I let babies play with balloons...supervised), watched Baby Einstein, ate Goldfish crackers and watched Goose poke a timid finger into her giant cupcake. 

 

It was all very cute. I love kid parties! 

New Friends for Dinner (170:365)

Scott has a friend in his program that is from Ethiopia and we had him and his family over for dinner today. They have two sweet little girls that play so well with Jane. We had a good time getting to know their family and more about their culture. Making new friends is the best!

Finally, Shelves (169:365)

Watch out, this is scary!



I finally put up some shelves in my crafty area.

Now I can breath and create without stuff all over me.

Ahhh...

Pot Roast (151:365)

This morning before church I actually had a little free time.

A first.

So, I threw a pot roast into the crockpot.

Potatoes

Onions

Carrots

Cream of Mushroom soup

Roast

Packet of Onion Soup Mix

Cooked it up while we were gone and, voilà!, a delicious meal.

I also noticed the missionaries didn't have a meal for tonight, and, knowing I already had a delicious meal ready at home, I was able to have them come right over.

Planning ahead is awesome! 

I need to do this more.

Lesson learned.

Roller Skating like it was 1989 (112:365)

Now, I'm not positive, because I have a TERRIBLE memory, but I don't think I've roller skated at a roller rink since the 80's. Tonight our church youth group went skating for our weekly activity. As a leader, I felt a little goofy and afraid that I would break my arm or something in front of everyone.

I was a bit shaky the first couple of times around the rink, but then I got my "skate legs" back and rocked it grown up style. I dodged kids that were dropping like flies in front of me, stared at the weirdo's that probably live at the rink, and felt bad for the people who worked there.

Yeah, I think skating is just as nerdy as it was the last time I went, but it was also just as fun. 

And, they didn't do a snowball, so there was no awkward hugging of the carpeted wall.

Dee's First Jack-O-Lantern (104:365)

Gooses's First Successful Use of a Straw (96:365)

I don't know if this is normal, but I feel like bragging that my 9 month old can use a straw.

On the airplane, she drank Dee's apple juice with a straw. 

It was ridiculously cute.

Goose's First Talent Show (94:365)

She showed off her amazing clapping skills.

And her talent for shaking her head no.

APPLAUSE!

Goose's First Family Reunion (93:365)

19 grandkids.

10 mommies and daddies.

2 grandparents.

1 cabin.

Good times.

Yeah, we went a little bonkers.

Goose's First Flight (92:365)

By the time Dee was this age she'd flown probably 3 or 4 times already. 

Not little #2. 

I haven't been brave enough to do two kiddos by myself yet.

Still not brave enough. 

Spouse is coming with us.

Mom Pants into 2 Sweet Girlie Skirts, Part 2 (89:365)

I began this project almost a week ago, hemming and hawing over it because I am a freak.

Finally, I finished (I think).

My mom gave me these pants which were just too big.

What to do?

Cut, cut, cut!

With a little inspiration from here and here,
I came up with these cuties.

This has to be the best part. 

I was too lazy to hem them,
plus I think they'd be too short if I did.

So, instead I left the hem as a frayed edge
(I have a skirt like that that I love)

and used my fantastical genius sewing machine
to do a scalloped stitch along the edge.

Should I add something like these flowers to the bottom corner?

These skirts are for our family photos we are takng
this weekend at a family reunion.

They are going to wear black long sleeved shirts on top. 

Should I add a black ruffle to their shirts? 

Or just do cute flowers/headbands with
flowers out of the skirt fabric?

Cleaning the Bathroom (81:365)

I've been avoiding cleaning the bathrooms for a while, feeling annoyed about how they get so dirty so quickly. I guess that's what happens when you have four people using them.

So, that's what I did today. I cleaned up those dirty bathrooms.

One of my favorite cleaning tools for the bathroom is the BathroomStone, found here. 

It works wonders on the hard water rings in your toilet.

Not that it's fun to use, but it cleans those rings super fast.

Do you have any cleaning tips to share?

I can use all the help I can get...

Chaos into Organized Matter (74:365)

With the party over, Scott's Comprehensive Exams done, and my problem with bringing too much into our home and taking nothing out...our house has turned into a chaotic disaster this week.

Today's project was to clean the pantry and cupboards and toss expired stuff and organize the good stuff. 

It probably took an hour or two (in mommy time, so I don't really remember how long I was working on it), but it was well worth it. I now know where everything is and what we have so I can plan dinner for the week and know what foods we need to use up asap before they go bad. 

That's one thing that really steams me up. 

When food goes bad before it gets eaten. 

I know that as the homemaker it is mostly my fault, but there are other people who live here too that could find food if they tried. 

Ahem.

But I digress...

Anyway, the cupboards are (mostly) organized and ready for efficient use.

Bravo.

Next it's on to organizing fabric and sewing projects.

Sigh. 

P.S. Does anyone from here know where the local food bank is and their policy on donations?

"Easy" Hem for Pants (70:365)

I say "easy" because to my friends Sara and Jessicah who showed me this quick way, it probably is quicker for them than it was for me. However it is quicker than any other way I've tried and it looks better too.

Take your pants that you bought while believing that you had long legs...

Measure the length you want to hem up...(mine will look a little high because I was torn between measuring for the black shoes in the pictures and tennis shoes, which are lower.) and mark your pants.

Measure the length of the cuff, from the inside. 

Add that length to the original measurement so that you are shortening it even more (trust me...).

Take that measurement and divide it in half.

Fold your pants, from the top of the original hem, inside the pants, up the half measurement, and then iron to keep that in place.

(This is sounding so confusing. I should have taken more pictures.)

Stitch from the inside, as close to the top of the original hem, all around the cuff.

Now turn that right side out and press. 

Ta-Da!
You have hemmed pants that you didn't cut or traumatize (in case you want them longer again or you messed up the length and need to fix it like I did).

(And yes, these are the same pants as before, just couldn't get the color to look the same.)