Back to School

The best part about back to school as a kid was getting new clothes. Now that I am a mom I realize I am mean. (Duh.) I try to hide some of the new clothes from my kids--like long jeans and sneakers because it's still too hot. Well, I gave in on the shoe thing but I hid the long pants because I don't want to see holes in their jeans by October. And since I am sewer extraordinaire I made Ilene some smocks. How cute are these? But who am I kidding--the best part about back to school is having 2 out of the 3 kids gone 7 hours a day. As evidenced by my favorite commercial of all time--Staples "Back to School".

Pretty Patchwork Pillows

I have lots of odd scraps of linen lying around. So I decided to put them to good use and make the girls some pillows for their beds. I don't think they'll mix 'em up. I love the coordinating stripe and am sad that I am getting down to just scraps of that as well. It has served me well though in making the girls' roman shades and dust ruffles. Always a sucker for polka dots and a good stripe.

Kitchen Shelves

We've lived in our house for two years now. And for two years I have been staring at this big blank wall in my kitchen wondering how to fill it up with stuff. I had three options--1) A large buffet with a hutch, 2) A large buffet with shelving, and 3) a large buffet with tons of framed art (or one large art piece). I finally decided what I wanted--option #2. So I ordered my buffet and then went to Ikea and bought these amazing stainless steel shelves. Could I blog about Ikea more than I already do? I love, love how these shelves turned out. It's going to be another 6 weeks before I can replace this thrift store table with my gorgeous buffet--check back then to see the full impact photo. Yee haw!

The Wild Wild West

If we had lived 150 years ago in Utah (like we do now) or in California (like we used to *sniff sniff*) then we may have made our living in the wild west living like this.

Put Your Feet Up

I'm a sucker for a good ottoman. They make my feet happy. My family room ottoman (purchased at T.J. Maxx a few years ago) was looking pretty shabby. So I bought these two little ottomans at Ikea last week (only $43 without the cover!) and made them some snazzy covers. You like, no? Me like.

Not the Summer of Cynthia

Summer is pretty much over. Oh sure, the mercury will continue to remain high for another month or so, but my kids start school in one week, so really, it’s over. I am openly rejoicing that the kids will go back to school, and privately mourning that this was not the summer of Cynthia. Summer of Cynthia, what’s that you ask? Well, if you read my blog regularly and you know me at all, you know that I hate everything about winter—coats, snow, muddy slush, and especially washing my hands in icy water out of the tap. (Our water heater is on the second floor so it takes 2-3 minutes to get hot.) Now, here are 4 points what would’ve made this a Summer of Cynthia.

1. If I had planted my tomato plants earlier (although we did have frost in June so they would've died anyway) I would already be eating homegrown ones instead of still eating store bought ones. Gag.

2. Snow in June. See this post.

3. If BYU hadn’t changed their pool policy to students and faculty only I would’ve gone swimming more than three times this whole summer. And I actually had 3 cute suits for this summer. (Leftover from Hawaii last fall.) Our city has one outdoor public swimming pool. One!!!

4. A vacation with just me and my little family. Alas, summer is when my poor husband must become a work-a-holic due to all the types of clients he has, so he can hardly get time off. He did take two days off to be stay-at-home-dad while I went to YW camp, 1 day to drive to California to see my family and 2 days to go to Idaho for his family reunion. Every year we say this is the year we’ll go to Arches National Park, hike the narrows in Zion National Park, or go to Yellowstone. *insert big sigh here*

I am not joking when I say that summer fills my happiness canteen and gets me through the winter. Since the canteen was never filled I'm a bit worried about my sanity. Thanks goodness I love to bake cakes and make hot soup. That will be my prescription sooner than I'd like to think to get me through the icy days ahead.

Fun Find

I found these amazing modern vinyl decals from another etsy seller. His shop name is One Up Designs. I can't believe how cute these turned out! I want everything in his shop. Oh drat, there go my own etsy profits for a while. They are such a refreshing alternative to all those other very cutesy decals out there. Hooray for modern!

(Yes, I know the girls' room is in serious need of some TLC but it's good enough for now. I never said I was a perfectionist.)

Friends, Friends, Friends!

Do you remember that I Love Lucy episode where Lucy is feeling all alone because everyone forgot her birthday and so she is sitting on a park bench crying her eyes out when a marching band of people comes along to cheer her up? They called themselves the “Friends of the Friendless” and quickly cheered Lucy up and even got her to march in the band. I always loved that episode, for reasons of humor of course and not because I think a band should go around looking for sad and lonely people. (Creepy.) But if there were such a band for the Friends of the Friendless, they’d never stop for me, because I have many, many wonderful friends.

This picture is of just a handful of my dearest friends. Six years ago we started having lunch together as friends and neighbors and today we still do our best to get together once a week (during the school year at least) and have lunch. (Can you guess by the picture who was hosting this day?) Oh sure, we have 22 children between the 5 of us (of the 5 pictured here, even more when you add a couple other gals) but that never stopped women from getting together and building bonds of friendship. Ok, so one of us moved to Washington but she still gets together with us often.

We swap babysitting so we can volunteer at school, we take each other meals when babies are born, we travel together, we take each other scrumptious chocolate cakes for birthdays, we let each other know when there is a good sale on kids clothes, we can peaches, pears, and make jam together, we decorate, sew, and paint each other’s houses, started a vegetable and food co-operative in the neighborhood, and even organize each other’s messy pantries and closets.

We all value education and are either working on our degrees, have college degrees, have master degrees, and one is even heading to law school in the fall! Some of us work all the live-long day at home and some of us work all the live-long day at home and outside the home. We are all different as can be and that’s why we’re such good friends. Who wants to be friends with someone just like you? No thanks, that’s boring. I can talk to myself if that’s what I wanted.

We are all women who know—we know the purpose of life, we know the truthfulness of His Gospel, and we work super duper hard to forward His work at church and within our homes. We’re obviously very religious, but not in a weird-o Bible thumping, wear-your-religion-on-your proverbial sleeve kind of way. We believe in families and know that families are the foundation of any successful society. (Hence all the children.) Being a mother hasn’t put any of us in shackles, but rather has taught us how much the individual matters. Who doesn’t want to be loved and cared for?

And if you are tired just reading this blog, imagine how tired we all are at the end of the day. No wonder we get together for Kelly’s Thai Noodle Wraps or Robyn’s Basil and Herb Chicken. No wonder we love each other so much.