The Bachelorette Episode ONE

So I've decided something. The Bachelorette is like five BILLION times more entertaining than the Bachelor. Guy drama is so much more hilarious than girl drama. I just love it.
Lets start with how much I love Frank. I think he would totally be our friend if we knew him in real life...cause he is just silly and unique, acts REAL, and isn't all cocky. And he just seems sooooooooo super happy about life. I like that.

Craig. Ehhh...Clay and I really couldn't help LAUGHING OUR HEADS OFF every time the camera paused on him. Is this guy for real? First off, his hair and outfit are just goofy. Second, he acts like he is the coolest guy on the planet, which everyone understands is one of the most unattractive attitudes EVA!

Weatherman. I don't know his name. I just know that he seems a little bit childish. The hubs and I both agreed that he has some growing up to do...poor guy.

Roberto. Yeah- we like him. He just seems like a normal guy, which pretty much rocks in Bachelor/Bachelorette world. When there are so many psycho's, normal people allow me to take a breather every once in a while during the show.

Shooter. HAHHAHAHAHA! Okay. I don't really care about the reason he got this nick name, I care that he is CRAZY. Who in their right mind would EVER share this kind of story on a first date? Let alone- in the first minute that you meet someone?!?!?! That is not really showing much for your social skills. Oh yeah- and by the way? Did you ever think that just incase you might not get Ali- you may not want to share that really unfortunate story with the entire nation? Yeah. Probably not.

Rated R. hehhe. So I do think it's mighty silly that this guy is an entertainer wrestler- cause lets face it. Anything to do with Entertainment Wrestling is VERRRRY silly. BUT- I really didn't think this guy did anything to warrant all the guys criticism. He was pretty cool for the most part and we think we're gonna give him a chance.

Funny randomness that happened:

• Guy wearing cowboy boots because Ali supposedly wore them when she met Jake. Wow. I don't blame Ali at ALL for letting this sucker go. This was just a dead giveaway that he doesn't pay attention!
• Guys saying- "My family would LOVE Ali". HA- how do you know that? Do you know Ali? In fact, your family knows her as well as you know her at this point....
• Guys with the same names. Was this some joke on ABC's part- to confuse Ali and viewers to HECK with like...not one guy having a name that another guy doesn't have? Yowsa. A billion Chris, Craig, Tyler, and John's.
• One guy looked just like Toby from the office. I can't remember who it was but everytime I looked at him I saw Toby...and she picked him! Anyway.....

This is definitely going to be a GOOD SEASON. Looks like it'll be chalk-full of drama...which is basically the whole point of this blessed show. I don't know why but this show just makes me happy. It's so silly and funny and I just love it.

By the way I watched American Idol last night live for the first time this season...and I have been a LEE fan all along...but Crystal just did so dang good on that last song, I decided to vote for her! But then she tried to be funny with some joke and THEn said something like, "Meow is the time".........................eh. So I voted for Lee 3 times.

Randomness.......................

I made these little clutches for Patty's birthday a few weeks ago. I LOVE THEM! I have leftover fabric so I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be making some for myself too. They are super easy and super fun to make! I got the tutorial from here.

They are awesome because they have pockets on the inside, a divider pocket, a zipper, and are basically way cute.

I decided on this one that I wanted to put a flower on it. Spice it up a bit. I made the flower with my surger and put it on a pin so she can put it anywhere she wants! .

Right now I am in the SLOW process of taking apart this chair.

Whoever put it together in the first place was a fool and used a staple gun that shot out two at a time, and stapled an inch apart. It's taking FOREVER to to take it apart and I'm so irritated. But I know it will be AWESOME once I'm done with it...so I am excited and still pluggin away at it.

I finished my bedskirt. You can't see it GREAT in the picture, but basically it just has a pleat on each side. I love it. It totally completes the bed. Now I just need to redo my jewelery board, and get some art up, oh- and paint my dressers. Along with the fifty million other projects I have going right now:)

So have any of you heard of bountiful baskets food co-op? We decided to do it this week and HOLY COW- worth it! You pay 15 bucks, and get a ginormo load of produce! We got strawberries, blackberries, lettuce, tomatoes, peaches, apples, oranges, avocados (like 5 of them), coconut, I think squash, and zucchini...not sure exactly...and I think that's it. But we got a TON of each, and they are all way quality and good. I am so PUMPED! http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/ see if it's in your area!

So it snowed yesterday and that was a big fat BUMMER. But it's sun shining again and all is well.

Tonight is the series finale of LOST and I can hardly stand it! In like...9 hours, hopefully I will know all the secrets of the island and be completely satisfied. Clay and I think they're gonna leave us hangin on some level though you know? Like leave it to the person to decide how they best like it. I dunno. I just hope Kate stays on the island with Jack because Jack deserves a love. And even though Kate is annoying most of the time, he loves her- so she should be with him. Even if SHE doesn't deserve HIM. ha, notice the first thing I comment on about this is romance. I'm such a girl.

I have been thinking- and I have TOTALLY seen the difference in my body lately with the no sweets thing. If I ever have anything that has more sugar in it- like whipped cream, or gum that has sugar in it- I get a stomach ache! Right away! When I DO eat really healthy, I totally feel like my body is ontop of the world. And it's cuz there's no sugar in my body to rob all those nutrients! It makes me happy. I am excited to eat a peanut butter swirl brownie though. There's already a plan. I will make peanut butter swirl brownies on June 30, and Lori and I will eat them on July 1st! These brownies taste better as they age. Not joking. Anyway- our six months will be up and we can finally eat some goodies. It'll be nice. I'm nervous I'm gonna get really sick though. I'll just have to limit myself. Which is really the entire point!

I made shredded BBQ Pork pizza the other night for us and our friends and BOY WAS IT DELICIOUS! I first had it at Lizzie's when we visited like 2 or 3 years ago. And I loved it! I finally go the recipe, and did it. It's way easy peasy too. I'll get a recipe up sometime. But ohhhhhhhh deary me...it was wondrous. I have a billion leftovers too so I think I'm gonna make pizza dough and put the shredded BBQ pork on with cheese and freeze them for lunches. YES!

Well....Clay wants to take a nap and claims he sleeps SO MUCH better when I'm there...we only got like 6 hours of sleep last night...which is a VERY small amount for us. We seriously are used to 8+ hours each night. We are still babies, I know. Anyway........I best be off.

The one thing I'm most excited about in this life............

Motherhood. I have been thinking A LOT about it lately. Like....I used to be the type that is so excited to have a BABY. I wanted to have a baby. However, I think I've wanted that for so long, that I've gotten to the point that I am excited to be a MOTHER. There's a difference. I'm not just excited to have a baby, I'm excited to have a toddler, a 10 year old, even a teenager.

My co-worker was telling me about her son's baseball game the other day. He's 10 I think. She talked about how he basically won the game when they were one point ahead, the bases were loaded by the other team, and the batter hit the ball WAYYYYYYYYYYYY out in center field, where her son was. He dove, and caught it, and they won the game. I was watching her and listening to her, and her eyes teared up, and she was so proud. And it just made me SO HAPPY. I thought, I can't wait to be that proud mom, that is telling my friends about something my child did, and tear up about it because I'm so proud of them! I always tell Clay, I know I'm going to be the proudest mom ever- cause I'm already so proud of kids that aren't even mine. Our friend's daughter is like SOOOOOOOOOO close to crawling...and every time she almost does it, I get SO EXCITED- she's not even my child! So I always think to myself- if I am THIS proud of them, imagine how proud the actual parents are!

I'm even excited to raise teenagers. And I know that's like, the scariest thing ever at the same time...cause everything is all messed up in the world anyway right now- so I can't imagine 15 years from now..but I feel like I can do it. I just feel like- isn't that going to be amazing, to have the chance to sit and talk with your teenager when they get home from school each day, at the most PIVOTAL MOMENTS of their life, and teach them right from wrong...be an example...and LOVE THEM! I seriously can't imagine the gratification that will be.

I just feel like the luckiest person ever- because I'm going to have a chance at being a mother someday. So much lately, my aching has surpassed wanting to have a BABY- to just being excited for the entire life of being a MOTHER. I just think every moment will be the best. I know it's going to be the hardest job ever- and that children test you often, and don't care what you say or do a lot- but I just know it will all be worth it.

Well...............that's all. It's upper 70's today. Which makes me a happy girl. I told Clay I could still use an additional five degrees though. He said it's perfect how it is, I told him it's not. And I'm right, of course.

I must be getting old...

Because I simply DON'T understand these latest hollywood sensations. Let's break it down.

Bieber Fever.

What?! This one is hard for me to understand...always. Like...there are a gaZILLION females of ALL ages that are OBSESSED with this child! I heard on the radio today that his latest video got over 100 MILLION views since it came out. I thought to myself, maybe if I look at more pictures I'll get the idea.
uhhhhh. Nope! Let me tell you. After seeing these additional photos, my opinion just CEMENTED into place. How is he such a HUMONGO STAR?! Maybe his music? No- couldn't be that. He is a child, and therefore SOUNDS like a child, not to mention a female child. The only way you realize he's a boy is because he always talks about girls. He always talks like he's 25 though- like...says things like, "Ladies...ladies, calm yourselves"....or says "baby" or whatever. I kind of really don't understand this one. Let's move on.

Ke$ha

I pretty much barf in my mouth everytime I hear her voice. HOW IS SHE FAMOUS?! Have you HEARD her music? If you haven't- please don't. It will stain your brain with filth. She says something about only liking guys that look like Mic Jagger in one of her songs...right? Right. Well my coworker has a daughter whose like...14 or 15. And she says something like, "I like guys that look like Mic Jagger" and my coworker was like- "Do you even know what he looks like??!?!!"

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Sexy.

She is a disgrace to women. And talent? Yeah...I don't really hear any of it...which confuses me also. Clay and I are constantly confused by this. Hence, the aging issue. She must be loved by those teens who don't understand. I simply can't comprehend. Which leads me to the last but pretty much the MOST unusual and confusing one.

Lady Gaga

Does anyone want to let me in on HOW she freaking got on the FRONT COVER of Time Magazine for 100 MOST INSPIRATIONAL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD! What?! How? Why? I don't get it. She calls her fans "my little monsters". Gag. Me. I told Clay that she is a disgrace to women. He tells me, "She is a disgrace to the human race". Yeah. I really can't find anything good to say about her. She thrives on being crazy and unique to show people they can be who they really are....buuuuuuuuuut I'm pretty sure her dressing and acting the way she does and SINGING the lyrics she sings just makes people feel sad and dirty inside.

Phew! I feel better. I just think about these things. Ya know? Just gotta get them off my chest. Whining to Clay about celebrities only gives me so much satisfaction.

Anyway. We're good. Idaho is cold and I'm starting to really get sick of it. I don't really understand why anyone lives here unless their family lives here. I don't care if the summers are good- summers last 3 months at best. The rest of the year is a joke.

Enough whining. I'm off to sew a cushion for my polka-dot chair! Y-A-Y!

Chair reupholstering tutorial

Alright, so...some of you have said things like, "wow, I am so impressed"..." or "I want to do that, I just don't know how"....about my chair.

So, I already told you I took pictures along the way, I just never posted them. Now is the time- to unveil the secret....it really isn't as hard as it looks! I'm serious! As long as you have the right tools, which would be: a)flat head screw driver; b)staple gun; c)fabric; d)a desire to have an awesome looking chair in your living room.

Welp, let's get started!

First thing we did, was take out ALL of the decorative tacs. We did this with flat head screw drivers, like so:
If you look at the bottom left picture, of the collage above, you'll see us taking out nails...this was HARD and REALLY annoying. In all the spots they didn't have decorative tacs, which was basically the majority of the chair...were NAILS! We could've just taken hold of the fabric, and pulled...but then the fabric would rip...and we wanted to use the fabric for a pattern.

We paid VERY special attention to the detailed spots so we wouldn't forget how to put it back together. Like the following spots:
Certain spots like the legs...were done certain ways...like, folded under in one spot, tucked in another...you know. So we had to take note to make sure we did it the same way.

So after we took out all of the tacs and nails (this seriously took at LEAST 3 hours...and that is with Lori- so if I did it by myself it'd probably be like 8 hours. Yes, I know that's MORE than double the time...but she is pretty speedy) the chair looked like this:
K- I kid you not- the inside of this chair was NASTY! It had food and toothpicks and coins CAKED on. So gross. So of course, the next step was to vaccuum out all that disgustingness.

Next, I didn't take pictures of this part (should have!), but we unpicked the piece where your back rests, so that we could get a real dimension of what those pieces are before the piping is sewn in. Then we laid out all the pieces we carefully took off, onto my beautiful fabric.
We honestly traced the pieces with a pen. I wish I had a permanent marker, but I didn't- otherwise I would've done that. It doesn't matter because all the edges are tucked in the chair- so who cares if you see markings? Not I!

Then we carefully cut out the pieces...and I sewed my piping. If you don't know how to do piping- it's super simple. Google it or something. I will do a tutorial later on that maybe when I do my second chair.

Then...we used a friggin SAWEET staple gun that Patty & Paul lent us, which is powered by air...and it was P-O-W-E-R-F-U-L! The boys (Kurt & Clay) kept saying, "Don't hurt each other", "Be Careful", "blah balhbalhlahblah". We did just fine:) Anyway, we basically put it back together like so: the LAST piece we took of the chair, was the FIRST to go back on. The FIRST piece we took of the chair, was the LAST to go on. You see? You just go backwards.

So, after we did all the stapling, it was time to put on the pieces that were held together by the decorative tacs. I didn't take pictures of this...but a tip we have is, use the same holes they came out of! Makes it so much easier. Lori pretty much did this entire job on the chair, and she found that if she pulled the fabric back, poked around the wood and found the hole, it was way easier to put through the fabric and into the chair. A few times we couldn't find a hole, so we had to nail it in- which was HARD TO DO! But, we managed.

A few things that weren't in the step by step, that I would suggest:

• Use the batting that the chair already has
• Fabreeze the inside of the chair if you are using that batting- I did, and could no longer smell anything:) Gross you out?
• Use a friend- it makes it way more fun, and way easier, AND way faster
• I spray painted the legs and arms....purple. I did this after all the old fabric was taken off, and before the new was on. I didn't even remove the batting...it didn't matter if it got some spray paint on. If you don't like the look of bright colored wood, or painted wood, re-stain it!
• Reuse the decorative tacs. Why go spend a bum-load of money when you have perfectly good tacs from the old chair?

And with that, you'll have this gorgeous chair!
After you reupholster something, you will think of all sorts of things you want to reupholster. You will love it. DO IT!

Drawstring bag tutorial

So- it was my niece's birthday a bit ago. The day after mine, to be exact. I wanted to make her something wonderful- because I really just love any excuse to make something wonderful. Especially something that would be totally fit for a 5 year old....it's not like I have tons of opportunities to make stuff for 5 year olds. So anyway....I decided to make her a draw-string backpack! I've always wanted to make one- so I was super pumped. Especially after I realized the finished product looked like this:


I lined the inside, and used flat-fell seams for the entire thing. That way when you look on the outside it looks nice, and you look on the inside, and it looks nice too! Perfect.

So. Here are the easy peasy steps.

1. Decide the size you want your bag. I think I did about 14 1/4 in wide...which will make it about 13 inches for the finished product . Line the selvage up with one line, and the fold with another, and then cut the width.

2. If you are adding any ribbons, buttons, trims, ruffles, etc- NOW IS THE TIME! You want to do it before you sew the lining and the outside fabric together, so that you can't see any of the seams on the inside.


3. Put wrong sides together, and then wrong sides together...again. Make sense? You want to pin it so that it looks exactly like the bag will look when it's finished.

(see how I put wrong sides together, then folded the fabric in half- how it will be when finished)

4. Sew a 5/8 " seam on one side.

5. Press both seam allowances to one side.

6. Trim lower seam allowance to about 1/8 in.

7. Press top seam allowance so that it folds around bottom seam allowance that was just cut. You may want to pin after this step. I didn't, but if you've never done this before it might make it easier when sewing.

8. Sew close to the edge of the fold. And press once finished. ***Sidenote- I didn't do this but quickly realized I should've....when you do this, make the straps before this step and insert the ends of your straps inside the seams to the bottom of the bag. This would make a way more clean and professional look. I was planning on doing this, but forgot!

This is what it should look like after you've sewn.

9. Make straps. I just cut long pieces of fabric about 2 inches thick or so. Once you cut them, press them so edges meet in the middle.

Press again in half.

Sew close to the edge.

10. Make a button hole in the top part of your bag- about 3/4 in from top. See your sewing machine manual for instructions on this. Each machine is a little different I think.

11. Fold fabric over twice and press, so that the button hole is folded in half at the top of the bag.

12. Sew close to the edge all the way around top of bag.

13. Take a safety pin, and attach it to your strap.

This part was SO FRUSTRATING! You basically have to wrap the strap all the way around so that it comes out where it started. You want to make it so that when you pull on all strings, it scrunches together at the top.


14. Then, if you're foolish (like me) and forget to attatch the straps when sewing the sides together, just fold over ends twice and stitch back and forth in two spots. It isn't the prettiest, but not the tackiest either:)
And voila!
A cute lil backpack for any five year old. Change up the colors and trims and you could definitely do this for a boy...I'm kinda thinking of doing one for myself actually:)

I was very pleased to hear Rebecca say that the next morning after Gracie's birthday, she got up and RIGHT away put on her new clothes, filled her backpack, put it on, and told Rebecca she was ready to ride her bike (her big birthday present). She started complaining about how heavy her backpack was...keep in mind it's just cotton....and Rebecca opened it to find a book of mormon, and a friend magazine. HA! Rebecca said she must've been feeling rather spiritual that day:)

Well, I'm off to go make the last of the pillows for my bed. Wish me luck! Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have pics up of them!!! Be excited- they are awesome!