Christmas is here!!!!

Sing it with me!!!! *insert Charlie brown music* ♪♫ Christmas time is here…♪♫

I'm one of the crazy people that goes nuts with cheer and happiness and baking goodies, and making crafts and decorating and wearing Santa hats that sparkle and putting Christmas lights over every inch of the house and lawn!! (good thing this isn’t our house otherwise it would totally be decorated like crazy) BUT!!! The apartment is decorated!! Starting with the handrail to the door then the tree is out! And I'm slowly making my way to the back! Of course by the time I'm done Christmas will be over and I will have to take it down :( But I'm ok with that! …sort of…

So! Are you trying to bring some of the Christmas spirit into your home and need help! Never fear!!! PINTREST is here!!!!

And it won’t be a fail like this either, its going to be awesome!!!

Here you will find all of the things you can do and make it less expensive for you to decorate your home! Course you could go all out and buy tinsel and wreaths and ornaments! But being a poor college student I want to save a little and show off my awesome creativity. ^_^

Here are just a few of the amazing things I'm doing/going to do around the house!

When you have an abundance of paper ribbons and beads you might as well right?!

The homemade recipe just has 3 ingredients! salt, flour, and water! how great is that!!!

 another easy to do! plus i can finally use my cute cookie cutters (ooo an alliteration!!)

I have so much felt its not even funny!!! i could probably do all of this 3 times easily!

Ha Ha I have to admit part of my going crazy decorating is because i need to do something with all of my crafty stuff because I've had it for AGES!!!! im not kidding i have gallon sized bags of beads all mixed up but they are all different sizes!!! ... note how only one of these things has to do with beads.... I need to find something to do with all those beads! ^_^ comment if you find anything ^_^ im still looking!!

Oh!!! and on top of all this decorating! I'm making a few scrapbook pages!!!  boy this stuff is hard!! but fun!!! I'm having so much fun!!!

Here's the latest favorite Maggie pics!!

That's right! she was R2 TU TU for Halloween!!
Yes! I MADE IT MYSELF!! ^_^ FTW

Next year she will be a jitter bug ^_^ 

 Can she get any cuter? I think NOT!!! oh I know! Just you wait! she will  ^_^

 Spending time with Daddy and Granpa! 

 Merry Christmas one and all!!! Have a fun happy and exciting Christmas!

From our family....

...to yours!

DIY Quilt Baby Gate

So this week we discovered water coming up from the floor in the hallway! no worries the land lord will take care of it but the hallway is going to be definitely off limits to minions!
So I scoured the Internet (more accurately pintrest) for DIY fabric baby gates! go ahead and do it! there's a lot of boards with fabric on them wedged between the bottom poles of stairs.

What I found on Pintrest with "DIY Fabric baby gates"

But I'm not trying to block off stairs I'm trying to put a gate in a funky spot. and since fabric is more flexible and creative (and I have a Ton of it) I wanted something that could fit! then I found this!

Found by my mother Just what I was looking for!

Basically: a quilt with a huge border,  eylets and I think there is a stick or dowel sewn into the sides to hold the shape, and I guess by their colors they are hair bands looped onto wall D-hooks. that's the basics!
But the Pinner broke a Pintrest commandment (#5). She didn't post the blog that showed you how to do it. and I couldn't find it either... ~pouty face~ But! I'm creative and I figured out pretty quick what I was going to do.

In case you didn't know them!

Ok, Rant over? so here is the funky spot that needs the gate. See how I can't just use a regular gate? so a fabric gate has to be the only way to do it. now I was going to be lame and just screw fabric to the wall but then mom showed me the Image above and I decided to help out the other pintresters who are out there with funky corners in their homes and create the how to! So here it goes!

"This is the place"

What you'll need:

Patience - it's a huge part of sewing. If you are frustrated or impatient when you sew you are going to find yourself even more so. The machines know! O.o

A Quilt at least 24" tall

An Electric drill and drill bits

Hook and Eye door lock

PVC Piping 1" thick and an inch shorter than your overall height of the quilt

Pencil & Eraser

Leveler

and remember the #1 Crafting rule: Measure twice, cut once. 

First I measured across the spot where I wanted the gate to be so I knew how big of a quilt I would need.

now the bit about patience isn't a joke. It makes a world of difference if I have defused my day with a nice shower yummy meal and a smile. 

I made my design 24x36 and put a 2"boarder all around. so my quilt turned out to be 28x40. I'm not walking you through how to make the quilt cause that's your bit of creativity to have! so we are going to start after the completion of or purchase of said quilt. 

looks kind of like my blankie from when I was a kid ^_^

in case you were wondering what a hook and eye latch is

Then I moved on to the PVC piping. Now I chose PVC instead of a dowel because I have to screw the hook in by hand and I've done that into a dowel before and its really hard! I'm a weakling so I'm using PVC Piping. I chose the drill bit size based on the screws for the hook and eye. not sure you can tell but one drill bit is slightly smaller than the other one. 

5/32" was just right to keep the screws stable
whether I put it in the wall or the Piping.

3/16" was the right size to match the core but
too big if I wanted it sturdy

then I drilled into the sides of the pipe . there is a printed text on the side of PVC piping so I used that as my guide so that I didn't have perpendicular holes. Drill within an inch of the Edge of the pipe

I think i did this one a bit close to my edge but it should still work.

Slip the pipe on the sides of the quilt. when I made mine I had to seal the "top"corners to keep the pole from popping out on top. If you bought a quilt, pick the stitching out. don't worry about it fraying just keep them tucked in it should be fine. 

sewing the edge shut so the pipe doesn't slip out

IT FITS!!!!

 It doesn't really matter which piece you screw into the pipe. I chose the hook end so I didn't have 4 hooks jangling on the wall and attracting little hands when the gate is put away. Screw the latch through the fabric.

Get a hand to help you figure out where you are going to put the eyes to latch to. don't for get to drill a pilot hole. Use the same size bit you used for the piping.

Erase your lines (cause you have your pilot hole, Right?) then screw the eye all the way in. 

Now hook up and enjoy!!!

I did it too high the first time and she crawled under neath the gate. so I put the "eyes" starting at the floor boards and then she couldn't get under it. ^_^ priceless!

It only cost me $7 for the set of hook and eye latches and the PVC piping at the hardware store. 

It was a lot of fun to make and it only took me an hour as the windmill pattern was already put together when I found it in my sewing box!

Good luck with your gate! and tell me how yours went!

Life without Facebook

Facebook Fast

Ok so this month started out with a Facebook fast! I have been wanting to do it for a while but couldn’t quite sum up the courage. Then I saw this video

that’s it! I'm doing it! There’s no excuse for missing out on my baby’s growing up just because I was glued to a device. Since the fast I have been outside more, I have taken more pictures, and enjoying more growing moments! It’s been wonderful! It sometimes makes me wonder if I was missing out on anything else. But rather than dwell on that I just continue to play and grow and make time for more important things! Join me and do it too! Get up and be a part of life! Ok so I'm not 100% perfect! How am I supposed to show off all my cute pictures of Maggie and tell you about all the wonderful things going on! And how am I supposed to keep tabs on you, and the amazing things in your life. I guess I could call! I miss hanging out with you

I saw this info-graphic and the last part, “What would we do without facebook” is so true!

for the whole blog and info-graphic click here

We used to talk about life we used to hang out! We used to spend time together! Now we post about life, we like, we Share, and comment. Life is a social network!  When was the last time you socialized? When was the last time you talked to the person next to you in a long line? Or on the bus?
I remember I went to a Session of General conference in Salt Lake. I had to take the bus home and I sat in a row by myself and pulled out my phone to start facebooking and other stuff when I heard “anyone have room for an extra…mumble mumble… person?” come from the front of the bus I figured he was just looking for an empty seat so I raised my had and a nice looking guy took a seat and proceeded to talk with me about conference and life and how excited he is to be here and talking and talking! (I was wrong) turned out he was looking for someone with an empty seat who was willing to have a great conversation with a chatty person.  I couldn’t believe this guy! It was like being stuck on a plane next to the guy who wouldn’t shut up! But, I just had a good conference and I wasn’t about to let this ruin my day so I made polite conversation and we actually hung out afterwards! It was so much fun! I missed that!

Then I met Jonathan! When we first met he was playing a single player video game and I was waiting for his roommate to come home so we could go hang out. I was about to give up waiting and go home when Jonathan turns off his game and asked me out for a cupcake. “Sure, why not! I've got nothing better to do.” And it was true. I had fun! We talked and dated and fell in love and now we have a beautiful daughter! And we still talk and have fun and fall in love all over again and again!

 

looking at the Elk in Collbran, CO

Maggies new skirt that I made this week.
Yes those are bandannas ^_^

Us at the Coco Bean our first date!

yummy food and great company

Challenge! Only use your phone for what it was intended! This week call someone and have a great conversation with them! Don’t use your phone to Facebook, tweet or anything else and if you do only limit yourself to 5 minutes. Look up, pay attention to life! Take pictures and remember to live life!

Challenge Accepted

Baby Food (and cute pics of the minion)

Ever wonder why kids always stick their nose up at veggies? I think I understand why!

 

Maggie learned how to squint her face and does it a lot now :)

From what I have read, from when I was a kid and some of what I see now a days people are giving their kids fresh (or worse canned) BLAND veggies… I wouldn't eat my veggies either if that’s how they were serve. Well sugar snaps are pretty good all by themselves but that’s not the point. If you wouldn't eat squash, broccoli, carrots, or peas all by itself why make your kids?!

When I was told Maggie was old enough to start eating baby food I stopped by the Grocery store on the way home and grabbed a few cans of Baby food firsts and some fresh produce so that I could practice making it myself. I was thrilled! And then she rejected the food. I figured she may need a few more weeks (remember she was early) but I persisted and with every feeding she wouldn't swallow just a turned up face and she would stick out her tongue and scrape the food off with her hand. We weren't getting anywhere with the food and I was starting to think she would eventually give in for something other than formula. (She wasn't)

 

"give me the lasagna and no one gets hurt"

Finally while exploring baby center.com I came across an article called “Baby Food Revolution” talk about help! It has links for everything! What used to be the norm and what is encouraged now, they even have a video about how to make your own baby food. I have this page bookmarked for future reference as needed. I was fascinated! Especially with the advice to add spices. After all they get the flavors and spice through the breast milk from what we eat.

I add flavor to her food like I do for my own (within Reason) and she has yet to turn down any of it. (You can imagine how thrilled I am) Mostly it’s a little butter, salt and pepper sometimes some lemon juice, or garlic. It’s very good and I even find myself enjoying it with her! As a side note. She can eat whatever we eat (with some restrictions) which means you can take your food on your plate mash it up and give some to the baby! Ta da! Yummy baby food!!!

My one vice is squash, I’ve never really liked it myself… I usually added a butt load of salt so would taste more salt than squash and scarf it down as quickly as possible. So to me squash is supposed to be salty. But, I know I can’t do that for Maggie so I need some help with the squash. Butter salt and pepper or are there better toppings.

Moral of the story if you don’t eat it plain, why should your baby? Just be careful with strong spices you don’t want your baby screaming to get it off. :S

I'm ready for spring mom!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas all!!!  I hope you all had a wonderful day and were able to get everyone something they were hoping for or appreciated!

We had a lot of fun planning for Christmas for my family!! Ok so some of it was last minute, but I had a lot of fun trying to get into the spirit of giving. I know, *Gasp* Christmas is about getting!!! Yah we get presents but we also have to give presents and ugly neck ties and socks aren’t going to cut it!!! My personal wish list was a list of gift cards to places I normally shop at and a link to my amazon account (which had stuff on it since 5 years ago and I haven’t cleaned it up as I bought stuff) so was my husbands! (We still got some great gifts though)

 

This advent calendar was made with felt!
 if you want I will send you the PDF that has the instructions on it! (SO EASY!!)

Our Christmas was very low key this year, of our Christmas “traditions” that we followed were the simple ones Put the ornaments on the tree, start the advent calendar go look at all the Christmas lights around town, especially at the outdoor mall. (They decorate it like at Temple square, so beautiful!)

Oh and another tradition I have carried out was to make a gift. When I was a kid my Mom wanted to have a homemade Christmas.  Each of us, including mom and dad, got $20. Since buying something for $5/person was hard enough we ended up making all of our gifts. Being in a house with kids, we of course had a lot of crafting supplies but we used the money to buy more of what we needed to make the perfect gift for each family member. I don’t remember what was given around the family. But I do remember the fun I had in anticipation of Christmas and the surprise of Christmas day! So every year for the past 10 or so I try to make a gift for someone.  Sometimes I don’t get it done in time or don’t even give it because it’s so lame I know they won’t keep it. And sometimes it’s actually really cool and I occasionally still see it around the house.

  

This year I gave my mom a Book with a secret compartment. It was hard because I knew if I cut into a book that she liked I was doomed. But! She has been working on a garden so I got her a few gardening books then a hard backed book about gardening.

The last few chapters had some good info in them so I left them unglued so they could be read if she wanted to. Inside I put her favorite candy so it was kind of like “Oooo… aww man! OH! Yay!” ^_^ that’s the kind of reaction I was going for!

It was a lot of fun to do and easy! I wouldn’t mind doing that to a book of my own eventually. Here’s where I went to get the instructions.

This Christmas was special to our family though because it was Maggie’s first Christmas! She even unwrapped one of her own presents! I made a Vid! Enjoy! PS thank you Nana and Granpa! The outfits are adorable!

Any Thoughts on your New Year’s resolutions? Might I suggest actually going through with them! Do something to remind you of what you wanted to do! And rather than starting on the New Year, start right away! Make that Resolution and stick to it!

Well! I Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Enjoy what you have left of the year! Oh! And hey!!! Make Comments, let me know you are doing more than just “viewing” my posts.