Aprons by Amy

I almost never take the time to sew for myself as I always have stacks and stacks of things planned to sew and tons of ideas that never even make it out of my head. When my good friend and fellow Special Needs Mom posted this on her blog, I decided to go for it! You should, too! Start out by going over to Positively Organic and see a pic of my beautiful friend in her awesome apron. The gal that sews the aprons is from Tooele... yet another Awesome person from Tooele... coincidence? I think not! :D Enjoy!

UPDATE! Wanna know if you're a winner or not? When the envelope looks like this!

Making a Mockery

Mock
adjective

1. constituting a copy or imitation of something; boys in mock battle;

noun

1. the act of mocking or ridiculing; they made a mock of him;

Diana and Geoffrey used their green tomatoes to make fun of raspberry jam.

Actually, we used green tomatoes, sugar and Jell-O to make some mighty fine jam. The seals are up there popping as I type. So, here's what happened...

We cleaned and de-stemmed our green tomatoes. Ours were mostly romas.

Then we dumped them in the food processor.

Voila! Green tomatoe puree. Looks tasty, no? :D

Then we got it boiling with equal parts sugar for 15 minutes.

Added a 6 oz. package of Jell-O for every 4 cups of puree.

Then we gave them a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

It actually went very smoothly, aside from one of jars not being able to take the mocking. He blew up, took his soccer ball and went home. :D

We made raspberry, strawberry-cherry or as we like to call it "strawcherry", a purple batch with 1 raspberry and 1 berry flavor that was blue and a tiny batch of cherry. YUM!

I Never Knew I Needed You

This is not the computer my Dad had, but I do remember having some like these at school. "You turned it off without typing the proper command?! It's going to explode now!"

I remember living with very little technology. I remember my Dad having a gigantic computer in his office in the basement of our house in Rose Park. Not very many of my friend's Dads had computers yet. We weren't allowed to touch it until years later with the advent of 'Sticky Bears Math' and 'Typing Tutor.' (Side note: I took bits and pieces of that computer to college with me, if I'm not mistaken. A certain monitor that said "Casper" on it sat on several desks in several of my college dorm rooms.)

Look, Laura and Angela!! I actually found a screenshot from Sticky Bears! Bring back memories?! :D

I remember when we got our first microwave. It was HUGE! It had an orange button on the brown woodgrain handle in order to unlock and open the door. We had to buy a little turn table to rotate the food around inside and things still always had really hot spots and really cold spots.

This is just like the phone we had in the hallway in Rose Park, only it was yellow or tan.

I remember when all phones were hooked to the wall and had varying lengths of curly cords that kept the part you talked into and listened out of connected to the wall. I never remember once losing the phone. Never did I hear my Mom call out for someone to call the phone so that she could find it. It was always where it was supposed to be. I even remember having an old rotary phone in the first house we rented when we moved to Pinetop, AZ. My Dad's friend (and my friend's Dad) Doc Flake called and my Dad wasn't there. I told him he was at the Roundhouse Resort, where he worked. After hanging up with Doc, I thought I'd call my Dad and tell him Doc had called. 3-tick-tick-tick, 6-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick, 9 (oh geez! The LONGEST one!)-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick, 4-tick-tick-tick-tick, 8-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick, 4-tick-tick-tick-tick, 8-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick... busy signal. Oh, right, Doc Flake probably has a push button phone. When was the last time I heard a busy signal? That nice lady that answers everyone's voicemail for them, sure!.. but no more busy signals.




And so, welcome to my world new iPod touch. I didn't know I needed to update my Facebook upstairs before I went to bed until you came. I didn't know I needed Pandora to play me music in other rooms than the office. I didn't know I needed to watch Netflix movies away from home... Landon would probably tell you he knew that all along! And who knew I needed an app to make a game out of my neverending list of chores? You did, Epic Win and I welcome you! I'm sure you are not the last app that will find its way into my heart.



Now, has anyone seen my phone?

Book Review: Great Ideas For Primary Activity Days by Trina Boice

This isn't so much a book with a plot as a book with an action plan! I am the Activity Days Leader for the 10 and 11 year old girls in my Church/Ward. Activity Days actually encompasses girls from age 8 to 11 and we do fun activities that teach and uplift and foster friendships and positive peer pressure. Through a series of events, I am currently alone in my calling. Whew! Deep breaths! I think I can! I think I can!

I remember being this age and the activities that we did when we were called the Merrie Miss. So, I feel a fair amount of pressure to get it right and teach good principles while having a lot of fun. I went to Seagull Book looking for one book and came out with this one! I thought I wanted the one that has lessons, handouts and games that you just copy right out of the book and use. Instead, I was inspired by this book by Trina Boice. It is FULL of all kinds of ideas for games, craft projects and service projects, but I also love the way that she presents the ideas. I feel so encouraged reading this book! I feel like I really can be a role model for these girls. She is so positive and uplifting and, dare I say, cute in the way that she presents ideas. And not only that, but she has organized her ideas into the categories of the goals that the girls are working towards to earn their Faith in God awards.

There, I fixed it!

Landon has a favorite pair of sandals. They have Buzz Lightyear on them and he can put them on himself... they're my favorites, too! All they really are is flip flops with elastic around the back. When they started getting too small, we tried to replace them with actual flip flops that had Lightning McQueen on them. Let's just say that flip flops and three year olds, at least my three year old, don't really mesh very well. So, taking a cue from Buzz, I rigged up ol' Lightning with fair success. I was going to cover them with fabric and sew it with the elastic stretched and all that "fancy" stuff, but then I realized that he is 3, he doesn't care! And all I really care about is that his shoes stay on his feet. So, without further ado, here's my project in pictures.

Buzz is actually in very good condition considering he wears these just about every day. I should re-phrase that... he wears these for several minutes in a row several times a day.


The white's a little bright, but I'm sure he can take care of that in short order.


Here's his cute feet. His feet really are that blurry in real life, they're hardly ever still!

P.S. If you ever need to waste some time (who doesn't have WAY too much time?) here's a site from which I borrowed the name of this post that is very entertaining.

Reflections

My sewing reflects my life. When I was younger (a lot younger) my Mom would buy me fabric so that I could make my own clothes that fit in the style of the day, but fit me and my gangliness. As I took classes in high school and college, I sewed things that fit into the assignments and time alotted for sewing during the years of cramming of information into my brain. When I got married, I tried to sew for my husband... boys are so hard to sew for! And when the kids came, thus ended the era of sewing anything for myself! As the mirror shows, my life is not all about me right now, it's about my kids. Keeping them bright, shiny and happy is my life's goal. :D When I have time to sew, I sew for them. Like I said, my sewing reflects my life.

So, when I gave myself the challenge of sewing myself a 50s inpsired dress, I got really excited. It's been a coon's age since I've sewn anything for myself. Do you know how long a coon lives? Me neither! :D But I know that in order to be concious to put the oxygen mask onto my children, I need to put my own mask on first. Knowaddimean? So in small and meaningful ways, I'm trying not to forget myself.

As in times of yore when life was all about ME and my Mom was the one with the check book at the fabric store, one of the reasons I have chosen to sew me a dress rather than to buy one is fit. Store bought dresses of this variety hit me in that weird place that looks too long to be short and too short to be long. It's called the 'awkward length' and I excel at it! :D

So, I fell in love with this pattern:



I actually really love the featured pink dress, but I'm not too crazy about the colloar, so I think I'll end up going for the yellow one. Cute, no? To me, this is what my Grandmothers would have worn as more of a work dress... the kind you change into after Church on Sunday to shell peas in or something. The dress that stays under an apron much of the day as she whirls from task to task. I see myself wearing this dress on a hot day instead of shorts, on a date with my hubby, to a meeting at the school... somewhere between dressy and casual.

I have yet to find the perfect fabric for this project, but I'm having an awful lot of fun looking! Tell me what you think of the pattern and I would LOVE to hear your fabric suggestions, but remember that if you're reading this on Facebook, to click the link and leave the comment on my blog, pretty please! ;D

She's With Me

Love me some Collin Raye.

I heard him sing this song in person and I will NEVER forget the emotions I felt from him and the ones it creates in me every time I hear it.

I've been thinking of him (him the person, not the celebrity) since I heard that he lost his precious granddaughter. She had an undiagnosed neurologic condition that left her with deteriorating disabilities. No matter how many people know your name, you still feel pain and experience life even when the cameras aren't rolling. God bless Haley and may she be able to be her family's Guardian Angel.

I dare you to listen to this song and not cry. Double Dog Dare.

Charity

I am in awe of the word "Charity." Sometimes when I think about it too much, I enter the dark realm of "I'll never do enough" and I have to drag myself back up from the depths and try to be satisfied with what I can do. I don't think that is how Charity is supposed to feel. It is synonymous with our Savior and I KNOW He doesn't want me to feel that way when I think about Him. I know that He didn't do the wonderful, selfless things He did for us while He was here on the earth in order to make me feel guilty.

In one of the many lessons and talks I have heard on this subject, someone (I wish I could remember who!) presented Charity as a way of life. ...As a character trait that we can cultivate to become second nature. ...As everyday things that we do for others that make us who we are.

I love to do things for others. I love thinking about whomever I happen to be sewing for at the moment and how they'll (hopefully) enjoy what I'm making for them. I love picturing the things I sew being tattered and worn, having literally been loved to death. I love thinking about someone resting comfortably with a full tummy of food I made for them. I love smiles and hugs and even tears when I'm able to pull off something nice that someone wasn't expecting. Those are all things I love about living Charity rather than giving it grudgingly.

In no way do I profess to be perfect (or even consistent) in my Charity. All I'm saying is that when I am able to accomplish the things my heart feels for people, it makes me happy. I love sharing in the glow that both the giver and receiver get to have when kindness is shared. I like that feeling enough to keep on trying!



1 Timothy 1:5
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

Mosiah 18: 27 - 29
27 And again Alma commanded that the people of the church should impart of their substance, every one according to that which he had; if he have more abundantly he should impart more abundantly; and of him that had but little, but little should be required; and to him that had not should be given.
28 And thus they should impart of their substance of their own free will and good desires towards God, and to those priests that stood in need, yea, and to every needy, naked soul.
29 And this he said unto them, having been commanded of God; and they did walk uprightly before God, imparting to one another both temporally and spiritually according to their needs and their wants.