First Design Team Project {Baby Time Capsule}

This is my first design team project that I did for TJ's, the local LSS. Here is their website: http://www.tjspicturesandpapers.com/


They gave me baby papers and a Bare Elements Wine Container and told me to go at it! This project I had so much fun with since I typically don't do baby stuff. :) As always, you can click on the pictures to see them larger.


















I thought baby quilt and went with that theme for the outside. All of the squares are individually cut and the edges inked and sealed with my favorite Mod Podge.

The inside the baby booties are sewed onto the ribbon and the three envelopes I was thinking a letter from mom, a letter from dad and a keepsake envelope for the baby bracelet, first lock of hair, etc. The scrolls are "Firsts" and "On the Day You Were Born". Basic firsts like step, smile, solid food, etc. On the day you were born I included president, world headlines, local headlines, price of gas, popular music, etc.

This was such a fun project! I can't wait to see what they have me do next!!

Groceries and Scrapbooking

Jason and I have been working on a budget since I'm going to be going part time here soon. We are cutting out all frivolous spending and things will be tight, but it will be so worth it. I will be home more and able to cook and do more of my wifely duties. I'm so looking forward to that.

I dusted off my price book and got that in order again to start using. As I was going through it, I noticed that some of the things that I thought were good deals really weren't back then! My entries were from 2005, and I would love to go back and pay 87 cents for 18 eggs again, lol. I thought $1 a loaf of bread was a good deal. I can make a loaf of home made bread for about 30 cents.

Anyway, while looking through there, I got to thinking that Hy-Vee hasn't had a good sale on Ground Turkey in a while. I also noticed that I haven't ever seen any coupons in the ads for ground turkey. Hmmm....we *LOVE* the Honeysuckle White brand and I thought I would contact the company to see where I could look for coupons and even if they put any out. I filled out the little contact form on the website and they replied the next day and said that they would send me some "money savings coupons" and to request them again in 3 months. Sweet! I ended up getting $3 off in coupons. The Hy-Vee ad this week game on Tuesday and I was *thrilled* to see that the Honeysuckle white turkey was on sale 10 for $10. It's the 93/7 ground turkey and is usually $2.39 for a 1 pound roll. Also the sausage was on sale. Sweet!!! Jason and I stocked up!! We now have 30 pounds of ground turkey in the freezer and 10 pounds of ground turkey sausage. This great of a sale usually only goes on twice a year. Once in the fall and once in the spring. I'm tempted to go back and get more sausage, but I'm not sure. I will ask Jason.

Last night I had my first design team meeting. Actually it was like a drop in session meeting, but it went great! I got a project that is going to be a bit challenging, but it is also going to be fun. And of course it involves altering something! I will be sure to post pictures where when it's done. I don't want to give away anything more than that right now. :) I'm excited to get started on it!!

Wow...

I didn't realize that my last entry was about two weeks ago. I've been meaning to update, had ideas floating around in my head and just haven't had a chance to get them down.

Lately, I have been feeling overwhelmed. Overwhelmed at work with the computer applications not working since August 31, creating a manual for all of the tasks that I do, all the reports that I update, etc. Work has been overwhelming me, and so have other things.

I have always been a quiet, shy person, one to hang back and perfectly content to stay home. I'm still like that. Although, someone told me not long ago, (I think I blogged about this) that she sees me as a confident, outgoing person. Maybe I portray that well, but I don't feel like it. When the missionaries first started to come over, I remember wanting to cancel on them. See, Jason and I don't have many people over at the house. Our house is so small, and dated, although we are working on updating it, that I just don't want people over. It's not really conducive to having people over at all. I don't mind having close friends over, that's fine, no big deal. But inviting people I don't know to my house, is something I'm not that comfortable with.

Last week I was supposed to meet with my Home Teacher on Thursday and the missionaries again on Friday. My Home Teacher rescheduled because there was a conflict, it was Enrichment night at the church, and I really should be going to that.

It was huge for me to go to church for the first time knowing only the missionaries and two of the people that came over. Everyone was so nice, but it was hard for me.

Since my Home Teacher cancelled, I called and cancelled the missionaries too. I have just felt so overwhelmed with everything. I didn't even go to church today. I'm not used to having people over all of the time. Much less a couple times a week. I'm not a home entertainer I guess, lol. Maybe that was a bad way of putting it. I just needed a break. To help put things into perspective. I have been feeling like church has been like a part time job all by its self. I know that is not a fair analogy. But all of the activities and everything, it could be. I guess all I want to do is be able to go to church on Sunday and not worry about anything else. Not worry about having my home teacher, the missionaries, the visiting home teachers from relief society come over, not having to feel bad about all of the activities/events/outings that I'm invited to go to and not. I don't even have a calling and I'm feeling overwhelmed. I don't know what I will do if I ever get a calling.

I think I'm being selfish. I want my evenings and weekends to spend with my husband. I'm fine going to church on Sunday without him. Is it selfish to want to spend the time that we don't work together? I need to find a balance. I wish I could just say no to everything and happily attend church on Sunday's. But I really don't think it's going to be that simple.

Cards!

Here are some cards that I made in the last month or so. No particular order at all. :)

Oh, you can click on any image to see them bigger. :)

Job Update

I keep meaning to update my blog and the last post didn't seem quite right to add in about the job.

I learned last week from my current manager that I would be extended an offer to accept the position. :) :) :) Last Friday at 4:25 p.m. I got a call from HR with a formal offer. :) I have accepted the position. YAY!!!!!

I can't believe it. I am so very thrilled. I will be working 20 hours a week, with a varied schedule anywhere from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. No weekends or holidays. :)

My manager told me that it was a very tough decision and it went between three people. I can't tell you how excited I am to finally get the job. I don't have a start date yet, but my current position is posted and an interview team is being formed.

I am so blessed and lucky to have this opportunity. I pray that I will use my free time wisely and get more done around the house.

Missionaries

The missionaries have played a HUGE part in my conversion to be a Latter-day Saint. First, let me tell you my story on how I was encouraged to look into the church. See the missionaries. :) The one on the left is Elder Buendia and the one on the right is Elder Ellis.













Last year I made some bad choices in my life. What they were, they don't matter anymore. I've put the past behind me, apologized to the people that I hurt and have prayed and asked the Heavenly Father for forgiveness and repented. All of my past sins were washed away when I was baptized. I don't wish to ever go back to that time.

Those poor choices that I made seriously affected me, and not in a good way. I will admit that Satan was freely in control of my life. He had me convinced that the path I was on was the right one and that's how it was meant to be. I realized at the end of last year that I needed God back in my life, but I didn't know how to find Him again. I tried to move away from those bad choices I made, but kept stumbling back. I had met Shane on xbox live (XBL, is what I'm going to refer to it as from here on out.) He was older than me, married, and had kids. He had a loud, outgoing personality, something that I didn't have and we got to know each other and started talking on both XBL and yahoo. We met while playing Halo2. We ended up emailing/chatting almost daily and it was amazing to me, how he could tell that I was down, upset, crying, wasn't feeling good, when he talked to me. This was during a time when I was really depressed and thought I was hiding it from everybody. Anyway, eventually I confessed to him what was really bringing me down. He told me I had a choice to make, and I'm very thankful that I made the right one. We started talking religion and I learned that he was LDS. He spoke to me in so many ways, and there were a few times when we were talking that I felt the Holy Spirit. It was so moving to me, I got so emotional I started crying. When I felt the Holy Spirit, I felt comforted, and like everything would be ok. I wanted to feel that feeling forever. Shane explained to me that I could have the Holy Spirit with me all the time, once I was baptized and confirmed. He encouraged me to look into the church. The first couple times he mentioned it I kinda blew him off, then realized what do I have to lose. I went online and requested my free Book of Mormon and the Bible. After three weeks, I still hadn't received them, so on a Sunday night Shane gave me a number to call in Bloomington to reach the missionaries and everything. That night I got so many calls so fast and made arrangements to meet with the Elder Ellis and Elder Bliss to get my books. I was so nervous about meeting them. I later learned that they had stopped by numerous times to try to get me the books, but I was never home when they stopped by.

After I got the books I met them roughly once a week for a while. I started reading the Book of Mormon and prayed to find out if it was true. I went through all the pamphlets that the missionaries gave me. (I loved those things.) Sometime in July I had a date set to get baptized. I talked to Jason and he didn't feel like I was ready and that I was rushing things too fast. I value his opinion so much, I cancelled my baptism date and took a couple weeks off without meeting the missionaries. I didn't feel like it was right for me to get baptized at that point. I talked to Shane and he said that typicall when people know that it's true, he tells them to get baptized. With me though, he said that he didn't feel like the time was right either. During all of this, I asked Shane so many different questions and things about how things worked. He always seemed to have an answer too. At first I wasn't sure I was going to meet with the missionaries again. I wanted to have Jason's approval and was really wavering whether or not it was the right choice. Shane enouraged me to keep meeting with the missionaries and I realized how much I missed meeting with them, and how I could tell on the days where I didn't take the time to read the Book of Mormon. I started meeting up with them and talked to Jason some more and he felt like I was ready to get baptized and this time I truly felt ready as well. I knew the Church was true before, but didn't quite feel like it was right yet. After talking it over with Jason I was ready to get baptised.

A couple days after Jason told me he was comfortable with me getting baptized, I got the call that Elder Bliss was going to transfer. I was so sad, but before leaving I told him that Jason had given me the go ahead to get baptized. He was so thrilled and happy for me, so was Elder Ellis.

I kept meeting with the missionaries and feeding them baked goods each week as they came over to teach me. I enjoyed my Friday nights with the missionaries. In fact, now that I'm not meeting with them anymore, my Friday nights just aren't quite the same.

On Saturday, August 18, 2007 I got baptized. Here are a couple of pictures from my baptism day.

































It was an amazing experience. I was so nervous about getting up in front of people and getting baptized. The people that spoke were so wonderful. It meant the world to me that Jason was there by my side for this. I'm getting emotional and tears in my eyes just thinking about it. I did very well through most of the service, but the hymns made me tear up. They spoke to me. The missionaries did a wonderful job of choosing them. After I was baptized I was confirmed. I was given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Shane told me that I should remember what was said when I was confirmed because there were gifts that were given to me. I was trying so hard not to cry while being confirmed, I don't remember them. I can't even describe how it felt when I was given the gift of the Holy Ghost. What an amazing feeling.

When I got home that Saturday and checked the mail there was a card from Sandy in the mailbox. It was a Baptism card. It meant so much to me that Sandy took the time to send a card and acknowledge my special day. Besides the missionaries, Elder Ellis and Buendia (who replaced Elder Bliss) that was the only card that was given to me. It meant so much to me. Thank you Sandy. I wasn't expecting any cards at all, thank you so much for the wonderful surprise. Elder Ellis and Buendia gave me a Quadruple combination, which is the Book of Mormon, the Holy Bible, the Doctrines & Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price all in one. I was looking to buy that, but was going to hold off until pay day. It was an amazing gift from the missionaries. I was so surprised to get it. In talking with Shane it is not typical for the missionaries to give the Quadruple combination as a gift. That is one gift that I will treasure forever.

The missionaries taught me and gave me so much. I feel like a completely different person after learning more. I am so very thankful for all of the blessing that the Heavenly Father has bestowed on me. Everyone keeps telling me I have an amazing spirit. I pray that I will always have that spirit.

This morning, I got up at my normal time and went about my normal routine and noticed a blinking light on the answering machine. It was a message from Elder Ellis that they got their transfer calls and he was being transferred from the Ward. I was saddened. He had been with me from the beginning. He was the one who went through all the lessons with me, answered all my questions, baptized me, and confirmed me. He sat by me at church, explained everything to me and introduced me to so many people. I was stunned. A couple minutes later I started crying. I didn't think I had gotten so close to him. Last week the missionaries made an unexpected call saying they wanted to come over. For some reason I really opened up them, Elder Ellis in particular, and explained a bunch of things that were on my mind. He gave me some very powerful scriptures that reminded me that the Heavenly Father never gives you more than you can handle. I need to do a blog entry just on those scriptures. I wonder why they came over that night, if they just knew I needed someone to talk to or what?

When Jason game home from work this morning I told him that Elder Ellis got a transfer and that I was sad to see him go. I started crying again. I've never been emotional like that before. I then pulled myself together enough to call Elder Ellis to say good bye. It turns out that he wanted to come over to say good bye to me tonight. I managed to barely hold myself together during the phone call, and held myself together tonight when Elder Ellis and Elder Buendia stopped over. I thanked him, but that just seems so inadequate. Without the missionaries I more than likely would never have joined the church. They both said that they enjoyed coming over here and not just because I fed them, but because I studied and did my reading. They said I was one of the easiest ones they taught.

I did get Elder Ellis' address for where he is right now, he only has 6 more weeks left on his mission. I hope to write him and keep in touch with me. He has touched me in so many ways. I was so very thankful to have him as a missionary. I'm so happy that I was able to be baptized and confirmed by him as well. Thank you Elder Ellis for everything. Here is a picture of Elder Ellis and I from tonight. The Elders couldn't come into the house as a third person wasn't home, and those are the rules.














Elder Ellis, I will miss your wisdom, your gentle promptings, and all that you contributed to the gospel principles class. You will be missed in this Ward, by everyone, not just me. Your new Ward is very lucky to have you. You have touched my life in so many ways. Thank you for everything. Now I need to get out my pen and paper and write.

Weekend!!

This weekend we went up north. It was a fun trip!! I got to see Sandy and Laura, who came over to scrapbook on Sunday. That was a blast!! Although, I think I am in trouble, because I showed them new tools and such. On Saturday the girlies and I took some pictures. I only got two of them resized, etc, but here they are.

Julie on the tractor:

Susan:

For the photo scavenger hunt that I am doing on XLC (the video gaming board) that I go on, there are 25 categories that I need to take pictures of by the end of September. Sue's picture I entered into the "Pop Culture" category. I thought that fit there well. As I get pictures for the categories, I will be posting them here.

So far today, no word on the job. I'm praying I hear soon. I'm having a hard time being patient. I want to know either way. Now I will go back to waiting, lol. :)

Friday

Wow, with all of the flood and the busy week this week, I haven't really updated.

I got baptized on Saturday, August 18. It was an amazing experience. I have pictures, but haven't uploaded them yet. Everyone was so happy for me, and it was so nice to see some members of the church come out and attend the baptism. There is so much that I want to tell, the music, the prayers, the speakers, everything. Right now though, my mind is too fuzzy and I'm too tired.

On Wednesday the missionaries called me and asked if they could come out on Friday. It was a whirlwind pick up of the house and get ready. Usually it's the missionaries and one other person, but tonight it was just the missionaries. They asked how things were going, how my reading was going, and how life was going. Surprisingly, I opened up and shared a few things that I had been praying about and that have been going on. I don't know why I opened up, but they shared some scriptures that meant a lot to me. I can't tell you how much it meant to me, having an outside view on things. I have tears in my eyes, just thinking about it now.

On Monday I had my design team interview at TJ's. I am now officially on the design team, just doing altered stuff. YAY! I'm so excited. :) I can't wait to see what they give me to play with and use. It might not be every month, and I might end up teaching a class, which is fine. I have finally accepted that my knack for altered stuff is a gift as people have referred to it. One lady at work said that it is wonderful that I am going to be able to share my gift with others. You know what, that is an amazing thing to me. I have a gift, it is something I enjoy doing, and even though I don't think it's much, others do. I am so happy to have something creative that I can call my gift.

On Wednesday I had my interview for the Teaching Assistant position open at work. Before going in to the interview, I prayed that I would be able to clear and concise in my speaking, that my thoughts would come out clearly, and that I would be relaxed and be myself, and that the Heavenly Father would be there with me, helping along. I walked in, and I felt so confident and knew that it was Him guiding me. I really think the interview went ok, but I'm not 100% positive. I mean even if I did great at the interview, someone else might have more experience, etc. It's in God's hands. Whatever is His will, will happen. I trust in the Lord. I am much more relaxed after the interview now. I can only wait and see. I should know something in the next couple weeks.

I have pictures of some thank you cards that I made for the people that spoke and helped with my baptism. They are on my computer, but I'm just too lazy to crop, edit, and fix the colors right now. They will be posted soon.

Jason and I are going to head up north this weekend. We are leaving when he is done with work. On Sunday Sandy and Laura are coming over to Ma's to scrapbook. I am so looking forward to that. I've packed what seems to be half of my scrapbook room, lol. Waaaay too much stuff, but I don't know what exactly I'm going to work on.

On XLC, the xbox message board I go to, we are going to do a photography scavenger hunt. Basically there will be a list of things that we have to take pictures of and then we will post them on our Flickr! group. I am so looking forward to this. I love taking pictures and need to get better and more comfortable with my camera. I will be sure to post the pics here, or at least link ya to mine. :)

Anyway, I should probably go, finish packing, and head to bed and get a bit of sleep before we leave. :)

Flood Scare

I have so much to blog about. My baptism, all the rain we've been getting, and so much more. Since I just uploaded pictures, I will do the flood first.

On Sunday morning (August 19), I got up at 6:45ish to get ready for church, and noticed the answering machine blinking. I knew that it couldn't be a good thing that the machine was blinking. Who calls in the middle of the night unless it's bad? It was an automated message saying that Cascade Creek and Silver Lake Creek are expected to go over their banks and to be prepared to evacuate. I went and looked out the window and YIKES, I could see water from the house. We can *never* see water from the house, so I knew it wasn't a good sign. I knew that right away I wasn't going to go to church, and that we needed to get prepared. I called Ma, to let her know what was going on (sorry Ma for waking you up so early!) and left a message with the missionaries, since I was supposed to meet with the pastor after church and their number was the one that I had handy. I explained very briefly what was going on. Jason and I hopped in the shower really quick, and the missionaries called back. They offered assistance, and church members assistance to get stuff moved, but I declined. Jason and I have such a small house, and limited room to move stuff to, that we just did it. It meant so much to me that they offered their help. Jason and I started moving all of the electronics and everything we could upstairs or to higher ground. I started to pack a weeks worth of clothes, including work clothes for the two of us, and we just kept going. All of my scrapbooks got moved upstairs, I insisted that the pictures go in the car with us. I didn't trust to leave them in the house. I have waaaay too much scrapping stuff, so I only emptied the bottom foot of everything and moved it up higher. We packed a little bit of food, and went to the gas station and filled up with gas. We went to stop back at the house and the missionaries were there. They wanted to know if there was anything they could do, they said that they could have people over here sandbagging, and everything if we wanted to. I said that we moved all we could, and that everything else was replaceable. They insisted that we call them if we needed anything. Jason and I then headed out to his parents house half an hour away.

{Note: click on any pic to make them bigger}

To give you a perspective. I'm standing on the very edge of the bridge looking towards the house. Our house is the one with the reddish/orange shutters peeking out from behind the tree. The creek is directly across the street from our house.

This series of pics are taken at about 8:11 a.m. (or so my camera says). I will tell you again when the time changes.

With your back to the house this is looking left down the bike path.

With your back to the house this is looking right towards the bike path. (Ma, to the right is where the park is.

After lunch at his parents house, we really wanted to get back and see how things were. It had been misting off and on at their house, so we were hopeful that things would be fine at home.

TIME CHANGE: 2:02 p.m.

With your back to the house, looking right (both pictures). (I forgot to take some looking left! There was no water left on the bike path though, just sludge stuff.)

At this point we hadn't been in the house. Jason unplugged all of the fuses and everything in case water got in, it would just short everything out. Our hot water heater and furnace are located downstairs in the basement. When Jason opened the walk way to get down there, this is what we saw. YIKES! Thankfully that was as bad as it was. Near as we could tell, we didn't even get water in the basement, with the dirt floor and everything. It looks like some water just pooled in the stairway and then went down. We are so thankful!! Needless to say everything worked just fine, perfect!!

TIME CHANGE: 7:36 p.m.

We also walked to the right, as far as we could go (not far) just to the bridge. It was still under water. The second picture is a close up of the weeds caught in the railing.

TIME CHANGE: 7 a.m. on August 20.

Things are getting back to normal!!! YAY!!! Notice you can see the storm grate thingys. :) :) :)

I can't tell you how thankful Jason and I are. I was so worried that the house would flood, as it had back in 1978. I can't tell you how much I prayed and prayed, not just for us, but for everyone effected by this in the area. Other areas had it SO VERY much worse. I am so blessed and thankful that we didn't have to replace anything, and that we had no water at all in the house. I was surprised at how calm I was too. I knew what had to get done and Jason and I worked together great to get it done. It was a real eye opening experience for us. With the missionaries coming over and calling me back, I knew they cared. It felt wonderful that if needed, I would have church members over helping us out if we did flood. That put such a relief on me. I'm getting all teary eyed thinking about it again. Being so far away from my family, sometimes it's hard, I know Jason's parents would come over if we needed anything as well, but just knowing that the missionaries and thus the church were there if I needed anything, anything at all was an amazing feeling.

Oh, and we are calling for flood insurance today. We kept meaning to and never did, put it off, and just never did it. Jason called this afternoon and they said that they can't issue any new flood insurance policies for about a month, but they will call us when they can.

Layout!

I actually scrapbooked last night. Actually it was digi scrappin, but it still counts. I've had this layout floating around in my head for a while, and wanted to get it down. I had fun playing with everything. It's simple, which is my style. :)


















The journaling reads:

Growing up I remember saying this prayer with Grandma Nelson before going to bed. One of my most cherished memories. I forgot all about this simple child’s prayer until one day at church, we were talking about the importance of praying with children and it came flooding back to me. Thank you Grandma for praying with me. I now realize how important it was. This will be one of the first prayers I teach my children.

I <3 Photoshop!

I've been playing around in PSE a bit more, and I'm finally getting somewhere with it. Even though I'm pretty much using the default options, I'm feeling more comfortable in there. Now I know that these pics could be better, since I'm no expert, but I think I did a good job.

Before:














After:














Ma, what year was this picture taken? I know we were up north camping, Hungry Jack Lodge maybe?? Was this the same year I got bit by the duck?

Picture share!

*Note, keep scrolling down, the spacing got all funky and I can't fix it.*

Here are some pictures that I have taken recently. Nothing extraordinaire. All of these are taken right from the camera with no adjustments at all. Except re-sizing.

This is a flower that bloomed in the yard! We have never seen one like this before! And no, we didn't plant it. It's not the best picture since I took it one morning after it rained, and I had my heels on for work and was sinking into the ground. Don't mind the blurriness. :)













The last time we went up north, the end of July, Sandy and Laura came over to Ma's house! We had a blast catching up. Here is Sandy and her son Matthew!












Then this is Laura and Matthew!























These next pictures might not appeal to everyone, but I thought they were cool. Jason and left to go up north about 2:30 a.m. and got up there just about dawn. I grabbed my camera, forgetting that Jeff at the scrapbook store set up my camera with to ISO 100, and played with some of my other settings. Most of my pictures turn out GREAT now that he set it. He is amazing with cameras/photographs. Anyway, these are the results, I did play with the ISO a bit in the car, and was having a blast. None of the pictures are clear as we were flying down the freeway at 70 miles an hour, and I was just snapping away. I do like how they turned out. Don't know if I'm going to print any of them or not. I think I will, just because I'm curious in how they will print.

Random Updates & The Tote Bag

It feels like forever since I gave a real update. Not that there's much to update on, but it's been a while since I've blogged. I have a ton of pictures to post and share and everything. I even got them uploaded to photobucket. Just haven't posted them. I even have ideas on what to blog about, just haven't done it. I will try to keep this short and not a massive book, but who knows what will happen. I'm in the mood to write.


I will start with updates first. I had my phone interview on Monday, August 6. I'm not sure how it went. I think it went ok, but I think I may have talked too much. They basically gave me an overview of the position, asked me why I was interested in the job, why I'm well suited for the position, and asked about my software skills. They only questioned if I had experience using Visio and Adobe. Both of which I do. I should hear sometime next week if I'm getting a formal interview or not. If so, those are taking place the week of August 20.


Design Team update. Thinking back, I don't even know if I have even blogged about that. Anyway, I applied for the design team at my LSS (local scrapbooking store) after they asked if I was going to apply. They are thinking that they are going to start calling people next week to interview for that. I'm getting really good vibes there, so I think I got that, but who knows for sure. :)


I made a decision that I am going to for sure do the craft fair here at work. It's a HUGE craft fair and I'm nervous about it, but I figure what do I have to lose? I have to pay $30 for each table. (I'm getting 2-8 foot long tables.) I figure I will make up a bunch of stuff and if it doesn't sell, then I'm going to put it on Etsy or give it away as gifts. I have some stuff right now that I should put up on Etsy. Church. I'm getting baptized on August 18. I'm excited and nervous about it, but I'm looking forward to it. It's kinda weird, I never thought I would be excited about going to church on Sunday or meeting with the missionaries, but I enjoy it. I can't believe how much I have changed for the better since I've started going and meeting with them. I'm really truly happy. It's amazing. I've met some great people too. Looking forward to get to know them better.


The Tote Bag.





















It's a beautiful bag, is it not? I bought the pattern, fabric, and everything I needed at Hobby Lobby. After the cost of everything, it would have been cheaper to just put a bag, but I wanted to say that I made it. Plus I need to get better at sewing, I do enjoy it, but don't always do it.


Anyway, I starting cutting the pieces out, and I got confused. I completely read the pattern through and looked at pictures to see if I could figure it out and I couldn't. Now, I like to think that I'm a pretty good reader and a good follower of directions. (Just don't ask Ma her opinion on that.) I mean, heck, I sewed an apron complete with ties and pink trim and everything. I was proud of myself for doing that. (I'm just not going to tell you that that pattern was a sewing for dummies pattern.) The tote bag pattern was a Simplicity pattern. Should be easy right?
Now back to the story. (By the way, yes, you are getting the Nelson version of the story, so enjoy all the twists and turns along the way. Here, have some chocolate in case this gets too long.)



Of course when you having trouble cooking, a cleaning question, a plumbing question, a sewing question, who do you call? No not Ghostbusters silly, you call Ma of course! I explained my dilemma and said that I was so lost and totally confused if the next time we come up north if I could bring my "stuff" if she could help me out. I didn't even want to attempt it over the phone. Of course being the cool Ma she is, she says yes.


I load up all my pins, thread, fabric, notions, sewing machine, everything that I might need to sew this bag and bring it on up. Ma looks at the tote bag and says that it shouldn't take too long. I explain where I'm confused at, and it was really stupid too, I was thinking too hard on that one and finish cutting everything out.


Every single step, I have to ask Ma what something means. How in the world did she figure out that when it says this to do that? Well by looking at the picture. I'm feeling like the world's biggest dork. Can't even read a pattern.


Then the pattern starts to get even more confusing. Ma has to re-read a TON of stuff. I decide to simplify the pattern by not doing the inside pocket with a zipper, the pencil holders, etc. Nothing fancy, just a cute bag to carry my books in to and from church, since I seem to be getting more and more that I have to bring with me. :)


We realize that the pattern makes no sense to either of us!! It never tells us to put the lining in the purse, to do the handles, and various other things. Ma ended up sewing 90% of the purse, since she put the pattern away and went to town.


In the end I got a beautiful tote bag that I can say my mommy made it for me. :) Instead of a couple hours to do it, it took half the day on Saturday and part of the day on Sunday. Once again, Ma to the rescue. Even though I'm 24, married, my mommy still made a bag for me. She must love me. :) She asked if I wanted that pattern back and I said no way. She was going to write the company since the pattern left out parts of the process.


I brought up other patterns that weekend to, incase I wanted to start something else. I didn't, but I read the directions to the patterns and looked at the pictures and they seemed to make sense to me. They were Simplicity patterns too. Not even Sewing Patterns for Dummies. I'm moving up in the world. :)



Biblicalwomanhood.com is having a sale this week. I bought this book there. I figure that should help me out with sewing and figuring out terms.

Hopefully I will post pictures and more soon. I will try to do better updating. :)

Happy Anniversary!!

Wow, 4 years ago today Jason and I got married. I can't believe it has been that long. It seems like it was just yesterday that we got married.




























I feel that Jason and I are so much stronger and closer as a couple than we were before. We have grown so much together. Although, we have been told that we still act like newlyweds!! Hopefully that never goes away. :)

Jason, I love you so much and am looking forward to spending many, many, many more years with you. Happy anniversary baby!!

Shocked

There was a post on one of the message boards I go to how someone was shocked about some of the comments she read about The Duggar Family having their 17th child.

Personally, I'm not that surprised. Here at work, people have made snide, and rude comments about that too. And many other things. You would be shocked at what you hear in the breakrooms at lunch. I've taken to wearing my ipod so I can tune most people out and read.

I was talking to Leslie last Friday after the missionaries came over and we were talking about work, and how at work, our co-workers are great, but they don't get us.

I have honestly stopped talking about myself, and the things I do at work, because I don't want to hear their comments. When people used to ask what I did on the weekend, I would tell them scrapbooking, sewed an apron, or whatever I did.

Now I just say I stayed close to home, it was a relaxing, nice weekend or some variation of that. I got tired of hearing, "How do you find time to scrapbooking?" "You sewed an apron? Why do you need an apron?" "You should be out drinking and partying with your friends, your young." No, that isn't me. At. All.

Here at work people talk about shopping, and hiding their purchases from their husbands, so they don't know. They are shocked that I don't do that. I actually ASK my husband just about every single time I want to spend money. It feels right to me. Someone asked me recently when I get to see Jason, since he works overnights, and I said, that we see each other in the mornings, I have breakfast on the table for him when he comes home, and then he sleeps during the day and then we do supper together. They were shocked about that, and said "Why don't you have him cook for himself? He's old enough. I ENJOY taking care of my husband. That is one of the little things that I can do for him is feed him when he comes home.

They were also shocked that we eat all of our meals together and at the table. I think that is very important. We didn't use to, and now that we do, I love it. I wouldn't change that for anything. Speaking of food, my co-workers are shocked that I bake my own bread, how do I find time for that? And that I bring lunch every single day. How do I find to do that? Very rarely do I go out and buy lunch, when I do it's a treat for me.

I guess, I do what I feel is important to do for me and my family. It's ironic that the people who say that they have no time to do anything talk about all of the different TV shows are shocked that I don't watch them. I would much rather be scrapbooking, baking bread, baking goodies, reading, and spending time with my husband than watching TV.

Sheila posted on her blog that she feels she would love to live in the 50's. You know, I really think that is what people need. Go back to the simple life. Don't be so focused on me, me, me. ENJOY your family. ENJOY your time. Make the most of your time. Be devoted to your husband, making life easier for him. I feel that is what I'm here to do. I have SO MUCH to improve there, but I'm working on it. Slowly and surely.

Thinking again

I've been thinking again about starting up an Etsy store. Except this time, I think I'm actually going to do it, lol.

I did some searching today and a lot of the scrapbook-ey type things that are on there are completely different than my style. So I'm thinking that I need to make up some things. I have a TON of stuff that I have bought to alter and create and think I'm going to do that now. When I was selling my altered paint cans here at work I made up a ton of them, and sold quite a few. I do have some left that I haven't sold. I think I'm going to pull them out and see if I can't add something to them to give them a little punch. Who knows if they will sell or not, but hey it's worth a try since they are just sitting upstairs, lol. I also altered a couple picture frames too.

Then comes the hard part of pricing stuff. I want my prices to be reasonable and not scare people away, but also I don't want to undervalue myself.

I already created an Etsy account too. So that part is done. Next part, taking pictures, and listing items. I think this is going to a be a fun adventure. :)

Projects!

Here are some projects that I have been working on. :)

The first is a 3-ring binder that I altered to put print and put my blog in. From now on I'm going to print it out at the end of each month and put it in. :) The color is funky in the second pic, but you get the idea. :)

I bought some dividers to put in there, they were plain white, and flimsy, so I used them as a template and made my own. Much studier!!

The last thing that I'm going to post is an altered recipe card holder. It was one of those flimsy plastic 3x5 recipe card holders. All I did was add a different pattern of paper on each side to dress it up some. Of course I also had to toss some bling on there, lol. Inside I'm putting some of my favorite bible verses, quotes, compliments, pick-me-ups so to speak on colored recipe cards.














A real entry is coming soon. :)