Go Ahead, You Know You Want To

Yes, I did. I cut the sleeves off two ribbed turtlenecks, sewed a straight seam and made gift bags. They were headed to the trash anyway, one had a hole and the other had a stretched out neck.

Run over to A Soft Place to Land and see TONS more Do It Yourself Day ideas....I hope you have all day, there are lots of good ones!

This was originally posted last year about this time, but I thought it was worth a repeat. You know, in case one of my couple readers missed out and needs a gift giving idea. You could put all sorts of things in here--wine, fancy olive oil, maple syrup, a toy school bus, a stack of fresh baked cookies. What else?

No Ironing Solution

I figured out a way to get the hems on these little sweater dresses to lay down. It works for me and it might work for you too.

When they come out of the dryer the hem is usually curled up.

With a few strategically placed clothes pins the hems lay flat after about an hour.

Voila! No more curled hem. I use this trick on the collars of my husbands shirts too.

Race on over to We Are That Family to find out more Works For Me Wednesday tips!

Halloween is coming...

And it's getting scary around here!

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Wrapping Paper

Now that I am completely dependent on Google Maps, I found a new use for old maps. Move over funny papers, there's a new wrapping paper in town.

Ready to party!

Go on over to We are that Family to check out some other works-for-me solutions!

What Gives Me Courage

"When I am afraid,
I will put my trust in You." (Psalm 56:3)

I have found a new spot to hang out, it just opened yesterday and I can't wait to spend more time there.

Flowers

Trader Joe's usually has great mixed bouquets for $3.99. The interesting thing I have found is if I split up the bouquet with like flowers together, they last longer. A lot longer. For some reason the cut flowers seem to suck the life out of each other when they are not with their own kind. Interestingly enough, people can be the same way at times. Finding refreshment with your own kind can become more important the busier your life becomes.

I Wash Stuffed Animals

That's right, I throw stuffed animals in the washing machine and then in the dryer. I don't care that the tag says "spot clean only." Those little suckers get into all kinds of messes and rather than worry about the nastiness I just give them a bath. So far they always come out looking fluffy and new.

What about you? Do you machine wash stuffed animals or just leave them nice and grungy and loved on?

One Year Later...

Last year as I watched the Superbowl I wrote my first blog post. In recent months I have read more than I have written, but I still enjoy blogging and plan to do more soon. Happy birthday? Anniversary? Make Room For...

Remember Pantry Beautification?

WFMW Butter Wrappers

This may seem silly, but hey, it works for me. We love butter at our house and use it freely and with a smile. When I open a stick of butter I throw the wrapper in a ziplock bag in the fridge.

Then, when I need to grease a pan I grab one of the wrappers and just go to town.

No, I'm not throwing a gang symbol. Just trying to grease and take a picture at the same time.

Now get on over to Rocks In My Dryer and check out some other ideas.

Do You Like Apples?

I was reading Meredith's blog yesterday and she made this apple cake from Smitten Kitchen sound so good I had to make one today.

Even though I forgot the vanilla and had to use a Bundt pan instead of a tube pan, it still turned out to be delicious. That's my kind of recipe, very forgiving.

It's not a pretty cake, but my goodness is it tasty.

How do you like them apples?

Lost and Found

We rearranged the furniture in our sun room a few weeks ago and look at all the treasures hiding under the couch I thought nothing could get hidden under:

Click the photo if you want all the gory details.

So that's where all the pens, cat toys and Hot Wheels end up.

Stay tuned I should have a post one of these years about our kitchen makeover.

Security

Where is your faith? Is it in a deadbolt? I didn't realize it until this morning as I kissed my husband goodbye and closed the door, but I had faith in a deadbolt. Faith that as I shut the door and turned the lock our family would be safe from harm.

When I turned the lock this morning I realized the window next to it could easily be broken and the lock turned. Then I looked at the other two points of entry in our house and they also have windows near the locks.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:1, 6

So, where is your faith? Is it in a deadbolt? Or the One who made you?

Never Leavin' the House

There is so much fun to be had at our house I don't care if I ever go out again.

I just realized Noah is wearing the same outfit from the previous post...almost 2 months ago.

Sweet Cheeks

I can hardly stand missing out on one minute of the goings on at our house. I miss my babies!

Two more days and Mama will be home!

My goodness, I am missing my little pumpkin pies so much this week! Mr. Incredible is holding down the fort with our little ones and our new kitty while I am in San Francisco for work.

Summer Reading Club

I ran across a cool dude blog today called This Guy Falls Down. I don't read many dude blogs; I much prefer hearing from a woman's heart when I venture into blogland.

However, I was checking out BooMama and I ran across Mark Lee from Third Day (I feel like such a name dropper loser so cool linking to him) and he is hosting a Summer Reading Club link up.

I told you guys last month about Kelly Minters book No Other Gods in this post. I am reading this ever so slowly since it is my before bed book and I am usually too tired to read more than a page or two. I am also reviewing my notes from Kelly's No Other Gods bible study I did last fall and getting another healthy dose of "wake up and smell your idols you ding dong."

Ain't God good? He knows I can be a slow learner, yet He never fails me and His mercies on me are new every morning.

My Favorite Restaurant

Is the Cracker Barrel (or the Crackle Barrel as my cousin Kim calls it.) Just look at my sweet family enjoying the down home goodness.

We were on our way home from Indiana and after passing 68 Cracker Barrels over the course of 7 days, and being completely tortured each time we didn't stop for fried catfish, or blueberry pancakes, we finally stopped for dinner on our last night away. I got catfish and my boys got blueberry pancakes. Mmmm, butter.

More Posts Please

Mr. Incredible told me about this Firefox add on to make posting a breeze.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1730

You will know if I like it because I will start posting more often. Do you all already use this?

Thanks Nester!

My good blogging bud The Nester had a crazy fun carnival yesterday. She asked to see all our imperfections. This was just the motivation I needed to start, finish and post a project I have been considering doing but was afraid to start. Perfectionism keeps me from starting so many things.

When we moved our little one from his crib to a twin bed we put the comforter from our old guest room on his bed. It was a queen and I just folded it in half and threw it on the bed. I have been meaning to cut it down to fit his bed ever since (that was 6 months ago!)

The freedom to do something imperfectly allowed me to cut this perfectly good comforter.

What else is going on in this room? Well, Monday and Friday are my laundry days so I was folding laundry throughout the morning. Our baby girl was taking a snooze in her swing. There was also some bible reading going on because I was listening to Charles Stanley while I cut the comforter. He said go to Colossians 1 and since he was talking about prayer I did, because I love prayer.

This is what was going on in the next room. Have you ever watched Jack's Big Music Show? I love the Schwartzman Quartet.

After the quilt was cut I had to Make Room For....my sewing machine on my craft table. Yes, I know, this looks like it should be a dining room table. We're not dining room people right now, so I claimed this area for all my crafts and I have never regretted it (except when it gets messy.)

There, see, plenty of room for the sewing machine. Now let us not forget I had a baby about 12 weeks ago and this, I am certain, is the reason my right knee looks so HUGE. Just keepin' it real people, I could have cropped that out.

Actually, not a bad idea to crop that whole mess out along with my giant knee.

Even though this was the quickest project on record, it still wasn't done before this guy was ready for his nap.

It was finished by the time he woke up though!

I used the leftovers to make this itty bitty sleeping bag. Not bad for one straight seam.

What is perfectionism keeping you from starting?

No Other Gods

"You shall have no
other gods before me” Exodus 20:2-3

Hey, have you all heard that Beth Moore is doing an online version of Kelly Minter's No Other Gods: Confronting Our Modern Day Idols bible study this summer?



I did this study last fall and it is probably the best study I have done to date. If you are interested in following Beth's version this summer, check out her blog post.

The trade book just came out if you don't have time for a bible study but want to read the book.