Lunch with Dad

Hi Daddy,
You've been gone six months now.  I've felt everyone of those days.  Not one of them has passed that I don't wish I could talk to you or see you.
There are so many qualities about you that I am missing in my everyday life.  Your patience inspires me.  I took it for granted before, but now that I don't have your calm and rational opinion to lean on, I miss it terribly.   When I wanted to jump to conclusions or be upset over something, you always helped me focus on what was real and what was important.  I'm grateful for the example you set though because now instead of being a total nut job all the time, I can remember your words and they have made me a more rational person.  You set the example, and now I have to stand on my own and try it out for myself.

I was thinking of you at church a few weeks ago, and the thought keeps returning to me.  They were talking about honoring your parents.  Lots of people commented on how their kids could do that, and how they do it now as adults for their own parents.  The comment that keeps returning to my mind though was one from an older man.  I know, my perspective on that is not great... because the older I get, the younger "older" people get it seems.  So, say this man is probably about 75-85, I'm not totally sure.  Anyway, the older man got very emotional then said the way he had spent most of his life was trying to live the way that would allow him to be with his parents for eternity.  He then said he misses his parents everyday and it was very quiet for a little while.  No one else commented after that.

I enjoyed what he said, because it did put a few things in perspective for me.  Although, my mind got stuck on the part where he said he missed his parents everyday.  Now, I can't say for certain, but since he is an "older" man I assume his parents passed away some time ago.  He misses them so much, even still, that it brought him to open emotion. 

What about me?

I'm in my 20's.  Now I have to live the rest of my life on earth without you?  Will the pain ever dull?  I mean, if I were this man's age I would be here maybe 60 more years without you.  When I think of how deeply I miss you right now, it brings me to tears.  I'm scared to think that it will hurt this much for 60 more years.  Why wouldn't it though?  I can't expect anything else really, can I?

I guess people find a way to balance.  This man found a place for his heartache, but at the same time made the decision to honor his parents and find progression in his life. 
Can I do that?  I'll have to.  It's scary to think about though. 

The future is an intimidating thing, I think.  Fear of the unknown.

I'm going to do my best to make you proud though, dad.  It's like mom and I were talking about the other day.  I know all the longing in the world is not going to change what's happened.  Sometimes we just think that if we hope hard enough things will be different.  They won't be though.  The pain that I feel will always be a part of me, but I know you would want me to be and do the best that I can.

Thank you, dad.  Thank you for giving me the confidence to know I can do hard things.  That is going to be what gets me by.  Your many examples will be the tools I use to progress, but the life-long encouragement you bestowed upon me will be what gives me the hope to use those tools.

I love you, dad.  Everyday.

Miss you, miss the tacos, miss lunch.

Amy

Pretty SUPER!

This year for Halloween, my boys told me they wanted to be "Superheroes." 

This was great news for everyone involved because I had already made them capes last year for Christmas, so all I had to do for Halloween was finish off the costume.

I read quite a few tutorials for muscle shirts, but just sort of mixed the things I liked from each of them together.

I started by buying new sweatsuits.  It's much more difficult to find the one color sweatsuits anymore.  When I was a kid, they were everywhere in every color imaginable.  I even remember having a peach one.  Oh the good ol' days of sweatsuits.  Now, you have to order everything online.  So, that's what I did.  I just got them red and navy, colors that already coordinated with the capes.

** Sorry... there aren't many pictures with this.  But it's pretty self-explanatory.  I'm still learning to take pictures of things AS I work on them, not just after.

First, draw out how you want your muscles to look on a piece of paper and cut them out. Make sure it's all going to fit on your sweatshirt.  It's much easier to have them the right size from the beginning than have to go back and trim them all down a little. 

Next, trace the muscles onto a sheet of 2 inch upholstery foam (you know the stuff I mean?  The washable, non-mildew, non yellowing stuff.)  and cut them all out.  Take it just a few layers of the foam at a time or your hand will be exhausted. 

Turn your sweatshirt inside out, and use a trusty "washable" glue stick to hold them in place on your sweatshirt.

Place a piece of stretchy fabric tightly over the muscles and pin in place around the edge.  Now sew tightly around the outside of the muscles.  (I used a zipper foot... for the first time ever... apparently my sewing machine came with one.  I had to google what a zipper foot looked like to even know that's what it was :)  I'm kind of a professional! )

Next, I went straight down between the pecs.  Then a straight line all the way across under both pecs.  Then a straight line under that flat muscle thing (I believe that's the correct anatomical name for it).  Next I went vertically straight down the center of the abs.  Then straight horizontal lines under each ab row.

Trim away extra stretchy fabric and strings.

Turn it inside out and .... ta da... muscle man!

The muscles have replaced the cape as their favorite part of this costume.

To the muscles and capes we added some super pants, and masks made out of extra fabric from their capes.  (I knew storing that extra fabric for over a year would come in handy!!)

AND....with the help of some serious hair spiking... COSTUMES COMPLETE!!!

They keep telling me they are going to stop all the bad guys and save all the kitty cats. :)  It's a tough job, but someone has got to do it.

A is for Apple

Been slow at posting all of the projects I'd like to get on here... but that's for a good reason.

I've been helping my husband with his "work" costume.

Every year at his work they do a fun Halloween trick or treating for the employees' kids.  My kids love it, plus it takes the pressure off of Halloween night because they clean up in the candy department and are in sugar comas by the time Halloween night comes around.

Really though, I think they use the kids as an excuse because they always do a big group costume and have a costume contest at lunch.

Two years ago his department dressed up as "Christmas" for Halloween.  Ugly Christmas sweaters and all.  They gave out candy canes and hot chocolate to the trick or treaters.

Last year they were "ghostbusters."  They get seriously into it... although they still have never won the contest :)

This year... in honor of the late, great Steve Jobs... they are dressing up as Apple Store employees (with a sarcastic twist.)  Don't worry if you think that sounds a little nerdy... I've told him that I think it's nerdy way more than once.  Cute and fun though.

So... what started as a seemingly simple costume of a t-shirt with some iron on vinyl turned into 27 t-shirts with iron-on vinyl.  :)

... and my kids in their pajamas until noon!  Yes! :)

They look good though and I'm excited to see everybody in them!
I love this kind of crafty project.  I like it when my crafty side collides with something my husband actually NEEDS.  I love knowing that I've helped him, even in the smallest ways.

Car Seat Slipcover

This has been my project for the last few days. 

A little fact about me, I hate projects that carry over more than a day.  So, for this one I broke it down into three parts: 1.  The actual seat slipcover, 2. The canopy, and 3. The finishing touches.  Each of these were a one "craft" day project:  meaning, when the kids are asleep.

For the longest time I was searching for a tutorial for a car seat cover, but couldn't find one that didn't have you rip your old car seat all apart.  I didn't want to do that.  I don't have a good reason why, so it's best if you just don't ask, but I just didn't want to. 

Finally, I decided to just figure it out for myself.  I love these kinds of projects because when they work out you feel even more like you accomplished something so amazing!

All I did was take off my old cover, lay it out as flat as I could and trace the sections.  The seat had ten sections.  The canopy had three, front and back, so six.  I decided, since I have a girl coming, that ruffles were necessary.  I just estimated on the ruffles, and it ended out working perfectly!

After I had all my pieces cut out, it was just like a puzzle to put it all together.  Now this cover just sits directly on top of my old one. By the way, I had a small anxiety attack when I was putting it all back together and put the straps through the lower setting.  ARE THEY REALLY THAT SMALL?!?!?  The mind forgets so much about those early months, doesn't it?

I LOVE it!  I can't believe it actually worked, and that my sewing machine and I didn't get into some sort of terrible lovers quarrel. 
(Another fact... I'm completely self taught when it comes to sewing.  Most of the time I just send stuff through the machine and see how it turns out :)  The seam ripper is one of my very best friends!)

All that being said, I'm really happy with it and CAN'T wait to put baby girl in there soon!!!

** Disclaimer:  Altering your car seat may void your car seat’s warranty.

Fabric Pumpkins

I made these fabric pumpkins for my "holiday" table last year.  I LOVE how they turned out.  They are the perfect combination of holiday and decor. 

I used this super easy to follow TUTORIAL from Sunshine in my Soul.  I picked up a few different fabrics from the red tag section at Joann's, then had a 20% off the entire purchase coupon, so this was a cheap one!

I'm so glad I made these last year. Fall is probably one of my very favorite times to decorate for, but this year (with baby just a few weeks away from her arrival) I just haven't felt the motivation to pull all my Autumn tubs out of the basement. Instead, I just went down, opened up one of the tubs and found these sitting right at the top. Pulled them out, plopped them on the table, and fall was accomplished inside our house!

Board and Batten Wall, Minus the Board.

I should call this my "dad" wall. 

I had in my mind back in January/February-ish that I wanted to do a Board and Batten wall in my house.  Our family room runs straight into the dining area of our kitchen with one big long wall.  I never knew how to decorate the wall because it was just too long.  I didn't know whether to make the whole thing one big gallery wall, or break it up into sections.  When I tried to have small clusters of pictures and things, it just ended up looking thrown together.  I'm a little more meticulous than that, so the board and batten idea got better and better in my mind. 

I sort of thought I could do it all on my own... people all over the blog world do it, so it certainly must be possible.
My husband was scheduled to be out of town for a few weeks on business, and I decided that's when I was going to make this happen. 

Only, I often forget to account for the fact that life is most certainly going to keep happening, despite my plans. 
A few days before my husband was scheduled to leave on his trip, my dad passed away.
Life really fell apart for me.  I was crushed, devastated, defeated.
My husband still had to leave for his trip the day after my dad's funeral, but I was in no place mentally or physically to work on the wall.
In fact, it didn't even cross my mind.  I had been thinking about and staring at this wall for months, and suddenly I didn't care about it at all.

More time went by.  More months even.
I just couldn't bring myself to feel like doing anything.  My kids were clean, fed, and happy... which was more than I could say for myself.

Finally, one day in July I felt like I was being lifted out of a haze. 
I could feel my dad telling me that I had to keep going.  This was not the kind of life he had taught me to live. 
So I jumped back into life with both feet and back at the top of that list was that dang wall.
Since my husband was home, I enlisted his handyman skills, and we knocked this one out in just a couple of days.

***
I started by deciding how high on the wall I wanted the boards to come up.  I knew I still wanted to be able to hang my clock on this wall so I was going to need a pretty good amount of space, but I also didn't want it to be so short that it just looked "off."  So I went up about 58 inches (on an 8 feet wall) and taped a straight line all the way across the wall.

Next, I painted the wall AND all of the boards I was going to be using.  I HIGHLY recommend pre-painting the boards.

After the paint was dry -- or maybe dryish, it's hard to be patient waiting for things like paint to dry -- I added a 1 x 2 1/2 inch mdf board right above the baseboard that was already in place.  (I did this because I didn't want every single board that was coming down to be sticking out from the baseboard.  This made a much more smooth transition, I think.

** I used the 1x 2 1/2 inch pre-primed mdf board on all of this wall for a couple of reasons.  1.  It was as thick as I wanted it to be.  2.  I liked the rounded edges and 3.  It was by far the most cost effective way for me to do this project.  They come in 6, 8, and 10 feet lengths.  I could get two of my vertical cuts out of one 8 feet board.

Next I measured up about how far I wanted the boards to go before the "top trim" went on and nail gunned in another 1 x 2 1/2 inch board. 

Then the fun part... installing all the vertical boards.  I cut a spacer that was about 13 1/2 inches long  (just the space I decided looked right to me... all personal choice.) and started at the laundry room door.  I only went about 7 or 8 inches from the door and placed the first board.  Then used my spacer for the rest of the wall. 
I had to measure out each board individually, but I think you end up with a better fit that way.  Not all walls are exactly straight and level like you think they should be, so this is a good way to ensure it's going to look level.  In some spots I went over or under the spacer amount, to avoid outlets and such... but I don't think you can really tell.  (Don't tell me if you can really tell!!!)

Once all of the vertical boards were nailed in, I put up some of the extra baseboard that the builder had left in the basement when he finished our house above the top horizontal mdf board.  Then added the ledge.  OH the ledge.  I had to do some serious convincing that the same 1 x 2 1/2 inch mdf board wouldn't stick out too far.  I wasn't sure yet if I wanted to hang things on the wall above or rest them on the ledge, but I did know I wanted the option of either.  So the ledge stayed.
Then I just added a simple trim right under the ledge and nailed it into the baseboard behind it to give it a faux crown molding effect.

Then I let my husband do a serious amount of wood filling and caulking...

We sanded, repainted, and a masterpiece was completed!  :)

There are really dozens of great faux board and batten tutorials out there.  This is NOT one of those.  This is just a general idea of how we did it.

I'm so glad we did it.  It has high impact for a really relatively simple and inexpensive project.

I was planning to do a small gallery of pictures above, but after everything was off the walls I loved the simplicity of it so much that I only put a few pictures and the clock back up. (resting on the ledge :)  )

I'm grateful for the gentle promptings from my dad to keep moving forward.  Heaven knows I need it sometimes!

Lunch with Dad

Hi Dad,
Another Thursday and I'm still missing your company like crazy. 
I haven't really been in the mood for talking much lately.  Not sure if my brain is just too busy with things, or if it's just so exhausted from thinking so much that it's just shutting down.  Either way, this week's lunch may have been a quiet one.

You know how mom writes letters to the grandkids each month?  She talks about you in almost every one.  She tells the kids how something that they do reminds her of you.  I love it. 
I've been teaching the boys a few of your favorite songs at bedtime lately. 
They love the "little piggies run" song.  I love that they laugh so hard at the end.  Like they're in on some great joke. 

The boys keep telling me you live in the big castle.  If I say, "do you know where Grandpa Louie is?" They say "yes, he's in the big castle. That's where he lives."  :)
You deserve a big castle, Dad.

I've been so grateful lately for my knowledge of eternal life.  I know you are busy working on the other side.  You are really the smartest person I've ever known.  You must be the most amazing teacher.  Your ability to tell stories is mesmerizing.  I hope you're enjoying the work.

I love you, Dad.  Thank you for watching over me.
Amy

Deja Vu -- Mesh Pumpkin Wreath

What's a girl supposed to do with so much extra sparkling orange mesh?
Make a second pumpkin wreath, of course!

This wreath looks very different from my  first, but I used a lot of the same materials.

For my materials list I used:

A metal wreath form (from the floral section at Hobby Lobby)
Orange Sparkly Mesh
Lime organza ribbon
Floral Wire

I started at the 2 o'clock position, used the wire to wrap around my mesh and my wreath form.

Then just gather the mesh, pull it around to the back, and attached it directly below.  Wrapping the mesh and the form with another piece of floral wire.

 Fold your mesh back over itself and start heading upward.  Continue doing that back and forth on the form until you've covered it all.
Then just make sure it is nice and secure and trim the end of your mesh. 

I doubled up on the ribbon and tied a loop knot.

 Poke your floral wire through the ribbon, right under the knot and attach it to the wreath form.

I thought it looked a little bare, so I tied a few more ribbons on, right next to the knot on top.

Here's the finished product!  Super cute, don't ya think?

This lovely doesn't get to stay at my house though.  Because really, what am I going to do with 2 pumpkin wreaths?  I need more doors in my house.

So, this one will hopefully be finding a new loving home at a church charity auction tomorrow.

This wreath took half the time of the first one I made, maybe 35-40 minutes, but it also took double the mesh. 

I'm struggling though... now that I'm staring at both, I can't decide which I like better.  UH!  Focus! It's for charity :)  Hopefully someone else will like it as much as I do.

Linked to: Sew Much Ado, Not Just a Housewife, House of Hepworth's, and Somewhat Simple

Mesh Pumpkin Wreath

I saw a mesh pumpkin on etsy the other day that I fell crazy madly in love with.  Like the kind of crazy mad love that you get when you're pregnant and think that every single thing you see is the absolute greatest idea ever thought of.  Well, this one truly was.  Problem... SOLD.  Surely they would make more, but since it was almost October already I realized that if I wanted orange sparkling mesh to adorn my door this month I was going to have to make it happen on my own, and quickly.  It was either that, or get in the car and drive across the country to where it said the sellers lived.  That honestly crossed my mind, like that would somehow be faster than the United States Postal system.  Seriously though.

The first option seemed much more cost efficient, and SANE.
So, here's my version of the Mesh Pumpkin Wreath!

I'm super excited about how it turned out.  Not to mention that I think the total cost was around $6.  That beats a trip across America!  Although I will say the one on etsy it beyond AWESOME.  It's so full, and gorgeous and the colors are perfect.  I'm still madly in love with it, even with my copycat hanging on my door.  These two sisters' precision is perfect.  They are masters of mesh!

There was a good amount of trial and error on this project, but total it took half of my kids' afternoon nap to make. 

Cost was right.  Time was reasonable. 

Overall, a fun Halloween/Fall project.

 

UPDATE 8.20.12

A few people have asked for a tutorial on this. With it being summer, back to school time, almost fall, the days just don't seem to have enough hours. So, this is a very small, very simple how-to. If you have any questions, please ask!

Start with a 12 inch styrofoam circle. You could use a piece of cardboard even. (If I were doing it over again, that's what I'd do. :D )

I painted mine orange, but I don't think that's necessary.

(I had three pieces fall off over winter storage, so I'll be filling in that spot. )

I used the 21 inch mesh roll, and cut it 6 inches. Then I cut the 21 inch piece into 3 pieces. So your mesh is 6"x7". If you can find the mesh that is an 8 inch roll, use that! Then just cut them 6 inches.

Next, roll it up.

Pinch the bottom.

Hot glue it to the circle, and press it in place for a few seconds. {{Please don't tell my husband that I use his favorite TUL pen as my go to pressing tool... I clean off all hot glue residue before he gets home, so no harm, no foul, right? :) }}

Start in the middle and work your way out. (some of them were just stubborn, no matter how much glue I used, or how long I pressed it down it just wouldn't stick... for those I pulled out the staple gun. ;) )

Add the green the same way. Roll, pinch, glue.

Go until it's full, add any other fun frills you want, and there you have it! Whimsical pumpkin.

Lunch with Dad

Hi Dad,
I wish we had enjoyed lunch together today.
I had my 30 week check-up today for baby girl.  Everything seems to be going how it's supposed to be.  That's my cautiousness talking.  I'll never tire of listening to her heart beat, and I'll never feel confident until I'm holding her in my arms.  She's so active, seems like she's constantly moving. She still doesn't have a name.  Why is naming kids so hard?  Mom and I were talking the other night about how the two of you chose names.  Interesting how it all works out, isn't it?
Mitch and I will keep talking about it, or maybe I should say start talking about it.  Seems like such a sensitive topic for us lately.  I think because we both feel so strongly for this little girl, and picking something so permanent and meaningful is really very scary.
Anyway :)
Today at lunch I would have talked to you about this blog. When I originally started this blog, you were still alive.  I didn't tell you about it, because as past posts have mentioned, I thought maybe one day I would just be able to show you the things on here. 
I've deleted several posts.  I was putting my crafts and things I was working on up here, but when you passed away, I sort of freaked out and deleted almost everything.  In hindsight, that was a mistake.  I still want to show you, and I still want to make you proud.
So, I think I'll start putting some projects back on here.  Is that strange?  These are some of my most heartfelt and personal feelings.  Do I mix that with a love for creating?  I love reading craft blogs.  They are very inspiring, and seem so fulfilling for the people behind them.  Crafting is also one of my favorite times for myself because it gives me the perfect chance to reflect on our time together.  It's like doing dishes.  People always have their biggest epiphanies while washing dishes, don't they?  I remember moments of our time together that I haven't thought of in years when I'm crafting.  Like my mind is free to soak in and cherish every memory I have of you.
Some people are great at just jumping right in and doing whatever they want.  I'm not.  I'm an over-thinker. 
So, I've thought this to the point of exhaustion, and really I've just come to the conclusion, "why am I fighting myself so hard on this?!"

So, here goes dad.  I know you would support me, you always have. 
Love you!!

Amy