So nice to meet you again...

As I sat down today prepared to enjoy the peace and quiet and intending to reacquaint myself with blogging I realized that I actually missed the noise and chaos that typically consumes our day. I don’t hear the sound of ballerina shoes clicking on the hardwood floors or heavy work boots stomping down the hallway. Even the world outside seems quieter, only the sound of soft raindrops against the window.

Everyone is off in their own direction today but here I sit contemplating not only the directions we are going in but also where we are coming from. A new year has begun and although it seems hard to believe at the moment I can just feel the newness resonating within it. Our little family has had so many small adventures in this past year and I can assure you that this is only the beginning. Many exciting (and slightly scary) changes are in store for us in the coming year. I hope you hang on for the ride, it’s sure to be a good one.

We're Expanding

I'm sorry I've been a bad blogger. I told you in my last post that we're expanding the house and that's why I've been so bad lately. Well we are but it is a small addition, only 2 feet.

The addition won't be complete until May but of course I hope to be back to my old self and posting again in only a couple more weeks. Until then please hang in there with me.

Could it get any better?

Seriously, doesn't this look like the best day ever? Don't tell hubby about this picture though. He thought I was taking pictures of the Sweet Pea, but I just couldn't resist. No, the dog isn't ours. It actually belongs to someone on the block who does not take care of it at all and as such it has adopted us. It's cute and makes an adorable photograph, but needs to go home. Could it get any cuter than this though?




Okay it did get cuter. We were out in the backyard picking up acorns. Dh wanted to pick them up to feed the deer with or something and I knew it would be the perfect activity for the Sweet Pea. She loves putting things in buckets. It was such a nice sunny day we just had to hang out outside for a while.

She's really getting good at deciding what she thinks needs to be photographed lately. I have tons of pictures of toes, socks, shoes, tongues, teeth, bellies and now acorns.

~I know I've been slacking off lately with crafty posts but I really do have a good reason. We're expanding the house so that has taken up all of my time and energy. More on that in the next couple days though.

Backtracking--Attack the Clutter Part 1

In my yard sale post I said “I mentioned before that I’m getting rid of the clutter that has taken over my house” but I just realized that this post never got posted. Ugh. It was finished sitting there just waiting for me to hit that button and I never did. So I’m going to back track a little bit and post it now. Hope you don’t mind.

Clutter has taken over my house. Forget the house; it’s taken over my entire life as of late. I was looking around this past week and suddenly had the overwhelming urge to find a hole in the sand to stick my head in. I swear I don’t know how this happens. I like to think of myself as a person who likes to live simply and keep things neat and organized. That’s how I like to think of myself. Apparently while I wasn’t looking the pod people came and now I’m a person living amidst junk and clutter. The bathroom cabinets are stuffed to the brim, our closets are bursting and don’t even get me started on the Sweet Pea’s toys. The magazine rack is overflowing and there are papers stacked everywhere; on top of the refrigerator, tables, the armoire…everywhere. Ugh. I tell myself that they are important papers that I can’t throw away, but if they are that important then I should file them. I know this. In fact, I know how to get organized and be clutter free. I’ve written articles about it, advised other people with great organizing tips and techniques and even used to live it. I’ve just gotten complacent. I’ve turned my head when unwanted items have drifted into the house, closed my eyes when the clutter first started to appear. Suddenly I’ve opened my eyes and it’s everywhere. It’s time to take back my life and my house.

Surely I’m not the only one that has been ambushed by clutter. I’m not right? Please tell me it’s not just me. That’s the thing about clutter, it’s sneaky. At first it’s just some unopened mail or a couple extra toys lying about but before you know it you can’t even open cabinet doors without something falling out at you. Okay, maybe I’m not being attacked by things when I open doors, but it’s getting scarily close. Too close for my liking. We’re trying to get back to living simply around here and more ecologically friendly as well so a lot of changes are going to be taking place.

It’s time to attack the clutter that has taken over our lives and invaded our space; Time to regain the tranquility that our home should provide us. As I tackle the clutter in my house I will take you on the journey with me. I will address some common (and not so common) clutter hot spots and highlight some creative and often simple solutions to get rid of the clutter and keep it from coming back. Together we shall rid the world of clutter. Well maybe not the world but at least our living rooms.

Okay now that I’ve said that obviously one of the first steps I took was to sort through some of the large clutter I had in my house (and in storage) and have a yard sale. While it was quite effective at removing some of the larger stuff we had hanging around, by no means did it solve our clutter dilemma. There is still plenty left that I must tackle.

Fabric Flower Fun

I told you we did some crafting while we were on our little vacation. The rain continued to fall the entire time we were gone and I realized I didn't pack enough clothing for the cooler weather so we made a late night trip to Joanns one night to pick up some adorable corduroy to make the Sweet Pea some more pants. I took a few scraps of the fabric left over from my mom making the pants (and 2 pairs of pajama pants) and decided to make one of these little fabric flowers I had seen a while back.




I like the way it turned out but I definitely learned a little while I was making it. I intended to make it into a clip but only had pony tail holders with me. I definitely would put some felt or something on the back to attach the pony tail holder to instead of trying to attach it directly. Not bad for a first attempt. I have fabric cut out to make several more.




This is the closest thing I could get to an action shot of the flower. Why I didn't realize it would be next to impossible to get an almost 2 year old to hold still for a photo is beyond me.



Aren't the pants cute? By the way this is the face you get when you tell her to say "cheese" before you take the picture. That and she said the sun was too bright and she couldn't see. Picky, picky.

Just chilling out. We need to learn to do more of that.

I've been doing more crafting since I've been home but not much. I haven't finished much between unpacking, cleaning, making more salsa (10 more quart jars so far) and burning the you know what out of my hand. I've been working on a few things for the 80's Fantasy Movie Swap that I'm doing over at Meridian Ariel and I can't wait to share them. I can't spoil the surprise though so you'll just have to wait. My hand feels much better today so I might be able to actually use a crochet hook again in a day or two. *Make sure you have a good grip on your pot holder when taking an extremely hot pan out of the oven. Ugh.

Home again, Home again

I'm up to my elbows in laundry and the makings for salsa so I must be home again. It was a quick, whirlwind type trip and I'm glad to be home and back into our regular routine. The Sweet Pea is beyond happy to be home. She hasn't wanted to go anywhere since we got back. She actually cheered when we returned from a quick trip to the bank yesterday. Seriously, we pulled in front of the house and she cheered. So sad.

It was a nice trip though. We did a lot of running around and shopping of course. My main goal while there was to visit an antique store in Weatherford that also had fabric. We did manage to make it there and it didn't disappoint. Well, maybe it disappointed a little. I went there in search of this fabric (in yellow) and of course they didn't have it anymore. Don't worry about me though, I still managed to find a bit of fabric that I couldn't resist. I splurged and treated myself to these fabrics.

I say splurge but really they were only $3.95 a yard and I only bought a 1/2 a yard of the cowboy boot fabric to make a skirt for the Sweet Pea. You can't beat that. I'm not sure what I'll do with the other though. I just couldnt' resist the adorable little cowgirls. I'm thinking some sort of picnic blanket or something. Aren't they adorable?

We also made it back to Central Market before we left. I know, I know, but I wanted to buy some fresh dill so I didn't have to use up the rest of my seeds. I also bought all the salsa making supplies while I was there and the rest of the salsa I make this year will be made with organic ingredients. It's hard to explain how happy that makes me. Next year will be even better since I plan on growing all the ingredients in my very own garden. I had no idea the salsa would become so popular and my garden is having a hard time keeping up with supplying all the ingredients. Thankfully my father in law's garden is helping pick up the slack. Next year hopefully we'll only have to purchase the limes. I can't wait.

I need to get back to making salsa though. I have a couple 5 gallon buckets full of tomatoes waiting for me. It's so nice to be home.

Don't worry though I have some crafting to show you tomorrow. Just because we were on "vacation" doesn't mean we didn't do any crafting.

Central Market

So what do you do when you're little and stuck in your carseat on a long trip?



You take your skirt out of your bag and wear it on your head of course. Does she not look like one of those scary lizard-dinosaurs from Jurassic Park? Okay, maybe it's just me but that's what I thought of the instant I saw her. By the way, that's actually an adorable skirt that the grandma (my mom) made for her last week. Hopefully we'll have some action shots soon. That would require the rain in Texas to stop for five minutes.

We've finally made it to Fort Worth (actually we made it yesterday) and after much unloading and rearranging we headed out today to do some shopping. On our way to the fabric store we got sidetracked by Central Market. This is by far the best grocery store on the planet. It doesn't even seem right to call it a grocery store since it's just so much more. From the moment you walk up to the door to see a rack of small paper bags that are ready to be filled with the even smaller pumpkins (and yes the Sweet Pea did get one) you know you are in for a treat.

Next is a huge array of organic herbs, tons of produce, fresh meat and seafood and then a bakery. A bakery filled with yummy breads and sweets and even a tiramisu cupcake (I resisted and it was hard). I can't forget the cheeses, deli, fresh fruit salads, olives, sherbet and more.

By far my favorite section were the bins filled with dried fruits, nuts, rice, grains, spices, tea and coffee beans. I loved the option to pick and choose small amounts of new items (and some of our old favorites) and not get stuck with a huge package of something we end up not liking.




The Sweet Pea got to pick some of her favorite treats to make her own yummy snack mix. It is so nice to be able to control exactly what is in her snack mix and not end up with a lot of things she won't eat or worse, things that melt and ruin the entire thing. She chose banana chips, dried cranberries, peanuts, sunflower seeds and diced dried pineapple. I was able to get all of this to make her yummy snack for just over $1.00 and it's exactly what she likes. You can't beat that.

I loved finding pickling spices and mustard seeds in the bins. I was able to get a much better price than I can at home buying pre-packaged spices. Seriously they were ridiculously cheap and I have no idea why I didn't get more. We're discussing going back tomorrow and if we do I'll get more then and more of the yummy pimento cheese we ate for dinner. Oh and some of the awesome flavors of organic granola they had.

I was seriously blown away by the sheer amount of organic food they had on hand. It makes me really jealous. I called the Hubby while we were shopping to inform him that we would be moving to Fort Worth so that this would be our permanent shopping place. He told me I was crazy and he was not moving just for a grocery store. Fine. I feel really sad for all of us in Oklahoma who don't have a grocery store like this though. It would make it so much easier to eat more organically. I have yet to find something like this in our area but it really makes me want to start doing some research. Even the Sweet Pea loved it because they had so many samples all throughout the store and she just ate her way through the shopping. It made it go so much smoother.

Is it sad that I'm this excited about a grocery store? Probably, but it was really great and I really think I'll be going back again tomorrow. Maybe I should get out more?