Whats for Dinner?

Like so many of you, I dread the question "What's for Dinner?"  We try to plan out our meals for the week before we go grocery shopping, and that helps.  But I hate trying to remember what meals we like and end up repeating the same ones over and over.  I saw this "Weekly Menu Planner" and knew I had to make one for us.  

I printed off several copies of the template provided.  Then I got some clear address labels and printed up our meals.  I also made some for when we go eat with family.  Cut everything out and put magnets on the back.  Then, because our kitchen gets messy - (think exploded spaghetti sauce - just once, but once is enough!) - I covered it all with clear contact paper.  

Finished product:

(Sorry its not the clearest pic - I think I'm due for a new camera!)

I put the extras in a box in the cupboard, so now I can just flip thru the stack and throw it on the fridge.  Then, when life happens and I need to switch things around, its much cleaner than trying to scribble thru a list!

Now, who wants to send me more meal ideas so I can add new ones!

The Master Decorator

Have I mentioned how much I love decorating for the holidays - especially now that Conni enjoys helping me?  Well, I do.  I love it.  It's so much fun for me!!  Conni gets to put up the "stickers" on our glass front door.  And she loves it.  She gets to help me wash it with the "spray" (Windex) and everything. 

I thought I'd do a little recap of how her decorating skills have grown over the last three years. 

Easter 2010 - First time doing "stickers"

Valentines 2011 - Mom helped get them off the paper, but Conni chose where to put them.  And to put them ALL up!

Easter 2012 - Conni recruited Dad to help fill the door. 

Here she's running to get more.  She doesn't need help anymore.

Her finished project

With her tall Daddy helper.

And yes, again, she put every single Easter cling I have on the door.  I tried to convince her to put some on the sliding glass door out to the backyard, but no, they must all stay together.  

But she had fun!

Me To a T

Our YW Activity last week was titled "All About Me".  Our Mia Maid president put the activity together with the purpose of recognizing our individuality and how its good that we are all different. 

One activity she did was called "Me To a T".  She gave us each a piece of paper and told us to draw a shirt, then draw pictures of what matters to us in our life, things we like to do, or things that make us unique. 

I was pretty excited how mine turned out so I thought I would share it!  I'm not known for my artistic skills, but I liked it anyway.

If you click on the image, you can see it bigger. 

Hopefully you can figure out everything I like, but here's a list just in case.  Starting on the left sleeve, working across then down:

*  Jewelry

* Love

* My Family

* The Temple and its Sealing Ordinances

* Crafts

* Old Navy (shopping)

* Daisies/Flowers

* Smiles

* Young Womens

* Chocolate

* Books

* My Car (and the fact that we have modern conveniences, and not handcarts!)

* Music

Now. please note that these are not listed in the order of importance!  I drew my family first, then the temple, then everything else.  

It was a fun activity and I highly recommend it if you are looking for something fun to do with your Young Women!

Flat Iron Holder

I found the idea to make this here, via pinterest.  I couldn't find a pot holder that had a pocket like the one pictured, so I bought two $0.98 pot holders at Walmart instead.

First I sewed the two pot holders to each other so they wouldn't move while I worked with them.

I also sewed the hanging tabs under then trimmed the excess so they would be out of the way.

Then I just sewed down one side and across the bottom.  I managed to break a needle, but not until I was at the very end thank goodness!

The finished product with my flat iron and comb inside.  

Now I can clean up when I finish getting ready instead of having to wait until the flat iron is cooled down.  Dave will be thrilled!

The whole project took me about ten minutes.

Tying Shoes

Sorry for the red eye on this pic.  But look what two goofs I love!  (Pay close attention to Conni's left foot).

First Time French Braid

I finally got the guts to try to French Braid Conni's hair.  I did it on a morning when I had extra time, and put on a movie of her choice (Frosty the Snowman).  

Conni's hair is really thick, but the curls can make it a little hard for me to keep in place sometimes.  And, while she's getting length, some of the hair on top of her head is barely long enough to make it to the center, so I knew by the end of dance class it would all be loose.  So I chose to do the three braids. 

It took me probably fifteen or twenty minutes start to finish, but over all I like it!  I will get faster too - its been so long since I did it that I had to teach my fingers what to do again.  

From the back

(I don't love how braiding the three like I did made it look off-centered, so I will have to try that differently next time.  But other than that I was excited!)

From the front/side

From the front

So cheesy!!!

Birthday Countdown

I love The Wood Connection! This is their Birthday Countdown that I was able to finish this weekend.  Now, who's birthday is next and how far away is it?  

Conni's Newest Bag

Conni has inherited several of my personality traits.  One of them happens to be a love of bags.  I got it from my Great Grandma Zelda.  

I found this pattern and showed it to Conni and she asked me to make her one.  She chose the colors of red and white.  It took a few nights to get it all done, but here's the finished product and a happy little girl.  The first thing she put in it? Her rock collection.  She gets that trait from her dad.  :)

I asked Conni to model the bag and she thought I said "waddle"

"Cheese"

The pattern called for a button held closed with a loop, but Conni isn't quite that dexterous yet.  So we improvised with some good ole Velcro.

Poof Pillow Pattern

Last year I shared a post here of Dave and Conni playing in our Poof Pillow.  (Wow, that year has gone fast!)  We had some friends over this weekend who fell in love with the Poof Pillow and wanted to make one of their own. 

It took me a couple of days to find where I had saved the image of the pattern, so I thought I would throw a copy here on the blog to have one more place to keep track of the pattern.  

I'm not sure where the original pattern came from, but I got it from my good friend Renee.  

Here's the pattern if you would like to make your own.  I added a few notes in red for my own use. (Click on the image to open a larger version so you can actually see the details too.)

Happy Sewing!