7 Things I Don’t Do

1. Knit – regardless of how many times I want to or I am interested or I look at classes in town, I’ve never just done it. Completely lack of motivation to take another step tells me it just isn’t happening. Then I see beautiful pictures of yarn and I want to use it!

photo credit: orchidgalore

2. Deep cleaning – When the kids and I lived with Mom not too long ago, she remembered that I’m not the tidiest person around so we split the cost of a housekeeper. When the kids and I moved out, I kept using the service. I’ve never loved cleaning, I mean I do it because it has to be done, but that’s it. I am happy to turn this over to another person!

3. Drink coffee regularly – I was lucky enough to grow up living next door to my Grandma. For kids in my family, that meant meeting there before school and having breakfast (or just a snack) and coffee. This only lasted until we had to ride the bus, so from kindergarten until 6th grade, I had a cup of coffee just about every day. That coffee’d me out and now I just enjoy how good it smells.

photo credit: subsetsum

4. Iron clothes – While I like ironing fabric and even don’t mind ironing while I am quilting, ironing clothes is not appealing to me at all. I try to fold clothes as soon as they are out of the dryer.

5. Escape the clutter – I don’t know how I can be organized and know where everything is and still have a messy table! I know it is a matter of not having a place for everything, and this is an issue as long as we continue to move and move since every house is different and the storage opportunities at each house are different as well. This house is the smallest we’ve been in lately and the mess can drive me crazy. I’ve been getting rid of a lot of stuff as a result.

6. Scrapbook – this, like knitting, is something that I want to be able to do. I tried in the past – I have an album with probably eight pages finished – but it just doesn’t stick. I keep memories in a box which is so much less pressure then cutting them up to fit on a page! I have seen this cool page system over at Wendolonia and wonder if that will work for me? I got a Smash Journal and can’t wait to do something with it! I feel like if I find something that works, I’ll be more inclined to do it. Maybe this isn’t true though. Maybe I have to be satisfied with my photo boxes and other boxes of memorabilia.

7. Meal Planning – I have a calendar that has a space for meals, I have a notepad on the fridge for keeping track of a list for when we run out of food, but nothing works to help me meal plan. I have even tried cooking food and freezing it – that actually works really well – and having my kids help. I can plan for a few weeks and then lose the motivation or will or whatever it is. For example, last week – we did great with meal planning! Over the weekend I cooked a few things and froze them too. This is something I need to improve because once my classes start again, I am going to appreciate the planning. And I can plan and organize every other area of my life, why not this! Maybe it’s my changing mind during the day of what I am interested in eating. I wonder what can overcome that.

To put a spin on things, here are 4 Things I Do

1. Let my kids help – sometimes it is hard to let your kids do things because they won’t do it right (meaning your way). Of course this gets easier as they get older but I start early. I’ve let JW help quilt, he loves to sew. He asks “help sew?” and sits on my lap. I go slower and he is thrilled. He is fascinated to sit on my lap and touch the quilt, to help move it.

2. Make birthday cakes – so far I’ve made Dora, Elmo, a drum, a gumball machine (two or three times!), a strawberry and I’m not sure what else. I like having birthday parties at home, a throwback to how things have always been done in my family. I try to keep this tradition alive even though we move all the time.

3. Have a library – books are expensive and we use the library all the time. But I have a lot of books and love having them. I love that JW “reads” and that Alice and Jake read at any chance they get. Jake almost reads more then Alice does, which kind of surprises me. We have enough books for at least three, maybe four, bookcases. Most of the books are packed up as the house we are in is too small and there isn’t room for our bookcases. The important thing is to love the books that we have, so I do go through them and make sure we are getting rid of text books or pass along books to friends that we are done with.

4. Cook – I love to bake and cook. I don’t mind making a big dinner, even if it takes 20 minutes to eat after I cooked for two hours. I will try new things and cross my fingers it is delicious. And even better, if you see number two I don’t like cleaning (okay that says deep cleaning) so I have trained myself to clean up as I go when I cook. I put dishes in to soak or in the dishwasher and put ingredients/food away while I’m making it. The kitchen is rarely a huge mess after I am done. I may not be able to plan a meal, but I can cook.

Feel free to play along, and also enjoy Carrie’s 9 Things I Don’t Do.

Seven Things I Don’t Do is a post from: me being crafty

My plan is to pay attention to my favorite bloggers and figure out how I can support them. Do they have a tip jar or a shop I can purchase from? I know that the money spent doing this does not have to be a lot so that isn’t a concern of mine, but if it is a concern of yours just focus on reaching out to one person.

photo credit: Schtumple

Today is Friday the 13th. Break the curse of bad and do something good for someone you know! I’ll check back at the end of the month to update how I did.

How To Support Some Free is a post from: me being crafty

Picture from Christy’s blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything

These are baked chicken taquitos. Click that link for the original pin. Here is the link to the original blog post. Now go make them and eat them because they are delicious.

Bye.

Oh you want more from me?

Seriously, these are amazing. They are SO good and super easy to make. I made double what the original recipe called for because I made them when I was visiting my Dad, one of my brothers, and my nephews. When you have a household of mostly boys (all of them plus my kids outnumber Alice and I by 8 to 2), you need a lot of food and it has to be good. Everyone loved this. My brother took them to work the day after I first made them and shared with his co-worker. He declared them delicious and wanted the recipe for his wife.

I’m not going gluten free or carb free, but I am trying to stay away from bread, tortillas, etc., for a couple of weeks so I don’t see myself making these anytime soon. I bet there are gluten free tortillas out there…I wonder if they taste good. I bet if they aren’t good, these will make them good. The chicken mixture is magic.

Pinterest Challenge – Baked Chicken Taquitos is a post from: me being crafty

For the first WIP Wednesday of 2012 – I am working on a few projects!

Here are my fabrics for the older (2010) quilt along I found:

The fabrics are not a charm pack like the author is working with and I’m okay with that. I love these fabrics, but after looking at this picture I realize I should probably replace the two with light backgrounds. I don’t want them blending into the white on white background. I can’t wait to get started on this quilt, I am going to work on cutting everything out and maybe some beginning sewing this weekend.

I haven’t picked out any fabrics for the HST BOM yet, but I am thinking about what I want to use. I have a lot of fabric and it’s not out on shelves so it can be tough to remember what I have. I end up with boxes and bins open all over my sewing room and it becomes a mess that I don’t want to go through, I just want the room clean again! I take this as a sign to clean up the space and have a better system for my fabric. I don’t want it tucked away never to be seen again.

I also commented on Amy’s one week challenge and am working on an oven mitt. I am using the pattern from this blog post and these fabrics, I stitched them last night and will work on cutting them out, etc., throughout the week.

I tried making an oven mitt myself during the holiday break and it went horribly wrong.

That oven mitt, it only fits my kids. This is my lesson on using a pattern. I haven’t even finished it because I was frustrated. Now I think it’s funny and I’ll get the binding on this weekend.

First WIP Wednesday of 2012 is a post from: me being crafty

photo credit: coɴᴅoᴙmaᴎ™

I mentioned how crazy busy I am, how I am taking a total of five classes this semester and then I will be done with my undergrad studies. Well I got a phone call yesterday that said the two classes I was going to take from NWIC will not be accepted because they are not exactly the equivalent to the classes at UMUC. I was also told that I was wrong in thinking I only needed five classes to graduate, I actually need ten more total classes. That is partially my fault because I read my degree progress report wrong, but I also blame my advisor because I have been speaking with a couple of different people regularly and I kept telling them I could finish this semester. Why didn’t either of them say anything?

I decided to fight to get the Native American Art Appreciation class to transfer as Art Appreciation. The woman I spoke with from UMUC said it was too specific since it was Native art, and not art in general. Well, it is from a tribal college so I guess you can say there is a focus, but isn’t that the same as art from a mainstream university focusing on western art for their art appreciation class? What if I took that class to begin with and then transferred to UMUC, would they deny the class at that point? Who knows, but I am going to try to go higher and get the class accepted. I do not see why it wouldn’t be but we’ll see the response I get.

I am going to take a DANTES test to take the place of one of the classes I would have transferred from NWIC. So that takes care of the two NWIC courses. I am still registered for three classes online.

photo credit: elxedder

That still leaves me with six classes to take. Ugh. I am so not interested anymore. I was practically bouncing off the wall excited that I could finish this semester. Now I feel like it is a never ending thing, that I just keep taking classes and am not getting closer. I am trying not to feel discouraged, I am still very close. It may just take me a few days to feel completely motivated and excited again.

I guess I could look at it as though I will still be done this year, but that feels so far off compared to this summer. I need to play with a cute baby and sew, maybe after that I’ll be motivated again.

Wind Out Of My Sails is a post from: me being crafty

That blows my mind. I am excited way deep down inside. The excitement will come to the surface the closer I get, or maybe not until I apply for graduation? It’ll happen though. I have to get through these classes, but this has been a long time coming. I can not stress enough the importance of finishing your undergraduate degree in a timely manner! I am so ready to move on with my studies.

I am still working part time and the older kids are currently in basketball. The baby will probably go to daycare an extra day of the week so I can get my schoolwork done and also attend a couple of classes in person (I am taking two classes locally, from NWIC, which I am transferring to UMUC). Once basketball is over, the kids will play soccer. We are starting the semester off by not watching tv, this happened in the fall and the winter break was plenty of time to get caught up on my favorite tv shows. TV is something I can definitely sacrifice.

But I did want to find another quilt along to do this year. Last year I did the postage stamp quilt along, and it was so much work – and so very worth it. I loved making that quilt, even if it took much longer then the initial quilt along. I haven’t finished it beyond the top, but I think I will send it out to be quilted. I found an old quilt along – the Charm Pack Quilt Along that was posted in 2010. The link will take you to the blog posts that are all labeled with that, so start from the bottom and go up. I have my fabrics picked out and cut into squares already. I’ll post a picture on Wednesday for WIP Wednesday’s!

I also found the HST BOM:

This looks very fun and since it is one block a month, this is easily do-able despite my crazy schedule. I will have to have some down time otherwise I will just be crazy, and not crazy busy. I haven’t picked my fabrics for the HST BOM, but I am going to do so before Wednesday so I’ll share then!

Classes start today and I am working all week because we are implementing a new database program in my office. Here’s to being crazy busy!

QA, BOM, & Being Crazy Busy is a post from: me being crafty

One of the first craft projects I pinmarked were these page corner bookmarks. They looked fun and easy and I am always looking for projects for my kids to do. We have made these a couple of times since I found them. My son was the crafter both times and he loved it. The hardest thing about this project is getting the teeth to fit right, don’t forget to leave some room to glue to tape them to the inside. Jake gave them to his friends and heard nothing but praise for how cool they are.

Tally’s pic, from I Could Make That

 If you have really little kids, it’s easy to cut everything out and just let them glue it down. If your kids are a little older, just help with the main body of the envelope. My son is 8 and once the main body is constructed, he likes putting the rest together on his own.

Pinterest Challenge – Monster Bookmarks is a post from: me being crafty

I am currently working on quilting a small quilt that I volunteered to make. I plan on having it completed tomorrow so it can be mailed on Tuesday. I also have a couple of pot holders that I made that need the binding put on them.

I also registered for two classes today. I have five to go until I complete my undergraduate degree. This is HUGE. So huge I almost can’t process it just yet. I am hoping I can get all five classes done this semester, I know that sacrifices have to be made in order to get what you want and I am willing to sacrifice things so I can graduate sooner then later. Of course later would be this summer, which isn’t too much longer I know.

I look forward to another busy semester! I am going to rewrite my priority list and get to work.

Happy Holidays and here is to a great 2012!

Starting Out Right is a post from: me being crafty

Nothing like some motivation to get a lot of sewing done! Two of my classes ended (I still have one more this semester) and it seemed to open a huge block of time! Add to that my Dad came for a visit and so JW was interested in Grandpa so I was able to nab time here and there to sew and I really finished a lot over the past week and a half.

I posted about my postage stamp quilt a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been working on this since January! I started the quilt along when it was posted but one thing I did was made the mistake of buying yardage for my neutral. For some crazy reason, I thought it would be easier! Ha! After cutting it into strips, I took a break rather then getting started sewing. Once I finished the blocks, the top came together so quickly. This joins my quilt stack now, I don’t have any plans of when I can finish it and I have other projects I want to get done before the holiday season.

I am thinking of quilting in a diagonal, to go against the squares.

I also put together a quick and easy Halloween table runner. This was super simple, I used the fabrics from a previous W.I.P. post and they are all fat quarters. I cut varying widths on the 18″ side of the fat quarter. The one on the top is my original table runner, and the bottom is intended for the back. I wanted to use up the fabric and this way I can have a reversible table runner. I don’t have any plans to quilt it anytime soon, but when I do I want to use glow in the dark thread.

A little hand snuck in the picture! Table pictures are always terrible, so I’m sorry for that. I need to figure out a better way to take pictures, I live in Washington state where it rains a lot so I can’t do many outside pictures in the winter!

A late W.I.P. but it’s still Wednesday where I am!

W.I.P. Wednesday Three is a post from: me being crafty

In the process of looking at all the beautiful projects people are working on through the W.I.P. Wednesday, I found a Sew & Tell Mini Quilt Challenge. Of course, I failed to notice the date at first and once I did, I knew I couldn’t have anything done in time. But I wanted to share how happy I am to have found so many really great quilters to follow online. I’ve been online for years now, primarily in the work at home mom (WAHM) arena. I don’t know why I didn’t find quilty bloggers until now, but I am thrilled that I have! The pictures shared, the numerous really active flickr groups, the challenges, the sewing summit (which I really want to attend next year!) and so much more is active in this community. I am inspired to finish more of the projects I am working on and share them with my new friends.

I didn’t get a mini quilt done, but click the button and see the amazing quilts others finished. I am heading to my sewing room to find fabric to put together a mini quilt this weekend!

Mini Quilt Challenge is a post from: me being crafty

A whole week already! What a sad state my sewing room looks like. Not much has changed actually. I left last Thursday for a conference and didn’t get home until late Sunday night, which really was early Monday morning because it was 1AM. Monday was spent cleaning up and getting ready for Halloween, and vegging – because I was just so tired from the amazing three days I had in Portland, OR, attending the first NIKE N7 Sport Summit. It was a fantastic experience and I am so excited to share what I learned! I’ll do a post here soon, I need to edit my pictures!

And so all that I managed to finish were my kids Halloween costumes.

But I can’t take credit for the hats! I bought them on etsy. I LOVE the blue one, it fits JW perfectly. I have to admit a slight disappointment with the black bird and green pig hats though. They are WAY bigger then my kids heads, bigger then I think they should be anyway, and the yarn that the green one is made of stretches very easily, so it’s totally stretched out already. Despite my slight disappointment, the kids loved them and wore them from the day they arrived and still do. I’m going to throw the pig in the wash and see if the agitation makes the yarn shrink.

Sure the sewing was super easy for the costumes, but I’m glad I got to work on a little something! I’m back now and am going to continue on my postage stamp project this weekend.

W.I.P. Wednesday Two is a post from: me being crafty

I am thrilled to join in my first W.I.P. Wednesday. I always have W.I.P.s (works in progress) and love looking at what others are working on. The majority of my W.I.P.s are quilts or table runners that I need to finish. Once I make a quilt top, I usually fold it and put it away. Since moving into this house (almost two months ago) I decided to have my completed tops in a separate space. For right now, that means a small pile on a short bookcase. This is a huge reminder to me that I need to get these quilted!

Two of these quilts are at the top of my priority list. They are for Operation Kid Comfort. I have the batting already and I am sure I have backing, I am striving to get them both done by next weekend.

Another W.I.P. I’d like to share is a postage stamp quilt. This is a quilt along that was published earlier this year over at P.S. I Quilt and I cut the fabric the same week that the quilt along started. And that’s where the similarities end. It was a lot of sewing strips, and then a lot of cutting, and I am still sewing my block together. I divided them into the two groups and just finished one group yesterday. I have a short stack of strips left to sew together, than I can move on to the construction of the quilt. I’ve enjoyed this and really love the fabrics I am using.

And of course since Halloween is right around the corner, here are two projects I’m working on.

I meant here is the fabric for two projects I need to make. Oops. The top fabrics are for a reversible wall hanging and the bottom is for a table runner. I am going to quilt them in glow in the dark thread. I also have fabric for a Halloween quilt, and I am making it a goal to have it done by next year.

I have the best intentions but just wasn’t able to get my Halloween projects done this year! I am going to work on them anyway, over the next couple of weeks and then quit. I don’t have too much sewing I need to do for the holidays so I won’t be behind like I am here.

First W.I.P. Wednesday is a post from: me being crafty

I almost forgot about this week’s 2 on Tuesday, which is surprising because I’ve actually been able to keep up! I promise I’ll share some crafty and this is what I’ve been doing posts. I’ve been crazy busy! I’m heading to Portland on Thursday for the NIKE N7 Conference and other then being excited for that, I am beyond excited to see one of my BFF’s Holly! It’s been way too long since we’ve seen each other, almost six years! That’s the military for you. She is flying to Portland to watch JW for me so I can attend the N7 Summit. Yay!

On to my pictures…

I like this picture so much it is my icon on several websites. Twitter for one, despite the picture being about three and a half years old. Yes I have a camera and even a phone with a decent camera – you would think I could take a new pic for my profile! But no. I like to have makeup and my hair look decent and I never feel like I have time to take those few minutes to take a new one. Showing this just proves it is so time to do so! Anyway, this picture was taken when Chris was in OCS.

Sure my hair is a hot mess and the craft room behind me is messy, but what a great shot of Jake and I. He was holding the camera and I remember he and Alice had been playing with it, taking pictures of whatever. He came in the office/craft room and wanted to take a picture with me, so I grabbed him and this is what he got. I love it because we are both so happy.

Two on Tuesday Favorite Pictures of Me is a post from: me being crafty

I’ve become picky about my restaurants. I really try not to have fast food anymore and I don’t like going to the typical chain restaurants – though I do love Outback! As far as I’m concerned, Outback is awesome. Maybe that is one of my favorites. Another is Phad Thai, which is a local restaurant that changed the name to Asian 1 this summer. I don’t understand why, maybe they have new owners, but the food is the same so that makes me happy. The restaurant is has a relaxing atmosphere and the wait staff doesn’t try to rush us out when we are done eating. I found my favorites there so I don’t stray too far outside of that, but they have a huge selection you can choose from.

photo credit: Mark Faviell Photos

The other local favorite I have is CJ’s Beach House (I just found out they don’t have a website!). It is a bit pricier then what I like to spend on a meal out so we don’t go very often. They have a great outside seating area, and since it’s on the beach it can be the perfect evening out. The food is good and most of the time the wait staff is great. If they are really busy, the wait staff seem to be flustered, but that’s only happened once or twice when we’ve been there. That isn’t a picture of Birch Bay from CJ’s, but the entire area looks that way so it could be.

Two On Tuesday Favorite Restaurants is a post from: me being crafty

photo credit: Triplejohnny

Ah fashion. It never looks bad when we are in the midst of it! Hands down – spandex shorts. I’ve never been skinny enough to wear them alone, so mine were always worn under gym shorts. What was the point of that! Who needed to wear two pairs of shorts! Looking back on things, my 7th and 8th grade years were probably the worst, fashion wise. That whole rolling of the jean legs (anyone else!), bangs curled up and hair sprayed so the strongest wind wouldn’t move them, little bootie boots. Ugh those boots. I am pretty sure there is a picture of me in band wearing a sweatshirt, stone washed jeans and probably the worst pair of shoes ever. Who knows what I was thinking!

HHmmm, that is more then two. How about any time I wear black jeans and shoes and white socks. That’s not nearly as bad as seventh and eighth grade, but it’s bad enough to warrant me wishing I had black socks!

Two On Tuesday Biggest Fashion Mistakes is a post from: me being crafty

Hands down – Barbies and Strawberry Shortcake.

I loved Strawberry Shortcake. I even had a canopy bed with Strawberry Shortcake bedding on it! And yes, it smelled like strawberries. I loved her so much that one year my Mom threw her a birthday party – complete with my friends and a strawberry shaped cake! She was fantastic. I always did love dolls and babies. My Grandma, Mom, and one of my Aunt’s made my babies clothes, which of course adds to how awesome the dolls were. I still have the babies and clothes, though sadly I don’t have Strawberry Shortcake. The new version of her looks okay but look at that picture! That is vintage Strawberry! I might have to buy that for myself, just to have.

And Barbie. How can you not love Barbie! I don’t fall into the whole she’s a bad role model for girls and she doesn’t look like a real person. She’s a doll. Of course she doesn’t look like a real person! If you parent your children, then they won’t think that dolls should be their role models. They will think dolls are dolls. My Mom parented me and thus, barbies were barbies. They were fun to play with and dress up. Even if my brothers did steal Barbie so she could marry a GI Joe. Ken was never good enough I suppose. I didn’t have everything Barbie offered, I can’t even remember if I had the car, which I suppose means maybe I didn’t. I did have a Barbie trunk with clothes in it.

I still have a lot of my Barbies and my daughter plays with them once in a while. I even have a Michael Jackson doll, complete with the red and black jacket and one sparkly glove.

Two On Tuesday Childhood Toys is a post from: me being crafty

Alice has been taking her lunches to school most of the time and I knew it was time to invest in something other then wrapping sandwiches and the rest of her food in plastic bags and paper towels. I bought some reusable snack bags for lunches from my friend Angela over on etsy at Sea Sow USA. I love them! They are the perfect size for snacks or for a pb&j. She has a lot of designs and recently added more. She also has a facebook page that you should join! When I bought my bags, I snagged a free shipping code from the fb page.

My snack bag, then Jake’s robots, and Alice’s flowers.

Healthy Lunches is a post from: me being crafty

Many fall shows are starting up again this week. What two shows are you most looking forward to?

I love when the tv shows are back. Of course, I’m so busy this semester (the reading! Why is there so much reading!) who knows if I’ll actually get to watch the shows I’m most looking forward to. I did watch Two and a Half Men last night – which was funny! I also watched How I Met Your Mother – a full hour of that show and it was really good! I did watch one HIMYM this morning, so maybe that doesn’t count? I don’t get up early regularly so it was a fluke to watch this morning.

But what I am looking forward to the most is Sons of Anarchy (okay it started two weeks ago) – have you seen this? I didn’t start watching until last season or so but I caught up through netflix. The other show I am looking forward to is New Girl with Zooey Deschanel! She was great in the handful of episodes of Weeds that I saw and I love her in Failure to Launch. She’s just a funny actress.

In all honesty, my DVR is going to be packed. But I have so much reading to do, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to watch anything! Probably at 6AM like I did today.

Jump in with Two on Tuesday is a post from: me being crafty

Simply beautiful. This months selection is purples and oranges – I already have a project in mind! This year I am making the kids Halloween treat bags to take trick or treating with them. These solids will go perfectly with the other fabric I have.

I highly recommend joining the monthly solids club as soon as you can.

Pink Chalk Studio Solids Club is a post from: me being crafty

I would love to win this. The past couple of years I have really slacked on being active online. I had JW, went back to school to finish up my degree (in person and online), my older kids played sports, and this year I started working outside our home. All while my husband was deployed or simply not able to live with us. So my activity on twitter really died down, as did the posting on my blog. I sew and quilt and work on different projects with my kids, I just don’t seem to find the time to document it and post for my online friends to see. I would love to attend The Creative Connection and BlogHer Handmade. I would love to be surrounded by those who get what being online in a creative way means and see how their are thriving. I would also love to meet some of my online friends!

The Creative Connection September Conference is a post from: me being crafty

It is quiet and calm, the only noise is chirping birds (and one bee but I can’t see her so its okay). We are packing for yet another move, living among boxes for way too long, and this quiet is needed. Soon enough the kids will all be awake and wanting to play outside.

Summer has been good to us, Chris is on leave in between duty stations and has been a big help with the kids. He added chauffeur to his long list of titles around here, which I was more then happy to hand over.

I only wish there was a breeze. We are no where hear “hot” like the rest of the country, but if we don’t open windows at the right times the house is stuffy and unbearable.

Mornings Outside is a post from: me being crafty

The first was a drum cake. This was a simple two layer round cake with buttercream frosting. I looked up which colors would help me make brown icing and amazingly enough, I got the color I wanted on the first try. JW loves drums and singing. He caught on to drumming the moment he picked up a drumstick.

The second cake was a two layer square cake, also with buttercream frosting. The design was a starquilt star.

The cakes were absolutely delicious! The buttercream frosting was so good.

I am in the beginning stages of planning birthday parties for Alice and Jake now. We are probably moving this summer so they will have their birthday’s in June with friends. We have preliminary guest lists made up and I picked out a theme for each of them – which I’m sure they’ll love but we’ll see once I talk to them about it.

Birthday Party Planning is a post from: me being crafty

I’m working on planning his first birthday party. Of course this one is all for me, and his brother and sister, and my Mom and stepdad too. JW is just too little to realize what is going on. But plan away I shall!

Last summer my friend’s first birthday was Duke themed. The baby’s Grandma made him a round cake decorating like a blue and white Duke basketball, and he had blue and white cupcakes. A few of the gifts from his parents and family were also related to the team.

Since my family is from South Dakota, I thought I could pick the University of South Dakota for JW’s theme (plus that’s where my Mom attended). I mean, he doesn’t even know right. He will just be like “wow you are really letting me eat this sweet stuff? All of it? And I get to make a mess??!” He won’t care what the cake looks like before.

Or what about a soccer cake! He loves going to the older kids’ games. This one looks easy.

photo credit: mags20_eb

But I haven’t decided. I did find what looks like an easy recipe for rolled fondant and I think I’d like to try that. It would just be easy decor. Maybe the rolled fondant in a color and then I write with icing on top.

I don’t do themes so I’m stumped!

First Birthday Party Planning is a post from: me being crafty

I’m not one to really take risks or step out of my comfort zone on purpose. I play everything pretty safe and enjoy it that way. I have changed over the years though. I mean to be a military spouse you have to adapt and change. I’m not the controlling big sister I once was. Maybe my brothers and I relax into that dynamic when we are all around our parents, but in general I’m not at all controlling. My Mom has said she used to worry for when I would have kids – I was that controlling. But I’m a relaxed parent.

I’ve never been what anyone would call daring. I’m not even totally sure what it would take before I considered myself daring. I took the first step on Saturday though.

I did the polar bear plunge at Birch Bay. I know how to swim so its not that I was trying to get over any kind of fear there. I’m actually not able to pinpoint what made me pick to participate.

It was a fantastic way to start the new year. I loved it. It was a rush and it felt awesome. My Mom went with me to take pictures and she said she can’t get over how happy I was and look in the pictures.

And so begins my daring year. Cold water seizes your lungs and you have to take short breaths. I tried to take deep breaths and it just didn’t work. I fell and scraped both knees and one shin. So today I am walking around knowing I was able to do something that others call crazy (though the newspaper said there were 600 people there on Saturday). It was an awesome experience, and I’ll have the scars to prove it.

A Daring Year is a post from: me being crafty

Over the weekend I had the idea to make a calendar using some baby food jars. JW is 10 months old now so I have a lot of empty jars, but if you don’t have any and would like to make this I’m sure you could easily find some from a friend with a baby.

To make a baby food jar advent calendar you need the following:

24 baby food jars
Scrapbook or construction paper or cardstock
Paper punch or scissors
Numbers stamps
Ink
Glue and tape

I was happy to discover that the light blue marvy punch is the same size as the lid of a baby food jar! Punch 24 different colored circles out, then stamp the numbers 1-24 on them. You don’t need to use very much glue on the lids, if you do the paper may get wavy and the glue could soak through. I cut the paper around the jars about 1/4-1/2 inch larger, so there is very little overlap. I don’t have the same size jars so on a few of them, the overlap is larger then others. The important thing is to cover the jar entirely.

I filled the jars with something different each day – jelly beans, gummy bears, chocolate kisses and in a couple of them I put some change. The jars are larger then a lot of other calendars, so they will take up space. I am still looking for a place to display them that will be away from tiny baby hands!

Baby Food Jar Advent Calendar is a post from: me being crafty

I did make a mistake at first – the tutorial says to cut 2 – 12 inch circles, I cut 2 – 10 inch circles. After re-cutting and working on Jake’s hat, I realized I could use the smaller circles for a hat for JW! His costume was quickly changed from a star to a Baby Luigi.

We went trick or treating in Fairhaven. The shops there are fun and one of the best bookstores I’ve ever been to is also there, Village Books. We trick or treated there, ran to the store for a few last minute things, and went home to make chili (a yearly tradition for me) and take the kids out in the neighborhood. They ended up going out with my Mom’s husband while she, JW, and I stayed home.

I loved the boys being Luigi, there were a few other Luigi’s in the crowd but I was proud that ours were two of four that were homemade.

Two Luigis & a Fairy Witch is a post from: me being crafty

For the sugar skulls and pumpkins, I mixed the sugar and water according to this recipe. I also added a few drops of gel food coloring so we had orange pumpkins and purple skulls. I left the kids in charge of the skulls – which is why they got to sweep, I’m not nearly as messy!

purple sugar skulls & orange sugar pumpkins

After the sugar pieces were done, I melted chocolate wafers. This page shows making skull pops with almond bark being used – that’s probably a better choice then the Wilton’s wafers. The wafers just aren’t pourable and it’s so thick once melted. This time I looked up how to thin it but made the mistake of reading too quickly and added a little corn syrup. That just made the clump up together, which was okay because I rolled some into a ball and stuck the ball into the mold. I love the color choices of Wilton’s, but realize I can just use almond bark and add food coloring and it may be easier to use.

Orange & Purple Pumpkins & Skulls

I thought that putting some sugar into the mold before the pumpkins would add a sparkle, but it didn’t work out that way. I was thinking of glitter I suppose, which with food is different. I love making candies and decorating and next up is something from Cake Pops!

Sugar Skulls and Chocolate Pumpkins is a post from: me being crafty

My friend Andrea is hosting this week’s Friend Makin’ Monday. I’m glad she is because I’ve wanted to participate for ages now!

What are your holiday traditions?

Halloween

Since I’ve had kids, I love making their costumes. The first year Alice went as a caterpillar. And by “went” I mean I made her costume and took pictures of her. We lived in an apartment complex and didn’t even take her anywhere. A couple of years ago they were a boiled egg and she was a black fairy. Last year it was Fancy Nancy and a mouse.

I can’t wait for Halloween this year because their costumes are so cute!

I also love seeing other costumes and admit I get disappointed when I see so many people picking the wear the plastic costumes you can buy. I know not everyone feels like they can make a costume, but I wish a little more effort was put into it. I love passing candy out so I can see kids dressed up. I think back to being a kid and while I liked going out trick or treating, once I got a little older I liked seeing the costumes more then anything.

Thanksgiving

I lived in the same town (or one town away) from most of my family growing up, and so we always spent Thanksgiving eating. All day long. We would start out at Grandma’s house, but not officially, just having a snack or a few bites. She always ate earlier then we did at our own house. Then we would eat at home. After lounging around, we would go to my Uncle and Aunt’s house and either eat again or at least have a snack of some sort.

Since being married I try to invite people over for Thanksgiving. It always made it easier to be away from my family if we had friends over as well. When we lived in SC we had 20+ people! It was awesome. Now that we are closer to my Mom, we spend Thanksgiving with her.

Christmas

Since I grew up in a very rural area, we never went Black Friday shopping. I never even knew something like that existed until several years ago! The day after Thanksgiving in our house was always the day to put up the Christmas tree and decorate. Even after I discovered shopping on that Friday, I still set it to be a decorate the house day. It’s always worked out fine because I get up and shop super early, then take a nap, and the decorating gets done in the afternoon.

As a child we usually went to midnight mass and after church we were allowed to open one gift. I loved midnight mass, it helped that we lived literally two houses away from church. It was great going to a packed church, with tons of snow on the ground, and just being able to run up the street minutes before it started and being able to just run home afterward.

I started the tradition of opening two small gifts on Christmas Eve with my kids, and one is always new pajamas. I wonder what it is about Christmas that makes people buy or give new pjs? Why not at Easter or Halloween? Maybe I’ll start that as a new tradition!

For the past few years I’ve made breakfast the night before and had it ready to put in the oven, so it bakes while we open gifts. I love this because of course you are hungry but if you have kids, you know they are anxious to see what Santa brought them and they don’t want to wait for you to cook.

Another thing I’ve bought to my kids from when I was younger was opening the stockings later. As in we do gifts, we have breakfast, we look at what we got, we hang out, etc. – then we open the stockings. They are always fun little things, like candy, lip glosses, lotions, and the like. Last year I put spatulas in my Mom’s stocking because she needed new ones.

Friend Makin’ Monday – Traditions is a post from: me being crafty

Click here to view the embedded video.

I immediately made a short list of things to get at my dollar store. I shared my bulletin board recently, and I also purchased the skull ice cube tray mentioned in the video. There was only one skull tray left at my dollar store! I also bought the pumpkin one. My plan is to melt crayons and make the shapes, then send them to school with my kids.

Does anyone else like to recycle crayons into other shapes? You saw my Lego crayons (LOVE these so much!) and I tried to make flowers and stars, but they didn’t work out. I’m not sure if I had the oven too hot or if they were just really not that great of silicone trays, but they basically melted. And the crayons I did manage to get out of the mold took way too long to remove and broke in the process. I didn’t buy them at the dollar store but they only cost a dollar at the place I did buy them.

Silicone Tray Crayon Plans is a post from: me being crafty

JCPenney has an offer from the beginning of September through the month of October for deployed service members. You will get:

*free sitting fees
*one free portrait sheet
*one free portrait sheet sent to the military member’s APO address!

I also made contact with a local photographer through Operation Love ReUnited. I knew this existed, but didn’t think about it until last week. It would have been nice to have pre-deployed photos as well as during and/or after. The website says to bring uniform items, and I’m not sure what (if anything!) we have at the house! Chris took everything with him, but maybe there is a hat in storage. I wonder if it has the right rank on it?

She already contacted me and we are working out the details to do a photo shoot while he is gone, then she will also be there for homecoming. What a fantastic service, check to see if there is a photographer in your area.

Photos While They Are Deployed is a post from: me being crafty