My Photo Book May 31 2011

Click here to view this photo book larger

Perspective

A friend's teenage son, Jonathan, was in a serious bike accident last Thursday and is in critical condition with multiple facial and skull fractures. He has had to have surgery to remove parts of his skull due to brain swelling, and now- after making so much progress in such a short amount of time- he is in isolation fighting a staph infection. This amazing family's recent trials have put my relatively minor troubles into perspective.

TROUBLE- Just as we were starting to make a dent in our debt, we had to replace a car, pay to repair both the new and the old car, replace our washing machine that died suddenly, and I found out I no longer qualify for subsidized student loans.
PERSPECTIVE- We now have two functioning vehicles plus one that is almost ready to sell, the new washer is awesome and more efficient, and I can still get unsubsidized loans so I can continue to go to school.

TROUBLE- My kids are driving me crazy!
PERSPECTIVE- I have three amazing, smart, funny, determined, healthy, strong children. I am blessed to be able to be a stay-at-home mom and watch them learn and grow.

TROUBLE- My house is cluttered, leaking, and we are outgrowing it.
PERSPECTIVE- We home that shelters us with sufficient room for my family and our abundance of belongings. We live in a safe neighborhood with caring, quiet neighbors.

TROUBLE- The pile of laundry is never-ending.
PERSPECTIVE- We have clothes! They fit, look nice, we have enough to not have to wear the same thing every day, and I don't have to wash them by hand.

TROUBLE- School. I miss out on evening events when I'm in class, and I don't get to socialize or do the fun things I want to do because I have to do homework. School just takes up too much of my time.
PERSPECTIVE- I get to go to school! I am gaining a valuable education that will allow me to adequately support my family if need be, and I get to meet new people and feel good about myself in the process! I have been incredibly blessed with a supportive family and friends that make it possible for me to go to class and complete my assignments, and the ability to learn and maintain a 4.0.

TROUBLE- My husband works long hours and his schedule is unpredictable. He comes home tired and I don't get the help I want around the house.
PERSPECTIVE- My husband works hard and has a fantastic job at a company that values him and wants him to succeed. He is good at what he does, works hard to constantly increase his knowledge and skill, and makes enough money to ensure all our needs are met and we can live comfortably without worrying about how to pay the bills or feed our children. And even though he is tired in the evening, he still helps get the boys to bed and helps fold the perpetual mountain of clean laundry while we watch movies together.

TROUBLE- I am not as thin, fit, or pretty as I would like to be.
PERSPECTIVE- I have all my limbs, my body is strong, and I am able to take care of my family. If I continue to take care of myself, eat healthy foods and exercise on a regular basis, my hard work will eventually pay off.

TROUBLE- My two youngest boys have asthma and require tubes in their ears due to chronic ear infections.
PERSPECTIVE- The asthma is totally manageable and not triggered by exercise. We have access to excellent medical care and life-saving (literally and metaphorically) medication.

I could go on and on and on, as I continue to realize how very blessed I am. I am grateful for my family, our opportunities, and the knowledge that the gospel of Jesus Christs affords us. I know that I can pray to a loving Heavenly Father and get help and comfort. I know that there is a healing power that can make the impossible happen. I hope that you will all join me in praying for Jonathan and his family, and realize the blessings in your life as well.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

I love, love, love hummus! It's so yummy and healthy and versatile! I usually stick with my favorite tried and true basic recipe mentioned here, but I tried roasted red pepper hummus from Trader Joe's the other day and found a new love. I knew it had to be easy to recreate, so I went in search of a recipe and found this. So simple, so delicious.

Here's what you need:

• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained (I actually reserved 1/4 cups of the juice and added that to the mix)
  
• 1 (4 ounce) jar roasted red peppers ( I got mine at Trader Joe's but you can probably find them at any grocery store by the olives and stuff)
  
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini (This is sesame seed paste. It can be tricky to find and a bit spendy, but it so totally worth it. It is usually with the Indian or Greek foods, but can sometimes be found by the peanut butter or olives. Weird, I know.)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I didn't have any, so I used 1/4 t. black pepper)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley ( I skipped this)

Blend everything up in an electric blender or food processor until super smooth. Hummus can be refrigerated for 3 days, or frozen for a month. It is best served at room temperature, but I eat mine straight out of the fridge all the time. This would be great as a dip for crackers, pita chips, veggies, or as a spread on pita bread or a sandwich or wrap. I put mine on focaccia bread and made that my lunch.

Super Easy Blueberry Muffins

My 4-year-old requested blueberry muffins for breakfast. I'm not a fan of berries, so I've never made blueberry muffins before, but blueberries just happened to be on sale at the grocery store so I figured I'd better try. I rifled through my recipe folder to see if there was something usable and found this recipe. You've got to love anything that uses a cake mix, right? I changed it a bit, made it a little more healthy, and came up with these:


They look super yummy to me and I don't even like blueberries!

Here's the recipe---
Preheat oven to 350*.
Mix until most of the lumps are gone:

• 1 box cake mix (I used Classic White)
• 1 egg (I used 1/3 cup Egg Beaters)
• 1/2 cup oil (I substituted 1/2 cup applesauce)
• 1/4 cup water

Stir in 1 pint fresh blueberries (frozen should work, too).
I used a mini muffin pan and baked for 13-15 minutes. You could also follow the original recipe and bake the batter in a 9x13 inch pan for 20-25 minutes.

The possibilities are endless with this recipe! You could use any flavor cake mix and a variety of stir-ins: other berries, raisins, Craisins, nuts, chocolate/white chocolate/mint/butterscotch chips, etc. Enjoy!

One happy boy!
There are only 2 muffins left out of the nearly 4 dozen we started with last night. I think they were a hit. =)

I've been bitten by the sewing bug

I'm itching to get some sewing done!
I have a million ideas and all this fabulous fabric...


...but this is what my tiny sewing nook looks like after months of neglect.

Yikes!

I have some serious work cut out for me before I can get to the fun part, but my mom is coming for a few days so the motivation to get it (the organizing and sewing) done is there. Wish me luck!

Jewelry sets

I LOVE making jewelry. It's very cathartic for me, but it requires uninterrupted time, so I haven't done much lately. Time to start again! Here are two of my latest sets. If anyone is interested, they will be for sale in my Etsy shop for $10/set.

Blue glass beads with white glass pearls on a silver chain.
The earring hooks are nickel-free.
Pink and gray glass pearls on a silver chain.
The earring hooks are nickel-free.

I hope you all had a wonderful, beautiful, pampered Mother's Day!

A needlepoint for "one of those days"

My hilarious sister-in-law made this beauty for her sister.
Don't we all have those days sometimes?
This totally made my day. =)
Thanks, Abby!
(This design is based on a comic she found online years ago.)

A countdown and confession

ONE MORE WEEK!!! That's how long I have until I'm done with this semester. Honestly, I think I need this break more than ever before. This momma's TIRED of homework and feeling DEPRIVED of fun and creativity. I can't WAIT to get my craft on (and do other things that I want to do but don't have to)!

Now for the confession part. I notice I always feel better when I find that other people aren't perfect, like when I show up to a friend's house unexpectedly and they're still in their pajamas or their house is messy. I don't judge. I don't laugh. I think: YES! I'm not the only one! So now I'm going to help you feel better about any supposed shortcomings you might think you have with a couple confessions of my own.

• I steal my kids' candy. After trick-or-treating, Easter egg hunts, birthday parties, etc., I go through their loot and pick out what I want and hide it for my own consumption. I'm talking about the good stuff, like Dove chocolates, Cadbury eggs, and SweetTarts Gummy Bunnies. And I don't even feel bad about it.

• I only really clean my room about four times a year. By really clean, I mean pick up everything from the floor, hang stuff on hangers, actually put everything where it belongs, and completely dust and vacuum. In the months in between, I only do what is absolutely necessary. Nothing more.

Now it's your turn. What confession would YOU like to make to help everyone else feel better?

New favorite blog!

This girl is HILARIOUS! This video is what won me over. I'm actually a little bit jealous. She is bold and crazy and just plain FUN. Plus, she has some great, easy crafting ideas (using tools like Mod Podge and a glue gun) that I think my kids will love. You should check her out. She's Cami at You Seriously Made That!?

Mario Brothers Bank


Rainbow Fish Luminary


Harry Potter Wand

Photoshop!

I actually stayed in class quite a bit later than I needed to last night because I learned how to do some fun stuff with Photoshop! I just couldn't stop. I have Photoshop Elements at home, but since I learned how to do everything on CS4 at school I have no patience with Elements. By trying to make things simple with Elements they made it so much harder to figure out how to do what I want to do. I will be getting a CS version next year while I still get my student discount. =)
Anyway, this is what I came up with.

Our cute neighbor girl loved being my model and playing Mary Poppins.

Dinosaurs for my baby! The dinosaurs on the ground were from pictures I took at the State Park Museum in Vernal, UT. The background is from our drive through Flaming Gorge in Utah, and I found the pterodactyl image online.

Found!

So, my awesome husband put my cord away where it belonged. That's why I couldn't find it. Figures.
For my first Silhouette project, I made last-minute gift bags for my dino-loving 2-year-old's birthday party guests. I had originally planned to put the adhesive vinyl cutouts on white paper bags, but the thought of all that work getting shredded within seconds by the hands of toddlers was too much to bear, so I rifled through my gift bag stash at 10:00 at night to find something more durable. The only suitable ones I could find had snowflakes on them, but what 2-year-old is going to care, right? It ended up snowing on the day of the party, so it ended up being very appropriate. =)
I purchased the dinosaur images from Silhouette's website and used the Matisse ITC font for the names.(Please forgive the wonky arrangement. The little monkeys were anxious to get at their loot so I had to set up and shoot fast!)


My second fast and easy project was this message on my storm door:

It drives me crazy when people ring the doorbell since it usually happens when the kiddos are sleeping. My husband keeps offering to disconnect it for me, but sometimes it's a necessary evil. Like when I get one of those rare longer-than-30-minute naps and don't hear my 2nd grader knocking on the door after the bus drops him off. It's happened.

Anyway, I had been printing the message on a piece of paper and taping it to the door, but the paper kept getting mangled. This sucker should stay put! I used Silhouette's premium vinyl and flipped the words to a mirror image before cutting so I could stick them on the inside of the door to show through but still be protected from the vicious Minnesota elements.

I have one more thing that I cut out today but I will have to post a picture later after I put it up. Now I must finish my homework so I will have time to play later. Ahh, the suckiness of being a responsible adult...

Doing stuff

Hi everybody (all 4 of you)! =) I just wanted to let you know I'm still alive and I'm actually DOING stuff now! We've had a busy month that included our first ever family vacation, my baby's 2nd birthday, a midterm for me (I'm 96% awesome!), and the arrival of my new baby, a Silhouette machine. YAY!!! Now I can do quick little projects in between the craziness and, let me tell you, I have plans. Lots of them. I've already started and I can't wait to show you.

Since Spring has technically arrived, it's only a matter of time until it stays warm enough for me to do the projects that involve paint, spray paint, and sealer (for some reason my hubby doesn't want me to do those in the basement- haha!). We've lived here almost 4 years and a majority of my walls are still bare, but not for long. Like I said, I have plans. Only one month left of classes and then I have 3 weeks off. The weather should be fabulous by then, so I will get seriously busy while the boys finally enjoy the fresh air and sunshine in our fenced in backyard.

Here's the bummer. Now that I actually have stuff to show off, I can't find my camera cable to upload the pictures. I have looked everywhere I can think of with no luck, so that mean my monkeys were probably involved in its disappearance. That also means I get to spend my weekend putting stuff where it belongs in hopes my precious cable rises from the clutter. Wish me luck!

Fleece baby pants

I'm not giving up on sewing. Not really. Not for good. I was told to change the needle on my machine, and I'll try cleaning the fleece dust out the serger. Hopefully, that will do the trick.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the adorable fleece pants I actually finished. I forgot to take pictures before the baby shower, so the sweet mama e-mailed me a few. (Sorry they are not the greatest quality!)

You wouldn't guess such simple little things would be such a pain. I guess I still have a ton to learn!

I thought the pants looked a little plain, so I sewed a ribbon on the front to look like a drawstring tie. The ribbon matched some onesies I already had on hand perfectly.

In spite of my troubles, I will definitely try this pattern again.

The sewing gods are against me!

I actually made time to sew this weekend! I cut out the fabric for my fab Kitchenaid cover, prepared white fleece for an adorable pair of baby pants to give at a baby shower, and got the quilt binding for my baby's quilt. So what could go wrong? Um...everything, apparently!

I started sewing on the pants first. In spite of my careful pinning, the legs ended up off kilter and I had to unpick and resew in two different places. Then, when I sewed the waistband with a zigzag stitch I realized it had skipped a ton of stitches. I unpicked that, tried again, and the cycle repeated itself two more times. I finally settled on doing a straight stitch and ran out of bobbin thread 2 inches from the end. I changed it and finally finished the pants 30 minutes late for the shower. (Super cute, BTW. I forgot to take a picture but will try to get one soon.)

Tonight, I started putting together the Kitchenaid cover. I sewed on the bias tape and got a little too close to the edge on one spot. I tried again only to realize I had sewed on the wrong side of the fabric. I serged it off (I love a finished edge) and my serger went wonky. I had to rethread my serger 4 times before it started working properly, but then I couldn't find the rest of the bias tape to continue so I moved on to the quilt. All was going well until I hit a major pucker. It was nothing I could fix so I tried to minimize it, started serging again, and the serger went wonky again.

I give up.
I'm pretty sure I'm cursed.

Tooth Monster Pillow

I picked up some adorable fairy fabric a few months ago and have been thinking about making Tooth Fairy pillows out of it. I have all the plans in my head already. =) The only problem is, I have 3 boys and a pink fairy-covered pillow isn't going to cut it for them. I had a few ideas bouncing around in my mind for a more masculine tooth holder but nothing spectacular. Then, today, I saw this:

How cute is that??? I can totally do that.

Giving credit where credit is due:
The post I saw is Mummy Crafts, but originally came from TheLongThread.