Seriously? Has it been almost a week?

Summer is just about to kill me people! I am so ready for school to start back so that I can have my peaceful routine back! Summer is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but it is sooooo incredibly busy (swimming, water park, parties, swimming). I need my routine back.

(My little nephew Abe at the pool today. How stinkin cute is that kid?)

I wanted to tell you about a few random things this week so I'm just going to do a list. I love lists. they make me feel so 'together' on days like this.

The List:

1. I'm on day 19 of being a vegetarian and I don't really miss anything except for the occasional carbonated beverage (which isn't allowed on our plan). Oh how I love my not-so-good-for-me Diet Sunkist. I don't miss meat at all! We have a few favorite recipes now that I hope to share soon. My favorite has to be mushroom quesadillas, they totally rock. Ben has lost almost 20 lbs and I have lost at least 10, so the weight seems to be coming off easily. I think the most rewarding thing for me is that I feel good about what I'm eating.  Where some days before this I may have eaten 500-600 calories a day of good quality nutrition and the rest were empty or poor quality calories, now I get at the very least 1100 calories a day of good quality calories and nutrition. I feel really good about that. This ole body needs all the help I can give it.

2. I found more audio books that you may like (FREE ONES!!!) by Isabella Alden, Grace Livingston Hill's Aunt. You can find them here. I have read a couple of her books and they are very good, and a lot like Grace's. :)

3. I've listened to The Enchanted Barn as I fall asleep every night since I found it. I heart that book.

4. I haven't used my camera near enough this summer and I know I'm going to be mad at myself for that later... so I'm going to post a picture everyday for the next seven days to get my lazy self back in the habit of having my camera attached to me at all times. These kids are growing up way too fast for this kind of laziness!

5. Speaking of lazy....when I have been home, and not out doing all of those summer time things in the last couple of weeks, I have been the QUEEN of laziness! It's like the heat has went to my head! I totally need to get over this. My kids are wanting clean socks and underwear again. The nerve, right?

(Seriously, these are the only pictures I have from the last week. Pathetic. Oh, and I didn't even take them, Ben did.)

6. The kids and I went on a little geocaching adventure the other day. We seem to have a lot of local spots so I want to plan to do more of those when it cools off. Fall will be perfect for this. I can't wait!

7. I'm getting the itch to do some thread crochet again (remember this). I may make doilies, I may make a yoke for a fall dress or shirt for me or the girls....I don't know. I've also thought of doing some of those covered rocks I'm seeing everywhere. What do you think? Have you seen any new or cool ideas lately? Link me up!

Public Service Announcement :: Grace Livingston Hill

While sitting here this morning trying to plan out the perfect Saturday, indoors away from the scorching heat, I thought about spending some time with my old friend Grace Livingston Hill. That's one friend that will never let you down. Am I right or am I right? So I was thinking of reading one of my old favorites start to finish and just make a day of it when....the thought hit me...I wonder if Grace has any audio books on my (FREE) audiobooks app. I looked it up on my phone and guess what! The Enchanted Barn was there!!!! (It's also free to listen to here if you don't have an iPod or iPhone.) This has been one of my favorites since Sivje told me it was her favorite a while back. Do you know what this means? Now I get to spend the day with Grace AND sew or crochet or embroider something at the same time...PERFECT! I couldn't let the day go by without sharing the link with you. Remember you can also read most of her books online. I read Aunt Crete's Emancipation Monday, I love that one too because it's short enough to read in an afternoon, but the story is so good. So do you have a favorite? Share it with us!

Mamas new hippie shirt.

My pea green sheet/ hippie shirt is done! I like the shirt, but I don't love the picture. One of these days I'm going to get to post just one picture of me that I like. Why didn't Ben tell me to pull that big wrinkle across the front down? Oh well. Moving on. Some of you asked what pattern I used, sorry, I should have mentioned that before but I thought you would probably recognise it. If you missed it just look HERE for all of the details.

This was such a fun project. I started out with all of the shapes and I just played around with them until they looked right. Then I just pinned them down and started working a blanket stitch around each one. I used size 10 crochet thread instead of embroidery floss to get a more chunky, messy look.

I worked feather stitching all the way around the neck, and then I added a lazy daisy at the center back.

In the end the shirt cost me just a few cents. The sheet was free, the applique fabric was free, and the buttons I got in an old jar full of buttons from a yard sale for just a couple of bucks. Not bad. I keep thinking that it might have looked better if I had just used brown crochet thread around the leaves and stems....I don't know. I like it the way it is now fine, I'm just wondering. Maybe I should do a skirt out of the same sheet and try an all brown applique. So, what do you think? Is a pea green hippie shirt better than a pea green sheet?!

It's all in the details...

...right? My Granny gave me an ugly pea green sheet the other day. It was an ugly sheet, but I thought that it would make an awesome hippie shirt. That is....if I could put just the right details on it. I hope I got it right! I've always liked this color green with my red hair. I'll be back tomorrow with the final verdict. What do you think of it so far? Are you feelin it?

On this Saturday afternoon....

(Picture taken by Daddy while Mama was away at market.)

....I totally need to get up off of my lazy rear and do some laundry, clean the bathrooms, straighten up the loft, find a place for the fifty something butternut squash in my pantry, make more tomato sauce to freeze, put up some okra, make the kids clean their rooms really good, drink more water, dust, sweep, mop, blah blah blah blah blah blah.......but since it is Saturday.....maybe I'll just drink more water (and maybe another cup of coffee) while I tell the kids to "load up" (that means everyone get in the van and buckle up) and we can head to the thrift store and hunt for treasures! I'm so leaving this mess for another day, I'm positive it will still be here waiting for me when I get back. What are you doing or not doing on this lovely Saturday afternoon?

Vegitarian :: Day 3

This morning marks day 3 of being a vegetarian. So far I have felt pretty good. I have had a few moments that I felt a little weird (light headed and foggy), but overall it's been a good experience. After reading a few of the comments from the last post I realised that I wasn't super clear about our "diet plan rules". Oops. You know how I can get ahead of myself! On our plan (the one we made up) we have cut out all sodas, processed food, meat or meat substitutes, and anything else considered unhealthy (no matter how many calories it has). We are eating a lot of veggies from the garden, dry beans, mixed nuts, whole grains, and we are trying new recipes! My plan is a little different from Ben's, I have tried to eat most of my veggies raw while he is more focused on getting loads of protein. We loved all of the recipes and links!!! We tried the black bean burgers last night and we both liked them! Tonight I think Ben wants to try a new sauce to eat on whole grain noodles. Honestly, I have been so excited about all of the food that I haven't really missed anything. Everything I have put in my mouth so far has been soooo good! I can totally see why some people would never want to go back. For today my report is....I love this so far! Oh, and we have both lost a couple of pounds so far! I know the weight loss will slow down soon but I'm still pretty pumped about it! So, do you have any questions? More recipes you wanna share?? Hit me! xo, Sam

Just so you know...

Hey guys! We are headed out to the boulder field again this morning to do a little climbing, but I wanted to tell/ask you about a few things before we leave.

I'll explain the shoes first. Back when I was "embellishing" my own Sanuks I promised the first three people who asked that I would do a pair for them too. You know how that works...a lot of people started asking and then I realised that my fingers wouldn't be able to keep up! My fingers are sore for days after just one pair! Three pair I can handle, 30 pair, not so much. Luckily Crys (AKA Crystal, my best childhood friend) was one of the first to ask. Crys had her 30th birthday last week and her friend Amy and I worked out a way to get this pair to her by her birthday. Her favorites were my hippie shoes, so I just did the same design in different colors. She said that she really liked them!

Now the other thing I wanted to talk about......I'm hungry just thinking about it.....as of today, Ben and I are vegetarians for the next 28 days. There are several reasons why we chose to do this, but the main reasons are feeling better, weight loss, and to kinda try it on for size (you never know, we've heard that some people never go back). We are still eating eggs and dairy (isn't that vegan when people don't eat dairy or eggs?) but no meat and we are restricting our calories. The only problem is that I need recipes! Do any of you have any good ones? Send me a link! Anyone have any tips or tricks for surviving the first few days? I've heard they can be pretty brutal. And have any of you ever tried this with success? Tell me, I need all of the motivation I can get! Help! xo, Hungry Mama

An outfit for Maddie, and some randomness....

Maddie has been wanting a skirt and top "like Sissy's Easter dress" for a while now. Every time she came up into the loft she would ask if it was done yet....don't you just love a nag? So a couple of weeks ago I promised her that by Sunday morning she would have her very own Easter dress.

I made the top out of the Olivia Paige pattern (the skirt is the Miss Claire), but I was being a little lazy. I skipped the tucks on the front bodice (I just used the lining pattern piece for the main bodice and the lining), I sewed the cross over back together and just made one back skirt (think fake wrap dress), and then I added a sash. It went together so fast! And the princess approves because she says she feels five in it. Five? Really? What's so cool about five? Why can't she want to be three? Sheesh! The fabric is Hunky Dory by Moda.

A few random bits...

First off, an adoption update, we are waiting on paperwork (we have done everything we can up until now) and our next step will be to send over our Dossier! I don't talk about it much here or in real life because when I do I start thinking about things like....how many years will they have to be in an orphanage before I get them, I wonder if they're hungry, I hope they have a kind caretaker....but what if they don't?! You see what I mean. I'm trying to save all of my emotions for when I have a PICTURE and I know who they are!!!! I think part of this way of dealing comes from what we have lived through in the last few years. I find that I have a hard time getting excited about anything until it happens....sometimes I feel bad about that, but I guess we all have our own defense mechanisms, right? I do think about what it will be like when my babies get home a lot. I think about how nice it's going to be to go to bed at night with everyone asleep and safe under the same roof....that's going to feel heavenly.

Now I wanted to explain a few things...I have went through my archives and pulled a few posts. I didn't think that anyone would notice, but a few people did. The only reason that I did this was that I felt that some older posts may have had a little too much information about where we live. We have never had any trouble with that sort of thing, but we want to be as safe as possible. I know that I'm not the only mama who worries about that kind of thing, so I knew that y'all would understand!

One more thing! Lately I've been getting a lot of email asking "How do you get it all done?" HA! That's easy, I don't! Hunny if I have given the impression that my children always have clean socks in their drawers, I'm sorry! LOL! They don't. In fact I find myself overjoyed when sandal season hits because that's one less thing I have to worry about. One of my favorite cousins, Amy, told me one time "Girl, I'm just trying to keep the laundry under the widows so the neighbors don't see!" I love her. I do have to say that my house stays pretty clean because I can't think in a dirty house, but my kids help A LOT. I tell them "Guys we can do whatever you want today, but the house has to be clean first." and that's all it takes. We work together, get it done, and then do whatever we want. Each child has a "station" that has to be cleaned and maintained throughout the day. Molly has the kitchen, she unloads the dishwasher, cleans off the counters and table, and sweeps. Tim has the living room, he cleans up toys, shoes, blankets, and cups. Maddie has the bathrooms and the shoe closet, she takes the dirty clothes to the laundry room, and straightens up the shoes. Then we all fold and put away laundry together. When I get a load out of the dryer I just plop it onto the couch and we all spend a minute or so folding and then we put it away. Another way that I get my sewing time in is by staying up late! Molly and I LOVE to stay up late! Molly will fix a pot of coffee, we will put on an audio book, shut the door to the loft, and I will sew while she draws or works on her own project. We can't do this every night, because we do need sleep sometime, but we usually get to stay up at least one night a week.

Tonight I'm headed to my sister's house for some girl time :) I'll be back soon, probably two pounds heavier from chocolate and pizza.....no big thang, we'll just have to go climbing again to burn it back off! xo, Sam

Mama's New Liberty Dress

(Picture taken by my sweet Molly)

When Target finally put all of the liberty scarves on clearance, I was able to get my hands on four of them! They were $3 each! Since I was pretty close to having my dress pattern just right I cut into one of my precious scarves last night....and I love it!!! I made it with a drawstring waist instead of elastic this time.

I made the front bodice of this one a button-up (using part of my drawstring for buttonhole loops). I haven't finished the hem yet because I think I may want to use some wide crochet lace....What do you think? Should I just hem it like it is and wear my petticoat with it, or add lace (and then I could still wear the petticoat if I wanted to)? I cant do a ruffle because I just about used every inch of that scarf...Any ideas?

Rock Climbing With the Kids

For years now Ben and I have been looking forward to when the kids would be old enough for climbing and rappelling. My Dad took us all the time when we were kids. I think I started rappelling when I was seven years old! Dad made sure that we learned everything the right way and he was really strict about all of the safety rules, but we always had a blast! As we got older we got to go to a lot of fun places with really good rocks, Ben even spent a month in Yosemite when he was 18. Yesterday we went to a spot where we did a lot of learning and practicing as kids. We had so much stinkin fun! We hiked in for about an hour, we ate lunch on a big rock, and then we started climbing.  I remember this crack (pictured above) being so much bigger! We used to climb up inside of it and come out on the top of the rock.

Let me tell you, for four years old, this kid rocked it! Maddie was like a little lizard climbing up those rocks (which were pretty big for her). The hike was a pretty long way for her short little legs too, but she didn't complain once. The kids did so well! I think Maddie and Tim may be part lizard! My Molly liked the rappelling back down the best.

Molly stood back for a while when we first got there. Ben and I decided to just let her warm up to it all on her own so we didn't push at all. After she watched the rest of us all having so much fun she wanted to get in on it. Ben let her pick our next spot and before we knew it she was climbing to the top! I think she's hooked now! I was so proud of her, rappelling can be pretty scary for beginners, and she did great. By the end of the day I think she was climbing, just so that she could rappel back down, that has always been my favorite part too.

Tim was a wild man! I should have known that he would be, you know he lacks the natural fear of heights that most people have, and sometimes that can be a mixed blessing! He couldn't get enough, which got Ben really excited, he's looking forward to having his very own rock climbing buddy.

 

 

Yesterday was just what we needed after such a heartbreaking week. It's so exciting to finally be ready as a family for trips like this! We have a lot more trips planned! Poor ole Mama is going to need a few more practice trips before we hit any big rocks though, you know somehow getting my behind up those rocks wasn't as easy as it was when I was 19.....now don't get me wrong, I DID IT, and I can prove it, but it required a lot more effort for this body (that's what three kids and 11 years'll get you!) than it used to! I'm going to practice more, and you never know......we might even make it out to Yosemite one of these days, after we get our little Bulgarian rock climbers home, you just never know!