EJ's Digestive System Cake

Oh yeah, that sounds appetizing, huh? As part of their science lesson on the digestive system, the students in EJ's class were given a list of options for projects depicting what they've learned in class.

One of the projects EJ chose was to drawn out a diagram of the entire digestive system...on a cake (why on a cake? I have no idea). But here's what we came up with:

A typical sheet cake (although ours was gluten free, of course) covered with vanilla frosting. Then it just so happened that I had recently bought a bunch of colorful, flavored tootsie rolls for the candy jar.

So we grabbed several colors and rolled them out flat and into long rolls in order to copy the shapes in the diagram. We rolled out our entire design and placed it on the table first, and then carefully transferred it piece by piece onto the cake. I was really proud of the mouth I managed to shape.

Nothing says yummy cake like pictures of your stomach, large and small intestines, gall bladder and more, huh? 

We even had some brown, chewy caramel Cows candies, which ended up working perfectly to represent the ummm....waste, you know, at the bottom of the cake after the food travels all through your body. Yeah, this cake's sounding yummier and yummier!

Makes you want to dive right in! EJ did such a great job on this unusual project. Her teacher was very impressed with her creativity using the colored tootsie rolls.

Sewing on Paper: Valentine's Cards

Why yes, yes it is almost the end of March where Easter is almost here, and I'm just now getting around to blogging about what we made for Valentine's! Better late than never, right?

First, I made some GF chocolate cupcakes with little treats on top for LA to take to school.

EJ likes to microwave the cupcakes to make the icing melt into this warm and gooey chocolate lava cake...MMMMM!!!

Anyway, I really wasn't in the mood to buy a bunch of overpriced boxes of paper Valentine's this year (and at the time we couldn't afford the extra expense until next payday, so I needed a cheap, aka FREE, alternative to buying store bought cards for my kids).

When I stumbled across this idea from Dana at Made, one of my favorite craft/idea blogs, I knew it would be the perfect solution! I had a big package of white cardstock and of course a ton of scrap fabric just lying around.

Ever sewn on paper before? Yeah, me neither, and honestly at first the idea seemed a little scary, but once I got the hang of it, it turned out to be INCREDIBLY fun!!!!

I simply used my printer to add the To: and From: to the front of the cards and the Happy Valentine's Day greeting to the inside, printing 2 cards per sheet of cardstock. Cutting them in half, and folding in the center, I now had a pile of blank cards to play with.

The design makes a really nice inverse picture on the inside of your card too!

Originally I was hoping to hole punch slots to insert lollipops on the front of each card, but being strapped for that extra cash, we opted for the little Hershey's kisses we already had in the house. We wrapped them in clear plastic wrap, and tied them onto each card with a pretty ribbon. Awesome!

Of course the monotony of making many, many identical Valentines would have driven me completely nuts, so my girls decided to let our creative imaginations run wild with all different kinds of designs.

They had so much fun cutting out all different size hearts from many different fabrics, and laying them out in various patterns for me to sew.

Each card uniquely made with such pretty heart designs in blues, pinks, reds, greens, purples, browns, you name it! Such a simple and fun way to make Valentines this year,...many, MANY Valentines!

As Dana mentions on her blog, leaving the inside of these fabric cards blank provides an easy solution when you need a quick, last minute "thank you" or "thinking of you" card, maybe even some personalized birthday invitations! 

The possibilities for designs are endless! Whatever pattern you can cut and sew on, maybe dinosaurs or cars for a boy's birthday party? Go ahead, give it a try, and pretty soon you'll be addicted to sewing on paper too. It's THAT fun!

80's Making a Comeback

After helping my son put together this outfit, I simply couldn't resist posting it to share with all of you. Last month IK had a youth group skate night that was themed as 80's night.

SD and I haven't kept any of our clothes from way back in the day, so the next best thing? Silly thrift store finds!

Oh yeah! That's right, go ahead and give yourself permission to let out some huge giggles here! IK was such a good sport, he thought it was really fun to dress up in such ridiculous clothing! 

And even more, he was so perplexed by the idea that once upon a time, people actually dressed like this on purpose...on a daily basis...and thought it was really cool!

A gray and black sweater vest and black and white stonewashed pants from the thrift store, combined with a white t-shirt and a gray sweatband. He even let me spike his hair with some gel. Are you lovin' the sideburns, mustache, and little go-tee my baby's sporting?

Haha! Such a fun night to see all those teenagers dressed in 80's flashback clothing!

$3.00 Red Spice Rack

I need to shop at thrift stores more often. There's so many amazing deals to be found. Of course, it's a lot easier to dig around and find all those hidden treasures without a toddler in tow!

But while shopping recently at a local thrift store, I managed to find a really great deal on this old, ugly wooden shelf for $2.00.

Old and dusty, but nothing a little washing and some cheap $0.96 can of spray paint won't fix. I'm all about cheap spray paint projects!

Originally I bought this shelf thinking I would use it in KW's room to display some of his favorite books, but after I painted it red, immediately the idea to use it in my kitchen for all those odd shaped spices and flavorings came to mind, and instantly I knew the perfect place for it!

Can you see it? Just above my stove?

Perfectly centered, filling that small space, simply mounted on the wall with 2 little screws. Now I have a perfect, convenient little shelf for bottles of vanilla, almond extract, lemon flavoring, salt and pepper, and more.

All my other spices fit so nicely in my little metal tins (sitting on the counter just to the right, still waiting for a more permanent home), but these odd shaped bottles and containers needed a storage place too that's easy to quickly grab when I'm baking.

And of course I love me some red decor, so this shelf goes perfectly with my red kitchen! Not bad, a great new spice rack all for less than 3 bucks! Love it!

TV Tray Makeover

Every day KW uses this ugly, awful looking TV tray to eat breakfast as he watches cartoons in the morning. 

The top has been colored with several crayons, and old chewed up gum stains in the corner,...because kids are sometimes disgusting like that.

Needless to say this TV tray was long overdue for a makeover...but of course it needed to be a makeover on a budget of basically zero.

So I took it out to the garage, scrubbed it clean, scraped off all the gum and gunk, turned it upside down, and sprayed the whole thing with a 96 cent can of black spray paint.

After all the paint was dry, I grabbed a large piece of scrapbook paper I had lying in the closet (originally cost about $0.46 at JoAnns) and glued it smack dab in the center with some mod podge and a paintbrush.

Next, I used more mod podge to seal the paper down, by painting it all over the top of the tray, really sealing in the edges around the paper and providing a slightly glossy protective coating.

Mod podge dries clear, so when it was all done, the old ugly TV tray had a brand new look. I had a few tiny air bubbles in the paper, so I grabbed some sand paper and roughed it up to give it an aged effect. I did a little sanding on the sides and legs of the tray too. What do you think?

Since I already had the paint, scrapbook paper, and mod podge this project was totally free. But even if I had to buy those supplies it still would've been a really inexpensive project.

Simple and cheap, and what an improvement to old look of this TV tray! Whenever KW's not using it, now it's a nice side table next to the sofa.

Letters

Dear blog, 

Sorry I have neglected you this past week, I’ve thought about you several times, but I have had other things on my mind and busying up my schedule. 

Dear finances, 

Could you please get yourself in order so I don't have to stress? 

Dear ugly black toenail, 

While I appreciate that you’re no longer extremely puffy and swollen, you’re still frequently sore and annoying, not to mention very ugly to look at. Could you please go away and let us both forget all about this unfortunate incident? If not, I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to paint over you and risk the lack of informative stance related to the health of my foot for the sake of vanity. 

Dear list of things I need to get done around my house, 

Could you just get yourself finished? Please? I'm tired. 

Dear dinner and weekly baking, 

Would you like to make yourself? 

Dear Easter, 

What’s up with the crazy sneaking up on me? Could you please slow down and give me some more time to get ready for your special day? 

Dear sewing projects, 

Could you please go finish yourselves and give me all the credit so I can move on to a bunch more fun sewing projects I’d like to neglect get to soon. 

Dear weather, 

I am so happy that you are starting to turn warmer. Even though things are still crazy and it is warm one day and freezing the next. I can still see things starting to bloom and the sun has been shining more, it makes me happy. But could you please work a little harder to keep that sun shining while I’m running? The freezing wind and rain just isn’t as enjoyable. 

Dear KW, 

I love how much you’ve become such an independent, big boy, and how you announce to me every time you have to go potty so I’ll know how much you’re trying. And I love that you’re now wearing big boy pants all day long except at bedtime, but could you please get over this fear of #2 in the potty? Because I’m really tired of washing out all those big boy pants. 

And one more thing, while you’re absolutely right that boys don’t kiss boys, they kiss girls,…daddy is an exception, and you’re totally breaking his heart by giving mommy TONS of daily kisses and growing up too fast and refusing to give him kisses too. Could you please love on your daddy some more and not grow up too fast? 

Dear job hunt, 

We haven’t spoken in a week; I’m really mad at you and fed up. Could you please end our relationship and land me a decent job already? I turned in 12 new applications yesterday,...I'm expecting some impressive new results.

Dear life, 

Just wanted you to know that I’m not totally full of complaints. Despite the fact that he sometimes doesn't help too much around the house, leaves piles of clothes, shoes, and various projects lying all over the place, and spends way too much time on the computer, I absolutely adore the husband you’ve given me! Thank you for bringing him home safely to me each night, and for finding ways for me to love him far more with each passing day. 

Thank you so much for my amazing son, IK,…who’s seriously growing up WAY too fast!!!! Could you please let time slow down and give us a lot more time together? Seriously, he wants this request too. Thank you for providing the very loving, open communication with my teenage son where he still comes to me and confides the most deep, darkest secrets and burdens he’s dealing with. Also thank you for the Launch Pad Christian classes he gets to take in his public high school that help him deal with all the many stresses and pressures of high school life. 

Thank you for my beautiful daughters, EJ and LA. Please help me to look back and find far more wonderful memories with them over the years instead of big, mean, yelling mommy days. Thank you for helping EJ find a niche she loves playing her cello. Thank you for helping to her start “developing,” even though it totally creeps out her little sister and her parents are totally not ready for it. Thank you for helping her finally start to find a true best friend this year. 

Thank you for giving LA the most amazing sense of humor and infectious giggle to go along with it. Thank you for making her so smart and responsible at such a young age. Thank you for making her our most affectionate child, SD and I cherish all those random hugs and kisses throughout the day when she walks into the room for no other reason than that. 

Thank you for my baby, KW,…for making him all boy,…tough yet still requiring daily hugs, kisses, and cuddles from mommy. Thank you for all this extra time at home with him I’ve had to stress over finances and as a side benefit get to stay here with my baby just a little bit longer. 

Thank you life for this tiny little cramped home we all live in,…a home that everyone tells us is so warm, cozy, and inviting. Thank you for letting us use our tiny home to host giant groups of people despite its size, and to share our cozy home feeling with them. While other moms stress out their kids over the tiniest of spills and messy places, thank you for allowing me the freedom to provide a place where my kids and their friends can feel more relaxed and at home, knowing I care more about spending fun moments with them than I do about a perfectly made up house. 

Thank you for all the countless blessings you’ve awarded me, especially since I believe I truly don’t deserve most of them. Thank you for reminding me to focus on all of these positive things today instead of allowing all the little negatives to consume my mind. 

Today will no doubt be filled to the brim with many to-do’s, and for that, I’m thankful.

Cheerful Spring Start

SD's finally flying home today...

Recent extremely delicious cookie and muffin successes...

Today's going to be an awesome day!!!

Blah Blah Blog

Yeah,...just haven't been in the mood to blog at all lately. There's plenty to write about, lots of half started posts of crafts, recipes, etc. I'm just lacking the motivation to want to post anything this week.

No new job news to report, which is fine because I'm totally sick of thinking about all of that, much less talking about it.

Lots of half started sewing projects I haven't touched in over a week...I need to find some time (and motivation) to get back to those projects.

My sleep schedule is completely screwed up these days...don't ask. But consistent bedtimes between 1:30am - 5:00am really don't work that well in my schedule and the generic nighttime sleep aid pills I found in the medicine cabinet and have tried 3 times now literally do nothing to help.

The under my toenail blister is such a ridiculous ongoing situation. Seriously, ridiculous! It throbs in pain, continues to swell up and needs to be popped over and over again. Now it's shifted to totally underneath my nail where I can't reach it, and it's so stupidly painful that it feels like I have a severely, deeply bruised toe! Plain stupid!

It's been an incredibly LONG 2 weeks and I simply can't wait for my husband to come home this weekend! Which seems silly since it's only been 2 weeks and we've gone through several MUCH longer deployments before.

The kids are incredibly busy with church stuff these days, we're hosting another dinner for 20+ people on Sunday (the sr. high youth group this time), spring soccer season madness is about to begin next week and I'm totally not ready for that level of busyness, and I've spent a bunch of time planning an exciting last minute, kind of spur of the moment surprise for next weekend. Maybe I'll feel more enthused to post about that soon.

I'm sure I'll be back to blogging more soon. For now, I'm off to finish a bunch more laundry.

The End of a Very Long Week

Last week was incredibly long and discouraging for the most part. My husband's been out of town on a business trip that feels much longer than it's actually been, I think mainly because when you're used to having your best friend around to spend time with each night, watch TV, cuddle in bed, just talk, and esp. when you're having a rough week, it all just feels so much more difficult to deal with alone.

I've had the time to blog about this all week, mulling over in my mind many times what I would write, constantly revising my feelings inside my head, but never bringing myself to actually post anything. And kind of on purpose,...because if I had posted my initial feelings it would have been a lot of anger, disappointment, frustration, discouragement, wanting to give up, feeling overwhelmed, feeling defeated, and simply wanting to cry about the stress of it all.

My waiting to hear about the most promising positions I had interviewed for came to an end Wednesday morning when I received 4 separate rejection letters in the same morning.

If I'm being brutally honest, my feelings that morning were a mix of being frickin' pissed and wanting to just bawl my eyes out. Yeah, stronger language...stronger emotions.

I've been on this roller coaster job search for over 15 months now...15 very LOOOONNNNGGGGG months, and I can't begin to describe how challenging this process has been. I've lowered my standards and expectations, I've settled for applying for positions FAR beneath what I'm qualified for purely in the hopes of ending this job hunt and simply securing a measly little paycheck.

I've contacted every resource I possibly can, with VP's, Directors, Sr. Managers and more all sending in phone calls and personal recommendations for me, and STILL it's not enough. To say I'm discouraged doesn't even begin to cover it!

The feelings of discouragement quickly turn into depression, negative thoughts discounting my skills and qualifications as I begin to assume I must not be that great of an employee since no one will hire me. And those feelings quickly compound into a ginormous stress mess ball of worry and fear as I continue to see the calendar ticking so much closer to July while I still don't have a job.

We're barely getting through each week as it is right now,...I mean, barely, and I'm scared to death to think of what will happen if July shows up and I'm still stuck in this current situation.

***************************************************

I felt as if I had reached a point where my spirit was so low, where my soul felt so completely drained of all hope,...and I had a decision to make. I needed to do something.

That night, as I was laying in bed flipping through the channels on TV late in the evening, I came across one of the several local Christian channels and watched a program from Joyce Meyer, an extremely well known Christian speaker and author.

I've read a few of her books over the years and been a huge fan of her straight talk, down to the heart of it, preaching style for many years.

That night her message was exactly what I needed to hear, as she focused on the Bible passages:

Matthew 7:7-8 

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." 

James 4:2b

"You do not have, because you do not ask."

Joyce's message was all about how WE try to do everything for ourselves, how we try to fix everything and make everything happen, and then become upset when it doesn't work out. But the one thing we haven't done is pray about it. And that most of the time we end up carrying a heavy burden God never intended for us to carry in the first place.

And as I thought about it, I realized that I've done everything I can possibly think to do in order to find a job, practically begging so many other people for help, but I haven't stopped to pray about it.

Joyce went on to not only talk about how God wants to help us if we will just pray about it, because we're in this partnership with God...where he has a part to do, and we have a part: our part is to pray about it, and God's part is to provide a solution. She said of course God doesn't need us to pray about it, He can do whatever he wants, but this is the method He likes to use.

She also went on to talk about feeling frustrated, discouraged, and depressed, and how God says in Phil. 4:13 that he will give us the strength to get through every circumstance and that we're never in any situation where we should feel alone because in Hebrews 13:5 he said "never will I leave you, never will I forsake you."

***************************************************

The next day, as I sat down at my computer I looked up the Joyce Meyer website, and before I could even begin to browse very far at all, my eyes were drawn to a section that was titled "Everyday Answers" and just below that it read "Encouragement in Difficult Times."

I clicked on the link and it brought me to a page where there were 6 video clips of Joyce speaking on what to do when you're in these circumstances. I wish I could embed some direct links, but you can find the videos here.

I sat there and began to watch the videos one by one...and ended up watching all 6 of them that afternoon. I wrote down some notes, I cried through some of them, and I forced myself to shut up for a moment and just listen,...just absorb all the information I was hearing and spend some time contemplating on all of it.

There's far too much I got out of those videos than I could possibly begin to recount here. It's absolutely worth your time to go here and watch these videos, esp. if you're struggling with something right now.

But, just to give you a tiny glimpse of what I took from it, here's some of the notes I jotted down:

---to count it all as joy doesn't mean it all feels joyful right now, but instead you choose to look forward to the point where you know it will be, and you're choosing to have faith that God is working on the situation now.

---don't over think your problems. You'll find yourself in the paralysis of analysis: where you become paralyzed because all you ever do is analyze everything to death.

---instead, even though I don't see anything happening or changing in my circumstances, I will refuse not to believe that God is working on the situation!

---choose to remain a prisoner of HOPE.

---the devil will do everything he can to beat us up in thought after thought reminding us of every single thing we've ever done wrong in an attempt to keep us paralyzed in fear, worry, and self doubt...but I need to simply remember that I am a child of God and He is taking care of me.

***************************************************

Trying to decide which one of my mix of feelings (pissed or wanting to cry) felt stronger, I decided to do something positive to release some of my frustrations, so I actually watched the last 2 of those 6 videos while running on my treadmill on Thursday afternoon.

The weather was stupid and cold all week long, but I was also very sick and tired of feeling miserably out of shape, and beating myself up even further over that, so I decided my treadmill was a good alternative to the cold weather, and I started running just to see what I could do.

And I set a goal, to run a farther distance than I've ever gone before...in whatever amount of time it would take, I was going to run a total of 7 miles.

Thursday: 7 miles = 80:05 min., 11:26 min./mile pace

I did it! I actually ran a total of 7 whole miles!!!! Yes, it was hard. Yes, it was tiring and took all of my strength and energy to get through it. Yes, there was a huge argument, a huge war of words and  constant back and forth persuasion running rampant through my mind as I struggled to  maintain the determination to keep running. 

Yes, I had to take several walking breaks, lower my speeds, and I finished at an average pace that's much slower than I'm used to...but I didn't quit, I didn't give up.

I haven't been running consistently the past few months, so I somewhat expected the slower pace, esp. as I was increasing my total distance. I wasn't discouraged at the end of that run. I was exhausted, but I felt great. I felt very encouraged by this new accomplishment.

Then on Friday I set out to do it again...to run another 7 miles on my treadmill.

I turned the treadmill away from facing the wall toward the computer and went back to the Joyce Meyer website where I discovered she has a TON of her messages from conferences on her site where you can click on tons of the videos and watch them here.

Friday: 7miles = 77:02 min., 11:00 min./mile pace

I did it again!!!! But this time I not only ran 7 more miles, I also beat my previous time by 3 whole minutes!!!! That's HUGE!!!!

And it felt awesome! I continued to flood my brain full of messages from Joyce. I watched the videos:

01/02/10 - Living Without Frustration 

02/05/10 - Trusting God

01/31/10 - Intimacy With God

02/08 - 02/10/10 - I Am Relentless, parts 1, 2, and 3

And several more videos since they're all about 28 min. long. I felt very accomplished, very encouraged, as I fed my starved spirit with positive words and promises from God.

I debated whether or not to run again the next day, worried that I might be disappointed if my tired legs didn't continue to impress me with even better results. But when I woke up that morning, I was still really in the mood to run.

So I did, with the goal to complete just 4 miles, figuring that would be good enough considering this was day 3 running consistently and I typically run every other day and mix things up with strength training so I don't over do it on my legs.

But when I got to 4 miles I wasn't completely exhausted, and realizing I was more than 1/2 way to 7 miles at that point I decided to keep going...all the while watching more Joyce Meyer broadcasts and shutting up, just listening, and trying to absorb the messages, contemplating on the applications of them in my life.

Saturday: 7 miles = 75:50 min., 10:50 min./mile pace

I was SHOCKED!!!!! This was the 3rd day in a row that I had run a FULL seven miles!!! I've never run that far before!!! With the 5.2 miles I ran on Tues. I had now run a total of 26.2 miles in 1 week...that's exactly the length of a marathon (of course I did it over 4 separate days, but all in the same week!).

Once again I beat my previous run time by another 1:10 minutes!!! Each day the run was very difficult, but yet just a little bit better each time. More encouraging, and yet more challenging at the same time, striving to continue to beat my previous run times.

During the last mile on Sat. as I was running it felt like I was developing a big blister on one of my toes on my right foot. When I finally finished running and took off my shoe and sock as I headed into the shower, I discovered I had kind of run so hard my toenail had almost been dislocated from my foot!!!

The blister was so bizarre! It was perfectly situated directly beneath my toenail on the 2nd toe, so that as it was swollen up with fluid my nail was stretched a good 1/2 centimeter away from my toe, throbbing in pain. It hurt to walk, it was sore and very tender, and it seemed so ridiculous that a little blister could hurt so bad! I'd never heard of a blister that could remove your toenail from your toe???!!!

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and I used the sharp point of a safety pin to pop the blister in 4 separate places...yeah...that's how HUGE it was! The liquid gushed out of my toe and I felt some relief, although it was still throbbing in pain.

I know this is gross,...sorry about that. This morning when I woke up my blister had swollen back up about halfway, and today I've had to pop it a couple more times throughout the day to relieve the pressure of my nail being pulled apart from where it should be located.

It's a good thing I planned today to be a rest day where I didn't workout, and tomorrow I really need to do some strength training and get in an intense core workout to focus on my flabby abs and love handles. Then I'll run again on Tuesday and plan to put in another 7 miles.

I'm planning to gradually continue to increase my total distance over the next couple of months, slowly building myself up to a half marathon distance, which is 13.1 miles, because I'm still planning to run in my very first half marathon in July, which is just a little more than 4 months away,...and I want my total pace and total run time to be much better than it is right now.

***************************************************

I took a break from job hunting the rest of the week,...my brain needed the time off,...my spirit needed the time of rest and renewal.

Do I have any new answers? No.

Do I see anything new happening or changing in my circumstances? No.

But for now I'm praying about it, I'm completely switching my focus to trusting in God and having a faith big enough to know that even though I can't see it, I know that God has a plan for me, that He's working on it right now, and I'm going to keep trusting in Him. 

I'm choosing to recharge my tired, worn our spirit...because sometimes we just need to remember to rejuvenate ourselves.

And already I'm seeing little spectacular moments and enormous blessings in other areas of my life and in my days. Even in the stupid little Dove dark chocolate wrapper quotes:

"If you can imagine, then you can achieve."

"Celebrate the small victories in your life."

"If you fail, learn, and move on, you're growing."

I am a child of God, and He is taking care of me. 

I don't know what the answer is, I don't know where I'm headed, but I do know that I'm choosing to trust in God, lean not on my own understanding, and instead follow His leading,.

I'm choosing to have a deep enough faith to know that as I'm faithful in my walk with Him, that He will be faithful to me, and worrying, being frustrated, and becoming discouraged are emotions I will continue to fight each day.

Personalized, Cheap Gifts

On one of the coupon blogs I follow there was a post about Vistaprint, a great company that sells all kinds of office supplies, gifts, etc. at really low prices and often provides incredible deals on really cheap, but great gifts!

Here's one example I recently took advantage of: personalized desk and wall calendars. I followed their easy step by step instructions to upload all my photos, arrange them in each month, and you can even add text to the calendar to list birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

So I decided to order one large wall calendar for me and one small calendar as a gift for SD to put on his desk at work. I uploaded photos that went along with the events in each month, using a photo of LA for January since her birthday is that month, and photos of EJ in June, SD in July, IK in August, and KW in December for their birthdays.

In May I used a photo of me and SD for our anniversary, in March and September I used soccer pictures of my kids to remind me that spring and fall soccer seasons begin in those months. My kids dressed in Halloween costumes for October, etc., you get the idea.

 

The best part? They were FREE!!! That's the great thing about Vistaprint, most of the time your 1st item is totally free, and all you have to do is pay for the shipping, so my grand total for these really awesome, personalized calendars was about $11.00.

Yeah, I could buy some really cheap, plain calendars at the store, but they wouldn't have all these awesome photos of my family on every month along with all my own text to add all the birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

They have all kinds of other great gifts too, like photo mousepads, mugs, etc. and make really great gift ideas, esp. for those hard to shop for people on your list. I'm thinking these would make some great Christmas gifts next year!

Freezer Paper Stencils: Love Art

Yep, you guessed it, another freezer paper stencil craft...they're just seriously that fun to play with!!!

This time I used the same technique, but I painted over a small canvas to hang on the wall. 

It turned out pretty cute, but it was a little difficult to iron on the stencil nice and tight, so I had a little bit of paint seep through on the "V" in love.

I bought the stencil in the craft section at W*l-m*rt for a little over $4, but I think you could easily purchase your own canvas fabric, put together the wood frame, and paint on your stencil before you staple gun it to the frame for a lot cheaper.

It's a cute little, inexpensive gift idea or wall art for your home. With a million different stencils and paint colors, the decorating possibilities are endless.

Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart; 
and lean not on your own understanding; 

in all your ways acknowledge him, 
and he will make your paths straight."

The Latest

Still no word on the jobs yet, although I'm really not expecting to hear anything until sometime next week at the earliest.

BUT!!!! Something else really exciting is going on in my job hunt. Yesterday a new position was posted with the company that is EXACTLY what I've been looking for!!! It's seriously the perfect mix of accounting and IT project management working across both of these groups, at a much higher position and salary. 

It's exactly the ideal kind of position I really want to get!!! So I turned in an application for it last night and right now I have all my big time friends (the VP, the Director of A/R, the Sr. Manager, and another friend who's a principle engineer in IT) all standing by to send over personal recommendations for me if I can find out who the hiring manager is.

I called my IT friend this morning and told him about the new job on the phone and he said he's going to do some digging around to see if he can find out who this job reports to and will call me back. Believe it or not I actually have even more friends in high places within this company I could keep calling on for references if I needed to (including another Director, Sr. Manager, Manager in A/R, and an IT Project Manager among others).

Is the suspense of all of this killing you too???!!!! Yeah, I really wasn't all that excited about all this job stuff when I was just considering the tax positions...but now that this project management job that I really, REALLY want has opened up, it's all beginning to drive me crazy.

I've applied for several of these exact same PM jobs before, but that was before I was back in contact with all these old friends of mine whom I've been using for extra references. I'm sick to death of job hunting, so I'm not holding anything back these days when it comes to using my connections to help me land a position.

I also e-mailed the recruiter this morning and told her the names of the 4 main references I've been in recent contact with and how they're standing by, ready and waiting to send over personal recommendations for me on this new job if she can just tell me who the hiring manager is.

Of course, I'm kind of expecting her to not want to tell me that info. directly, but maybe she'll forward on my info. along with their names to this hiring manager???

This new position would be perfect. It's exactly the kind of work I really want to do, with exactly the right kind of mix between accounting and IT, in management, with a very nice accompanying salary. It's what I want, and what could be such an enormous answer to prayer.

It's kind of hard not to get my hopes up too high here, because these kinds of positions don't come open very often. In fact, the last one I saw was more than 6 months ago.

It's probably a good thing I don't have much time today to sit around thinking about all of this stuff, because it's grocery shopping day and I have to do some baking and packing to help EJ get ready for a jr. high weekend retreat.

But now that I might have a shot at a job I actually want, how on earth can I stop thinking about it...ughh!!!

Freezer Paper Stencils: Pillows

As promised, here's another awesome sewing/craft project I made using the really fun freezer paper stencils idea. The idea originally came from here, a really fun and crafty mom blog I like to read, where I saw these gorgeous wheat pillows.

Yeah, I totally want them! And I'll most likely make myself some in these exact same colors sometime...as long as I never wash them. I'm not sure how she managed to spray paint these designs on muslin, wash the fabric, and keep the paint in them (because my attempt to do exactly that ended up with half the paint washing out). Maybe a higher thread count muslin than I had?

Anyway, the nice thing about these stencils is that you can spray paint the whole fabric,...or you can use the inverse of the stencil and just paint a small area. So that's what I did to create this throw pillow for IK's bed. I began by tracing and cutting out my stencil.

Then I carefully ironed it onto the center of my deep blue fabric and painted the wheat stalks in white.

As soon as they were dry I carefully peeled off the freezer paper (this is the really fun part!) to see my design.

Awesome! Next, I measured the size of the throw pillows on my bed and made a simple little pillow using 2 sheets of white muslin that I simply sewed into a square and filled with polyfil pillow stuffing and sewed shut. 

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this step and I'm too lazy to go get the pillow off of IK's bed and take the slip cover off to show you, but it's simple enough to figure out without the pictures, right?

Okay, moving on, so this wheat design is for the pillow slip cover that goes over the actual pillow. Since I'm trying really hard to only make sewing projects these days using my current stash of fabrics (despite how tempting it is to buy new fabrics for each project!) I chose this deep blue for the front cover that was leftover from IK's Halloween cape.

I didn't have enough of the blue fabric left to make the back 2 panels of the pillow cover, so I used some scraps of black fabric and I really like the contrast.

You can add buttons or a zipper to keep this pillow cover together, but it really doesn't need it at all. I followed this tutorial for the pillow cover and it was incredibly easy! I'm seriously never wasting my money buying expensive store pillows ever again!

Tada! It turned out awesome! And since I used fabrics and white paint I already had, the only cost here was for the pillow filling, which was $2.97 per bag and makes 2 whole pillows...so this easy project was also incredibly cheap to make!!!

And it looks great on IK's bed. Recently, the same craft blog also posted some more designs she came up with as she's redecorating her boys' room.

I think these look awesome too and I can't wait to play with these designs and so many others. I'd love to make a bunch of fun throw pillows for all my kids.

Psalms 37:8-11

"Stop your anger! Turn off your wrath. Don't fret and worry - it only leads to harm. For the wicked shall be destroyed, but those who trust the Lord shall be given every blessing. Only a little while and the wicked shall disappear. You will look for them in vain. But all who humble themselves before the Lord shall be given every blessing, and shall have wonderful peace."

In Other News

Nope, there's nothing new to report. I haven't heard anything more about the job(s) from last week,...and yes, the waiting to hear something feels very frustrating at times. But that's how continuous job hunting goes. Funny to think that at this exact same time last year I was joking about how I had given up job searching for Lent.

In the meantime I've now turned in another 8 applications for other jobs with 4 other companies, and my personal referrals are continuing.

I've already had recommendations turned in for me from 2 of my former bosses, one of which is now a VP of Finance and Planning, and the other is a Sr. Manager in the inventory dept. I used to work in. Another former boss (and friend) of mine happens to have 2 jobs: he works full-time for this company and he's an A-10 pilot in the Air National Guard...you know, as in he flies the exact same planes my husband fixes!

So even though he's no longer my boss, we still keep in touch because SD and I see him every once in a while at the base, and sometimes we run into him with his family at Christian rock concerts. Well, SD just happened to run into him at work yesterday and mentioned I had just interviewed for a position.

So I sent him an e-mail yesterday and this morning he replied and asked for more info. to find out who I have interviewed with and spoken to so far. This friend of mine just happens to be the Director of Accounts Receivable, so yeah, I got me some friends in high places! 

Which means he should be putting in another personal recommendation for me this week. And since I know it's Q/E there and everyone's really busy through Friday, I'm really hoping I'll hear something more sometime next week. (so keep your fingers crossed!).

Aside from the job hunt, things are going well. Hosting the youth group made for a perfect opportunity to force my family to really deep clean our home over the weekend, so the past few days it's been so wonderful to enjoy such a clean home, and only having to keep up with the daily dishes, laundry, and KW messes.

I've also had some time for a few new sewing projects, like these chocolately brown curtains I whipped up for the back door in the kitchen. 

 

Initially I found a little more than 5 yards of this fabric on sale for $1.87/yd and figured I could make 2 big panels, which I did, and it wasn't bad for a total of $10.70. 

But with such a large back door the panels were too spread out, so I went back to the store and searched for a similar fabric (because they were out of what I had previously bought) and came across a fabric that is extremely close in color to my 2 original panels.

In this picture you probably can't see any difference, but in person the second fabric is ever so slightly a lighter shade of brown and definitely noticeable in the mid afternoon light. So after I made the second 2 panels (which weren't on sale, but only cost $15.00), I placed them on the wall every other one, so it looks like I actually did this on purpose...not that I ran out of the right color fabric.

I really like the way they turned out, although I've been toying with the idea of stenciling these curtains? I don't know, I'm afraid I might ruin them, so maybe not. Or maybe it'll be a project for another day. But considering that even the really cheap curtains at W*l-m*rt are at least $10 per panel and I made 4 panels for a total of $25, I feel pretty good about that.

I'm also in the process of once again reorganizing my girls' room, with a few new sewing projects in there, but I'll post them separately. For now, here's a little sneak peek of my latest sewing project:

 

Nope, it's not a blanket. And it's not more curtains either. It's actually the beginning of a pretty enormous project, but I'm really excited to take it on and I think it will solve a few problems in my girls' room, so hopefully I can get it finished soon. Any guesses?

GF Shredded Pork Tacos

I can't tell you how many times I've tried to post this recipe. The problem is it's so totally delicious that it seriously gets 100% eaten up faster than I can grab my camera! Every.single.time!!!!

When preparing to host the jr. high youth group for dinner last Sunday night (which went really well, by the way...crowded, but good) I asked SD what I should make for dinner? He immediately said I should make this, which was great, because that was exactly what I was thinking too.

This time I bought 2 roasts so I could double the recipe to make enough for that many people. It was PERFECT!!!!! Everyone loved it and we even had enough leftovers for dinner the next night too!!! Which of course thrilled my family because 1 roast usually only makes enough for 1 dinner and they're begging me for leftovers!

The best part of all is that it's a crockpot recipe, and seriously one of THE easiest recipes I've ever come across...just a handful of simple ingredients, throw it in, leave it alone for hours, and then shred/pull the meat apart with a fork when it's done. And chances are you might already have all the ingredients in your pantry.

The original recipe said to serve the meat over large potato rolls, but since I haven't had time to experiment with a good GF hamburger bun, we've just converted this into tacos with soft white corn tortillas, or sometimes hard crunchy corn tortillas, whatever we're in the mood for.

But last night I had some HUGE success with a new GF flat bread/snack wrap recipe that I think this shredded pork would work well with too!

Anyway, enough of that, on to the recipe! It's so good, it's become a new family favorite!!!

Shredded Pork Tacos

1 4- to 5- pound pork shoulder roast or pork shoulder blade Boston roast (Boston butt)
3/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Place meat in a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. In a small bowl combine vinegar, brown sugar, salt, red pepper, and black pepper. Pour over meat. 

2. Cover; cook on low-heat setting for 10 to 12 hours or on high-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours.

3. Transfer meat to a cutting board; reserve cooking juices. When cool enough to handle, cut meat off bones and coarsely chop. In a medium bowl combine meat and as much of the juices as desired to moisten.

TIP: Cut up the roast in a couple of really large pieces before cooking to allow for more even cooking. Also, as you're shredding the meat, dump the pieces back into the crockpot in the juices to stay warm and moist. You can drain the juices and save to make a gravy.