Do I look like a........., and Happy Mother's Day!

It's been a great day. I love Mother's day.
The kids helped their dad make crepes for breakfast with fresh strawberries and cream and they all went out of their way to be kind to each other and me. It doesn't get much better than that.
I had to laugh at Mr. Man's excitement over his Mother's day gift to me.
When I opened it there was an antique looking picture of my boy in a frame (see above picture). I thought it was just so sweet and I started to tell him how much I liked it when he blurted out,
"Do I look Canadian? I think I look Canadian. That's what I wanted to look like.....Canadian."
So I told him, with a smile on my face, "Oh yes, you look very Canadian."
And he was happy.
Not sure where that came from but I think I'm going to label this picture on the back, S- the Canadian, and then someday he'll look at the picture and say, "S- the Canadian, what?" And I'll get to tell him this story which I think is very cute.

While I'm writing I just have to express my love for the two moms in my life.
I feel so blessed to have my mom who has managed to live her life with love, kindness and intelligence and gracefully teach me the the nuances of this sacred role of motherhood. She held me in her arms and then by the hand and now she stands with her arm around me all the while being my biggest cheerleader and I'm grateful for her sacrifices and love. I love you mom.
But my blessings don't stop there.
My Mother-In-Law is a remarkable woman as well. Somehow she survived my husbands accident-prone childhood with her sanity and sense of humor intact. She taught her boy to never give up, to work hard and play hard, to love and to dance and to clean a toilet and I thank her for all of those things. Now she supports and loves me as a daughter and as a mother to her grandchildren. I love you mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

Quite A Week

Have you ever run down a steep hill and felt your top half get slightly off balance and out in front of your bottom half and you know you need to figure something out and get back in balance  because if you don't you're going to crash and burn face first and it just won't be pretty?

That's how I feel or felt.......only I did... crash and burn.

Even still with all of the crashing and burning it's hard to slow down. 

I should slow down more often and enjoy the scenes like this one out my back window.

My daughter took this picture she's turning out to be a pretty good photographer.

Anyway, back to the crashing and burning, my foot crashed into the door frame of my bathroom and I think I broke my toe. I didn't have any x-rays taken but I'm pretty sure it was broken. But telling people you broke your toe stubbing it on the door coming out of the bathroom just isn't exciting enough for me.  So after polling friends and family we've come up with two acceptable and more interesting stories.

• While climbing Annapurna in Nepal I lost my footing on a sheer rock face and started to plummet to a certain painful death. Fortunately my fearless baby toe saved me by throwing its self at a sharp, jutting-out cluster of rocks and becoming wedged in a crack and thus saving my life. You saw the story on the news, no doubt.
• We were walking through the African Savanna when a wild and ferocious wart-hog attacked my child. But my fearless and heroic baby toe fought it off with superhuman strength saving both  the life of my child and my life. Sadly my toe did suffer some injuries but they are not life threatening and it is believed my toe will make a full recovery.

Feel free to share either of the above stories if anyone asks you what happened to my toe.

But to tell you the truth I'm not sure they will ask you because it seems my toe has been recovering incredibly fast and I know it is a blessing.

So, I have these two incredible in-laws. 

They are hoping to adopt sooner rather than later and they asked me to take a few pictures of them. I am not a professional photographer by any means and I was flattered they'd ask because I do enjoy pretending to be a professional.  We had a great time and we even got some pretty decent shots.

If you'd like to learn more about them go HERE or HERE.

Later in the week the burning part of the crashing and burning came when I picked up my youngest's cold and I was burning up with a fever. I also lost my voice which is always fun when you're the ring leader, zoo keeper, wrangler, mother of five. Luckily for me they are really good kids and helped out as much as they could but I really didn't have time to stay down which is probably why I'm still fighting this silly cold.

It turns out the prospect of a solar eclipse is terrifying to my youngest. 

Our family was discussing the solar eclipse that's coming up at the end of this month and Utah is the perfect spot to view the eclipse. However, the idea of the moon passing in front of the sun sent my 5 year old into a fit of terror with shaking and crying. I'm not sure what she thinks is going to happen. Fire-benders won't have any fire bending powers during the eclipse but she's not a fire bender (silly avatar the last air bender reference) so that shouldn't bother her. She also hasn't cast any spells turning people into hawks and wolves that can be broken during an eclipse (LadyHawk) so I'm just not sure what she's worried about.

But in all seriousness I think it's just the unknown and the strangeness of it that's bothering her.

We tried to explain to her exactly what was going to happen and listen to her fears.

We then told her there are much stranger and scarier things in this world than an eclipse like this picture of her brother that her older sister took and messed with.

She laughed and agreed.

So here's to a new week and to not letting my head get in front of my feet.

Bleached T-Shirts Take 2....Now that's more like it!

Okay, so my first try didn't go as planned. But that's okay. Live and learn, right?
The second try was so much more what I had in mind.
The thing I love about this project is you don't need to have any fancy cutting machines or equipment.
And it's quick, easy, fun and inexpensive.
Perfect in my opinion!

Let me walk you through it.

Supplies:

• A colored T-shirt (Yellow doesn't work very well)
• Bleach
• Small Spray Bottle (a travel hairspray bottle worked perfectly)
• A design (I got mine from www.picmonkey.com )
• Clear or light colored contact paper
• Sharpie (permanent marker)
• Scissors
• Tape
• Plastic Bag
• Rubber Gloves (not mandatory but nice to have)
• Well ventilated area

I started by printing a design on regular paper and then taping it to a window.
I then taped a piece of clear contact paper over the top of the design with the vinyl side facing me.
I traced the design onto the contact paper.

In this picture the design was traced onto the paper not the vinyl but believe me it's a lot easier if you trace it onto the vinyl.

After the design was traced I simply cut it out with the scissors, peeled off the paper backing and placed it on the t-shirt where I wanted it.

I made sure I was wearing old clothes and shoes and moved the shirt outside where the bleach couldn't get on anything important.
However, I did not wear rubber gloves and my hands are paying the price.
Bleach is a VERY potent chemical and should be treated with respect. My hands have been cracking and bleeding since doing this craft with-out gloves. So don't do it!

Also, if you don't want the bleach to bleed through to the other side of the shirt put some plastic or an old towel between the front and back layers of the shirt.

Now comes the fun part!

With your spray bottle lightly squirt the bleach 4 or 5 times over your design.
And then wait a minute. The bleach won't look like it's doing anything for a minute but believe me it is.
Suddenly the bleached spots will show up.
Now you can decide if you want to bleach some more. If you do, spray a couple more times and then wait again.

Once you have the design the way you want it let it dry for a few minutes.
Then remove the vinyl, rinse in the sink in cold water and wash in the washing machine or dry in the dryer.

That's it!

This was a very easy, inexpensive and fun craft to do with the Young Women I work with.

And it really made me happy to see how excited they were about their creations!

Good luck and I'd love to hear if you decide to try it!!!

Bleached T-shirts....what NOT to do!

So I'm all about sharing my mistakes so you don't have to make them too.
I appreciate when others do the same for me.
In that spirit I'm sharing with you what NOT to do when making a T-shirt with a bleached out design.

We thought it would be fun to let our church Young Women's group decorate some t-shirts and we thought this would be an inexpensive, fun and cute way for them to do it.

I thought I should try it out before letting the girls loose with bleach.....and it turns out it was a good thing I did.

With this being a church activity I was very budget conscious. If you've seen the bleached t-shirts around the Internet most people have used their vinyl cutting machines to cut the designs. I do not have one and I didn't want to buy any. So, my brilliant idea was to print up some designs on cardstock and cut them out with an exacto knife.  I used Picmonkey for my designs.

Then I used spray adhesive on the cut-out designs and applied them to the t-shirt.
This is where I made my first mistake......can you see it by looking at the picture below?

Yep! I put the spray adhesive on the black printed side of the paper and then stuck it to the shirt.
If you look closely at the picture under this you can see the black that is now permanently a part of the shirt.

After you adhere your design to the shirt you spray with bleach. The bleach will change the color of the shirt around your design and then when you peel off the paper your shirt looks awesome!

Mistake two: I added water to the bleach in the spray bottle. This made the bleach spread and not speckle. I was going for the speckled look.

Mistake three and the most important one of all: When you spray the bleach you need to squirt it a couple of times and then wait and see what it does before you spray more.
I sprayed and thought, "It's not doing anything it needs more." So I sprayed more.....a lot more.....and then all of a sudden the whole thing was pink and not speckled purple with pink like I wanted.....

Mistake four: I didn't put anything between the front and back of the shirt to keep the bleach from soaking through to the back.
This is what it ended up looking like.

Not exactly what I was going for, but I think it's kind of cute in a sort of tie-dyed way.
The good news is she loves it and that's all that really matters.

And even better news! My second attempt turned out more like what I was hoping for.

Up next.....Bleached T-shirts....what TO DO!

Teacher Appreciation Door

Whew.....it's done. I don't know why it stressed me out so much but it did.

Our school's Teacher Appreciation Week is coming up next week and I was asked to decorate the door of my son's 5th grade teacher. (Cue the ulcers and the frantic Internet searches.)

I even dedicated a board to door and board ideas on Pinterest (Here).

So throw in some Internet inspiration, squeeze a bit of my own twist into it and

Voila!

I was able to cut all of the letters out at the school using their die cut machine ahead of time and glue them on at home. Then all I had to do was hang it up when I got to the school. Ten minutes tops at the school and I was on my way.

I let my 5 year old decide where the stars went and glue them on.

In her opinion the more the better!

I was just happy for the help and now I'm happy it's done!

To celebrate I had a Georgia Mud-Fudge Blizzard.

Yumm!

That's What I Get for Thinking

I was so proud of myself.

I thought I'd finished her Easter dress weeks in advance and it hung in the closet patiently waiting for its big debut.

I thought the Saturday evening before Easter would be spent relaxing and enjoying my family.

(Usually I put off the sewing of the dress until the day before and then I have to stay up late sewing.....)

Not this year though!

After the younger kids were in bed I checked on the dress and realized--------

I HADN'T HEMMED IT!  What? Really? UGH!!!

I guess in my mind the zipper was in, the sleeves were in, the dress was finished.

So around 10pm I headed to the sewing machine and hemmed her dress......then made a skirt for my older daughter, I was sewing anyway, might as well.

I guess being prepared is over-rated.... and I'm destined to be a last minute sew-er forever.

P.S. the little girl loved her dress.....can you tell? And the big girl loved her skirt too.

They both looked beautiful, if I do say so myself.

Friday Funny -- Me and My Cello -- So Happy Together (Turtles) Cello Cover -- ThePianoGuys

Happy Friday.

Spring

March marched in like a lion. Snow, wind, rain, slush......and it's somehow turning into a lamb.
Let's hope it likes being a soft, mild, warm lamb and stays this way.

A Whole Lot Of Princess Pink

We're thinking pink today. Lots and lots of pink.
Youngest is having a Princess Birthday Party today.
Wish me luck.

I made up these cute little princess crown headbands for all of her friends.

I'll be sharing a tutorial next week.

They are super easy and NO SEW if you can believe it.

After making 6 of them I decided they were too tall but Sweet Cheeks liked them this way so I left them.

However when I share the tutorial I'll share two options for crown style and size.

In the mean time bring on the Princesses!

My Universe and the Moral of the Story

In My Universe the Cadbery Mini Egg I just ate has no calories because I just exercised for 30 minutes and then ate the egg.
In my Universe I'm hilarious.
In my Universe I don't notice the pile of dirty clothes sitting in the laundry room.
And
In my Universe my favorite authors are Rock Stars! Seriously - Rock Stars!
So my S.I.L. called Saturday morning and said, "Your favorite Rock Star thinks you're awesome and  wants to hang out with you and sign your book this morning. Lets go!"
Okay Not Really, what she said was, "Shannon Hale is having a book-signing this morning do you want to go with me?"

If you're wondering who Shannon Hale is she wrote The Newbery Award Winning Book,

Princess Academy.

The Goose Girl and 

The Books of Bayern

as well as more adult themed books such as

Austenland

This past week the sequel to Austenland was released and I have to admit I've been a little excited.

So when my SIL said, "Lets Go!" I just might have giggled and done a happy dance as well as a fist pump.

Just saying maybe......

So we went, we stood in line and discussed what we should call our fan club should we choose to form one.

My SiL came up with Hale-yeahs....that made us laugh really hard...

Later MDH came up with Hale's Angels, which is awesome because then we

could do a Charlie's Angels pose when we had club meetings.

Maybe I should email Shannon and ask her what she thinks ;)......

Anyway, we had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs while we waited in line.

We didn't have to wait a long time because our group of  3 was second in line but the lady in front of us had a stack of books about 2 1/2 feet high for Shannon to sign.

We began to wonder if Shannon's hand was going to get cramped up before she got to us.

But we had faith in her book signing skills.

We decided that all authors must do hand strengthening exercises, how else could they sign so many books and not have their fingers fall off or have nerve damage?

So we laughed and joked and were, well, hilarious, in line.

Then it was our turn and I choked......I couldn't think of a thing to say.....then I blushed bright apple red.

So did my daughter.

I did tell Shannon we were going to go see the Muppet Movie that evening and I thought she'd appreciate it because she always writes on Facebook how much she likes the Muppet Movie

Pretty darn witty I know.....

She was gracious and told us how the man who had written on of the songs in the Muppet Movie was nominated for an Oscar was going to be in the Austenland movie and she adores him.

She tried to talk to my daughter about school but she was blushing and shy too.

Ahhh the family curse.

Needless to say Shannon Hale was charming and gracious.

Her book Midnight in Austenland has captured me

and

We had a great time at the book signing.

And when I say we had a great time I mean to the extent 

that

My daughter didn't complain about cleaning up the dog poop in the back yard when we got home

and that's saying something

Not that she usually complains a lot but all of the kids complain when it's their week

because, well, it's gross.

But she didn't complain and there was a lot of poop this week.

So the moral of the story is

A good book

A good time

A good book signing

A good laugh

A good & friendly author

And good friends

Can carry you through...

..even if what you need to be carried through is a lot of poop.

P.S. The Photos from the outing are thanks to my SiL's well insulated and sport sock protected camera! Thanks Tawnya for being prepared and for using a clean sock and for inviting us. You Rock!