Easter!!

Well, those of you that know me, or follow me on Facebook, know that I spent all of Saturday making a new Easter dress, and if you follow me on Facebook, you've also seen these pictures! (So sorry...)

Sam bought me a sewing machine for our anniversary last year. I told him I wanted it... I told him that I would use it all the time... that I would start making my own clothes, and Bugs clothes, and that I would even learn how to make him and Monk some clothes! (Do you know how hard it is to find patterns for guys?! Seriously!) Well, In the first year I had the machine, I managed to make a couple of coats for Dusty, make a couple pillows and make a Cat in the Hat costume for a friend of mines son. Other than that... it's not really been used. I feel kinda sad about this really. I have this perfectly good sewing machine just sitting in my closet!

Well, I finally bit the bullet and decided that I was going to make my own Easter dress this year! I got out my handy Chic & Simple Sewing and picked Sam and I picked one out. It was pretty easy! I can admit that I did get a little confused reading the directions on how to put the neck together. It does have illustrations, but, not really knowing anything about sewing, I didn't really get what it was saying. It still looks very nice tho! :-)

In all it took me about 8 hours to make the dress. 1 hour of it was just making that white neck sash!! ACK! It was about 12:30AM when I got to that, and I spent an hour just turning it right side out, and that was with Sams help! LOL I had to laugh in the morning tho. I magically woke up at 6:30 (yes... after 4.5 hours of sleep, I woke up without an alarm.) and decided that I was going to finish up the last bit while everyone was sleeping. There wasn't much left, just hemming the bottom and cutting all the loose threads. I couldn't get the stinking thing to lay flat while I was hemming, so I just used some bias tape and sewed it right up! Everyone really liked it! I'm still in the losing weight section of time right now, so, it didn't fit PERFECT, but, it did fit well. The only thing I would have liked to have changed was the arm loop for the side that doesn't have a tie was a bit too tight for my liking. Of course, I'm used to wearing t-shirts about 95% of the time, the other 4% I'm wearing tank tops, and 1% closer fitting clothes.

Monkey finally got his wish of having his mohawk up and wearing his new sunglasses. He was happier than a pig in poo!! He looks so handsome in his khaki pants and mint green shirt. His hair is getting really long as well! Our Associate Pastor and him have a pretty good understanding of he wants to be like him when he grows up, which is fine by me. Our Associate Pastor is so very nice, and very down to Earth. You wouldn't think by looking at him (and his 2ft tall mohawk) that he would be such an awesomely nice guy!

I asked Buggy if she wanted me to make her a new dress for Easter as well, and she said no, she just wanted her reversible dress sewed up. I'm not quite sure if it's meant to be reversible, but, it has a cute pattern on either side, and no tag, so, she can chose to wear the paisley side, or the polka dot side. She chose the polka dot side. (I think she might have it on backwards, but with no tag, there's no way to tell!! LOL)

Unfortunately, we didn't get a family shot, or even a me & the kids shot! We went to the early service (9:30) because Monk and I were helping in the nursery for the 2nd service. I was in with the babies (under 1) and Monk was helping in the 2-3 year olds. There were 11 babies in the nursery! Apparently in the 4-5 year olds there were 22!! ACK! I couldn't imagine that many in a room no bigger than a bedroom!! LOL

Anyways... I know you're dying to see a picture of ME in the dress... so... here it is!

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter! I'm off to pour some candles, and make another dress!! I also got a very nice silky purple fabric that I will use with the white to make another dress. I'll post again when I get it done! :-)

Make-up Drawer

So, today, in my adventures of spring cleaning, decided that I was going to clean out my make-up drawer in the bathroom. Considering it was one of the "big tasks" in the bathroom, I wanted to tackle it first.

Now... that makes it sound like I have a TON of make up. I really don't, it's just everywhere! So, what I did was this
1) took the entire drawer out of the cabinet
2) tried to figure out HOW I was going to organize my drawer and still keep it free
3) aimlessly searched around the house for a while
4) spied a USPS flat rate shipping box
5) folded shipping box to see if it would fit
6) jumped up and down with joy that it did
7) cut apart shipping box
8) super glued sections into box
9) painted box a pretty shade of green
10) waited not so patiently for the paint to dry
11) loaded junk back into drawer
12) marveled at my creation while husband asked "That took you an hour to make?" *insert evil glare*

And... that was about all I got accomplished today. It was a pretty big thing! Not really...

I did manage to get a before (after all the junk I was going to throw away was weeded out) and after picture! :-D

(click it to make it bigger)

Now, instead of digging around screaming "WE'RE GONNA BE LATE TO CHURCH!!!!!" I can quickly find exactly what I'm looking for. I'm quite proud of my little drawer divider, even if it is only made out of cardboard, super glue, and paint. 

Now all I have to do is put things back in the right spots when I'm done with them and I will be doing great! :-)

Wordless Wednesday - Almost done!

Candles anyone?

So, I want your guys opinion. I'm thinking about starting to make candles and sell them in an Etsy shop. What do you guys think? I've dabbled in candle making for some time now, and it's something that I really like doing. It's fun, it's calming, and I love being able to just see my finished product and know that it's something that I did with my own hands and that someone will enjoy it! A couple of you have gotten my candles, what do you guys think? Think they're good enough to hold their own on Etsy?

If I do this, what do you think I should name my company? If you help me with the company name, I will send you a candle!

Next thing I would have to think about would be labels for my candles. I either need to find someone to create me a label for inexpensive, or figure out how to make my own. Any ideas??

It's like a democratic company start up!! LOL

Stress-- It's A Killer!

So, last month we sort of went over our budget by a lot a smidge.  And so September is going to be a bit tight for us. We will be able to make it, but, the first half of September is going to be really really tight! I hate hate HATE being low on funds. I don't like how it seems to fuel Sam and I getting into arguments. I don't like it when something comes up and we have to try and move things around so we can make things work. I don't like thinking that I'm going to miss on something really big. I don't like living paycheck to paycheck. It's terrible!

I know I shouldn't complain because we have a lot. I guess that's why we're in the mess we're in. Bad choices made in the past. I got so comfortable when I was younger always having this or that or the other. Always being able to say "Hey Mom! Can I have $5 for gas?" and three days later ask for more. Now, mind you, $5 in gas back then was like half a tank or more! *I have come to terms with the fact that I am now considered an Antique* I got used to driving new cars. I got used to always having my Momma there to bail me out when things got rough. (And by rough, I mean I spent my money on other things that I more than likely should have never bought in the first place.) In the past few years, I've done a lot of growing up. Things most people learned when they were much younger, like, how to manage your money while living on your own, I never learned. I went straight from living with my Mom, to being married. From there, you would think that I would spread my wings and learn to fly. Well, I did, kinda sorta. I learned that living away from my family isn't all that fun. I learned that having a car with no heat in Colorado just doesn't work that well. I also learned that being married to a man you really don't like doesn't make for a very successful relationship. Don't get me wrong. I loved my ex-husband, but, I think the parts of him that I loved the most were my 18 year old imagination making him into more than he really was. I can honestly say that the only thing I learned about life while married to my ex was how to stand up for myself in a fight, not back down, and that I shouldn't let people get too close to my heart. Momma was there to help me pick up the pieces. She's a great Mom. She's more of a Mom than I probably deserve.

When I moved to North Carolina, I was full of hopes and dreams that I could start over, get a fresh new life and prove to everyone that I wasn't the person that I was before. I wasn't the 26 year old little girl that my whole family knew. I can take care of myself! I'm an ADULT! Yeah. It turns out that I really was a 26 year old little girl, just like my family told me I was. But, I have learned SO MUCH from being down here. I've learned to take care of my bills first, because they really do come back to haunt you if you don't take care of them. (Even if that means eating ramen and PB sandwiches for 2 weeks.) I've learned that I am strong enough to do things on my own. (Thanks for always telling me that Momma!) And just recently, I learned, just because I want something, doesn't mean I need it. (I really don't like that one!)

I'm still learning to manage money better. Sam and I are still learning life lessons together. But what really matters is that we are a family. We're learning this together. We try to teach the kids about money, that way they don't have to take the hard road like I did. I thought the world OWED me all the nice things that my mom provided for me. I mean, I shouldn't have to work for them because I'd had them my whole life, why should it stop just because I moved out of my Mommas house?! How DARE the world not give me what I want. Yeah, I was pretty selfish. Now, when we go to WalMart or the commissary, or anywhere else really, instead of saying "Oh Mom! I want THIS!" and then begging for it until I get mad and throw it in the cart just to shut them up, they comment on things. They will say "Oh wow! Wouldn't that be nice to have?" I'll admit, they still have their weak moments where they see something that they REALLY want and will beg, but after I tell them no a time or two, they usually drop it.

As I said in one of my previous posts, I'm now an Independent Beachbody Coach. When I started this I was so gung-ho! I thought EVERYONE should be using these products and I had no qualms about telling you why and what you should be doing and where you could go to get them, to my website, of course! I still think everyone should use these products, but I'm not quite as in your face about it as I used to be. It's finally starting to pay off. I've got 2 people that are signing up to be coaches with me, and one of those already has a coach prospect! It makes me really happy that I can share the nutritional value of Shakeology, that I can tell someone about which exercise program I would suggest for them, that I can help others lose weight and be in better shape! I still have that passion about it like I did when I first started, because I know that it works. I've seen it working in me! But, I can't make everyone motivated like me. Some day they will see what wonders it's done for me, and they will want what I have, but I can't force it down their throats.

I know I've done a random, ranting post about seemingly nothing, but, it helps me to get things off my chest. That's the ultimate goal of a blog, isn't it? One of these days, I'll be able to have a blog about how great life is, about how I can devote time to sewing, and crafting, and be able to go buy Sam and the kids gifts at random times "just because." That day isn't today tho. Today, I'm cleaning the house, doing the laundry, and making the kids clean their rooms as well. I think tomorrow I'm going to sit down and make a list of things that need done on a daily basis and start a "checklist" that I can print out and hang up so I can just check things off as I do them. Some day, I'll be able to tell you guys how great life is, but right now, life is just life. A little bit stressful, a little bit not, a little bit fun, and a lot of love!

Until next time, dear reader(s), I'm going to try and see what I can do about cheaply filling my fridge on the 1st!

A-Quiltin' We Will Go!

So, it's no secret that I read a TON of blogs (82 and counting!)! Usually my morning routine, after getting the kids off to school is to read thru all of the blogs that have posted over the night, and periodically throughout the day. That's a lot of blogs I say, but each and every one of them has something that I want to learn, or improve upon, (Well, except for those few that are family and friends!) I added one yesterday about how to improve your marriage. Sam and I have a pretty good marriage these days, but, it NEVER hurts to find ways to improve things!

So, the other day, I found this FANTASTIC site called Cluck Cluck Sew, and she had this really cute quilt on there, and talked about Charm Packs and all kinds of things that I had NO IDEA existed. Allison is really nice too! Anyways! I was talking with Sam last night, and I told him that I would like for us to MAKE a quilt TOGETHER! So that way, we are spending time together, he gets to use his fantastic artistic ability, (who knew a colorblind guy could be so great at art?!), and we get a new comforter for our bed (which we REALLY need)! Oh, and it doesn't hurt that I'll be getting to use the fantastic sewing machine that he bought me last year! (Sadly, I've only used it a handful of times!) He thought it was a FANTASTIC idea! HOORAY! So, I guess that only leaves us to plan the pattern (anybody have any ideas for simpler quilt patterns??), pick the colors, buy the fabric, make the blocks, sew all the blocks together, get batting, and find someone to teach me the rest!! LOL

I think that this will be a fantastic adventure that Sam and I are about to embark upon. Never know, maybe I'll do so well at it, that I'll make one for Monkey and Buggy! I thought about making a Purple and Gold quilt for Monkey, maybe with some ECU Pirates fabric thrown in there as well. Never know! I think Momma has something up her sleeve for Monkey with purple and gold. I have no idea what, but I think she does. (I could be wrong tho!) For Buggy, it would be super simple... pink and purple. She's ALL girl! I'm not exactly sure WHERE she gets it from. I'm almost the opposite of girlie! I don't wear make up that often, I love t-shirt and jeans, heels are very uncomfortable to me, and I HATE doing my hair, but every once in a while, I like to get dressed up, look really nice, and be girlie (like, once or twice a year, seriously.).

Okay! Well, I'm stalking the UPS man today. My new workout video in on his truck! I'm off to do some recruiting, clean the house, figure out what I'm makin for dinner, work out, and have a hot shower with my new shower head! YAY! (Yes, the simple things really do bring me the greatest pleasure!)

Day 19: A talent of yours

Well, I don't really consider myself a very talented person, but, I guess to some I might seem so.

From the time I was young, I always wanted a horse. I remember the first moment that I decided that I wanted one. We lived out in the country, and one of the neighbors horses had gotten lose and made it's way to our house. My sister caught it and had it in the front yard. I remember seeing her out there with the horse, and how beautiful that it looked. I was in awe. Some time later, after growing up my tomboy self and always wanting to play with horse figurines instead of any Barbie or other doll, my wonderful Mom decided that maybe I should take some lessons. I took lessons on a wonderful little horse named Rags. I loved that horse to DEATH! She was bombproof! I also took lessons with another girl named Holly. She had Dusty. I always had my eye on other horses tho. Mom decided that it would be a nice thing to get me my very own horse. I did this for several years, and if we could afford it, I would still have them now. I think it's a fantastic idea for a kid to have responsibilities like that. I guess I was a pretty good rider. I never did horrible at shows or anything.

Another talent I have is musical instruments. I'm not the only person in my family that has this talent, tho I'm not near as talented as my cousin Robin is! He's an instrumental genius! I started in 5th grade playing the Flute. I pretty much played the Flute until about Sophomore year of high school. My Junior year, we had a new band instructor. So, when we all showed up to meet the "new guy" and learn about different things that we would be doing and whatnot, he asked me if I would be willing to switch instruments. Why not! I was already the best Flute player in our school, not that it was a big accomplishment to be better than 5 or 6 other flute players that haven't been playing as long as you in a band of approximately 23, which included flags! So, I started to learn the Tenor Saxophone. I played that for Marching Band, and then for Concert Band I would play the Baritone Saxophone. I like the Baritone a WHOLE lot better than the Tenor! It was HUGE!!! I didn't even need a neck strap! I could just put my foot on it's side and set it on there. Boy did that make my instructor mad! "Jacque! That's not proper form! Where's your neck strap!?!" Of course, it's hard to take a guy serious when he's only a few years older than you are. When I graduated high school, I kept my gorgeous Gemeinhardt Flute because I wanted to be able to give it to MY little girl when she was old enough to learn. Alas, it was not meant to be. (That, in and of itself, is another story.) I picked it back up a few years later when I played the flute for the church band. I also picked up the Clarinet then as well.

A talent that I'm just recently starting to cultivate is home domestication. I've started to be more creative and crafty. I've picked up sewing! I haven't really made a lot yet, but I'm hoping that very soon I will be able to pick up some more fabric and make some more things. I've already planned on making my own Ball gown. We will see how that goes!! I can also crochet a little bit. I can honestly say I'm not very good at that. Anything other that "stitch, stitch, turn and go again" I can't do! So, if you want a fancy scarf or something made, don't ask me!! ;-) Cross stitch! I used to LOVE to cross stitch. It's been a while since I've done it, but I'm sure I could pick it back up and do okay. I used to do cross stitch to help me with my concentration. It worked pretty well... I just never managed to FINISH anything! Cooking is coming along quite nicely. I can say that I've always been a decent cook, but I'm getting better! I find recipes that look good, change them a bit to make them how we like them. It works for us. Of course, there are still some of my family favorites that Sam can't stand. Like, soup beans, corn bread, and fried taters! C'mon! How can you not LOVE that?! I guess it's just a Southern thing. (Yes yes, I know I'm from Ohio, but my Momma grew up in the South, so we ate Southern food a lot!)

Other than that, I think I'm pretty untalented. I'm not a great Mathematician, I can't do simple math in my head, a trait that I've, unfortunately, passed on to Monkey. I'm not a History Buff, tho I do find history interesting, I just have never been able to remember when this important battle happened, or that important treaty was signed. So, I just like to go and learn things and even though I will probably not remember who was involved, what made it significant, or why it happened, doesn't mean that I don't enjoy going!

Day 18: Whatever tickles your fancy

Ahhhhhhh!! I'm so glad that I get a free day today! To be honest, the 30 Days of Me is starting to get a bit much!  I start looking forward to these days! I get to talk about all the things that I have been going "Oh! I should blog about that!!" There have been contests that I couldn't exactly enter because I didn't really want to stray TOO far from this! It's okay tho. There will be more contests to enter at other dates. :-)

For my "fancy" today, I want to talk about some GREAT blogs that I follow! I read a lot of blogs. I used to not! I used to read only my Moms blog. She was the only one that I cared enough to read. Then it branched out to some random ones I found by hitting "Next blog" on the top of my blog. I've lost touch with most of those people, but I still read my Moms blog when she actually gets around to writing.

Lately, I've been reading a bevy of military blogs. I'm not going to play favorites, so I'm just going to name a couple that are closest to me by distance. Nicole over at Flip Flops and Combat Boots is such a sweetheart! She just recently got married. She does some giveaways, some recipes, and she did a Summer Essentials Swap! I signed up for it, and my partner is from Lexington! Lexington is one of my 3 favorite places in Kentucky. The Kentucky Horse Park is there! That is like my heaven right there! I have some ideas of what I want to send to my swap partner, but nothing concrete yet. Another local lady that I have grown to love is Katie! Now, she has TWO blogs! She just recently got engaged, so, she started another blog to keep up with all of the wedding prep. She is also another awesome local blogger! I hope to get an invite to Katies' wedding, just so I can blow bubbles as they walk out of the church. Does it matter if I'm the only one blowing bubbles? No! I just want to blow bubbles! *giggle* (Just kidding Katie!! ;-) )

I also have a bit of a crafty streak in me. So, I like to read about different crafts. I especially like the ones that give DIY home crafts. I think my favorite of all of the crafty blogs is Design*Sponge! They have some of the MOST awesome things on their blogs. Be warned though. Do NOT click the link if you don't have an hour to burn just reading through all of the awesome projects and whatnot! Another one that I just recently found that I fell IN LOVE (like head over heels!) with is Positively Splendid. Oh my GOSH! I love this site! If I could marry it, I would give it my wedding ring right now! On my Google Reader, I have a tag for Recipes, Stuff I want, and Stuff to make. Just about every single post at PS has the Stuff to make tag on it! (Yes, I'm serious!) She makes me wish that I could be more creative and that I knew more creative bloggers so I could come up with the awesomeness that's on her site. My favorite sewing blog is by leaps and bounds LittleBlueBoo! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LBB! She makes the absolute cutest clothes!!! They make my heart do little flutters and then it sort of sinks a little bit because I know that I'm not as creative as her. That doesn't mean that I don't love her blog any less!! She does sell her creations and patterns, and one of these days, I will get enough gumption to actually buy one and try to do something awesome like she does!

Another group that I want to talk about are the "combo" blogs and cooking blogs. On the advice of a fellow Military Blogger and Twitter friend Bethany for the tip on this one: ThePioneerWoman is hands down an AWESOME website! Yet another blog that you need to make sure that you have some time to waste spend checking out all of her awesomeness! She's got recipes, photographs, funny stories, giveaways, home decorating, you name it, it's there!! I'm always happy when I see her pop up on the Google Reader. I've entered another one of her contests and I'm anxiously awaiting to see if I've won an 8 piece dinning set of Fiestaware plates! Oh, I would be that happiest girl in the world! *happily looking slightly upwards and to the left with a smile* A girl can dream right?! My favorite cooking blog is A Year of Slow Cooking. Now, anybody that knows me, knows that I can be a bit on the lazy side. I don't always like to cook or clean, but, if I don't have a zillion pots and pans to worry about after dinner is done, I'm more likely to clean up. There are more than 365 recipes to make in your crock pot on this blog. That's my kind of cooking!!

The last set of blogs that I'm going to talk about are my miscellaneous blogs. They don't exactly fit into any of the above categories, but for some odd reason, I love them just as much! The first one I was turned on to when I used to work at the book store. Cake Wrecks is one of the most awesome sites! Some of the cakes they put on there are just... wow! How can they even display or offer them for sale to the general public?! You will just have to check it out to know what I mean! From the same "author" comes EPBOT. It's a sort of hodge-podge of geeky goodness. I can't exactly pin point an exact reason why I love EPBOT so much, other than the geekiness! The last blog I'm going to post about tonight is one that makes me giggle with glee. AwkwardFamilyPhotos is just about the most hilarious, safe for families, websites on the net.