moving things around

remember my redo of my buffet?

well i've been wanting the perfect wreath to put on this mirror...lo and behold i found it. i then hung it up with a strip of fabric and a small nail up on the top of the mirror...i think my look is now FINALLY complete.

'twas the day before thanksgiving...

and there's Christmas all through the house...my kids think i'm crazy, or maybe just a louse...

i'm making pumpkin pies for us to devour...i'll be baking and putting up christmas lights 'till probably wee morning hours...

things i'm grateful for:

*freedom to practice whatever religion i please

*freedom to walk down the street unafraid

*wonderful running water, and flushing toilets

*a working fridge, oven, and microwave!

*and the ability to control the temp in my house

*the patience and love, and forgivness that my kids give me

*loving and being happy with the man i married

*getting through trials and being able to look at them and say "hind sight is 20/20"

*this "deployment year" almost being over

*being able to defend our freedom first hand (go GI joe husband go!)

*the two hours of quiet i get at night when the noise makers i call my children are fast asleep

*good health (thanks mom for the good genes)

*a hell of a good sense of humor (because without it i'd cry a lot more)

*friends and extended families

the list could go on and on but i'll do only two more

i'm SUPER grateful:

*that i'm not heidi montag and that i didn't just make a huge mistake by marrying the devil's spawn we like to call spencer. seriously moronic move even for her.

*and lastly my flat iron because without it, i'd look like a Q tip.

happy thanksgiving

ps: capitals are over rated

I've been busy...

taken with my NEW CAMERA! it came late last night, so this picture was taken AT NIGHT! holy crap I'm in love.

So I haven't really been posting pictures of projects lately. I was trying to hold off posting anything till the camera got here but it's here now and I'm trying to get aquainted with it. It might take a little to get used to, but I'm reading the instruction booklet cover to cover. Once that's done you can count on pictures of:

* my bedroom re-make progress
*my nine patch quilt progress
*a new and improved tutorial on the nine patch
*Christmas spirit throwing up all over my house
*tutorial on the bandanna skirt
*maybe some pictures thrown in there of the noise makers I call my children for the family since they have admited to me that they actually read this thing...

(have you noticed I'm trying to be all grown up and use CAPITALS, we'll see how long that lasts. )
happy week to all of you!

a sentimental wreath and purging

so some of you remember the sweet little 2 year old that passed away in my community this past august. well her aunt asked me to help fix up a wreath to be on her grave site. i was happy to oblige, and i am happy to know that i could be a little help in beautifying little alyssa's grave site this thanksgiving. it made me think how thankful to of actually of known this little girl and to know her family. this little girls mother and family are a perfect example of faith and hope , the knowledge that we will be able to be together as a family forever. they know that they will be able to raise their little one in the eternities. it still makes it hard, but it's so comforting to know that that is not the final chapter of that relationship.

ah... yes, i've been purging...not in the flu or eating disorder sort of way, but in the simplifying our lives sort of way. what a better time to donate lightly used toys and clothes to those around you, or to your local second hand store. a few of us have been doing it here in the middle of nowhere and we've swapped a few toys but mainly we're all trying to simplify. i try to do this every 6 months but with the last two and a half years of moving so much and having our things in storage for a period of 6 months...i've lost focus. but no more! the boys toys have been minimized to a few small containers of things that are the favorite things to play with. the rule of the game is that if it wasn't played with for over 6 months we would donate it. same has gone for my clothes and shoes, if i missed a season of wearing it, it's gone. it feels really nice to be able to walk into their room and know that everything has a place now. i'm working on all the closets and drawers. it's been a slow on going project because i keep getting sucked into books (i blame the cold weather and quilts calling my name) and small projects here and there. but surely i'm moving in the right direction.

i'm speechless and that doesn't happen often

um hmmm well...i'm going to read the books again because 1) i need to like jasper and stop laughing every time i think about him and 2) i need to remember the story and forget the whole thing ever happened on the big screen the way that it did.

seriously kind of disappointed...did anyone else feel the same way or was i the only one laughing at it through the whole thing till the end when it FINALLY got good?

momma's gettin a new camera...

dear GI joe husband,

first off i just want to remind you that i am taking care of your children, your house, and your affairs while you've been gone for this year...not only that but i've been working out...A LOT (who am i kidding that's not really FOR you, it's really for me, but for all purposes intended lets just say it is for you okay?) well with that said...instead of letting them repair my camera, i went ahead and upgraded to this pretty little number of a camera...it cost me a few pennies...uh yeah a few pennies... but oh how i love it so, and can't wait to get it next week. if i could make out with it i would, in a heartbeat. yeah it's that nice...

love,

your adoring wife who busts her butt off for you and your kids every single living day

ps: i'm sorry but i HAD to do it. seriously i did...i mean how could i not? don't answer that.

inspirational tutorials

you know i'm all about tutorials and when i find them i bookmark them so that i can attempt to recreate or make something of my own using bits and pieces of information...here are a few that i think are note worthy:

*so in love with this skirt tutorial ...by whip up

*this simple yet lovely bookmark tutorial ...by craftzine

*this adorable birthday shirt i can't wait to make for my little katie...by house on hill road (it's not a tutorial but it looks easy enough!)

*this adorable baby quilt instructions ...by my wonderfully talented friend kelly

*this tutorial on how to make your own scrabble piece pendant (i just found some scrabble games at the second hand store for $2 can't wait to try it!)...by make and takes

*and i've already started making my own silhouettes of my kids using this tutorial ...by more ways to waste your time.

go check them out. there is so much inspiration all around it's astounding...

ah yes and i got a few awards, i'm horrible about posting them! sorry!... but thank you to the ladies that have given me awards these past months i know there's a few...i just can't remember what they are but the most recent ones are from:

junk sophisticated she's got such a great eye for junk that i knew from the first time i saw her blog that we could be great buddies, well unless you put us in the same garage sale or second hand store, then we would probably harbor some ill feelings when the one of us got to the perfect find before the other one! ;) seriously this woman finds the GREATEST STUFF...she awarded me the KREATIV BLOGGER award THANK YOU!

and bonnie from one designing woman is a stager in the bay area, but she also happens to be my good friend's mom so i've been able to use her talent when ever she would visit the area. i would corner her and asked her to take a look at my decorating to give me pointers...she also has re kindled the idea that when i grow up i want to be a decorator or a stager... she awarded me the blue ribbon award THANK YOU!

even if i'm horrible at posting them and let too much time go by without mentioning them or *gasp* not mentioning them at all just know that i appreciate them!


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something i never had...

going through all my pictures these days without my camera...it's amazing what a camera can catch... pictures from my archives

being an only child really does have it's perks...really it does...but when i watch my kids especially my two older boys, i quickly forget what those perks are.

they play together and bug eachother all the live long day...

have always had to share toys and rooms, and even friends...there's two years difference but i treat them like twins, and i often get asked if they are twins...

i'm pretty sure those two first boys were best friends even before they were born into our family...thick as thieves i tell ya! and the two little ones are always closely following after them...always getting into something and "thinking" up no good plans! i love it...well till they break something.

(uh and yeah i've gotten in the two digits now on how many days till GI joe husband comes home...but i actually have to re-calculate it because he's coming home a little earlier than most of the guys due to the training he's been asked to help out with in the states. I'M SO SORRY OTHER GI JOES' WIVES! but BoooYAAAA he's coming home soon!)

tutorial::how to make a nine patch

okay so this nine patch quilt is made of nine squares to make one block and then a plain white block in between. i'm going to show you how to make the nine square block. (sorry about the pictures, they didn't turn out super great but at least i had pictures!)

first cut out strips of fabric (in my quilt i did bigger strips of 2 and 1/2 inches, but for this table runner i cut out 1 and 1/2 inch strips)

you'll need to cut out:

* one middle strip(white) and two color ones for the out side strips

*one color one for the middle and two white ones for the outside

* and if you want it scrappy looking cut out one middle (white) and two other color for outside

with right sides together sew your strips length wise...

on either side of the white (this will be one of your top or bottom square strip)

press with an iron and make sure the fabric is pressed AWAY from the white fabric (this will later come into play because when you assemble your blocks the creases "nestle" into each other)

here i pressed the fabric again away from the white fabric.

now you should have your strips all ready to be cut

cut them the same length of your strips so these were cut at 1 and 1/2 inches

once you cut all your square strips, set them out like this one with two colors, then one with one color, and lastly one with two colors. it should look like this, and now you are going to starting on one side of your block put right sides together, (here is where your squares will "nestle" into the creases making it easier to line up your squares) sew it together press, and do the same with the next strip of squares.

all three strips of squares sewn together will look like these when you are done, press them with an iron, and keep on going!

if you have more questions let me know. once again sorry about the pictures!
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tutorial in the near future...

flowers from GI joe husband for my birthday (NOT FROM MY ARCHIVES!)

so my wonderful friends come to my aid again. lets see, i have a borrowed sewing machine, a borrowed microwave (oh yeah forgot to mention that yet another thing that i use every single day is broken too! lets just hope things come in threes!) and now a borrowed camera. so i'm going to use this weekend to create a tutorial on a nine patch (which by the way my quilt in almost done). this weekend will be a slow paced one. i've come to long for weekends probably as much as the kids do. weekends mean no having to wake up the kids for school, no homework, no gym, no hustling and bustling. yes, friday night and saturday day are my favorite days of the week.

so have a good one and i'll see you on monday with a tutorial if all goes well!

things my kids will probably tell their therapists in 25 years

picture from my archives: oldest son with a butterfly on his shirt in our front yard

well so yeah, i've been known to try to "fool" my children from time to time...like the time when i picked them up from school and kept driving past our house to two towns over to the local health center.
when they asked where we were going i told them "the health center."
they then asked "do you have to go to the doctor?"
i answered "yes."
it's not my fault that they just left it at that...no follow up questions like " why do you need to go to the doctor?" which then i would of had to answer "to get a flu shot" which then the next best follow up question would be " do we have to get flu shots?" which then i would of had to answer truthfully "yes." but they didn't, so i didn't tell them anything and as i was signing the papers to say yes give my children, and myself pain (which they then would give me a $5 gift certificate to the local food store for each flu shot we got).
the nurse calls out the kids names and they look at me like "what?...WHY?" but they didn't SAY ANYTHING...so i just said "go on, follow the nurse."
she looks at me quizzically and i mouth "they don't know what's coming" she mouths "OH." and winks.
by the time i get to them in the room they've sort of figured out that something was not right...they had huddled together in the corner and they looked like cattle in a pen ready to be you know what...so i tell them we are ALL getting the flu shot as i stand in front of the door...just in case. my second boy (who is the most scared of the needle, and also happens to almost out wiegh me) starts whimpering and saying "i don't want to! I DON'T WANT TO!"

the other children did pretty well, the 8 year old played it tough and didn't even cry, the little one and the youngest of the boys cried a little but were fine when they got their sucker. now my middle boy was the last to go because he had wedged himself under the chairs and the wall...it took two nurses and me holding him down to finally get it in him. i felt kind of bad until i retrieved my $25 worth of gift certificates to the grocery store... where i bought them ice cream.

uh yeah or like two weeks ago when i didn't change the hour for the time change so they went to bed one hour early and then i would, after they fell asleep, change it to the right time so they would go to school on time, and then i would change the clocks back again while they were at school, so they would go to bed early...yeah for a week.

i'm such stellar mom...and their therapists are going to have a field day with me! :)

loss of another great friend.

picture from my archives

two things i use every single living day are now officially broken. first my sewing machine, and now MY CAMERA! ah, so she's off in a box snuggled in bubble wrap to be fixed hopefully. i don't know how long i will be without a camera...so i don't know what to tell you guys...i'm one of those people that likes blog entries to have at least 1 picture in it or else i get bored...so i don't blame you all if you just quit reading! and i have so much planned! painting projects, second hand finds, my progress on the nine patch, oh the tutorials!!...bleh...i may just have to borrow a camera and name her too.

if she weren't so nice, i'd hate her...

okay so camille over at simplify is having a give away...not only is she talented and has her own quilting patterns, she also, along with her mom, has a fabric line at MODA!!! moda people!!! you KNOW how i feel about moda! anywho, she's talented and nice!

and i really really REALLY want this pattern, oh and the finished project is the give away! okay so she's talented, nice, and a little crazy...

she just needs binding...

and then my bed will have a new quilt at the end of it...my bedroom is coming along quite nicely. a few more tweeks and i might be willing to show you a before and after. or rather a before and and an "in the process of being an after".
thank you for the well wishes on my birthday! it was a relaxing/lazy day. and cold...we are quickly aproaching winter here in the middle of nowhere...i don't know how i feel about that, except that it does mean that the GI joe husband is getting closer to coming home...hmm what should i name him when he's no longer "GI joe husband"? i didn't think about that before...any suggestions?

they say it's my birthday...

so lets have all the pictures be about me shall we? went to the football game... had a hard time figuring out who i was rooting for... BYU? husband's school, and the cause of all of our student loans...or SDSU? i mean i never went there but i'm from there...felt kind of bad for san diego state, they got beat pretty bad, but GOOOO COUGARS!

i bet they are so excited to come home to that!
ate chinese food and had some fun times with girls...obviously we don't get out much, because we act like idiots when we do.
burg, i promised i would put a better one of us so here it is.

i got christmas shopping almost done for the kids, and i did manage to hit a fabric store, only to walk away not buying anything because if i got started i wouldn't of stopped, and i have to keep my promise to myself of trying to dwindle down the pile i got already going before i stock up, it was hard, but i did it anyways.

also i love tai pan, and IKEA so stinkin much that i'm greatful i don't have them near me. but my love for TARGET still holds true...every time i walk in there it's like disneyland for me. and i'm REALLY greatful i don't have one of those for over 3 hours away from me!

thank you to my wonderful friends, and family who made my weekend wonderful. thank you to the girls who took my children so i could go to the game, and christmas shopping without them, (i actually had the opportunity to miss them...sort of).

and what are my plans for the day? nothing much out of the ordinary, that was all taken care of this weekend. i really want to curl up in bed all day and finish reading all the books i got from the library so i can start all the ones i bought at the bookstore, but there's laundry to be folded, kids to feed and care for, projects to continue plugging away at, emails to finally start answering (i promise i'll get back to all of you that have questions for me!) and homework to be tackled...but i do have one thing going differently for me today...any lip or attitude from my kids or ANYONE for that matter, and i can say "HEY, it's my birthday, so quit it!" who can argue with that? now THAT is AWESOME.

before and after::small changes

you know sometimes you just get tired of the same 'ol same 'ol. you just want a new look, well you don't have to go out and buy all new stuff, you could always just look around and move a little thing here and a little thing there...or get rid of something and add some nature... before: flowers with some red berries...looks just fine, but i was tired of it.

after: get rid of the berries (use them somewhere else) and go out side and make use of some my falling branches outside...got to love the wind and cold!

before: mirror, looks cute but kind of bare, i knew that i wanted plates around it so i went to the second hand store

after: bought some white plates, and found (score!) some cute little vintage looking bowls each at 50 cents to $1 each.

before: oh dear heavens yes i had fake ivy...and that was cool in like 1999 but not so much anymore so out with the fake ivy...

after: in with some more twigs from outside till i can get some money put aside to buy some cool twigs from a store...

don't have a before on this one, but you remember the berries from the first picture...they made it into the basket above my armoire (sp!?) in my bedroom, gives it color and height.

no need to go out and buy all new stuff just look around and use what you got!

thats it for me this week, i got a two day trip to pack for, nothing major but it's the little outings sometimes that keep you going! have a good weekend!

bandanna skirt

made out of one bandanna...and i think it's so stinkin cute, she's going to wear it today...

and guess who's wearing underpants? besides me...and the boys...yup the little one decided that yesterday was the day to start the process of potty training! the stats went like this:

pee in the potty: 1

pee in her panties: 3

oh well at least she's trying

it's snowing

i have no real picture today, because ALL my projects are in "halfway" status. so i'll put in one of my boys this morning doing something i love them doing, playing together and having thier best friends live under the same roof. truely i am so greatful that they love to play together.

i don't think i'm going to make too much headway on too many projects today either. we'll see how the day plays out...but i need a day off, and that's not going to happen, so i'm curling up under my quilt start reading one of the books i got from the library while the little one naps, drink hot chocolate, start a fire, and stay in my sweats all the live long day.
i asked for a blessing from our bishop (something i have a hard time doing because i always think, there are people who need it far worse than i do.) but i did it anyways...what a blessing, it was a.maz.ing. i was blessed with strength, amongst many other things that are very personal and dear to my heart, i was promise many things, and my faith has been strengthened.

ah and yes the countdown to my birthday has started 5 days till my 33rd...what do i have lined up? well i'm getting my hair done tomorrow, and i asked her to wax my eyebrows because truth be told i lost my tweezers about a month ago, and i'm growing a national forest around my once nicely plucked eyebrows, i'm going up to slc, going to a BYU game with the youth in my church, and i'm going to fabric stores WITH my children and not get embarrassed of the disaster we are in public places, oh and i might throw in there a little Tai Pan...and i'm going to eat glorious Chinese food! yes i'm going to have a grand time...while i drag my children with me everywhere I WANT TO GO! ;) and they'll like it!

quilting and voting

that's all i'm doing today. and i think i'll stay away from the tv so i don't hyperventilate all day long. that way at the end of the day it'll just be like taking off a band aid... quick with a little sting...

my article at Blissfully Domestic

check her out here. it's on how to get the perfect second hand sheet for your next project.

what i did and didn't do

* i DID finish one grandmother's flower, appliqued it to white back ground fabric and am now working on quilting it...i'm thinking of making it into a pillow or a wall hanging to go in my room (it sort of matches my pinwheel quilt that will go at the end of my bed.)

*i DIDN'T paint the boys room...had a kind of relaps of sunday night on friday day managed to do halloween, then snapped out of it by saturday.

*i DID manage to do 6 loads of laundry and have a renewed loathing feeling for that chore until i started a new habit of folding some every night while watching my old "friends" dvds.

*i DIDN'T leave my house this weekend not once, except to go to church.

*i DID get my monthly surprise visitor (why do i NEVER see the signs?) i usually have my husband to tell me "look at the calendar v, think about it." which i quickly turn and call him the devil's spawn for blaming my craziness to pms...a few days later i'm apologizing (every single month people)

*i DIDN'T really do much saturday (which is usually a big working day for me) and that was okay, just me and the kids laying around watching spongebob, making lego space ships, cleaning up a little, and worked on my nine patch quilt a little more.

*i DID have have a wonderful sunday, the weather was windy, rainy, and even some hail hit. i bore my testimony, and i actually felt the spirit. it was awesome to be at church. i love days like that.

*i DIDN'T make any big plans for this next week, so the page is wide open as to what i want to get done...now to start a new week...

my best friend ginger

these are my best friend ginger's kids.

let me tell you a little about my best friend ginger. we met in cali when our GI joe husbands were at the D.L.I.(defense language institute) i used to be able to look out my window and watch my kids walking to her house and vise versa. we would hang out every single day talking, laughing, and making things. she knows way too much about me, AND SHE STILL LIKES ME.
she has a southern accent that makes anyone of the opposite sex swoon, i remember one time we went to costco, and the checker guy was like "hey, wow, that's a nice accent you got...where you from?" she answered "oh [chuckle] i'm from south carolina." sounding like scarlet. i interject "uh yeah lover boy? i'm from san diego...what's that to ya?" he answered me with a nasty scowl. she makes dinner southern style that includes a roast, potatoes, green beans the whole shi-bang any time during the the week. her house is full of beautiful antiques she gets from her mom who just so happens to be an antique dealer. she's an awesome mom and wife. and she always calls me whenever, just to talk...and sometimes i feel like she just knew that she needed to call me. she's the kind of friend i hope to be.i look up to her.
we have make believe plans of when we will live in the same neighborhood again and our kids will fall in love with each other.we live too far away from each other and that makes us sad, but we have email and phone calls that keep us connected. she's the sister i never had. and if i could ever convince her to get a blog i could see my future son and daughter in laws on a regular basis in their daily activities. oh and i could see all the wonderful projects her and her husband have been doing as well...but nooo, she won't do a blog...for now. but she does send me funny things like this:

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

it made me laugh so hard, and it made me tear up to see my GI joe husband and i re-united again...and how hot our bodies are...