Cause I feel like I have to...

blog, that is.

Here we are nearly done with March and I have 4 posts under my belt.

At least it's twice as much as February.
I mean really, as if the world is going to shrivel up and die if I don't post!!! tee hee hee.

I'm laying here in bed nursing another migraine.

Wondering...what on earth should I talk about?????

I don't really feel like I have anything to say.

I guess except, I might as well be pregnant for the way I've been feeling this year!

Though I'm not!

Here's the deal.

With all of my pregnancies I've gotten prego induced carpel tunnel.
So bad that I would get to the point where I couldn't do the most minor of things with my hands. Like cut food, button stuff, blow dry my hair, sleep., etc. It always went away, eventually.

The last few years my arms would act up, going numb and stuff.

The chiropractor could always fix me up and resolve it.

My backs a mess from prior injuries and a few good adjustments would unpinch nerves and the numbness would subside.

This January, it all started up again.

Only this time, it has been much, much worse.

My chiropractor and I have decided it's time to seek further diagnosis with this.

As both my arms (not just the hands) and now legs go numb and tingly all the time.

My right arm is the worst and is quite painful a lot of the time.

Which leads me to my lack of computer time.
Editing pictures is not so fun.

I've made an appointment with a neurologist,
I get to see her in ONLY 2 months!
I hope I still have limbs by then;)

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On to other things.

The kids have been their usual busy selves.

Nathan just finished up his basketball season.

He loves it, and I think would play everyday if he could!

This picture cracks me up. I was clicking away trying to get

some good action shots of him playing. Here he is passing the ball.

And the ball is what I got in focus!

Doug found himself another daughter for the annual daddy daughter dance.

These four had a good time.

Kathryn is a good friend of Kristens and she has never been able to go to the daddy daughter dance. Doug was so sweet and offered to take her too.

Here's Kristen and Kathryn at the School Talent Show.

They made up a dance to Another One Bites the Dust.

It was awesome and they worked really hard choreographing the whole thing.

It was funny though, cause I knew they had run out of ideas towards the end of the song. So for most of the song they have lots of action and cool moves and at the end, well, they got a little boring.....but they were so cute and I'm proud of them for putting themselves "out there!"

I think my next post will be on Jack.

That boy is killin' me these days.

Killin' me with laughter!

Happy Monday ya'll.

(i've decided Monday is one of my most favorite days of the week..a fresh new start)

A purse and a little tutorial.

So part of that big pile of fabric I've been collecting includes some destined for purses.

I found this cute pattern and decided to give it a try.



Our ward is having an auction this week and they were looking for donations.

I decided to make a purse (for the first time ever!)

Hope it goes for BIG MONEY!!!!



This fabric is one of my favorites.

I have enough to make one for myself still.

(If I ever do it again ;))))


A close up...but don't look too close k.

In all my years of sewing I still haven't mastered a curved stitch!

The inside.

With a little surprise.

A pop of color in the pocket.

Hence, my reason for the pink in the added flower.

I decided it would be fun to add a little pop to the bag with a flower.

I've never made one like this, and I'm sure others figured it out long ago.

But this was my first attempt and here's how I made it.

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1. Rip 3 different fabrics, at different widths.

I didn't measure this at all....(good tutorial hu??..but i didn't decide to document it until this point:)

But it was maybe 12" long. I would have like it to be a little longer, but oh well.

2. Sew a long gathering stitch and pull up to desired gathered-ness (is that a word???)

I pulled it just a bit more than this before I rolled it.

3. Next, I just kinda rolled it together and glued with a hot glue gun as I went.

Here's what the bottom looked like when it was done.

4. Glue a pin to it. (i just got a pack of these at Michaels in the jewelry section)


And Wallaaaaaa!

I just kinda squished it around to flatten it out a little.

My first tutorial EVAH!

Is that just what you've all been waiting for????!!

Now GO...run, make your own....you know you want to.

that last post was for Pat, and Jen...THIS ONES FOR YOU!

The WT cabinet.

It's done.

I always thought, once I got started, it would be easier than I thought and I would wonder why I procrastinated so long.

Not true.

I procrastinated for a reason.

But it's done, and I couldn't be happier (well, 98% done)

Just in case (JEN) your planning a similar project, I'll tell you what I did.

First, I filled all the knob holes with wood filler.

Let it dry and sand smooth. Use a putty knife to smooth out and fill in any imperfections. I only did this in the knob area, as I liked the imperfections elsewhere.

I used an electric sander to sand smooth my filler, than did a full sand over the entire piece. Just enough to rough up the surface.

Be sure to wipe clean with a damp cloth and allow to dry.

I painted a layer of primer first.

My girls thought this was the real color and said "oh...that's pretty??"

hahaha!


Then I did a layer of the "real" paint.

I ended up needing to do 2 layers.

I used a small furniture roller, and a brush for the tighter areas.

I then took a piece of sand paper and hand sanded my edges for that distressed look.

My hands got that lovely distressed look as well.

Next we drilled all the new holes for the hardware.

I still need to attach the handles for the middle doors, but I need longer screws than what they came with and I haven't bothered to look for any yet. :)

Last I finished it with a layer of varnish.

And there you go.

It was a. lot. of . work.

I'm so glad it's done

The Living Room

Ya'll know I've been whining for a new couch for my living room...
for like ages!

WELL.
Finally, my dreams have come true.
We saved the money and started looking last fall.

Of course, being picky, like I've been told I am, I couldn't find anything I wanted here in town.
So when we were in Utah for Thanksgiving we went looking up there.
I fell in love at this one store and called Doug on the phone and said he HAD to come see this couch. I wasn't sure he would like it, but baby...I was in lOVE!!!

Being the good husband that he his, he loved it too ;)
So we ordered it and then picked out some chairs together.

While my furniture was on order, I got to painting.
Our downstairs was seriously overdue for a re-paint.

I went with a lovely shade of... mustard.
I've only gotten the living room painted and still have the rest of the downstairs to do.
It will have to wait for a bit, I'm taking a much needed break.

Our furniture came in and Doug and I ran up to Utah to fetch it.

Anyhew....here it is.
I love it.
It makes me happy.
We still want to find a coffee table and possible rug.
We still need to decide what we are putting on the walls.


Looking towards the front of my house.



The big wall, I don't know what to do with.

A not very good close up of the couch.

I couldn't photograph this thing to save my life.

There was always too much light, or not enough.

It's really much darker than it appears in this photo.

And close up of the chairs.

They are wild, and I love them!

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Stay tuned for the infamous cabinet.

I'm pleased as punch!!!

I have a new goal...

I'm going to try and post more than 2 times this month!

February (my favorite month by the way), was pitiful

in my blogging attempts.

In my defense...i was VERY busy.

I've been doing a lot of painting,

refinishing my white trash cabinet :)

dealing with some health issues,

and taking a quick trip outta town.

(lots of things to blog about for sure!!)

So lets welcome March with a post!

I have much to catch up on, so lets start with January!

Little Jack Jack's birthday bash.

It was his first party and SO exciting!!!!!

He has been making plans for his birthday for months.

Adding to his wish list, daily.

Now that it's over, he's asking for things for his next birthday....ha!

We did a pirate party and I found loads of decor at the dollar store.

(my WT table....it looks soooo much better now, I can hardly stand to look at it in this condition)

We had little treasure boxes and pirate hats for the party goers.

Found this cute skull cupcake holder at Halloween. The color skull is actually a candle.

The birthday boy!!!

Wore his Jack Sparrow costume!

Playing pin the treasure on the map.

Had a super cute treasure hunt.

In the sand!

The kids had to look for rings, necklaces, gold coins, swords, compasses, skulls...uh...that's all I can remember ;)

All the party animals!

He's FOUR!!

ONe of these days...

I will get around to letting go of Christmas on my blog...
you know, the header, the music.

ahhhhh...eventually.

* I'm currently working on the big chest, sideboard, console table, whatever.
Maybe I should just call it my white trash craigs list find :)

* Nathan has been sick (like a dog) for like 4 days.

* Kristen and her friend have tried out for the school talent show, and they made it!
They are dancing to Another ONe Bites the Dust. They are too cool.

* I had a great birthday. Lots of calls from people who love me ;) Dinner with the fam.
FABULOUS gifts, and to die for chocolate cake! For real, that's what i named it.

* I currently am having a fabric addiction. Hello, my name is Carol, and I love fabric. Been
buying a bit lately, have LOTS of plans! Now to execute said plans!

* Samantha started piano lessons, she is loving it.

* I'm hosting a jewelry party next Tuesday evening, the 23rd. If your interested (cause I
know everyone wants to come!) let me know and I'll get you the details.

* In honor of my still Christmasy blog...here's a Christmasy layout!





Considering my luck with blogspot these days, i am anticipating this post to look like crap when i publish it!

edit: whud i tell ya!

Back in Business Baby

I finally got my computer back a few days ago.
It's kinda weird.
I've lost all my original settings and have to redo everything.
But I got all my files back...except ALL my downloads.
Need to find out if my computer guy has those somewhere.
Hope so.

Anyway...having come back from the brink of destruction,
I've spent some time on some pictures that I had and put
in a BIG OL' order of prints at Costco.

I took the girls out on a little adventure to old downtown...
aka: the hood, a few months back.
They were ok with most of our stops, but at one possible location
they stated with a bit of apprehension in there voices
"we're not getting out of the car."
So we didn't'. But overall we had a lot of fun.

I told them to wear whatever they wanted and do whatever they wanted.
Here are a few of my faves.

this one has a sunkissed action on it

this ones got an urban action to it.



The rest of these have no actions on them

cause that's part of what I seem to have lost.

bummer dude.

It's been busy around here as usual.

Jack had a little birthday in January (need to get on those photos)

We've got another birthday coming ;)

I've been painting (does it seem like I'm always painting something??)

It's been nearly 6 years, so a repaint of the downstairs is in need.

My cabinet is next in line...gonna get that baby finished here soon...i promise!

For my sanity, I've squeezed in some scrapbooking here and there.

Here are a few layouts I did a few months ago.

I actually loaded these and a ton of others onto my flikr photostream

if your curious to see more ;)

Some old pictures of Kristen

I like to melt all over!