Good idea?

Oh, the cleverness of me! -to quote Peter Pan. I was pretty proud of this anyway. I seemed to be plagued with small bathrooms with little counter space. And I'm stuck with wrestling with 4 bottles of hair product, brushes, combs, straighteners and blow dryers. And my three kids that NEED to be in the bathroom with me. I'm always worried that one of the kids will pull on the cords or rest their arm on my straightener, so now I tuck it up out of the way in this! It's just a hot pad with a pocket, but now I don't have to worry about someone with small fingers grabbing it, or wait until it cools down to put away. Pretty good idea, right?! :)

Photos!!

I'm back on my old

computer, yay! Here are some curtains that I made for Brighton and Brooklyn's room. I backed it with blackout material, so they are pretty hefty. Brooklyn has been getting up really early and wakes EVERYONE up, so this was one of our attempts to get her to sleep in. It seemed to work for about three days. :) This is our next idea- this light. Here's hoping!

Coming soon!

Sorry my posts have been so sporadic.  I really like putting pictures up, but I haven't been able to do that with our PC on the fritz.  Evidently it doesn't like being vacuumed out, and died a quick (but very painful on my husband's part) death.  I've had to cope with a Mac, which I've not been gracious about at times.  Turns out I'm an old dog that doesn't like learning new tricks.  :) Several hundred dollars later, we are close to being back up and running!  Pictures coming soon!

I feel like I live in Siberia.  It is -20 today.  Seriously!!  We occasionally brave the wind and snow, but only a few times a week.  I'm thinking about ordering my groceries in.  Speaking of snow, it's crazy.  It keeps going and going....  And the snow movers just keep moving it around into huge mountains!  You have to be careful- you take a wrong step and you're in a drift up to your thigh.  I'm definitely getting some boots.  

The Kid's Music Post

I've been meaning to post about this for a while.  I just realized that late at night and early in the morning, when I'm cozy in my bed, I think in blog posts.  But then never post!  I'm so lazy. :)

To start, I LOVE kids music!  After hearing adult song after song about love, sometimes it's a relief to hear a song about dancing hippos, am I right?!  That's all we listen to in the car and at home, unless James is around.  Then we listen to "Dad's music" (radio), which gets a groan from all of us.  :)  My current favorites:

Raffi- the biggest name in kid's music, if you have to start somewhere, start here.  I love his mellow voice, and it's always good calming music.  And I like that he sings about real stuff, like Jane Goodall, Canada, American Indians, and bananaphones.  Baby Beluga is a favorite.

John Lithgow- I know, the actor!  He is so expressive and fun to listen to.  Singin' in the Bathtub was his first album, and my favorite.  I can just picture him singing, having the best time.  

Justin Roberts- I've actually been to a concert of his, so fun!  These are definitely songs for dancing and having a good time.  His Meltdown album is good, but his most recent, Popfly, is my most favoritest.  

Steve Roslonek- I guess he's getting pretty famous, being on PBS and having performed at the White House easter egg roll.  His album Marvelous Day is so fun.  Spurtle the Turtle is my favorite.  And Fast Monkey. :)  This is fun upbeat music too.

Jessica Harper- I like her rich, mellow voice.  And her talking/singing style that makes it seem like she was just talking to her kids and turned it into a song.  Rhythm in Her Shoes is our favorite.

Tom Chapin- kid's folk music.  He also sings about cool stuff, like the origin of ragtime, recycling, shyness, and lemonade stands.  Check out Billy the Squid first, we love the Ghost of Bleak House.  Brighton and Brooklyn can pretty much sing the thing from memory. (Okay, I can too.)

So there you have it folks, a good starting list.  Wait, I forgot Sandra Boynton!  Check out all of her CDs, they are great.  Philadelphia Chickens has Kevin Bacon, Kevin Cline, Meryl Streep, Laura Linney and more performing.  Happy listening!! 

Blessings

Whenever I start to think that I am having the yuckiest time ever, blessings start slapping me in the face. Which is exactly what I need when I'm feeling sorry for myself. Yes, I do have down days. Even though I have exceptionally easy kids and a wonderfully helpful husband. Sometimes my positive attitude can't pull me through.

One of my biggest problems is that I feel that I (well, we)have to struggle and work so hard for things. Especially of the financial sort. Jobs never land in our laps, even though my husband is such a great employee that every employer he has ever had lavishes him with compliments and raises. See, another blessing. Even though James started out at a measly $7.5o an hour a few months ago, he's already been given an un-heard of $1 raise. Stuff like that. I feel like if things are crappy, if I just wait and have patience and faith, I see the blessings. So it's hard to be down for very long. :)

Anyways, what was I saying? Oh yeah, struggling. Maybe this is what life is like- budgeting and being careful and doing without. I'm getting pretty good at it, it's just the Christmas season. At first I can't think of anything I need, but after a few days, the list gets longer and longer. Why can't I have $150 boots, huh? But I do live pretty comfortably and have three clean happy kids- and so on. So why gripe about having less shoes than the average female?

I think all these tight budget years are to teach me a lesson. James doesn't need to learn it- he's happy with 20 bucks a month to spend on fast food. If only I could be so content! :) It's definitely me.

I can't remember my point now. Just that I'm thankful for my blessings!

great gift idea

I just saw these on a friend's blog, and I think they are so creative and unique.  I never enter these contests, because I feel like there is zip chance of me winning, but here's hoping... :)

www.unlikelyletters.blogspot.com

My Latest Creation

I am so proud of this!! The pictures really don't do it justice. (I've tried a couple times to rotate the pics but it's not working, so sorry for the neck cramp.) I saw this advent calendar in the December issue of Parents magazine, and wanted to whip it up myself. Although the instructions were not as exact as I like (so I could copy it exactly and not have to do any hard thinking). This is all out of felt, and the ornaments go in the pockets for the girls to take out one a day until Christmas. I want to make a really nice one involving a nativity instead of a tree eventually, but that will wait a few years until I have the time and moolah.

These ornaments I designed myself!! I'm really pleased with how they turned out, considering my lack of artistic ability. I still need 4 more, 2 snowflakes and 2 gingerbread men. I have tried two nights in a row to come up with them, with no success. Help me Rachel! :) So, I'm leaving those until the last and will keep plugging away.

Anyway, this was fun for me to make, and only cost $9! Merry Christmas!