Fall Favorite Things

Okay, so I'm honestly working on two three great things right now.  I've got one tutorial coming, and two re-do's coming.  It'll be a blast.  I have all the pictures.  I have all of the directions.  I'm all excited.  But wait, yeah, I'm still missing my USB to mini-USB cable.  <----- Not a happy camper.    Ah well.  So, while we are enjoying this lovely Fall weather, and getting one step closer to Christmas and Winter (hooray!), I thought I'd take a moment to commemorate Fall with some of my favorite things.  (And yes, I'm singing the "Sound of Music" soundtrack right now.)

Acorns:  Acorns are absolutely all over the place right now.  I crunched several and even, um, appropriated one on the way back to the car from the Temple Saturday.  I'm trying to convince myself that I was helping to clean up the temple grounds.  Yes, yes, that's it. 

There are some gorgeous crafts coming out of MADE right now, and she even has a beautiful acorn craft round-up going on here, including her own beautiful acorn wreath.

And look at this lovely acorn ball coming out of I Am Momma Hear Me Roar.

Then there's this amazing acorn display from delia creates, which if you haven't run into yet, you will absolutely fall in love with.  --Guaranteed. 

Sewing:  There's been all kinds of fun things floating around lately, and many that I have just discovered.  Am I the only person who didn't know about Disney over at ~Ruffles and Stuff?  I feel seriously ridiculous.  I can't believe I just found her.  And she's in my (new) neck of the woods too.  Sheesh.  Oh well.  Her tutorials are *gorgeous* and very well made and directed.  I really love this "She's a Lady" Cardigan Tutorial, but her amazing-ness doesn't stop there.  If you aren't a follower already, I would definitely add her in and go through her past posts.  They're simply too beautiful to look at to not add, even if you aren't big into sewing.  I'm actually in the process of making this "Bouquet" T-Shirt Tutorial for Ande as a dress, although I had a terrible toss-up between that and this "Gardens at Dusk" shirt remodel.  I don't know.  I may actually do both.  She's such an incredible inspiration that I'm not sure I'm going to ever stop sewing again!

Then there's this great tutorial on Made By Lex on how to make a pleater board.  This is beyond fantastic.  I desperately wish that I had found this a week ago before I finished daughter's pillowcase dress; it would have turned out differently.  But that's a different story, and a different tutorial for a different time.  Made By Lex is fantastic though, and another one of those that is absolutely fantastic eye candy even if you aren't in a sewing mood.  She specializes in refashions, and if you follow through to her tutorials, I promise that it will be a fun experience, especially for all of you Anthro-loving fashionistas out there. 

Cooking:  There are several fun things going on here too.  I'm especially in love with Delia's tortilla chip leaves; they just look like so much fun.  And Brooke over at the Cheeky Kitchen has an absolutely to-die-for looking white chicken chili.  Um, yum.  I'm making this for dinner, and if you follow me on Facebook, then you can catch the review tomorrow.  But heck, how can you go wrong with chicken, green chilies, sour cream, and bacon?  I've also fed my kiddos baked decorative pumpkins from Gingerbread Snowflakes in the last couple of weeks, and while I can't honestly say that my kiddos were thrilled, I certainly enjoyed my baked Jack-O'-Lantern (and it's a great idea for getting rid of those extra pumpkins today and tomorrow too!).  And while we're on the subject of pumpkins, I can't go without mentioning these fantastic looking baked pumpkin doughnuts, which I can't help but think are sure to be a crowd-pleaser. 

Anywho, this is all the fun I've gotten put together for this week, but there will be many to come.  Especially if I still can't find my USB cable by the end of the week.  Hmmm, I'll have to keep working on that.  But, rest assured, I have many (not-so-beautiful) photos on the way, a couple of tutorials in mind, and some re-do's that I hope will be helpful *and* informative.  And yes, yes, I promise, I am working on my photography skills.  Am I a blog-her in the making, no, probably not, but it's sure fun to pull together the best of the web for all of you lovely ladies. ; ) 

Have fun and let me know: Do you like the round-ups?  Should they become a weekly feature?

Thanks and feliz dia de los muertos.  ; ) 

Fay

Pillowcase Dress Tutorial

Learning to Be Happy

This post is a little off-kilter folks.  I would recommend starting here.

A few months ago when I was really struggling, as in struggling so badly that I still felt like I needed validation from a paid psychologist (or "rent-a-friend" as I call them), this wonderful, well-meaning woman told me that I needed to learn how to be happy, and that essentially, all of my life's struggles could be tied back into my not having learned the art of happiness.  I was shocked.  I was angry.  Of course I knew how to be happy.  I had been happy loads of times.  There were many periods of my life where I was really, truly, and serenely happy, if not entirely content.  Why did I have to choose to be happy when I had obviously been given a bad deck.  --It was unfair.  I wanted a do-over.  I wanted to call "foul," and have the hosts of Heaven come rescue me in what was obviously an egregious error on someone's part.

Boy was I conceited, huh?  I'm fairly certain that there's nothing quite like a psychologist to make you self-centered.  Go pay someone $100 an hour a couple of times a week or month, and see how small your world becomes.  Sometimes I feel like my time in therapy was like having an affair with myself.  This is not to say, by the way, that all therapy is bad. I can just say that the couple of times that I have been in therapy, while I'm sure have helped me in some ways, I feel like they have always left me worse off in so many other areas as to make the totality of the experiences negative.  So much so, in fact, that I can't honestly say that I would honestly be able to support any of my children going to get therapy, or my spouse, and indeed, we pulled our daughter out of therapy for just that reason.

I realized, and I'm sure that many of you are rolling your eyes right about now, that what I needed wasn't external validation, or a rent-a-friend, or any other kind of friend really.  What I needed was someone to seriously sit down with me and go through the Book of Mormon, so that every time some idiotic thing popped into my head about how Heavenly Father obviously loved all of His other children so much more than He loves me, or that Heavenly Father was punishing me, or that I was unworthy, or that I was so inherently bad from the pre-mortal existence that I needed this much refining now, I could have someone sit down and point out scriptures.  I could be shown real, tangible evidence of my Heavenly Father's love for me.  And yes, I'm sure I would have struggled quite a bit against it at first, and had to balk, and cringe, and swallow my enormous pride to admit that we all have sorrows and suffering to go through while here, and that there is no lifetime maximum allowance on trials and tribulations.  In fact, I'm coming to understand that there's really quite a bit more choice in just how many trials and tribulations we go through in the first place.  Some of them are unavoidable, certainly... but how we react to them isn't predetermined, unavoidable, or written in stone at all.  We can change ourselves, our priorities, our perceptions, our patterns, our very thoughts, at any point in time.  And sometimes, sometimes I think that's exactly what our Heavenly Father is looking for in the first place.

I can't believe how much more perspective I have on Heavenly Father now that I have children.  When my daughter struggles against me, refusing to eat her vegetables, which I know will help her to be healthy, and strong, and to have joy, and prevent future problems, and instead throws gigantic, fist-throwing, floor-stomping, table-banging temper-tantrums, I go "Oh! So *that's* what I've been doing this whole time!"  --Just because we can't always see, understand, or even don't want to believe that what we're going through is for our benefit, that doesn't mean that it absolutely isn't divine intervention that's happening in your life to give you the ready-made plans and tools to turn your lemons into lemonade for you.  Sometimes Heavenly Father even provides the lemonade stand for you if you let Him.  I'm still learning this.

It's so difficult for me to believe sometimes that out of the literal billions of spirit children that He has had that have lived on this world alone, of countless worlds untold, that He can find the time to love *me.*  Maybe that is because I grew up feeling so estranged from a loving Heavenly Father, maybe it's my own pride in wanting to feel *special* (don't we all), or maybe, ironically, it's my lack of self-esteem, which seems to make everyone else seem so very much more special than I could ever possibly be in the first place.  There have been so many times, and are still moments, when I look around at all of the born-and-bred Molly Mormons with their perfect children, perfect husbands, perfect houses, and seemingly perfect lives.  And it is only now that I am truly beginning to understand that these seemingly perfect women, whom I have been comparing myself to since I walked into my first Fast and Testimony meeting, maybe aren't quite as perfect as I first thought they were.  And maybe, actually, Heavenly Father needs me to be who *I* am, and not just a carbon-copy convert.  I think that it is such an inherent quality in women (I won't argue nature vs. nurture on this one) to compare ourselves to others.  I compare myself to my mother, my mother-in-law, and all of my sisters-in-law with all of their numerous children.  I compare myself to the women in Relief Society, and in Primary, and at Stake Functions.  I do it, mostly, because I'm trying to make sure that I'm measuring up.  I do it, mostly, because I'm scared.  I do it, mostly, because I haven't learned that my Heavenly Father loves me... no matter what.

It's so funny to me that I have such a strong, powerful, life-changing testimony of the Savior and of the Atonement, and have so very little in my lamp when it comes to my Heavenly Father.  The perfect, all-loving, all-powerful Spiritual Being who took time out of the Eternities to create me, I lash out at more often than I thank.  I get so angry that really, when I compare myself to my daughter, the similarities are so striking that I can't help but laugh most of the time.  At first I didn't really realize that I was putting my emotions between myself and my Heavenly Father, now I do it and cringe.  I know that what I'm doing is wrong, and I know that it's going to hurt me, but sometimes I want to shout out just for the sake of shouting, and because I have no one else to be mad at but myself.  And really, who of us wants to be mad at ourselves all of the time anyway... especially when us "silly women" (see Sister Julie B. Beck's talk), can't help but keep comparing ourselves against every other woman that walks in the door.  I want to know that my Father loves me.  And really and truly, I know that He does-- I just don't always remember that when I need to. 

I am grateful for my Father, and for all of the gifts that He gives me, even if I don't always recognize that they're gifts when they come.  And I can count my blessing all day long and sometimes not feel a change of heart.  It was heartbreaking the day that I realized that while yes, my psychologist had been wrong in a lot of ways, she had also been right.  I have learned the art of temporal happiness, I have not learned how to be eternally happy; that happiness is a gift of peace and joy that comes from having a testimony of our individual worth as spirit daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father, of our ability to overcome all obstacles through the tools that He has given us, and of His deep and heartfelt desire to have all of us rejoin Him and become perfected like Him.  I know that my Heavenly Father loves me; I just don't realize how much.

General Conference Treats

General Conference is still relatively new to me.  I started at first, just reading messages from the Ensign.  Then I would listen or watch messages occasionally online.  But I have absolutely fallen in love with watching them live via the introduction of satellite (now cable, but that's a different story) in our home.  I love listening to our Prophet and General Authorities will all my heart, and it's a very exciting experience for me.  This year, I really want to help share that excitement with my children.  We have been talking about and praying for the Prophet and General Authorities for the past couple of weeks.  We have given them descriptions of General Conference, and what it will be like, and what it will mean.  The kids have watched it with us the last two times, but it's hard to get kids excited about four two-hour stints of sitting and watching and listening reverently.  Sometimes one hour in Sacrament Meeting almost seems like two much.  So, I've resorted to bribery.  Hubby and I have talked with quite a few people recently, or have been reading online about families having special treats reserved only for General Conference.  These go the gamut from chili, to ice cream on top of waffles, to cinnamon rolls, to special cakes.  Now I don't know about you, but I'm definitely a breakfast food kind of person, and hubby is too thankfully.  But since I'm still missing my waffle machine (left in Colorado), and I'd be horribly heartbroken to only have waffles two weekends a year anywho, we've decided to go a different route. 

Right now we're in a debate.  Should it be crepes (hubby's idea), special sweet rolls, or a fruity coffee cake (yes, I can appreciate the irony of a non-coffee-flavored coffee cake during General Conference).  But we'd have to come up with a different name for the cake, because I can see that leading to some very strange conversations with the kiddos later: "No daughter, it's not coffee, it just has the name in it."  Eeesh.  I think I'll avoid that one as much as possible thank you. 

I'm a big fan of tradition.  And since marrying hubby, a lot of my old traditions have gotten quashed.  I'm thinking that now is the time to start creating some of our own.  But since "favorite casserole" (a baked combination of hot dogs, cheddar cheese, and spaghetti) is *not* one of my favorites, I'm a little lost on where to start.  I love traditions, but the general idea here is I want to create a tradition that my children will actually look forward to, not dread for weeks to come beforehand.  I guess the real difficulty is in trying to find something that you really, really like, but that you don't like so much that you're guaranteed to want to make it more than twice a year.  Hmmmm.  That'll be a toughy.  I'll post some recipes later today as I keep working on this one.

Getting Ready for Conference, or How to Keep Wee Ones Busy

The rain makes the days absolutely drag out here.  It's a little more complicated keeping preschoolers busy when you can't just send them outside to play in the dirt, and when all of the local parks are perpetually covered in "eucky water."  Yesterday we had a really fun experiment, my daughter and I, learning how to make, and play with, Oobleck. 

I couldn't believe how ridiculously fun it was to play with this stuff.  Add two parts corn starch to one part water, and you have instant, ooey, gooey, quicksand-like goop.  Daughter called it her "goobey," and was hugely disappointed when it spilled off the table.  Thank goodness, her "goobey" was as easy to clean up as it was to make.  A quick sweep of the vacuum cleaner, and all was well in the kingdom.

We're all super excited over here about General Conference coming up this weekend, and I've been on the hunt for kid-friendly "conference activities."  There's a Nursery and Junior Primary packet at Sugardoodle.net, and the church has a couple of different print-outs available here, but I think they're a little beyond my wee ones at home.  I was desperately seeking out a puzzle of the First Presidency, or of President Monson alone, but no luck.  Deseret did have a couple of beautiful puzzles of the Savior available, but they were all 500+ pieces, or "tray puzzles," whatever that means.  The packets from Sugardoodle at least have some coloring pages, but I don't really know what to do aside from that.  They're too young to take notes, and I don't want it to be a mad-cap game of "let's see who can still reverently the longest."  Last year the kiddos got to take breaks to go run outside on their swing-set.  I'm not sure what on earth we'll do this year.  John fixed the kid's trampoline for them last week, but Daughter broke the elastic cord while showing me what a big strong girl she is and doing "super giant jumps."  Aside from that, the kiddos get next to no physical activity, and I'm not about to run them to the play place at the mall to go run around for an hour when they get antsy during conference. Hmmmmm. I think this definitely counts as an exercise for my problem-solving skills.  What are your favorites for keeping young ones busy during conference?  I read a great post last night about a family that gave a Family Home Evening lesson about King Benjamin, and how all the families that came to listen to his speech turned their tents toward him so that they could listen to him better.  After their Family Home Evening, they set up their camping tent in their living room with the door open towards the television to watch our modern-day prophets give their own speeches to the people.  I thought that was such a cute, and memorable idea.  What kid isn't going to remember the time that they got to watch General Conference inside their tent?

Anywho, I'll keep up the watch for great ideas, and try to repost all the good ones that I find here.  Have a fun week until then.

General Relief Society Broadcast

I have to admit: I'm a dork.  I'm sure that you all had come to that conclusion previously, but now it's official; now I'm admitting it to myself.  I had actually been looking forward to last night's broadcast for over a month.  There is just something so wonderfully comforting in knowing that the Lord's true, appointed leaders for our present-day circumstances are here, and are willing to give you words of inspiration to lead us onward in our own personal spiritual journeys while here in this earthly sojourn.  I am so incredibly grateful for our General Authorities and for the First Presidency of our church.  I am grateful to know that we have a true and living prophet on this earth.  And I am touched beyond measure to feel and to know that President Thomas S. Monson, a man whom I have never met, and most likely will never meet, loves me as an individual, and supports me in my efforts to raise my family in righteousness.

I love our prophet.  And my heart sorrows for him at the weight that I know that he must carry on his shoulders; the burdens of a world gone astray, and the iniquities of those both within and without the church. I am grateful for the General Relief Society Presidency, and I know that Sister Julie B. Beck is a truly inspired representative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and that she and her counselors are striving to do the Lord's work and to lead our worldwide sisterhood of women to embrace our essential roles as women and to fulfill the responsibilities that come with those roles.

That being said, I think that both Sister Beck and President Monson had quite a few interesting things to say last night, and just in case you missed it then, you can catch it now here.  I pray that we all can prepare ourselves for that which is yet to come, and that when the time comes, that we will be prepared to meet our Savior walking uprightly before him, with dignity.  I don't know that it's appropriate for me to discuss what I personally got out of last night's broadcast last night in this medium except to say that I think that our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, and Sister Julie B. Beck had some very strict words for us sisters.  And I am sorry to say, that I don't think that they believe that we are living up to our true potential as representatives of Christ in these latter-days.  I think that our General Authorities are disappointed in us sisters, and that saddens me greatly.  I know that I certainly have fallen short of the mark in a number of the areas that they touched upon last night.  I especially loved President Monson's use of the quotation from Mother Teresa: "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

I hope that we can all keep that in our hearts over the next year as we continue striving to do and fulfill the Lord's will for us as individual, worthwhile, beautiful spiritual daughters of our beloved Heavenly Father.  I know that I will be keeping my own eyes and ears peeled during General Conference this next weekend, and I hope that you will all join me in listening to the words of our Lord direct from His appointed speakers for this day and age.

Ummm... sorry about the Pillowcases

So, ummm, I was looking some things over and realized that I had missed the 2nd half of my last post.  And, much to my utter dismay, it's disappeared entirely.    But, since I apparently didn't save any of it in a word file, and I can't find the original link to save my hairy horses, I'm afraid that I'll just have to describe it to you.  I know, I know.  Sad, but very true.  We're all missing out.  But really, what upsets me the most, is that I think some really great kids are going to be missing out. 

The link I had found, from goodness only knows where now (that's what I get for trying to blog while simultaneously attempting to entertain my children), was to make pillowcases for children with long-term illnesses who are stuck in the hospital.  I did find the picture at least:

Cutie-pie aren't they?  And I'm just willing to bet that if *you* or someone that you dearly and desperately love were stuck in a hospital bed for longer than a week, especially a small child-type person, then you would really, really want them to have one of these happy-looking pillows.  Here is the direct link for the project.

I know that this seems kind of random, but I absolutely love projects like these.  As a child, I was in and out of a wheelchair for years, with several recurrent hospitalizations, most of which lasting for weeks, and I will be one of the first to tell you that a hospital, even a shiny happy children's hospital, is *not* a very happy place to be. --Not at all.

Most hospitals do not have the facilities or space for parents to spend the night, or even have rules against it.  Children are left alone for hours, or days.  Very often without anyone to talk to, anything to play with, or anything to do other than watch whatever trash T.V. is on during the day (Maury anyone?) or whatever Disney movies haven't been stolen by the previous occupants (which yes, surprisingly is a real issue in many hospitals).  Hospitals are lonely, sad, cold, ucky places, and I don't think that there's anything worse than a child that should be happily running around instead fighting for its life in someplace barren, and absolutely devoid of the spirit.  I know that the deadline for this project is over, but ladies, gents, anyone and everyone with sewing / crafting talent, would you mind maybe making a few of these and sending them on to some kiddos who need them? 

I know that we all have a *lot* to do, and seemingly never enough time to do whatever our *lot* is, but this is one of those things that I promise will be absolutely worthwhile. I can't think of a single child that I met in any of my hospital stays that wouldn't have been over-the-moon ecstatic for a splash of color in an otherwise winter-white sanitized world.  Thanks in advance.

Fay