Smart.

www.littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com

I love this blog! Her most recent post is about using sheet sets as curtains. I haven't done this since Scott and I first got married, but why not?! I recently bought a duvet cover on sale to make a shower curtain. I know it sounds weird, but it's all just fabric, right? The sheet set idea is even more brilliant because it doesn't require any sewing. If you want it lined, simply buy a cheap white sheet set and fabric glue it to the back! Look at Goodwill.

So I did a little search for sheet sets and found some beautiful patterns:

Check out her blog for the finished product! It's pretty amazing what you can do with sheets.

Pottery Barn: Where I Live

Hey all you renovation and decorating enthusiasts out there, here is a fun way to peak into other people's houses for inspiration without being a freak! This is an awesome series of videos that Pottery Barn put together featuring the various homes they use to stage their products. Pottery Barn has the entire series on their website, but they're also available on YouTube. I love watching these at night after the kids go to bed when I get a little down time.... and no, I don't ever expect my house to look like any of these and yes.... I know they're not kid friendly. Who cares? It's an escape that doesn't have all of the trash of late night TV and it's soothes the nerves. Lovely.

Jessica Simpson Clip In Fringe - Clip in Bangs

I used to have bangs. I've got a bigger forehead, so it was nice to be able to hide behind them... but, they were so hard to keep up with! The constant trimming, and then I cut too many and Scott made fun of me and called me a "Dutch Boy" for ever so I grew them out. I still think about getting some cut though.

The fake bangs look good on this girl, but sort of itchy. Sort of "Bumpit" like.

What do you guys think?

Paper Whites Stink

I've wanted to grow paper whites for a long time. I heard they were super easy to force indoors and so very pretty.

Anyway, this year I splurged and bought some bulbs that came with a beautiful silver pot and the magic soil disk. (It quadruples in size when you add water, it's the coolest thing ever) I was very excited!!!! I was hoping they'd bloom by Christmas but no such luck. Once they're potted, you have to keep them in a cool dark spot for two weeks. So into the garage they went.

Well, they finally sprouted and I brought them into my family room so we could all watch in wonder at how quickly they grow... and they did! Almost every day they'd grow a half an inch or so. Very satisfying! We were all on pins and needles waiting for them to bloom.... and then they did... and now we're totally grossed out because they smell like URINE!

Yucky, yucky paper whites.

The ABC's of Snowman Lacresha's Construction

A... always work together.

B... be careful not to break the carrot!

C... crying may/will occur.

Repurposing

Stacey H asked the question a few days ago on her blog, "What to do with hand-me-down tees, jeans, shirts, etc...". I was inspired after reading her post to find more ways to recycle/reuse my kids old clothes and other scrap fabric leftover from various sewing projects. While I do love the t-shirt rug in my last post, I don't have 60 plus hours to devote to any one project. So here are a few less time consuming ideas for you from my BFF Martha:

1. Using old sweaters to make baby rattles or stuffed animals. I've done this and it's so easy and super cute.

2. Cutting up baby and little clothes to make a keepsake quilt. Good for boys and girls!

3. Scrap fabric heating pads. I made one for my mom and stuffed it with rice. If you put it in the microwave for 2 minutes or so, it retains heat and soothes sore muscles. A great gift for a new mom, someone in the hospital or a crabby Korean mom with arthritis.

4. Quilted coasters are brilliant! Who doesn't have a bunch of scrap fabric from a sewing project or old clothes even. I love this.

All of the above patterns/instructions can be found on http://www.marthastewart.com/

My New Favorite DIY Projects

I found a tutorial for this awesome tshirt rug on http://www.pressurefoot.blogspot.com/

It's looks so soft!!!!







The gal from http://www.littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/ found this dresser for 20 dollars at an antique store and painted it "Billiards Table" blue from Behr. I love this table, the orange mat, the ceramic lamp and I especially love the cute little rain boots on the right of the dresser! Wet feet are some of my least favorite things!

Since Thanksgiving...

... we've been busy!!! Between decorating for Christmas, shopping, cooking, delivering, ear piercing, Pillow Pet snuggling, cleaning, DS playing, Twinkie eating, dancing, hugging, smiling, unwrapping, sewing and "And all that jazz".... I'm pooped!

Grace and I had an afternoon out. First we went to Claire's and got her ears pierced (the first one didn't go in all the way, so he had to redo it) and then we had sushi. It was the first of many special mother/preteen daughter dates!

The DS sisters.

Oliver's playing the drums behind the sparkly girl. No, the other sparkly girl... no, the other sparkly girl.

She loves to dance and she loves to fake sleep.

The girls sent Grandpa on a scavenger hunt for his gifts. I was a little nervous about it, but he was an excellent sport! All's well that ends well.

There isn't another set of cousins who know more about football than these two guys! It's pretty intense.

Uncle Gary loves his sweets!!!

We hope you all had a very merry Christmas and New Year celebrations too!

Happy New Year

I didn't post resolutions last year because I think deep down I knew I didn't have it in me/ my days would be getting much busier and any resolution would be replaced with a 5 mile list of HAVE TO's. This year I'm feeling much more optimistic.

Scott and I were talking last night about 2011 being a great year, and so far so good. As far as resolutions go, mine are always the same. "Getting in shape again, being more kind, learning Korean, blah blah blah", BUT I'm going to add one more. This year I want to earn my YW medallion. I'm sort of nervous saying it out loud because now there's a self imposed deadline, but doing this will kill 12 birds with one stone. There, it's done. I have 300 or so days left to accomplish this goal so I should probably get off the computer and start.

Merry Christmas

One of my least favorite things: Posting a really great remake of a really great Christmas song, and finding out a day later that there's a potty mouth pop-up mid video.

"Last Christmas I gave you my... what the heck?!!!!"

Ugh.

Glitter Birds on a Tinsel Branch

This is the last week before Christmas and like any other psycho, I've decided to try a few new crafts and sewing projects along with all of the other necessary things my schedule is packed FULL of. Why? It's simple. I cannot function if I only do the necessary things. I have to have a couple mindless, fun projects mixed in so I don't have a nervous breakdown!

So the other day I was looking through my Martha collection and came across this little gem from her December 2006 magazine. It's a centerpiece made out of a branch, tinsel and a few glitter birds. My husband went out back and found a branch that had fallen (cost 0.00) and I found tinsel at Target for 1.99. The only things missing were the birds. Hobby Lobby was selling a pack of birds for 1.99 and bought 2 and little Sophia let me use her glitter. Total cost, 8.00 and about 1 hour to put it together. It's going on my round dining table and I love it. Simple but kind of magical looking.


http://www.marthastewart.com/article/glitter-bird-centerpiece

Today I'm going to finish our Christmas stockings.

Cheesy Grits and Buttermilk Pie

I love living in the south. I really do! I've lived in the US all together for something like 19 years and most of that has been spent south of the Mason Dixon line. I hope it stays that way, especially because of the friendships I've made with "legit" southerners who have taken me under their wings and shared top secret personal info, like family recipes. Corn pudding for one, is a holiday favorite, boiled custard is another (I've never made it because you can buy it at the grocery store) pickled watermelon (never tried this either)... but here are two more worth trying over Christmas break. Ultimate comfort foods!

Cheesy Grits (a variant of a southern fave):

2 c water

1 1/4 c milk

1 tsp salt

1 c grits

1/2 c and 1 tbsp butter

1/3 c green onion chopped

4 oz velveeta

1/4 tsp garlic powder

2 1/2 c shredded cheddar

1 can of spicy Rotel

Cook your grits in milk and water. Add salt and stir until it's thick and creamy. Add your 1/2 c of butter and stir. Saute the green onions in the tbsp of butter and then add to the grit mixture. Add both the velveeta and the cheddar until they're melted and garlic powder. Then stir in the rotel until it's completely incorporated. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes uncovered. SO GOOD WITH FRIED CHICKEN, COLESLAW AND HONEYBUTTER BISCUITS.

Lemon Buttermilk Pie:

3 eggs

1/2 c butter

1 1/2 tbsp flour

1 c buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/8 tsp nutmeg

uncooked pie crust

heavy whipping cream plus one tbsp sugar

Mix well and pour into an unbaked pie shell. Bake 40-60 minutes at 350. While baking, whip your cream and sugar until peaks form. Cool pie and serve with a healthy dollop of cream on top (It takes the edge of the tanginess and richness of the pie)

Butter makes everything better.

GO ARMY BEAT NAVY!!!

" The Army-Navy football game will take place Saturday afternoon at 2:30 eastern time. It is annually the last regular-season college football game and one of the oldest and most storied rivalries in any sport. The Army-Navy game tradition began in 1890, when Navy won. Army won the next season, and ever since it's been a hotly contested game. There have been 110 Army-Navy games, with Navy holding the edge, 54-49-7. That edge has come about only recently, as Navy has won the past eight games. Last season, Navy won 17-3 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The game will be played in the same venue Saturday. Army (6-5) enters the game with one its best teams in a while, though. The Black Knights are headed to a bowl game for the first time since 1996, as second year coach Rich Ellerson seems to have righted the ship at West Point. Navy (8-3), however, is no pushover. Under Ken Niumatalolo, who took over for Paul Johnson, the Middies have won eight games and will head to a bowl game for the third straight season. Overall, the Midshipmen have won at least eight games for eight straight seasons. The game will air on CBS."

UPDATE: Ugh, maybe next year Army.

Tree Skirt

Every year I feel the need to make new stockings and a tree skirt. Last year I was really into burlap. Yuck! It was so messy and when I tried to stencil the kids' names on the cuff, the paint bled and looked horrible.

So, this year I want to use real fabric and real batting and not have to get both my sewing machine and embroidery machine serviced immediately because of all the nasty lint. BURLAP IS BAD. Design sponge posted this free tutorial a couple of days ago for a super easy skirt you can make in less than an hour. Check it out: http://www.designspongeonline.com/2010/12/sewing-101-tree-skirt.html

Jason Hinds

One of my friends sent me this video about an amazing guy she knows from BYU named Jason Hinds. Watch it, it's great!!!

Wrestlemania 2010

Spencer had an AWESOME wrestling season! He was 7-1 and got 3rd at the district tournament. He had wonderful coaches and a great team. He's had the first pin of the season and the only wrestler to medal from his school. Very cool.

Turducken Day and MORE...

I haven't posted in a while because, like everyone else, I'M BUSY. Autumn seemed to fly by without stopping even once, so here's a little recap.


Lots of scouting, tap/ballet, wrestling, etc going on. The boys earned a respectable amount of merit badges and my oldest is just about ready to start his eagle. Cross your fingers and hold your breath!!


Turducken and ham were the main dishes at my parent's Thanksgiving feast. Turducken is a chicken inside of a duck inside of a turkey with a creole sausage stuffing between the layers... Yummy, but a lot of meat, right? So after about day two, I couldn't take it anymore and was craving fresh fruit which resulted in an accidental persimmon overdose. Prior to this happening, I didn't know such a thing was possible, but it is. Don't eat persimmon skins (very acidic) and don't eat them period on an empty stomach. PERSIMMON POISONING!!!Unbelievably, I still managed to win a pretty tight game of Scrabble that same night and the only person in the country who lost weight over the weekend!

The egg rolls at the bottom right hand corner are always my hands down favorite Thanksgiving food. Although, my sister's boyfriend Anthony made a delicious corn salad that came in a close second. Thanks Anthony.

Sophie had a lovely tea party back in August for her birthday and I just found the pictures again. It was cute.

Church dances are always entertaining, and this quad-stake one was no exception. It was a little crowded and hot though! Yes Miley, there is a party in the USA.


Grace had a party with some friends at the corn maze. They had a great time, but I was paranoid the whole time about losing a child in the maze. I'm really fun.

Oh Horn of Plenty!!!

Phew.

This is the first year that our maple tree out front changed color. It was so bright that it almost hurt your eyes when you looked at it on a sunny day. I love nature.... no wait that's a lie, I love nature in a very controlled environment.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to Christmas! It really is the most wonderful time of the year!!!!

Frustration

I yelled at my kids this morning. Correction, not the boys but the girls.

WHAT?!!!

I know, I know, they're so sweet and lovable and cute!

I was just frustrated.

WHY?!!!

I was/am frustrated with trying to get kids out the door, on time, day in and day out, without resistance. We do the same things almost EVERY DAY! Seriously, it's almost the end of the first semester and I'm frustrated because I still have to bark out orders like, "wash your face" or "did you brush?.... why not!"... "where's your ballet stuff?" and "do you understand I cannot change time? I'm not Mother Time or a shape shifter." ... wait, what?

Doing the same things over and over and over makes me feel like a broken record or a robot sometimes. An ugly, rusty robot with tired spit ends and a hunch back. A treat for the eyes and the ears.

So, I will apologize, no doubt, repent and pray for patience. I will pray for patience and I will turn my alarm clock back even further to allow for some extra time in the mornings. I will try a little harder to be a pretty, friendly robot with clean hair (can't do anything about the split ends right now) and better posture.

I Can Do That

Candice, this is what we're doing for Thanksgiving. It'll be fun, I'll even let you be the wheelbarrow. Man, I love kid prodigy videos.

Fall Projects

I was busy last week experimenting with my embroidery machine and putting together a quilt for a very special girl and her very special sister.

Some of the girls from church wrote down a few inspiring thoughts to help this very special girl get ready for her new sister's arrival. I simply used fabric to frame these wise thoughts out, and I think it turned out well.

The dark blue fabric was my favorite. You can't tell, but it has tiny glittery polka dots. Very sparkly! I'll definitely use this fabric again.

Next I'm embroidering some robes, finishing my slipcovers, and a table runner for my MIL. Hopefully these projects will come together as well.