Done! Child's Apron and Brownie Batter Dip.

Last week I made a board on Pinterest for the projects that I've Done! (or attempted anyway).  I tried to write a comment for each of the projects telling how they worked out.  That way in two years when I look at it again and say, "Oh I've made this before, I wonder if it was any good?"  I'll look at my notes and see that it was terrible or I should really make sure to have all the supplies ready before I start.

So I'm going to feature a few I've done and tell how they worked out.

I guess I'll start with the one I think turned out the cutest.  It's the Child's Apron Tutorial.

 

Source: creatingbycami.blogspot.com via Manda on Pinterest

Which takes you to http://creatingbycami.blogspot.com/search/label/Child%27s%20Apron%20Tutorial

I made this for Kaida for Christmas.  I think it came out very cute.  I used fabric left over from the throw pillows and curtains in her room.  I didn't have enough left to make the hat though, so sad.  The tutorial was pretty easy to follow.  I had a little trouble with the ruffle at the bottom but I've never done a ruffle at all before.  And it worked out in the end!

She loves it and always wants to wear it to help me in the kitchen.  Even when we're just making toast.  I'm wondering about scaling it up to make a cute apron for me!

The next one is this Brownie Batter Dip.

 

Source: stickafork.net via Manda on Pinterest

The recipe is found at http://stickafork.net/2013/01/brownie-batter-dip/

I made this for JR and me to eat during the Super Bowl.  It wasn't too hard to make, since there's no oven or stove involved.  But it didn't really taste like brownie batter.  It tasted like too thick chocolate cream cheese frosting.  JR liked it which was a little surprising since he's not a big cream cheese fan.  I'm sort of wondering if I could just take a brownie mix, change the oil out for butter, reduce the water, skip the egg, and have a dip that actually tastes like brownie batter.  Might be worth a try, if there's ever a reason to make something that yummy and bad for you.

Oh, and mine totally looked as adorable as the original picture, I definitely didn't serve it in a cereal bowl with the pretzels still in the bag while we ate it on the couch.

The Great Closet Clean Out - 2013

One of our first spring cleaning tasks was to get rid of the pile of goodwill donations that's been growing in our room since Kaida was born (that's the last time we made a donation).  I think you have to itemize everything if you want to claim it on your taxes now. This is an extra step in the process that, apparently, takes two years to complete.

This donation was just clothes.  I brought the pile down to the living room and we added everything into It's Deductible which is related to turbo tax.  Then I naively said "Maybe we should go through our closets really quick to see if there's anything else we want to send."

Five and a half hours later (that includes a lunch break) we had an extra bag to take over.

But the good news is that I had already gotten rid of most of my clothes that didn't fit anymore!  So there wasn't a lot to donate just because it was too tight or small.  That was a nice confidence booster.  And actually some of it was kicked out because it was too big.  I really have no idea why I would keep something that never fit.  I guess I'm a little crazy.

The sad news is that my closet is still pretty full.  I kept a lot of my office appropriate attire on the chance that I'll be working in an office again sometime soon.  Plus I can wear most of those things to church too.  I really don't need that many nice outfits but I don't want to get rid of them either.  I did just need to dress up for Jury Duty last week so there are things sometimes.

The good news is that I'm not too worried about fashion trends, as long as I look good in it I'm usually ok with it.  So those clothes can stay in my closet a long while and get occasional use before I deem them past their best by date.  Besides, shopping isn't as fun without Rachelle's reckless encouragement so I'd be lost if I had to go get something new by myself.

I found a few things that had gotten shuffled to the back of the closet and I've been working them into my every day SAHM wardrobe.  JR is pretty excited that I'm no longer alternating between the Mickey Mouse sweatshirt with the broken zipper, and the Mickey Mouse sweatshirt with the green stain.

It was like shopping in my own closet. 
Plus making a three garbage bag donation.
Plus de-cluttering.

It was a good day.

Bedroom Furniture

We re-arranged our bedroom furniture last week.  It's a dark room and the side where JR was sleeping is very dark.  His theory was that seeing a little light early in the morning would help him get up and out of bed.  So we went for it.

The entire room is a little awkward.  It's big but it has a knee wall on one long side.  Then there's the dormer that sticks out from that same wall making a little alcove.  And we have a radiator with built in shelves above it on the opposite wall.

(Click to embiggen)

This is totally not to scale and only a little bit accurate.  Since there's a hallway closet that abuts JR's and that would definitely not fit into this picture.  But you get the idea.

Anyway, here's how we used to have the furniture.

(Click to embiggen)

 

As you can see JR's side of the bed (by the closets) was as far from the windows as you could get.  Also my night stand hung over the alcove opening a bit and there was a lot of empty space on my side of the bed compared the JR's barely-wide-enough-to-walk space.  And with the treadmill in the alcove I couldn't get in there to open the window or curtains.

 

When we first rearranged everything we ended up with this:

(Click to embiggen)



The only weird part of this, to me, was the line of furniture against the knee wall.  Chaise, armoire, night stand, dresser.  The chaise sticks straight out from the alcove when I prefer it on an angle where ever it is.  Plus it's weird to have a night stand not near a bed anyway and this is just a straight line of matching furniture and that's what bothered me.  Everything sticks out almost the same distance from the wall.
JR didn't like the treadmill next to the dresser on his side of the bed either.

So after a couple days we tried again and ended up here:

(Click to embiggen)

So now the weirdness is still the chaise, JR's dresser and my dresser overlap a little, and his night stand is still on the other side of the room from his side of the bed.

I feel like if the radiator were underneath the window and we didn't have these built in shelves (they're not even really nice), everything would just fall right into place and it would be great!

But I still like it better than it was.  It feels better balanced I guess.  You know the feng shui and all that.  And I've been sleeping great!
JR thinks he likes it too.  We're going to give it a little longer before we pass final judgement.

Book Review: Wool

I love post apocolyptic/dystopian books.  I think it's pretty cool all the different ideas writers have imagined for how life will unfold after we destroy the world.

Wool by Hugh Howey falls into this category (although some seem to think it's described better as science fiction).  I believe that this book is only available in electronic versions.  So that's pretty cool by itself.

First I'll give you a little peak into what it's about. All of mankind (the few who are left) lives in a underground silo. The outside is so toxic and dangerous that going through the airlock is a death sentence. Even talking about outside is taboo. But some people have questions and the answers aren't as straight forward as they've all been lead to believe.

I really liked how he kept you in the dark about the world and slowly revealed where you were and how everyday life worked.  Sort of as if you had just beamed in (mixing my genres here) and had to figure out your way around by yourself.  I find it super annoying when an author does that but doesn't reveal enough.   Mystery is good, too much mystery is annoying and confusing.  Wool had just the right amount to keep the read interesting.

I read the first five books of this series in such fast succession that I'm not really sure where one ended and the next began. But I do remember really liking the first one and wanting to read the next one right away.  JR said he figured out what was happening early on but I did not expect that last little twist at the end.

I think it's around the sixth book that you start to see everything opening up even more.  But of course that just raises more questions.  I love it!  It's like chocolate.  You have some and you just want more!

It was hard to talk to JR about the books since he started them after me, and I didn't want to give anything away, and I couldn't really remember which parts happened first. 

A lot of our conversations went sort of like this.
JR: I'm at the part where (person) does (action) and I'm wondering if (thing) is going to happen next.
Manda: Oh, yeah.  When I was there I thought I had it all figured out.  I was all, maybe this is what's going on and then they'll do this and then it will all work out!  But I was wrong.

I'm reading the 8th book now, Third Shift: Pact.    They're all shortish (not super short) but he's written them all since 2011.  That just blows my mind.

Anyway. These books are awesome.   Go to Amazon and buy them all now (oh hey, looks like you can get the first five in paperback next week!).

Look What I Made!

I found a super adorable Easter wreath on pinterest a while ago.  So I pinned it and it's just been floating there and in my brain since then.

Anyway, here's the pin.

Source: mrsbshive.blogspot.com via Manda on Pinterest

Which takes you here http://mrsbshive.blogspot.com/2012/04/diy-easter-wreath.html

I took Kaida to Target a couple weeks ago and found bunny ears in the dollar spot.  So I bought them.  I figured even if I didn't get around to making the wreath the kids could still wear them and keep them in the dress up box.

Then this past weekend we all went to Target and I saw pink bunny ears.  I had bought the white ones the first time because that's what the blogger did in the original pin.  But while I was standing there I realized that our front door is white.  No one would be able to see a white bunny wreath (and by no one I mean the Mailman since he's the only non-resident who comes to our house).  So I bought the pink ears too.

I figured that since I now had two pairs of bunny ears I should probably actually make the wreath.  I went to Michael's and found the wreath form but they only had the feather boas in the pink I needed.  Joann's had a bigger selection of boas and that's where I found the pink furry one for my wreath.

My wreath was 12 inches, which I think must be bigger than what Mrs. Bs Hive used.  I didn't notice if she mentioned a size for her wreath.  Anyway, mine took 3 boas, not two.  And the ears were a little tougher to attach than she made hers sound.  So all that leads me to believe hers was smaller.

Ta-Da!
Here it is!

It's pretty cute.  The ears are kind of small but I think it still works.

And I love how all the stuff was on sale except the bunny ears.
The wreath form was 40% off with a coupon and the boas were 25% off.  so $16.07 before taxes.  Unless you count both bunny ears, then $17.07.

We're so grown up!

We worked on the bills and our finances the other night.  We use the mvelopes program which is envelope budgeting online, so you don't have to carry around envelopes full of cash.  It makes it a lot easier to steal from other envelopes but it still works for us.

We just started saving money to pay for preschool for Kaida so JR told me how much was in the envelope.  I told him I felt so grown up that we have money saved and we won't have to scramble to figure out where the money will come from when we start paying tuition.  Plus, when she's done with preschool that envelope will keep getting money and become a college savings envelope (I feel like we must be terrible parents because she doesn't already have college savings.).  It's all very adult and responsible.

It took a couple years to really figure out our budget but mvelopes is working very well for us now.  We've even gotten to the point where the March paycheck comes in to pay for the April bills.  JR said that was a very responsible thing to do too.

I'm still afraid he'll lose his job and all our savings will *poof* away but I think we're in a pretty good place even if it does happen.

So I feel all responsible and grown up now.  And very lucky.

Pajamas!

Oh, hey there.  Don't see me around here often, do we?  Well, I fixed some pajamas so I thought I'd post about it.  Since I'm awesome and stuff.

JR got me some jammies a couple Christmases (?) ago.  They're super cute with Donuts all over them and they're from Victoria's Secret so I don't think they were cheap. 
Anyway, the fist time I washed them they shrunk.  They only shrunk in the length though.  Maybe not so much that I would look weird in them to other people but enough that I felt uncomfortable and drafty wearing them.  So I planned to fix them but then I was pregnant a lot, so it took a while.  But They're finally done!

Mmmmm donuuuuuts!

Wrist cuffs

 

Ankles

I added bright pink fleece to the wrists and ankles. It's not exactly the same color as the pinkest donut but I think they still look cute. And they're nice and cozy now!
It was pretty easy.  I cut some fleece to about 3 inches wide and a little more than the length around the cuff.  Then I folded it in half and straight stitched it about a quarter inch above the bottom of the cuff.  So the fleece peaking out the bottom is about an inch and a half long.  Then I stitched up the ends where they met.
JR said "That was a pretty creative solution."  I kind of thought it was the only solution, though, other than buying new pajamas.  And since he didn't get me new ones for Christmas or my birthday I had to take matters into my own hands.

While I was at it I decided to fix my adorable panda pajamas too.  In this set the pants are a different material from the top so they were fine but the sleeves on the shirt were a lot shorter than they had started out.  Maybe I just have really long arms.

Anyway, I always cut up JR's yucky old t-shirts and use them as rags.  To fix my shirt I took one that wasn't stained at all and cut a little more than two inches off the bottom part of the shirt/rag that has the hem.
For this one I zig zagged the white piece to the black sleeve.  Just because it's decorative and there's pink in the shirt and pants too.

I think they sort of look like the babies' pajamas with the different color cuffs

 

 

 

So I've saved two pairs of pajamas and they still look cute, at least in my opionion!

Next up I have a pair that got stretched out when I was pregnant with Colin.  I'm not sure I'll be able to save those but I think I'll give it a try.  And then a pair of lighter weight pants that I'll cut to capri length since they'll be for the summer anyway.
Man, I have really bad luck with pajamas!


Bonus baby pic!

I had to keep trying them on to figure out the length so she wanted to try them on too.