Think Green!

Okay - in reality it's green somewhere else.  Lots of somewhere else's, actually-but not here.  We are at 45* for the second day in a row, but we still have tons of snow needing to melt; the snow is pretty rotten and not worth much except to remind us we don't have green or outdoor growth yet.  This tree is actually in Washington DC, and what it looked like the beginning of last October.

I used the above picture though because it kind of represents life -- the single tree is like each of us, all the branches are representative of all the things we are involved in and the leaves are the activities or to-do list of all that has to be done for each part of our life.  For example:

This is just a quick idea, not well executed but "good enough".  It portrays the immediate visual in my head.  Even though I am a single person, I am grounded in Christ.  {I'm not in any way representing my life in Christ in this picture -- He is the core of my life.}  I'm reflecting the branches as the many hats we so often hear about.  I read an article this morning - on the Home Educating Family Blog.  It was written by Heidi St. John, "That Girl"... what really struck me was a conversation between her husband & herself where he stated he missed her and wondered if she was "in there somewhere"?  

I don't have a husband to ask questions, but I question myself.  This is actually something I've been struggling with lately.  "Why do I keep questioning everything I'm doing, getting lots done, and still feeling frustrated?"  I have to wonder if it is because I'm looking for "That Girl" {who I was before [what/when]?}  I've only been discovering who "that Girl" might be in the last several years - after being a wife and becoming an ex. wife; mom to full-time-sole-parent-single mom; homeschool mom; full-time student to not; stay-at-home with lots of time mom to stay-at-home-work-from-home-starting-a business-from-home mom.  Needless to say - I'm still figuring it out.  BUT, what I realized while reading the article -- I have a responsibility to nurture the woman God made me to be, to nurture the creating, house project, solitude is good side of me.  Not just the practical, make it all fit, get it done side.  I have almost page long to-do lists for each aspect of life -- while I do see progress, too often as soon as progress is made on one, there are 10 more things to add to the list.  I have an interesting next couple days - the end of March brings many deadlines, since March 31st is a Saturday - that actually means tomorrow is the deadline.  Then, after the deadline I have 6.5 hours on Saturday that will be just me.  So weird.  I do believe I will come home and sew.  I've had lots of time to figure this out, but I feel selfish for wanting to just immerse myself in sewing projects.all.by.myself(!) and do so many things I always want to do but never make the time to get around to.

So, on that note - I'm off to learn InDesign because Saturday I get to sew! :-D (now that I've written it down, it really makes me happy to look forward to -- absolutely no "have to do" items in my thoughts for Saturday)

Re-purposing a Vera

First of all - I am joining Simple Mom in Project Simplify.

I am looking forward to this decluttering process.  I'm so ready for my home to feel more spacious and not bogged down with a bunch of "I might need this someday stuff".

On that note - for many years I have collected all nails, screws, and extra "fasteners" in a baby shoe box.  It has been my "go to" box for 15 years, with it I kept my hammer; those two things have been either in my bedroom or my office stuff for the same amount of time.  For several years I kept my screwdrivers (1 of each) in my silverware drawer for easy access.  Unfortunately my children got older and between them and my mom I couldn't seem to hang onto my screwdrivers for anything - because everyone knew where I kept them, but they didn't come back.  So, for Christmas I asked for tools- nothing fancy, just some basics.  I wasn't concerned so much about a container as having my own stash of screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, and drill.  My dad & son gave me a couple of their extras and mom pick out a pink tool bag, from her & dad, with some tools in it.  I had to smile at the pink tool bag - totally not what I would have picked :-).   So anyway, since Christmas the baby shoe box and hammer have been in my bedroom and the pink tool bag & drill have been sitting by my kitchen door.  It was annoying.  The tool bag was unorganizable and hung open all the time.

Today I accomplished a small task in the many projects floating around in my head.  I was working on cleaning out my sewing area so I can sew again.  In the process of making a container of all the projects labeled "I just need to do {supposedly little things}", I decided to just sit down a do a couple of them.  I sat down with my first Vera Bradley, Stephanie bag.  I loved using this purse.  A dear friend gave it to me.  I wore it out, to the point of fabric worn through to the plastic tubing and discolored hardware.  {I was still happily using this purse until I was robbed while at the hospital with mom after her appendices burst, after that I felt like it was too conspicuous and a target when I carried it.  That has been almost two years ago and I still haven't been able to give it up - it was the perfect purse and they discontinued that style :-(.}  Anyway, I sat down with seam ripper in hand and was going to at least salvage the zippers that were in excellent condition.  But I just could do it.  I set it down and went back to cleaning and organizing other areas.  Then I had a great idea! :-D

This is what I did:

Hardware before remnants

 My baby shoe box and all the various baggies that held the different sizes of screws, nails, bookshelf brackets, all the allen wrenches and other left over hardware from putting my numerous pieces of  purchased pre-made furniture together.  

I think I have enough hardware to make my kitchen table when I get to that point. :-D  I even found the hardware I purchased for making Christine's bed-that I didn't end up making.

Tool bag before

Here is the empty pink tool bag (I forgot to take a picture with the stuff in it).  The three interior pockets you can see are the only pockets inside and the 3 exterior pockets were too short to actually put anything into, and they hung open so they were secure for little things.   This bag didn't make sense to me.

First my baby shoe box.  {I have to admit - my son is 14 1/2 and the box is from a pair of shoes someone gave me for him before he was born.  It was so cute and has been the only semblance of crafting and DIY I've had at times.  It was hard to let it go, but once I decided to it felt really good!}  Anyway.  I took everything out of the multiple baggies and put them into individual containers.  This little box is about the same size as the shoe box, but it is taller.  The small plastic container on the right is from my straight pins -- I need more, now I have multiple reasons for getting them, I need more containers that size so I can separate the sizes of nails, and so I can have snap-on lids for all of them.  The glass jar is just a small (pint size?) one - it holds all the brackets and bookshelf holder thingies.  There is another container with a snap lid on its side next to the jar and it is holding the bigger screws.

{Okay, here's another dorky bunny trail - that gold box with a tiny bit of red ribbon showing is 20+ years old.  That box held the blue frosting flower from my high school graduation cake until last fall when I cleaned out that tote :-D.  I remember wanting to keep the flower and my mom thinking I was crazy, but she issued a challenge by asking, "What, are you going to keep it until your 20 year reunion?".  I packed it away in that little box (which is musical [light activated] and still works too) and that gold box went into a wooden box given to all graduates by a local furniture store.  I am ashamed to say I thought, "Ha! I'll show you, I'll keep it for 20 years".  No, not respectful thoughts at all.  I can honestly say I didn't keep that disrespect, and I didn't conscientiously keep it.  Funny though, when I found it last fall it was as if it had been the day previous, I remembered it all too clearly.  It was like the words were closed into that box and when I opened it, I could hear them.  Here's a disturbing thought for you though -- that blue frosting rose was still fine!!!  The color was a little less intense, but there was no mold.  Truly bothersome.} 

Enough trips down memory lane - good grief!  I didn't even realize that cleaning these couple things had so much more unseen tucked away in them.  Wow, I believe we really are off to a new beginning - in more ways than one.

So, as I'm sure you've guessed - I used my lovely Vera Bradley as my new tool bag.  It can sit in my sewing area and make me happy.  :-D

Here is the side that has two pockets.  They hold the two different screwdriver handles and all their ends.  (I am the only one in the house with a pink screwdriver) The black & red one can be a ratchet as well.  The red stapler isn't really mine, I'm just borrowing it for a couple projects while my dad isn't home :-D.  As you can see the drill fits in here, with its charger and adapter too.  I have a pink hammer from the pink tool bag.  I'm choosing to keep my nice, light, wooden handled hammer in my office area.

This is the side that has the long zipper pocket on the outside.  I put all my wrenches and pliers in there handles down.  I put them handle down so I can see which one I'm grabbing the first time.  I just have it zipped up to the middle to hold them upright and accessible. You can also see my clamps on the left.

Here is the overall picture.  On the inside:  the charger and adapter just sit on the bottom.  The star wrench set, small connected sets of allen wrenches and hex wrenches are in the three open pockets.  In the inside zipper pocket are the sheet rock knife and another really big knife dad gave me for Christmas.






I have to say, I really like having my most favorite purse in the world in sight with my tools in it.  :-D

Here is a picture of this corner of my room.  Yes, it is dark. I love my dark brown walls.  In case you can tell - the bright green words on the left say 'hardware' and the bright green words at the bottom says 'tool bag'.  This is the new home of my tools and hardware.  It is with my sewing stuff which just seems right.

If your still reading....  I just want to say, I had no idea that cleaning out and getting rid of some sentimental things would feel so good and right.

Today....

Today made me think of this book.

{source}

Have you have heard the version for preschool moms?  I think it's worth repeating so here it is.

If you give a mom a muffin, she'll want a cup of coffee to go with it. 

She'll pour herself some. 

Her three-year-old will spill the coffee. She'll wipe it up. 

Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do laundry. 

When she puts the laundry in the washer, she'll trip over boots 

and bump into the freezer. 

Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper. 

She will get out a pound of hamburger. 

She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With A Pound Of Hamburger.) 

The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail. 

She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow. She will look for her checkbook. 

The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old. 

She'll smell something funny. She'll change the two-year-old. 

While she is changing the two-year-old the phone will ring. 

Her five-year-old will answer and hang up. 

She'll remember that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee. 

Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup. 

She will pour herself some. 

And chances are, if she has a cup of coffee, 

her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

by Kathy Fictorie

based on "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff

The first time I heard this version my children were preschoolers.  Today was just like this for us though, except they are middle-schoolers and they were right along with me.  But we got lots done, much more than I anticipated.  With cheerful hearts and lots of laughing too :-D!

My to-do list for today:

 - Coffee

 - Bible Study

 - Blog

 - clean out sewing area after a month since last project

 - SEW!

What my day held instead:

 - Coffee

 - Bible Study

 - Blog

 - Phone call with a sister-friend

 - taught my daughter how to make wise choices in music

 - exercised that decision making by dissecting five songs

 - purchased some new music based on findings of music dissection

 - son totally made dinner on his own

 - have foot high piles of organization of sewing stuff on my bed

 - hung pictures on the wall that have been waiting years - seriously, yes.

 - due to pilot light going out on stove...

 --- cleaned top and under stove top - GROSS

 --- cleaned oven - Gross

 --- cleaned out broiler -- Gross

 --- pulled out refrigerator and cleaned behind, on top, and under - REALLY GROSS!

 - washed dishes six times

 - ate yummy corn chowder,  not made by me

 - cleaned up kitchen and washed dishes again

I do not have the energy to finish my sewing area cleaning project.  My bed is buried.  I will be sleeping on the couch tonight.  We will see if tomorrow after church brings the needed desire and motivation to finish up.  If not, I will blissfully read or do hand projects in the living room and sleep on the couch again tomorrow night.  

My one rule for Sundays: Don't do anything you don't want to do.

It is a day of rest and enjoying what God has given us.

Sometimes "rest" comes in the form of getting laundry done, or finishing up a project; but if I at all feel like I "have to get this done".  I say 'no'.  It is not so urgent it can't wait for Monday.  (If it's that urgent, I should have done it on Saturday :-D.)   I'm stating this as a little challenge to you as well.  In today's culture and society "down" time is not valued highly enough.  God made us to need rest.

I hope you have a rest-full day in Him!

T-shirt pillows

Are you cleaning out closets but have some favorite clothes you don’t want to really get rid of? (I admit, I have piles of clothes that are just good material and pretty...for that perfect something, some day.)

Last fall while in the cleanout process of my son’s clothes I came across several t-shirts that were his favorite and he hadn’t wanted to tell me they were too small because he didn’t want me to get rid of them. When he finally decided to ‘fess up he said, “Can’t you make them into something to put on the blog?” I had to smile – he didn’t want them to go away and the most enticing thing he could think of was to associate it with the blog.

So, we came up with t-shirt pillows for his bed. He is a “nester” when he sleeps; he creates a nest of blankets and pillows every night before going to sleep :-).

All I did was sew across the bottom and the bottom of each sleeve*. Leave the neck open for stuffing. I had him use poly-fil stuffing and stuff them to the thickness he wanted; then I stitched the neck closed. *Because I had matching colors of thread for each shirt I did not turn them inside out to sew. I just did a stretch stitch at the bottom over the previous seam.

This was one of those projects that took so little time and effort (maybe two hours for all four?), yet made my boy so happy. It is several months later and he still has them on his bed :-). He often brings this project up to other people too, telling them what I did. How fun is that?! I scored as a mom!!! :-)

I will be doing lots of random house/sewing project posts in the near future. I'm working on finding all the pictures...many are from my old camera and I didn't realize how often it wasn't focusing until now when I'm trying to work with them. :-(

I am going to link this to Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special link party, in the sewing section.

Fall changes...

Fall - one of many favorite times of year for me.
I am always ready for fall and the color changes...it also signals school supplies, books, and schedules (more favorites for me) :)!

A beautiful day on Wasilla Lake.
Bumpa with all his grand kids checking out how the boat rides.


Getting ready to head to Whittier. 4 of the 5 boys in our family went for a guy's only trip with the boat to Whittier.

These were the two boys who couldn't contain their grins, the big boys were excited too - they just didn't show it quite as much. They had a beautiful day and a wonderful time was had by all.

Vince created this 'bread bowl' for the campaign dinner mom & dad had last week. It is his cabbage leaves inside a birch basket. He really enjoys cooking and presenting food - this is a good thing :).

Christine has started Rhythmic Gymnastics and is loving it! For several years she has wanted to do this, I've held off because I figured she was too young to really appreciate and practice what she learned. I think it worked - she is practicing all the time, she's stretching further and further. She can hula hoop for a long time and controlled balance spin it on her hand too.

She has come so far in such a short time! Yes, she is hula hooping 2 hoops at the same time. That is a bridge on her toes!!!!

This was my creative outlet this weekend...3 pairs of jeans became 2 skirts for CJ.

To make a long skirt I had to use 2 pairs of jeans. Somewhere I saw this online, but I couldn't find it again. Doesn't matter, I probably wouldn't have followed the directions anyway. :) Christine loved that she got to pick the heart shaped stitching for the hem and the zig-zag is decorative.

This was a pair of Vince's painter pants. I loved that I could keep the side pocket. The opposite leg had a hole split totally across the knee it was close, but I got it to work. The ruffle I had sitting done already, it was for a flower girl dress I didn't make because we found one instead - and it was the perfect size! Vince isn't real sure what he thinks of his jeans' 2nd life. (I think he's secretly pleased :)...shhhhh!) He's informed me I won't disgrace his Carharts....we'll see. :) The other skirt was my favorite, until I made this one.

There have been many changes for our little family of 3 this fall. I worked all but 2 days of the fair - wow! That was a really fun experience and I got to work with a wonderful team of people. Mom kept my kids, thanks Mom!! They were long days, but we all are able to now really appreciate I don't have to work 10-12 hour days all the time for us just to live.

We are entering 6 weeks of school times 2. We are home schooling and enjoying life. In August I became a full-time student too, my classes are all online so I'm home with the kids and we do school together. I've also just started working a part-time job. It is a job the kids can come with me and so far they are enjoying working along side me. This is a new venture for us - for me to work outside our home, long-term, not just for a couple weeks. We are also working around 2 youth group schedules. My kids are Seniors this year and Vince is Middle School! Yes, I'm tired, but content and know these are all things that were waiting for the right timing. For whatever reason the right timing is now - all at once! The kids are old enough for this to work and we are happy. God is in control and He puts His plan in front of us. It is up to us what we choose to do with that direction.