Possible ADHD or Square Peg

When I was a kid in school I liked many things about it; making friends, playing on the play ground, going to gym class, and possibly learning new things. I don’t remember learning to read, but I loved the Dick and Jane books. The pictures were so colorful and the children were adorable. I can’t really remember liking learning new things, because sometimes it was hard. Sometimes it felt like my head hurt. I must have like learning though, because I did.

I’m so glad I learned enough to get me to adulthood and now I love learning. Maybe it’s one of the times that “practice makes perfect” or at least practice makes better. I may have had ADHD, but it really wasn’t a thing back then and I know my Mama always said my older brother Brian was hyper active. That was what they called it back then. He did graduate from college with a degree, so he must have learned some coping skills. I was not like him in the hyper sense. I liked to play and be busy, just not hyper active. Raising 3 children with ADHD, I have felt they are extremely gifted, they just learn, and express themselves in a different way. I used to say the school system was a round hole and my kids were a square peg. They are amazing, gifted, and talented people who grew up to be wonderful adults and contributors.

I’m not great with math even now. It’s ok though because I don’t really use it for much and I have a calculator on my phone. I still don’t know how to write sentences and other English things, I usually have my daughter proof read my writing, she’s a genius at English. I loved gymnastics which I took instead of gym all through junior high and high school. I know that I liked anything that had to do with art. In fact probably my favorite class was pottery. This was my senior year in high school and we had such a great time throwing pots on the wheel and learning all about pottery, glaze and how to put a handle on a pitcher or cup. Maybe it was the fact that we were using our hands and forming the clay. It was so tactile. Feeling the clay move past my hands while it was going so fast and pulling it ever so carefully up or out to create a vase or bowl. It was so fun.

Maybe I was just bored in the other classes, not ADHD, maybe I just hadn’t found the thing for me. I never had a hard time staying focused in pottery class. Thankfully I have learned to love learning new things and I have learned how to focus when it is important.

I think ADHD or a square peg are just different, and I’m ok with it. If fact I honor it.

Gallery Wall!

I put my cute Darlin to work the other day helping me put together this

wonderful gallery wall! 

I’ve wanted to do this for a while. I love the things we hung on the wall. Most of them belonged to or represent someone, or something that is important in my life.

The octagon shaped framed flower picture, on the top left hung in my parents room in the home I grew up in. My mom said it was her mom’s first. It is unique, and reminded me of my mama and daddy, and now my grandma.

The cute little shelf, is one of three like it that I have. They were my grandpa’s. It used to be  inside the old trolly cars that ran in Salt Lake City many, many years ago. They hung inside the Trolly above the seats upside down from how I have the shelf hung, which would give it a lip or edge to keep the things placed on them from falling off as the trolly traveled around town. I love that it was my grandpa’s, and the story of where it came from.

The clock is newish, but time and how we spend it, is important and it’s my love language. The family plaque is a reminder of what’s most important. The heart represents the incredible love I have for my life, and family. The key is the key to my heart, and represents the priesthood authority that my husband holds, and the authority that seals us together as a family forever. The S is the first letter of our last name, and also stands for, safety, sacred, serene, share, simplify, spiritual, steadfast, strength, strong, sublime, success, and sweet.

A copy of “The Living Christ” and “The Family-A Proclamation to the World” are important and inspirational documents that represent what we believe, and was written by the leaders of our church. A copy of the Bible and The Book of Mormon are laying on the cute little trolly shelf. They are both very important books to our family.  

My darlin and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple which is pictured on the little plaque on the shelf. It was given to us by our son, Riley and his wife, Janet.

And last of all is the sign that says: Happiness is a choice. No matter what is going on in my life, I can choose to be happy.

It’s a good reminder!

And let’s not forget the important picture in the middle. This is our most recent family picture.  Taken in our yard, with my Darlin and I, and some of our grandkids sitting on the bench. The bench that was made out of our old bed frame. Oh, how I love these people!

What a blessing to go through life with them!

I love sitting in the family room and looking at this wall. It is perfect to me!

Gift Wrap Center!

We live in a small home. There is not space in it for a craft room. That is were I would probably put my gift wrap if I had a craft room. I don’t buy a lot of gift wrap, but I like to have a little on hand in case I need it. I do have a hard time throwing it away. Especially if it is something like gift bags, that are made for reusing, and I love to reuse the bows. I have enough, that I wanted to have a special place to keep it that would make using it easy.

So I bought this shelf that looks kinda like a bakers rack, second hand and I had this idea to use it for a place to gift wrap.

A Gift Wrap Center! 

It turned out perfect, and it doesn’t take up too much space!

I have a bin for ribbons and bows, a bin for tissue paper, a bin for gift wrap and boxes, and a bin for gift bags. Then my Darlin put some rods on it to put curling ribbon on. The rolls of gift wrap are on the second to bottom shelf. Now, I know what I have and will be able to make use of it all with my

Gift Wrap Center!

Beautiful, Happy Places-The Yard

I love spending time in the yard. It is so enjoyable to work, and plant, and make it a wonderful place to spend time! The yard is our little bit of heaven. We enjoy spending as much time as possible in the yard. When the kids and grandkids are home, this is mostly where we are. 

I found this cute little trolly in the garage. It belonged to my maternal grandpa and I decided it would be a great addition to the patio. 

All it needed was a fresh coat of paint. It’s fun to use the things we’ve collected through the years and give them a purpose. Now it is functional and I think of grandpa when I look at it!

I love it!!!

It’s a Landmark!

My cute daddy used to be a bricklayer in his younger years. He was also a genius at doing rock work. In the yard of the homes I grew up in, there were always rock walls, pathways, and fire pits. My dad is amazing!

I always wanted to have some of this rock work around the home I now live in with my sweetheart, so we have been looking for something we could do.

One thing I wanted was to get a new mailbox. The one that came with our home was not very nice looking.So we decided that was it! The project would be our mailbox!

Well, daddy is 83 years old. We can’t ask him to do this for us. We can’t even ask him to help, really, but we can ask him to supervise! So we picked a day and had him come over to supervise and help us start the rock mailbox project!

He put my little darlin to work, digging, mixing cement and preparing the sight for rocks. Next step is deciding which rocks to start with. Here is the mailbox about 1/3 of the way done. We had to leave the old mailbox on till we got to the spot where the new mailbox was going to be so the mailman would have a place to put our mail. We also decided to keep the post the same since it was in place and very secure. We have been working on it for over a month. We mix up a bag of mortar and work at it till the mortar is gone, wait a day or two, until we have time to do it again. Slow and steady! Looking good!Almost done!

We’ll finish in a day or so, but I love it! And now when I look at our mailbox I’ll think of daddy, and his awesome talent, and always be so glad to have a reminder of him at our home. It is a landmark, our landmark. It represents, gifts from God, love of family, building things, and beauty.

Getting Ready for a Baby Shower!!

Our sweet “Bonus Baby” daughter and her sweetheart, Anthony are having a baby!!

A little girl!

Yay! I’m so excited to be a grandma again! It really is the best! We’re having a baby shower for her this week. I’ve been getting decorations made and organizing the menu.

I remember when my kids were little they used to ask what a “baby shower” was. I told them we all get nakey and get in the shower together. They were usually pretty concerned & surprised. Then I would tell them what a “baby shower” really was. 🙂

We’re celebrating the baby that is on the way! And giving gifts to a sweet daughter so she is ready when the baby comes! This will be my daughters first baby, and she is over the top excited to be a mama. She will be a wonderful mama, I’m sure!

The theme is hot air balloons. I thought these turned out super cute! I got the idea off Pinterest (of course). I bought the baskets at the D.I., bought a package of three paper lanterns, got some cute scrapbook paper for the pennant banner, some cotton string, and some sparkly tulle. Oh, and just a few flowers for the top of each “hot air balloon”.

Don’t you just love parties? I do! It’s so fun to plan and set up, and then see everyone enjoying themselves. I sure hope they do! I’ll take some pictures and share them after.

Have a great day!!!

Bathroom: Roman Shade Project!

It all started with the Puffin picture. I found this picture of

Puffins at a yard sale for $1. 

I love Puffins! In case you didn’t know.

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After finding the Puffin picture I decided to do a Nautical theme in the bathroom. I love the ocean, sea ports, lighthouses, etc. So I have slowly added a few items to make the effect I want.

At the fabric store I found this print with sailboats and lighthouses on it. I thought, how perfect for a roman shade in the bathroom. I checked the price. I didn’t want to spend much, mostly because it wasn’t necessary, I just thought it was such a fun print and it would look great in the bathroom. It was $8.99/yard. I thought I really only needed about a half yard to do what I wanted to do, so I decided I’d do it! I got up to the cut counter and after she cut a half yard she let me know it was 30% off.

Awesome!

I’m thinking, I hope this is enough to cover the window now that I have it cut. 

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The bathroom window is tiny. When I got home, I put the fabric up against the window. It was barely tall enough at a half yard to cover the window. The width was of the fabric was 45″ and I cut some off it to fit the width.

No measuring, I just eyeballed it.

Because it was barely tall enough, I knew I wouldn’t have enough to do a roman shade the way I usually do it. Usually I make folds at equal distances and sew a casing in the fabric I’m using for the dowel to fit through. This would be on the front side of the shade. Since I was short on fabric, I just used some bias tape I had left over from my project for my new grandbaby’s cradle. I sewed it to the back at the same location where the folds I pressed would have been casings on the front. The next step is to attach (I hot glued it) the fabric to a piece of wood at the top. I used a yard stick. It was about a dollar at Wally World. After that you hand stitch rings vertically for the string to thread through. On the yard stick I used screw eyes and then I threaded the string through. Don’t forget to put small dowels through the casings to make the folds stiff.

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I forgot to mention that I just serged the edges and stitched a nice hem around the whole thing. You want to thread the string up through each set of rings and across the top so they end up on one side of the shade. That ends up being your pull string. I just knot all three of the strings I used together and there you have it. 

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In order to get it attached to the wall my darlin helped me pre-drill holes for the screws. We attached it with grabber screws right above the bathroom window. 

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And here is the finished roman shade. I love it! I turned out great, and I think I only spent $10 on the whole thing. It was just what the bathroom needed to finish out the nautical theme. 

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It was a fun inexpensive project! Love those!

Getting Ready for the New Baby!

We have a new grandbaby coming next month. I am so excited to meet him. 

Since our other grandson is still in his crib. We didn’t want him to feel like he was being kicked out of the crib, so I have been fixing up the cradle for the new little one. IMG_7730

I had a little extra fabric left over from sewing the crib stuff, so I was able to use it for this project. I love sewing for my grandbabies!

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I hope he sleeps cozy in this sweet little cradle knowing that he is loved by so many. Come quick sweet baby, not too quick, though!

Busyness Pt-2: Planning a Wedding!

Planning a wedding is so much fun!

It can be very stressful if you try to do too much and not let other people help. It is something little girls think about a million times while they are growing up. It is an event that moms look forward to sharing with their daughters from the time they are born. We build it up and have so many expectations about how it is going to be. It can be very beautiful and very reasonably done. It’s best to be realistic though, and know that things don’t always go perfect and that’s ok.

With that I will say I am very frugal. I have taught my children to be careful with their money, and I know they will be careful with their parents money, too.

I will never spend an insane amount of money on an event that will last a day.

The most important part of the wedding day is the Wedding, the actual vows. Making promises and professing your love to all, especially God. When you look into your sweetheart’s eyes and your know you want to be with them forever. That is the most important part of the day. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to have that.

Within a day or so of the announcement of the upcoming wedding, I usually find a book that I can use for the planning. The book I used for Emily and Anthony’s wedding was just an address book that I knew I would never use for it’s intended purpose. I separate it into sections.

I find it is easier for me to simplify the categories. Most of the planning can fit into one of the following categories:

1-Important-Things in this section are, you guessed it, important. *Research of and final choice for the wedding venue. *The address and phone # of the county you will be married in, with the information about when to purchase the wedding license. *Contact information about the officiator at the wedding.

2-Budget-Of course it’s very important to have a budget. You can spend a lot of money on a wedding, enough to save a small country. Or you can be very careful with most of the wedding and spend a little more on special things. Pick the part of the wedding or things at the wedding that matter the most to you. It could be the location, the dress, or something like the flowers. We bought Emily’s dress at a vintage clothing store and I made modifications to it to make it what she wanted. We used canning jars that were decorated for the centerpieces. They are very popular and cheap or free.

3-Guests-Start listing and gathering all the addresses of those who will be invited to the wedding, the wedding luncheon, and the reception. The same people may be invited to all of the events, but maybe not. I usually invite family and close friends to the wedding, and the luncheon. Then I invite more casual friends, neighbors, co-workers, and acquaintances to the reception.

4-Reception-I put everything about the reception in this category. Location: All of the possibilities for the location, their phone numbers, prices and details about what they offer. I went on google and checked addresses to see if the address for the wedding and the address for the reception are close enough to make it convenient for those attending. You need to know that we are LDS, and our daughter got married in the LDS Temple. They don’t hold receptions there, so the reception location was different. Decorations: Table decorations, back drop where the bride and groom will stand to greet guests, sign in table, pictures and decor placed here and there to add to the total feel of the reception, ceiling decorations (we used paper lanterns), etc. Food: What will be served, what type of food and how you will serve it. How you will present it? Will you have servers, or helpers to clear the tables. Some weddings serve a full meal. We didn’t do that, we served refreshments. More about the reception in a future blog post.

5-Misc-The wedding luncheon (or brunch or whatever you decide) can go in this category. I put information about the colors for the wedding. Swatches of the fabric we used, etc.

Another helpful part of the planning is to get a Pinterest account. It is a fantastic resource for planning fun “do it yourself” decorations. You can purchase a couple of magazines, to look through for ideas. A Google search of this place or that place, or different types of decorations, etc.

These are some things that have helped me. I planned two weddings last year. One was our son, and the second was our daughter. Both weddings turned out great and they were both different. It was very fun, and stressful, but I loved doing all of this for my kids and their sweet spouses.

-Just an FYI, I planned Emily’s wedding in 3 months. It can be done! I promise!

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Busyness, Etc.

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Where do I start? 

I have been a slacker…..Only in my blogging!

Life is so wonderful, and hard, and awesome! Our family had a wonderful blessing on Saturday, January 30, 2016. Our daughter Emily, my Bonus Baby was married for time and all eternity to her sweetheart in the Jordan River Temple.

It was wonderful!

It was a blizzard.

It’s was very overwhelming and fun!

I have had my two son’s get married, but this is my first wedding for a daughter. Let me just say there is a big difference in what you do to get ready for a son to marry, as opposed to what you do to get ready for a daughter to marry. I have been sewing, and hot glueing and organizing for weeks and weeks for this blessed event.

It all turned out great!

Now that we have had our day with Em, I’ll share some of our preparations with you.

I have learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t in preparing. I’ll share some of the things I’ve learned. I will share pictures and fun ideas.

Watch for my next post!