Good day so far.

Little shopping with my mom. A nice day outside. New fabrics. Great day so far.

Effort

The weather lately has been pretty screwy. One day it's freezing cold, the next it's 65 degrees. So we've been taking advantage of all the nice days whenever we get a chance between all the homework, school, swim lessons, CCD, and shop days. It's nice just to stop for 20 minutes and soak up some sun.

Still trying to figure out how to balance everything this semester. Really trying to spend more quality one-on-one time with the kids without a screen in front of us, trying to keep the house cleaner, finish some of these craft projects I've started, recycle more, get at least 20 minutes of exercise everyday, and eat a cleaner diet all while trying to keep up with school work....and decrease our overall stress. Good idea, huh.







 

Yes. It looks disgusting. It was my lunch today and it was actually very very tasty. 2 handfuls of spinach salad, an apple, an orange, and a handful of fresh parsley. Yea it looks odd to drink something that color, but it's no different than eating a salad and fruit, but I really don't enjoy salads that much unless I have ranch dressing like a lot of people. The sweetness of the fruit and parsley make it completely yummy to eat without ranch and easier for me at least to get all the yummy nutrients from the foods. I had the shake and a cheese stick 2 hours ago, ran 2 miles, and I still feel full. So that's a good thing. Green and clean. I watch the movie Healthy for Change the other day on Netflix and it has really gotten me thinking about what we eat and what I gives my kids. For example, the cereal Total has a cereal called Blueberry Pomegranate. Sounds really healthy, but there are no blueberries in it at all. There ARE chemically enhanced blue nuggets that taste like blueberries, but really it's just laboratory created food. So yesterday I went to the store and did my best to buy items that only had ONE ingredient in the label. Almonds. done. Dried cranberries. Honey. One freakin item on the list and I can pronounce it. Sounds good to me. Stepping off the soapbox.

The frames are coming along. The first colors I had picked out really ticked me off because they looked good in the tube but as soon as I had all the frames painted they were fugly. They laid downstairs on the tarp for a long time and every time I passed by them I just sneered and sent them the hate in my soul. Then I repainted them. Brightened the green and changed the yellow from mustard puke to daisy flower. Changed one choral to hot pink and one to gray and left the third one. What a difference. Now I'm just waiting for pictures of my mom and dad and in-laws to finish it up.

That is me at my Grandma's farm in Iowa.

Little Tim. Payton was so confused by this one. It looked like him, but he couldn't remember getting a fish that big. No Payt that's daddy.

My Mother-in-law is the youngest one in this pic. She was 13 brothers and sisters!

My older sister and I with Grandad. It's been really nice getting these pics together. See kids....mom and dad were little too.

Bad Blogger.

I know. I have been such a bad little blogger. I would like to say that I've been too busy with being an outstanding mother, wife, house cleaner, student, community activist, saver of dolphins, and marathoner to worry about a trivial thing like blogging, but my number of pins on pinterest and my search rate on youtube would suggest otherwise. I have been a good little student. I'm 3/4 of the way done with nursing school and a couple days away from the start of my last semester. I've also been a good wife and mom (most days). It's just been harder and harder to sit and commit to forming an idea and making it beautiful on a computer screen. But the thing I really like about blogging is that it kind of keeps me on track in being the person I'd really like to be. My perfect day does involve a little bit of kid time, a little craft time, a little kitchen time, and a little me time. I don't know. It just seems like when you have the "pressure" of a weekly little blog, you end up trying to do something during that week that's actually blog worthy.

So I'm jumping back in. First of all, I had a very frustrating day the other day. Technology is really starting to bum me out. My kids are becoming very screen dependent. Payton is a little addicted to YouTube in the morning...it's like his morning cup of coffee. I hangs out in his pj's and plugs into the train crossings on YouTube first thing in the morning. The girls seem to "need" iPod's and iPhone's to survive even the shortest of car trips. So this last Friday we went back to the basics.  No screens.  Instead....

  Donuts.

  http://www.krissys-creations.com/2011/06/baked-doughnuts.html
This is the recipe we use for our donuts. I'd prefer a Dillons donut, but the kids had been sick all week so we were basically quarantined.

Donuts and crafts. Simple enough. Scribble on the paper, cut it into squares and glue it back in a different order. Simple. Sometimes when I think of craft time with the kids, my mind becomes like a sale aisle of Hobby Lobby....cluttered with too many big ideas. So I've really been trying to just go back to the basics. Glue. Scissors. Play-Doh. However....

http://www.smallchichome.com/2011/06/organic-bloom-frames.html

I have the goods and the wall. Just need to do it.  Now. 

 

 The frames are going to have pictures of my husband and I when we were kids as well as pictures of when our parents and siblings were little.  Precious, huh?  Yea, that's what I thought.  Okay....hoppin' to it.  Officially a WIP.

All my bags are packed!

It's that time of year again when my mom, my sister, and I celebrate the joy of motherhood by dumping the children on our husbands and locking ourselves away for a couple says of uninterrupted sewing and gabbing. My projects are all packed making me realize just how many UFO's I have. UFO's and a bunch of daydreams projects that I've saved for but haven't cut into yet. One more night and then.....creativity will come flying out if me like....like.....umm....like....well whatever. You get my point.

Things I LOVE!!

This, my friends, is an awesome find.  This is a toy, called Snap Circuits, Jr., you can get from Imagine That Toys here in Wichita.  It's a board that you can plug these electric pieces to make all kinds of different things.  For example, there are schematics for lighting up lights such as above, patterns to make sirens work, and patterns to turn the board into a gadget to check battery power. 

He came to me the other day with a big grin on his face.  He'd used one of the patterns to turn the board into an FM radio.  He was able to change stations and adjust sound.  So.  Freakin.  Cool. 

This is the base set that has the board.  You have to get this one first or you have nothing to snap the circuit pieces into.  They have two or three additional sets that have different pieces.  The sets are about $20-30 each and with those you end up with about 500 project patterns.  It is so worth it and so cool.  Have I said "cool" enough?  I'll try and find a different word. 

Next on my list of current loves:  Maddie's red boots.  Today we went swimming at the YMCA and she was wearing her pink tutu swimming suit and her red boots.  She rocked it.  And how could she not?!  My mom's friend grabbed these at some estate sale.

Next:  Whirley-Pop.  Payton got this from my mom and dad as well.  And you read that correctly, they gave it to HIM, not ME.  $24 from Ace Hardware I think.  The Spice Merchant used to have them, but I'm not sure they still carry them.  So it's the coolest pan for making popcorn. 

Add the oil and popcorn and turn the handle and you get awesome popcorn.  First thing Payton wants when he gets home, when he gets up from quiet time/nap time, when he gets done in the shop, and generally everyday between the hours of 3-4pm, is Whirley-Pop. 

Next:  Downton Abbey on PBS.  I know...it's PBS so some of you may have already fallen asleep, but wake up folks because this series is sooooooo good.  I am OBSESSED with watching it. You can watch the entire first season instantly on Netflix, but the rest are only on disk.  HOWEVER!...Target has season 1 and 2.  I know because I have.  I couldn't wait.  My damn disk didn't show up the day it was supposed to and my patience was lost.  I had to see what happened next.  Now, to be honest, part of that is because of.....

                                                               BACK OFF HE'S MINE!! 

One of the other outstanding actors that make this series so good is Maggie Smith.

She's so sarcastically, Bristishlly funny.  "At some time everyone goes down the aisle with half the story."  "Give her his name after she's out of mourning.  Nobody wants to kiss a woman in black."  She's wonderful!  Seriously, this series is worth it. 

Finally, I found this book downtown at Material Girls, but you can find all her stuff (including tutorials) at:  www.ammeesbabies.com

Anyway, she finishes off quilts and baby blankets with this super cute crotchet border.  Now, I don't crochet, but I will learn....soon.  They had samples in the shop and I couldn't get over how cute they looked!  It really put a neat twist on these blankets.  So that's it people.  That's all I have.  Until later....

OOOO....look and see what I found!!

I was still so sad last night that I didn't have pictures of some pretty major events when I realized that Tim had dumped alot of pictures off the camera before he went to....Tennessee?...maybe?  Wherever it was he went. 

Anyway, I found a crapload of PICTURES!!!  I did this quilt for Tucker, my nephew, for his 1st birthday.  The pattern was in Fons & Porter although when I first saw it, it was a lot like looking at a horridly outdated house.  The bones of it were good, but the fabric choice they picked out?  (shudder)

They put ugly animal fabric in the doors.  Now where is the imagination in that?  Where's the love?

My mom and sister let me dig through their stashes and mom gave me a whole box of different types of fabric for these guys.  The horse is super fuzzy.

Glad I didn't scrap those pink corduroy pants that don't fit...perfect pig!  The applique was actually really easy once I got started.  The patterns are just printed out pictures from the Internet.  Google animal color pages and select whatever you want!  I had a lot of fun making this and getting all the different textures onto these guys. 

I found so many great pictures I can't wait to share.  The last time we went to Spencer, Mo with Tim's parents I took a bunch of how the gas station is coming along and part of our day at the Apple Butter Festival.  ....more to come!  I feel so much better knowing that there is some documentation that I didn't just lock my kids in a closet last semester during nursing school. 

I'm blogging because I'm sick...

And thank goodness that I really am sick because frankly, I needed a break.  I've been cleaning puke, doping up fevers, filling and refilling humidifiers, studying, dealing with work issues, prepping for tests, labs, paperwork.....for 3 WEEKS NOW!  Not that I'm bitter, but It's MY TURN.  Somebody...Anybody...please dote on me!  Well that may not happen, but I sure can dote on myself.  I dropped Payton off at school, went to the store to refill the milk stock, ate many donuts, and snuggled with the girls while perusing Pinterest.  I've been waiting for this.  A day where the main goal is basic personal hygiene. 
I was looking through pictures on my camera and got so sad because they were all of Tim's work out in the shop. 

They all look like this.  Not that it's a bad thing, but it used to be stuffed with pictures of other things.

There are no crafts, or flowers, or beautiful pictures of my darlings.  I've been busy, I know, but it sucks when you realize how busy.  I didn't take pictures of Payton's birthday party, or Christmas.  What the heck.

I need to get it together. 

Isn't she beautiful.  I feel better already. 
So since the last blog....we had Christmas.  It was wonderful.  It was a big family get together at my sister's house with awesome food, warm cider, Scrabble, and Payton's Beyblades.  Payton got Beyblades, he got Beyblades, he likes Beyblades, do you see his Beyblades, do you want to play Beyblades....Payton likes Beyblades.  We heard Beyblades for....HOURS.  Then we went to Salina for another Christmas.  It was warm and cozy and we even got to do some sledding.  Ella shocked everyone when she told Papa she wanted to sled by herself...didn't want to ride with mom.  Big girl.  She was awesome!  Again, I don't have any pictures.  :(
Payton's birthday went really well, too, despite the fact that he was down with the croup. 
No pictures. 
I do have these though that I will leave you with.  They were the only other ones on the camera.  Tool crap, airplane crap, machinery crap...and then....this.

Maybe I'll make a pie today.

I could make a pie.