Pin-spiration

I've been on Pinterest again. Surprise! Ok, being on Pinterest isn't the surprise. Actually making some of the things I saw is the surprise. Some of my creations were closer to the originals than others. This first card was more inspired than copied.  The card on the left and a little below is from this website the one on the left (obviously, note poor photography skills) is my interpretation.

I cut the flower from a page of an old book I found at a used book sale. The only thing I bought just for this card was the crystal for the flower center. Every thing else was from my stash.

This was the Inspiration for my burlap pumpkin wreath.

   

It turned out very cute and was easy to put together but...the burlap is a little..umm...well it's stinky.  Sadly, I'm going to it take it apart and remake it, because I strongly dislike the odor. I'm going to use green and orange netting next year.

My last Pinterest inspired project, on the right, is a birthday card inspired by the card below.  I'm sure this simple and adorable design will show up again. Maybe next time it will be even look more like the original. Well a girl can hope!
 Happy Crafting!

Happy Belated Halloween

From the Grandma Zombies (Sissy and her BFF) 

And Bean as The Trash Can!

Firsts...and a Last

August is usually an ending to summer and the beginning of another school year. This year we also had another first. Sissy started her first job! She's a sandwich artist! I'm very proud of her for sticking with it and getting hired when there weren't many opportunities. We also learned many places want their applicants to be 18 years old. I think the smile shows she's proud of herself too! She should be!

This school year Bean is a 4th grader! I can't believe it! A first for him is having to change classes for Science. This has been a big adjustment for him, he likes things to be routine, but he's settling in and getting used to the changes.

Bean's also playing soccer this fall and is the starting goalie. He's very excited! When I see the ball flying at his face, I'm not real excited. Sometimes I "watch" with my eyes closed.

Sigh. Well, here it is. Sissy's first day of school picture. She's a senior. That makes it her last first day of school. With all the busy-ness of the end of summer I don't think the full impact of her being a senior has hit me yet. She's doing a great job at school this year and with her new job. When she's busy and we have several days of not having dinner as a family I realize just how soon she'll be out on her own. Yes, it's bitter sweet. I'm excited to see her maturing and making good decisions but I'm also a little sad to think there will be a time when I don't see her smile every day.

More Flowers

I'm not really much of a gardener, OK I'm not a gardener at all. I like to have flowers in my yard, just as long as I don't have to work hard to get them. Even when I do plant some they don't have a very long live expectancy and I'm genuinely surprised when they bloom. I planted 3 purple wave petunias in my front yard this spring. This sad little thing is the only one that survived. His hot pink not-so-little friend just showed up one day and stayed.

The weeds are thriving and yes, that is sidewalk chalk on the left. We haven't had enough rain to dissolve it, I guess picking it up would be another option. Nah, I'll wait for the rain. Next year I'm planting a rock garden!

Empowerment Project

The saying is that you can't judge a book by it's cover. This book cover had my attention even before I read the title, it has a kid doing chores. The title begins Cleaning House yes, I'm familiar with that part, the next part drew me in, A Mom's 12 Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement. Youth Entitlement that sounds so much better than my description; buy me, take me, do we have..., do it for me. Yep, Entitlement sounds so much better. I bought the book, (gasp) paid full price for it too.

I dove into the book full force! Kids picking up after themselves, making their beds! Wow! I'm hooked. I prepared myself to break it to the kids we were starting a New Project! And they were it! They aren't really excited about this Project, but I am!

Empowerment Project 1 is bedrooms and bathroom. That's also where the author Kay Wills Wyma started. She's my new BFF (well in my head anyway). Bean and I cleaned, sorted and purged his room. Organization was the next step, medium sized open see through bins for different groups of toys would work best for him. Gone was the big lidded toy box and many small boxes for micro organizing! Those didn't work for him. I took pictures of the finished room so there would be no question about what is expected. I taped the picture to a plastic cup and put in 14 chips, we're working on a two week plan because they we can use a little practice in waiting for what we want.  Sissy got a cup and picture too, her chips are red because the set didn't come with yellow. Empowerment trail was under way!


One chip is equal to a dollar. At the end of the 14 days how many chips they have left in their cup is how many dollars they get. We made it to the end of our trial. One kiddo kept all the chips the other only lost 3! I was totally surprised! I knew cash would motivate them both, one for gas money and one for Legos. I didn't think about taking money away as a motivator until I read it. This is awesome!

Phase two has started and it is going to be activity filled. This will be a real test for all of us. School starts next week, I hope this has become enough of a routine that we can keep it up when we add school and homework (hopefully a paying job for Sissy) to the mix.

I also added laundry to the Empowerment Project. Sissy has been doing her own laundry for about 7 years, but not in a timely manner. So to encourage her to get it done on the assigned day they each have one chip per week. If their laundry is washed, dryed and put away on the assigned day they don't get a chip taken away. At the end of the month they get one dollar for each chip they have left. Bean is going to learn to do laundry starting with towels. Next summer he learns to do his own clothes!

Thank you Kay for sharing your experiment with the rest of us! I've been inspired, motivated and convicted (ouch). I've even wondered if we've met because you're describing my kiddos so very well!

Some of the up coming areas of Empowerment are, grocery shopping, budgeting and cooking.

All the Pretty Flowers

The last time I planned petunias was 2 years ago.  They were hot pink.  Last year I got a pleasant surprise, "volunteer" lavender petunia came up next to my drive way.  I was surprised again this year by this...

There are 2 shades of pink and a very light lavender/white blooms. I wonder what color they will be next year? The rain really perked these beauties up!

Four years ago Honey and the kids gave me a hydrangea bush for Mother's Day. The first year no blooms, but it was still alive. The next 2 years, 1 single pink bloom each summer. This year....

I got an explosion of blossoms! Blue, pink, purple and some are multi-colored! Maybe next year my lilac will bloom!

Where Has the Time Gone?

I'm wondering what happened to winter (what we had of it) and most of spring? Here's a brief over view of what's kept us so busy (just in case anyone was wondering where I've been).

February and March were spent getting Sissy's school band ready for a trip to Florida to march at Universal Studios. Honey is the treasurer so we he had payments and paperwork to do for the trip. Because he's an officer in the band parents group, he got to on the trip with the kids. On the bus! Sissy was supper excited to go on the trip and had a great time! My sister and family happened to be in Florida the same week and got the see Sissy march! Bean and I spent the same week home chillaxin' (Bean's favorite new word). It was rough but somebody had to hold down the fort.
Honey also was appointed Squadron Commander in March, I'm very proud of his hard work and know he will be an excellent leader.

Along with showers April brought Bean's 9th birthday, Honey's birthday, my mother-in-law came for a visit and Easter. That was just the first week! The second week of April brought Honey a promotion, he now has the rank to go with his new position.  This past weekend was Prom for Sissy! She's beautiful! I'm the Mom I can say that!


I have (I hope) a couple of calmer weeks before the kids get out of school for the summer. The school didn't use any snow days so the kids are getting out early.  Way early! I'm not ready yet! Marching band keeps Sissy pretty busy but I don't have any activities planned for Bean. I better get on that! Ugh! I think I need coffee first.

It's All an Illusion

I'm not a fashion conscience kinda girl, I'm all jeans and t-shirts. I do occasionally like to dress-up in "grown-up" clothes but I'm happiest in a good fitting pair of jeans. Every once in awhile I wipe my hands on those jeans. Yesterday I wiped my hands on my back side (there must not have been a clean towel in the house) I noticed something was stuck to the seat of my pants. I have kids. I assumed I sat in something.

I went to the bedroom to find out what the offending sticky stuff was and plan how to remove it. Nope, I didn't sit in anything...I had two vertical rips on my butt! One on each side, between the center seam and the pockets. I was pretty bummed, I only have 2 pair of "good" jeans. (My definition of good is they didn't come from the Stuff Mart.)

I don't know when the blue jean blow-out happened and I wasn't really concerned about it except the were my "good" jeans. Until this morning when I realized all the places I'd gone in those jeans. The grocery, the Post-Office, school pick-up and the laundromat. The humiliation doesn't end there, I was wearing Mickey Mouse undies. Yep, that shattered the illusion that I have my act together. Mom was right you should always were clean undies. Just never know who might see them.

Spelling Lesson ( and a little rant)

Sissy: Mom I think I should take Princess, 10 and Little Diva, 5 (the girls Sissy babysits) to the High School talent show.

Me: I don't think you should.

Sissy: Why?!

Me: Because I have things to get done tonight and I 'd have to drive you. (Sissy lost driving privileges...again)

Sissy: You don't have anything to do tonight. You're just going to cook dinner and clean.

Me: (Dumbfounded silence followed by blood boiling.)

Really? Isn't cooking dinner and cleaning up and helping Bean re-organize his Lego display and pick up from Karate party and balancing the credit card statement and updating the checkbook enough?! I have to play taxi? I think this falls under the heading of "you don't work". Yes, she has said that to me too. That was my Friday night.

It's nights like this that make me wonder where I went wrong. My adorable, loving, talented, funny child is well...the center of the universe. I wonder if this is typical or is her thinking I'm her personal servant going a little past "normal"? (Hey Mom? Did you check on... No, I didn't). I love being a Mom, I love my kids, I wouldn't trade my life for anything. I would just like my kids to learn the correct spelling of MOM, right now they spell it M. A. I. D.

Morning Coffee

As I fill this cup

To warm my hands,

Lord, let it remind me
To fold them in prayer.

As the fragrance of freshly

Brewed coffee fills the house,

Lord, let it remind me

To fill this home with

The fragrance of Jesus.

As the cream blends into the coffee

Darkness fades and a new flavor emerges,

Lord, let it remind me

That Jesus can shine into my darkness

And create a new life in me.

As I am filled with the warmth

Of this cup,

Lord, let it remind me

That only You can truly fill my cup.

I'm Stuck...

Yep! On Pinterest. I've become addicted to pinning. I've found a lot of inspiration! I have boards for craft ideas, quilts, gifts and just cute findings. Surprisingly, I have a recipe board! I cook only because starving isn't an option. So far the projects Pinterest have inspired are a baby quilt for my new niece, a mug rug, a cup cozy, a scarf organizer and a greeting card organizer. I don't really need any more craft ideas. What I need is more time to do the crafts.

I pulled out the kids scrapbooks and realized I'm "only" 5 years behind. That's more than half of the Beans life and Sissy graduates from high school next spring. It might be nice to have her scrapbook ready for a graduation party. A mom can dream *sigh*.

I have finished a couple of projects this winter. This baby quilt was inspired by Pinterest.

My first potato chip scarf, modeled by Sissy. It made its debut way back here.

Hopefully, with the help of Snapfish.com and my new friend at the scrapbook store in town, I'm going to get some scrapbooking done. I'm also still working on organizing the storage room.

Family Fun

Last Sunday we decided to take the kids ice skating. Well, I skated, Honey took pictures. He's never been on ice skates - ever. Both the kids did really well skating (translation: no trip to the ER). It was Beans first time skating, Sissy has been before but not often. I was surprised how quickly they caught on.

Skating was followed by Starbucks! It helped ease my sore ankles and warm my cold...toes! Next weekend is the art museum.

I Heart Organizing

I'm so excited I found this blog post! I've been looking for it all weekend! I knew it was floating around in cyberspace somewhere, also proves I'm not losing my mind...today anyway. I would have helped if I could have remembered it was on New Nostalgia but I couldn't even remember that much. Why am I so excited about this blog post? Because of the "Donation Station"! I have been looking for a way to organize my basement storage room, or at least reduce the chance of bodily injury while looking for other things. The biggest problem I have is organizing the things that come into the storage room and need to go out again, either to the Goodwill or recycle.

Here is the picture that inspired Amy at New Nostalgia. Isn't it wonderful! A place for every thing. My area isn't going to be as pretty, I get to hide it behind closed doors, but I hope it will be functional. Honey and I made a trip to Stuff Mart to get bins for my organizing project but the trip was a bust. They didn't have anything that would stack and be open in the front to put things in. I found this on Amazon with free shipping.

My plan is to have one bin for clothing recycle, one for clothing donations to Goodwill, the last one for stuff donations. I don't know if I'll be able to get my family on board or not. They may still just put stuff in the storage room but I'll have somewhere to put it until we'll be near a drop off location.

I'm pretty excited to get this project started, I'm tired of playing shuffle the piles in the storage room. The hardest part will be waiting for the UPS truck. Come back and visit for before and after pictures!

The Project One Year Later

I can't believe it's the beginning of a New Year! What happened to 2011? I know what didn't happen. I haven't been at the Stuff Mart! For the past year I've tracked my trips and how much I spent. I'm glad I did this little experiment but I'm also happy I don't have to track the trips any more.

What I already knew was that we went to Stuff Mart way too much and picked up too many "extras". What I wasn't sure about was if we could not go as often. I had also hoped to save some money.

Surprisingly we could go to Stuff Mart less, we cut down our trips by 100 for the year! In 2010 we went made an estimated 171 trips (no, I didn't count all the trips I averaged a 4 month period) this year it was 71! We also spent less, average $100 a month. Does that mean we saved that amount? No! We spent it at other places.

What I learned was we could survive without running to Stuff Mart for every thing we think we need. I improved my list making skills. The less time I spent in the store, the less time I wanted to spend in the store. Less time spent seeing things I think I can't live without but didn't need or want when I left the house. It is possible to run out of plastic shopping bags!

This year my goal is to cut our spending and stay within our budget. The first step is to track my personals spending. Honey got me a weekly pocket calendar for Christmas because it has Mickey Mouse on it. I'm going to use it to track my spending. I also am very bad about keeping the checkbook up to date, that is step two. So far today I spent $1.20!

Happy Saving!

Rant and a Challenge

The post-Halloween sugar crash just hit and my kids are already dreaming of sugar plums. The Star and the Bullseye stores are opening at midnight on Black Friday. But what about this guy?

Have we completely forgotten about Tom Turkey? Poor guy. I know he's not as cute as little ghosts and goblins and not as jolly as St. Nick but doesn't he still have a place on our calendar? We're done buying the costumes and candy, now on to garland and lights. I love Christmas as much as much as anyone else, my family might say more (I have been know to start watching White Christmas in August). Are we so busy planning and doing that we just don't take the time to be thankful? How can we appreciate what we will get for Christmas if we don't appreciate what we already have?

No, I won't be getting up at the crack of you-have-got-to-be-kidding to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I've done that. I just don't think the deals are worth fighting the crowds, hoping the store has what I went for, and standing in line for hours to pay. Have we forgotten the reasons for the holidays? Really, is all about who's getting what, who has the best costume, decoration, candy, football? Have we forgotten that holidays are about more? They are about family, friends, laughter and love. I'm done ranting now.

So, my Thanksgiving challenge for all of us is to post, tweet, facebook, write on the calendar, on a post-it note on the fridge, one thing we are thankful for everyday from now until Thanksgiving Day. That's 24 days, I know you can do it! Leave me a comment to let me know you are going to play along!

Today I am Thankful for my family; the one I was born into, the one Honey and I have created, our extended family and the friends who have become family.

Fall Reading Challenge

It's one month into the Fall Reading Challenge (although I didn't officially join this year) and I finished my list! Yes, the list only had two books on it but I really didn't think I'd be able to "get into" them.

Both are by Francine Rivers the first was A Voice in the Wind. My friends kept telling me to "just keep reading, it gets better after chapter seven". It took me until chapter 11 to be able to read more than a page at a time. By the time I got to chapter 17, I couldn't put it down! It only took two and a half months and starting it three times to finish. The second book was An Echo in the Darkness. I finished that one in a week! They were great! As Sure as the Dawn is the third in the series. I'm not sure if I'm going to jump right into that one.

Honey and I just started reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. He's reading it on his iPad, I'm reading it on my Kindle. This is the first book we've tried to read together, should be interesting!

September Project Wrap Up

Wow! I can't believe it's October already! I've been tracking my trips to the Stuff Mart for nine months now. I'm surprised I've stuck with it this long.

The most significant change I've noticed, is that I don't automatically think "I need to run to Stuff Mart and get that". Sissy still thinks we should run up there every time she has a "need" but I'm getting better at telling her "not tonight". On those occasions she really needs something she's big enough to go in by herself. One less trip for me. She can only buy something if she has enough cash (because Mom's not there to buy her other stuff).

The Bean is a little better about saying "next time we go to Stuff Mart can we look at..". He has also found out you can check prices on the computer, so he knows how much money he has to save. Sometimes things are cheaper on Amazon, saves me another trip.

I have four more months of limiting my trips to Stuff Mart, I think after the first of the year it will continue to be more natural to just not go. In September I made 8 trips, the total for the year so far is 48, average of 5.3 trips per month! At this rate I'll be under 70 trips for the year! When I looked at that number I was surprised! I was sure we were going just as much as we did last year. Our monthly average spending is down by 40% for September! Now that doesn't mean we're saving that much, but we are spending less at the Stuff Mart and I hope supporting smaller local businesses more.

I've very excited to see how the last 4 months of this project will go. Wonder how I can save and track the money I don't spend at Stuff Mart next year?

Fall Reading

Happy Fall! OK, I know I missed the first day of fall and the official start of Fall Into Reading hosted by Katrina at Calladidder Days. I'm not officially joining but I do like making my list and seeing what happens to it by the end of fall. I have a very short list, again but they're long (really long) books.

I was told that The Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers is very good and I should read it. My friend loaned me the first two books and warned me that it takes awhile to "get into the story". I started A Voice in the Wind in August, then read a couple other books (one I requested from the library so I had to read it). I started it again at the beginning of September, and decided that I really just needed a lighter read. I read a couple more books. Now it's the end of September and after some friendly guilt, oops I mean, encouragement I'm starting again. Third time is a charm, right?

So without further explanation, here is my reading list.

A Voice in the Wind

An Echo in the Darkness

As Sure as the Dawn (well, maybe) All by Francine Rivers.

If I read those three then I can choose from one of these. I think that will keep my busy well into next fall, unless I find something else I just have to read.

Thank you Katrina for hosting the reading challenges and encouraging us to just keep reading!

Time for hot cocoa, my blanket and A Voice in the Wind. Happy Reading!

Hello...Kettle?

I've learned a lot from my kids, for example don't say "yes" to a child if you don't fully understand the question, toddlers like to color with lipstick, more about Polly Pockets and Clone Troopers than I ever wanted to know. I've learned about fashion, when Sissy says "that's kind of Mom-ish" I should put it down and walk away, she doesn't mean it as a compliment.

Yesterday I was listening to the loving sounds of my children interacting, oh no, wait that was Leave it to Beaver. I was listening to my kids argue on the way to church. Anyway, Sissy started to lisp when she wants to be cute. I find it less than adorable coming from a 16 year old. Bean likes to talk "baby talk" to the dog. Sissy finds this less than adorable coming from her brother. She told him to quit because it annoyed her. Strangely, I told her the same thing about her "lisp" just the other day.

Tonight, Sissy yelled at Bean because he didn't put his cup in the dishwasher. Her rant went something like "He's 8! He should be able to put the cup in the dishwasher! It's not that hard!" I told her "I know, I thought the same thing this morning when I asked you to put the cutting board in the dishwasher."

I was told once when you point a finger at others you have three fingers pointing back at yourself. I've learned that's true, the behaviors we dislike in others are often things we do ourselves. The next time I have the urge to complain about someone else I'm going to make sure I don't do the same thing. Then I'm going to keep my mouth shut.

Where Did Summer Go?

I can't believe my kids go back to school in one week! I'm wondering what happened to our summer? Apparently we have been very busy. I took Bean shopping to finish up his school supply shopping and was surprised at how few supplies were left. I don't know what I'm going to do about Sissy's. She doesn't find out what she needs for her classes until school starts. Yikes!

Summer has passed with a blur of activity! June was spent at karate, karate camp and play group for the Bean. Marching band practice for Sissy and a road trip to my nephew's High School Graduation. Whew!

We were home two week (more band and karate) and left the beginning of July for a vacation in Texas. We went to visit Honey's brother and his wife. Honey's mom flew down to join us. We went to the Johnson Space Center, the Gulf at Galveston and did a little shopping. Texas has a lot of outlet malls! Bean's favorite thing, his uncle's magnetic toy and cable tv. Sissy's favorite was shopping. (Pictured in front Bean, L to R Sis-in-law, Honey, me, Sissy, Bro-in-law and Mom-in-law)

We left Texas and drove around the Gulf to visit my friend and her family! We met them at the Gulf in Florida for breakfast. The kids got to try out a boogie board and we saw dolphins! We visited some more, had lunch, said our good-byes and headed home. Honey was on vacation the whole week after we got back from TX/FL. I had no idea what day it was for those two weeks. We didn't have a schedule, no band practice, no routine.

August started out with an impromptu trip "home" for the weekend to the fist annual Homecoming. Honey left Sunday, Bean and I stayed so my sister and I could help my dad with some organize/purge projects he'd been putting off. The "girls" also went to do a little shopping at a flea market/craft sale/Amish market. That was a lot of fun, HOT but fun! All my "finds" fit in my trunk. Woo hoo!

The first week of August was band camp for Sissy. Our brave band director loads the kids up on a bus and takes them to a college campus for a week. They come home hot and tired but they learn a lot and really become a cohesive unit. Honey went for part of the week to be a chaperon, he came home hot and tired too.

This is our last week of summer, Sissy is volunteering at the hospital, Bean is squeezing in a little more play time with his friends. I'm just hoping I can get them back in routine with as few melt downs next week as possible.