Family Schedule

My sister-in-law gave me the most awesome Christmas gift ever!!  She simply took a collage frame and printed out headers with the days of the week, the title, and one that says "Extra."  

Each frame has glass over it, so she gave me a pack of dry erase markers with it, that will write on the glass then wipe right off.

This will be great for seeing at a glance what doctor appointments, 4-H meetings, homework assignments, etc we have in the upcoming week.  So simple to make, but such a brilliant idea!

Home Redo -- Bathroom

This house was very...um...interesting when we bought it.  If you haven't read about the contact paper on the walls or the flea infestation, check it out here and here.  Well, our upstairs bathroom was no exception.  The walls were a very light pink, and it had a very dated, floral border on the walls near the ceiling.

You can't see this in any of the pictures, but above the sink was a very large flower sticker, seemingly randomly stuck on the wall.  I didn't want it there, so I peeled it off.  It was covering a very large hole in the wall.  Yes, they covered a hole in the wall with a sticker.

The bathtub/shower had glass doors.

At first, you might think this was a nice touch.  But they hadn't been properly stuck down to the tub, so water would pour out underneath, no matter how much you caulked around it.  It would get in the tracks and get all underneath them, turning absolutely grimy and propagating all sorts of nastiness, no matter how much you tried to clean them.

We repainted, redid the floors, and pulled off the horrible shower doors.  We also put in an over-the-toilet shelf that's really pretty.  I love my bathroom now!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!

Amazed by Life #4

It never ceases to amaze me how you can waste spend hours of your time finding burnt out lights on a pre-lighted tree, just to have a whole section go out the following day.

It never ceases to amaze me how much fun kids (and daddies) can have decorating gingerbread.

It never ceases to amaze me how the very sight of Christmas lights makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside (as long as they're all lit).

It never ceases to amaze me how the God who created the entire universe by speaking it into existence could love me enough to come to earth as a baby and later give His life for me.

Merry Christmas, and God bless you!!!

Chicken Tortilla Soup -- Gluten Free!!!

This soup has been my number one craving throughout this pregnancy.  I always use my big cast iron pot and double the recipe (except the meat) so that I have plenty of leftovers in the fridge!

Even the kids love it!  Here's the original recipe, and I'll post my changes below it.

1 lb chicken, cubed and cooked
1/2 tsp garlic
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup chunky salsa
1 cup frozen corn
2 cans chicken broth
black beans
tortilla chips
cheese

Throw all but the last 2 ingredients in your pot, and bring to a boil.  Break up some tortilla chips in your bowl, pour soup over them, and top with cheese.

When I make this recipe and I'm in a hurry, or while I've been on bed rest, I often use a can of chicken instead of cooking some.  Instead of using chicken broth, I use water and add a bit of Better than Bouillon to it.  The original recipe didn't actually call for beans, but it's so much better with them!!  I use whatever kind I happen to have already cooked in the freezer.  If I don't have any cooked, I'll cook a package of lentils and throw some of them in.

If you need the recipe to be gluten-free, make sure you use a gluten-free salsa, etc.  This is one of the quickest, easiest, and yummiest meals!!  I LOVE soup--especially in this colder weather!!

Felt Flowers

Ok, I know there's been a major hair clip theme lately.  But you're limited with what you can do when you're on bed rest for preterm contractions.  Plus, when you're expecting your fourth girl, you have frillies on the brain!  (At least I do have 2 boys mixed in there, too.  It helps keep me up-to-date with all the latest sound effects.)

Anyway, the other day I came across this felt flower tutorial through Fabric Bows and More.  I went more than a little flower crazy, playing with size, color, number of flowers, etc!!

I made a couple of other pairs that I gave away.  I showed these to my friend and neighbor, and she made some where she alternated colors in one flower.  They're gorgeous!  So I have a feeling I may be making some of those tomorrow.  I also may play with making some and gluing a bead in the center, or maybe lining the edges of the petals with glitter.  What little girl doesn't like some sparkle?

These seriously take mere minutes to make.  If you have a large 5-petal flower punch, making a pattern is super-easy.  If not, I found easy-to-follow instructions here on You Tube.

I love them!!

Another Hair Clip Gift

A friend of mine emailed me the other day.  She wanted to make some hair clippies for her daughter for Christmas but found herself running out of time.  So, I told her that I would make them for her, and in exchange she's giving me some venison!!  WOO HOO!!!!  I've been wanting my hubby to get us a deer, but he hasn't gone hunting.  So this is GREAT!!!

It worked out with good timing.  I'm officially on modified bed rest for preterm contractions (modified, because it's impossible for me to not get up when I have 5 other kids to take care of!), so this gave me a project to fill a couple of hours during which I wouldn't be getting much done, anyway.  She had no specific requests, so I tried to simply make a variety.

She did say that she really liked the ribbon flowers I've made in the past, so I made a couple of sets of those (you can see originals at the bottom of this post):

I loved the lace bows I made recently, so I made some of those (these look blue-and-black, but they're really purple-and-black):

I love double-layered bows, so I made one of those, as well as a bow from some leftover gift package ribbon I had:

And here are two other bows I made from fancy gift package ribbon, and wrapped with a feather boa:

I also made her a woven headband, which she can either wear by itself or with any of her clips clipped to it (again, the colors are a bit wonky.  It's black, pale pink, and lavender):

I hope you like them all, Vanessa and Lydia!  Merry Christmas!!

Festive Hair Clips

I love the holidays, and I love holiday bling.  No, I'm not talking ugly Christmas sweaters, but I have a Christmas bracelet and a silver Christmas tree necklace.

Last year, I made my girls matching Christmas headbands.  

They still wear those, but this year I wanted to do clips.  I was going to do mistletoe ones at first.  Then my friend Brooke came over, and we decided to do holly, instead.  To make it even more fun, we did it in different colors and used single-prong clips so we could clip them onto thin, satin-covered headbands.

We started by cutting out the leaves and berries out of felt.  I don't know if we're super-silly, super-picky, or super-untalented, but it took us forever to get exactly the shape we were wanting for the leaves.  We then stitched a couple of stitches down the center of each leaf.  We sewed the leaves together, then glued on the berries and a cluster of seed beads.  For the headbands, we had thin, satin-covered ones from Wal-Mart.  We took a short piece of 3/8"grosgrain ribbon and hot-glued it around the headband to make a tight loop to clip the clips to.

I made the traditional green-and-red, a classy black-and-white, and a fun pink-and-brown.  I love how they came out!!  My girls love them, too!