Crafting is just about the best thing ever. At least today.

Crafting on a Weekend

One of the things that I was reminded of when I was recuperating from surgery last summer was that in the recent past, I have neglected my creative side. It's easy to do, really. By the time a mom chases after her family and puts in a full day of work, it's easy to get bogged down. I realized that I need those creative outlets, or I get kind of dry on the inside, so I made a resolution to make sure I spend time on the weekends creating. You've seen some of the ideas I've had with my house. (and no, I'm not done) But I thought I would share what I did this weekend.

Project #1

I saw some Coffee Cozies (or sleeves) when I was using StumbleUpon.com, so I decided to try my hand at it. You probably can't tell by the photo, but this little sleeve has the most adorable pleats ever. Just sayin. Here it is dressing up a disposable cup. I need to tweak the pattern just a bit, but I like my first one. Too bad I don't generally drink coffee out of disposable cups. :-) It's supposed to save the planet or something by re-using these sleeves instead of using the disposable cardboard sleeves from the stores. Personally I think you should bring your own cup, if you're worried about the environment, but that's another discussion.

Project #2

My husband gifted me with an early Christmas present last week: a Cricut Expression. I have been having a blast getting to know my way around the thing. I put it to good use with this project! I cut out letters, and circles of cute paper and then "Mod Podged" the paper to the wooden disks. I think the finished project turned out really cute!

Project #3

It was only a matter of minutes after making these alphabet disks that I realized if I was going to gift them, I should really make a bag to put them in to. So, looking through my piles of fabric, I found cute little girls stuff. I wish my sewing machine would have worked well...sometimes it decides to get fussy...Fussy machine and all, I think this turned out okay. 

Too bad Christmas is this week. I'm in the mood to get more stuff done! (And Darin, the vacuum cleaner cover is a moot point.)

ciabatta bread

I like Stumble Upon.com. I not only waste a ton of time going from website to website, but I have stumbled upon some pretty great finds. A few weeks ago, I found a recipe for "One Minute Ciabatta Bread" from LifeHack.org.

It's simple. You put 1 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. yeast, 2 cups of water and 4 cups of flour in a bowl. Stir until everything is mixed up and then cover. Set it aside for 8 to 12 hours or so. When I'm ready to bake, I dump the dough onto my stone pizza pan, and put in a hot over until it's done. (25 minutes...but I make sure the top is a nice golden brown.)

I LOVE this recipe. I'll often mix up the recipe early in the morning, and then bake it when I come home. It's great with soups! The bread is very similar to a sour dough recipe, without the constant worry of feeding just one more thing in my house!

Try it...you might like it!

And So It Continues (This Old House Part IV)

Boy, I think somebody should call OSHA. Seriously. Since we started working on the house in earnest, Terry about sliced his thumb off, a box of flooring fell on my big toe and today and whacked my index finger unbelievably hard.

With our appendages throbbing, we do press on, though. We're actually making pretty good progress!

A good start!

Shortly after I got this part done, my big toe got smashed by a box of flooring. Ouch!!

It still throbs!! 

The flooring is in the kitchen!!! 

Then I snockered my finger. 

My Version of This Old House Part Tres

Yes, I'm still working on my house. It's still not done. But, what has been done is exciting! Terry and I decided to divide and conquer today. His task was the school room/storage-room-soon-to-be-Aly's-room. That room has never been utilized well. When we first bought our house, we converted the kitchen to our school room. I was homeschooling then and thought it would be a great idea to have this wonderful school room full of bulletin boards, library, and desks. I painted it Big Bird yellow on the top 2/3s of the walls and then a bright blue on the bottom. I found a bulletin board border that looked absolutely adorable (it was a bunch of crayons), so I pasted it as a border between the two colors. There was a little alcove off the room that served as my office for many years. It was big enough for a twin bed and a dresser, too, so Jordan ended up landing there for a short time. :-) Anyway, it was a room to top all rooms. But, it didn't work.

Our homeschooling style changed, and the room ended up being a storage room. We kept the bulk of our books, toys and games in there, and the extra TV for XBox as well. Each of the kids had their bedrooms in there while we finished their bedrooms upstairs, but pretty soon anything we didn't know what to do with ended up finding its way to the school room.

Yuck.

A couple of weeks ago, I built a closet in that little alcove. It's really pretty awesome. It had to be disassembled today so that Terry could get in there and close up the window. But it is a to-die-for walk in closet, if I say so myself.

Alyssa has been working at tearing down all the bulletin board border turned wallpaper border for the last couple of days, and has been pretty successful. So, today, Terry was going to finish closing off this window by putting in 2x4s and sheet rock. Then he was going to frame out the door which is next to it. A header was needed.

Then came the blood. I do have a flair for the dramatic, don't I? So, while cutting the drywall, the knife accidentally found its way to Terry's thumb. Lucky for Terry he had just changed the blade so it was really really sharp. The sharpness of the blade created such a clean cut that no stitches were required...just a few drops of super glue! So, a tetanus shot, super glue and a bandage later, Terry finished closing in the window.

A few weeks ago, we were trying to decide how we wanted to change the look of the living room, and we decided that we wanted to kind of go retro with the living room. When we first moved here, there was beautiful wainscot and a chair rail all around the living room. We tried to save it, but it just splintered as we tried to remove it from the walls. Sad day. But anyway, we decided to put a wainscot up again, and Terry did just that. I tried my hand at carpentry today as well, only, I'm glad to say my appendages stayed away from anything sharp. I finished it by putting up the trim around the top.





Now all I have to do is figure out how I will finish it. Sadly, finishing always seems to be a problem with me. I'm trying to decide whether to stain the wood, or whether I should do something fancy with paint and glaze. I have all these ideas running through my head!! I should have never stumbled upon stumbleupon.com.







I may just wait until I get the flooring laid before I decide how I finish the wainscot. I had really intended to start the floor tonight, but it started raining, and I didn't want to saw inside.

That's as good of an excuse as any, I suppose.

Poison Ivy and Perseverance

While I'm not good at it, and I have a long way to go,  I really want to follow the Apostle Paul's example and just follow Jesus no matter what, no matter where. A few days ago I asked, "How do I truly thank God for poison ivy without really being sarcastic?" on my facebook status. I got a lot of answers, some of them funny and some were really concerned for me, but it has been nagging on my mind throughout the day yesterday and even through my dreams at night. I guess when I think about something, I really think about it. :-)

While I was being tongue and cheek and maybe even a little sarcastic  on my facebook status, I really thought about how easy I have it compared to so many. 

Things like poison ivy, or other silly annoying things help me to practise for the big stuff. How could I possibly sit in prison, being beaten and abused if I couldn't handle a swollen eye from poison ivy? I believe it rains on the just and the unjust. I think the crap happens to the just and the unjust too. The way we respond to the crap shouts out to the world what it's like to go through things with Jesus. When they see us walk through the same things they walk through and when they see us walk through with our Lord, Jesus comes alive to them. 


It really shouldn't matter what I'm going through or what my present circumstance is...I want to just walk with Jesus. Plain and simple. 


So, to answer my question...How do I truly thank God for poison ivy without being sarcastic? I probably don't. But, I can just thank God. Period. ;-) 

Gardening Success

After I was diagnosed with cancer and while I was recuperating, I had some time to really think and reflect on my life. There were things I was not happy with, so I decided that part of my healing and part of my preventative medicine had to be about incorporating change in my lifestyle.

I noticed that in the last couple of years I had lost my way. I think my soul was a little like my garden. I had simply gotten too busy and too tired to take care of it. Weeds were growing up, what was once beautiful, purposeful creation lay hidden.

My resolutions included setting very strict boundaries with my job. I changed my cell phone number and created some structure for the way people contact me. Also, I get paid for 8 hours of work, so I now work 8 hours. That's harder than you think it is for me, especially when I see that I'm not getting my work done the way it needs to be done. I was reminded of the time when people were chastising Jesus for allowing someone to anoint him with oil because it was expensive and could have been used for the poor fund, and he replied, "the poor will always be among us." He was more interested in the relationship being created.

It's kind of the same with my job. I will always have crises and urgency in everything I do. I won't always have my family around me. They are growing and spreading their wings. I want to be their wind! I can't do that buried in my office.

I am already beginning to reap the benefits of living by my resolutions! My creativity - long lost in the sea of mind weeds - is beginning to flourish! I actually picked colors for my living room and dining room! I have been working at reclaiming my garden, too!

So yesterday, I started with 15 bags of cement and one roll of landscape fabric. My goal is to make a cobble stone path throughout my garden. It felt good YESTERDAY to lift all of these bags. Today, not so much. ;-)

My goal is to work a little at a time to reclaim my entire garden. I want to make it easier to keep up with, as well as show case some of the flowers I just adore.

Wet Cement!

A good start on the path! 

My Garden Reclamation Project

The waterfall and stream of my water garden. 

The only flower I've planted this year....yet.

Tiny Boxwoods that will grow to 4 foot! 

It's always nice to have a hunk like this clean up after me

Part of my water garden.


!

One of my best days - ever

Today was one of those days that just makes you glad. The deep down, contented glad that comes from contentment, intimacy and fun. Terry and I had one of those days today. We woke leisurely, enjoyed coffee and the internet, and then great conversation. Then I worked in my garden transplanting flowers to new places. My garden is starting to look like someone loves it again! While I played, Terry did too - on his guitar.

We drove to Des Moines, picked up landscaping stuff, shopped a bit and grabbed a bite to eat. The whole time chatting and giggling. We found a garage sale and a solid oak table that is absolutely perfect as a little island for my kitchen. We even had to scrape the bottoms of our wallets to try to come up with the entire amount. We were short $1.25, so asked if she'd take less. I must have looked pathetic, because the owner joined in our laughter and giggling and I got the table. Terry even likes it! I've not had a place to house my pretty yellow pitcher, but today I do. I think I'll put some coneflowers in the pitcher to just top the cake!

Contentment, intimacy and fun. A great combination!