March Madness

Loving naptime today.

Diet Coke,

March Madness online,

and a little studying for Anthropology.

Life is good.

Love this girl

I am so grateful for these fleeting days at home with my baby girl.  I know that time passes quickly.  She makes me smile everyday, and is a true joy to raise.  When all the other kids are being a challenge she reminds me I am still succeeding at something.

Spring wreaths

Last week, in the middle of a snowstorm, I made a happy, cheery spring wreath. I guess I was trying to will my way out of winter.

I love the clean lines of the yarn wreaths in blogland.  So I used up an old skein and wrapped while I watched old Office episodes.

I raided the fabric scraps to make bright flower rosettes.

 

Then, the ribbon on THIS WREATH from 2010 was bugging me, so I used some green scraps to update it as well.

So much better.

As always, I have no original ideas.  My inspiration for these were from this one:

source: Tattered & Inked

and this one:

source: My Blessed Life

and this one:

source: Etsy

So the question is, should I add a little pennant welcome banner to the top of the yellow one? I totally love it as it is.  Wondering if it would be better or worse with a banner added?

 

Cost:  $4 for the straw wreath form.  $1 for the white flowers.  Yarn, fabric, buttons and ribbon were from my stash.

Maybe I should call this blog "making something out of nothing."


(join me at Get Your Brag On)

Freedom

As I was running errands today, I realized at one moment that I could see 5 flags all at once.  Five American flags at five businesses, waving in the wind.

I was immediately grateful for this symbol of freedom and for the freedoms I enjoy in many ways.



I am blessed with political freedom.  I have opinions and that's good.

I am blessed with religious freedom.  I can worship where and how I choose.

My days are blessed with freedom.  I set my schedule.  I do things around here the way I want to.

We are only in debt for house and school loans - that brings financial freedom.

I am blessed with freedom that comes from using a budget.  Strider is so good about helping us with this one.  (I get so happy when it's grocery envelope payday).

I am blessed with a cell phone that gives me freedom to roam and know that my kids or family can still reach me. 

I enjoy freedom in my marriage to be an equal partner with my husband.  He is not a dictator, but instead lovingly cares for me and is aware of my needs.

I am blessed with a reliable car that gives me the freedom to run this household with peace of mind.

I am also blessed with freedom to make choices every day - good and bad.  I'm thankful for a Heavenly Father who made agency a priority in His plan.  I am still working on so many self improvements, but He lets me choose every day.  And sometimes I fail, and it's okay.  

I love my freedom.




 

The difference between men and women

Here we have the lesson schedule from church.  Same information, two versions.

One was distributed by the Relief Society, the women's organization.  The other one by the High Priests group, a quorum of priesthood brethren. 

One has a border

One uses color

One is on cardstock

One is on printer paper

One shows page numbers

One has a fancy edge

One is randomly cut

I'll let you decide which was done by which group ;)

Green eggs and ham?

How are YOU celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday??

February Photo a Day 29

That was a fun month of photos! Thanks for reading along.  For our last one, forgive me for using a video in place of a still shot.

something i am listening to

A new beginning

"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose

the good we oft might win, by failing to attempt."

-- William Shakespeare

Did my last photo give you a hint?  This week I finally put a goal into motion.  Not just a goal, but the biggest goal of my adult life. 

I'm headed back to school. 

Right now it's just one independent study course.  And I need to do one more, probably this summer.  After I complete these two I will be ready to apply for the BYU BGS program this fall.

I am ready to remove my one regret in life.  I am ready to stop letting past failures define me.  I've talked about it long enough. It's time to get rolling, five kids or not.  I am excited.  I am terrified.  I will need a ton of support to make this a reality.  But I can do it.

February Photo a Day 28

money

YM Advancement

My dear Potter advanced from the deacons quorum at church into the teachers quorum.  He was ordained by his dad, who was super sick and left church early after the ordination.  But I wanted a photo with the special guy on his special day. 

He also earned his Duty to God certificate for completing the deacon requirements.

I love him so much.  It's amazing to watch him transform from boy to young man.

February Photo a Day 27

something i ate

Scarves from tees

More t-shirt refashion!

Potter cleaned out his dresser the other day and brought me a garbage bag of clothes for the thrift store.  I looked in it and grabbed a couple tees that were a nice color and mostly solid so that I could play around with them. 

I watched a video from our local lifestyle show and was thrilled that I could have scarves from t-shirts that were A) free and B) no sewing, which means fast.  See the video and more examples here:
http://www.thediydish.com/2011/02/make-an-infinity-scarf-kim-shows-the-how-to-on-studio-5/



I made this one literally in 10 minutes and snapped this quick picture before running out the door to a meeting. 

Gold/mustard colored scarf (and I clipped a black flower from the girls' hair clips on it):

Basic instructions:

-cut the bottom hem off a tee

-cut "rings" of knit by cutting two inch strips straight across the body of the tee beneath the arms

-stretch each strip (like exercise bands) and the edges will curl and make skinny cords

- bundle together as many as you want (I think I did six)

-tie together with a small strip of t-shirt (I put my flower clip over the knot)

Easy, eh?

Then I wanted to do a ruffly one - it's my favorite from the show.

This one was from a taupe-y colored tee:

This one took about 20 minutes. 

Basic instructions:

-cut out circles approximately 9 inches in diameter 

-cut each circle into a spiral

-run your hand along each spiraled strip, stretching the knit a little and it will look ruffly

-if your strips are short, glue two together at the end to make longer ones

-bundle several together

-tie any way you like (I looped around my head and then loosely tied a piece of fabric to keep in place)

Now, If I'd used a XL or XXL like the video suggests, my scarves would be more full since I could get more strips out of those than I did from my son's size medium shirts.  But because I'm pretty top heavy I like that I don't have extra bulk where I don't want it.  So this works for me.

Got tees on their way to the thrift store?  Save them!!

February Photo a Day 26

night

February Photo a Day 25

green

Rosebud's first try at dance

She's the cute one in the pink leotard. I love watching her!

February Photo a Day 24

inside my bathroom cabinet

February Photo a Day 23

my shoes

Potter is 14

On Monday we celebrated a big birthday around here. My oldest is now 14!

He got to play with a friend during the day, and with the fam at night.  My kids love playing at Boondocks, which gives them a free pass on their birthday.  So it's not bad when you can take them with a friend and only pay for one pass for two kids.

They are such good buddies and I am glad to know he's choosing good friends.  Life is SOO much easier that way.

He was spoiled with cash, movies, gift cards and a registration for a stay-at-home session of EFY this summer.  

Look how tall he is (and he's slouching a little so I can reach him)!  He's a good kid with lots of talents.  It floors me that he's ready to register for Seminary, that he shares clothes with his dad, and that his upper lip is getting the early shadow of a moustache.  I am thankful to be his mom and I'm glad that he's the one to teach me the ins and outs of parenting.  Let's face it - I'm a rookie when it comes to each new stage.  He's very resilient.