The Blessing of Rain and My To Do List

Yes, we needed it, what with the drought and all. But that's not why the rain this weekend was such a blessing.

It's because when it rains like that, husband can't mow. Well, that might not be such a blessing for him because now he's all behind and his next Saturday will be really, really busy. But for me, we had him home all weekend and that was nice.

In between the rain, Little Bit made a swing for her new dollar store doll , dried her swing off, and had a lot of fun. :)

It was nice because he and Sweetheart ran some errands together. It was nice because he had time to get some paperwork ready so I can do our taxes. It was mostly nice because now our living room and kitchen are clean.

**Happy Sigh**

I cannot tell you what a difference it makes to my Monday morning to walk into this clean area of the house. I feel like the whole day will be better and I can get anything done.

Cluttery, messy rooms really can suck the energy right out of you before you even begin!

I recently downloaded the app Teux Deux after reading about it on Pioneer Woman's site. I really, really like this app. Whatever you don't cross off of your list automatically moves to the next day for you so you don't forget about it. Well, after a lot of not sleeping last week, my accumulated Saturday list was pretty long. But I did get some curtain liners in our window!

I will sew "real" curtains later but our blinds broke and we needed something in the window besides a sheet. Five dollars worth of muslin is much cheaper than new blinds! Maybe these will help block some light and cold/heat also when the new curtains are up.

Other things still on my list that I need to get done this week?

*Change cake order at bakery for anniversary party.
*Call doctor with insurance information.
*Pick up medicine at drugstore.
*Work on pillow for Sweetheart's room.
*Pile up giveaway stuff so friend can pick it up for her garage sale (to raise money for mission trip)
*Work on quilts.

That's just the stuff that's been rolling over on my list for the last few days. But when S asks, "What do you have going on tomorrow?" I usually just say, "School."

And let's face it, when school is done....some of that list is going to keep right on rolling over to tomorrow...and the next day...and the next....

Here's your pregnancy shot for the week (pre-curtain liner!):

Almost 6 months!

The Home Improvement Bug....

...has bitten my husband. And I'm not looking for an antidote either! After he painted our bedroom for me this week, he told me to go ahead and get new bedding, which I was going to wait to do. He wanted to be DONE with a project.

And so after our bedroom looked so awesome and clean, I got up Friday morning and cleaned our bathroom. I also took out all the maroon and sage green stuff (the former colors of our bedroom and bathroom) and started replacing them with blue stuff from around the house. When he got home and saw the bathroom all cleaned up, he decided why not go ahead and paint the bathroom too? (It's never been painted---it was ugly off-white.) After all, we had the shower re-done last February. I think he's ready to be DONE with that project too!

So yesterday he started on that. Now I've got to scramble around and get some new curtains up in both places. I also plan to sew on the girls' quilts some today. I hesitate to even get on here and say that "it's sewing day" because as sure as I do, something will come up and I won't even look at my sewing machine. But, I have good intentions, OK?

Very excited to have a nice looking space for us and also to bring baby home to. Speaking of baby, she's kicking up a storm these days and I just love it. I'm not sleeping at night and I don't love that. But so far I haven't done anything stupid from being tired. Give me time.

The girls are at my dad's this morning eating green eggs and sausage in honor of Little Bit reading that book (well, the one about ham) by herself this week in school. Yesterday she started her new book and I just sat there in awe watching her read and work out words that she has never seen before. I've known it for years, but it never ceases to amaze me in action: once kids can read, they just keep reading better and better. It's very cool to watch!

Hope you all have a great Saturday!

The Pregnant Brain and Some Other Things

#1
So....I've lived here my whole life. I mean, technically we lived in another city for 7 years but that city is only 15 minutes away so...it's not like I really moved far.  I currently live on the same block I grew up on. I attended the same church for nearly 40 years of my life. That's the church where we are having my parent's 50th anniversary celebration.

And yet, inexplicably, I managed to put the wrong zip code on the invitations.

And then last night we had breakfast for supper. I put the ricotta cheese on the table instead of margarine.

Help me. Can I really chalk all this up to pregnancy brain? Please???

We went to the beach Sunday after church...

#2
Our church is reading through the Bible this year. They have provided each of us with a chronological Bible. Very handy and already dated for you. On Wednesday evenings, our study will revolve around what we have read that week so there is extra motivation for keeping up. Last year I made it through April before I fell off the wagon. This year Sweetheart is also doing the reading. She's doing great right now but I dread when we get to say...Leviticus. We may have to do the reading together at some point. Genesis is all enjoyable right now. Our extra incentive is at the end of every month, if we are on target, we will all go out for frozen yogurt. Little Bit will be involved also but I am using the Egermeier's Bible Story book* for her. It's what she already uses for Bible in school. I told her if she listened to her story every day, she could have frozen yogurt at the end of the month. The point is to get us reading every day. I think I need to make a sticker chart for her. And maybe one for me too!

*I'll have more to say about this book in tomorrow's post!

 I'm thinking the water was kind of cold! 

#3
Getting every subject done in school is very hard. I just read a friend's blog where she listed as one of her goals for the year was to only have school 3 hours a day. Her old pattern is to try to hit everything, have school last 6 hours or more, then burn out and take several weeks off. I quite agree that smaller doses, but regular doses, is healthier. I expected school to start taking longer the older Sweetheart got. I knew the glorious days of 1 elementary-aged student and 1 pre-schooler would not last forever. You know, where we were done by lunch no matter what? I just find it hard to get back at it after lunch. By then, we've been sitting and doing for quite a while and we all want a break. The dishes and laundry are calling to me. The backyard is calling to the girls. Then I find it hard to call us back to order. I guess I'm admitting a personal weakness. I know, wah wah, right? Public school kids go to school for 8 hours. It's just hard and next year I will be making some changes to help fix this issue.

Which was really funny!

#4
Tomorrow I will be 5 months pregnant and will have exactly 4 months until my due date. FOUR MONTHS!!! Do you realize what all has to happen in those 4 months? (breathe in. breath out) OK. A lot, is the correct answer.

• finish the school year
• paint our bedroom
• purchase some baby things
• plan and have my parent's anniversary party
• organize several areas of the house
• hopefully go on some type of little vacation
• get some meals in the freezer
• make some menu plans that the girls' can make or help make the first few weeks
• clean the carpet
• finish the girls' quilts (my sewing machine is in the shop for a week right now!)
• get the girls' pictures made

I'm sure the list will get more ludicrous and detailed and crazy (see point #1) in the next few weeks. I think I need to start a new spiral notebook so I can cross things off and keep track of all my crazy. 

That's all that's going on in my brain today. How about you? And do you have any freezer meal ideas for me? That don't involve death-inducing pasta for my diabetic husband? (I really miss pasta.)

Around the House

Over Christmas break, we were sort of productive.

Knowing you are having a baby in 5 months will do that do you. Gets you in gear.

The sewing room is in order. The bill paying desk and paperwork have been sorted out. The broom and vacuum actually go in the cleaning closet now. The laundry room is pretty organized. S cleaned out the garage and shed and back porch.

Now, for January...my Christmas present! S will be painting our bedroom this month. We picked a lovely shade of blue and one wall will be covered in white bead board. We're going for a "beach house" feel in there. I certainly hope it feels as relaxing as I want it to.

inspiration from Pinterest...

Then this will call for new bedding as our current colors of sage green and maroon don't jive with my relaxing blue and white theme. Although I still love maroon and sage green. I'll probably donate the whole set (curtains, shams, dust ruffle, etc.) to someone who needs it. We've had it 5 years and if it matched at all I would keep it.

I have no idea what I want, but this always catches my eye. 

And yes, I am quite positive we will spend several months with blue walls and maroon and sage comforter. More than positive, actually.

I also organized the homeschool cabinet over the weekend. And made lots and lots of copies of things for the rest of the year. I wanted to not have to stop and plan between now and May. Whatever school we manage to finish this year will be a miracle and I decided being prepared was the first step in making that happen. Since I was planning on going until May 28 and now my due date is May 13......obviously we won't finish every single thing this year.

And then there are the elusive quilts I started for the girls 5 years ago.....a while back. Still not done. And Sweetheart came home from a friend's house lamenting how friend's room matched. And she wants her room to match. So I should probably spend some time this spring making the girls happy with some work on their rooms. It really wouldn't take much. Just a few touches here and there.

Cause I'm thinking this summer it ain't gonna happen!

This isn't so much nesting as normal life around here though. And you can bet it will involve some furniture rearranging. You know me.

Oh, I also still need to organize the kitchen.

In my spare time.

Today You May Call Me Betty Stewart....or Martha Crocker

It's baking day at the House Revised! Yesterday we worked really hard on school so we aren't worrying about it today. Just baking Christmas goodies.

Of course, first I have to clean the kitchen a bit. Sigh. That is not the fun part!

Most of the goodies will not be consumed by us, although we will be sampling them because how can you give treats away unless you are SURE they are yummy? Right? S has 4 women that work in his office and that is a new thing for him. He knows what to get for male co-workers. This year, he wasn't so sure what to do.

"I know what to get women," I told him. "I'll take care of it."

We'll be making these.
And this. 
And these. 

So...the theme would be....CHOCOLATE.

And, most challenging of all, some of these:

Hey I can't be amazing all the time, yo? Those are for our homeschool Christmas party and our Keepers at Home ceremony later this week. The girls will be earning their pins and Grandparents are invited so we are serving refreshments. Easy refreshments.

But ladies and gentlemen....she doesn't JUST cook!

Today is Sweetheart's last day of piano for 2010 so we are making this to give to her piano teacher. Oh, but we will be using scrapbook paper that has sheet music on it instead of old book pages. It will be pretty.

(Picture from A Cottage Industry--link above)
Her whole site is pretty amazing! She has great ideas!!

Also I'm hand-sewing some little things right now. I love hand-sewing. It gives you an excuse to sit down and rest.

So cooking and craftiness all in one day! (After I clean...sigh.)

It's the Time of Year to Lose the Dining Room Table

A young friend sent me a message on Facebook this morning. She has her first apartment this Christmas and needs a Christmas tree skirt sewn together. So, she's coming over today after she gets off work.

This is going to cause me to get my hind parts in gear and find drag out set up my sewing machine. I need to do this anyway as last night I started printing out all the patterns and tutorials I had pinned earlier. Time to get going! I don't actually have the budget to go spend money at Hobby Lobby this week, but I should be able to get started on what I have around here.

7 and 3 years old. Aww.

The only problem is, there are a few things I want to sew for the girls. How to sew on these things and have them not see? A few years ago we had a desk in our room and I just locked my door and sewed in there. I could sew after they go to bed at night but honestly I go to bed right after they do! Hmm. I'll have to think about that one.

4 and 8 years old. Sigh. 

I also have several other craft things to do for presents that involve hot glue and scissors and scrapbook paper, etc. All I'm saying is....we aren't going to be able to find the dining room table for possibly a while.

Do you craft for Christmas? Where do you craft? Does it get worse before it gets better?

Other Catching Up Pictures

Here are some other things I failed to blog during my first trimester.

(By the way, I am REALLY anxious to feel baby move! It's been 2 weeks since my last ultrasound and how can I know everything is OK? Hate how long it is between visits!)

We had Physics with Carrie and her kiddos a few times:

 They were packed to move on this day--boxes everywhere!

We attended the symphony with friends.

And started a Keepers at Home club with the same family. Here are the girls with their sashes....the baby HAD to have one so we quick made her one out of fabric scrap. :)

They are working on their "plastic canvas" craft badges. Little one will NOT be left out.

Today we also had a meeting but took no pictures! Sweetheart and I have been organizing her room (she's working on the Organization badge) today and we got NO school done. Sigh. Which means we will have to go one day longer before Christmas break or cram some more work in somehow.

But it was a good day. After our Keepers meeting, we went out to eat for lunch and ran into some friends so we ate/played on the restaurant playground with them and had a good time. And I went to the grocery store so I'm hoping to NOT leave the house tomorrow.

OK. I'm all caught up. (On blogging.) (Not school).

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!

Now I'll Know Who is Paying Attention!

Little Bit's birthday is this Friday (11-11-11) and we are having her little party on Saturday evening. She has requested a Tangled party, for which there are tons of ideas online. I made a Pinterest board a few months ago and this week I'm putting it all into action.

Sure, they sell Rapunzel dresses at Wally World for $20, but they were too short for her and plus, I made this one for about $3.00.

Of course, Rapunzel needs hair.

Still need to glue some flowers in the braid.

I've got printables to go up around the house and I'm going to attempt to make Rapunzel's tower out of Swiss Cake Rolls. We'll see how that goes.

But since family will all be gathered for the event, we figured the party would be a good time to give her this as a present:

See? Are you paying attention? S made the shirt for her last night with his mad computer skillz. She knows about it--the girls are in on the plan. It'll be the last gift she opens and she'll turn it around to show everyone and we get to watch our family's faces as it slowly dawns on them.

Can't wait for this party! (And can't believe my little girl will be 8!)

**If you are my Facebook friend or friend IRL.....SSSSHHHHH!!! :) **

Quilting Means Math (Which Makes My Head Hurt)

Remember those rag quilts I'm making for the girls? Yeah, it's been awhile since I've worked on them. Or thought about them. Or talked about them. I think I started buying fabric for them in the spring of 2010. So...one year. Not bad.

I realized that I only have about 2 weeks of summer left and I want to get those quilts made before the fall. So yesterday I scrounged around in the (not yet clean) sewing room and found all the pieces. The sack had torn and they weren't all in one place anymore. I even found the original plan I had made in my sewing binder. BUT....I haven't actually looked at said plan in a really long time so it took awhile to make sense of it all again.

Unbeknownst to me, Sweetheart was taking pictures of my hard work. They are hilarious.

Counting squares....

and checking to see if they've all been sewn.

Wait a minute. Something's not right here.

Oh dear. 

This one cracks me up. I am deep in thought. You can almost see the smoke coming out of my ears. 

All right. Dadgumit. Let's count all these again. 

My super organized makes total sense customized plan for the quilts.

Sweetheart?
Yes Mom?
Get that camera out of my face OK?

This Will Make You Appreciate the After

I cannot believe this was only our first week of summer break! It seems like we've been off for a long time. I guess that's a good thing since it's nearly JULY already!!! I cannot believe that. Summer is going to fly by.

GETTING READY
Towards that end, I have been purchasing some things for next year already. The big order to Sonlight will be made next month, I suppose and I'm not looking forward to parting with that money.

Before all these new books and curriculum parts come pouring into my house, I need a place to PUT them. So I guess it's time to start working in the ol' homeschool room. It's so lovely right now with it's half-done shelves and table piled high with stuff and the entire closet full of junk that who-knows-what I'll do with. I kind of hate to disturb it's loveliness.

 I KNOW! Open House was only a week ago!

Huh. The closet door won't really even open. 

Yikes. 

Hmmm.

Oh look! A glorious neat spot!!

Uh....

I have my work cut out for me.

At least I'm not painting and switching rooms this year, huh?

Now accepting applications for help. Anyone out there love to organize?


IN OTHER PARTS OF THE HOUSE
Also the sewing room is a wreck. As usual. Need to get in there and get that organized. And even I will not post pictures of that space. It seriously looks like we've been robbed. I'd like to work on the girls' quilts for their beds and I can't sew on those until I get the sewing room organized.

ON A VERY HAPPY NOTE
S is home from being out of town all week and I couldn't be happier. We stayed very busy while he was gone, but I still didn't like it. Very thankful his travels were safe and he's back home where he belongs.

Well, I'm off to put my money where my mouth is and go DO some of the stuff I just so easily typed up. Knowing I can post "new and improved" photos next week is very motivating!

Have a great weekend!

Singing PollyDoodle All the Day....

My bloggy friend JulieMom is very crafty and sew-y and talented. She has posted many tutorials on her blog that have been useful to me. I made pajamas last year from one of her tutorials for crying out loud!

She launched PollyDoodle Designs last month and she has a Facebook page and everything. It's very official.

AND....she's having a giveaway of some of her beautiful hand-sewn hair pretties.

But before I tell you about that, did you  hear this story? I read it yesterday. Too lazy to look up the link. So this high school student did some volunteer hours in one of her local 3rd grade classrooms. At the end, she wanted to give the students a treat. She filled up some plastic Easter eggs with candy. She asked the teacher would it be OK to give them out. Teacher said let me check with administration.

Administration said, yes. BUT, she could not call them "Easter Eggs" but instead had to call them "Spring Spheres."

I cannot tell you how much that annoys me.

So she said, "I have some spring spheres for you" and the kids all yelled "EASTER EGGS!!!"

Anyway, if you don't like the name "Easter Giveaway Extravaganza", feel free to call it "Spring Giveaway Special" or whatever floats your boat. We're all about being politically correct here at The Family Revised.

So, go like her Facebook page and enter the giveaway (there are easy directions on the Facebook page) She'll draw a random number winner who will get TEN hair pretties!!! BUT, she has to get 300 Facebook fans by Easter.

So get to likin' and sharin' the springtime love!

Betty

The mom of the little girl I teach sewing lessons to recently brought a book over to show me. She wondered if I already had this book because it contains so many of the things we have done in sewing class. But nope, I got all my ideas off the Internet. Sure enough, this is a GREAT book!

It's called Sewing for Children and I highly recommend it.

Sweetheart immediately fell in love with one of the projects and I finished it in about 3 days. (Having no computer and not being able to do a lot of things because of the workers helped)

Isn't she sweet?

She comes with a sassy jacket.

Sweetheart decided she could make her a hat. "I know how to do it, Mom." And she did. She also picked out all the fabric and colors. I praised her greatly. I hope that ability will carry over into picking out her own clothes!

I told her any additional clothes for Betty would be made by her. Now that I've sewn from this pattern, I know she could do it. And it was all hand sewing (although it wouldn't have to be) and I LOVE to sit on the couch and hand sew things.

I'm also glad my family does not depend on me to sew all of their clothing by hand. I fear we would be naked.

Now I have to make a doll for Little Bit. But she doesn't want one of these dolls. No....she wants a doll made from a drawing she made a few months ago. I think I can adapt this pattern to work.

I guess that remains to be seen.

Happy Weekend Everyone!

No One Title Could Pull This Much Random Together

So, we shall employ mini-titles!

Spelling--Keeping it Real

You know I use All About Spelling. You know I highly recommend All About Spelling. But let's remember that even the best curriculum is used by real moms and real children. Speaking of which, Connie over at Smockity Frocks was talking about her favorite reading curriculum today and then she said this quote:

"And I continued thinking that whole superior parenting bit until I bumped into trying to teach a couple of children who live at my house who seemed to wake up every morning completely phonics free."

That is easily the best thing I have read this whole week. I nearly spit my Sonic ice out.

So, on that note, I read one of Sweetheart's journal entries the other day. Out of 97 words in her story, there are over 20 spelling errors ranging from one wrong letter to some form of writing in tongues. It was disheartening at first. But then I got determined. It does no good to learn all this stuff if I don't make sure she applies it. I typed up her story AS IS and highlighted each error. Then I made notes for myself of which spelling rule was violated and has she covered that particular rule. I now have our spelling lessons for next week. After all of that, I am going to hand her back her journal and see how many words she can correct on her own. I'll let you know how that plays out.

Homeschooling Rocks
If for no other reason than we get to have a lot of fun. Last week involved the kids going to a jumping place while the moms visited and knitted and worked out all the world's problems in two hours. I love staying home, but I dearly love play days where I get to talk with other moms. It is muy importante. And oh yeah, the kids had fun too.

 The Bitty Baby

Since Fiona's arm fell off, we ordered a Bitty Baby. Unfortunately, Sonya's (the new baby) arrival has been delayed due to weather. So, we have been keeping busy with all types of preparations. Little Bit got out all the baby doll clothes she could find and we washed them all. She has gathered up all types of baby items and gotten the crib ready (my laundry basket with Fiona's old bedding in it.). Then I had an inspiration. When Little Bit was a baby, her lovey was this:

She called it Bebe. Um...that's Bebe with short e's. Sounds French. She made it up...I don't know. Bebe went everywhere with us for many years.

We decided Sonya needs a Bebe!

Disturbing, no? We aren't through yet.



Little Bit thought it was VERY funny.



Chores (for now)

I ordered the Motivated Moms planner again. This time, instead of being overwhelmed by the list, I am using it for chores for all of us. Well, not S. He works 2 jobs already so he gets a break. Here is a page for next week. It's on a mini-clipboard and we all have a hi liter color. Yellow means we all do it.

Sweetheart and Little Bit take turns on the jobs on the left in pink and blue. So far those are the two jobs I KNOW they can do. I will be adding to Sweetheart's responsibilities a lot in the future. The list on the right changes daily and I have been able to find one thing for each girl every day so far. I think they like that they get something new to do every day. I like that too.

After we do this for another week, Sweetheart will start getting one additional chore than her sister. She IS four years older after all. The Motivated Moms planner really gives me good ideas for what I need to teach the girls to do that I probably would not think of otherwise. Even just watching me do some of the chores is good practice for being a future homemaker. Little Bit was very interested in my chore the other day of cleaning their light fixture.

I'm hoping that in Sweetheart's 12 year old year, if I should be down for the count with a stomach bug or some other atrocity, that she would be able to do the basics on the left. That is my goal. Right now, this is REALLY working for us as far as chores go. Of course, they are also in charge of cleaning their room each day and picking up after themselves.

Proud Math Moment

After watching her sister for 2 years, it was finally Little Bit's turn to do math on the computer. She did her 0s facts three times until she got a blue ribbon! She was very proud. (This is on the Math U See website.)

Mom's Panic Moment

It has suddenly occurred to me that I will have a middle schooler in a few months. I have realized I have no idea how I want her school to change or what things I want to add or what curriculum I will use. I am in uncharted territory here. I'm not freaking out YET, but I am concerned and actually, nerd that I am, I cannot wait to start researching and reading and planning for next year.

Since The Elves Haven't Come YetThey helped the shoemaker, why not me??? All those pieces of flannel I cut out have not pieced themselves into quilts. And it sure would be handy during ARCTIC BLAST '11 if the girls had those quilts, wouldn't it? Since we are staring down being home for the next few days, I'm hoping to sew some. It's on the Motivated Moms planner for Friday--it says, "Work on a craft/hobby." So I shall.