1952 dress

Here is a dress I made this week, and I have to say my favorite part is the shoes! It is from a 1952 reproduction pattern (Butterick something or other in case you are interested.)... it is made from 100% cotton, so in the 50's this would have been a more casual dress. I had to modify it a bit, adding some here and there to make more of a sleeve, and the black bow across the front to help keep the extra fabric I added in place and to break up the front, which ended up looking a little like a hospital gown. I love the fabric, it is from Denise Schmidt "Katie Jump Rope". Kacy took the picture of me, and with some creative Photoshopping, it doesn't look too bad.

turning 30

Today I turned 30 years old. We had a little swim party at my friend Jenny's house with a TON of kids (who swam the whole time) and their moms, with a grandma too! Everyone seemed to have a good time. My kids have a love/hate relationship with the water. They hate to love it. They get intimidated, but that's okay. It keeps them a little safer. I was nervous almost the whole time; I kept doing head counts for the three kids and could never fully relax. But it was fun! My thoughts on being the big 3-0: According to my mom, 50 is the new 30, so that makes 30... the new 20? I'd rather be 30 than 20 any day! I think I'll feel "old" when I turn 40, because my kids will be old. Personally, I think getting older is easier because there is less uncertainty. I love that Ryan's grandma was talking to my grandma's at a family party once and one of my grandma's looked at me and said, "Oh to be young again", and Ellen said "I wish I was 72 again. That was a good age." That is my goal! I want to be wishing to be 72 someday. That's awesome! So what is it like being 30? No different than 29, and way better than 20. I'm done with school (what a pain THAT was), I have a good hubby, three kids who can make me laugh and cry within the same day, and a puppy that needs to learn manners. I am venturing into being a micro-small business owner. My life right now is fun, if not busy.

Who needs Disneyland?

We had to take Ryan to pick up his truck this morning, and I told the kids we'd have donuts for breakfast since we were out. Will asked for donuts and soda, but I told him no. We went into town and visited our new favorite place, the donut shop. We had never been there before. When we were getting out of the car, Kacy said "Mom! This is going to be so exciting!" We went in, picked out a donut ( Kacy picked a pink one, Will got a white one, and Ed had donut holes) got some juice, and ate them inside. It was awesome! We ate donuts, we watched people coming in and out of the store, the kids were exceptionally well behaved. They asked when we can go again. All for under $7.00!

A few random thoughts

I was struggling last week with what to blog, it was a real stretch for me. But the last few days have been awesome, so I have something to say.



First, I made my niece SaraJane a cute dress/shirt with bloomers- I love the bloomers. LOVE THEM. Here is link so you can see her in it. You can't see her bloomers, but they are made of the polka dot material. http://www.michael-kendra.blogspot.com/ Kendra wants a matching set for her other daughter Gracie. Which brings me to my next subject...

I am opening an Etsy store. I am going to make children's clothing. I'm not looking to make big bucks, but maybe fund my habit (of sewing and looking at fabrics...). I have a few ideas in the works, and am working on my pricing. I can't sew for free, because the materials I use cost money, and since I've developed a skill, that skill is worth something.

Jocelyn and I are official insane. We have way too many ideas in our collective heads for what is good for us. I will keep you posted on THAT later. Think "CRAFTY"

I have quit the triathlon. It was stressing me out that I couldn't workout everyday like I wanted to, and I was starting to grow resentful of my whole family for not cooperating with me. So, I made a mature decision that I will just have to wait until my kids are old enough to watch after themselves for 30 minutes or more. I guess my goal for fitness will be to just be healthy. And fit. My new goal is to become "hot"... hee hee. I am going to work on doing my hair regularly, wearing nicer clothes when I go out, all the things "hot" girls do. I should probably wax my eyebrows too.

Last thing- I love the blogs. I read other people's, and I feel like I know all these people! For example- there is this girl Emily that I was friends with when we were freshman in high school. I transferred to a different school when I was a sophomore, but still saw her in seminary (but that doesn't count because who is really awake at that time in the morning???) I saw her a few times after high school before we both left town, but we never really talked. Why? I know on my end, I was like "Hey, there's Emily!" but I let the bad part of my personality take over. The part of me that was like "She probably doesn't remember you" and "what are you going to say to her anyway?" and "you're just a big dork, no one cares what you say." and "your wearing ugly clothes and your hair is frizzy." I saw her last week and a family function, because is this really weird way we are now kinda sorta related. We talked, and it was fun. All because of the blogs. You can see that other people are just like you, have the same stuff going on, and that there is nothing to be intimidated about. I've gotten over most of my insecurity, so that I don't care what people think anymore, but I'm still not as friendly as I want to be. I want to be one of those people who sees someone new in church and says hi, welcome, how are you... instead I am the girl who smiles and walks on by. But I'm getting better! oh, and I still know that I am a dork and I will always have frizzy hair, but I don't care. Isn't self acceptance great?

Today's sunset from our house

Yum! Dog food is my favorite!

For those of you not aware, Ed likes to eat dog food. He is eating it in this picture. I take it as a signal that he is hungry, and I get him real food, but he just seems to like it.

What we're doing this week

Here are a few things I've heard this week:



From Kacy: "But mom, how does it get out of your head?" (After talking about dying and trying to explain that we have bodies and spirits and our spirits go to live with Heavenly Father while our bodies stay in the ground after we die. Kacy had brought up our dogs Hank and Willie, who died last year, and said she was waiting for them to come back. Hence, the next part of our convo. I told her to ask her dad.)



From Will: "Hey mom, where are we going? We going to church?" (Not funny in itself, except that it was this morning, and he asked me because I was trying to fix his hair. Apparently he noticed that I only care what his hair looks like on Sunday mornings.)



From Ed: "Hoooonnnn-daaaaaa!" after I went to the door to call the dog. That is one of his three words.



I'm sure Ryan said something funny too, but I was too distracted by what Ryan did that was fuuny. Poor Ryan has hdd a really hard week. Hot weather and summer vacation bring out the crazies up here. A fire, a bandit, and crazy campers...



Me- I'm always funny. Just ask me, I'll tell you. (You know that's a joke *hee hee* if you truly know me.)

sizes have changed...

I was looking at vintage sewing patterns, and the sizing on these things are skinny! Here is an example for all you "size 10" girls out there... in the 1960's, a size ten had these measurements: Bust: 31 waist 23 hips 33. those are in inches. Has the clothing industry gone soft and adjusted the numbers to make us feel better? OR have we gone soft (around the middle...) OR (here's my personal opinion) is nutrition these day just SOOO much better that we are taller, have bigger feet, and hence, bigger booties too? (too a point you know... always be healthy!)

on being... ONE

A lot of people ask me if any of my other kids were as big as Ed is. (He's not huge, just a little... big). I always say "I think Kacy was, but Will was more normal sized". I looked up the facts in the baby books, and here's the scoop. At 12 months old, Kacy was 30 inches, 23 pounds. Will was 31.5 inches, 24.7 pounds. Ed is 32 inches, and 25.1 pounds. SOOOO, I was wrong about Will and Kacy! None of them have been petite, but Ed isn't the monster baby after all. AND a lot of people think he looks like Will, but I'm not too sure. Maybe it's the short hair. (Poor Kacy didn't have hair when she was one... both the boys had/have WAY more.)

CA legless lizard

http://www.wildherps.com/species/A.pulchra.html

This link will take you to see a California Legless Lizard. The third picture down looks a lot like the one Honda found and ate.

Guess who? It's me and Kendra!

--Kendra and I in the early 80's... I think it's 1981 or 1982. Taken at my Grandma's ranch in Woody, CA. I posted this for my mom- she wanted to see it because I told her I found this picture and was scanning it into my computer. Ryan saw it and said "That looks just like Will and SaraJane"... so when I get creative, I will pose Will and SaraJane and post both pics to compare.

--Saturday night I had a scare... Honda was outside and started barking frantically. I went to check on him, and he was barking at a baby snake. Ryan came out and said it was a worm. I said no way was that big ol' thing a worm... baby snake for sure. Then I was thinking "where is it's momma?" and "I hope the dog brought from far away just to play with it..." I don't like snakes, and I live in snake country. Anyway, the thing was weird, it kept trying to bury itself in the sand (like a worm)... we had Oscar the biologist look it up for us in some wildlife book and found out it was neither a snake or a worm, but a California legless lizard. (Technically, isn't that a snake????) Kinda creepy. But on the positive side, Honda will watch out for the kids and the creepy wildlife that might get a little close sometimes. That's good. Um, in case you were wondering what we did with the legless lizard, Honda ate it. Yummy!

--Our house plans have been approved with the county, now all we have to do is pay the big, big permit fee and we can start our house. What a long process! But it'll be worth it. (I keep telling myself that, especially when I'm trying to cook in my micro-small kitchen)

--On a triathlon note, I ran Friday and my knees hurt bad. (I'm supposed to get a knee brace (or 2) and go to physical therapy... I refuse because I don't have the time. I know all you medical people out there think it's stupid, and I do too, and that I won't be able to walk when I'm old, blah, blah, blah... I know, I know). Today I stretched a little before running, and they didn't hurt. Which is good, because Friday and Saturday I was thinking "How am I ever going to finish this little triathlon if I can't do the easy part?" I'm already nervous about the swimming, and the biking... I think I'll make a t-shirt that says "If you can read this, I made it out of the water" or "delusional mom of three trying to get her mojo back, feel free to pass". I'm getting nervous about it. I love the water, I love riding a bike (I'm learning to like the speed of downhill a little more- I still hate the sand and the thought of flying over my handlebars, which WILL happen one day, I know it.) I will be the little engine that could, and just have to repeat "I think I can, I think I can..."

some things I've seen the past few days

-a dead snake under my tire in the church parking lot (put there by the young men)
-REAL cowboys- the were rounding up cattle and branding them
-a crow flying over the road with a rabbit in it's clutches
-an old bomber style airplane with props (4 or 6?) flying a few hundred feet over my road (it was forest green) BTW- jets follow our road all the time- practicing going around the points of the mountains and through the valleys- it is very cool. This is the first time I saw a slow humongous plane do it.
-a guy I went to elementary school with and haven't seen since 1991 (the year I graduated Jr. High) who is now my sister's neighbor
-Will acting like a gorilla when he thought no one was looking, beating his chest and doing a weird little dance