Time Flies

Wow Christmas is almost here and I have done nothing other than put up a tree. YIKES!!!

I guess it's a good thing that bought Colby Christmas gift at a garage sale this fall.

And it's a good thing that my mom has been out and about and picked a few other things for me here and there.

I thought I would have time after finishing the semester on December 10th.

I had professors that were kind enough to let me take finals a week early so that "just in case" the baby cam early I would have everything done.

I turned in my final paper on Friday the 10th at 1:00 p.m.

I went into labor on Saturday the 11th at 1:30 a.m.

So much for the 6 days I thought I had to get everything ready.

I went to the hospital after throwing a few things in a bag (no I had not packed it yet, I had 6 days)

and having nothing ready for the baby much less Christmas!

So the baby (thing 2) came at 12:43 p.m. on Saturday and there went the "6 days" I was counting on to get everything ready for Christmas.

Now Christmas is here and I am lucky that my sister is in town and has been willing to come over and stay with the baby so I can run out for a short minute when I need to.

I have given up on all the "hoopla" of Christmas and realized that it's not about that anyway.

We will be having a very simple Christmas this year filled with holding a new baby and mingling with family!

I am SO grateful for this wonderful reminder that came  to our lives a little early.

He has been the most wonderful blessing and has helped me really remember the real reason we celebrate this wonderful holiday!

With all that said,

my house is a mess,

my in-laws will be at my house tomorrow,

and I still need to go to the grocery store.

Somehow, I don't feel stressed.

I just know that everything will be just fine,

holding a baby seems to make everything all better anyway!

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope that everyone feels the same peace I am feeling these days.

Yes my life with two kids under two is a little crazy,

But I don't feeling crazy on the inside it just looks like it on the outside!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! 

Merry Christmas Cards

Have you heard about the promotion that Shutterfly is running for bloggers?

Check it out they are offering 50 free Christmas cards to bloggers.

I am SO excited about this because I LOVE Shutterfly.

I have been using them for a couple of years now and have ordered a wide variety of their products.
I am planning on ordering my Christmas cards from there but waiting for the birth of our second to do so.
This year they have SO many styles to choose from.
I love the story cards but can't decide what to use.

 

I order all my printed pictures from them. I LOVE the fast service I receive. I can count on my pictures arriving at my door step in 2-3 days.

I made this little birth announcement of our first born to send out to all our friends and family.

I made a calendar for my in-laws last year and they LOVED it.

I liked that I could make it on my computer and know that it would get to their house in a timely fashion and I didn't have to worry about the quality.

I made a 8x8 scrapbook of a vacation that we took. We just loved how it turned out. It looks like a real book. I am actually thinking about doing another one for the little boy we had last year!

Nursing Cover

I made this super cute nursing cover and thought I would share.

I have another one that i made that is similar to this one...so why did I make another?

Because what girl doesn't need options, even if it's just a nursing cover.

I love the way it turned out. It's light weight and big enough to cover everything. 

Of course I couldn't stop there. I made a burp cloth to make.

And I have a changing pad cut out that I just need to finish. So when I pack the diaper bag, everything will be all matchy-matchy and cute.

Just the way I like it!

Stay tuned for more of the fun projects I have been working on!

Pin Cushion

I saw this tutorial on some website (not sure which one) a long time ago. I've the idea in the back of my mind for sometime but never had the ambition to actually get it done.

That was until I started sewing more and had pins every and could never find my scissors.

So I pulled out some scrap fabric I had sitting around and made something similar.

When I look at tutorials I usually just skim through them and think about how cute there are, file them in the back of my mind thinking that someday I will make that. Then I can never find the darn thing when I want to make it. I never actually read them and follow them. I use my memory and come up with something.

This is what I came up with from the picture I had in my mind.

It goes up over my desk and my machine sits on it. Then it has two pockets on it and a pin cushion that is removable. Having a pin cushion right there by the machine is such a concept! I love it. Also, my scissors go in the bigger of the two pockets and I never have to go searching for them. It's SO nice. 

So the pin cushion is removable. It has a bobby pin on the backside so it can attach to my pants or just come along with me where I need pins.

Also by making this little project I found the importance of having a sharp straight pin. Some of my pins I have had for years. But I was able to go through them as I was putting them in the cushion and threw quite a few away. So I will not have to pull out a million pins just to find one that will go through the fabric I am pinning together. Sewing just got so sew much better.  :)

Fuzz

I have some post that are going to be going up with all the sewing projects I have done lately.

But first, I thought it was important that I mention this.

I am NO sewing machine mechanic. I don't profess to be one.

Therefore I never take my machine apart....at all cost.

But after a bunch of crazy days sewing and fabric that was shedding, my machine started acting all crazy.

I was devastated because there are so many more things I need/ wanted to make and I have no money to have the thing looked at. So I took matters into my own hands.

I got out the manual, looked up how to clean and oil the silly thing and set to work.

I was hoping to the high heavens that I would be able to get the thing back together the way it's supposed to be. I took the two screws out that I read about in the manual and lifted the metal piece off.

OH MY What I found made my mind spin.After getting it all cleaned out I took a picture to show the world what was in there.

YEAH! YUCK!!!!!! The poor thing was FILLED with all this fuzz. I guess that is what happens after sewing on the machine for 4+ years and never doing any "maintenance" on it.

So to all you that sew.....open up your machines and clean. them. out. every once in a while!

After about twenty minutes of sweating bullets, I finally got the machine put back together the way it's supposed to be. Then I finished the project I was working on!

Lesson learned there.....I will not be afraid to clean the thing ever again!

Thankful

It's that time of year again when

everyone thinks about all the things they are thankful for.

I wish I remembered to express gratitude more often

and really think about all the things I'm grateful for.

But today I'm going to list them in no particular order:

1. Rick
2. Colby
3. Family
4. The Gospel
5. My Savior
6. Home
7. Heat
8. Air condition
9. Internet
10. My Bed
11. Clothing
12. Apple Cinnamon Cheerios
13. Milk
14. Food
15. Thanksgiving dinner
16. Life
17. My car
18. Music
19. Snuggle time with Rick and Colby
20. Nap time
21. Sewing
22. Knowledge
23. Crafting
24. Creativity
25. Faith
26. Friends
27. The ability to figure things out (apparently not everyone has this"gift")
28. Singing
29. A Hot Shower
30. Comfy clothes
31. Our little guy that will be here soon
32. That pregnancy doesn't last forever
33. My Craft Room (I think of it as Zen. Love it)
34. Shampoo and Conditioner
35. School ( although sometimes it hard to love it)
36. Indoor plumbing
37. Sunshine
38. The opportunity to be a stay at home mom
39. My Mom
40. Christmas Music

I'm sure I could come up many more things, but I think I will stop there. I just love this time of year when it starts to get chilly out and you stay inside, make things, bake things, and just enjoy family. I have so much to be grateful for and am constantly amazed when I sit down and really think about it.

So what are you grateful for?

Life can go on

Ok now that I have FINALLY figured out how to get this blog back to the old blogger templates, Life can go on!!!! I knew that when I went to change my background to a Christmas I would be hit with the same frustration I was feeling a month ago. After doing some research on the internet I figured it out and it makes me happy. Now if I could only channel that same frustration and determination to get the research done for the paper that needs to be submitted tomorrow I would be doing good. I need to get going on that. And now that I like the look of my blog I can rest easy and get 'er DONE!!!!!

Here it is the day before Thanksgiving

I have put off all my running around as long as I can.

Unfortunately, I waited til the worst weather day this week.

But now I don't have choice but to get out and run around...

in the freezing cold rain.

Shoot I guess that's life.

Although I am sad that I have waited til this nasty day to get out

I still have much to be grateful for....Rain being on the list.

We have not had rain in a LOOOOONNNNNGGGGGGG time and it is much needed.

Sure doesn't make it any easier to want to leave in it!

I guess I will look at the things that I need to do and decide just how important each one is.

I think I might find that there is only one or two that really need to be done.

Speaking of freezing cold rain.

I have been watching the weather and noticed that the west is really getting hit hard with snow.

It almost makes me wish I was there, or that the snow would find it's way here.

It would really make it feel like Christmas, and I'm getting anxious for Christmas.

I know that once (if) we do get snow I will be whining because it's cold. I am not really a cold lover......unless I can sit inside, make crafts, watch t.v., drink hot coco and have a fire!

So I guess what I am saying is, it has to be cold for me to really get into the Christmas mood. Seen as it was 77 degrees the other day....it's been a little hard. So I just put on some Christmas music (pandora style, LOVE IT!) and tried to force myself to be thinking about it.

With the baby coming really soon I need to have everything done before he gets here. I have good intentions!

To all you people in the western states that are getting all the snow, I am slightly jealous that's it's not me.....for one day. I would love a good snow day. But I live here and we don't get days like that here.......for that, I must say, I'm grateful!

Just sayin

I just thought I should throw this out there....

I HATE the new blogger templates.

Yes they are good for people that don't go elsewhere for their backgrounds

BUT for people like me who either make my own or get them off a website, it's not good.

There is just nothing as good as the mimina on the old blogger.

Because this blog in a new one there is no way to go back to the old layouts.

It's just a bummer that it had to be changed. That even new blogs don't have the option to use the old layouts.

After spending FOREVER trying to change my background and just getting more frustrated I needed to vent this. I am still not LOVING the way the blog looks but until I figure out how to really make my own I am stuck with what I have. UGH!

SO frustrating!!!

A few random thoughts for the day

So I have gotten a few fun little crafts and things done in the last few days.

I will have to post about them.

I had the stomach flu....which should not be allowed to hit a woman at 34 weeks pregnant.

I am finally recovering from that and starting to feel normal, well as normal as you can when you are about ready to pop.

The little guy is sick now and feeling yucky and of course it falls in perfect timing with the dada leaving on another hunting trip for a few days.

UGH!!!!! I HATE hunting season.....especially when I get left home to do all the chores and caring for the kid alone. I didn't mind it when I could go to but this year I had/have no desire to go anywhere without running water close by. Normally I am not that kind of girl but when I am huge and uncomfortable I just want what I want! So here I am home to run the household all by myself again!!!!! I can't wait for this hunting season to be over!

Oh but there are a few good things that I am looking forward this week.....end. My fun sister comes home one Friday from college and I can't wait to spent time with her. It's going to be a week of craziness and fun including Thanksgiving!

Also my baby shower is this weekend. That is going to be great. I am so excited to have a fun celebration for this baby. When I was pregnant with the kid I had two showers and I am grateful I had them but I was new to the area and didn't know a lot of the people that attended so it was a little different. But this one is going to be all people I know and have known for some time. It is going to be such a good time. Sooooooo bring on the weekend......oh yeah and my wonderful superhero husband will be back for his long excursion in the woods...hopefully a trophy! Or just a little deer that will give us meat to eat!

The Beginning of this beginning!

So I decided to start this little blog. For a few reasons, there are lot of things I want to post about but don't really want to have to edit out of our blog book....which is what our other book is going to end up as. Also there are a lot of just random things that I think, "I'm going to post about that" But it doesn't really if into our family blog. So here it is "out of my mouth...or somethings just out of my mind!"

I don't really know what this blog is going to turn out to be so I guess I'll figure it out as I go along.

First thing though it that I have LOTS of crafts I want/need to do before thing baby gets here. I better get on it.....meaning I need to find the energy to get up and function.