Friday Feature

I have decided to start a Friday feature which will include my craftiness of the week. It will be a great way to get me moving with all the countless ideas I have in my head and show you that I do actually create things sometimes! It might be a decoration, a piece of clothing, an accessory, or anything else that I decide to try! Maybe even food! I'll try to give you a completed project but I'll also be sure to show you whatever I'm in the process of making if I don't have anything finished.

Now to think of a name...any suggestions?

I'll be back tomorrow with some pictures!

Weekend Treasures

Whoops, I thought I had only missed a day or two of blogging and now I'm realizing it has actually been 4 days!
We had our fall services at church this weekend so I guess I have forgotten about my blog. My Grandma and Grandpa were in town as well so we were fortunate enough to be able to spend some time with them!
On Saturday morning I went to Stacey's garage sale (she gave me all the baby clothes a few months ago). I didn't know if I would get anything since I'm not really looking for more clothes right now--although now I'm realizing that I probably should be, I just don't have the space--but I'm SO GLAD I went! I have been looking for a jogger and a Pack'n Play all summer and I saw both the moment we pulled in! So, thanks again Stacey, I'm so glad I went! I have had to borrow a Pack'n Play several times this summer and I had been borrowing a jogger from Kate when we ran all summer. It's so nice to have my own now!

Oh yeah, and guess what? I was telling a friend about my awesome finds right after and she said she has three-THREE!-Pack'n Plays and she has been trying to give them away!

The Pretend Chef

Guess what I'm eating right now? Okay, don't guess. I'm eating carrots. Weird. I didn't think I liked carrots. Or maybe I just thought I didn't like them. Or maybe tastebuds really do change every seven years. Either way, Earthbound Farms' carrots are pretty tasty. I have tried other brands and I don't like them as much as Earthbound Farms. They aren't as sweet. Or something. Anyways, who cares about carrots?


I'm hear to tell you how I make BBQ pizza. Why? Because Heather asked, that's why. It's quite simple really. Unless you're afraid of making pizza dough. And I'm not. Ready?
Roll out your dough, slather on a mixture of 1 part pizza sauce and 1 part BBQ sauce. Sprinkle on the cheese and then toss on some shredded or diced chicken that has been mixed with BBQ sauce. That simple. Of course, if you're like me and you make the pizza sauce and the BBQ sauce and the...anyways, it is delicious!

I would share my sauce recipes but they aren't really super fabulous so go find your own.

Pizza again??

On the menu tonight: BBQ chicken pizza. Again. As in, for the second time this week. Sorry Jeff. Actually, we both thought it was pretty darn good the first time I made it so hopefully it will be bearable this time even though we had it a couple days ago. I am completely out of grocery money for the week. I've been struggling to come up with meals for the past few days (besides pizza, we had pannukakku and leftovers). Jeff keeps looking in the fridge saying "Wow, Adrian, Mom must be magic." I have gone over our grocery budget way too much over the summer so now it's time to get serious again. This pay period I ended up dipping into grocery money for other things that we hadn't budgeted for and that literally couldn't be avoided. When I look back over the past 2 weeks I am actually impressed that I have been able to get supper on the table with the amount of money I actually spent on groceries. That means these next 2 weeks should be a breeze for meal planning and grocery shopping!



I did my half-marathon on Saturday and since then I have done nothing. I think I went for a walk twice but that's it. I'll be getting up to run with Kate tomorrow. I think we both agree that we feel like lazy farts this week after training all summer!

i put it in his room, so now we're even

I've been on a mission to de-clutter our home. If I can't think of a use for it within a few days of rediscovering it, I get rid of it. I have more picture frames than I know what to do with. A few have finally made it out into the public eye while a few more are on their way to Goodwill.

Adrian's room has never really been decorated. Not that he cares, but I do spend a good deal of time in there when I'm in the crafty mood considering my sewing machine and desk live there. I have had these bright yellow (very cheap) frames from IKEA for a few years and they have been tucked away since we moved into this apartment. That was a year and a half ago.

Here they are:



Not only have those frames been hidden away, but so has the little mirror. I got it from a garage sale before Adrian was born. I'm not even sure if I was expecting him yet. I had wanted to paint it because it had that weird finish with the black spots, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. I also got the wreath from a garage sale, but it didn't look like that. It was a made of straw and set me back a whole 25 cents. I bought it with no immediate ideas in mind but I like wreaths so I knew I would figure something out. I tied fabric scraps to cover the straw and hung it in the living room. It just didn't look right so I put it in Adrian's room instead and I like it much better there.



I love decorating without spending [another] dime!

The thing about Chevron

is that I love it.


The End.

Actually, that's not the end. I had intended to make something for this frame so I could hang it in Adrian's room (which is also my crafting room). When I finished, I hung it in the living room. Funny how those things happen.
I was sketching ideas, trying to figure out what I should do and then as I was googling pictures of cars, I clicked over to MADE where Dana had just posted pictures of a chevron pillow she had sewn. I threw all my plans out the window (well, not literally) and went with Chevron.

Amateur in so many ways

I'm definitely feeling like a first-time mom lately trying to figure out Adrian's crankiness. Why can't he just tell me what the problem is? Oh wait, maybe that's part of the problem. He can't tell me! Well, that and maybe molars coming in. He's been chomping on his fingers a lot. Or maybe he actually needs two naps rather than the one that I want to give him. Okay, really, as you can see, I still don't have a clue. I guess I'll work on fixing all of the above and hope for a happier little guy!

I've been training for a half-marathon for the past few months (I think I've mentioned it on here before) and I'll be running that half-marathon on Saturday! I'm pretty excited to reach my goal! It feels so nice to be at the end of my training but at the same time that makes me nervous, I don't want to come to a complete halt with my daily exercise. And I know that is waaaay too easy to do! Kate and I have plans to do some hiking before the snow flies. That's hiking with 20 lbs on our backs. That involves a whole different muscle group! I'm looking forward to it.

Linkin' Up

Even when I'm not blogging I'm on the Internet way too much. Here's what I've been looking at lately:

• New Dress A Day is just what it sounds like. Marisa is making something new with something old for $1 a day! Her ideas have me itching to get to all the resale shops around here!
• I want to get into paint and I thought this idea from How About Orange was pretty neat, and really simple. It's not exactly what I had in mind for using paint but it gets my brain going!
• I ordered this car for Adrian with birthday money from his Grandma.
• I really like Made and I can't wait to see what's coming up with Celebrate Yellow! I love yellow!
• Aaaand, I'm cutting this short because it's time to listen to Dave!

You probably wouldn't want this every day

Blogging every day would be sweet if I wasn't grumpy.

I usually consider myself to be a cheerful, optimistic person. My family might know the truth but everyone else gets what I'm saying. ;) I can say however, that I've always been pretty impatient. Right now, I'm really impatient. Jeff is coming home in the next 15 minutes (over-time today so he's only working 8 hours and I couldn't be happier) and I am counting down the minutes. Adrian has been so cranky lately. I thought it was teeth and now I'm starting to wonder if he just wants a new mom. Okay, I'm kidding but he shouldn't be crabby for weeks over teeth right? Especially since two already popped through. Or maybe he just doesn't like my cooking. I have tried to feed him lunch 4 times now and he refuses to eat. It's almost 3:00 people! Maybe Jeff will have the magic touch when he gets home--and a whole lot more patience.

Here's hoping the end of his crankiness--and mine--is in sight.

Are you sick of him yet?

I know I'm not.

Don't mind the flipped collar, it wouldn't stay down. The right side is stained from the oranges he had at lunch anyways so whatev.

Slightly related: I should probably change that photo to the left already. What do you think? I hardly recognize that boy!

According to Danny

This is 'Jeff's face, elf ears, and Heidi eyes."

His ears don't look quite so elfin anymore but I do agree with the rest.

Brown and Cream

I love this sweatshirt.


I love that it cost 50 cents. Plus or minus 50 cents, can't remember.


I love when he keeps the hood on.


I love when it stays on through his nap, even if he did wake up crying. Which, I can assure you, had nothing to do with the hood.

What happened to my happy boy?!

a-camping we have gone

I have decided to post again to avoid being reported for blog neglect.

If my crabby toddler will allow it, I would like to share some pictures for our latest camping trip with Jeff's family.


There were a lot of firsts for Adrian during this trip: first piece of corn on the cob, (ha! And he loved it!) first real mohawk (thanks to sunscreen hair), first boat ride, first time tubing, first time driving a boat...okay so maybe not but he has certainly never been on a boat before! I think he loved all of the above except for the part where I put a lifejacket on him. When I took him tubing he was so tired but I wanted to get him on the water before he went to sleep or we would miss our chance. Jeff was pulling the boat, going pretty slow and Adrian wasn't making any reaction. We went a little faster, still basically crawling, and he still wasn't doing much. I think he was smiling but then after a minute or so he starting closing his eyes! Jeff and I both thought he'd be bawling for sure (aren't we nice parents?!) and here he was falling asleep! So much for that.


There must be more photos out there that aren't completely focused on Adrian but they don't seem to be on my camera. I know there are some on facebook from my fellow campers but I kicked myself off of there until Wednesday so I can't get to them just yet.


We did our usual garage sale excursion while we were camping. Who goes garage saling when they're camping you ask? Have you met Jeff's mom?? We didn't find too much but I think our best find was Adrian's lifejacket. I completely forgot about getting him one even though I had fully planned to take him on the boat. We found one for 10 cents! You just can't beat that price! Or timing for that matter.


The boys didn't catch any fish again...if I was bummed about that I'm sure they were pretty upset. I feel bad considering this trip is all about the fishing! They are planning on heading back in a few weeks to try again, this time it'll just be the guys. Maybe they'll have better luck this time around!


Oh man, Adrian is threatening to delete this entire post by way of one tiny little finger...


OH MY. He just did. Seriously. Luckily, I caught it fast enough so that it didn't autosave again with everything gone...yikes. I don't even know what he pushed...

Speaking of Adrian, does anyone want him for a few weeks?? He has a few teeth coming in and he has been craaaanky. I'm just glad I am able to get a full nights sleep each night to calm down and refresh before the whining and crying starts all over again. Cannot wait until those teeth pop through. I've been using Hyland's teething tablets up until now and they had been working wonders but not anymore. If you know of any natural and effective teething remedies PLEASE let me know. I think I'll be running to the co-op tonight to see what else they have to save my sanity--I mean, to help my poor little dude.


Besides the crankiness, he has been so much fun lately. He's at the stage where, even though he can't talk, he understands everything I say to him. I love it! He loves books right now too. He is constantly bringing me books, shoving them in my lap and then holding his little arms up for me to pick him up. How can I resist? Oh yeah, maybe because I've read Wag my Tail 17,293 times. But still, it's so cute when he tries to move the tabs with his little fingers...and 'barks' with his mouth closed.

Anyways, that's all for now, I have about 15 more posts in my head, 2 of which you might or might not see. Until then, enjoy this rainy day!