Random-ness

I've been tagged my friends, tagged to share with you 7 random things about me. Not hard you would think, but because I'm usually kind of random anyway it's harder than it looks. I didn't want to share anything embarrassing which is pretty much most of my random-ness, like my childhood nickname. So here's my list of 7 random and not so random things about me that you might not know.

1. Cody and I were on and off high school sweethearts. He asked me to prom my sophomore year and he was my first date ever. We were "going out" for 2 weeks then not so much, he was a habitual dumper and never had a girlfriend for longer than a month. We both dated different people until we started "going out" again the beginning of my senior year and the rest is history. Don't we look so little, wow to be young and little again!




2. I love miniatures! I used to collect miniature doll house stuff until our house burnt down when I was 12 or 13 and my Victorian doll house went with it. I still have the tea sets in my hope chest and the girls and I love to pull them out every once in a while. It's just so stinking little, and the pansies are so cute. I don't collect them anymore but I love the ones I have.




3. I've always been terrified of coyotes. It started with the horror stories my best friend would tell me as we were listening to them howl sleeping out on her trampoline. They are so mangy and I swear they all have rabies. Eww, now I need a shower just thinking about it- Yuck!




4. As a teen I had the biggest crush on Mel Gibson. Everyone else was in love with those silly boy bands but not I. I had a giant Brave heart cardboard cut out of him in my room and pictures ripped out of magazines all over my wall. I always thought that one day he would come for me and we would run away to Australia and get married. I would have to explain to his daughter that was my age the I was her new mom, but we would go shopping and everything would be great. I used to practice writing my new name, you know you did it when you were younger to, Mrs. Bridget Gibson. Now he's old and that's definitely the past but I still have fond memories, oh Mel.



5. Cody and I wear the same shoe size. His feet are wider than mine so I can wear his shoes more than he can wear mine. I think it frustrates him, but I'm o.k. with that. .



6. I'm lucky enough to have 2 of my great grandma's and one great grandpa around which means that my kids have 2 great great grandma's and one great great grandpa. I love that I can say that. They also have a gob of great's. What lucky kiddos.




7. I would rather clean a bathroom than fold laundry. I would rather clean any one's bathroom if they want to fold my laundry. I figure it only takes me an hour at the most to clean the most rotten of bathrooms once a week but laundry is never ending and takes me 3 hours a sitting at least 3 times a week. I don't mind washing but folding- UUHHHGGG!




8. And to be completely random, number 8. Last week my milk was named Melissa which is funny because that's the person who tagged me, Melissa. So Melissa, we drank your milk.

Well, that's as random as I get without embarrassing myself or others (besides Cody, sorry my love). Instead of following the rules and tagging 7 other people I'm just going to leave it open. If you would like to play along blog about 7 random things about yourself and link back to me. I love reading how random other people are! Off to try my hand at a pumpkin costume.

Helping hands

You know those days that you are trying to get as much done as possible, what ever that may be, and you find yourself with a few extra helping hands? I'm so lucky that I have 8 little hands to help me. I love it when Jeremy asks me if he can help with the dishes, of course he asks when I'm done but it's the thought that counts.

Here he is helping his dad cut wood-

I also love finding the little surprises they leave. Everyday I come across some little something tucked in a nook or cranny that's meant to be hidden I'm sure. The other day Jeremy hid his treasure chest on my movie shelf so someone would find it.

The girls always ask if they can help me cook, they love helping measure. Sadly the only time I really measure anything is when I'm making treats so they don't get to help that often but when they do they grab their little aprons and are ready to go.

Here's the surprise they worked on for most of the morning. Ashlyn said it's their ranch. So this is what they do when I'm busy in the kitchen all morning!

Kaci is always the one who's ready to hit the road. I walk Ashlyn to and from school most of the time and she's always got her shoes on (this time they match) and coat with a baby in tow. She's figured out the doors and I've caught her escaping a few times already. Gotta keep my doors locked for that girly.

She's also a big help in the kitchen-

I'm working on some really cute ideas for my portion of a craft bazaar I asked to be in this year so hopefully I'll have some really cute pictures and a possible tutorial (I'm going to try my own-whoo hoo) within the next 2 weeks. Still no pumpkin costume, maybe she'll just have to be a sheep or a kangaroo since I've already got them. I'm just not feeling the pumpkin love!

Pre-Halloween fun!

I'm not the best decorator for any given holiday season but I thought I'd at least try a little this year. We have the coolest house for halloween but with wee little ones that I don't want to scare the life out of I decided to keep it simple and very un-scary. Mary freaks out if you head towards the halloween isle at the store and tells me "not the scary pumpkins". To be honest I'm a complete baby and I hate the scary stuff to!

Here's some pictures of what we've been up to...

My mudroom/front door. It's really hard to get a good picture without falling down the stone steps but you get the idea. See the rope by the door and in the picture below, yes ma'am, that's the door bell!

This is my kitchen window right outside the front door. I fell in love with these little skeleton guys, although they sort of look like alien skeletons to me. If you'd like a pair or two you can get them here and just print them out, she has the cutest illustrations in her shop of bunnies but they aren't very scary.

A very nice family in our ward is moving and gave us 3 huge bags of dress-up clothes that the kids are just in love with. Yesterday was "funny head covering" day at school so we dug through there and found a wig that Kaci just loves. It' a mullet wig and it almost brought me to tears it's so funny. I almost wanted to cry at how cute she looks with hair, my poor hairless baby!

Yesterday I did some baking, some for after carving pumpkins snack and some just because I love banana chocolate chip muffins. It's been so long since I've done a cupcake cone but they are so much fun for the kids. I tried my hand at white chocolate butter cream frosting and it, well, tasted like butter so I didn't like it but the kids did so that's all that matters.

These are our super fantastic carved pumpkins! I decided to try the monogram thing this year. Next time I'll get bigger pumpkins and do a different font but they look cool all lit up. The kids drew their designs on paper first and were very serious about it and then carved. It was so funny to watch the girls, 3 circles and a mouth and viola`. Jeremy drew the grim reaper - looks so cute, kinda like grimace from McDonald's.


That's pretty much it for me this week. I have to clean my scrap/craft room before the dust bunnies run off with my stuff. I swear they stole my hole punch. Might have to call animal control. I also have to prepare my lesson for Sunday then make that darn costume. Have a great Tuesday- it's Tuesday isn't it?

Vent, rant, and more vent

I just have to get a few somethings off my chest before I explode, a few pet peeves I guess that have been excessive this week. So here's your warning if you'd rather not read about knuckles, strobe lights, and poorly packed meat.

1. I really really don't like it when people insist on popping their knuckles. Why??? It doesn't feel good, in fact it hurts, and the sound is disgusting. It sounds to me like a person is trying to break their body. Just thinking about it makes my hands hurt. It's bad when kids do it but adults- tisk tisk. So, to those of you who are knuckle poppers (Cody) STOP! Did you know that it won't give you arthritis but you are actually damaging your tendons? It's true- I saw it on 20/20 or Good Morning America.

2. I really really dislike the 106.?? fm van that was parked outside the gas station late last night. Not because of the music (I don't even know what it is) and not because it was 2 below zero last night and they were enticing young adults without proper coats on to stand in the streets. It's because of the intense strobe light that was offending my retina all night long. I went to get a drink and wham-o, shot in the eye several times. Went to powder my nose and *pow* a few more eye shrinking blasts. It's not fun for us old foggies so please respect my Main St. I'm beginning to think everyone should ask me first before they can use my street. I laid in bed forever last night with my eyes shut and still seeing fire works on my eyelids. I hate that.

3. I really really really dislike those flimsy tight plastic wrapped Styrofoam meat trays. I love my grocery store but I have to say- Safew*y needs to step it up a notch. Every time I go my kids insist on poking holes in the meat. Crab trays are their favorite. Do I want to buy a crab, not really, but if they poke a hole in it then I feel I have to. Wal-m*rt has those wonderfully packaged hard trays that are mostly air then meat but still poke proof, but I'm not a big fan of their meat. I realize it's my kids and not the store but I'm sure I would spend more time (= more $$) if it were more kid friendly, especially for the mothers like me that have so many kids that they can't all be contained in a cart or even two. I'm just sayin'.

Oh, and it never fails when I do buy a package of flimsy packed meat it drips bloody gunk everywhere- not cool! I love coming out of the store with my pounds and pounds of meat (we have a Brady bunch and we are carnivores) with drips on my legs, hands, shoes, car, and fridge.


Okay, I feel better. A little grossed out still but much better. Have a great weekend!

Procrastinating

I'm putting off costume making because life's too short and I guess I like freaking out the night before Halloween and using safety pins to hold things together. I'm like my mom, I remember my mom actually snipping off threads from my prom dress as my date and I were walking out the door. Good times!

Actually I'm putting it off because I have no idea how I'm going to throw this pumpkin together without a pattern. I have the costume locked in my noggin and I just need a little more time to work it out before I start cutting.

So- while I was thinking of pumpkins I stenciled a bird bag. The freezer paper works great! I was a little afraid to try it on anything important so I just used an old store bought canvas bag. I painted the tree branch and appliqued the bird. I love how the paisley looks like a wing! I can't wait to make a cute bag and do another one. I love birds on branches.

My first try...

And I think maybe I'll leave digital to the experts! I finished my very first digital scrapbook pages for the recipe swap. I did the pretzel page first and it was a breeze but the soup page- not so much. It's harder than it looks in some ways and very easy in others. I got frustrated with not having the embellishments that I wanted and because I have dial-up it had already taken me forever to get the papers.

It took me over 8 hours of loading (good thing it was t.v. night last night and I could just let the internet go!) different page elements to make these two pages and after looking at them I wish I could have loaded some other things. Until I get a faster Internet I think I'll keep with traditional paper. I LOVE the brushes though- I tried not to abuse them lol! It's so fun to step outside the box every once in a while and I'm going to love the cute cookbook when every one's finished. Thanks Sherelle for letting me join in!

I've gotta try it!!

Here a few things I can't wait to get my fabric mitts on and try out.

Freezer paper stencils-I love this idea so much, look how easy that would be! I should probably keep my mouth shut until I try it though. I think I have a bunch of freezer paper just begging to be used for something other than frozen meat. This super cute girls rock shirt is found on the House on Hill Road blog, definately go check her out.

And this- Lounge pants cut from a T-Shirt- pure genius! I could live in those kind of pants, seriously. I own more pajama/lounge pants than I do regular pants of all varieties. Now to find a shirt Cody won't miss.

And this- Free hand machine embroidery. I can see how this would give a person a headache but my expectations are low and I think it would be a lot of fun so I'm going to give it a whirl.

Sadly I have two costumes to make and a bunch of Christmas to get a head start on so these will have to wait for another day. If anyone makes one or more of these post a comment with a link to your picture so I can take a peek! I think they would make fun Christmas projects so maybe I will weasel them in somewhere. Happy Sewing!

Make a wish...

I thought it would be fun to take pictures of Ashlyn's dress as I went along and show pictures of the different phases of how I make dresses but Cody took my camera on Saturday so all I have are the pictures of the finished product. This was the funnest dress ever and it came together so quickly. It took me 8 hrs from the very start to the last hand stitched bead and sequin, that's quick for me ;o). Very Gymbo inspired, oh and a shirt style that I want for me.

We tried to get a good picture of Ashlyn wearing the dress but we took her out right after church so the lighting was not so great. I never got a good picture of the "good" side with the dandelions on it. The dress didn't turn out exactly like the one in my cabeza but it's awfully darn close and who's gonna know anyway. Ashlyn calls it her wish flower dress. Cody calls it her golf ball on a tee dress. I call it done. Now bring on the pumpkin costume frenzy...

What I've been up to

I've been knee deep in laundry, dishes, kiddos, and sewing. I love sewing. I feel so much better when I'm cutting things. I'm winging Ashlyn's dress design from a dress in my noggin so I hope it turns out. So far so good- hopefully I can finish it tomorrow so she can wear it on Sunday.




I would finish it today but, as I was reminded this morning, it's one of my anniversaries today! I only slightly forgot because I got so caught up in the dress and helping a very important person find the right invitation which only took me 2 hrs. It was 5 yrs ago today that we were sealed in the temple. We always celebrate our civil wedding and that one so I'm a lucky girl who gets two fancy dinners a year, wahoo! We were going to see a movie but there's nothing good playing right now so we're going to dinner and we'll rent one. Speaking of that, has anyone seen the illusionist- VERY GOOD. It made me mad but a good mad. Gotta go hop in the shower and get the kids ready. I haven't been to a real restaurant since February 5th.

Yeah, I sprecken

I am very fluent in the language of Whine-eese. It took me about a year to pick it up but I finally got the hang of it and have been interpreting it for about 7 years now, I think I could speak it just like a native if I wanted to. It's originates from a small tribe of pasty white smallish children in the Eastern Oregon region. They are a funny little group of ankle biting primates with a peculiar characteristic. They have a definite pecking order and routinely prey upon the adult members of their tribe to try to gain the chief position. To outsiders it's quite fascinating and sometimes hilarious.

Okay, I think I'm funny sometimes but seriously yesterday I cut out a dress for Ashlyn. Mary and Kaci are already set for fall with all the hand-me-downs but Ashy being the oldest girl is totally out of long sleeved dresses. Since yesterday was -spend 4 hours grocercy shopping when it only should have taken 1 hour but I had all the kids with me day- I thought today would be a great day for sewing her dress up and testing out my lube job (on my machine). Mary and Kaci wouldn't hear of such a thing.

Mary kept crying and whining all day and Kaci was a koala. Where ever I went she was attached to my leg. I felt like a human Kleenex all day with her grabbing me and rubbing her face all over me, not happy style- we're talking whining.

Then Mary fell on the steps and banged up her little limbs. She cried and cried until I looked it over and promised her it wasn't bleeding. She wiped her little face and then told me...

"Mom, oh no! I have cry in my eyebrows!"

Okay, that was cute.

Then they started playing puppies and Kaci was "lick" kissing and fetching and they were getting cuter.

Then they started playing like real friends and being totally cute. So today I got nothing but my dishes done and pre-heated the oven for Cody to throw in the fish and chips. I just want to play!