I have family arriving today, so yesterday evening was spent in a flurry of cleaning. We even managed to spot clean two areas of carpet that had recently met up with a certain chocolate covered toddler. And Haven and Gracen’s room is currently sparkling clean, at least for now since it’s the one that seems to spontaneously combust within 24 hours of any cleaning efforts. None of the other bedrooms have this same problem, I have no idea why the girls room always look like the aftermath of a war zone, it just does. We will have to keep an eye on it through the rest of today, I can only hope it makes it. All of the other bedrooms only needed a quick once over with a laundry basket and the vacuum and the living room and family room had already been cleaned the day before, so I’m calling it good. So maybe, just maybe I can sneak in a few minutes at my sewing machine this afternoon and get to some more projects. I don’t have to worry about the kids costumes, they’re all done and ready as of last week, thank goodness, and all because they needed them finished last week for the family Halloween Party. (To dispel any illusions of holiday readiness at my house, just know that I was sewing costumes up until the very last second the day of the party, so don’t think I’m trying to project perfection over here, that is so far from the case!) And for dinner tonight, I even have a fun (and easy) spooky menu planned for the kids, I hope they love it. Then I will be manning the door tonight, handing out goodies while Craig takes the kids trick or treating through the neighborhood. At least the ones that want to go. I have already been informed by Noah that he doesn’t want to trick or treat, he would rather stay at home with me and hand out treats at the door. What?!?! Is he delusional?!?! We’re talking about free candy! Candy! Well now I know I have failed as a mother.

And to everyone else…stay safe, get lots of candy, and have a happy night of spooky fun!

As I have said before, I am a laundry nazi. I am very, very particular about what detergents and such I use on my clothes. ‘Tide’ has long been a favorite due to the best stain fighting powers to date. Except these days I have changed over from using regular ‘Tide’ to the new ‘Tide Total Care’. Did you know that it really works? Seriously. No fading, no odd stretching, and no warping the way fits either. The commercial is no lie. Tim Gunn speaks the truth. Seriously. My t-shirts have suddenly gained 9 more lives and I can dry more clothing in the dryer without fear of fading or wash wear. Less work for me!

And I never would have tried it had Tim Gunn not been the spokesperson for it. Yes, I really am saying that I bought it because Tim Gunn told me to. Because Tim Gunn would never lie about clothes. And this is no exception.

Mr. Gunn, I thank you, and my clothes thank you.

I have long admired Redwork embroidery, it’s just so simple and beautiful. I have been wanting to do some myself for a while now, but I have been putting it off until my right hand is free of this lame Carpal Tunnel syndrome so that I can embroider my little heart out. (I am so close to that reality.)

(pic from thelongthread.com)

So when I saw this on Whip Up, you can imagine how much fun I had poring over every single block and soaking up every gorgeous detail of each square from ‘The Quilt Project’. It turned out beautifully, with each square so different, yet the simple red and white colors bringing it all together into one gorgeous piece of collective work. Seriously cool stuff.

 I have been collecting random drawings and artwork from my smaller children recently in hopes of turning their pictures into squares that I can then work into Redwork and piece into a quilt or something in that vein. I”m a long ways from being ready to really start, but I am so excited that I am on my way. I love a fun project, especially one that can go with me anywhere in the house so I can curl up on the couch and I work on it as I enjoy some of my favorite movies as I embroider. I have watched Persuasion and Pride & Prejudice at least 5 times this week alone as I have been sewing, and I’m still not tired of watching either of them yet. I need to add Sense& Sensibility to the rotation just to make sure I am fully dosed on Jane Austen before I have surgery on my hand. Do you have a favorite movie to sew or craft to?

I love the fun ideas this site has for Halloween, as well as for other occasions, even just the every day.

So stop by and check it out, there is surely something there to tempt you. The fun Halloween ideas they have are well worth the trip no matter what.

 I’m already planning on making the Candy Corn Pizza for supper on Halloween night, and those monster jaw apple slices are so cool. So much fun!

a recently watched some random cooking show on Food Network yesterday that caught my attention.

It caught my attention because there was a woman demonstrating how she topped her “gourmet” red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting with a large ice cream scoop. Large. Ice. Cream. Scoop. L-A-R-G-E. Of frosting. On top of the cupcake. An entire scoop.

And that’s when I felt my heart shudder.

Somewhere, someone is eating that heart attack on a cupcake. I can only hope they have a defibrillator standing by.

Sew Mama Sew has been featuring ideas for using up your scraps all month long on their blog for their “Scrap Busters” this month. And guess what? My insanely talented, cool, and creative sister-in-law Korby had one of her super cool ideas featured.

They happened upon her post about her bookmarks, and immediately contacted her to ask if they could use it. Because those bookmarks rock. Seriously. I mean, how cool is that! Want to check it out? See her genius ‘here on her blog’ and ‘here on Sew Mama Sew’. So if you haven’t already “bookmarked” Korby’s blog (oh I slay me…), you’d better do it now, because frankly, she rocks. (Love you Korb!)

Yet another fabulous Family Halloween Party, planned and executed to perfection yesterday. It’s an annual tradition that each of our children look forward too, and I am constantly amazed at the fun games and treats every time. I was only able to contribute the use of my house for the party, the rest was all Heidi and Korby’s amazing party planning skills at work. Seriously, they are incredible, and I am able to step back and admire their insanely cool ideas at work. They had so many cool and creative ideas, it was a total blast. I thoroughly enjoyed the cute costumes each of the children were wearing, they were all so funny and cute. We had several Jedi’s, a Sith, Darth Vader, Super Mario, Pee Wee Herman, a Ninja, and a Karate Kid for the boys. For the girls there was Snow White, Dorothy Gale, a Witch, a Spotty Dalmatian, and a furry little Gorilla. Two families weren’t able to make it due to illness and church obligations (so sorry we missed you!), but there is always next year where Heidi and Korby to once again wow us with their incredible party planning talents. Thank you again you two, the party was awesome!

I had my nerve conduction test on Friday, and it was not as bad as I had thought it was going to be. The physical therapist attached electrodes to my fingers and administered little electric shocks to different areas of my arm where certain nerves are located, all to read how the nerve conducted the tiny zap of electricity. The electric shocks felt like someone was flicking my arm fairly hard, not in a bad way, just such that I could feel it each time. It wasn’t painful, but it was an odd sensation too. Nothing to bring tears to my eyes or anything like that, so in case anyone else needs this test done, fear not. It’s not as bad as some may lead you to believe. The entire testing took about an hour and the results told what I already knew. I have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, a little in my left hand, and a lot in my right. So surgery it will be for my right hand, hopefully within the next two weeks, and I am praying for the laparoscopic version as it has the fastest recovery time. I am still somewhat worried that I won’t have regained enough use of my right hand to be able to sew our traditional jammies in time for Christmas Eve, so I’m seriously considering making all of them this week just to make sure. It depends on what I can talk myself into. So, anyways, I just wanted to write a little about my experience with the nerve conduction test since I had heard a few things about what it was like from others that made me slightly scared and apprehensive to have it done, but I knew it was really necessary so I made myself go and face whatever it was going to be. I’m just relieved it was nothing like I had feared and I would do it again without hesitation, it was not bad at all. Now if I can just hurry up and get the surgery so I can get on with the recovery.

One of my absolute favorite sites that I stop by every single day without fail is ‘Whip Up’. It features new posts everyday, showcasing different cool and crafty things from different sites all over the internet with a link to the site with all of the how-to information for that particular cool and crafty thing. Love it! So you can go there and not only get tons of inspiration, but you are sure to find lots of fun and fabulous sites to frequent as well. These are a few of my recent faves…

how-to transfer inkjet images to wood-

free quilt patterns-

thread sketching tutorial (I am dying over this one!)-

wild things tote-

 kids easy softie-

how to make a gift bow from a magazine page (genius!)-

Like I said, these are just a few. The site is filled with endless posts on some of the coolest stuff out there. Check it out, I’m sure it won’t take long before you will find something that you just have to make!

I am a serious night owl, and I have a hard time going to bed. I can stay up very, very late, every night, whether or not I have had enough sleep the night before. Late as in 3 and 4 am, then getting up at 7 am with my kids. Not good for my regular day to day life. With the start of school in August, I managed to get a bedtime routine down for myself that was early and made it easy to get up with the kids and not feel like a zombie. It’s nice to not feel like a zombie, and I prefer to wake up and not feel exhausted already. Then, a few weeks ago, somehow my schedule got crazy and I was staying up waaaaaaay too late again, but still getting up at the same time with the kids. I was feeling inhuman the rest of the day, and it was getting ugly. So last night I had enough and forced myself to go to bed early. I was in bed and fast asleep before 11pm. My body rejected my early bedtime so I woke up numerous times throughout the night, but I still got up this morning feeling refreshed, wide awake, and nothing like a zombie. Now if I can just keep up this early routine and get myself into bed before 11 pm each night, I’m golden. If not, then it’s just more of the same tired feeling, and not wanting to get much done in the day. Curse me and my weird staying-up-all-night super powers.