FlyBaby

Lately I've been working on refocusing my energies on my family and our house. I still need to be able to take time and recharge my own batteries and cultivate some "non-essential" talents. But I'm trying to go about daily life more on purpose than I used to. Basically I was miserable for about two months after we got Alexander's diagnosis. Then I realized that a lot of my old habits just aren't sustainable amidst these new challenges (ex. sitting on facebook for extended periods of time does not give me a boost of energy or help me feel motivated to "get back to the day." It sucks me in and I'm lucky if I resurface before the boys have added 25 more things to my cleaning list.) I simply have to grow or I'm going to be crushed by the onslaught of "stuff I have to do" and suffocated by my own feelings and reactions. This does not mean that all of the sudden, two weeks ago, I became a perfect, glorified being. Everybody else, even Kevin, may not have noticed that big a difference in me from February to March. But I've noticed a difference. I'm not "happier than I've ever been" but I'm definitely happier than I was a month ago.

I signed up at FlyLady.net and diligently implemented the first two baby steps (Shine Your Sink and Dress to Shoes). Since then I haven't even visited the site again but I also haven't needed to. I have NOT kept my sink shiny-clean the way she says to but I have embraced the Getting Dressed to Shoes concept. It really is just like she says, I think twice before laying down for a snooze on the couch if I have my lace up shoes on. And I don't have any excuse for not going outside to play with the kids, or running to the store, or walking the trash can to the curb. Once again, people may not notice a difference when they come to my house in the level of its cleanliness, but I feel like there's a difference. I've gotten several Spring Cleaning/Organization projects done and I really feel like I owe it to my shoes. The dishes and laundry still pile up a bit but I feel slightly more empowered to handle it. And let me just tell you, spiders don't give me quite the same panic attack when I'm wearing my sneaks.

There's also a different mindset that comes with getting fully dressed as if I was really going to work (teeth brushed, makeup and deodorant on, the whole nine yards). I get in a groove, I put on my Hilary Weeks or Josh Groban Pandora station. I'm better at plowing through the chores and minutia and just getting it over with instead of letting it take up the whole day. This obviously leaves more time for other more pleasant endeavors. I've played outside with my kids more in the past couple of weeks than I ever have before. The early arrival of Spring, I'm sure, has also contributed to this development, but I'm just more motivated in myself than I've been in a while.

I guess you could say I look at all of this as evolution. My to-do lists have changed, my goals have changed, even my prayers have changed. They kind of just had to. And I'm grateful for the grace I know I've been given. I couldn't have gotten even to this point on my own.

"I ain't as good as I'm gonna get, but I'm better than I used to be."

Pencil Sketch - Part II

I did go back and try to work out some of the kinks in my sketch from the other day. I think this is the best I can do without obsessing about it and ripping the page up with my eraser. 

I really need to keep up my practicing and get better at this!

Mamas' gifts

This is the post where I got the idea for my mom's and mother-in-law's Christmas gifts. I liked the idea of the plaques and the book page backgrounds. Scrapbook paper ended up being the way to go for the backgrounds though because I couldn't decide on which book pages to use (words are a big deal for me)! The silhouettes themselves I cut out in vinyl with my Silhouette machine after using Photoshop to outline the people's faces. I did all of my mom's 6 kids and my mother-in-law's 6 kids. Would've done the grand-kids but there are just too many of those (and more on the way)! I forgot to take a picture of my mom's finished plaques but here are the ones we gave Kevin's mom Christmas day.

Both moms seemed to really like their gifts so of course I'm pretty proud of my little project. Stay tuned for more post-Christmas-surprise insights!

Pinterest 'wins' from Christmas!

Now that Christmas is over I can post about the stuff I wanted to keep a surprise! I went a little nuts this year on projects (what year don't I go nuts?) but I really enjoyed making the gifts for my family and friends. I think this Christmas may have been my favorite so far since I put so much focus on the giving part. Of course, the receiving part was great, too, and I'm going to post about that on our family blog sometime in the next few days for journaling purposes.

So, here's the beginning of a run down on the projects you missed while I was keeping secrets...

First: the T-Shirts

I found the ideas for almost all my projects on Pinterest. I did a whole bunch of shirts for people based on designs from there, but using iron-on transfers instead of the fancier methods. Iron-ons don't always look as nice but since I was doing so many, I wanted to use a method I'd done before. I completely forgot to take pictures of my actual finished T's so here are the inspiration photos (some from Pinterest, some from elsewhere) and some exported jpegs of the files I used.

For soon-to-be-born and new babies of family and friends:

For our nieces:

  For my brother in law:

For my siblings and our nephews:

Another nephew:

 

These two were for a couple of good friends of ours who we refer to as the boys' "Godfather"

and "Fairy Godmother."

I'm particularly proud of this last one because I came up with the concept and the phrase for the back of the shirt all by myself.

I bought the shirts at Hobby Lobby (link) and Walmart (couldn't find a link to the actual pack I got, but just go to the mens underwear section and they have good prices for undershirts that work well for doing iron-ons).

The shirts were just the beginning of our gifting endeavors this year. Stay tuned for more this week!

My "Done List"

I've been spending a lot of time on Pinterest lately. (I know I'm not the only one!) That site has got to be one of the most addictive things ever! At least for an OCD *nut* like me. I finally decided that I needed to make some "rules" for myself to channel my pinning obsession. My main rule includes the use of my "To-Do List" board. It's a board where I repin things I've pinned onto my other boards that I would like to actually do or make in the immediate future. This gives me easy access to my immediate goals so when I'm in a productive mood, I can cut right to the chase instead of getting lost in an endless sea of pins. The "rule" I've been trying to live by is that I'm not allowed to pin anything new unless I've done something off my "To-Do" board in the last week. In other words, if I go a whole week without actually USING the resources I'm pinning, I'm not allowed to waste time adding more. 

This is an exclusively self-imposed rule. I really can't say if I've been officially sticking to the week time frame or not, but having this goal in the back of my head has helped at least some. The only real documentation I have so far of the things I've done is moving them from the To-Do board to my Tried It and Loved It or Experiences Worth Having boards. So I wanted to post more about it on here and motivate myself to keep going. So here are the things I've done since I started this goal-oriented approach to pinning. :-)

Recipes Cooked (with Kevin's help):

    

Long-term Project Begun:

Ingredients Purchased:

     

Family Activities Done:

(Link to pictures on family blog)

If any one happens to read this and is inspired to make a similar board (or just set more goals), I do have a piece of advice: start small. It's GOOD to put recipes on your "To-do" list that won't require major shopping trips; ones that use stuff you have on hand already. Pin things you're already planning on doing anyway, like I did with the Corn Dawgs family activity. This is NOT "cheating". This is just a way to find motivation by having linked resources handy and to aid in making your inner awesomeness an outer reality. The awesomeness is something you already have, the list is just a way to remind yourself. As my old buddy C.S. Lewis always says, "Do not mistake it for the thing itself: and if it does not help you, drop it."

Entryway Ledge Reveal

Before

After

I haven't decided how big a fan I am of the "Love" tile being up there but that's pretty much the only place I have to put it in my house where my son can't reach it. I'm also thinking the display might need some fabric of some kind added to give a little more softness and dimension. But there's the general idea.

Yeah, looking at these pictures, I'm pretty sure that tile is going to have to come down...

Thanks to my hubby for setting up the ladder for me and cutting the legs off my new easel when I discovered it was to big to fit up there and for generally being the best husband ever!

Gratitude

I just looked over my little blog stats for the month of March and I want to take a moment to thank all the people who have been reading my blog lately. My google friend followers alone have more than quadrupled in  the last month and I can't even tell you how happy I am about that! I love sharing my little projects with you and I hope you continue to enjoy it too.



You all rock!
*Muah!*

Who-elation in Whoville

My submission was accepted!

Ok, you can think I'm a geek but I haven't been this psyched about anything in a while! I am such a huge fan of HowDoesShe and all their affiliate IShare sites; so when I finally hit the submit button for my first IShare"Printable" I couldn't help but refresh the page like 2 minutes later to see if it would be there. And when I saw my design pop up on their front page a few minutes ago I about lost it! I'll have to upload a better picture for them to use next time because my whole image didn't fit in the little square but that's my own fault so I'm still pleased as punch. So yeah, you gotta check out these girls' sites. They're homemaking goddesses, I swear. Hence their main button having the top spot under my "Homemaker Inspiration" line up .

So, here's thanks for letting me take a spot on your page, IShare ladies, it's an honor I won't soon forget. :-)

Homemade Play-doh

After I got my embarrassing display of cookie cutter junkyism in the mail yesterday, I decided it was time to make Alexander some Play-doh to use them on. So I did some searching and finally remembered seeing a recipe at HowDoesShe. (Yes I could have just waited til my mom got home from work and called her but this was faster.) So I decided to look it up, print it out and go to work.

Ingredients

Measured flour and salt

How ridiculously awesome is this mini liquid measuring cup that my sister found for me?

My Special Helper (yes that is oreo on his face)

Stop trying to photograph and pour at the same time, mom.

Phenomenal Whisking Skills

Medium heat for several minutes; stirring constantly

Cooling on the counter

I don't really get it mom, but if you think it's fun I'll stand here and look all intent and cute for pictures.

Yeah, son? Well you *are* the cutest 2-year-old boy in the world.