Sorry about neglecting the site . . . again.  Things have just been so crazy around here with still being pregnant sick, having appointments, getting Abigail’s big girl room ready, new baby planning, moving furniture, organizing, and prepping for Abigail’s birthday, along with the usual housewife stuff I need to do.

Our house looks pretty rough right now– as far as clutter and organization.  I’m typing from in the DINING room.  We used to have an office, but now, that’s turning into Abigail’s big girl room.  As I look around the dining room, there are SIX tables/desks in here: the kitchen table, my computer desk, Jonathan’s computer desk, my sewing machine desk, Abi’s play table, and the new baby’s changing table.  Wow.

Over the weekend, Jonathan and I cleaned out the office/guest room/storage closet.  Then he tore out an intercom and patched it up with drywall, primed the room, and painted the baseboards.  Then, we tediously measured and taped off one wall.  Thank goodness my measurements I had done earlier in February were accurate!

Then, I took Abigail over to my parents to take a nap so Abigail and Baby wouldn’t be around all the fumes and noise.  Earlier that week, our friends offered to come help Jonathan paint the room.  Yea for good friends.

And here’s what the other walls look like:

Definitely very pink.  Oh well, Abigail loves it.  So, we just have to replace the outlets and switches and covers, get new carpet, insulate the windows, figure out what I’m gonna do for window treatments (any ideas, when the windows are narrow and don’t touch the ground?), move in her furniture, and it’s all hers.

If I get any comments/emails about the block wall, I’ll try to do a tutorial of how to make it happen . . . but not this week.  I’m getting my braces off (!), buying stuff for Abigail’s party, making the cake and dip and drinks, etc, and working on Abigail’s video of year 1-2.  I can’t believe she’ll be TWO on Sunday.

**Oh, and by the way, since our Vday project, here’s what I had to do for Jonathan: 1) Write and perform a rap song about Jonathan, 2) Watch a Sci-Fi movie of his choosing (YUCK!).  Here’s what he drew for me to do: 1) Bring Lori a blizzard, 2) Play wii with Lori.  Now, who do you think got it rough?!

I was going to write about this prior to Vday to give y’all a free gift idea, but I didn’t want to spoil the surprise to Jonathan.  Sorry, I guess I love him more.

Anyway, here’s a gift you can do at any time, not just Vday:

I covered some canisters with paper and stickers.

Here are the rules:

His & Hers Requests

-Write 46 things (since there are 46 weeks left in the year) that we want the other spouse to do with us or with us.

-Put those sheets of paper in your canister, and then we will swap canisters.

-On Sundays, we will each pull a strip of paper out of each other’s jar, and we’ll have to do whatever the spouse asked for.
-We will have the whole week to do the request.

-We will put the papers (with the writing hidden) on our bathroom mirror as a reminder.

On Sunday, Jonathan and I each drew one strip of paper (his were blue; mine were pink).

I don’t know what he’ll be doing for me or when, but I’m pretty nervous about what I’m supposed to do for him.  I’ll update you after I do his request.

I got this idea from an article I read, and I was happy that Jonathan was super excited about this project.  Yea for a good, free gift!  This way, we can work on showing love in the ways we want to receive it.

Do you have any good, cheap ideas for gifts??

Here’s the tutorial for how to make a crinkle square mini blanket with taggies like the one below for a baby.  It’s super easy, quick, and doesn’t cost much.  If you don’t have ribbon on hand, that might be your biggest expense. 

Supplies

• thread
• 2 squares of flannel (I used 9×9 inches)
• ribbons cut to about 4 inches long and folded in half (I used 4 big pieces, 4 medium pieces, and 4 skinny pieces)
• crinkly sheet/package, the same size as your flannel (I used a wrapper from a sample diaper I got in the mail).  Some other options: wipes package, microwave popcorn wrappers, chips bag, clear gift wrap . . . Just make sure that you cut your flannel pieces to whatever size your crinkle sheet ends up being
  

Directions

1. Put one piece of flannel right side up and pin ribbons along the edges with the cut sides off of the flannel.  between the two pieces of material (wrong sides together).
2. Put the second flannel sheet on top of the ribbons right side down.
3. Put the crinkle sheet on top of the flannel and pin all layers together.
4. Sew along all the edges– except, make sure to leave a big enough section not sewn so that you can turn the blanket right side out.  Take the pins out.
5. After sewing, turn the blanket right side out.
6. Then, sew all the way around the square, and you’re done!

   

Back in November, we decided to grow my daughters hair out, but her hair kept getting in her eyes.  Bows come in and out easily, so I decided I’d try to make her some headbands.  You could make some for yourself, too, and your daughter might be extra excited about wearing headbands, just like Mommy.

Materials Needed:

• material
• an elastic hair band/ponytail holder without the metal
• coordinating thread

Instructions

1. Measure around your toddler’s head to the nape of her neck.
2. Cut your material to the appropriate size and iron flat.  [Cut a rectangle that is double the width of what you want your headband to end up, plus about 1/2 in for seam allowance and 3 inches less than measurement you got from step 1.  I think I cut mine 3.5 x 15.5inches.  If you want it to be reversible with two different patterns, cut accordingly.]
3. Measure in on the bottom ends in about 1/2 “  on each side and mark, draw a line up to the top corners and you will have a tapered rectangle.
4. Fold right sides together “hot dog style” and iron flat.
5. Then pin together and sew around, but leave a “U shape” opening in the bottom, as if you were sewing a pillow.
6. Turn tube of fabric inside out and iron flat.  Also, fold a 1/4 inch or so on each end and iron down.
7. Put elastic pony tail on one end inside the flap created in step 6.  Fold the 1/4 over the pony tail, and sew straight down.
8. Do the same with the other side.
9. And you’re all done.

I made the headband in the pictures and a pink one.  I also made a reversible one: one side black and one side red.  Abi loves them.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Just a little note to say that I have done a few crafty projects that I thought I’d share with you . . . sometime.  I just need to write up some tutorials.  So, you can look forward to learning how to make:

• Baby Square Crinkle Mini Blanket

• Fabric Headbands

• Baby Legwarmers (I’m still working on these, so I haven’t uploaded the pictures, yet.

I love these soaps from Bath and Body Works.  Not only do they smell great, but they’re soft on your hands, and it’s so much easier for Abi to wash her hands with the “bubble soap.”

I had even put them on my wish list for Christmas this year because we just ran out of the bottles in our kitchen and guest bathroom.  Then, I discovered there might be a way to make the foaming soap with regular soap and save lots of money.  Easy and super quick.

Ingredients

• An empty bottle of Bath & Body Works Gentle Foaming Hand soap
• Any liquid antibacterial soap (I used Bath & Body Works)

Directions

1. Put about an inch of the liquid soap into the empty foaming bottle.
2. Pour water into the bottle pretty slowly.
3. Screw the lid on, and turn the bottle upside down slowly several times.  Try not to shake it up because it’ll get too soapy.  And you’re finished!

Also, you could just keep pouring a little water into your regular Bath & Body works Foamy Soap whenever it gets a low.

*In these pictures I used a creamy hand soap, which didn’t work as well as when I used a liquid hand soap.

If you have a baby like Abigail, you can never have too many burp cloths.  Abigail had GERD, so spitting up was a very regular event.  We literally kept two burp cloths in every room and constantly had cloths over our shoulders.

A lot of the burp cloths that you’ll find in stores are so thin and ineffective for a baby like Abigail.  So, what I found worked best were cloth diapers. But they’re kinda plain, so here’s how you can dress them up.

And I am definitely a novice sewer, so know that these are so easy to make!

Items Needed

• Sewing machine
• Cloth Diapers.  Make sure they’re pre folded and 3-ply
• Ribbon
• Matching Thread and White Thread

Directions

1. Wash the cloth diapers and iron them before you begin sewing, so that sewing the ribbon won’t cause shrinkage.
2. Measure your ribbon for the an inch or so wider than the width of the cloth bottom and cut.
3. Then, fold the ends of the ribbon and iron so you can sew more easily.
4. Sew the ends of the ribbon.
5. Sew the edges of the ribbon onto the bottom of the cloth.  
6. Fold the burp rag like this, and you’re all done.

I’ve never liked Fruit Salad because most of the ones I’ve had at potlucks have marshmallows, gelatin, whip cream, or nuts in them.  But when I tried Diana’s, I loved it.  Here’s the easy, yummy recipe below:

1. Pour 1 Medium can crushed pineapple (in its own juice) into a bowl.
2. Stir in 1 Small box vanilla instant pudding.
3. Then add 3 - 4  Tablespoons of Tang (or you could save this step until the end**)
4. Add any amount of diced fruit: apples (Jonathan said he liked the apples in the mixture, but I didn’t like the hard texture with everything else being softer), grapes, bananas, strawberries, kiwi, oranges, etc.  Cutting up the fruit took awhile, but at least it’s easy and ready to serve right away.

**In hind sight, I think you should wait to mix the Tang until you’ve got your fruit in there.  I think 3 TBS was too much Tang for the amount of fruit I used.

Jonathan wanted a different cake for his bday this year.  I know he’s a fan of Mint Chocolate Chip, so I made him a Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake.

He liked it so much, he had me make another one with Cookies n Cream Ice Cream.  Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 26 Oreo cookies, crushed
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 gallon ice cream, any kind (Mint Chocolate Chip was what he liked best)
• 1 (15 ounce) jar chocolate fudge topping
• 10 ounces of cool whip, thawed

Directions:

1. Reserve about 1/3 cup of cookie crumbs for topping.
2. Mix remaining crumbs with butter, and press into the bottom of a 9×13 inch dish.
3. Freeze for 20 minutes.
4. Put 1 layer of ice cream (1/2 of ice cream) on top of the crumbs.
5. Put 1 layer of hot fudge (1/2 of hot fudge) on top of the ice cream.
6. Put remaining 1/2 of ice cream.
7. Put down remaining 1/2 of hot fudge.
8. Freeze for 20 minutes.
9. Spread the cool whip on top.
10. Freeze until ready to serve.
11. Sprinkle with the 1/3 cup of cookie crumbs on top just before serving.

I love lasagna when its made without ricotta or cottage cheese.  Just give me the mozzarella, and I’m good.  My Grandma makes the best lasagna, but she uses a tomato paste mixture, etc.  I found it easier to just use spaghetti sauce, so, here’s my altered recipe for Lasagna from my Grandma:

Ingredients

• 1-1.5 lbs of Ground Beef, depending on how much meat you like
• 32 oz of Spaghetti Sauce
• 1/4 cup of Water
• 9 Lasagna Noodles
• 3 cups of Mozzarella Cheese (I also add some Parmesan blend)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine sauce, meat, and water.
3. Spread 1 1/4 cup of suace mixture on the bottom of a 9×13 dish.
4. Top with half of the Uncooked lasagna noodles.
5. Top with half of the mozzarella cheese
6. Repeat all layers (sauce, noodles, cheese).
7. Cover tightly with foil, and bake for 1 hour.