Memorial Day Makeshift Curtain

I did it! I crafted! I made a makeshift kitchen curtain.
I did some spring cleaning this afternoon and found an old table cloth (from my small kitchen table in my old dorm). I love the fabric and the colors go well in my kitchen. Andd.. It was the perfect size for my window!

In reality, I tacked a piece of fabric to a window ...
... Ryan's Mom, Lanelle, made the table cloth.
I put two push pins in the top corners.
I cut ribbons and draped them over the top to tie it up.

But I tried, right? Haha. I don't have a sewing machine. It's on my wishlist (that and learning how to sew more than a straight stitch).
I don't think it looks half bad...
It was a spur of the moment craft with things I already had.

I doubt I'll ever leave it like this. I don't like how the ribbons just hang, plus I like the sun coming through!

 

Just to show how it's just rolled up and tied.

The finished product! At first I just had 2 ribbons, but the middle sank too much.

It does a bit, but not nearly as bad!

I hope to sew it and maybe even add a curtain rod (gettin' fancy! ;)), but for now it serves its purpose!

Happy Memorial Day!

Sorry, I've been on a bit of a hiatus. Relaxin' and enjoyin' the holiday weekend and all! Ryan's parents came in town on Friday and stayed til this afternoon. They stayed at Lane and Erin's, so we stayed at Lane and Erin's most all weekend too. ;) 

 

 

I love festive food, especially flag cakes! I made a chocolate cake, with cool whip (beats icing any day!), and blueberries and strawberries for the cookout.

So, Lane and Erin's house came with a pool table, hehe. They played constantly!!

 

I worked Saturday morning. ...Can you call this work? This lil guy is William. We spent the morning at Shelby Farms riding. I ran beside him the whole time; he's a speedster! 

So, that's my weekend! How was yours?!

Encouragement

Lately, I've been feeling kinda down. I've been dealing with some health issues that I thought I wouldn't  have to deal with until I was in my 50's if even then. I finally had my gastroenterologist appointment yesterday and got some answers. Not the answers I wanted, but considering how much worse all the other answers are, I'm very thankful for the answers that I did receive. (I know I'm being very vague and I apologize for that. It's just all kinda yuck-o.) I was on the phone with my Mom yesterday afternoon, explaining everything to her to the best of my ability and got worked up about it all. It finally hit me. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, of spending all day marathons in the doctors offices, of putting my paychecks directly towards co-pays and medicine. I didn't want to think about it or deal with it anymore, so I excused myself and got off the phone. I sent a text apologizing and my Mom replied... "Your body. You control it. A dr's diagnosis doesn't. I won't a accept a life sentence for my daughter. I see you whole." DISCLAIMER - She makes it sound a lot worse that it is but at that time I was too so I needed that encouragement. I had spent the first half of the day at the doctor, the second half at work, the third half (yes, I know that there can't be a third half - but yesterday was a long day and a third half happened), working again with another family. Mom continued to encourage,
"You're amazing. Be calm calm calm always. No matter what keep the inside calm even if you are yelling for your life. There's a power we trust so we don't have to worry."
....By the time I got that text I was at work, tears came to my eyes - not in pity for myself, maybe in embarrassment for thinking the way I did, but mostly in pure awe of the wisdom of my mother. William, the 6 year old with autism, saw me and responded with a hug, which made the tears actually run down my cheek.

Thank you Mom (and William) and Katie.
Not to leave my sister out... When I got home from work, I updated her. She responded with the most ... touching? disheartening? Erm.. Thought-provoking and encouraging story. And we cried. again.

I LOVE this picture of my Mom. It was the day I got my new bike; she took it for a testdrive.

This kid makes me smile. always. In this picture, he makes me crack up. 

  

So, I'll leave you with my new favorite quote,

"Be calm calm calm always. No matter what, keep the inside calm even if you are yelling for your life. There's a power we trust so we don't have to worry."

An Object in Motion...

An Object in Motion tends to stay in motion...

After a day like today, I believe that applies to me as well.

Ryan and I left Arkansas around 10:00, after waking up at 8 and having an early grocery shopping trip. (Ry's Grandmother wanted to take us so he could fill up a buggy full. She loves to take care of her family and does an amazing job of it!!) Once in Memphis, we helped Lane and Erin move until 3. Their new house is gorgeous and is just going to get even more beautiful as they decorate! Ryan dropped me off at my apartment; I unpacked, did laundry, and cleaned. I tried to sit outside and read but it was too anti-climatic, I suppose. I went bargain shopping! To Overstock Outlet off of Summer (I was looking for printer cartridges, but left with everything but) and to City Thrift to look at kitchen chairs and left with 3 tops, a skirt, and 3 pairs of pants (Express, Gap, and Fossil) for under 40 bucks. :) Woot! And no chairs... Then, I came back, did more laundry, dishes, cleaned the whole apartment, programmed the t.v. remote, made dinner, cleaned out the fridge, and.... made my "Our Life" Binder!!! I'll create a new post with pictures about it soon. I got the idea from this blog http://mandicresswell.blogspot.com/2011/03/home-notebook-our-life-binder.html, but struggled with designing my own documents, so I gave up... until she posted her templates for freeee!!! Now, to relax, fold the last load of clothes, review my Bible lesson, and sleep. :)

Kiddo Crafts

More past projects. Theses are more children centered. Most are from a Little Girl's Craft Day I had a few months back. Four 3-5 year old girls being cute and crafty; we all loved it! 

 Pasta Jewelery. Very simple to prepare for and huge hit! (What little girl doesn't want to make/wear jewelry) Dye the noodles (penne or any noodle with a wide hole) at least 24 hours before in food coloring and rubbing alcohol. Pat dry and then leave to dry on paper towels over night. And you're ready to string them! I just used purple yarn, taped off the ends so it wouldn't fray. I did tape the opposite end to a note card with the kids names on it, to prevent the noodles from coming off the other end.

Another amazingly easy craft. Prayer Cards! I had all the girls in my Bible class that semester. I used colored card stock cut in 1/4ths, wrote ___ is thankful for ____. I pray to say "Thank you" everyday! We filled in the blanks together and they colored a picture of what they were thankful for in the middle. I have a mini laminator that we used to have a neat finish product. I use my example piece as a bookmark.

I suppose this was our main craft. Handprint placemats! I couldn't find a handprint poem that I loved online, so I edited and combined to come up with a new one. Here's my example.

Here's the back. I went back and bolded ABCDEFG and 1234.

Here's the girl's. They were 2 sided, 2 parts really. The front was the poem and your handprints, the back your friend's handprints and a friendship poem that I came up with. I cut posterboard into 1/4ths and wrote the poems on them the night before. We did the prints. They dried and I put the 2 pieces back to back and laminated them. (I had to do it in 2 pieces rather than just front and back because we only had a few hours, rather than overnight, and no time for them to dry.)

This isn't really a Kiddo Craft, just a kiddo costume. One of the boys that I nanny for wanted to be an iPod for Halloween, but the Mom didn't have time to make his costume. I stepped in and with the help of a printer and dollar tree made a pretty neat costume, if I do say so myself! ;) The Wii is a costume left over from last year that just needed some touch ups. And the Batman... He's my man. That's William, the little boy with austim that I've been working for the longest!

This is from a Christian Day Camp in Columbia. I have the Pre-K Kiddos. By the end of the week we were running out of crafts to do (The other kids do sports and more advanced crafts. We do A LOT of crafts and play.) We had a ton of already completed crafts and left over bags from the previous year ... and paint dotters. :)

Hehe. Each age group puts on a skit at the end of the week for the camp. The pre-k kids did The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I sat in the middle of the stage and read as they acted it out/wondered around around me. We made these caterpillars earlier in the week. I added yarn and made them into necklaces for our costumes (Everyone was a caterpillar). We choose The Very Hungry Caterpillar because I read it on the first day before nap time (and every other day, multiple times at their request.) I love Eric Carle!

Past Projects

Here's a few of my past projects from school. I have a ton more but don't have them all on my laptop.  Reading Honors Project: Favorite Author Bio Board.

 

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Story Retelling in Drama ... (This picture was taken in my old dorm)

Detailed picture of my coconut tree and the injured letters.

Physical Education Bulletin Board assignment from PETE - Teaching P.E. K-6th

3rd time's a charm, right?

Welp... This is my third attempt at a blog. I just never stuck with it before. I didn't have the time, didn't like my set-up, didn't like what I was writing about, overall just felt too limited. Maybe I'll stick with this one. Who knows. 

Regardless, my reason for creating this blog - with the latent function of it occupying my time while I nanny and the four month old naps - is to hold myself accountable. I'm not sure how that works, really. But I believe that if I tell everyone, or at least publish it for everyone to read, whether they do or not... I will stick to my goals better. My goals aren't very lofty... I simply want to take time to craft, paint, (learn how to) sew, (relearn how to) knit, do home (apartment) improvement tasks, to cook, to be adventurous, to bike...

Normally, I do all of the above in the summer, but this summer I'm in Memphis - for good, in an apartment with the best roomie ever (my sister), and since I'm not at home with bumming off of Mom, I have rent and bills to pay... So, I work...

I work. A lot. And I LOVE it! My work is part of my hobbies. I nanny for 3 different families and love all of my boys dearly! I'm tempted to work too much. The hours are there. The pay is great. The work is fun! But when I work too much, I don't have time for the rest.

This blog is my reminder to take time for the rest!

I suppose I'll follow up this first post with my past craft and home improvement attempts... if I can find the pictures and figure out how to upload them....