Small and Simple

End of an era

2011-07-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

I've been doing this blog for about two years now, and it has been a lot of fun. It's motivated me to try new things, to take more pictures, and to create fun projects. But lately, life has been uber busy and I feel like the time I am putting into the blog is time that would be better spent someplace else. Like actually enjoying the three little people that I share my days with. I have felt strongly that I need to better focus my attention on my duties as a mother, and am therefore calling it quits with the blog.
I will still leave the blog up in case there are certain ideas you might want access to, but I won't be posting. You can follow me on Pinterest if you want to see what I am excited about at the moment. I will also continue writing for UtahMama.com, so you can find me there.
Thanks for all your support!

Summer Camp I: Colors and Tie Dye

2011-07-11T15:39:00.000-07:00

Remember my fabulous idea to create a summer camp in our neighborhood? Well, I'm happy to report that it is AWESOME!
I thought I'd share with you some of things we did a couple weeks ago when I was in charge. I chose to do tie dye because I love tie dye. It all stems from my summer spent as a camp counselor. We had each group of girls for a week, and at some point in the week we would always tie dye. Usually campers don't pack their cutest clothes, so it was never a big deal to tie dye an old T shirt. And, as often happens with young teenage girls, things would get a little crazy until we were tie dying socks, underwear, and bras. And leaving them flapping in the breeze on the Quakie outside our cabin to dry.
So I love tie dye.
I decided to do a full-on colors theme for my summer camp group. We started out drawing rainbows, then read "A Bad Case of the Stripes" by David Shannon. This story is so cute and the kids loved seeing Camilla Creme's skin change on every page.

Then we did a few science experiments. The first was to observe how quickly the color comes off candies like M&Ms and Skittles. Fill a little saucer with water, place a candy in it, then dip a strip of coffee filter in the water. The book I checked out from the library made it sound like the color would creep up really fast, but it actually took some time.
We also did a fun experiment where you fill a pie dish with milk, then add drops of food coloring all over the place. Don't mix it! Just add a drop of dish detergent and see what happens. The colors mix on their own and it really was pretty impressive. The kids also had fun blowing on it to make the colors mix more.

Finally, time for tie dye! I just bought a kit from JoAnn, which included squirt bottles. These were great because they helped the kids control where they wanted the color, and it cut down on the mess. I had them tie rubber bands on their shirts too, to create those fun tie dye lines.

Squirt, squirt, squirt!

After they finished, I wrapped each kid's shirt in a plastic bag. They were supposed to dry for 8 hours then go in the washer, which I did at home to save all the moms the headache. They turned out so cute!

You can also make tie dye cupcakes, but beware, they may change the color of your kids' potty messes for a few days!

We did a scaled down version of this color theme for my little one's birthday party later that weekend and it was also a hit. I think tie dye works best for kids over 5, but littler ones love to color, paint, etc.

Things I Love Thursday: Shave Ice

2011-07-07T12:46:00.000-07:00

Pregnancy and summertime are not the world's best combination. I am hot ALL THE TIME. Luckily, just down the road is a shave ice stand, and man, do I love that stuff.

In the past, I was a bit of a snow cone snob. As a teenager I spent one grueling summer slaving away at the Snow Shack, stuck in a blue metal box and surrounded by sticky sweet syrups. (Imagine how grueling it really was to sit on my duff eating snocones all day. I was addicted to playing all the contests on the radio, and even won a CD and a pair of concert tickets. To the B52s, which I did not attend but I heard was a pretty wild party.) Anyway, I grew to love the snocone and to feel a bit of maternal instinct regarding its' production and consumption. I can't believe some people make snocones without poking a hole with the straw first for the syrup to run down. Sheesh.

So for a long time I would not venture away from the traditional snocone. But now I've tried the shave ice, and I must admit, it is a thousand times better. According to wikipedia,

"Shave ice or Hawaiian shave ice is an ice-based dessert made by shaving a block of ice. While the product can resemble a snow cone, snow cones are made with crushed, rather than shaved, ice.

Shaving produces a very fine ice that appears snow-like. This extremely fine texture causes syrups added to it to be absorbed by the ice rather than simply surrounding."

So now you know. Somehow shaving the ice makes it taste better. And that is just what I need on days like today. Or like the other night when I was at my girl's Tball game and 5 different people within the space of 20 minutes came up to me and said, "Wow, you must be so hot." It's true, I was hot, and I used their comment as an excuse to get a little frozen treat on the way home.

Twin Storage Bed

2011-07-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

Can you believe we finally finished the bed? Hooray!
And hooray that she loves it and is sleeping in it just as well as she did with her crib!
Double hooray for the storage under the bed. Right now we're only using one side because we have to push it against the wall while she learns not to fall out of bed, but eventually there will be enough room for 6 of these bins on each side! Woot!

My little girl loves her letter "E" for her name, so I added that on using my Silhouette and cheap vinyl from Roberts (only $1.99/ft plus you can use your 40% off coupon, so it's way cheap!)

Thanks to Ana White for the plans and to JCPenney for the cute bedding! I love it. Oh, and the storage bins were from Target. Yea!

Things I Love Thursday: Rustoleum Painter's Touch

2011-06-30T03:15:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you've noticed that I haven't posted for a while. That is because my little girl's bed is sucking my will to live. I cannot even begin to tell you the trouble I've had with it. My husband did his part (actually building the bed) over 2 Saturdays. Then, it was my job to paint/finish the job.

I already had a can of white paint from Walmart (like the kind you would paint a wall with), so I used that to paint it. It was fine, but then I used polyurethane to seal it. BIG TROUBLE. It left yellow streaks everywhere. It looked so awful, like someone had peed all over the whole thing.

I got mad and ignored it for a week.

Then I decided to sand off the polyurethane and repaint. That was not so bad because I used this handy spray paint and it only took a few hours.

Except then I decided to stain it to make it look shabby. BAD IDEA. It made it look super dirty and gross. Like I'd left it out in a hurricane. I got mad and yelled at my kids for being so inconsiderate as to interrupt my precious craft time by asking me to get them a snack. Then I loaded everyone in the van and drove to the local hardware store.

(Which, by the way, is tiny. It's a miracle it's even in business. And there's this weird old guy who works there who always has some random freakish thing to say to me, like how I should repopulate the earth on my own or something.)

So at the hardware store this time I ask the old guy if he has a lighter color stain than the walnut I had been using. And he proceeds to go off on a tangent about how walnut stain is made from actual walnuts when they shell them, and if you've ever done it than you get it all over your hands, etc., etc.

In my head I am thinking, "Shut up. I left my kids in the car so I could run in here and grab some stain, and you're just jabbering away like I have all the time in the world." (The problems with the bed had made me ultra-grumpy.)

Then, out of the blue, he looks at me and says, "Remember, every time you lose your temper you create a stain on your soul."

??????

Head hanging in shame, I buy the new stain. And apologize to my kids in the car.

But that stain was still dirty looking and so the frustration continued. Until my dear mother showed up, listened to my tirade, and said "I'll come down and repaint it for you on Friday." Which was a really nice offer, but I didn't really need her to do that. I mostly needed her to hear my rant. Then I realized I could just buy a couple more cans of spray paint and cover up the stain mess.

And so I did. And it looks glorious now, awaiting its' final coat of spray-on sealer (also from Rustoleum). It's bright white like I hoped for, instead of pee-yellow or hurricane-brown.

Thank you, Rustoleum. Thank you, old guy for helping me check my temper. Thank you, Mom, for listening. It takes a village.

July Menu

2011-06-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

1. Bean Burritos
2. Ham and peas risotto
3. Tater tot casserole
4. Black bean soup
5. Orange Chicken
6. Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce
7. Fusili with spinach and asiago cheese
8. Black Beans and Lime Spicy Chicken
9. Colorburst Cupcakes
10. Spaghetti
11. Tacos
12. Chili's Monterey Chicken
13. Thai Peanut Noodles
14. Baked Chicken Penne
15. Grilled Teriyaki Chicken
16. Creamy Chicken and Rotini Primavera
17. Chicken Lime Tacos
18. Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies
19. Two Bean Tacos
20. Shepherd's Pie

And the winner from last month:

Chili Lime Steak Salad from Our Best Bites. It's a Cafe Rio knock-off and SOOOOO tasty! It also has the easiest recipe I've seen for the creamy cilantro dressing from Cafe Rio. Yum!

Progress on the Bed

2011-06-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about being pregnant is that you have a MAJOR DEADLINE for accomplishing all your projects. One of those is the bed we're building for our little girl, who will be moving out of her crib. Here's where we're at so far:

Under-bed storage boxes/main bed frame complete. This was definitely the hardest part of the whole project, but I love the way they look.

Headboard and footboard also complete. These came together in an hour; they were so simple to make.
Now it's up to me to sand, paint, and finish them up. We'll put it all together once we have it inside, just to make it easier to carry up our stairs.
Can I get a woot-woot?

Tutorial: Easy Maternity Skirt

2011-06-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

Let me just start by saying that we've had a cool spring here in Utah. It basically rained all day every day during the month of May. Lately the sun's been shining and the temperatures are rising, though it's still cool enough that I don't need to pump my AC all day long. But, I know those 90+ degree days are just around the corner, and I've decided the only way to keep from overheating is by wearing loose, lightweight skirts.

This one started with a dress I picked up for free at our neighborhood Big Giveaway. It was a cute dress, but the length was too short.

So I used a skirt I already had to determine what length I wanted this one to be. Then I cut off the top part of the dress so I could use the hemline that was already there.

Next I found an old knit T shirt. (If I had it to do all over again, I would use one that was a little bit of a tighter knit, but this one worked just fine.) I decided I wanted the rollover waistband to be about 4 inches, so I cut a piece off the shirt to equal 8 inches, because it folds in on itself.

I measured around my waist where I wanted the skirt to sit (right beneath the giant tummy). And then subtracted 5 inches. This became the new width for the waistband. The reason you subtract like that is to make sure the waistband will be tight enough to stay in place on your body. Believe me, this is essential. Otherwise, your skirt will fall to the floor and you'll die of embarrassment while walking down the aisle at Macey's.

Connect the two edges of your waistband with a single seam, forming a big loop of fabric.

Fold that in half and pin it. Then sew the bottom side shut to keep things nice and together when you add the main skirt piece.

Do a quick gather stitch on your main skirt piece, then attach the gathered skirt to the waistband. Think this step through. You want your seams to be on the inside of the skirt, so make sure that you pin and sew it that way.

All finished! You don't even need to create a hem because the old dress had one! So simple! I seriously made this during naptime while my older girls had someone over to play with them. Which means that I did it in less than two hours with interruptions for making snacks, turning on the Tangled soundtrack, and watching them outside selling lemonade. (A lot of pinning was done outside on my porch. Love it.)
I used Ashley's tutorial from Make It and Love It to get me going on this project.

Things I Love Thursday: Maxi Dress

2011-06-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

My best friend lived in Texas for a couple years and met lots of cool people, many of whom are bloggers. So, because I'm a weirdo like that, I occasionally check their blogs, in spite of the fact that I've never actually met them. It's almost like we're friends by association with Kristi. Or like I am a psycho, take your pick.
I figured that's what I was doing when I started reading Freckles in April, since Kayla lives in Texas and was recommended by Kristi. She has a Mormon Mommy fashion blog that is a pretty fun read, especially since Kayla is funny and her style is not freakish. In fact, the more I check her blog, the more I realize that you don't have to wear T shirts and jeans every day just because you're a mom. Although, honestly, I haven't even been getting out of my pj's the last few days because I've been painting furniture like a madwoman. But I digress...
So I like Kayla, I like her blog, I like her style. And one day, she posted about a maxi dress from Target.

When I saw it, I totally loved it and here's why:

1. Maxi dresses are in style and I think they're cute. That's the ultimate incongruity for me.
2. Maxi dresses are fitted on top and loose on the bottom. Perfect for a burgeoning baby belly like I have these days.
3. Maxi dresses are made of lightweight material, so they feel great in the summer heat.
4. They're not too expensive. I got mine at Target for $20, and right now they're on sale for $17.99. I'm a little bummed I bought mine last week. :(

I've worn it a couple times and have loved it. I even wore it to a birthday party for one of my kids' friends (you know the kind of party you go to where you just know that you're going to be the black sheep because everyone else going is trendy and wealthy? It was that kind of party.) and another one of the moms was wearing the same dress in a different color. So then I felt pretty good about things.