Compelled

I've been reading a lot about these two concepts, and thought I'd share.

Zero-Waste
Yes, I'm on the band wagon. I've been doing a ton of reading and I love the idea of making the transition to zero-waste in the next few years. I'd love to do it all at once, but I know it will be a transition, as we wear out our current stuff and replace it with zero-waste stuff. (sorry, I couldn't find a better word than STUFF)

Zero-Net-Energy
Ok, so its not going to happen in our current house, but in a few years, when we move, I'm going to have a new wish list, and going to look a lot closer at the energy efficiency of a home. I had no idea that homes were built so Inneficiently, and this website has so many ideas and suggestions for things we can do our current homes to improve it! Hurray! We're insulating our garage this week, and putting up insulating curtains in the kids room. I'll let you know when we see an improvement.

Any fantastic ideas that you've read about?

Problem Solved

I figured it out.

My mom is my bosom friend.

:) Now if only she lived closer.

Bosom Friends

I have found many kindred spirits in my years, but I realize that, as a married woman, it is very difficult to find a bosom friend. Perhaps its because my husband is supposed to be my only bosom friend (and he is, Oh, how he is), but I think it is more because it takes a lot of TIME to create the bond of a bosom friend, and I just don't have that kind of time to spend outside my home. I should clarify that I wouldn't want to spend that kind of time outside my home, away from my family. 

So does it just take years and years to develop that kind of friendship with someone? Is it impossible as an adult to have the types of friendships we had as children?

You know the kind, where you trust the other person with your deepest secrets, you share the stories of your life, they know the relationship you have with your parents, the dreams you have for your future, your fears and insecurities. The kind of friendship that doesn't end when you're busy, or it's late.

I guess I'm describing a marriage. :) And I don't mean for an outside friendship to infringe on the closeness and intimacy of a marriage, but really, can you have a BEST friend as an adult married woman?

Your thoughts.....

Unfinished project #2

This is a Christmas gift for Greg's sister, Janae. Pretty sure she doesn't read the blog, since she hasn't received this yet (I KNOW ITS MARCH!). It's an advent calendar, if you couldn't tell.

Each pocket is hand-stitched and embroidered and then hand-stitched onto the base. There is a ribbon behind the star for hanging, and there are strips of fusible interfacing behind each row of pockets in order to keep it hanging flat against the wall, then it's backed with another layer of green. I worked on it almost daily through the month of December and I did get all the pockets done by Christmas, but had a hard time deciding how to attatch them (I considered machine stitching it, but decided if I was going to do it, I was going to do it RIGHT). I just finished it today. It was actually a really fun project to work on and I hope she likes it!

Complete Project #1

I have a very short project attention span. If it takes more than a week, count me out. This couch project was started in August. Yes, August. it sat at various stages of completion for a month or two at a time.

The Process:

Step 1: Pick out all the seams of the back cushions to remove them from the couch. 

Step 2: Pick out all the zippers (I needed them)

Step 3: use a bread knife to slice through the middle of all the bottom cushions.

Step 4: cut new 2" high density foam to size

Step 5: Use spray adhesize to stick the new foam in the center of the old cushion. (you can see this in the picture below)

Step 6: Cut new cotton batting to size

Step 7: use spray adheisive to cover the bottom cushions in the new batting. (I did all the spray adheisive stuff out on the grass on a large drop cloth. And yes, I spent a good 30 minutes picking cotton batting off my fingertips afterwards)

Step 8: Make new covers for the cushions out of a large white sheet. (this is to protect the batting when the real covers are removed, and then put back on)

Step 9: Cut foam to the size of the back cushions.

Step 10: Cut new cotton batting to size.

Step 10: Adhear the foam on the back of the cushions and then wrap with new cotton batting all around.

Step 11: Make covers for the back cushions out of a sheet.

Step 12: (See! We're already on step 12 and we haven't even started the REAL covers yet! This is not my kind of project, I should have known this).  - Cut a bunch of 2" strips of white canvas on the bias and sew like 1,000 yards of piping.

Step 13: Make covers for the bottom cushions out of sturdy white canvas.

Step 14: Try them of, for fit.

Step 15: Realize that you totally made them about 1" too big all around (I'm not good estimating seam allowance).

Step 16: Pick out all the stitching.

Step 17: Do it over.

Step 18: Repeat with all the bottom cushions and top cushions except one (leaving out steps 15-17 for the last 3 cushions)

Step 19: Let it sit for a couple months, just mocking you.

Step 20: finally get around to finishing that last back cushion.

Step 21: cut out all the pieces for the couch base.

Step 22: lay it over the couch with the wrong side facing you and pin it all together.

Step 23: Sew, Sew, Sew (this part went surprisingly fast.

Step 24: put it on. ENJOY THE GLORY OF A FINISHED PROJECT.

This is what it looked like during the first stage: UGLY, and messy.

 and TA-DA!

For anyone thinking that this is a great DIY project, a few words:

1. only attempt this if your couch is really sturdy. Ours, though ugly, and about 25 years old, have a really strong frames which have lifetime warrenties.
2. if you don't have to, skip the insanity involved with re-doing all the cushions. this was, by far the hardest and longest part, but for us, makes all the difference.
3. Cost - redoing the cushions- about $80. Fabric & Piping: $100. Needles - like 50 (i broke a LOT).

All in all, I am so happy with it, and I am really proud of myself for finishing it, and doing it. This was my first attempt and I was really terrified of doing it without my mom (a master seamstress and upholsterer), and I DID IT! On to the next unfinished project!

Leah's Big Reveal

Like mother, like daughter.

Her eyes were so beautiful they needed picture frames. :)

infant excercise

At her 4 month appt. when Colette wasn't rolling her ped said "don't worry, its not a developemental delay until 6 months"... HA! Developmental Delay MY EYE! So, now, at 8 months old, she only has two weeks of rolling under her belt, but she's picking up the pace. While trying to figure out how to move her legs to propel her forward, she figured out a new trick, push ups! She knows those feet have got to do SOMETHING, she just hasn't quite figured out what that is yet. :) I am still quite enchanted by this little chubby cheeked beauty.
PS: Her eyes finally decided to be light brown.

Joyful Children

I don't always feel so at peace with my occupation, but lately I have felt entirely blessed to be a mother. I have a front row seat to the greatest show on earth. Forget about obtuse documentaries about human nature, learning, and evolving as a human race. This is it: Becoming People
Leah has some big changes coming up. Stay tuned for that next week. :)

Preschool, 2nd time around

I have been so lucky to be a part of a preschool co-op with two other great women in my ward. I teach three adorable little boys and it is so fun to be able to witness their creativity, wonder, and joy of learning. I taught during the month of November, but this time around it has been so much more fun, and less stressful, maybe because of the boys, maybe me, maybe the topic, whatever, it's been great fun. Here are some of the things we've been working on:

Tying Shoes
We're working on the cheap here, so I made cardboard cutouts of sneakers and laces out of yarn with tape at each end. I found some great word plays, or language prompts, whatever you'd like to call them, to help teach:

"Once there was a rabbit that was very sad because his ears were so long and narrow that he stepped on them all the time. One day a fairy landed on the bunny's head. She lifted up the bunny's ears and crossed them over like an x. Then she put one ear through the bottom of the x and pulled. Next, she made each long ear into a loop and made another x like before. She put an ear under that x and pulled again. From then on the bunny remembered how to tie his ears into a bow, and he lived happily every after."

OR

"Build a tee pee
Come inside
Close it tight so we can hide
Over the mountain
And around we go
Here's my arrow
And here's my bow!"

Fine Motor Skills

We've come up with a few different acitivities to help with fine motor skills, muscle control, and concentration.

Pouring:
I don't have a fancy child-sized pitcher like this, so I went to the dollar store and bought a plastic 2 cup liquid measuring cup like this:

The boys get to fill it up and pour their own water during snack time.

Snacks: I try and choose snacks that require them to work for it: hard boiled eggs, for instance, easy for me, great fine motor practice for them.

Sand Trays

I've used sand, rice, salt, and corn meal. I originally put it in a cookie sheet, until I found scratches ALL over my table caused by sliding the sheets around. :( Sad. Anyway, those same cookie sheets had come with plastic covers (you know, in case you wanted to take the entire sheet with you to a dinner party instead of moving them to a plate). So, I switched to those. They do sell real trays, but I'm working with what I have here.

Transfering:

As of yet, we haven't done this in preschool, just at home with the kids. we've done liquid transfer with droppers, and small object transfer with spoons. both have worked well as long as expectations are set up from the beginning (no eating or drinking, etc) Again, no specially purchased equipment, those are baby food jars, and the dropper from an empty baby tylenol.

We also did a great activity with hickory dickory dock. I used masking tape to make a giant clock on my living room floor. We used bean bags to throw and pick a time then we pretended to do whatever we normally did at that time of day. (we fell down and went to sleep at 8, we pretended to eat lunch at 12... I just decided whether we were acting out am or pm.. I'll need a better way to do that).

Thats it for now. More later!

2011 Goals

Our family doesn't make resolutions. To me a resolution sounds like something you will change and do forever, without mistake. And our family is full of mistakes. So, we make three goals, not too few, not too many. I'll spare you the nitty gritty details of our goals, but we learned from our brilliant personal finance teacher, Bryan Sudweeks, that goals need to be specific, and measurable. Anyway, our family goals for 2011 are to:

• Get out of Debt - pay off student loans
• Save - put extra money in savings, beyond our regular savings
• Be Prepared - put together 72 hr kits, food and water storage, and an emergency plan.

I'm working on laying out plans to accomplish these goals. I am so excited to finally be working more seriously on the things we've been told to do for decades! We also have set up a reward for when we accomplish our goals for the year. HURRAY!! I love prizes! So, if you have worked on any of these goals and have some advice for us, please comment! We'd love to hear from more accomplished provident livers. :) Wish us luck!