Jesus Take the BUMPER???

Last night Greg's semi got stuck in our drive...again. The drifting snow was too deep. Luckily, he was off the road, but just barely. And he had to work this morning, so he couldn't just leave it there and say "forget it" until later. I tried to help him by pulling with his pick-up, but it didn't budge, so I came back inside with the kids. They kept asking about Daddy, so I said, "Let's say a prayer for Daddy to get unstuck." We prayed, "Dear Jesus, please help Daddy get his truck unstuck from the snow." And then when he did get unstuck we said, "Thank you Jesus for helping Daddy get his truck unstuck."

Fast forward to today. The kids went outside to play in the snow. When they came inside Garret said, "Mom, there are tracks in our yard." Me - "Like animal tracks?" Garret - "No, like a car drove in our yard." Me - "Oh, that must be when Steve (our neighbor) came over to help Daddy get his truck unstuck last night." Garret (with a very puzzled look on his face) - "But I thought Jesus did it?!?" Me - "The tracks?" Garret - "NO! I thought Jesus pushed Daddy's truck out."

I just love how their little minds work!!!

Cool and Easy button "F"

This project all started when my friend Angi posted on facebook that she was in a crafty mood and was looking for suggestions on what to craft. My sister gave her a link to a crafting blog...which I started looking through...which led me to another crafting blog...which I started looking through...which led me...well, I think you get the picture. Anyhow, I wanted to give credit to the person with the original design, but I can't seem to find it. I thought it was on the original blog, but I searched her tutorials and can't find it. The original design was this cool fleur de lis. I really loved it and would have completely copied it, but the area where I wanted to put my button art already had a fleur de lis and how many fleur de lises can one area have? So, I made a letter F and I think it turned out really cool.

I had all of these items on hand. The frame is a cheapo that I bought at a garage sale for a dollar or less. The blue background fabric is cut from an old dress shirt that "shrunk" and doesn't fit my husband anymore. And the buttons used to be my Great Aunts'. There were 5 of them originally - Gladys, Vesta, Thelma, Loretta and Thora. We called them "The Girls". They all lived together, never got married and made just about every craft imaginable. At different times they (mostly Gladys) taught me how to do plastic canvas crafts, crochet, knit, and even let me try my hand at quilting one of their quilts (just to let you know, I can't picture myself letting my niece or my daughter touch a quilt that I'd already put hours and hours of work into!) So, thank you Girls for saving all these beautiful buttons over the years! As I was making my F, I smiled, thinking of them and wondering what they would have thought about me using something that they viewed mostly as functional in such a "frivolous" way.

Once you've gathered the supplies - an 8x10 frame with glass, a piece of fabric that will coordinate with the room (get creative - we all have fabric around that we don't use - it's called old clothing!), buttons (I like mostly white/cream/clear with an accent color added in for fun), and glue (I like Aleene's Tacky Glue) it's a pretty simple project.

1. Cut a piece of fabric about 2" bigger on all sides than the glass from your frame.

2. Stretch the fabric over the glass and glue the extra to the back. If the corners are too bulky, cut some of the fabric off, but not too close to the edge.

3. Print a large letter in a font that you like. I picked one that had thicker lines and that looked the right amount of "fancy" to me. I also bolded it to make the lines thicker. I used Microsoft PictureIt so that I could stretch the letter to the exact dimensions that I wanted, but you could also just play with the size in Word to get it right. (Be sure to take the size of your frame into account when placing your letter.)

4. Cut out your letter. Using pencil, lightly trace the letter onto the fabric.

5. Using tacky glue add buttons randomly to fill in the area of the letter. They should overlap and NOT line up. **You could also use a glue gun. Mine is so hot that this would have assured many blistered fingertips so I went with the craft glue. I also like that craft glue is nice and thick so it holds onto the buttons, but it doesn't dry right away, so you have time to play with your design and change it if you don't like how it looks.

6. After the glue has dried, place it back in the frame and hang it where you want it.

Here are my starting supplies...

Here's the finished product. (That cute little silver frame got repurposed during the project too. I covered the glass with some black paisley printed silk that I had from another project and glued 2 really cool clear and gold buttons on top.)...

Here's the "grouping" that it's a part of...

And here's an "S" that I made for my friend Jeannette when she kept my kids last Sunday afternoon. You keep my kids and I appreciate it!!

Upcycling/Repurposing Clothes

Do you have any clothes that fit you, but yet you don't wear them? For one reason or another, they get pushed to the back of the closet/drawer and only get worn if everything else is dirty. But yet, you hang onto them because you know that some day you WILL wear them!

About a year ago I got 2 shirts on the clearance rack at JCPenny. I think they cost $3.95 a piece. I wasn't in love with the style, but I really liked the fabric (that stretchy jersey knit that's super soft and silky) and I couldn't beat the price. I figured the style would grow on me, but it never did. They were too long and didn't hit me at the right spots to be flattering so they sat in my closet and never got worn. A while back I put them in my sewing pile and thought "some day I'll shorten those and then maybe I'll wear them." I wasn't committed to a style until this morning when I had the thought that the top of the unliked shirts is very similar to another newer shirt that I got recently and really like. That may sound pretty daunting, but really a lot of clothes are really easy to disassemble and reassemble if you pay attention to how it's done on something else and copy it.

Here's the unliked shirt...

And here's the liked shirt...

So, using the measurements of the liked shirt, I cut the unliked shirt shorter and included a band of fabric to make the new bottom the way I wanted it. I measured the band on the liked shirt. It is just under 3" wide, but doubled over. Add in a little for the seam (no need to be precise on something like this) and I cut it 6" wide (my rotary cutting ruler happens to be 6" wide, so I kept it in one spot to cut the band from the shirt and then the bottom off of the band)...

Then I measured the width of the band on the liked shirt (19" in this case) and used that measurement to cut and sew a band out of the fabric of the unliked shirt. Actually, I should have said sew and cut, rather than cut and sew. With stretchy fabrics, I think it's easier to sew when you have extra fabric to hold on to. So, I sewed the stitches where I wanted them, then cut off the extra on both ends...

Then I pressed the band in half (wrong sides together) and pinned it in several places. (Yes, my ironing board is a stained mess! It got caught in a rain storm while being transported in the back of a truck on the way home from my sister's wedding. A small price to pay for her dress to be beautifully pressed. Luckily, all of the stains are heat set and have never bled onto anything.)...

Next, I pinned the band to the shirt (right sides together). The shirt was a bit wider than the band, so I first pinned each side at the seam. Next was the center front and back, stretching the fabric to evenly spread out the extra fabric from the shirt. All in all, there were probably 16 pins around...

Next came the sewing. Stretchy fabrics can be a bit tricky to work with, but if you take your time and keep adjusting the layers so they are lined up right, then it works out fine. I did a straight stitch first...using the edge of my presser foot as a guide for width. Some people slowly stitch over their pins. I like to work up close the pin and then take it out. Then I get my fabric up to the next pin adjusted how I want it and sew right up to that pin...on and on around the hem. If I had a serger, then I'd have used that on the seams. I don't, so I improvised. My machine has, what I call, a graduated zig-zag stitch. Each zig and zag is comprised of 3 stitches. I run this in between the edge of my stitching and the rough edge of the fabric. It lays nice and flat and doesn't bunch up the fabric like a plain old zig-zag might. If you look on the black area, you can sort of see what the stitch looks like...

I pressed the seam up and here's the finished product...

And here's the other shirt...

Impressed? Well I am! And I'm really excited to wear them after a year's wait! The first one will probably get worn tonight to my good friend Heather's 30th birthday celebration.

Do you have any clothes that can be upcycled or repurposed?

Oldies but Funnies!

Here are some old posts I had written about my kids on myspace. I haven't been on myspace in forever, but I'm so glad that I took the time back then to type out these funny stories. They give me a huge laugh every time I read through them and I know they will every time that I do throughout the years!

Monday, January 12, 2009 school

For pre-school the kids go to a program at the library on Tuesdays (Sunshine Kids) and then to a church pre-school on Thursdays (Thursday School). I was talking about them going to "school" one day and Claire says "Which school mom? Sunshine kids or Thursday School? You're gonna have to start saying which one because I don't know WHAT you are talking about!" Little smartie pants!Monday, January 12, 2009 [Photo]2 FunniesAbout a week ago we noticed some baby fish in our tank. They are really small and always hide under a rock, so we're not quite sure how many there are. At first we saw 3 and Claire said "mom, they are triplets, just like us!" A little later I spotted 4 at once and told the kids. Garret said "Then they are FOURplets!" Hehehe Then, last night as I was putting Claire to bed she said "Mom, I'm a night owl." I said "Oh yah? Because you like to stay up late at night?" And she said, "No, because I like to sleep late in the morning." I told her that being a night owl means you like to stay up late, not sleep in and she said "Well then I'm a DAY owl!"

Thursday, October 30, 2008 catching up...

It's been a while since I've written anything, but it hasn't been for lack of my kids being crazy! Here are a few that I can remember...

About a month ago I did the big summer-to-winter clothing switch-over in the boys' room. We get all my nephew's hand me downs, which is totally awesome. So, the morning after I've done this, I hear the boys excitedly talking about the "new" underwear in their drawer. The conversation went something like this...
Garret - Wow Gavin, LOOK! We've got new undies!
Gavin - Cool! When did we get new undies?
Garret - I don't know?
Gavin - Maybe Santa bringed them to us?!?!
Garret - Yah!!! Cuz' Santa brings us stuff!
The best part of this conversation was how they were in total agreement and so excited about it. All I know is that they've been very bad boys if all they are getting from Santa are used (yet washed!) undies!!!!

The other day we got the new Guitar Hero that has drums and all with it. The kids had watched me and Greg playing the night before. They asked me if they could hit the drums with the drumsticks so I let them. Now, remember the game itself was NOT on. They sat on the couch, Garret at the drums and Gavin holding the guitar and completely reenacted starting up a new game, including choosing which character they wanted to be, which songs they were going to pick, etc - hitting the green drum pad to "choose" their items. Then their "song" started and they really went to town, adding in their own sound effect music - bedeyown, bedeyown, bedeyown... A bit later I heard Garret using the bedeyown sound effect to the tune of a child's song - Old McDonald, I think. It was way funnier in person than I could ever describe with words, but they totally had me cracking up.

Greg and the kids have a ritual of watching Tom & Jerry most nights. Greg has a "talent" of being able to identify which episode is playing within the first 5-10 seconds. The other night he was gone, but we watched T&J anyhow. The opening scene showed Spike (the dog) holding his little puppy and patting him on the back. Right away Garret says "OH, this is the one where that little dog gets the hiccups!" He was totally right! So, for those of you who have told me just how much Claire is like me. Well guess what!?! Greg has his own little mini-mes in training too! AHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Claire is becoming more girly every day. She attaches herself to certain dolls or animals and takes great care of them. She has a "newborn" My Little Pony - Pinkie Pie. It's actually larger than a regular My Little Pony and has a soft body. It says stuff when you push it's foot and it's acts like it's drinking when you put a bottle in it's mouth. If Claire had to pick just ONE toy to be her favorite, I'm pretty sure Pinkie Pie would be her choice. She goes to the store with us. She gets picked as her "share toy" for library pretty often. She used to be a pretty shade of pink with a white diaper. Now, she's more pink and white with GREY all over! A few weeks back Claire got all of her small colored plastic hair clips out and lined them along Pinkie Pie's mane and tail. The clips have stayed in her hair. Well most have...some fall out and get stepped on!!! But the overall all look of this poor little pony is pretty crazy when you combine the dirt and hair clips. But she is VERY much loved. What more can a toy ask?!?

Claire also has a lose tooth right now, much to her older cousin's (who has not lost a tooth) chagrin. It has been lose for a couple of weeks now, but still hasn't come out. I've explained the whole tooth for money exchange that will happen, but apparently it's not worth the pain. She told me today that Sydney (our neighbor) knows how to pull out teeth, but Claire said "I told her NO WAY, I'll just wait for it to get out on it's own!"

The kids go to 2 pre-schools. One on Tuesdays, at the library for 2 hours. And one at a church for 4 hours on Thursdays. They enjoy both, but always refer to the Thursday School as their "real school" and say they like it better. One day I asked Garret why this is and in a "duh mom" voice he said "Because we get to play there!"

Well, I'm sure I have missed recording many funny moments over the past few months, but rest assured that we have still been enjoying ourselves quite a bit and the kids have been just as funny as ever! I'll try to keep this up better I definitely want to share the fun and to remember these moments myself.

Saturday, July 12, 2008 Baby names

My sister-in-law had a baby about a month ago. During the ultrasounds they never could find out what the sex was and they decided to keep their name choices a secret, so we had many conversations about what we wanted it to be. Me and Claire wanted a girl. The boys and Greg wanted a boy. One day I asked the kids what they thought the baby's name should be. Gavin and Garret said it would be a boy and it's name should be Baby Jack-Jack (from The Incredibles). Claire said it should be a girl and it's name should be Sunshine. They talked about this pretty often from then on. The day that the baby was born we were at the Greene, playing in the fountains. I called Claire to me and said "Guess what??? Car-Car (what they call their Aunt Carla) had her baby and it's a GIRL!!!! Go tell the boys!" She ran off and told them. A little later Gavin came by and I said "Gavin, did Claire tell you that Car-Car had her baby? It's a girl and they named her Isabella!" Gavin starts running off and calling for Claire. When he finally gets her he says "Sissy! Her name is NOT Sunshine!" Apparently Claire assumed that since it was a girl the logical choice for a name was Sunshine! Carla did tell us that she often sings "You are My Sunshine" to Isabella though. :-)

Saturday, July 12, 2008 getting along

Yesterday Gavin and Claire were having races across the pool and Claire kept winning....here's the conversation that I overheard:

Gavin: (all sad and whiney) I NEVER win!
Claire: Well just try harder!
Gavin: aaaaaawwwwwwww (whiney noise)
Garret: Gavin, I will let you win and then I will say "Hey Gavin, you are a big cheater" (last part said in a crazy voice)
Gavin: OK!!! (all smiles)

Probably not as funny w/o hearing it first hand, but it cracked me up. At least they got along for a minute or 2 that day!

Then when his cousin got here yesterday Gavin was telling him about our new game, Wii Fit. He said "you stand on this white thing and there's a ski jumper and if you mess up you turn into a snowball and then you get "squalified"." HeheheheMonday, May 12, 2008 [Photo]Pretty...We tried to go to a decent restaurant tonight with Greg's family to celebrate Mother's day, but all the restaurants in the nearby town were very full, so we ended up at the little sports bar in our town. After the meal Claire had to go to the restroom so we headed that way. She stopped at the doorway and said "This bathroom looks pretty..." (pauses to look around) "NOT clean to me!" The way she said it was too funny because you thought "pretty" was being used in a nice way, but then she switched it to bad. She sounded way too grown up and she was pretty on the mark too!

Tuesday, April 01, 2008 fat belly or perfect belly?

Yesterday I was making my bed before I got dressed and I only had on my bra and panties. Gavin comes in and says "You have a FAT belly mom!" I said "Aww man...don’t tell me that!" So he said "Oh, I mean you have a PERFECT belly mom!" Yah - it’s a lie, but seems to me it’s pretty good training for when he’s a husband, right?!?

Monday, February 04, 2008 Prayer

In their prayers the kids always list a bunch of people for God to bless or that they are thanking God for. Tonight Garret included "all the people who we know and all the people who we have to ask their name." Hehehehehe

Wednesday, January 30, 2008 A typical car trip with triplets!

I've been in the car w/ my niece and nephews or other kids and for the most part they sit there quietly with just a question or comment here or there. My kids, however - they talk, question, count (to 100 w/ mom filling in every time they switch to the next 10's), sing and/or argue pretty much the entire time while we're in the car. Here's an argument my boys had a week or so ago in the car on the way to school.

Gavin: boc, boc, boc (chicken noise)
Garret: (getting very upset) GRRRRRR
Gavin: boc, boc, boc
Garret: (in tears and VERY mad) GAVIN!!! I wanted to be the CHICKEN!!!!!
Me: Are you kidding me??? Are you really arguing over what animal you are? BOTH of you be chickens! Seriously!!!
Gavin: (exasperated like mom has NO IDEA how important this is) OK GARRET! YOU can be the Chicken!

2 seconds later...
Gavin: Hoooo, hooo (owl noise)
Garret: (completely over meltdown of 2 seconds earlier, but on to his next complaint) No Gavin! I want to be the owl! YOU be the chicken!
Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What fun this crazy life is!!!! Let's just say it was a good thing they had school that day because I NEEDED my 4 hour break!!! :-)

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 Trying to understand God

I've been trying to explain different things about God to the kids, keeping it on their level. It's hard for an adult to understand so I'm not sure how to make it so a kid gets it! Anyhow, to the funny stuff...
The kids were playing downstairs and Garret wanted to come upstairs. Gavin didn't want him to so to get him to stay down he started singing "Yes, Jesus doesn't love Garret!" And Garret's screaming "yes, he does! yes, he does!" It was really hard not to laugh while I disciplined him!
I've told the kids that God tells us to do good things and the devil tells us to do bad things. On Thanksgiving Gavin and my nephew, Jerrick were arguing. I asked Gavin what was going on and he said Jerrick wasn't playing nicely. I told Gavin to find something else to play with if Jerrick wasn't playing nice. Gavin walked off and said "I fink Jerrick is wistenin' to the debil!"
And a cutie on Claire. She was sitting at the table by herself and she said "mom, I'm not at this table by myself!" I said "oh really? well who's with you?" She said "God is with me b/c He is with us all the time!" How sweet is that?!?

Catching up with the times

Everyone else has had a blog for several years now. I'm just starting mine. Not sure I have anything worth blogging about, but it's free, so why not, right?

Things you might find here include, but are not limited to, funny stories from my kids (I have several of these over on myspace that I'll transfer), pictures of things I've made (I get a crafty streak every now and then), recipes that I've tried and liked (no amazing chef skills here, but if my kids and husband like it, then yours might too) and whatever else strikes me as worthy of talking about. You probably won't find many deep thoughts or talk about politics. I think I'm deep enough. I just don't spend a bunch of time thinking or trying to think. Not that there's anything wrong with it, it's just not me.

To start out with one funny story from my kids. When I was picking up my kids from school today Claire came up to me and asked, "Do you know where your perfume comes from?" I said, "Uhmmm...from the store." She said, "No, it comes from a beaver's butt! A boy in my class told me that!" Well, maybe SOME perfumes come from animal butts, but mine came from Elder-Beerman and if it's made from beaver's butts then Lancome is charging WAY too much!