A Little Somethin’Somethin’ For Valentines Day

I can not tell you how completely head over heals I am for these adorable little balls!

I found these adorable little guys on Pinterest and followed the links back to How About Orange.

The folks over there are so super awesome that they have a pattern for both Sihlouette users AND patterns for those that need to print and cut.

They are so cute that I made 2 big ones and resized them to make 4 little ones too! I’m just getting started on my Valentines Day décor and these cuties are going to be the star balls of the show!

Well, that is if I can bring myself to take down the snowflakes.

You’re Mad.

Lately I’ve been caught up in all kinds of home repair and kind of paint-by-number crafts that have been fun but not really artistic. I found this Pin and it inspired me to get my creative juices flowing. I used a mix of vinyl and finger painting.  

 

If you don’t have a vinyl cutting machine you can always stencil, free hand it, or use scrapbooking stickers for your lettering.

 

I don’t have any substitute for your fingers though

Whooo Do You think You Are?

January brought with it a new foe. An Owl.

This is him perched ever so sweetly on my backyard neighbors deck. They are just inside and got to witness him up close through the glass for several hours.

What I got to do for several hours? Clean up his mess. The mess he made with MY chicken!

Not so cute now are ya Mr. Owl.

We spent all the daylight hours and into the dark putting up netting over the coop. It looks like a hot mess but we’ll wait until summer when the ground has thawed to put up something more permanent.  Luckily he only got one chicken.

Ice Skaping and Sledding

What the heck is “skaping”  you ask? Well, it’s an aweful lot like “ice skating”but done and said by adorable 3 and 5 year olds.

Anberlynn’s PTA hosted a sledding and skating party and the girls had a ton of fun!

Dad got chosen as the best sledding buddy because he pushes the sled as it goes to make it go further and faster.

I love that they are getting old enough to go out and do winter sports. When they were littler they hated being all bundled up. Now just look at that grin!

Anberlynn was having so much fun with her Dad that Evelyn and I went and did the skating thing on our own.

This is only the second time Evelyn had ever been on the ice. She stayed up pretty well and the shuffle she called “skaping” was pretty adorable.  

This couldn’t have come at a better time. January is tough for me with so little sun light and it being so cold. I definitely needed to just get out and do something!

What are you doing to stay active in the winter?

Resolutions

Some people are really into the whole New Years Resolution thing and others aren’t. To me it seems like the year end holidays were the last push of a huge marathon and now, for just a little bit, there’s a moment to catch your breath and look back at how you did on that race. Did you give up half way through? Did you fall but get back up again? Did you learn from the rough spots? Were you better for it in the end? And, most importantly, what are you going to do to make it better next time?

With that in mind here are some of my resolutions and why I chose them:

1. Cleaning. Last year I made the switch to vinegar as my main cleaner, gathered my cleaning supplies into containers under each bathroom sink, and started making to do lists. All of that has helped me stream line cleaning and I hope to learn a few more tricks this year. A clean house makes me feel awesome.
2. Journaling. Last year I tried smash booking. It is a fun, portable way of getting memories written down. My biggest secret fear is forgetting. Dementia scares me to death. I want to be better about writing in my journals, smash booking, and scrapbooking. Blogging falls into this category too. I’ve been sucky about keeping up with records and I've got the blog stats to prove it.
3. Money. People groan about this one just like they groan about the group of newbies that just joined the gym. But, for me, it needs to be done. Car and house repairs completely wiped out our budget last this year. And it sucked. This year is a year for rebuilding and getting back on track.
4. Spiritual. As a family we really slacked off on going to church this year. I used work and home stuff as an excuse but really, there’s no reason why I couldn’t have sat down with my scriptures or some music for a minute. This year that will change. I need the peace and the strength that it brings me.
5. Finish. My word of the year. We have had so much going on that there were a lot of things we started and didn't have a chance to finish. The entry needs primed and painted. The backyard needs some gravel. The recessed lighting we got last January is still sitting in the garage. The goal here is to be able to walk around my house and not have to explain why the flooring is here but not there. I want to be relaxed when I am in my own home, not stressed about what I haven’t done.

Whew! Think I can take it on? It’s a week and a half in and so far I’m doing good! 

Are you a resolution maker? Do you start yours at a different time of the year? Or do you just wing it?

Word Of The Year

How is everyone out there? This last year was a whirlwind of things going wrong and I am to excited to get back on track!

Last year I chose the word Simplify for my word of the year. It ended up working really well because sometimes that was all I had left to do after the chaos drained all the money, transportation, and often time. But you don’t need a lot of those things to take a minute out and get back to basics. The trash can is always right there, ready for a purge. Any box makes a great donation bin. And you can do more than you think with beans and rice! The most important part of it was spending time with family. They don’t need a lot of fancy things, and time is golden. It was such a refreshing mantra for me and I hope that you try it for yourself one year!

So…..are you ready for this years word?

Finish.

We have lots of things in the garage just begging to be done, walls that need a little primer, a backyard that could use some TLC, scrapbooks that need put together, stuff that just really needs done. Most of it won’t cost much to do and a bunch of it will be free too.

When I ditched our third bedroom in favor of a craft room I really tried to finish off everything that I could. Sure, one day it could have new baseboards and I’d like all the furniture to be white. There are always tweaks to be made. Overall though, I am at peace with it. There are only two spaces in my entire house that I can say that about, the craft room and the entry way. I’d like to say that about all of it.

So that’s my mantra for this year. to Finish. To tie up loose ends. To bring what we have into full use. To be at peace with my home.