Little Girl Giggles

Is there anything better than hearing your kids laugh hysterically over the silliest things?? I think not...

Make it Work

I've been searching for a striped knit fabric for a few months now.  I found a few things online, but nothing that I really loved... so I decided to create some!  I thought I'd share how I did it... just in case there's someone else out there searching for a striped knit fabric (or maybe I'm the only one??)

You'll need:
solid colored knit fabric
contact paper (I've found this at Wal-Mart in their kitchen section...)
bleach
spray bottle
ruler or quilting square
a bucket for rinsing
(I know not everything is in this photo... sorry!  I'm new at this whole tutorial thing...)

Lay your fabric out flat and decide how far apart you want your stripes.  Anything not covered in contact paper is going to be the lighter color.  Cut strips of contact paper that will go the full length of the fabric.  Pull the back off the contact paper and using your ruler or quilters square, space the stripes evenly across the fabric.  Make sure that you press the contact paper down firmly so that the bleach won't seep under.  I needed a smaller section with skinnier stripes, so that's why my stripes don't go all the way across at the top.

 Next, take the fabric outside lay it flat again and spray it with the bleach.  Don't put on too much or it will spread under your contact paper.

Let it sit for a few minutes till you get the desired color change... but don't let it sit too long or the bleach will eat a hole through your fabric!

Rinse out in your bucket and pull the contact paper strips off.  Wash and dry your fabric again and.....
WAH-LAH!!

Stripes!  The bleached part takes on a kind of heathered look and I love it!  I'll show you what I did with the fabric next time :)

I've linked up here....


and here....

Pass or Fail??

Some of you may recall that I HATE sewing clothing!  I've documented that fact here, here, and here.  I think there might be other posts declaring how annoying patterns are and how they NEVER EVER end up being the right size, but those were the first posts I found.

Anyway!  I found this blog - "MADE" that had a tutorial for a circle skirt... you do a little math and make your own pattern.  I'm not great at math, but thought I'd give it a whirl....

And what do you know?  It turned out pretty awesome!  I also made one for myself and several others for Baby Girl.
Then I noticed that on the same blog there was a tutorial for pajama pants... again, making your own pattern using a pair of pj's or shorts that you already have...

Another success!  They aren't hemmed, but I kind of like them that way!

Skip forward to today... I had bought some fabric a few weeks ago with the intention of making it into a skirt.  But it was so soft and I kept having visions of a shirt in this fabric.  I looked around for a tutorial, but couldn't really find anything I loved.  So... I made a pattern up all by myself.  And guess what?!?

It's not horrible!!  I think the neck needs to be a little lower.  And I made the shoulder seams too wide so the sleeves kind of hang off a little bit.  And I kind of goofed on the gathering at the top of the shirt... maybe if I added some detail around the neck?

So tell me what you think... is this a pass?  or an epic fail??

p.s. This is technically an EPIC FAIL because I forgot to prewash the fabric... meaning that it is now a "hand wash in cold; lay flat to dry" article of clothing... booooooooo!!!!

Anxiety

Have you ever ridden Mickey's Death Wheel at Disneyland?  Okay... technically it's called Mickey's Fun Wheel... but since it's one of the only rides that has ever made me feel like I wanted to die... Death Wheel it is!

Don't let it's bright colors and smiling face fool you.  The cars that are stationary are fine.  The ones that roll and sway are evil.  Completely.  The last few days my stomach has been in knots... like I've been on a continuous Death Wheel ride.  Let me explain...

Tomorrow is our first day of school and Friday was the open house for all 3 schools.  We started at the middle school and the line to get into the school went out to the parking lot.  I dropped off Hubby and Red and the rest of us headed to the next school to figure out who Baby Girl's teacher would be (the schools here are weird... we don't find out who the teacher will be till the Friday before school starts!  Insane...).

We got to the school, scanned the lists and my heart sank.  Baby Girl has the same teacher that Red had last year.  She's not a HORRIBLE teacher, but she did manage to make me very crazy last year.  But I have this kind of weird attitude about teachers.  We don't always get to choose the people we work with in life.  And some of those people are going to make us crazy...so, Baby Girl will stay in the class.  I'm not going to ask for her to be moved... but I think it's going to be stressful.

Next we headed over to meet Little Bug's new teachers.  He was supposed to be in a class that had 2 teachers that would rotate the kids back and forth for different subjects.  This last school year was not an easy one for him.  There was a little girl in the class who was very aggressive and Little Bug came home over and over with scratches on his face.  He also regressed  A LOT last year.  He stopped reading out loud and we can't get him to do the math he was really enjoying in California.  So, we were excited for him to be in this new class.

Imagine my surprise to see that his name wasn't listed on ANY class list.  We went in, asked the secretary, she checked with the registrar, who informed us that they had been told we wouldn't be returning this year.  So they didn't have him in a class.  At all.  They made a few quick phone calls and the district Special Ed put him in a class.  The same class as last year.  With the same little girl who made things so miserable.

Can you say Mama Bear??

I was in tears and more than a tad angry.  I was told I could go visit the district office if I wanted to chat with them about the placement.  At that point I was ready for more than a chat.  I went and talked with them.  They were very nice and listened to my concerns.  Then they put him in the class I requested.  I didn't even have to shake my fists at them :)

So, back to the school to meet the teachers.  Little Bug wanted to go to his old class.  He was not happy about going to the new room.  The teacher was not happy to have another student in her class (it's a big class...) and wasn't exactly pleasant.  And as I watched some of the other kids come in and out I wondered if it would be the right place for him.

We were finally able to go back to the middle school to get Red and Hubby and head home.  But there has been a pit in my stomach since then...

That leads us to today... I didn't get to meet any of Red's teachers.  I don't know who they are or what they are like.  I've heard a few bad things about this middle school and I'm worried for him... a lot.  Baby Girl will be dealing with a teacher this year whose moods swing like a pendulum.  She's a bit unpredictable and not always easy to get along with.  And then... we have Little Bug.  I hope this new class will work, but if it doesn't, they will put him back in his old classroom.  And when I think of him in that class I start to feel like I'm on Mickey's Death Wheel all over again.

I can't wait for tomorrow.  Perhaps then I'll have a sense of how this year is going to be and then I can get off this crazy ride!

 

The State of the Union

Just a quick note to let  you know that we're still alive... barely though.  Did you know that Yuma, AZ was named the hottest city in the country?  Apparently we average 114 days a year over 100 degrees... aren't you glad I told you that?  Now that I've given you a random bit of information we can move on... to more random bits of information... mostly in the form of pictures.

In April I took Red and a few friends to a book signing for Brandon Mull.  The boys are all huge fans and Brandon was fantastic with the kids.  It was a great trip!

April also brought us a broken arm for Little Bug.  Once we got the cast on things were good, but getting x-rays and the process of putting the cast on was pretty traumatic for all involved.  We've got our fingers crossed that we don't have to do this ever again...

Cruddy pictures here... but Baby Girl got her ears pierced in May... 

The last days of school arrived and we attended several awards ceremonies...

Including a "promotion ceremony" for Red who will be in middle school next year!

We had our Angry Birds themed Father's Day (I made the birds using this tutorial)

And then headed to Idaho to spend time with family.  We flew kites....

visited Craters of the Moon

 

Some of the caves still had ice in them... nice and chilly on a hot summer day...

And 2 of my nephews were brave enough to crawl through this spot... on their bellies... I couldn't quite bring myself to do it...

Little Bug went into all of the caves and on the hikes. He really seemed to enjoy the day...

Snow in the mountains...

Wildflowers everywhere else...  must be June in Idaho :)

4th of July brought fireworks at home... 

Of course, the sparklers were a big hit... 

That night we took the kids to see Cars at the drive-in.  It was great - we had the movie in front of us and the Idaho Falls fireworks on our right.  So much fun!  Of course, I forgot my camera for that...

We did a lot of other things while we were there and overall we had a fantastic time in Idaho.  It's always great to visit with family and friends.  

We've had other things occupying our time here in Arizona too... Baby Girl did 2 weeks of gymnastics camp and is starting her 2nd week of swimming lessons.  Red just got back from a week at scout camp and now gets to start his own swimming lessons.  We've done a craft day every Monday with friends and I think that might be a new summer tradition.  Little Bug has struggled a little this summer, but he has enjoyed time in the pool almost every day. 

We have 3 more weeks till school starts and hopefully we'll be able to make the most of what's left of this summer vacation! 

Before and After

I do this every time we move.  I get tired of packing/unpacking boxes and go into this creative decorating frenzy!  When we bought our home in Oregon I stacked all our unpacked boxes in the middle of the room and started painting the dining room.  Hubby wasn't thrilled, but I just had to do SOMETHING other than figuring out where all our junk would go.

Well, we've moved again (just around the corner from our last place) and I'm tired of boxes... so it was time to get creative!

First off we have this nasty bench.  I bought it at a yard sale about a year ago for $1 and it's just been sitting around my house looking sad.  The yellow/gold faux velvet stuff was stiff, dirty and just all around gross!

 There was a small tear in the fabric and the foam was coming out of it...

I'm working on recreating our master bedroom.  I'm using browns, tans, aquas and oranges.  So, when I saw this orange fabric at JoAnn's, I knew I had to have it for the bench!

Love, love, love the way it turned out!  The aqua and orange together are just playful and fun.  Can't wait to use this in our room!

Then we had the mirror I got from Good Will this week.  Loved the shape and style of the frame... not so excited about the, um, floral print... so, yeah.  Had to get rid of that... (p.s. I had already started the project when I remembered I hadn't taken pics yet... so this is just the frame.)

 I'm pretty sure those are flowers... or maybe they are really sad sea creatures.  I haven't decided which...

I scratched up the back of the mirror and then placed an aqua and white fabric behind it.  Painted the frame white and glazed it a bit.  Baby Girl is not a fan of the glaze... she said, "It just looks dirty".  But what does she know?  I like how it looks :)

It was harder than I thought to get a good picture of the mirror... hopefully you can see the fabric okay... looks a lot better in real life.

So there you have it.  Now I'm working on the quilt for our room and then I have a few other projects in mind.  And eventually... one day... I just might finish unpacking!

I Know

I'm not the most intelligent person on the planet.  Heck, I can't help my 12 year old with his math homework any more!  But there are a few things that I do know.

I know that my Redeemer lives.  Jesus Christ came to this earth to set an example for us to follow.  He suffered and died to atone for the sins of the world and he rose again that we too may overcome death.

I also know that this life is difficult.  Trials and troubles come our way no matter who we are.  But we can have hope that things will be better because of Jesus Christ.

In the Book of Mormon there is a scripture that I love.  It's found in Moroni 7:41 - And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.


We can find joy and peace even in the darkest times because we can have hope for life eternal.  This life won't last forever.  Time will pass.  Our trials will end and we will be better for it all.  

My prayer for you is that you can find hope and peace through the Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know that He lives.  I know that He loves us.


Have a very happy Easter!

A Laugh

A friend of mine bought a wooden sign today and the quote on it made me laugh... so, I thought I'd share.

I understand that scissors can beat paper.  And I get how rock can beat scissors, but there's no way paper can beat rock.  Paper is supposed to magically wrap around rock leaving it immobile?  Why can't paper do this to scissors?  Screw scissors, why can't paper do this to people?  Why aren't sheets of college ruled notebook paper constantly suffocating students as they attempt to take notes in class?  I'll tell you why.  Because paper can't beat anybody.  A rock would tear it up in two seconds.  When I play rock, paper, scissors, I always choose rock.  Then when somebody claims to have beaten me with their paper I can punch them in the face with my already clenched fist and say, oh sorry.  I thought paper would protect you.

I'm not sure if the fact that I found this so amusing means I have a really great sense of humor or a really twisted one...

Dig, Dig, Dig

We were listening to a Disney CD this morning and the "Dig, Dig, Dig/Heigh-Ho" song from Snow White  came on. It's a song I've always loved, but as I was listening to it today I had an odd little epiphany towards the end of this verse:

We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig from early morn till night
We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig up everything in sight
We dig up diamonds by the score
A thousand rubies, sometimes more
But we don't know what we dig 'em for
We dig dig dig a-dig dig

And just for the record... I cannot read through those lyrics. I MUST sing them. Every. Single. Time.  Okay... moving on!

The line "But we don't know what we dig 'em for" just kind of hit me today.  I mean...isn't that how life seems to work?  I know it is for me.  I dig through trials and troubles. I dig through the craziness of everyday life. I try to do my best and work hard and and sometimes... well, sometimes I just kinda sit back and think "What in the heck am I digging for???"

Now, I know that I'm rewarded with blessings throughout my day. Not necessarily HUGE things each day. But little things. A phone call from a friend. The giggles of a child. A hug from my husband.  A beautiful sunset. The good bits of every day that make life so much better. And yet, for me, I seem to miss the value of these diamonds and rubies.  In my case, I think I don't recognize the gems like I should.

Maybe it's because the digging process can be difficult, monotonous, frustrating and extremely time consuming. And by the time I get to the good stuff I'm tired and covered in dirt. And sometimes those blessings don't look quite like I had thought. I was hoping for a sapphire when I plucked out that ruby. Or maybe the blessing is something that really doesn't look like a gem at all. It's rough around the edges, dull and has absolutely no appeal (in my life, these ones are often disguised as a U-Haul van.... I think I won't understand the beauty of these gems till later in life or maybe not till the life after this...).

 I guess what I'm trying to say (and not doing a very good job of it) is that this life is a lot of work, but it's worth it. I may not understand what all of my diamonds and rubies are for right now... but someday I will. The only question left is this: which dwarf am I going to be like as I dig, dig, dig from early morn till night?

Now I'll leave you with a few gems from this month...
Little Bug at horseback riding lessons.  Look at that grin!!

Red with his new hair cut... I told him to give me a "Hurrah" cheer.  This as good as it gets when you're 12...

Baby Girl finishing homework...

A finished project for a friend...

It's the little things...