Recovery

Amazingly, it is now 8:07 in the morning and only 2 of my kids have gotten out of bed.  Such a rare thing around here!  I didn't think the kids could sleep in like this!  I'm enjoying the quiet of everyone recovering from our long (but good) week of Vacation Bible School and my husband being on yet another business trip.

We spent the weekend catching up on all the things that had been left undone and just plain neglected while I was trying to man the fort by myself.  (SOOOOO glad there aren't any more trips for Kevin in the near future!)

In other news, my day lilies are in bloom!  Here are some pics of the ones that have opened up.  I have a few more that are just about to show their colors.  I'll get those as soon as I can.

Aren't they beautiful!  I brought all these from my parents' place, so it's a nice reminder of watching my mom working in her flower beds when I was growing up.  I was really excited I didn't kill them off after transplanting them.  (Seriously, people.  I have killed ferns!)

Here is a bud from our knock-out rose bush, too.

Hope today is a good start to everyone's week!

Grade School Memories

Well, the end of the school year has finally come and now we are left to figure out a way to store all of the memories from the finished grade.  I'm always concerned that later on (several years from now) there will be regrets that certain things/projects have been unceremoniously tossed into the trash.  

What do you do with things like these, though?

Unfortunately, there just is no way I can keep everything that everyone makes each year at school.  Think about it.  13 years of school for 5 kids and unknown amounts of art to come home.  We would have to devote a whole room to such madness - not gonna happen.

The solution, at this point, is going to depend heavily on my camera and our computer.  I now plan to record all these things in picture form on our computer.  That should make the kids happy to be able to 'keep' the items.  It should also make Momma happy to get rid of the clutter around here.  Maybe we will be able to see the counter tops again soon. :)

What ideas have you all come up with to solve this kind of 'problem'?

Gooey Butter Cookies

I have quite simply fallen in love with these cookies since moving to the St. Louis area.  I didn't even know what they were called the first several times I had them.  Now that I have a recipe, it's just plain dangerous to even think about them.

Uber-easy to make with only a few ingredients.  But, oh, the flavor that comes from such a tiny morsel of food.

The recipe I use comes from allrecipes.com and is found here.  (Love this site!)  What I did differently in my last batch of cookies made them even better!  I decided to double the recipe and use one yellow cake mix and one lemon cake mix.  WOW!  Add some fresh strawberries and a little whipped cream and you have one YUMMY desert.

I'm never going to loose the last little bit of baby fluff with these around!

Flower Bed Redo: Part 3

Okay.  Here it is as a finished project!

Yeah!  I was actually done with this on Wednesday (go me!), but life has been flying since the last little bit of mulch was put down.  So glad it's done.  My body couldn't have taken much more of the lifting and bending.  I even had my dad move the debris bags out to the end of the short driveway for the trash guys to pick up.

I took the time to put a few petunias in a pot in front of the garage, as well.

So, for a quick recap.....

Before.

After.

Nice to have a little color around the front of our home.  Can't wait for the lilies to bloom.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend, everyone!

Flower Bed Redo: Part 2

Okay.  Here is what I was able to accomplish this morning.  If you want to see what was done yesterday, click here or just scroll down.  :)  Not too shabby.  Especially since today I had our 1 yr old in the mix.  Thankfully, she missed all the flowers when she was following me around in the dirt.

Tomorrow I'll be spreading the mulch.  (Have to pick that up this evening.)  I also need to find a home for that Iris in the back corner.  I just don't think there is enough room for it there.

Until tomorrow......

Flower Bed Redo: Part 1

This post should be entitled 'Shouldna', Oughta, but Shor'nuf.....'. As in, "I shouldna' done it.  I oughta been inside out of the heat cleaning. But, shor'nuf, I did it anyway!"

I've been antsy to get outside and enjoy the weather lately.  It's been absolutely BEAUTIFUL!  So, true to my nature, I went at it full force on a very hot/humid day.  (Gotta work around the nap and nursing schedule here, people!)

Here is a quick before shot.  I really haven't figured out why the person before us wanted that little bit of sod laid between the sidewalk and flower bed, but it's there.

My very willing, um, helpers.  I think that shovel is as big as they are!

And, (drum roll, please) here is the after.

All the sod pulled up and an huge amount of earthworms saved in the process.

It really didn't take me that long to get the sod pulled up.  A couple of hours in that heat, though, and I was DONE.  There is only so much my poor little, 10 week post-pregnancy body can take.  (I am SO our of shape!)  And it may have been my imagination, but I think all the construction workers in the subdivision were coming by and slowing down for a look.  I don't recall that much truck traffic in front of our home any other day.  All well, at least I can give them a good laugh while they are working.

I'm quite proud of what I accomplished in such a short time today.  I'll keep working on it this week. Hopefully, I'll get it done before my husband returns from his business trip on Friday, but we'll see.  I think I'll also try to work on it in the mornings when it's fully shaded in this area.
Boy, am I going to sleep well tonight!!

Fabric Covered Box

Don't know about all of you, but I'm constantly trying to find a good deal.  One deal that comes around several times a year are those little activity/coloring books for kids.  Walgreens seems to have these on a regular basis around the holidays.  Usually priced 2/$1 (or something similar),  if you wait until after the holiday, they go on sale.  Sales are good. :)

Needless to say, I have a pretty good stash of activity books ready to refill the kids' drawing pad holders I made at Christmas.  I ran into a problem when trying to store these books and still keep them nice and in sight.  (You know, 'out of sight, out of mind' - if I don't see them, I'll think I need to buy more.)  I came up with a very simple solution to corral the books and use one of the many boxes destined for our overflowing trash can.

First, find a box that will hold whatever you need to hold.  You can obviously measure and cut the box at whatever height you need.  I decided to just cut the box right in half.
At this point, you need to measure around the box (circumference) and from the center of the bottom to a point inside the box.  Record these and add seam allowance before cutting the fabric.

Next, sew your fabric together to make a basic casing.

 Keep right sides together and sew the fabric to make a tube.

Then, sew a bottom seam.  Remember to backstitch when sewing.

I decide to put my box inside the fabric casing at this point.  (No sense in going too far before making sure all measurements are right and everything fits like a glove.)  I found this also helped me to determine where to sew the corners.  Mark where your seam should be with a couple of pins on both sides of the box.  Remove the box and sew the corners.

Clip excess corner fabric like in the above picture.

Put your box back in.  Is it still nice and snug?  Good!

Now,  if you like, you can clip the down the corners and trim a little of the fabric away.  This will allow it to fit inside the box a little neater when finished (below).  A spray adhesive or glue will work to keep the fabric tucked in and looking nice.

The finished product - Ta Da!

Very simple and easy to do. Thanks to this fun little box, I will no longer be assaulted in the head by flying coloring books.