Friday's Fix-up

I know... today is Saturday. But I really did have my mess cleaned up yesterday, it just was not a good day for blogging. So here it is, a cleaned up spot in my bedroom. I even vacuumed!

And here is where all those games went. I thought I'd try a different way of storing our games. I'm hoping that having the games on their sides instead of stacked up will make it easier to get them out and put them neatly away again. We'll see if it works. I do still have to organize that tub of smaller games, but at least they are all contained in that one tub.

Queen of Hearts

Here is the finished crown. It's a little big, but Naomi loves it!




Here is the back.

For more details, see this previous post.

Monday's Mess

I've been thinking about this for a while and I've been really excited for Monday to come. On Monday's I'll post a picture of a mess somewhere around my house. That doesn't sound very exciting I guess. The exciting part is that during the week I will clean up, reorganize, de-clutter, whatever needs to be done, and show the results on Friday's Fix-up. I'm hoping this will be a good motivator for me. It will give me a clearly defined goal to work on, and I will have a time limit which is very important for me to have. But why post a picture? That could be just a little embarrassing! Well, I want to be able to compare the pictures. I think it will make me feel good, plus it will give me a little encouragement on those discouraging days when I don't seem to be able to get anything done.

Here is today's mess.

This is just inside my bedroom door. All these games do not belong here. I started cleaning out the hall closet just after Christmas and put these games in my room "just until I empty the closet." Well the closet is still not empty. This week is looking pretty busy, so instead of trying to do the whole closet I'm just going to worry about getting these games put away.

Loving Myself

Today is Wordfull Wednesday from Chocolate on my Cranium!

I have actually been giving this topic a lot of thought over the last few months, so I was excited when it was chosen as the topic for wordfull wednesday this week. I have been trying to take better care of myself physically and spiritually, I got a fun new hairdo, and I've been spending a little more time on sewing, reading, playing the piano, and other things I enjoy. In fact, it was this kind of thinking that really got me to start this blog. And so I'm going to send you to a post I wrote back in January about why I started this blog. Please click HERE to visit my wordfull explanation. And please feel free to look around this blog and see what kinds of things I have been doing, thinking, and learning.

sewing, swapping, and learning...

Naomi's 3rd birthday is tomorrow and this is what I've been working on for her. I've seen lots of felt crowns around and came up with this one myself. All of the others I've seen have been made of wool felt but I decided to use craft felt instead. The wool felt is very nice and comes in lots of beautiful colors, but the craft felt is much cheaper and can be machine washed which is a necessity for us.

Naomi's crown is almost done. I just have to stitch on the two smaller hearts, put in the elastic, and sew the front to the back. It shouldn't take too long. I really like the way it is turning out.

We got this cute doll in the mail last week from my handmade toy swap partner Donna. All three of the girls love it. Thanks Donna!

I learned something last week ... I really enjoy practicing the piano, and my family seems to enjoy listening too. I play hymns and Primary songs all the time, but not much else. Recently, though, I was asked to play accompaniment for a musical number in church last Sunday and I really had to practice to be ready. The song was The Olive Tree by Kurt Bestor (click on the link then click on the mp3 of The Olive Tree, song #5, to hear it). It is a very beautiful song, but is full of running triplets and I had a really hard time with them. But I got the hang of it! I did make a couple of mistakes on Sunday, mostly because I was nervous, but I don't think anyone noticed. And now I just want to keep playing.

Bushfire Quilt Project

I've joined another quilt project! The Bushfire Quilt Project. If you click on the button on the left it will take you to the Flickr group where you can see some of the blocks people have already started making. The quilts from this project will go to the people in Victoria Australia who have lost so much in the fire there. For more information visit Tia's blog. I'm really excited to do these quilt squares. It will be something new for me to learn!

My goal for today: fold and put away a mountain of laundry (5 loads worth) and make bread. Wish me luck!

Valentine's Garland

I LOVE Valentine's Day. It is a day for expressing and celebrating love; it's just a happy day! It also gives me a chance to put lots of beautiful girly hearts around the house! Ellen and Naomi helped me put this heart garland together the other day.

We used various red and pink sheets of our scrapbooking paper. Some of it was actually Christmas paper, but worked great for Valentine's.

Then we cut out the hearts using some cookie cutters as our stencils.

We punched two holes in each one ...

... and strung them on our ribbon. It was a lot of fun, and gave us a good chance to talk about patterns!

Morning!

Morning came and life is better. Sorry if I caused too much worry. My thoughts at 1 in the morning are not always the best, which is why it is always a good idea for me to go to bed before my thoughts can drift that way. I did enjoy Sacrament Meeting yesterday, but I guess the rest of the day was kind of long. James had a meeting before church so I got everyone ready by myself, then he went home teaching after church, and then he had Stake Priesthood Meeting last night and so I got to put everyone to bed by myself, which I'm really not good at. And somehow every Sunday the house ends up looking like it was hit by that ever-busy tornado. Ughhhh! And yes, I do miss my family. Most of the time I'm ok with living far away. Or, really, I just keep myself so busy that I don't have time to think about it. I really feel that Moscow is the place for us right now. But when it's late and I'm feeling a little down, I can get quite homesick.

Today, things are looking up. I've accomplished a few things this morning, and just let some other things go that really weren't worth stressing over. And I have prayed. And now my heart is light, and I am filled with gratitude for a loving Heavenly Father who hears me and loves me. I am always amazed at the peace praying brings to me. And now I can go on.

Thoughts while awake...

Well, here it is, almost 1am and I am awake. No babies or kids with bad dreams, just me. I'm not really sure why. Just one of those nights where my mind won't stop and I can't sleep. I'm thinking about all I want to do, and all I can't do, and all I need to wait to do. I'm wondering if I have enough confidence for some of it. I'm hoping tomorrow (well today, really) is a good day. I'm missing my family. You are so far away! And I wish I was there. I'm thinking about prayer. That was the topic for Sacrament Meeting today and the talks were really good. I want to read Elder Bednar's talk, Pray Always, about a million more times.

Time to go to bed. I'm really not a night person. I love mornings though. Things always look up in the morning.

Rice Buddies

This is what I've been using those corduroy pants for. I joined a homemade toy swap on Bird and Little Bird and decided to make these. I guess they're kind of my own creation. I got the beginning of the idea a long time ago from Family Fun. They had a pattern for Monster Pals that I really liked. I did make one very similar to that last summer. But over the months I've kind of adapted the idea. I decided to make them smaller, get rid of the ribbons, and fill them with rice. So they can be played with as a bean bag, or they can be heated up in the microwave and used as a hot pack, or they make a nice cold pack if kept in the freezer for a few hours. Lots of possibilities.

Affection

I decided to write wordfull wednesday here on my new blog. For other wordfull wednesday participants visit Chocolat On My Cranium.

One summer when I was a teenager my family went to visit my grandparents. I slept on a cot just outside the room where my parents were sleeping. I was not trying to eavesdrop, but I couldn't help but hear them say to each other, "I love you" just before turning out the light. They did this every night. I always knew that my parents loved each other. They have never been afraid to show their love for each other in front of their children. What a comfort it was to me as a child to know that my Dad loved my Mom (and she loved him) so much that he would kiss her and call her beautiful when he left or came home, or even when she just walked into the room. They were that way with us kids as well. We always got a kiss and a hug when we left for school. My parents were so good at showing me they loved me that I never had a chance to doubt it. They listened when I talked, even if it sometimes took a long time for me to say everything. Now that I am a parent myself I realize that this had to be a little difficult at times. But they did it. I try to follow their wonderful example of showing their love and affection. I hope that those I love know that I do, for it is very, very much.

Why

I think I figured out why I enjoy sewing so much. (And blogging for that matter.) When I sew, I get to be creative and that is nice. But I think the best part is that I do something that stays done. Most everything else I do, like laundry or dishes or even cooking, is quickly undone. This is a little ... ok, a lot frustrating to me sometimes. I sweep a floor and it just gets dirty. I put things away and they come right out again. And that is just part of life. Frustrating as it is, I can't change it.

But when I sew, I put time and effort and thought into something and then I can go back and look at the result of my efforts over and over again if I want to. It just makes me feel good. And it's almost like magic because it somehow makes the laundry and dishes seem not so bad.