Fabric obsession

I know that what I really have probably doesn't compare to many people's idea of lot's of fabric but for me, who doesn't sew very often it's enough. For someone who doesn't sew, I LOVE fabric. I love the colors, the styles, the feel. I have been slowly delving into being a domestic diva of sewing and have tried a few, small and simple projects. The problem is, I keep buying more fabric! This is just some of the fabric that I had tucked away. Some I have actually used and some I've just admired.

Aren't these fabrics cute? Mackenzie picked these ones out for a rag quilt. Um...I'm still working on that one! Grandma did make a cute pillowcase out of this same material for her though.

I just found these ones this past weekend. Aren't they super cute? I just loved the two prints together and the colors totally match. I loved it so much I bought two yards of each! Too bad I don't have any plans for it yet. I think it would make a cute apron.

This one is my absolute favorite of the bunch though. Isn't it just too freaking to die for? I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, this one! I bought two yards of this one too. I think I might just frame it.

I just remembered I had a whole other stack of material in the other room I didn't get a chance to grab a picture of and that's not counting the material my mil shared with me.

Well call my loony I guess. I just LOVE fabric.

Pill Overload

So this morning I was going through our cupboards and I decided it was time to organize our little pill box. Looks like this should belong to an elderly couple who take a million pills each but its not, its ours. Honestly most of them are either expired or ones that we don't even take. Most of the time we can't even find what we are looking for let alone if we even have something as simple as some Tylenol! This project took about 20 minutes and its a great feeling to have it all organized! Not only will we now find what we are looking for but its all in the same place and won't give us headache searching. :)

So what does your pill box look like?

And by the way I couldn't help taking a photo of Ella. It was early this morning and she was still all cute in her pajamas!

Apron in an hour

While I was stalking the blogs one day I found the cutest idea for making an apron. http://jonag.typepad.com/stop_staring_and_start_se/2008/12/your-christmas-gift-from-mean-apron-in-an-hour.html I thought that it would be pretty easy and non complicated to make, so today when some unexpected time came up, I decided to go for it. I had already picked out some material from the fabric store a few weeks ago. I wanted something sort of vintagy. I've been on a vintage kick lately. Anyway I thought that these would be really cute to make with the YW too and maybe we'd make them for Mother's Day or something. However, if we were going to make them, I figured I'd have to be able to make one first. If I can do it, anyone can make one! lol Ok it did take me more than an hour ( I cut wrong the first time-oops) and I actually dug out Brent's old iron from his mission (15 years ago!) and even ironed the dang thing like it said ( I avoid ironing at all costs!). I think it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas this year?

The Food Situation

My daughter is in that stage where she has to feed herself. Sometimes I trick her and I'll sneak something in but then she'll pull it out, show me and then put it back in herself! I also love that she can now have regular food all the time, I hated the baby food in the end! Peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, cheese and crackers...the possibilities are endless, or so I thought. I am constantly trying to rack my brain for new things to give her so she doesn't get sick of the same ol' thing! So I've been searching the internet for idea's to help out and its almost overwhelming! A lot of these I've tried only once but I think I need to keep switching it up!
Crackers, turkey and cheese
Grilled Cheese
Fruits and veggies
Mini corn dogs
Eggs
Leftovers are great too! Are your kids messy eaters during eating time because mine is! So what do you guys feed your kids?

Shopping your house

I've mentioned before that a great way to save a little money is to shop your own house (or your moms! ) for something that you have stuck away in a dark attic or basement and don't know what to do with, and re purpose it into something usable again. Meet my frame. (sorry about the blurry pic and the tape you can still see at the top).

This frame came to me by way of a Christmas present from my in laws several years ago. Love it! It's black (my favorite color!) so it goes well with my decor. At first it had pictures of the kids in it and then I changed them out to some really cute scrapbooking paper at Christmas time one year. Then it became part of the attic for some reason ( I think we were remodeling again.) and it never made it back out.

We inherited this nice TV armour from my parents awhile back and have been wondering how to decorate the top of it. Hubby wanted to put his speakers up there. For shame! Speakers on top when there is an opportunity to decorate? I think not! So then I started to shop the house. I found a few odds and ends to put up there but something was still off. I saw the picture frame but I wasn't sure I wanted to just put pictures in there. Then comes the aha moment. FABRIC! Fabric would look fabulous and it comes it so many different designs and colors that the possibility's are endless. I found a piece of left over fabric from some long ago project in chocolate brown and cream. I took off the back of the frame and wrapped my fabric tight around it and then slipped it back into the slots of the frame. I didn't even hot glue it or anything (which would totally work too if you didn't have a fitted frame) and then I just taped down the little tufts of fabric to the back so it would lay flat. It took longer to put the frame up then it did to put the fabric on. This could work for some many things, the ideas are endless!

So that is my little 15 minute project that anyone can do to spice up an area that needs spicing.

Simplify

I have been in the 'Spring Cleaning' type of mood lately or maybe is it that my husband keeps mentioning that our spare bedroom still needs to get put back together...Hmmm I'll go with the first one! We are transforming our third bedroom into a guest bedroom but there's so many little things that are standing in my way before I can do that. All the random items in your house you just don't know what to do with. So I'm taking my SIL Natalie's advice and if it doesn't have a place then I'm getting rid of it! That is my new philosophy and I think its just a great one and you know what? Its been working! In the past anytime I have cleaned I always have this little guilt angel on my shoulder. It says things like, oh you'll fix that up one day, you'll lose the weight to fit back into that outfit, oh that's new, I can't get rid of that. Too bad so sad for that darn angel because I'm not going to listen to it anymore! My new thinking is that I haven't done that project because I just don't want to and I shouldn't have to feel guilty about not fitting into an outfit that I used to wear pre-baby, my body has changed and I should be fine with that! So Idaho Youth Ranch and Goodwill...here I come bearing gifts that maybe someone will actually use! I'm also an extremely sentimental person and that is never good because I have a hard time getting rid of things. If you could just see my Grandma's house, well that would give anyone enough motivation to NOT be a pack rat! I am trying to simplify my house. I have too many hair products, too much make up and just too many random things that I need to get rid of. So here's to simplifying my house and getting rid of those items that I just don't need and who knows maybe someone else is looking for that exact thing that you just don't use anymore!

So...what about you??

Let's talk laundry

With a family of five I expect there to be laundry, and there is. Lot's of it! Never ending it seems. Just when I think I'm all caught up, a child cleans it's room and brings in the mountain of laundry they have had stashed in the corner, under the bed, behind a bookshelf and dumps it on the floor. Great. Lucky me.

Each child has a basket that their clean clothes go into and that they take to their rooms. The idea is that hopefully they put their clothes away into their drawers. Most of the time they just paw through them all week long but hey, I'm just happy they got them to their rooms most days. Honestly, they are pretty good about putting away the clean clothes.

One thing though that I really hate about doing laundry is matching socks. I do not like it. No I don't. When I'm folding clothes and there is a match close by then I'll match the socks together but most of the time, I just gather them up and put them in the sock basket. Yes, I confess I really do have a basket just for socks. If you need a sock? Look in the sock basket!

I do wish that I had a more organized laundry room though. There are several things that I don't dry in the dryer so they get hung over everything. Chairs, tables, the exercise bike ( I knew it was good for something!). I wished I had a spot in the laundry room just for this. Ahhh another project!

So how do you do keep up on your laundry and keep everything organized?

Kickin' into gear

Does anyone else feel like a cow after the holidays? That may be a little extreme but that's how I've been feeling the past week or so and I can't seem to put down that darn chocolate chip cookie! What's the deal with that? I love the holidays especially the food that comes around with that special time of year but man oh man once January comes I'm glad that December is over. Usually my eating habits change by the first part of the year, I'm motivated and ready to get on with the new year but it seems to be that I'm still stuck in December. I have a treadmill and I always feel great after wards but the bedroom that is in is a whole other blog. Its worse than Val's last post about her family room! Sorry but for now I'm not sharing any of those photos! So here is my goal and I know that everyone else is probably way better at working out than I am and having better eating habits but my goal is to make a path and get that treadmill rolling and with me on it! I'm going to start with walking Monday through Friday for 20 minutes and up it from there. I think that is realistic and a good way to start! I'll never give up chocolate, its my vice but I am going to start limiting myself along with cutting out as much soda as I can! So who's with me? I'll also need some buddies out there to help keep me as motivated as possible! Any takers?

So...what are your healthy habits?? Please share!!

Project of the month

This past summer we added onto our house and remodeled our kitchen. It really turned out great, if I do say so myself. The living room and kitchen look great, the bathrooms have a fresh coat of paint, the kids room are for the most part clean (ok, ok, we're not sure what's growing in the corner of Tyler's room but we're working on it!) and then we have our family room.

I can't believe I am showing you these pictures! What the heck happened to this room you say? I'm not really sure. One day before Christmas all was well and cozy in this room. Cuddle up on the couch with a book and some cocoa. Break out a board game to play. Now it looks like winter and a few other things threw up in it! There are hats and gloves and helmets and snow mobile clothing. Everywhere. A clothes basket and a cupboard from the laundry room. I didn't even show you the corner where we have a color copier and some free lamps I got this summer. (yes, I really am going to do something with them!). It's become the dumping ground for "I don't really know what to do with this, I'll just put it in the family room." ACK!

So this is my plan. I'm really hoping I can stick with this, as I know that we still have to finish the mud room and put up trim (and that's a whole other post!) and keep up with the rest of the house too. I want to turn this back into the cozy place it once was and maybe even turn those lamps into working ones too. Then at the end of the month I'll come back and show you guys what it really does look like when it's clean and actually has a purpose again. I'm also going to try and re purpose what I already have so I won't have to spend any money on this project.

Ok everyone, get out there and start your own project of the month!

Happy New Year!

Out with old and in with the new. That's what I've been feeling lately. I always feel a little let down I think after I have all my pretty Christmas things put away and not to be seen till next year. The house seems so naked without them but it also helps me get in the mood to declutter the place and shovel out some of those corners that you kind of pretend aren't really piling up as you walk by and trip on the shoes, books, and those lamps that you got for free this summer and still haven't done anything with. I want to rearrange furniture and freshen up the place. With the Christmas season done and a family vacation to Disneyland, the budget is pretty much kaput. Time to put the thinking cap on and get those creative juices flowing again. I guess it's also time to finish some of those projects that I put off and never got around to. I guess you could call that my New Years resolution. To finish what I start!

Speaking of resolutions, I had an idea to work on a Christmas craft or project once a month to beat the craziness that usually happens at Christmas time because I've procrastinated till the last minute and then I'm running around trying to finish it all. So hopefully I can find some fun gift ideas and hopefully that can help get my projects done in a more timely manner. I'm still working on that blanket from last summer!


As with a new look to the house, I hope that we can have a fresh start on our blog and ring in the new year with lot's of great tips and fun ideas along with our readers sharing their ideas as well. Happy New Year!

The Envelope System

Envelopes are a wonder for many things in my eyes! I love the internet but I still love sending letters and notes the old fashion way! So personal. BUT one of my favorite uses for envelopes are using them to save money! I'm in the process of setting my envelope system up for this coming year. I'll label them and start stashing money in them a few times a month. A few that I'll be doing this year are for birthdays, vacations and Christmas! Those are what I'll be starting with but I have a few idea's for a couple others. Put them somewhere you won't see and won't be tempted to sneak back from! Its a great way to save for those bigger expenses and not have to worry about money when they arrive!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! Can't believe we are already in 2010! Where has the time gone??? We are back in blogging action and hope you are too! We also LOVE having guest posters so let us know if you are interested! We'd love to hear your idea's too!!