Enjoying Life's Journey

Dalek Advent Calendar

2011-12-09T13:14:00.000-08:00

I wanted to get this posted before I forget, which seems to be happening more and more frequently lately. This is our new Advent Calendar for the year (and hopefully many years.) It isn't quite finished. This is how finished it was when December 1 rolled around, and will be good enough until after Christmas. It is missing a bit of white felt up top.
What I did was cut out a silhouette of a dalek in black felt, then with fusible web, I cut out grey, and blue parts, I could only find one shade of grey I liked, so I painted some of the grey for a bit more depth. Then I fused them onto the black background leaving black around it (like a coloring book sort of) The Dalek Bumps are blue felt fused onto black felt with black numbers on the blue. Then I glued the bottom and side edges to make pockets. In these pockets we put a piece of paper with our activity for the day on.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and the kids are thrilled, even hubby was quite impressed.
I will try to get a better quality pic when it's all finished, but I figured this camera phone pic was better than nothing right!

Homemade Halloween Costumes

2011-11-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

The one dependable post every year. Our Halloween costumes were a bit more subdued this year, but still lots of fun. The kids helped a lot more and I didn't freak over perfection as much.

Here are the Homemade 2011 Costumes

My youngest was Gordon Freeman from Half Life. The base was underarmor style black thermal underwear. The vest type thing was Grey fun foam painted, and glued. Old shin guards that were painted and put on with black elastic. The "gravity gun" was made with an Ice Tea gallon and a two liter soda bottle. We used gift wrap cellophane on the inside of the 2 liter and some battery LED Christmas lights. Then duct tape and electrical tape. My husband and my son did ALL the work on this one!

My middle son was a sparkly unicorn. We used thermal undies and the white base. We made the hooves out of fabric covered tag board that I put some snaps on so they could be taken on and off. I also stapled some elastic on the bottom of the feet hooves so they wouldn't spin on him. (They even made a clomping sound when he walked which was an unexpected bonus!) The horn is made out of Crayola model magic and glitter paint, attached with clear flat elastic. It broke the first night he wore it, but we put a big blob of hot glue under it, and let it dry and it worked great. We used a feather boa for his main and tail. (There is an inside story to his costume, and it was wonderful!)

My niece was Mary Poppins. I designed and made her skirt (black fleece) and her jacket (blue and black fleece with black frogs for fasteners). I also crocheted her hat. The umbrella my mom made by cutting the head off of a parrot beanie baby (it was in rough shape on the bottom, so it was ok,) and attaching it to the umbrella handle. My mom found a lovely Victorian style shirt and we used red ribbon for the tie. My niece's carpet bag is actually my sister's carry-on that she got when she graduated. It meant a lot to all of us that my niece was able to carry a small part of her mom with her while celebrating Halloween.

So that's it. Another year done. Clean up is taking quite a bit though. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!!

Summer Activities

2011-06-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well, summer has most definitely begun for us. We've already had our big camping week (since we couldn't find another week available all summer.) The big spawn got to bring some buddies along, as sort of an 8th grade graduation celebration.

Now summer school has begun with babysitting classes and my big spawn attending driver's ed classes (gulp!)
We always try to have some sort of family project through the summer too. Kind of a "keep your mind working" class of sorts. It's really hard to think of great activities for teen/pre-teen boys to do that they'll enjoy during summer and learn something. Well, some years are far more productive than other years, but I have a good feeling about this year. We're having a cooking class/cookbook writing class. The boys are really taking the lead on this which I think is awesome! They've come up with a bunch of recipes that we enjoy as a family and that are requested frequently. Then they are making the recipes, testing them, measuring carefully, writing out the recipe, typing it up, photographing the finished product and when summer is over we'll publish it as a cookbook.

We did our first submission today. Magic 7 layer bars. I honestly don't know where this recipe originated, we've made it forever and I know tons of others who do too. I would venture to guess it was on the back of some packaging. Anyway, here's what they wrote so far. They will be adding family anecdotes and such to it too later

Magic 7 layer bars
4oz. of butter (that's a stick)
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 oz. of chocolate chips
6 oz of butter scotch chips
1 1/3 cups coconut
1 can of sweet and condensed milk
1 cup chopped pecans (optional, but Mom says we should to give it an ounce of nutrition)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Melt butter in a 9X13" pan. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbles over butter, mix well, pat it in to the pan with fork. Do this really hard so you get a nice crust. Top crumble crust with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and nuts. Then sprinkle coconut on top. Drizzle the sweet and condensed milk over the whole thing. Bake 25-30 min until browned a little on edges. Cool then cut into squares. Prep time: 5-10 min. Cook time 25-30 min.

I just copy and pasted what they typed. I'm not sure if I should leave in typos and spelling errors, or have them fix it. They're cute, but it is supposed to be teaching them something.

No Soliciting Sign

2011-06-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

I made this sign up after having already had visits. It's that time of year, and I hope this will encourage them to pass us by.
This isn't the original wording I wanted, but this is what we ended up doing. I don't have a vinyl cutter (yet) and so I had painted it.

The original wording I wanted was;

No Soliciting

(unless it's for cookies!)

Proselytizing

(not even with cookies!)

But the boys didn't think most people would know what proselytizing is and the cookie parts would have had to be tiny and I just wasn't up for that.
Now I have to some how mount it by the front door. Thoughts?

Stuffed Bread Loaf- Picnic Food

2011-06-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

Summer is FINALLY here in Wisconsin. Not only does this mean we get to enjoy the outdoors so much more, it also means crazy late nights with baseball and soccer. Hey, I'm not complaining! I adore this weather and time of the year. The only problem is the food. I learned recently that I am pork intolerant. This sucks, but I have to just get used to it and move on. And make adjustments.
What food do they have at the local ballpark? Hotdogs (nearly all are pork or part pork,) brats (pork) and pizza (pepperoni and sausage... both pork.) Though we would indulge in these items occasionally (the nutrition just isn't there,) I really can no longer do that. Did I mention there is absolutely no fast food in my town? Oh, I didn't. Well, there isn't, so that isn't a quick option anyway. So now we must bring something. Which really is ok, the nutrition will be much better, but I will need to be creative and think ahead. So what to make?

Here is the first travel supper of the season. Stuffed bread! It baked up wonderfully! Was super easy to make, and tasted good. I will make again, but I think I'll bump up the seasoning a bit more.

I started with Smitten Kitchen's bread without a timetable recipe
I stuck pretty close to the actual recipe she gave.
Then when she makes the baguette. I just filled in some yummy fillings before rolling.
This version was sauteed kale, carrots, mushrooms, onion, leek, garlic, broccoli, & red pepper. I sauteed it in a bit of butter and a splash of chicken broth. I seasoned it with thyme, marjoram, parsley, salt and lots of pepper.

Then I covered it in Gruyere cheese and rolled it up. I brushed it with water and snipped some spots on top.

I baked it on parchment paper. It came out golden. I let it sit a bit before I cut into it.

My husband and boys liked it alot. They all said it would have been better with bacon (again, I can't eat pork.) Really you could use any filling you wanted. Next time will probably be more of a pizza style or taco style one. This will travel really well though, and will definitely make it into our travel/picnic food rotation.

Do you have any great tried and true picnic recipes? I'd love to hear them!

Working On

2011-05-05T10:29:00.001-07:00

Portal Turret Sneak Peak, a photo by ezri_b on Flickr.

Here is a sneak peek at what I'm working on for my husband.
Like many households, Portal 2 has become huge in our house. Even though I do not play, I have seen my fair share.
It was meant to be a surprise for my husband, but my nosey youngest boy found it and showed him before I could stop him. So cat's out of the bag, and now he gives lots of input!

Hope Chests for Today?

2011-04-30T03:28:00.000-07:00

My husband has been traveling a lot for work. I don't tend to sleep well when he travels. So I'll find myself up at 2 or 3 in the morning. I can't do much cleaning as I'm afraid I'll wake the boys. (Ok, that's not entirely true, there is plenty of cleaning I could do without worry that I'd wake them. I honestly think my body is exhausted, but my mind won't let me sleep.) So I tend to think. Anyone who knows me well, knows that this can be extremely dangerous!

My latest topic... Hope Chests.

I didn't have a hope chest, I didn't really know anyone who did. I don't know if it's just the area I grew up in or if it's my age (born in 1978.) I did of course know of them. They were something that women did way back when... and they were where young ladies and their families would place items for the lady's future home. Ok, there may be way more to it than that, but this was my knowledge of them.

I don't have girls, I have oodles of nieces, but in my home are boys. I remember what it was like when my husband and I first started off. We didn't have a big wedding with showers and gifts. We actually didn't get any wedding gifts. We already had our eldest son and my husband just graduated from college. It was hard! I still don't always think we've "caught up" with the people who were given many items as gifts. So when my children were born, I said that when they turned 13 I wanted to give them gifts for their future homes (or when the go off to college or whatever.) A little kick start so it wouldn't be quite so rough for them. Well, my eldest is now 14 and I can honestly say I didn't start that yet. It's not for the lack of wanting, it's I didn't have any idea what to get him. Sheets... what size will he have in the future? Dishes.... will he like the colors/pattern I pick out then? Basic utensils/cooking supplies.... maybe, but where to start? Small appliances.... they always come out with better and cheaper. I was too overwhelmed, so it was just given up on.

Now, I'm thinking again about it. Maybe I went about it wrong. I make things. I teach my boys to make things, at least basic skills. I teach my boys to cook and to sew and to clean (ok, not great by example, but I try.) I want my boys to be partners to their future spouse and to be able to care for themselves until they find the right person. I don't want them to jump into a relationship for a "mommy substitute" so someone can cook and clean for them (you all know what I'm talking about!) I want them to take pride in their home even if it's a dorm room. Maybe homey touches will help them.

I know a Hope Chest isn't traditional for boys. I don't care! Roles aren't the same as they were back in the 1800's or even the 1900's. So what now?

All this ranting and raving is fine, except, I'm not sure I'm any closer at deciding what to give/make my children for their futures.What about touches of the childhood memories for their future children, do those go in there too? Do I enlist my child's help or surprise them when they're older?

I really want to get a nice list together and get started on this. I am hoping to not only do this for my boys but for my sister's girls too. I know their fathers won't and I feel it is something I can do for them since their mom is no longer here to do it for them.

So what goes into a Hope Chest??

I did do a fair amount of Googling with very little results. 2 pages I found that had some inspiration are A Wise Woman Builds Her Home and Miss Abigail's Hope Chest, please if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them.

Advent Calendar

2010-11-30T08:41:00.000-08:00

We begin our Advent Calendar Activities again tomorrow.

We're still using the one I made inspired by Allsorts' pattern allsorts.typepad.com/allsorts/2007/11/advent-calendar.html I keep meaning to try something different, but this one works so well for us. I print out the activities and stuff them in the little pouch. If something unexpected comes up and we need a shorter one I just swap them.

I've had a lot of people ask me what sorts of activities we do. Well, I have to admit as the boys are getting older, it's getting harder and harder to come up with fresh ideas. Here is a list of ideas I've compiled over the years. Most we have done. Some while my nieces were visiting, others are just ideas I've had for others to do. Santa isn't a part of our holiday, and never has been, but he is a big part of other people's holidays, so there are some of those type of ideas too. Hopefully you can find these useful. If you have ideas of your own, (especially ones a 14 year old boy won't roll his eyes at,) please let me know!

Quick 10 min or less
•Write a card to military overseas or veterans hospital
•Color Christmas Picture
•Bunny hop/Conga line through house
•Only speak in Pig Latin or like a pirate
•Learn or make up instructions for a secret handshake
•Write a letter to a distant relative
•Tell Christmas Jokes (have these ready)
•Call Grandparents and sing carols
•Word searches, crossword puzzles, mazes, etc... (there are a lot of online word search & crossword puzzle makers for free.)
•Read a Christmas themed book
•Sing Christmas Carols using kazoos
•Make and Drink fancy hot chocolate (marshmallows, whipped cream, sprinkles, candy cane)
•Make Snowangels

About 30 Minutes
•Hang Stockings
•Paper airplanes- make and fly (Who's goes farthest, highest, etc.)
•Make Ornaments
•Make Paper Snowflakes
•Set Out Nativity
•Paint Rocks (could take longer than 30m)
•Make an ice candle (larger bucket, smaller bucket, tape, greenery, water, freeze, use next day)
•Make stickers using white label stickers and markers
•Make Thumbprint animals on wrapping paper or gift tags (potato stamps would work too)
•Learn an origami project
•Make a birdfeeder
•Make Playdoh
•Look at past holiday pictures in a photo album

More than 30 min
•Bake Bread/Banana Bread
•Make a pom pom garland or string popcorn for a garland
•Make a beaded necklace, bracelet, bookmark
•Make soap/candles •Make Snow globes
•Have a bonfire
•Marbleize paper (liquid starch or shaving cream method)
•Lego building competition
•Make up a crazy dance to some Christmas music
•Take Silly Christmas Pictures (everyone in Santa hats, wearing reindeer antlers, wrapped up in Christmas paper or decorations, etc...)
•Make a memory game for the little kids we know with wooden disks and pictures
•Make Gift tags for our gifts to others •Write your own Christmas Carol •Make Teacher Gifts
•Watch a favorite or new Christmas themed movie
•Follow a treasure map to a large-ish gift or activity
•Write Out Christmas Cards
•Go out and play Bocce (or other game) in the snow
•Make a wreath
•Make/decorate a Christmas themed pillowcase or t-shirt
•Make pajama pants
•Learn a new magic trick or science project
•Star gazing
•Play a family board game
•Have a camp out around the Christmas Tree
•Make Snowman
•Have a video game competition (Wii bowling or boxing are popular)
•Have a snowball fight
•Christmas Charades
•Exchange Stockings Food/Meal Related
•Make Cookies
•Pizza making night
•Decorate Cookies
•Have Milkshakes
•Make Rock Candy
•Have an Indoor Picnic
•Have a Fondue Night
•Have a Candle light supper
•Have an Eat Dessert First night
•Breakfast for dinner

Away From Home
•Watch local Holiday Parade
•Get a Christmas Tree/Decorate Christmas Tree
•Buy a toy for toys for tots
•Visit at a nursing home
•Gather no longer used towels and blankets for local animal shelter
•Go to a production of the Nutcracker or A Christmas Carol
•Shop for things for women’s shelter
•Go out to eat at a favorite restaurant
•Go to a movie
•Take a walk/drive to look at holiday lights
•Go Bowling
•Go Sledding
•Go out for ice cream
•Pack a picnic for the park/botanical gardens (weather permitting)

Activities for younger kids or when girls are here
•Use puppets to tell bedtime story
•Have a bubble bath
•Fancy dress up for dinner time
•Give everyone crazy hairstyles
•Paint everyone’s toenails

Halloween Come and Gone

2010-11-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

We do love Halloween in our house. The most consistant posting on this blog is Halloween costumes. My husband and my anniversary is Halloween. It just holds a really special place in our hearts. Here are the boys' costumes this year.

My middle son is a Piranha Plant from Mario Bros. Made primarily out of fleece, fiberfil, & plastic canvas

My eldest as Luigi (he did have a mustache, but there aren't any decent pics with him wearing it) Again primarily fleece (gotta love Wisconsin Falls!)

My youngest as Dark Helmet from Spaceballs. He LOVED this costume!

Hope you had a great Halloween too!

My oldest is 14!

2010-10-26T12:13:00.001-07:00

Yep, that's right. He's getting older. Going to High School next year, driving the year after that, abandoning me for college 2 after that.

Sniff.... Sniff.... where is my baby?

Oh, there he is!!

Here is his birthday cake.

Chocolate with lemon filling. Chocolate and vanilla frosting with starbursts for the ghosts, Pacman, and the cherries.

Soccer is kicking my butt

2010-10-06T09:33:00.001-07:00

I love that my boys love soccer, but I have to admit, it's kicking my butt! Soccer along with Church (we're rewriting our Confirmation program,) making Halloween costumes, redoing a few things in our house, I don't seem to have a moment's time. The soccer will end Saturday. I know this, it's tournaments. I'm counting down the days.

Probably the thing in our house that is taking the hit harder than anything is supper time. The boys get home from school at 3:45. Many times they are supposed to be at soccer (a town over,) by 4. It takes us 10-15 minutes to drive that. Then we have games until at least 6:30. Many of those nights we also have had church meetings at 6:30 (2-4 times/week.) So I've been trying to figure out ways to feed my growing teen/preteens and hubby while gone. I'd love it if someone has some ideas they can share with me. Cold sandwiches 3-4 times a week isn't fun (especially in Wisconsin in October!)

The winners so far have been skewered teriyaki chicken and beef/bean burritos.** Throw in some carrots, cucumbers, bell pepper strips, grapes, apple slices, etc.. and they've worked well.

I'd love to hear your ideas for eating on-the-go.

*We are not one of those families who terribly over schedule. We really only let our kids be in one activity per season. It's just that soccer is 2 times per week per child. It adds up quickly.

**The teriyaki chicken skewers; I simply marinated the sliced chicken breasts in a natural teriyaki sauce for 30-40 minutes. I wove them onto the soaked bamboo skewers. Then baked them at 400 F for 30 minutes. Wrapped them in tinfoil and put them in a "cooler" to keep them warm.
The burritos I mixed black beans (sometimes refried beans,) with taco seasoned ground beef, a sprinkle of cheese and a bit of rice. Wrap in a tortilla then "flash freeze" until stiff. Throw them in a container and keep frozen until I need them. Then I bake/microwave them and again put in foil and bring to the games.

Cousin's Wedding Towel

2010-08-20T08:07:00.000-07:00

My cousin is getting married today, and I wanted to give them something besides cash, so I embroidered them a dish towel.

You'll notice the "Aug." is a little spread out. Well, I originally put "Sept." on it, and well, that was wrong and my husband (thank God!) noticed last night, so I quick changed it.

Liam's Quilt Top

2010-04-23T05:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been working with Liam to make him the "perfect" quilt. He found this dragon fabric a few years ago, and knew he wanted it in his quilt. I have had a really hard time figuring out how to make it what he wanted.

Well, we finally decided we would just do it!

So we drew, we talked, we hunted for fabrics. He decided he didn't really want me cutting up his precious dragon fabric, so it will be used on the back. I cut and sewed, and FINALLY I have the top done! Now I have to figure out how I'm going to quilt it, and if I'm going to add some embroidery.

Decisions are what take me so long! The sewing went quickly as did the cutting. Well, it's a huge milestone, I'm over the hump at least. Hopefully I will have a chance to finish it next week!

PS The picture is before it was pressed, and I added a bit more black to the outside. It's a super twin size, all the men in my husband and my family are at least 6' tall, so I wanted this to last my Liam for awhile.

Raised Bed Gardening

2010-04-21T09:02:00.001-07:00

It is commonly known that I have a black thumb. No, not a brown thumb, a black thumb. I can't seem to keep anything alive very long. Even things people swear I can't kill, I find a way.

I have also always dreamed of a garden. We bought this house partially because there was a yard where I could have a small garden. Little did I know that the big beautiful tree in my yard would poison the ground for most plants, (Black Walnut.)

This year I am determined though!

I bought the book The New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. It came with rave reviews. I've read it 3 times through, and referenced it many more.

We built some beds, bought the "soil mix", I think I'm ready. I even had the nieces over on their spring break, and they helped prime the beds.

Wish me luck!

Crocheted Mini Wheat Pattern

2010-04-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

I saw this and just had to share, it's absolutely adorable!

The pattern is by zippadeedooda on weloveamigurumi on livejournal. Go get it and make your own crew of mini wheats!

Liam's 11!

2010-03-15T16:42:00.000-07:00

My middle son Liam turns 11 today! It was a very busy day with me going on a field trip to the planetarium with my youngest, so I didn't get to spend as much time on the cake as I had hoped. It was a definite team effort though. And I think over all we're quite pleased with it, imperfections and all.

It's simply gorgeous weather, and it's so springy. What a wonderful day! I hope your day is as glorious as ours!

Valentine's 2010- The Big Bang Theory

2010-02-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

As you may have seen in previous years, my kids always want geek style Valentines the likes of which never exist in stores. Well, this year was no different. My boys wanted Big Bang Theory themed ones. I have many components gathered and ready to make them, but because of some unforeseen computer issues, and an unexpectedly emotional reaction to the anniversary of my sister passing away, I don't feel I will get them out/made before Valentine's day. I did however find some great ones that I may use that someone else made. She did an awesome job, so if you're looking for some clever Big Bang Theory Valentines this year check out defyprobability's on livejournal Or if you are looking for my Doctor Who (1 or 2) or Mario themed ones feel free to check those out also!

Family Meals Question

2010-02-03T12:35:00.000-08:00

Sorry, this isn't really a post, it's more of a question. I have been talking to a lot of moms lately about meal time. Particularly supper. In my house, my kids eat exactly the same thing as we (adults) are. Even when they were babies and just eating solids. I would simply take their food out after cooking, but before seasoning. We always ate the same food. Out of the 11 moms that I was talking to today, only1 other mom said they do the same thing. All of the others usually make a separate meal for the children than for the adults. Is this common? Am I just way out of the loop? I would love to get some feedback on this.

Christmas is done.

2010-01-19T10:59:00.000-08:00

I know it seems really late, but I'm finally putting away the last remnant bits of Christmas. Am I the only one? I thought I'd share one of my favorite Christmas pieces. I found this in the thrift store a couple of years ago, and I haven't been able to identify the maker or find any pictures of others or anything.

George Washington- 1st US President

2010-01-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

A little back story first. My children, husband and I were watching Jeopardy a few weeks back. There was a fairly easy category on the Presidents of the US. My children didn't really know any of the answers. I was shocked. My husband was shocked. We decided that the boys need to know more about the presidents, and in all honesty, so should we. So we decided to dedicate 2010 as the year of the presidents. Each week we will be talking about a different president and hope the boys gather and retain some information on people who have formed our lives. Now anyone who knows me knows I always have great intentions, but my follow through isn't always the greatest. I am hoping with 52 weeks in a year and 44 presidents that will give me some room for error.

George Washington is our first week pres. We are planning on doing them in order. The White House website has a nice compilation on the presidents, so I'm sure we'll be referring to that weekly. If I find anymore sites or references I will be sure to share them.

Do any of you plan things like this?

Pictures

2010-01-05T13:09:00.001-08:00

Some pictures from the last few months in no particular order.

Lore working his abs on the beach on Amelia Island FL

Amelia Island Florida. Levi and Liam looking for shells and Shark's teeth

The boys' favorite "Cookie" Peppermint Kisses. Recipe here

Advent calendar. Inspired by this post on Allsorts we fill it with activities. We did really great this year. We accomplished all of our tasks but one. We didn't get to gaze at the stars the night we wanted to because of clouds.

Chubby Hubby Bars (Inspired by Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Flavor which is my hubby's favorite.) Recipe here

For Thanksgiving this year, we made a Thankful Tree. And we added to it all of November.

Veterans day skydiver at the school!

Making fresh pasta with my boys was way too much fun! This is Liam and his gloppy mess.

Here's Levi's mess before he got a nice ball going.

Sugar cookies are always fun.

My niece Clover's doll in progress. She has super curly blond hair and bright blue eyes, just like Clover does!

Happy 2010!!

2010-01-05T11:57:00.000-08:00

Ok, I have only one resolution this year. I was looking back at some of my older blog posts and saw a big theme. I appologize for not blogging way too much! =)
So my resolution is to not appologize for having a life outside of the internet. I love all of you who follow me and check back to see how I'm doing or what I'm up to. I really appreciate the emails and messages from people wondering about me, and I don't mean to worry anyone when I disapear for stretches of time. But, I'm not as consistant of a blogger as many are.

So, what have I been up to?? Well... my last post was in October.... I have celebrated Lore, Levi, Tim, and many of my nieces birthdays. I celebrated my anniversary. We went to Amelia Island FL for an amazing vacation! We had so much fun with our Advent Activities again this year. We celebrated our crazy Christmas time. Lots of baking! We went really low key on gifts this year. I missed crafting as much, but enjoyed not stressing about it as much too.

So have I been crafting?? Well, yes, I have thanks for asking. I have 4 baby quilts in the works right now for recently born babies in our family. They are pinwheel in style. I am just working out layout now.

I have also been making some Waldorf style dolls for 2 of my nieces. I have found I love making the dolls, but don't love making the clothes as much.

I am loading some pictures from my camera as we speak, so I will add some pictures on a recap post later today.

Have a great day!

Halloween Card

2009-10-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

We love Jib Jab, so I thought I'd share the Halloween Card that we made on their site.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Craftig-New Online Love

2009-08-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much time for my personal crafting yet, but I love looking at other crafty people, and getting ideas. I adore this site (it's new to me at least.) It's like Digg for the crafting world. Craftig lets you post stories about the crafty world and share them, and bookmark and tag them for easier finding later on. If your favorites looks like mine does, this will be wonderful for you! Hopefully this will help some of you out there.

Piggy Pajama Pants- say that three times fast

2009-07-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I am hoping that my little blogging hiatus is over for now, and I thought I should jump in on some of the craftiness that has been done here (albeit, not alot.)

A little bit ago, we had a family reunion. I was asked to make a pinata of my great uncle Bob. So here is what I came up with.

This week 2 of my nieces are staying with us. The oldest just turned 12, and part of her gift was to make pj pants with me. She loves pigs and blue, so I was delighted when I found blue flannel pig fabric. She did a great job!

That's about it right now, I hope to blog more often and do more crafty stuff worth blogging about more too.

Happy Spring!

2009-03-20T10:57:00.001-07:00

I know I have been a little missing lately. Don't worry, don't panic! It happens every year about this time. I have crazy Destination Imagination prep to do. It takes up a crazy amount of my time, but it is worth it when the kids do their best and are so proud of all of their accomplishments. I'm a little nervous, I have one kid out with the contagious pneumonia, and 3 other kids in that same class also have it. Most of my team is from that class (including my son) I'm really hoping I don't have a team full of pneumonia (or a houseful to be honest,) during competition. Send healthy vibes our way please.
So I will be sporadic, but here I promise!

Hey, it's spring! Does it look like spring at your house? Mine doesn't really. The only thing I know is I have literally 32+ squirrels in my backyard picking up my walnuts that we didn't get picked up before winter. They are chasing each other and eating and having a great time. I tried to catch it on video, but it was so dark and dull outside you couldn't pick out much of the squirrels.

I thought since there hasn't been much content to this blog lately, I'd re mention a website I go to frequently to find out about the child appropriateness of different movies, games, books, TV, music, etc... Many of you probably know about it, but I have found it invaluable. I can't read every book my kids want to read to see if they are appropriate. I wish I could. Also, my oldest was reading at an 8th grade level in 2nd grade, so I needed to see which books would engage him, but weren't wrong for him. So anyway, I love Common Sense Media, you get kids ratings, adult ratings, and the actual web site's ratings. You can read comments on the language, sex, violence, product placement, drinking/drugs/smoking, and the moral/message. It's great. Check it out, bookmark it. I go back to it a lot. I even have convinced my kids they won't like certain movies/books by the ratings, so we didn't have to go see a stinker movie at movie theater prices.

**Not affiliated, just like it, and use it**

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Liam is 10!

2009-03-17T06:35:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, it was Liam's 10th birthday. He's our middle child. I have definitely noticed that we have less pictures of him than anyone else (why is that?)

He's my sensitive child, with huge daredevil moments, but the rest of the time he's a bit timid to try new things.

He loves dragons, and crafting, and video games. He loves cooking, camping, soccer, and dyeing his hair.

Ginger Molasses Cookies

2009-03-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

I found out today that I had to make 3 dozen cookies for 4H. I wasn't sure what to do, I didn't have much time. I picked the cookie that has never failed me and the kids and hubby love. I've been making these cookies for years and always get compliments and requests for the recipe. I give them the recipe, and people say they never taste as good as mine. Well, there is a secret, and I'm going to share it with all of you today.

Ginger Molasses Cookies
Ingredients

1 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/3 cup for rolling cookies
1 large egg
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup un-sulphured molasses

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

3/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375F.
Cream butter and sugars together until nice and fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
Add egg, vanilla, & molasses and beat.
In a separate bowl combine flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, black pepper and cloves.
Combine wet ingredient mix with dry ingredient mix until well combined.
Place remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar in shallow bowl. Scoop dough with small cookie scoop. Form into balls and roll in sugar. Place them on an ungreased baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-13 minutes. You want to slightly under cook them, or they become quite hard. Let them cool on baking pan for about 3 minutes. Remove, from pan and let cook on a wire rack. These freeze well and pack well for shipping also the recipe is fine doubled.

Ok, so that's the recipe. It's good if you follow those directions, now here's the key to making them great.
You MUST use freshly ground cloves! I have a small mortar and pestle, but you could use a bowl and the back or a spoon or a spice grinder. It makes an enormous difference!

Yep, that's it, I know it sounds silly, and it really isn't a big deal, but it is a huge difference trust me. I hope you enjoy, if you make them let me know if you like them.

Buttons?

2009-03-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

Where are all of the buttons? I remember when I was younger, every thrift store, garage sale, flea market, you name it, had jars, boxes, or bags of buttons. And they were dirt cheap. I can't seem to find any bulk buttons anywhere, and the few I do find are crazy expensive. I love buttons....

Does anyone have a great source for inexpensive buttons. Am I out of the loop at some obvious place to acquire buttons?

Row Robin Signups are CLOSED!

2009-03-01T06:43:00.001-08:00

I am very excited to see so many participants. If you emailed me and I haven't gotten back to you please email me again. The list of participants are;
Tab (Me)
Bobbi
Sudi-Laura
Harley
Melissa
Tracey
Valerie
Darlene
Carrie
Natasha
Lori
Angela
Robin
Marty
Margaret
Jessica
Dianne
Susan

I am working on making groups now, so if I missed someone please let me know ASAP. I've been checking my spam folder and everything, so I'm quite sure I didn't, but if I did, please let me know.
I will hopefully get the groups out by tomorrow night.

One Day Left Of Row Robin Signups!

2009-02-27T15:21:00.000-08:00

I know I've been a little away from the computer quite a bit. We've had a run of sick boys. High fevers, aches, and sleepiness mainly. A little tummy stuff thrown in too. Luckily everyone is feeling better now. Except me, my sleep schedule is all wonky, but that will come back

I just wanted to remind any possible straglers that there is only one day left to join the row robin swap. We have quite a few. I am very excited by the amount of people that have signed up, and the amazing variety of quilter/crafters! This is going to be so much fun! So if you are interested, please go to the signup post and be sure to read through the guidelines first. Then follow the directions about sending me an email with your info.

Row By Row Quilt Swap Update

2009-02-19T06:30:00.000-08:00

Only a little over a week left for signups, and we have some wonderful participants already. I am so excited about this swap, I think it will be amazing! We have 12 signed up already and there is plenty of room, so don't worry about that. If you're not sure where to sign up visit http://enjoyinglifesjourney.blogspot.com/2009/02/row-robin-quilt-signups.html and it has all of the details there. I know a few people are unsure of what this would look like in the end, or what we are doing. I have a few emails out asking if people would allow me to post their pictures, so I am waiting for that. I have a few I found to give you an idea though

They do a great job of showing you vertical vs. horizontal placement as well.

If you are still having difficulties picturing what this would look like. Imagine some of the most beautiful row quilts. Here are a few I found online. Some were row robin swaps while others were done by a single person.
memaquilter's row robin quilt
Pat on the hill's row robin quilt
krommama's liberated row quilt
dianezirin's rowrowrow your quilt
cactuspatches christmas row quilt
stitchnagain's row quilt
And again if you have any questions, please ask!

Earth Hour 2009

2009-02-17T07:49:00.000-08:00

earthhour.org

In case you haven't heard about this yet, I thought I would pass this on. We participated last year and our family plans to again this year. All you have to do is turn your lights out for one hour. On March 28th from 8:30-9:30pm you shut off your lights.

Valentines

2009-02-13T06:16:00.000-08:00

I know this is probably way too late to really help anyone, but I'm actually trying to think a year ahead. There are some amazing Valentine ideas out there in blogland and I wanted to highlight a few of my favorites so next year I can find them easily. Also sometimes ideas like these can be used for party favors, end of school gifts, Halloween, Christmas, or who knows when you need little gift/card ideas.
Here are some of my favorites that I have found. If you have found some great ideas, please post them in the comments!

DIY Scratch off lottery Ticket Valentines by Skip To My Lou
Other Skip To My Lou Valentine Ideas
MadLib Valentines By Design Mom
Friendship Bracelet Valentines by Design Mom
Valentine Candy Maze by Zakka Life
Shrink Art KeyChains by Lost Button Studio (we've done these before, but worth mentioning)
Candy Coated Oreos by Her Cup Overfloweth (we love milk chocolate covered ones for Easter gifts)
Oreo Truffle Kisses by Bakerella
Heart Crayon Valentines by Chef Messy

I know there are tons of great ideas out there, if you know of more please leave them in the comments, I'd love to have a huge list by next January to arm all moms/dads for giveouts for school (or wherever)

I'm off to see Wicked tonight (my belated birthday gift from the hubs.) Have a great day everyone!

Mario Valentines

2009-02-11T05:57:00.000-08:00

As we did last year with our Dr Who Valentines (page 1 & page 2). We made up some Mario Bros. Valentines. We usually cut these out and then put them on a bag of microwave popcorn. Easy, everyone can use it, and fairly cute. If you want to use them go for it, click on the image and it will take you to my flickr site. Then you click on the "All Sizes" tab, and go to original size. Save it and print it. It should be about the size of a piece of paper. I used free desktop wallpapers to make them. Some of the sayings are awful! A couple we certainly won't be using for school, but my husband thought it was funny. Anyway, enjoy!

Row Robin Quilt Signups!!--CLOSED

2009-02-10T09:28:00.000-08:00

Sign-ups will be until Feb 28th 2009
Your first row with your Theme will be mailed out by April 1st 2009
We will be making a quilt row by row. You will have 6 weeks to finish each row. The first month you will make your own row. After that you will be adding a row to another member’s quilt each month. At the end you will have enough rows to put together a quilt. Each row will be made by a different member of the group (one by you.) The goal of this is to combine the skills of different quilters in different areas with different skill levels together to make one beautiful quilt for each of us. I want everyone in this swap to have fun and expand your creativity. The swap guidelines are specific to ensure that no one is disappointed in the end.

The Rules:
-Use only 100% quality cotton fabrics. Nothing with a loose weave and please pre-wash and press all fabrics.
-This is a commitment! This is a big swap, and no one wants to let anyone else down. Communication is key! If something happens let us know. We can always pass on the package to the next person, or come back to you. We understand, but don’t go missing, keep talking to us!
I would like every week to have some sort of communication. Either a picture on the flickr group, posting to the flickr group, or an email directly to me (faerydaydreams @ gmail.com). Something to let me know you are still with us.
-Each row should be unique. Try not to repeat what other rows have done. We want variety.
-Fabric & Rows must be placed in zip top bags. Please don’t use the slide zipper style bags as this adds quite a bit to shipping.
-Everyone must put a note/card in with their first row. On it should be the owner's name, email address, mail address, likes/dislikes. this will stay with the quilt rows the whole swap.
-Do not attach your row to the next row! This will be done by the quilt owner. They will be able to decide if they want sashing and what order they want the rows to be in
-Treat each quilt with respect, keeping it in a clean, dry and safe place.
-You will always pass the quilt to the next person on the list following your name. The last person always sends to the first person on the list.
-When you send you must email the organizer, owner, & person you’re sending it to.
When you receive you must email the organizer, owner, & person who sent it to you.
You must get delivery confirmation!
-Follow the Golden Rule of Quilting "work on another’s quilt like you would your own!"

Theme
We will be doing a mystery block row quilt. You will decide on a broad theme or colors for your quilt (ex: all purple, stars, Christmas, etc). The other swappers will decide on the blocks to use, thus the mystery!
Everyone must put a note/card in with their first row. On it should be the owner’s name, email address, mail address, likes/dislikes. Everyone will do their best to make a row they believe you will like. You should not try to dictate what is on your quilt. You can suggest or make requests, but they may not be followed exactly as you had hoped. Feel free to list colors/color schemes that you prefer. Feel free to give it a “theme,” but remember to keep it simple.
(Example 1: Colors- green, red, white, Dislike- orange, Theme- Christmas, Dislike- please no angels. [This is fairly detailed, but totally do-able by everyone]
Example 2: Colors- I only want red, teal, and yellow, Theme- I want only pinup girls in Cowgirl outfits. They all must have blond hair. [This would be really limiting, if you want a quilt like that, go for it, (I'd love to see it!) but this isn’t that type of swap])

Rows
You will make your own first row. That row will set the tone, colors, length, and orientation of the rows. We will make rows for a quilt that is either 48" to 60" long. You decide what the length of rows should be for your top. One swapper may want a top no larger than 48" and another swapper may need their top to be 60". (please note: these are 'finished' row lengths, a 60" top will actually measure 60.5" with the seam allowance etc)You may make your top Vertical or Horizontal. Do not attach your row to the previous row. Place your row in the bag with the other rows and pass it on to the next name on the list. The owner will decide what order they want the rows in and if they want to add any additional sashing, rows or borders.
You must make your rows to the length and orientation (vertical/horizontal) requested by the owner. All rows need to be between 5" & 16" wide (this is up to you.) Remember there will be a seam allowance, keep that in mind when you make your rows.
**Edited To Add- You will be supplying the fabric for each row that you make. You can use from stash and/or go buy, but please use fabric that the owner will like and use 100% cotton fabrics. If you have a fabric or two that you really would like the other rows to have you may include that when you mail your row. Put a note on your card that you would really like if they would be able to include that fabric in your row somehow.

Block Pattern & Size
You will decide each month which block pattern would be best for a quilt as it comes to you. All blocks in a row do not have to be the same pattern or even the same size. Blocks don’t have to be square. Please do not repeat blocks used in a previous row for that quilt. We want you to use your creativity and this is all part of the challenge. Be sure to use whole blocks … no half blocks, please. Keep with the theme of the quilt using your own fabric and any fabrics that may have been mailed. Traditional piecing, paper piecing, or finished applique, make the row special for the owner.

Mailing Information
The deadline to pass the quilt on will be either the 1st of the month or the 15th. The deadline to mail your first row and any theme / background fabrics is April 1st. If you finish a row early, then please send it on. When you mail out each package, please use a label and put the next person’s mailing address on the outside of the Ziploc bag that contains all the rows! If the package becomes damaged en route, then the postal people have a name and address to forward it to. *If you are mailing in the US please buy a tracking number. If you are mailing the rows to a different country than yours, please make sure the rows are sent airmail. Please be aware that there may be International swappers in your group. The earlier you can get the rows mailed if they are going out of the country the better. Do not mail your rows if you know the person you are mailing to has more than two sets of rows already, please contact your hostess for further information. Please post weekly, whenever you mail and receive a package of rows. Communication is vital to the success of this swap!

Mail dates for these rows will be;
April 1st (Your starter row)
May 15th
July 1st
August 15th
October 1st
November 15th

If you have any troubles, questions, or comments anytime during or before the swap, please ask, you probably aren't the only one. You can email me at faerydaydreams @ gmail (dot) com, or leave a comment here.

To Sign Up
Send me an email at faerydaydreams @ gmail.com (take the spaces away from around the @ symbol before sending.)In that email please include the following;
Real name
Mailing address (include zipcode & country)
email address
your flickr account (if you have one)
blog address (if you have one)
Do you mind sending outside of the USA ?
If you know already, what your color/theme preferences would be. (If you don't know yet that's ok)
Any questions or comments you may have, or anything else you want people to know

*There has been some interest from people outside the US, so I thought if enough people don't mind sending outside the States, we could include them. If not we'll do that on another round or maybe one group will have international senders and one won't.

PS. I am looking to have a button pic made up. If anyone is interested let me know!

Participants (so far)
Tab (Me)
Bobbi
Sudi-Laura
Harley
Melissa
Tracey
Valerie
Darlene
Carrie
Natasha
Lori
Angela
Robin
Marty
Margaret
Jessica
Dianne
Susan

Black Bean Soup 2 Ways

2009-02-03T09:33:00.000-08:00

This is my world famous Black Bean Soup... ok, I don’t know how famous it is, but I have a friend from Australia who loves it, he requests it every time he’s around. And he’s on the other side of the world. I also have a friend who told me she didn’t want baby gifts from me, she just wanted Black Bean Soup. My hubby and my boys love it and request it. So to me that says it’s pretty darn good.
It can be vegetarian quite easily. I use homemade Chicken stock, that’s what I prefer and I always have some in my freezer. You could just as easily use vegetable stock.
I don’t measure at all, so these are guesstimates. Start less, you can always add to taste.
Oh, and this makes a ton of soup, because it freezes like a dream!

Quick Way
2-3 Large Cans of Black Beans Drained & rinsed a bit
1 can refried beans (Vegetarian if you’re going that route)
1-2 boxes of Stock (Chicken or Vegetable) This is a preference thing. I like mine thicker, my kids like it thinner.
¼ cup dried minced onion
2 Tbsp Diced jalapeno or more if you like (use fresh, jarred, canned, whatever)
¼ cup chopped up red pepper (you could use from frozen)
~2 cloves of garlic minced (you can use the jar stuff)
cumin (I start with a good palm full)
~ 1-2 Tsp cayenne powder (depending on how hot you like it, that would be medium)
½ tsp chili powder
salt ( not much, canned beans tend to be salty, you can always add more)
Fresh Cilantro (I’m sorry I think this is a must & I use a ton!)
1 Tbsp Lime juice (optional I like it)
¼ cup Prepared Salsa/Pico (fresher the better though)

Optional Toppings
Fresh Cilantro
Sour Cream
Shredded Cheese
More Salsa
Tortilla Strips/Chips

Dump all of the ingredients in a big pot and cook on medium heat until it starts to bubble a bit, stirring occasionally. It should take about 20-30 minutes. Put in bowl, top if desired. Eat. Makes a ton, freeze extras if you want.

Cheaper Way
1-2 bags of dried black beans
1 can refried beans
8 cups or so of homemade stock (more if you like it thinner, less if you like it thicker)
¼ cup diced onion
¼ cup diced red pepper
2 jalapenos diced
2 cloves garlic minced
A palm full of dried cumin
1-2 Tsp Cayenne powder depending on how hot you like it
½ tsp chili powder
salt (Usually about 2-3 Tablespoons worth, but I don’t salt my stock or beans, so it needs it)
Fresh Cilantro (LOTS!)
Juice of 1 lime (optional, I like it, hubby not so much)
¼ cup salsa/pico (I use my recipe)

Optional Toppings
Fresh Cilantro
Sour Cream
Shredded Cheese
More Salsa
Tortilla Strips/Chips

In a huge slow cooker, soak beans night before according to package directions. In the morning drain and rinse (helps prevent a lot of excess gas.) Return beans to slow cooker. Saute onion and red pepper in a bit of butter/olive oil until tender. Add to slow cooker. Add everything except the cilantro and toppings. Cook all day on low (4 hours or so)
10 minutes before serving add cilantro. Cook for 10 min. Put in bowl, top as desired. Enjoy. Freeze leftovers if desired.

It’s a “wing it” recipe. Everyone has slightly different tastes, so some things are less appealing. Go with what your family likes.

Row Robin Quilt Swap Anyone?

2009-02-02T09:29:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to host a swap for awhile now, and I realize now is probably the best time.
First, I'm just going to throw out a line and see if anyone is interested. This isn't an official sign up! I simply want to know if there is enough interest out there to proceed.
I'm thinking of hosting a Row Robin Quilt Swap.
For those of you who don't know, (this was a new concept to me until recently,) You create a row up to 54" long (determined by the owner.) You would be allowed to use applique, piecing, etc... to create this row. Then you send what you made to the next person and they make a row for this quilt also. This continues through all of the participants. Then the quilt strips would be sent to the owner and she/he would piece them together and have a finished quilt top. I think there would be 5-6 people per quilt.
If you are having difficulties picturing what this would look like. Imagine some of the most beautiful row quilts. Here are a few I found online. Some were row robin swaps while others were done by a single person.
memaquilter's row robin quilt
Pat on the hill's row robin quilt
krommama's liberated row quilt
dianezirin's rowrowrow your quilt
cactuspatches christmas row quilt
stitchnagain's row quilt
These are just a few that I thought were quite lovely.
I know life happens, so I believe in generous craft times!
So, anyone interested?
If you are even a little interested please leave a comment on here. We only need 4-5 interested to do it!

***Edited to add, I think since this is my first non-affiliated swap to host (I've hosted tons on craftster,) and because of the style of swap this is, it will be a USA only swap. If I get a lot of interested from international parties, I may revisit this***

Bubby was on the RADIO!

2009-02-02T06:38:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited, my middle son, Liam, was on the local radio this morning singing with a few other kids. They were on the radio to promote the upcoming concert. He was so excited, and it was really neat to hear him.

Skeletons in my closet

2009-01-29T10:53:00.001-08:00

I've been working really hard on my spring cleaning. What's that you say? It's not spring? Well, spring is crazy busy around here, and honestly any time I actually get the urge to clean, I really have to go for it. Plus, I really wish it were spring! I would love for a whole week above 5F.

Anyway, back to my spring cleaning. My project of the week is our pantry closet. Our house really has no storage at all, including cupboards and closets. But we do have a pantry "room." Well, since we moved in while it was raining with no help from anyone (it was a busy weekend for everyone.) We ended up throwing a lot of miscellaneous stuff and boxes in that room, and never really got it cleaned out.

It has our extra freezer for all of my bulk cooking. It houses the less used/big cooking items (Nesco roaster, Griddle pan, Canning Jars, Baking Pans, etc..) and also our bulk buy items (toilet paper, Kleenex that we stock up on at before school sales, etc..) The shelving has much to be desired, but if it isn't cleaned out where will I add more shelves? So anyway, I have worked on that for the last 2 days. But I don't know where to put a few things.

Yep, you thought that title wasn't literal. Well it is. We have 2 adult (model) skeletons that we take out for Halloween and when people come over just to mess with them. Their names are Livy & Lars. They are about 5 1/2 feet tall. My husband set them in our pantry last year after Halloween. Which isn't working for me. But where do you put them? They can't take extreme heat or cold so it has to be somewhere inside. There is a hook on their heads, but that doesn't really help me. We don't have a heated/insulated garage so that's out. We don't have a basement really, so that's out. No attic. I'm afraid their ribs could break if I try shoving them under the bed. Not to mention what if God forbid something happens and people are cleaning out our house and stumble upon two skeletons. Boy, I'd love to see that. So if anyone has any thoughts I'd love to hear them.

We made pizzas last night. Are my kids the only ones who have to make everything a face?

Alright. DI again after school. Busy busy!

Children's Safety and Happiness

2009-01-29T05:48:00.000-08:00

**Quoted from the Etsy.com Blog-In Page**

As parents and concerned citizens I’m sure most of us at one time or another have been confronted with the question of lead poisoning. But have you asked yourself what your government is doing to protect your children from lead contained in toys? The answer? They're banning toys, taking books from schools and libraries, hurting low income families, killing entrepreneurial spirit and risking putting the economy in an even greater depression than we've seen in decades. I'd like to introduce you to their solution: the CPSIA.Do you know about the CPSIA? No? Then I ask you to take a few minutes to find out about it.The CPSIA stands for Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, a new set of laws that will come into effect on 10 February, 2009 and will impact many, many people in a negative way. Make no mistake, this is very real. View it for yourself. If Forbes, the American Library Association and numerous other media are paying attention, perhaps you should too. How will these new laws affect you? Well, here are a few examples:
To the Parents of Young Students:Due to the new law, expect to see the cost of school supplies sky rocket. While those paper clips weren't originally intended for your student to use, they will need to be tested now that your 11-year-old needs them for his school project. This law applies to any and all school supplies (textbooks, pencils, crayons, paper, etc.) being used by children under 12.
To the Avid Reader:Due to the new law, all children's books will be pulled from library and school shelves, as there is no exemption for them. That’s okay though, there's always television. Our children don’t need to learn the love of reading after all.Article from the American Library Association http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=1322
To the Lover of All Things Handmade:Due to the new law, you will now be given a cotton ball and an instruction manual so you can make it yourself since that blanket you originally had your eye on for $50 will now cost you around $1,000 after it's passed testing. It won't even be the one-of-a-kind blanket you were hoping for. Items are destroyed in the testing process making one-of-a-kind items virtually impossible. So that gorgeous hand-knit hat you bought your child this past winter won’t be available next winter.
To the Environmentalist:Due to the new law, all items in non-compliance will now be dumped into our already overflowing landfills. Imagine not just products from the small business owners, but the Big Box Stores as well. You can't sell it so you must toss it. Or be potentially sued for selling it. You can't even give them away. If you are caught, it is still a violation.
To the Second-Hand Shopper:Due to the new law, you will now need to spend $20 for that brand new pair of jeans for your 2-year old, rather than shop at the Goodwill for second hand. Many resale shops are eliminating children's items all together to avoid future lawsuits.
To the Entrepreneur:Due to this new law, you will be forced to adhere to strict testing of your unique products or discontinue to make and/or sell them. Small businesses will be likely to be unable to afford the cost of testing and be forced to close up shop. Due to the current economic state, you'll have to hope for the best when it comes to finding a new job in Corporate America.
To the Antique Toy Collector:Due to the new law, you'd better start buying now because it's all going to private collection and will no longer be available to purchase. “Because the new rules apply retroactively, toys and clothes already on the shelf will have to be thrown out if they aren't certified as safe.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123189645948879745.html
To the American Economy:Already struggling under an economy that hasn’t been this weak in decades, the American economy will be hit harder with the inevitable loss of jobs and revenues from suppliers, small businesses and consumers. The required testing is far too costly and restrictive for small businesses or individuals to undertake.
To the Worldwide Economy:Due to this new law, many foreign manufacturers have already pulled out of the US market. You can imagine the impact of this on their businesses. If you think this is exaggerating, here is a recent article from Forbes http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/16/cpsia-safety-toys-oped-cx_wo_0116olson.html
And for those of you prepared to be stupefied and boggled, The New Lawhttp://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html
Did you know? If this upsets or alarms you, please react.

Tostadas and Stuffed Jalapenos

2009-01-27T07:22:00.000-08:00

Last night's supper was so delicious! You know it's good when you can't wait until everything is done to start munching. We made tostadas and stuffed jalapenos.
The stuffed jalapenos recipe (did I mention they are wrapped in bacon!!) came from The Pioneer Woman Cooks blog. They were quite delicious, but I still think they were missing something. So I may have to make up another batch and fool with it a bit.
The tostadas were leftover beef roast, sauteed onion & red pepper, portabello mushrooms, refried beans, black olives, Monterrey jack cheese, Colby cheese (for the boys,) greens, & my homemade salsa. Unfortunately it was canned tomatoes, as I couldn't get my hands on enough fresh ones, but it is quite delicious. I don't really use a recipe, I totally wing it, and it's always a touch different every time, but I'll leave a guideline style recipe in case you're interested.

Fresh & Yummy Salsa

1 28oz can petite diced tomatoes; drained (I save the drainings for chili)

1-2 diced up jalapenos (if you like spicy leave in some seeds and veins, otherwise get rid of the seeds and veins)

1 small-medium onion diced (I prefer red usually, but I had a sweet onion and a red last night that I used)

Juice of one lime

salt (I use sea salt) & fresh crushed black pepper to taste

fresh cilantro (I use a good handful)

Dried cumin (I use about a big palm full)

Chili powder (not much, only about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon full)

Mix all together and let sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Eat

This salsa is perfect for chips or with tacos and such, but it doesn't always work very well in the casseroles that call for adding salsa. It's maybe more of a tomato filled pico than a salsa that you'd buy in the grocery stores in USA.

I hope you enjoy! I know we did!

Happy National Pie Day!!!

2009-01-23T03:33:00.001-08:00

Now I was going to go a little crazy, I know completely unlike me =)

I was going to make a quiche for breakfast, pot pies for lunch (the kids are home and we got Jo a day early!) and a Shepherd's Pie or Pizza Pies for Supper with pie for dessert.

First off, I think that is way too much crust for anyone in one day! So instead I think I will simply make one pie today. It's been so cold and it's supposed to get really cold again, I am wishing for spring. I have some leftover rhubarb in the freezer, so I think a delicious rhubarb pie sounds about right for today. The kids can help me bake it. And Tim hates rhubarb, so we may eat it after lunch! I'll probably make him an apple pie or something, he will be hard at work today, he should get some pie too!

How will you celebrate this joyous Pie Day?

Inauguration Celebration!

2009-01-21T15:55:00.000-08:00

I didn't mean to not mention this before. We of course celebrated the Inauguration of the President yesterday! After all Lore has been sure of this for 4+ years now. He has been his biggest supporter.

Here he is standing like the Statue of Liberty

We all had special "Patriotic Punch."

The globs are soaked tapioca. I soaked the red ones in cherry syrup I made (with added food coloring,) and the blue ones are with blueberry syrup I made (again with food coloring.) Then we added some 7up.

The kids took turns "Cheersing" each other and making toasts.

Levi's toast to the new Prez was something to the effect of "Keep loving comic books and get our Troops home soon and safe!"

Liam's was something about "making school go later in the day (he likes to sleep in) get the homeless homes"

Lore's was pretty much "I knew it!!! He rocks! I rock! We all rock!!!"

It was tons of fun.

Thrift Store Find!

2009-01-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

My mother-in-law loves to go thrift store shopping. I love going with her, but I really never find anything I like, to say anything about love. Yesterday was different! I adore milk glass with designs on it. I have a lovely Christmas punch set, that I have no idea who made. I should post it sometime maybe I'd get some information.... sorry, back to yesterday's find.
It's a Federal Glass Patio Snack Set. I have four cups and 4 plates. There is a lovely little groove for the cups to set in. The bottom is sort of "skid resistant". I love, love, LOVE it! I got it for $5 at Goodwill of all places. Now I want another set, so that I can have snack with my nieces. The boys adore it and wanted to use them right away. Unfortunately one of the plates has really old masking tape adhesive on it, and I had to soak it overnight with some oil. It came off no problem. So tonight I'll have to make a supper that will fit on these plates.

DI weekend

2009-01-19T11:43:00.000-08:00

We had our first Saturday meeting/practice this past weekend for DI. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very good, so many members were unable to attend. We had 3 out of 7. It was sad that not too many could come, but there is always the ability to do many things that are difficult to do with 1 adult and 7 2nd-3rd graders. I gave them a quick lesson in sewing on a sewing machine. We really weren't out to make anything special, so they cut out quick and dirty rectangles. But then they ended up making pencil pouches out of them.

We also always try to do at least one Instant Challenge type item. This week we did one from Think! . I love Think!, if you haven't checked it out and you have kids who like to do creative little challenges, you really need to check it out! This week's challenge was to give them a deck of playing cards and tell them to build a village. I gave them 10 minutes, (Instant Challenges always have time limitations,) and off they went. This is what they built.

Fave Children's Book

2009-01-15T10:35:00.000-08:00

I signed up for a mini quilt swap on flickr. The theme for this swap is favorite children's book. I'm supposed to create a little quilt based off of my favorite children's book. I love so many, I'm not sure which is my favorite. Usually I think, then I pick one, then I realize I should have picked a different one. I'm trying to think now, so when it comes time, I won't have to worry about picking one that is less than my fav.
Some that I remember growing up with;

Harry the Dirty Dog
Pokey Little Puppy
Goodnight Moon
On top of Spaghetti ( I cannot find the version I loved anywhere)
The Velveteen Rabbit

Some of the books that my children have loved/I loved reading to them;

Goodnight Moon
I spy books (one of many)
No David
The Spider & The Fly this is my absolute favorite retelling!
Where the Sidewalk Ends
How I Became A Pirate

I know there are tons more, but I'm drawing a blank. There are so many great ones out there. What were/are your favorite children's books?

Cold outside but warm inside

2009-01-15T09:18:00.000-08:00

We have a day off of school today. Not because of snow or slippery roads, but because it is crazy cold out there. About -40 with the windchill. Brrrrr! Luckily we knew last night that school was cancelled, so we were able to sleep in today. My eldest son decided to make us all omelets for breakfast

(What you don't see is the Mario Bros. fleece sleep pants he's wearing!)

Here is a picture of him with the omelet that he made for his youngest brother (the one who doesn't really want anything in his omelet, and he likes them slightly over cooked.) For the rest of us he makes them "garbage" style. Whatever is in the fridge. So this morning mine had polish sausage, red pepper, green onion, spinach & muenster cheese. Polish sausage in the morning was a bit of a surprise, but it was really quite good.

Right now he is upstairs practicing his French horn by playing the Mario Bros. theme song (which he is winging without sheet music.)

Some days having a preteen can be pretty darn awesome!

Yoyos!!

2009-01-14T08:42:00.000-08:00

I've been admiring little yoyo quilts for some time now. I have really enjoyed working on them in my free time. So here's a few red ones I made while my youngest was reading me his homework, (he has told me he doesn't want me watching him read, so I have to do something while he reads to me.)

I'm thinking possibly an upcoming giveaway soon.

Deep Freeze

2009-01-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

This is what it looks like outside my house. A lovely winter day right? The temperature is -8F and a windchill of -22F. This is supposed to be the beginning. The rest of the week is supposed to be much worse. I really dislike it when it's this cold. I don't like anyone driving for fear their cars will break down or they'll get into an accident and be stuck in this awful weather. I fear for the children walking to and from school and the children in buses.

I just want to hunker down with my family and ride out the rest of the week. Hot soup, hot chocolate, tea, a movie, some board games, and wait for this cold blast to pass us by. Unfortunately, that isn't going to happen. So I will worry.... I will try to make everything warm and cozy here at home so as soon as they come back they will be snuggled.

_______________________________________________

Someone I grew up with had a little baby girl Friday. She was a month premature, and had complications. She died in her parents' arms on Sunday afternoon. My thoughts and prayers are obviously with them, but it definitely made me pause, grab my babies, and let them know how much I love them.

(And then they wiped it off and gave me a look like I was crazy, but....)

Make sure you let the loved ones in your life know how much you love them.

Catch Up

2009-01-06T09:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know I went MIA for quite awhile, so I may post a few things I did while I was gone. Here is my son's 8th Birthday Cake from November. Ignore the goofy expression, he had friends there and really didn't want to take this picture. I told him we were taking pictures until he "gave me happy" and I guess this is what I get for it.

It's a funfetti style cake with marshmallow fondant. It wasn't hard to make, just took a long time.

Most importantly, he loved it!

2008

2009-01-05T10:53:00.000-08:00

A small peak into my crafty endeavors of 08.... let's see what 09 brings!

I thought I should go back a year and see what my goals were for the coming year.... now let's see how I did!?!

-Make all of my boys a mommy made quilt. well, I've started all of them
-Make a Christmas Tree Skirt and Stockings again, I've started all of them
-Make Tim things (especially a throw/quilt) I made him a checkbook cover does that count?
-Help Boys make a quilt for Grandma Wanda They kept changing their minds, so it didn't get done
-Make a window quilt (or more than one) Nope
-Help the boys make and publish a comic book We made them, we didn't get them published though
-Make dessert for the family at least 2 times a month I DID THIS ONE!!!
-Make our home more OURS (Paint Kitchen and Dinning Room, etc) Living room is painted, laundry room in process, and kitchen shelves are mine!
-Spend one WHOLE day with each of my kids individually, doing what THEY want. Stop and breathe more. YEP!
-Open an etsy shop I never seem to get enough "stock" to feel I am able to.
-Work cleaning and exercises into my daily routine. More of it yes, perfecting... not even close
-Embrace quiet Oh, I'm embracing and giving it a full on tongue kiss!
-Call my best friend at least once a month non-prompted! Every other month.... not quite up to what I had hoped, but closer.

So out of 13 goals I have 6 that I've done, 4 about half way, and the rest no. It could be worse.

2009 Goals

Finish a quilt for each of my boys
Form better cleaning habits
Open an etsy shop
Finish Stockings
Make this home even more ours

Yep that's it. Not much. Keep it simple and hopefully do-able.

I wish you all the best in the coming New Year!

Delayed... Rant

2009-01-05T06:02:00.000-08:00

First let me say, I really, really love my family! I know you can tell, there is a huge BUT coming, and you're right.
Our December is always crazy it's expected. We were really happy this year, because we were going to have the whole last week/first week of the year off, as a family, to do family fun stuff.
-Beginning of December I broke a tooth.... no dental insurance... expensive crown needed. Bummer.
-Right before Christmas break, my hubby's first 2 days off and we were hoping to get our stuff done while the kids still had school, the boys ended up having off because of the weather. No biggie, but unable to get stuff accomplished.
-Day before Christmas eve, plumber informs us we need a new toilet because my niece somehow managed to get a tweezers stuck in our toilet, and there was no way to get it out with out destroying the toilet. We tried. Expensive, and a pain.
-My brother and his family need help moving on the other side of the state. We help, but it cut deep into our family (immediate) time.
-We get back and our wall in our laundry room has decided to collapse....we had to fix it, and be without laundry for the rest of our vacation.
-The weather has been horrible both weeks. Too cold for the kids to go out and play. We've been getting on each others nerves instead of enjoying each other.
-Today I was hoping for a little peace and quiet, so I could come back to missing them..... well, they have a delay this morning because of weather.... THEY ARE STILL HERE!

Breathe

I know I love them, I know I will miss them when they do go off to school, but right now...... boy I hope the rest of this year is much smoother.

**Edit**
They have off all day!

New Doctor

2009-01-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

News just recently broke that the new, 11th Doctor, would be Matt Smith. I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed. I was really hoping this doctor would go in a new direction. I figured we would get our first black doctor, or maybe our first woman doctor. Our "youngest" wasn't enough "shake up" as I would have hoped for.

I know relatively nothing about him, so I don't mean to dismiss him quickly. I hope well for him, and will wait to watch with bated breath, but I can't help be a smidge disappointed.

Good luck Matt Smith, you fill big shoes!

Christmas Tree

2008-12-10T13:34:00.001-08:00

I know I've been missing for awhile, (sorry about that,) and I may go into why later, but I just wanted to post something besides that, so here is a pic of our Christmas tree.

This is a picture right after the kids decorated it. My compulsiveness wants me to even things out.... but I am fighting the urge. They love it, so I do too.

Good Morning New World

2008-11-05T06:35:00.001-08:00

Costumes

2008-11-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

We usually go nuts with costumes. This year we sort of took it easy.

Lore wanted to be the Doctor from Doctor Who, so I made his suit, he had his sonic screwdriver, he wore his shoes for trick or treating, but still had on his gym shoes in this picture. He wasn't cooperative at all, I call this "young doctor after a hard day of school on Gallifrey." I'm going to try to make him dress up and get a better pick, but I'm not going to hold my breath, he's been a little difficult to photograph lately.

Liam wanted to be Mario. We bought the bibs, had a red sweatshirt, we got some white stretch gloves and put little cartoon lines on them. I made the mustache out of interfacing, flannel, clear elastic and thread. I made the hat out of fleece.

Levi I don't even have pictures of (bad mommy!) but he recycled a simple black cloak and skellie mask and went as a reaper again.

Tim and I had plans to recycle one or our fav quickie costumes, that has never been photographed, but when we got them out of storage, there was a bit of mildew on it, so we scrapped that. I'm sure we'll resurrect them again, but I need to take it apart and see if it's able to be saved. So we went as Little House on the Whatever.... last minute we had it in the house from Ye Olde School House field trips and off we went. It was nice not being up until 3-4 am quick finishing it the night before. But we will have to up it next year.

Swaps Received

2008-10-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

I've received some lovely swaps lately, and thought I should quick share

My dishcloths from Kimtastic on craftster.org

My mini quilt from taylynnsbean on flickr

and this one I made for taylynnsbean on flickr the theme was "out of the box" mini quilts. I have always wanted to do hexes, but they seem so daunting on a big quilt. I have been obsessed with wanting a beehive lately, so they sort of went together. I really like this, and may have to make one for myself. The bee was hand embroidered.

Christmas Craft List

2008-10-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, I did this last year and it helped keep me on track to getting all the holiday gifts finished. I'd love to hear what you are all planning or have started crafting for the holidays that are coming quickly upon us.

"Baby" Cousin's Baby Girl
*Quilt

"Toddler" 1 niece, 1 nephew, 1 little cousins (1, 2, 1, )-
*will be making a fabric name book. or felt houses

"Little Girls" 2 nieces (4&5)-
*Tutus (Birthdays are right before Christmas)
*PJ Pants/Felt Houses
*I'd like to make them each their own personalized doll quilt
*Cranium Activity Books (Purchased)

"Bigger Girls" 2 nieces (11 & 8 )- Again not quite sure yet.
*PJs
*Cranium Activity Book (Purchased)
*a personalized doll quilt?

"My Boys" 3 boys (8, 9, & 12)-
*Stockings
*pj pants w/matching shirts
*?

husband (35)-
*Dr who underpants (I already started these, so he may get them for b-day instead, cuz they're cute)
*Dr. Who quilt?
*Checkbook Cover

"Old Ladies" Mother IN Law, Step MIL, Mother, Step Mother, 3 Grandmas, Aunt
*Basket With a crocheted dishtowel, embroidered tea towel, and homemade vanilla
*Pic of the kids

Dad, DIL, Grandpas-
*Not sure yet

teachers and crossing guards-
*Not sure yet

That's everyone I can think of. I'll update this as I think of or start other things.

Dishcloth swap sent

2008-09-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

I sent this out yesterday. I hope my partner gets this before she reads it, or it'll be a spoiler. I'm afraid I'll forget to post otherwise. I was fairly impressed with them, and I had so much fun making them!

The egg I winged. I had seen a flower version with a scrubbie in the middle and thought it would look cute as an egg. The pink one is another pink argyle one. The blue one I'm not even sure what I did. It was a wonky half double crochet thing I sort of came up with as I went.

Who took my pretty house?

2008-09-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been away alot, then home, then away some more? Then you're finally home for awhile, and you look around, and ask "Where is my house?" That's the state I'm currently in. My house seems to have imploded! I look around and there are dirty clothes, on the floor in front of the washer and drier. Papers and garbage strewn around the edges of the floors (especially in the mud room where the boys keep their backpacks.) Clean laundry sitting in baskets on the floor, cobwebs in the corners, and more. I had a bit of a panic attack the other day when I realized all of this. I was embarrassed to call this my home. I also have deadlines for swaps, costumes, birthday presents, and other things coming up too. So I figure I need to buckle down and schedule my time better, and whip this house into shape.

My Goal: (get it all done..... ok, not specific enough);
Have A Presentably Clean House By Halloween (oh, yes, it has gotten that bad!)

So I plan to start listing things (I'm a hopeless list maker by nature)
Monday- Clean front porch

Scrub the siding
~~Clean windows~~
~~Sweep cobwebs~~
~~Sweep Porch~~
~~Clean and prep door~~

I began this, but I have one HUGE problem, I can't get the siding clean! I've tried dishsoap, then I tried Softscrub, I've tried bleach water, nothing is working. We live near a fairly busy corner and we have (slightly off) white vinyl siding. The exhaust and dust stains the siding and it's been like that since we moved in. I can't get the porch white. So if any of you have any sure ways of getting this done I'd love to hear the ideas. Otherwise I'll just have to be happy with dirty porch walls, and move on until something else is figured out.

Tuesday- Paint

~~Paint front door red~~
Paint front room light fixture red and white
Paint metal breadbox red and white (again if I have time.)*Didn't have the right paint.

Wednesday- Craft/Costume Day

~~Wash & Dry Lore's fabric~~
Finish Mario Hat
~~Make Lore's Pants~~
~~Finish up Dishcloth Swap~~
Make Mario's Gloves

So that's my plan for the next 3 days. I hope I can get it all done. I have a longer schedule, but some things may have to be adjusted if other things don't get done.

Dishcloths!!

2008-09-17T10:50:00.001-07:00

Well, I have been trying to get some Holiday gifts started, or worked on, so I don't go crazy at the end of November. I joined a dishcloth swap to help get me motivated on making dishcloths for my family. My husband wanted to make homemade Vanilla, and he thought that would make a great gift. Since he was actually involved in gift decisions I figured I should go with it! So we have Vanilla steeping, and we are planning on pairing that with a dishcloth and a teatowel and/or pot holder for each major family. I think tomorrow I will try to post my list of gifts (it helped last year keep me on track) So anyway, here are the three dishcloths I've made so far in the last 2 days at soccer.

The two above are a modified version of an afghan square I got the pattern from here. I made it smaller and used a smaller hook. I had to take out a few rounds and such too.

And here is my tried and true favorite dishcloth pattern. The pattern comes from Cocoa Cream's Craft Closet I made it a bit smaller. Mine is about 8"X8" and I think the first chain was 27.

Bad Day With A Cherry On Top

2008-09-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, after school, Lore came running into the house, just bawling! He said he got stung by a bee in his nose, and it was still in there.

He was right. He had been riding his bike and a bee flew up his nose and stung him, and got stuck in there. We got the bee out, put some ice on it, luckily he doesn't react severely to bees. Then he shows me he broke his bike helmet (luckily not his head.) Then about 15 minutes later he tripped and banged his head on a glass case. All of this happened to my normally extremely coordinated child within 20 minutes. He was pretty defeated, he was supposed to go to his soccer game in about 30 more minutes, but he wasn't too sure of it, and honestly neither was I. But, I felt it was my motherly duty to try to pep him up. I looked at him and asked if his nose hurt, he said not really. I then said, that it's a good thing he got all of the bumps and stuff out of the way, now he would have the BEST GAME EVER! He seemed to like that idea and got excited again about soccer.

Now, we have had a rough soccer season, Liam's team has won 1 or 2 games, Liam scored a goal, we were pretty pleased even though they lost most of their games. Lore's team on the other hand only has 2 kids on it who have ever played soccer before, compared to the other teams who have 50% or more of their kids returning kids. Not only have they lost every game, they had never score.... not once. Now I know it's not about the winning, but no one likes to get their butts kicked EVERY game.

Yesterday, after having a quite troubling afternoon, my baby.... SCORED THE ONLY GOAL HIS TEAM HAS HAD ALL YEAR! He was thrilled, so was his team, and so were we. It was the first goal of the game... they did come back and beat us 5-1, but that one point sure meant a lot to us!

Here he is trying to play it so cool, but notice the blue and white band on his hand. That means he scored and can't until someone else does.

It was a very happy house last night!

Stuff I've Been Working On

2008-09-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, here's 2 of the things I've done recently. First is the tea towel for the tea towel tour. She requested our state or something that represents it and the year it was established. So here's what I did.

And here is the doll quilt I made for the Doll Quilt Swap I was in. She's received it, so I can show it now.

Terrible little blogger lately

2008-09-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I don't know why, just plenty to do around the real world that I've needed to be online far less.

I had a request for my pink cookie recipe and thought maybe others would care to have it also. It is super easy since it comes from a cake mix. Which also means you can adapt it simply by grabbing a different flavor cake mix.

1 box cake mix (above is strawberry, my favorite is chocolate, but try anything!)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

Mix, drop by a small scoop onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 375 F for 7-9 minutes or until puffed and almost no indentation remains when touched. Cool one minute on pan, remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack. Makes about 22-24 cookies

These make wonderful sandwich cookies. Above is filled with a delicious vanilla frosting I found here at the cupcake project I didn't have vanilla bean paste, so I just used my homemade vanilla extract instead, and I just winged it, I didn't measure. The cookies also taste great with icecream in the center!

Disclaimer: I know these cookies are not healthy or even the tastiest, but sometimes you need a quick and fairly yummy cookie. This is that recipe!

I have a few other things I hope to post soon, but I'm waiting for them to be received before I show pictures.

My current projects include another tea towel tour swap on craftster and Halloween costumes.

Lore is going to be the 10th Doctor from Doctor Who

Liam is going to be Mario

Levi is going to be Lego Indiana Jones

Yes, they all came up with their own ideas! I just have to make them happen.

Tim and I had a ton of ideas, but we haven't been able to lock one down, so it will more than likely be simple.

It's Quiet

2008-09-02T13:10:00.001-07:00

I can't believe summer has flown by so quickly. It is the first day of school today. It is crazy quiet here. It's a bit after 3 and I keep catching myself looking out the window thinking they will be here soon, but I shouldn't expect them for another 30 minutes....
Boy, when they are with me time flies, when they are gone it seems to crawl!

Away too long!

2008-08-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't belive it's been over a month since my last post. Life outside the internet just sort of got away from me. I should be posting a bit more regularly now that the kids are on their way back to school next week.

We took the last week to enjoy some time together (also we had some bugger of computer and internet problems.)

We went camping finally! Tim's been working so much he had a really hard time getting away, so we really needed this.

We took a train ride (new to all of us,) to Chicago and did some touristy things there. We visited the Sears Tower (have I mentioned to you all how afraid of heights I am?) We went to Navy Pier (Have I mentioned how deathly afraid of piers, bridges and heights I am?) We went to Shedd Aquarium (Have I mentioned I'm allergic to fish of all kinds and the trainer didn't wash her hand before shaking mine ?? Yep that sucked!) We went to the LEGO store, rode trolleys and took taxis. Lots of these were firsts for the boys, some were firsts for Tim and myself too. Overall it was a lovely trip, but I definitely realized how much I love home. It was far too loud in Chicago for me! The train ride was wonderful and we're trying to plan another one soon. I should have pictures when I find where the boys put their camera.

We are going camping again this weekend for Labor Day, then the kids are back to school.

Oh, I received my GORGEOUS Doll Quilt from the Doll Quilt Swap 4 on Flickr.

Here's my best closeup. SheltonDHW made it for me. She also sent along some yarn and a needle book and a lovely embroidered card. Pics of those are on my flickr, you can see the yarn a bit though.

What else have I been up to? Well, soccer has begun and hit us full force. 3-4 games a week, plus some practices. It's a town over, so that's a bit more running than we'd like, but the kids LOVE it, so that's what matters. And it's only through mid October.

That's about all I can think of right now. I'll have to go through things better, I know I'm forgetting something.

Quilt Giveaway

2008-07-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

No, not by me... I have been trying to think of a great giveaway, but I don't have the time to give away a whole quilt.... maybe a doll quilt.... we'll see, stay tuned.

But this is about a real quilt and a real giveaway! Old Red Barn Co, can you believe it? She's brilliant, and a little nuts I'm guessing. So Go Enter, and if you win you must name your first born after me.... or next pet..... or next sewing needle (we all name those right?) or.....

Baseball embroidery

2008-07-17T05:48:00.000-07:00

Here's the crayon tinted and embroidered one of Lore. The colors are off because it's early in the morning and hazy. I'll try to take another one later, but once the day starts that just always becomes less likely.

The waterbottle isn't as wonky as it looks on the picture either.

Now to make the rest of the doll quilt. Picking the colors may be difficult for me. I matched his clothes and such to what he actually wore, but those colors won't match my living room at all, so I want it to look nice on it's own, but match my living room. (Pink walls, light blue curtains with red white and pink in them.)

Free Musical Superhero Movie With Neil Patrick Harris

2008-07-16T11:41:00.001-07:00

Ok, just in case you are one of the 6 people (or more,) in the world that haven't heard of this, I thought I should post about it, because..... well, it's funny, it's a musical, and it's around for a short time free.

Go, Watch, Enjoy, Pass it on
PS. Not for kids

Clean up is done!

2008-07-16T06:42:00.000-07:00

I am so grateful that the flooding clean up is finally finished. The work isn't all done, but the cleanup and sanitizing is done. We didn't have anything too major here, but all of my family and friends within an hour radius had major damage. I'm so thankful that the clean up is done. The furnaces and water heaters have been installed, new washers and dryers are at their houses. People can go back to living fairly normally again. I'm sure it isn't that way for everyone, but around here things are returning to happiness.

Gifts For the Nieces

2008-07-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

We made a few gifts and were able to give them to the recipients this weekend.

First, you've seen me working on this, but it is finished. I wanted to keep it simple, and I think it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Here's the finished front. (I these this crazy early in the morning, so I know the color is a little funny.)

Here's a bit of a close up, and you can see a peak of the corner of the back, and my mild label.

We also made my nieces (the ones in the quilt above) a frog game. The boys had tons of fun making/helping with these. We took the idea from Mama Urchin's Lilypad Game. We also used the same Purl Bee Frogs and they worked excellent.

Just a simple zipper bag to keep it all in. I meant to add handles, but I made it quite late at night, and forgot, so..... ooops.

And also, something I forgot to post a picture of. My Levi was in a musical version of Treasure Island. He played Chief Pigaloo. He spoke Pig-Latin and ROCKED THE PART! I was so proud, and truly impressed!

Sketch #2

2008-07-09T04:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I fiddled around with the picture, and I took some suggestions, and this is my second try.

I got rid of much of the bench. Put in a bat and ball, and added his water bottle. What do you think?

Baseball- Embroidery

2008-07-08T07:15:00.000-07:00

To a point baseball has consumed our lives. Funny thing is, only one of my boys is playing this year. Lore loves baseball, he especially loves being catcher. I think all of that gear gives him a sense of power!

I love baseball too. Mine is far more selfish than it should be. Practices and games for kids around 7 years old, is a lot of waiting. Not a whole lot of action much of the time. But we're outside in the lovely fresh air just sitting... or not. I have a hard time sitting still. Especially as the controlling person I truly am inside. So I need something to distract me. In comes embroidery.

Oh, Embroidery, how I love thee!

My doodles (and the patterns of others,) look so lovely stitched out. Far better than mine do on paper!

I have been on a doll quilt kick, and I have another one in the works now. I will work on this as I watch my little Lore running, catching, batting, making sandcastles, leaping onto home then doing a pirouette because he made a run and all of the other fun things he does while playing baseball.

I am fairly happy with it, but I feel it is missing something. I tried a chain link fence, but it didn't look right, and it made it too busy. I was considering some birds or something flying/sitting above the bench. Any other suggestions?

PS The mohawk was much more difficult to draw than I had anticipated.

Picnic Quilt WIP

2008-07-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

I know I posted this before, but I am in a quilt square swap on craftster.org. We sent out our fabrics to everyone, they made a square and sent it back to us. (They are signing up for another round if you're interested.)

Anyway, here are the squares I've received so far.

I am planning on making a picnic quilt out of them. I can't decide what color sashing/borders/binding to do. My gut says white sashing, then blue border and red binding, but it's a picnic quilt, and I'm afraid the white sashing may be a bad idea. I'm open to suggestions. I also want to put something in the middle, but I'm not quite sure what. I don't want it too "picnic-y" but I think it needs something other than a plain pannel.

I really love it, the picture doesn't do it justice as I had to quick run out during a spot of sun, and before the rain cloud hit which was right behind the sunlight. I did get wet, but I wanted a sunny picture.

Thoughtful Friday

2008-07-05T10:09:00.001-07:00

“Throw your heart over the fence and the rest will follow”
Norman Vincent Peale

Playing with crayons and embroidery

2008-07-03T14:07:00.001-07:00

Right now I haven't had any time to get on my sewing machine, but I have had a bit of free time in cars, at parks and stuff like that, so I can bring along embroidery. I have been making my doll quilt for the doll quilt swap, I have also been making one for myself, and I have started one for my sister in law of my nieces. Although, I'm not sure if I like it. I don't know if it looks enough like the girls or not. The picture looked more like them, but the stitching didn't quite translate. Anyway, here's what I've been working on.

doll quilt swap with the scrappy border

The one for my sister in law. I don't know if it looks enough like the girls. I may just be being too hard on myself. (I do that sometimes)

The first kiss embroidery that's the same as the one I'm making for the doll quilt swap. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to send it, so I made one up for myself. I think I like the one for the swap better, so I think I will keep this one.

Thoughtful Friday

2008-06-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Conversation with a Kite
by Bobbi Katz

Come back, come back, my runaway kite!Come back and play with me!

I'm riding and gliding on whirl-away winds. I'm going somewhere. Can't you see?

Where are you going my beautiful kite,flying so high in the sky?

I'm going to visit the lost balloons that made little children cry.

When I hold your string, oh my magical kite,why do I feel the wind in my hand?

The wind is a taste of the sky, my young friend,that I gave to a child of the land.
____________________________________________

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Doll Quilt 4 Swap Preview

2008-06-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

I have been having lots of fun working on my swap doll quilt. I haven't been able to do any real sewing since the flooding, so this is what I've been still able to work on.

The picture is something I've been working on for quite awhile. I took inspiration from a few different pictures, but it was all totally drawn by me. It's supposed to look like my oldest son. I guess it's how I imagined his first kiss will be, and the girl is supposed to look like the girl I imagined it would be with, but it must not look too much like her because my son and my husband didn't recognize her, so I said I made her up. We'll see how psychic I am.

Anyway, I colored it in crayon, set it, then embroidered everything in brown with a backstitch.

I forgot my camera at friends' house, so it's a scan, hence the little ripples.

Funny Foods Contest

2008-06-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

The boys were super excited to hear about the Funny Foods Contest at The Crafty Crow. They started coming up with ideas immediately. We made our first one today for lunch. It's a Stromboli Snail.

They love stromboli and always request to make them, so I wasn't really surprised when they picked it for the contest.

Basically you take pizza dough and roll it out. Then you layer your favorite fillings, for this one they used pepperoni, onion, black olives, and cheese. Then they rolled it up jelly roll style. Placed it seam side down on a baking sheet and brushed it with milk so the outside gets nice and brown.

Baked it at 350 for 20 minutes.

Then it gets sliced.

To make it like a snail, they laid a sliced piece on a bed of "grass" lettuce. Baby carrot was used for the head, string cheese for the antennae, black olive bits for the eyes.

A cut piece of string cheese and pepperoni were used for the little mushroom.

I was really impressed with how well they did this. All I did was put it in and out of the oven, (there have been burnt hands, so they are a little leery of this.) They did everything else, including taking the pictures!

Weekend Fun

2008-06-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm very happy to report that all we did was blow our power supply, so my husband found and installed a new one and we are back in business!

The weather in Wisconsin has been weird, just like a lot of the Midwest right now. We were smack in the middle of everything that hit Wisconsin. We were unable to get to our house Thursday night because all of the cities between where we were and where we lived were completely flooded and you couldn't get south. (We were less than 30 minutes away.) Our boys were safe, but stuck at Grandma's, so we ended up bunking at friends' house on Thursday night. Friday we spent assessing damages and trying to find a route home that wasn't flooded out. We did and found, it wasn't too bad where we were, even though we received the second highest rain total of the area. All of the neighboring cities were flooded though, so we decided, this was the perfect time to go visit my brother and his family 4 hours away from the flooding.

We had a beautiful weekend, and I got to spend some wonderful relaxing time with my nieces, brother and sister-in-law. I actually miss them already. We'll see them again in 2 weeks though, and until then I can look at the pictures we took.

Ambrosia picking flowers

Clover sitting with a very furry uncle Tim

While I was unable to use my computer, I was invited to take part in Bella Dia's Thoughtful Friday. I thought that would be fun, so even though this isn't Friday, I took this picture on Friday, so I thought I could do a belated one.

Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination.
-Voltaire

computer go boom!

2008-06-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well, if you've been watching the news, you may have seen that the midwest has been hit with some nasty storms. We have been very blessed so far. Some flooding in the basement, some power outages, etc... many people have it far worse! My prayers go out to those who have lost their homes, family, lives in these storms. I almost feel bad whining because I know so many have it so much worse.

But I do want to let you know. My computer went boom. It has died. We are hoping that we can resurrect it with a new power supply, but we'll have to see. I unplugged it during the storm so it wouldn't get hit, and when we re-plugged it in after the storm passed, and then it went BOOM! Don't know what happened. Anyway, so there will probably not be too many posts as I have to use hubby's computer late at night. And it's awkward. And he hates when I empty my camera on here, so there probably won't be tons of pics. Sorry. Hopefully this will be fixed soon!

Gloomy

2008-06-04T08:26:00.001-07:00

A toad Lore found, he wanted to keep it, but I told him I'd take a picture and put it online, then he agreed to set it free.

It's pretty gloomy here today. It's been rainy and chilly. I really wanted to hang my sheets on the line outside today, but it's just not going to happen. That always cheers me up. The boys have one day left of school. We have big plans for Friday and Saturday as Tim will be working Friday and with his dad at a tractor pull on Saturday. (I just can't get into those!) So we'll be working on his father's day present which I was really hoping would be done by now. I can't complain, the reason it isn't done is because Tim's been around more than usual. That certainly isn't a bad thing.

I was tagged, and I don't usually do these, but I thought... what the heck;

-What time did you wake up today? 5:30am
-Natural Haircolor? It's been so long.... no it's dark brown, but I have TONS of grey from having really high fevers.
-Latest movie seen in a movie theater? IronMan & Indiana Jones (same day)
-Favorite TV series? Super Nova, Japanese Gameshows, Docto Who

-How many times have you moved in your life? 14

-What did you have for breakfast? A piece of Wasa bread with veg cream cheese and a hard boiled egg
-What's your middle name? Lynn
-Favorite food? brownies, a really good salad, pasta with grilled vegetables (depends on my mood)
-Which food don't you like? peanut butter (except in cookies) and I really dislike coffee in any way shape or form especially the smell
-Picture on your Calendar? I don't have a picture on my calendar, I need the space for writting.
-What's your favorite CD at the moment? the newer hairspray soundtrack (I don't really listen to cds, more like individual songs, so this is the only cd that I've listened to lately.)
-What car do you drive? I don't.
-Favorite sandwich? Ice cream sandwich
-Which human traits can't you stand? intolerance, ignorance, and dishonesty
-Favorite family vacation? Camping with hubby and the kids.
-What are your favorite clothes? camo yoga pants, tshirt, and flip flops.
-Favorite scent? onions & garlic in butter.... or lavendar
-If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? I don't know I'm fairly content here. Lazy vacation in Hawaii, otherwise for enjoyment somewhere in the UK or Australia
-Where would you like to retire? I'm only 30.... ok, maybe a nice big plot of land here in Wisconsin.
-Favorite time of day? 10am it's always quiet and peaceful at that time here (so don't start calling at that time =) )
-Where were you born? Central Wisconsin USA
-Which is your favorite sport to watch? kids soccer in person on tv- Japanese game shows
-Your most annoying habit? I'm terribly unorganized, but I'm a psychotic list maker. So people find millions of lists I've made everywhere, but I can't find any of them, so I keep making more of the same subject.
-Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi if I have to pick I don't drink either.
-Soccer or hockey? Soccer!
-Are you a morning person or a night owl? Neither any more, but more often a night owl.
-Pedicure or manicure? Manicure if I have to pick
-What's something we don't know? My neighbor keeps stealing my rhubarb and strawberries.
-What did you want to become as a child? Astronaut -until the Challenger Exploded, Fashion designer until I realized I couldn't put TAB on the label because of trademark laws, Graphic/commercial artist (still occasionally think about it.)
-Best childhood memory? Sitting in my backyard between the lilac bushes, it was quiet and no one ever found me. I could do whatever I wanted there. (This was before I became horribly allergic to lilacs.
-Biggest phobia? Heights & bridges are probably my biggest.
-Ever rolled anybody in toilet paper? Yep
-Have you ever been in a car accident? Lots, probably one reason I have no interest in driving.
-Favorite day of the week? Saturday, we are all together as a family.
-Favorite flower? daisy, daffodil, peonies
-Favorite - Hot dog or Chinese food? Chinese Buddha's delight or Combination vegetable plate with an egg roll and half a bowl of hot and sour soup mixed with half a bowl of egg drop soup or Won ton soup
-Do you own a bike? Yes, but I am desperately searching for another one that's perfect.
-What color is your house? Off-White, but it will hopefully be dark grey by fall.
-Who was you latest e-mail from? My sister-in-law asking about text spam she's been getting.
-Where would you like to shop more if you could afford to? Realty section for land in the country that we could build our dream green home
-Normal bed time? 11pm usually
-Latest person to share dinner with? Tim and the kids like almost every night.
-Favorite type of jewelry? I really never wear any, including my wedding rings, if I had to pick one it would be the odd necklace on occasion.
-What are you up to now? I'm doing laundry, writing this post and debating if I will get up the ambition to stencil/print/paint an Obama shirt for Lore tomorrow. He's been asking and I forgot, but I don't know if I'll have time.
-Favorite color? White with Red, pink, and light blue
-How many tattoos? None, simply because I keep changing my mind at what I want.

If you would like to do this, consider yourself tagged.

Winding down

2008-06-01T04:48:00.000-07:00

The school year is winding down right now. There is less than a week left. I have had a field trip to chaperone every week for the last month or so. It's quite fun to see the different ages interact. Quite a difference 2 years can make between what friendships entail and how important some things are.
On Friday we had our talent show. Honestly I barely even knew we had a talent show. There'd be a little blurb in some newsletter saying it's coming up, but never anything after that. Well, this year my little Lore decided he MUST be in the talent show. The conversation went something like this;
L: Mom, I have to be in the talent show, what's my talent?
M: Honey you have lots of talents, I'm not sure what you'd like to show off in front of the school though. There's singing, dancing, you are pretty good at the splits and cartwheels, you could somehow work those into an act.
L: No, I don't want to sing, or dance, and the whole school has already seen me do the splits. I am a great arm farter!
M: Yes, you are quite good at arm farting, I'm not sure the teachers want to hear you arm fart for 3 minutes though.
L: Yeah, they get weird about that. Maybe I could do something with my brothers.
M: That could be fun, it'll have to be something they like too though.
L: Well, then it'll have to be a comedy act, they probably are afraid that someone will laugh at them, but they can't get upset if someone laughs if it's a comedy right!?!

Oh, 7 year olds can be so wise! That was about a month and a half ago. They narrowed some things down, and came up with an act. Tried out, got in. I made them hats. They practiced, and it was performed on Friday. Here's what they did.

The shakiness on the camera is from me laughing. The woman next to me was literally in tears laughing so hard, I couldn't stop laughing myself.
I made the hats out of a thin lining fabric, so they could see through them. It has wire for the brim and the top to hold it's shape. Levi changed how he wanted his hands, that's why his eyes are covered too much.
They did such a great job, I am so proud of them. And they are sort of rock stars at school right now.

Rainbow cupcakes

2008-05-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

Well, baseball is off and running! Quite literally really. We are a little village, and so our village and 2 others combine to form one baseball league. So we play and practice in all different villages. Each week is in a different village. So it's quite a run to most games.

Today is my day to bring our little sluggers some baseball snacks for after the game.

Initially I wanted something healthy and wonderful for their depleted bodies after a hard game, but my son out voted me. (Did I mention he's 7?) He wanted cupcakes and gatorade. Well, he won. So here is what I made for the cupcakes.

Here's the inside.

I omitted the yellow, and sort of regret it. But they're still cute. They also sort of match my son's personality. Oh, did I forget to show you his latest look?

Yes, that's a red mohawk! It's his annual haircut, but we upped it with a bit of red this year.

Also, I forgot to post my returned tea towel. I think it still needs something up in the left corner. So I'll have to think about that a bit.

Older Kids Craft Projects?

2008-05-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a pot my Liam made for our gerbil Yar to play in. I need to get the glaze specs from the teacher first, but he's super excited. You can't see it, but there is a little hole for the gerbil to run in and out of.

I have never really had a hard time coming up with crafts for my kids to do. Lately they are getting older (ok, not lately, they've always been getting older, however, I'm just starting to come to terms with it.)
Now, though, they are wanting to do more crafts that involve older stuff and more independence. Crocheting is something that they enjoy, but when they haven't picked it up in awhile I have to be right there talking them through it.
They love to embroider, but 2 of the 3 need me to re thread their needles every few minutes (I am going to get some of those self threading needles if I could just remember next time I go to the store.)
They use the sewing machine, but again, I still pretty much need to be right there. My oldest is the biggest lead foot when it comes to sewing (I really hope that isn't a premonition of the future car driving......)
They want something where mom doesn't have to be there. And honestly I do too. So often they pick during supper making time to want to craft. They have lots of free time then... I do not.
I absolutely love BellaDia's website The Crafty Crow and we have made some of the things on there, and have a few plans for others. But those are mainly for younger kids. As are most websites like that, that I find.
Does anyone know of one for older kids?
Right now the boys are hard at work on Tim's Father's day present. If it works out, it's going to be awesome! They just need to get done writing a bit faster I'm afraid. Otherwise the book won't be published on time. (Yes, I know that's a tease, but I can't give more away, my husband does sometimes read this.)
But summer is coming soon, and I don't want to run out of totally fun stuff for them to do. I also don't think I can handle more origami! Some of the things we already have planned for this summer are;

tie dying (it's tradition)
the boys are making a quilt for one of the grandmas

freezer paper stenciling

painting rocks (we're in the process of a little rock area in the front, so they want to paint rocks to put in it.)

Making stepping stones

Friendship bracelets

Perler beads

Just to remind you (if you don't normally read this especially, my boys are 7, 9, and 11)

Any suggestions on crafts or sites to visit would be greatly appreciated!

Another Square finished

2008-05-14T06:58:00.000-07:00

I have another quilt square finished.

Quilt Square Swap

2008-05-08T06:01:00.000-07:00

I am participating in a quilt square swap on craftster. The details of this swap are we send our fabrics out to 12 different people. They do the same. Every person makes one square for each participant out of their own fabrics, so we'll have a cohesive quilt when it's finished. I sent some blues, whites, and reds, and a little mixed color fabrics. I am hoping to make a picnic blanket with mine. Here are some of the squares I have finished already.

mimw- this is for a man

critterpants- I really like the simplicity of this square.

Teachers

2008-05-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

They are so wonderful, and so under appreciated. With DI ending, I received some lovely cards and even a very unexpected gift. They just lifted my heart, and made all of the times, I was exhausted and came home grumbling go away, and I'm now excited about next year again.
This in turn got me realizing that school's end is coming upon us at an alarming rate. Every year we always get/make something for the boys' teachers and include a note/card stating our appreciation. Usually the boys come up with the idea, well this year they haven't had any wonderful brain storms yet, but I thought I would compile a list of things we've done in the past for teachers, teacher aids, Sunday school teachers, coaches, etc... I thought maybe it would help some of you that may be in a similar situation.
As always the more you know about the teacher the more personal you can make these gifts. Also, if it's supplies you want to purchase, ask the teacher, she/he may have a wishlist.

Gift Certificates- The old tried and true. You can get anything from a nice dinner out to school supplies, I know many people do Starbucks (we may be one of the few places on Earth without a Starbucks near us.) One of my favorites is a Gift Certificate for Haagen Dazs Ice Cream. They are $4 plus shipping and they can go get a container of yummy ice cream.
Personalized Pen/Pencil/Post-Its/Stamp- These are really wonderful for the teachers and they can always use more of them. For pencils I usually go through oriental trading company. They also make nice gifts for kids. Teacher's love them because if a child borrows a pencil, they know who to return it to. Post-Its I get through here because I don't have to order in a huge bulk. They also have rubber stamps.
Sharpies- In my house Sharpies make the world go round. I have never spoken to a teacher who couldn't use more sharpies!
Plant/Flowers- If someone gardens or loves plants, a nice potted plant is wonderful. If they don't garden, I think even some men enjoy getting a bouquet of flowers on occasion! Your child could paint/decorate the vase/pot to make it more personalized.
Donate a book/CD/Game to the class- Usually we do this around Christmas, so that our children can also enjoy them and see them being used, but at the end of the year would also be a nice addition.
Scrapbook/project book- If you are great with scrap booking or you took lots of pictures while helping out in class make a nice little scrapbook (at home or online published) for the teacher with captions as to what everything is. Also, one particular teacher in my sons' school always writes a book to be submitted into a contest every year. We have gotten runner up both years that my 2 oldest were in her class. I took the story and got it published into 2 real hard cover books. One for her to keep at home, and one for her classroom. She loved it so much!
Notebook holder- I made these for Christmas this year. I have also seen patterns for them. I winged mine, but this is a lovely looking pattern by Pink Chalk Studios. Your child can pick out the fabric that their teacher will like.
Ice Cream Ball- My sons would never forgive me if I didn't mention this one. My sons had teachers who loved to go camping with their families. And this is one of our favorite things, so they thought their teachers would love them too. We got notes during the summer from BOTH of them saying how much fun they had making icecream. They knew that those were definitely winner gifts!
Throw Pillow- We made these last year by embroidering a picture the child had drawn of them with their teacher. They picked out fabric and helped sew the whole thing together. These were a huge hit.
Baked Treats- Who doesn't love something homemade and sweet!?! Cake in a jar is what my boys are making grandmas for mother's day, but these would be great for teacher gifts too, especially male teachers! But bars, cookies, sweetbreads, etc... would all be wonderfully received. We made delicious banana bread one year and gave it to all of the teacher's aides and secretary, etc... They loved it!
Travel Kleenex/Tissue Holder- I have made these for family, but they would go over well teachers too I would think. There is a lovely tutorial here.
Pencil or cosmetic case- Filled with things or empty, who can't use a zip pouch? They are easy enough for older kids to make, younger may need some help, even the youngest child can pick out fabric. There are many tutorials online here are just a few 1, 2, 3, 4 all a little different, but all quite easy. Personalize as little or as much as you want.
Grocery tote- With everyone trying to be more green/ecofriendly my kids really like to give as gifts filled grocery totes. But they wouldn't have to be filled. A grocery tote is quite wonderful. There are tutorials to make them. Here is a whole list of different grocery tote tutorials. Or you can purchase them. Some of my favorites to purchase are ACME Workhorse and Envirosax because of how small they fold up.
Waterbottle- This is near and dear to me. It sickens me as to how many water bottles are gone through. I carry my trusty SIGG bottles with me everywhere I go. There are SIGG and Klean Kanteen, I like both. Others may like different brands, but these are my personal favorites.

Well, that's all I have for now, I'd love to hear any of your wonderful ideas. To me even if you get nothing (which is absolutely ok!) I think it is very important that a hand written note from the parents, and from the student thanking the teacher be sent to school.

Swaps and more sickies

2008-05-01T11:07:00.001-07:00

Ok, first sickies. This has been a rough winter with sickies here.Tim and I have seemed to have gotten the worst of it. I think I may have had a nasty allergic reaction, but exactly to what we aren't sure. I swelled up like a balloon and had a hard time breathing. Things are looking better now, but I really still don't feel like myself yet.

On a much more positive note. I have been finishing up swaps. I mentioned a gnome swap earlier, well, Canadian post has come through, and it was received. Here's my not so great quality pic that I quick snapped before sending it.

It's an embroidered gnome corduroy messenger bag that I made for my male swap partner. I got the image from a David the Gnome coloring page that I modified a bit. I also carved him a rubber stamp, and I made him a shrinky dink bookmark. Those are all pictured. The one item I made that isn't pictured is a zip pouch. I completely forgot to snap a pic of it. But it's coordinating corduroy.

I also finished up my lunchbox swap from Oh Fransson. My partner hasn't received (that I know of) yet, but it's a blind swap, so she won't know it's hers anyway. So I may as well post it right!

Made with Oh Fransson's Vintage Pillow case pattern out of Moda's Swell fabric and a satin bow. I used Insulbrite batting. I made my own place mat and a little napkin tucked in the pocket. I am quite happy with how it turned out.

Our Weekend

2008-04-21T11:24:00.001-07:00

We had lots of fun this weekend. Liam competed at State for DI. He did really well. His team faced a lot of problems during their competition, but you wouldn't have known it by watching them. I'm very very proud of them.

Here they are with their team manager in the middle. They are a bit goofy because they just finished their Instant Challenge and were pretty much done with the brain work for the day.

They didn't finish in the top 3 so they won't be advancing to globals, but they did so brilliantly. I am hoping to find out the overall place tonight.

On Saturday we were lucky enough that all of the cousins on my side were able to come watch Liam and see us. We had a lovely time at the park together after lunch and before the awards ceremony.

Here is a very rare picture. They are all together, all relatively happy, and all looking in the same direction.

After the awards ceremony on Saturday, the boys and us spent the night at a hotel, where they got wet and wild and had a really fun time. On our way home the next day we stopped at one of our favorite parks in Oshkosh and had lots of fun by the beach.

It was a wonderful way to end a perfect weekend!

Sweet things for the road

2008-04-21T06:09:00.000-07:00

**I thought I posted this on Friday on our way out, but I must have closed before it saved, so this is Friday's post =) **

We have been super busy with Di preparations. We go off to the state competition this weekend. Everyone is quite excited. I made some mini eclairs for the team and their families. They are so easy to make, and oh, so yummy!!

Do you notice the empty spot in my pretty cupcake courier? That would be my husband snitching one before we leave!

Favorite Mama EVER!

2008-04-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

Again, this blog isn't political, and I certainly don't endorse any particular candidate. Having said that, Lore's adoration for Obama is unyielding. I found this site and printed (cut and folded) out an Obama for Lore to play with. It was waiting for him when he got home from school. He came in, normal.
"Hey Mom, can I have a snack?"
I reply, "Sure, oh, hey I have something for you today, it's on the printer."
Lore grabs a snack wanders over to the printer, DROPS his cookie onto the printer top (it's ok, it's sort of a catchall at times anyway.) And picks up Senator Obama, cradles him in his hands, and asks, "is this for me?"
I say "Yep, I thought you might like him" He runs over to me, gives me a huge waist hug and, I think, with a tear in his eye exclaims "You are the most best, favoritest mama EVER!"

Yep, let's hear it.... AWWWWWW! His huge 7 year old heart was so full!

He then proceeded to go show his brothers who were upset because I didn't have a new tagboard folded toy for them. So we had to go to Custom Paper Toys and The Toy Maker sites and make something from there.

Paper toys never last terribly long in our house. And I honestly feel quite guilty sometimes printing them out, wasting paper, etc... but the joy it brings them is quite amazing. Plus some of their favorites do get saved in a place of honor on the shelves in their rooms.

Here's a bunch of other paper folding toys sites that snuffykin has already compiled link. Via

Tea Towel Tour (are you sick of it yet?)

2008-04-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

I have been quite busy, but most of the things I've been working on have been for swaps, so I don't want to post here until it is received. So those pictures are coming soon.

I did finish the next towel on the tour.

Parts of her I love other parts, I probably would change if I had more time. Overall she looks like old tattoos which was the goal.

A Chuck in your Chair Dear?

2008-04-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

*** LONG RANTY EXPLAINATION AHEAD***

This is really only for my own amusement. We currently have a woodchuck residing in our basement. We have a dirt floor basement, and honestly never go down there unless there's a tornado warning. It serves it's purpose. Well, it seems like last fall sometime we must have had someone decide it was a pretty nice place to stay and he moved in. We have a huge mound in our basement where he must have decided to build his den.

We can not get rid of this thing. We have done tons of research, we have a trap with all of their supposed favorite foods, etc... It won't come near it. We're stumped and probably going to have to call a professional. We have a lovely place picked out for him to roam free, if he would just get his butt in the cage!

Well, he's sort of the bane of my husband's existence at the moment, he's taking this extremely too personally. So last night, I joked that the woodchuck and I just sit around laughing at him, (my husband,) all day while he's at work. I was given sort of a "very funny" glare. Well, that's when my mind was trying to figure this out. I executed it in about 5 minutes including my snapping a picture and finding one of a woodchuck. So it's mediocre at best, but I'm sure hubby will get a chuckle out of it. I know the boys will!

That is my husband's fav chair, with his fav (horrible) blanket.

The explaination on the wall is, since we moved in that wall needs to be torn down and put up drywall. I was trying to force husband's hand at getting it done and had the boys paint whatever they wanted on the wall next to Tim's chair. Well, it's been there for 2 years now, it obviously didn't work. It will be painted over later this spring or summer.

Tea Towel Tour

2008-03-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

I finished another towel today. I did Bluesparkie's towel and her theme was fallen women and mushrooms. So this is what I came up with.

Also, I'm very happy to announce that a secret has been unveiled. Jenny of Sublime Stitching had begun the Tea Towel Tour in an attempt to received feedback on a new towel she was developing. Well the original disappeared during the tour and hasn't been found. So a few of us on Craftster.org got together to make her a replacement. Well, it is finally competed and it has been delivered to Jenny. So we are not keeping it a secret any longer. Here's a link to pictures of the towel being given to Jenny. Here's a picture of just the thing I embroidered.

SPRING

2008-03-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

FOUND

SPRING!!!

Happy International Waffle Day!

2008-03-25T08:44:00.001-07:00

Yep, that's right! It's International Waffle Day!
I unfortunately don't have a waffle iron, or even frozen waffles, so the boys and I are trudging in the freshly falling snow (yep, more snow) across the street to enjoy a waffle cone ice cream!

Easter

2008-03-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend, and those who celebrate had a wonderful Easter. My boys were absolutely spoiled. We had 4 Easter celebrations to go to which unfortunately means that my family's really misses out. We had a little bunny search at 6 in the morning on Easter Sunday. I make my husband and children hop around the house looking for their things. It's quite entertaining, and they don't bug me while I finish getting ready for church.

I teased this in the last post, I made my nieces "Snuggle bunnies" for easter. I then also gave them 2 Smencils each. The boys are selling them for a fundraiser at school, and I thought they'd be fun. I gave Clover a hat instead of the Smencils as she's a bit young for writting. The girls all loved the bunnies and the Smencils. Clover especially loved the bunny, she definitely got the point of them being called "Snuggle bunnies". I wish I would have had my camera that day. She was just loving it up! Here they are all finished.

And because my niece Jo insists on getting her picture taken, and posing in this exact pose. I figured I'd induldge. So here's Jo after she suckered Grandpa into buying her every Easter accessory possible.

Spring?

2008-03-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but this doesn't look like "Happy Spring" to me.

This is the view out the front of my house. We hardly had any snow left. Now we're supposed to get up to 9 inches!

The kids are excited because they think it will be much easier to find footprints and brightly colored eggs tomorrow and Sunday. I think they may be right.

I know I haven't been posting many projects, it's been busy, but don't worry, I'm taking advantage of the yucky weather. Can you tell what I'm making?

I'm hoping I'll have a chance to finish these, and start on an Easter skirt for me.

The boys and I were supposed to decorate eggs today. (Tim really dislikes this,) but they decided to go with Daddy to work (seriously the most boring place in the world to me, but they love it.) So we'll have to do that tonight. We have an early Easter breakfast in the morning, another Easter celebration at noontime. Then we have 2 more on Sunday. So it's a go-go-go weekend again for us. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter if you celebrate, and I certainly hope it looks more like spring for you than it does for me!