So Much For A Plan

I haven't posted since Sunday? That's insane! I feel like only a day has passed since that post.

I re-read my post from that day to see what it was I was actually supposed to have accomplished. And while I achieved steps in each action item, none of them were 100% achieved. I suppose at this stage in the game, I have to be satisfied with progress, right?

My friend Rachel recently posted something to the affect of, "I live in my life in 3 hour increments." That's my life too! And it's all based on Tinkerpot's feeding, diapering, sleeping schedule and somewhere in there, I get about 1 1/2 hours to do a few other things. A "few" is the key word. Between laundry, housework (yeah right), taking care of Bugs, running errands, cooking etc. - not much else gets done.

Would you like to see my life in pictures? It's exciting folks...make sure you're sitting down...

This is where I spent 75% of my day feeding, rocking, consoling, surfing (the Net and wasting precious minutes)...This is what's for lunch almost every day...This is what I stare at all day long... (precious baby dreaming)This is what my living room has turned into (child's circus)...This is what it's all about (still sporting the binky holder - what? she's got a really abnormal tongue thrust and still can't keep that sucker in!)...


My life is EXACTLY how I envisioned it 10 years ago. I love every second. It's perfect.

It Doesn't Get Any Better...

than a baby sucking on your cheek. I'm in heaven.

Just Another Sunday

...and it was the first Sunday where I became painfully aware of how difficult it is to have a baby at church. I didn't go to church until Bug's was about 16 months old and by then, while it wasn't exactly easy, she was an easy child and #1 I didn't have to haul a whole lot of crap to church, #2 I spent no time in the Mother's Room, #3 she was practically potty trained and #4 I didn't have to carry her anywhere.

I feel like a walking gypsy train with all the stuff I haul around. It would be absolutely ridiculous if I didn't need each and every single item I took. But I discovered one of the primary problems...my shoes. If I could wear shoes that were a little more practical, I might not mind schlepping the child and kitchen sink everywhere. But in 3" heels, it just gets to be stupid. This week, I'm going to buy a couple pairs of new shoes - not ugly, just practical, to get me through this phase and then I can go back to the pretty shoes.

I've allocated nearly all of tomorrow to Personal Progress interviews with the Young Women. I failed to mention that I've been called as the Personal Progress Specialist and it is my duty to keep it all organized for all of the girls. I've divided the day into 15 minute chunks tomorrow and have appointments nearly all day long. I've needed to do this so that the girls can spend the summer actually working on things and perhaps someone can finish up before school starts again. Much as I hate to give an entire day away like that, I suppose my day never really belonged to me in the first place and that the Lord just let me borrow it :) I'm happy to be doing His work.

I've got several goals this week and want to jot them down so as to document it somewhere.

#1 Start/finish the 1/2 curtain for Tinkerpot's bedroom under her changing table (it's a storage space that needs a screen)

#2 get 70% of all Personal Progress interviews completed

#3 Organize the new Mix 'n Fix that I'll be hosting. Anyone interested just let me know.

#4 Make a new bow board for our bows. (the last one is already full)

Wednesday is a canning day. Renee and I have put aside every Wednesday this summer to do canning of one thing or another. I don't know what we're canning on Wednesday but I know it'll be good. We're hoping to do beans, peaches, tomatoes, tomato juice, pears, chili, salsa, and a few types of hard beans just to say we tried them. If anyone knows some good recipes for doing those, we'd be grateful!

How To Make Korker Bows

So, I was asked several times how to make the Korker bows that I showed a couple of weeks ago in a post. It's taken me several times to actually get the pics together to do an instructional post so if you see lots of different colors of ribbon, that's why.

These are the supplies you need to start with. I use 1/4" grosgrain ribbon and for the white bow I finished, I used 1/8" grosgrain ribbon for the middle although it works better to use 1/4" for the whole thing. Just a thought. The dowel I use is also 1/4".
Cut the dowel into pieces that will fit inside your oven preferably on a cookie sheet. Secure one end of a piece of ribbon onto the end of the dowel as shown and wind it all the way down the dowel. Secure the other end, snip the ribbon.Bake the ribbon for about 25 minutes at 275 degrees. Remove and let cool.
Unwind the ribbon.Cut the ribbon into 3 1/2" to 4" pieces. I cut 4" pieces and then shape at the end although I've found that cutting pieces several different sizes makes for a fuller bow and you can singe the ends (discussed later) before putting them on the bow and that's easier than doing it later.
Using a lighter, take each piece and burn the ends to prevent fraying. This is the best method I've found for doing this. Don't try this with every type of ribbon though as some discolor. Grosgrain ribbon just burns well usually without discoloration unless you burn for too long.
Cut about a 7" piece of 1/4" or 1/8" ribbon and lay it down covered with all of the curled pieces of ribbon. I do 10 to 14 pieces although I've seen 18 pieces that made a very full cute bow. Just mess around with it.
Tie the ribbon into a double knot.
Turn over - this will be the top.
To prepare the barrette: For Bug's hair, I use these double pronged clips as they seem to stay in her hair better. For babies, I use the pointy clips that can easily stick into headbands, etc. Use what you feel is better. The preparation is the same.
Cut a 4" piece of the ribbon you've chosen to cover the clip with. Singe both ends.
Lay the clip down flat to determine it's top & bottom sides. Apply a small dab of glue to one end of the ribbon and glue it to the open the clip and apply the ribbon to the inside of the top part back near the hinge.
Wrap the ribbon up and around the top applying glue along the top all the way up over the hinge.
I put glue all the way inside the hinge and then put a tiny bit of glue on the end of the ribbon and wrap it around the back. You should have barely enough.
Once the clip is ready, take the korker and turn it upside down. You should have two dangling ribbons on the back. Put a small dab of glue on the inside of the clip on top of the ribbon already glued there. Then, wrap one of the dangling ribbons on the korker around the clip, making sure that the other side of the korker is aligned properly on the other side of the clip. Hold the dangling ribbon over the glue until it dries (you have to hold the clip open while you're doing this).
Clip the dangling ribbon you just glued and singe.

Put another dab of glue on the top of the ribbon you just cut and then wrap the remaining dangling ribbon from the korker up around pulling sort of tight to make sure the korker is secure on the clip. Hold until dry. Don't let go of the clip at this point because any excess glue that oozes out from the ribbon will adhere to the clip and you'll not get it open again. It's a pain.
Clip the remaining dangling ribbon and singe.

Depending on how the korker ended up getting glued on, you may have to turn it over to the top and align it properly on the clip adding a little extra glue on the clip to make sure it's straight. I have to do this abou 50% of the time.

This is what you should have now...If you like, you can now shape it by cutting off little pieces of ribbon from wherever you'd like. Just remember to singe the ends you cut.Ta-da! You're done!

It's Done

My hair's gone. It's a beautiful thing. It's not even styled and I already love it.

The Mop's Going Down

You Guys. I'm so excited! If there is no other reason for growing my hair to the point of hating every single strand every single moment of the day, it is to be so excited for the day when you get to chop it all off!

And that, my friends is what I am doing. Do you remember me from days when my hair was really short? I know. It's been a long time. Well over a year since I began this painful process of growing it out, and for what? To look like crap every day? I guess so. Because I do. I know.

But that's all about to change. Wednesday at 3:30 my whole outlook on life will change. I'm going for the cut and color and I wish I could just fast forward to then. Here's a pic of me about 3 1/2 years ago...and that's where this mop is headed. I LOVE my hair in this picture - it's the "me" I look for in the mirror. (Isn't Bugs so cute in these pictures? It almost makes me cry to see her so little again.)

Things To Do That Don't Cost A Lot of Money

Poverty can cause one to get creative in terms of entertainment. And while I'm not necessarily down to the last pennies in my jar, it's getting close and frugality has become a rule.

I have managed to keep myself busy these past few weeks and it's been fun. As I look back at most of the activities I've been doing, I've discovered that most of them have been pretty crafty and/or domestic. Well, that's my life.

So thanks to Tiffany and her resource list of various blogs dedicated to little girls' hair, Bugs and I have had much fun in the past few weeks doing her hair lots of different ways. It's a mother/daughter thing as she helps decide which hair-do we're going to try today. Today was this...The other day, we tried this...My friend, Kim has been coming over fairly regularly and we've been making some fun things. Last Friday we made bow boards. If you look around for things to hang on your wall to keep all your hair bows, there isn't a huge selection. But I found this so we decided to make them. It turned out SO cute. I think I'll be selling them soon. If you're interested, I can customize them however you want and they'll be $15. I also made 90% of the bows on this board. I'll probably be selling these too so if you see something you like, they will be competitively priced. Just lemme know! I'll be adding to my Etsy shop soon. (if you click on the pic, it'll enlarge so you can see everything better).I also decided that PJ's are too expensive. It's summer now and that means summer PJ's. I don't want to buy any so I decided to pair regular boy's T-shirts with these cute shorts that I made. I made several different pair in bargain-priced fabric or whatever I had leftover from other projects. We love these ducks & frogs! I just realized it's the same fabric as the bow-board! See, I'm getting the idea of frugality!

Well, That Didn't Work Out

Tinkerpot is 12 lbs now and quickly growing out of the 0-3 month old clothes I have for her. So today I ventured into the abyss of my storage room and found the 3-6 mo. clothes and started going through them. The memories...so sweet.

Anyway, I got thinking back about when Bug's wore these clothes. She was a runt of a baby, born in May and didn't wear 3-6 month old clothes until Christmas. Hence, nearly all of the clothes are winter clothes. Gah! It just figures! I have this HUMONGOUS stack of clothes that Tink will probably never wear and a small stack of things like boring old printed onesies and ugly shorts. There are only 2 dresses and one of them has long sleeves.

Fortunately I was gifted (thanks Katie) several large bags of girl baby clothes today that will supplement what I have. What a blessing they are though - without them, I'm afraid I might be needing to go buy summer clothes for Tink, and right now just isn't a good time for that.

Not Really a Funk - More Like Bad Habits

When does reading a book become a bad habit? When it takes over your life. I used to judge a book by its thickness. If it wasn't thick, I didn't even consider it. I wanted a book that would capture my attention for at least 3 days vs some of these thinner books that I can get through in one night. And then I met "The Trilogy". Ahhh. What a wonderful little invention! I can escape for weeks on end!

And then...I became a mother. And escaping for weeks on end is not a good thing. It's scary and irresponsible. But I'm like a freakin' kid in a candy shoppe. I get my hands on a good book and it's the worst addiction EVER. And right now I'm into a "trilogy" that's not really a trilogy but more like a seven-ilogy. Whatever THAT word is. But it's so awesome!

(*my head bobs to "I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It") OM - I LOVE that song! Yeah, I'm awful - but at least I don't play it when my kids are around.

I download the books from the Salt Lake County library and they either can be transferred to my little PDA (like a palm) or just read them on my computer...which I do...ALL DAY. Think I'm wierd, I dare ya. It's alright - I'm okay with it.

So I'm not doing much else right now. Ya, the laundry is getting done slowly and I seriously have to force myself to do it. I clean - if I have to. Stuff gets done but the bare minimum just so I can read.

And I know I need to do something about it. I'm praying about it. No seriously. I am! And things have improved a bit. I don't read every single minute of every day. I've shifted my attention a bit to other things. Here and there I've made some more girly bows for my kids, and I made a "blankie" for Tinkerpot. I plan to weed one of my flower beds today before the soil dries out too much. And we're going to the pool this afternoon. And really folks...that's progress! Last week, I finished 3 of the 7 books in 5 days. It's just pathetic. It's a sickness. I'm sick.