productivity

This week, my first week as a stay-at-home-mom, has been one of the most productive weeks. of my life. Seriously, let's take a look:
(not listed in order of importance)

1 Obviously you in the blogging world have had some attention. Although most people would say that time on the computer is not always productive, I'm glad to be able to have some time (albeit a little too much time) to spend doing computer-y things I love: blogging, pinteresting, facebooking. You can't honestly be mad that I'm back. Or maybe you can.

2 I have gotten to cuddle, tickle, kiss, hug, kiss, smooch, poke, kiss, touch, SOAK IN my baby... in ways that I was never able to before. Before I returned to work she was still a little too young to really be playful and enjoy my presence, and once I was at work, I barely had time to get 2 words in with her. But now, oh now, I am overwhelmed at the possibilities of time we have together. I could just talk to her for eternity and be completely smitten. [However, I really do want her to keep her ability to play by herself on the floor, so I have to remember to put her down and leave her alone every once in a while.]

3 I have spent time with God. Honestly, this was lacking. a lot. I kept on making excuses about how busy I was with work and the demands of home. And probably a lot of it was true, because I was seriously busy, but no excuse is good enough. And I have loved being refreshed with time in prayer and time in the Bible this week. I can feel myself getting closer to the heart of God. I am so, very thankful for the opportunity to sit in silence (when Nora decides to nap) and meet God in my very home. It. feels. great.

4 I ran three days this week. Before this week, I had only ran once since Nora was born. Running wasn't easy this week, but it was really good. I was in so much pain for a lot of it [obviously my lungs didn't get the memo that they should be able to last more than half a mile] but afterward, when I took my cold shower and stretched out, I knew I was doing something awesome with my body. I am so excited to be able to get back into running. (And thankfully, Nora doesn't mind the jogging stroller... one day she even slept for half of the run.)

5 Remember those cloth diapers I started back in... July 2011? Yeah, it's almost July 2012. But guess what: yesterday I finally finished them. A set of 20 cloth diapers are done (praise the Lord) and ready to be washed today...and if they dry overnight, worn tomorrow. Our baby is going to be a convert!

6 There has been so much "housework" that I'm sure I was able to get to before when I was working, but I can actually feel like I have a handle on it now. I got ahead in bill paying, wrote a letter to my grandma (a little late on that one), crossed off many of the eventually-to-do list items (that had been piling up over the past month or so), and am going to get a new laundry/cleaning schedule started today that will have me doing little things everyday (rather than one Saturday a month I do absolutely every chore in the house and hate myself afterward for letting it get that bad.)

If you couldn't tell, I am overjoyed to be at home. Even if it was just for this one week, I would be thoroughly satisfied to enter back into the working world. But I have the blessing, as I wait for a teaching job to find me this fall, to stay where I am and live fully in this moment, in this house, with my beautiful daughter. And I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. (Although, wouldn't it be just grand if Mr. Allen could be home with us all day too? :])

what i gave for Christmas

I know, after I said that Mr. Allen got me 17 presents for Christmas, you were expecting a post about each and every one of them. But this isn't about what I got, but what I gave.

I only ventured two handmade/homemade gifts this year, but only remembered to document one. Both my moms (my real mom/best friend/Firebolt and my new, wonderful mother-in-law) received homemade gifts this year for Christmas. I painted/modpodge-d an art piece for my mom to add to her Christmas decor, and for my mother-in-law, I made this:

My inspiration for this project came from this post. Who even knows how I found the tutorial because I not only found it months ago, but I don't even follow that blog. Anyway, I'm thankful that I did find it, because this apron was my first intense sewing project where cutting and ironing and folding and sewing were so particular, and I was terrified to mess it up.

I absolutely love this fabric print, and love that the brown lining I made went well with the blue swirlies as well. Mr. Allen helped me pick out these great fabrics at Joann. He is a crafter at heart. [Okay, that's not true at all, but he puts up with my crafting so well.]


linking up with:

baby bundle.

A friend of mine is heaving around a belly bump just like me! (Only she is about 7 weeks ahead of me, so her bump is bigger than the one this little girl gives me.) We are celebrating her little one's soon arrival this Saturday, so I picked up some gifts to help welcome him. And I decided to try my crafty hand at personalizing the gift.

Here it is:

I took some Gerber pre-fold diapers (burpcloths) that were on clearance at Target and I found this perfectly matching green jersey material in the scrap bin at Joann for $2. I drew some shapes (helicopter, van, t-rex, stegosaurus), pinned, and sewed them on, adding just a bit of personalized detail to the gift.

Then I packaged them all together with this tag: "out of the mouths of BABES" because, let's be honest, burpcloths are for what comes out, and pacifiers often come out rather than stay in. :]

linking up with these parties:



 
 
 

advent calendar. [tutorial]

I swear I don't try to avoid my blog. It just happens. One day I don't post, even though I mean to, and then the next four (five, six...) days are busy, and not before too long I have lost all will to post because I am that far behind. That's how I feel now. Actually, within the last 15 days [that's how long it has been since I've posted...ugh] I considered that maybe I shouldn't blog anymore, maybe it wasn't for me after all.

But I've come around, and I will continue to pursue blogging for the time being. I have too much to share in this post though to catch up on all that's been happening.

Remember how I wanted to make it through November before celebrating Christmas, giving November all its necessary honor and respect? Well, that didn't quite happen. I thoroughly enjoyed November and the Thanksgiving season, and it really was a perspective-changing time for me. But once we got back from visiting our families in Michigan over Thanksgiving weekend, we immediately got out our tree and those Christmas boxes that have been calling my name for weeks now, and we decked the halls, turning this place into a Christmas wonderland. Oh, it makes me so happy! ... every decoration, every Christmas light, every present wrapped beneath our tree waiting for its recipient to open it. Oh, Christmas, I love you.

I talked previously about a Christmasy project I had been planning and working on as a surprise for Mr. Allen's family. I had meant to share it with you all way before December 4, but alas - I think I should follow through with it eventually. Better late than never, right?!

So here it is, my new advent calendar:

It sort of has bunting-mixed-garland style look. I designed the whole concept from scratch, so there's no inspiration that I will forget to link to, just my own mind. I am really proud of the whole creative process, since it was finally my own.

Here's a quick tutorial of how it all happened.

Step one: Gather materials. I found this awesome, green and white striped fabric at Goodwill. It used to be a curtain, and then it sat in my fabric stack for a while, waiting for good use. How perfect was it for this project? (And it was, by far, the cheapest fabric ever. I think the whole sheet/curtain [3-4 yards] was $2.) I used twine (via Joann's), hot glue (I finally have a glue gun of my own), and a red ball trimming (via Joann's). 

Step two: Pick your size, shape, and overall design. Here are the plans I drew up when I was thinking of this project and deciding on the measurements.

 

[The big-picture design for my calendar.]

 

[What became my template for cutting all the squares. I left 1/4 inch seam allowance.]

[The pile of squares... so many. Keep in mind though, I made 2 advent calendars - one for our home and one for our family. So I needed 96 sqaures in all.]

Step three: After cutting all the squares, I pinned them in pairs front-to-front for what would become little pockets when sewn. I forgot to take a picture of this step.]

Step four: [Apply these next few steps multiple times, one per pocket ... 48 to be exact if you're making two.] I sewed back the top of each side to create a finished edge.

Step five: Then I repeated with the other side, folding away from the front of the fabric. [You can see the finished edge of the first side where the red stitching is.]

Step six: Cut trimming amount to fit the pocket. Then line it up with the bottom side of the pocket (toward the front of the fabric.)

Step seven: Stack the other piece (front-to-front) keeping the trimming in line with the bottom. You may want to pin this to keep it in its place.

Step eight: Stitch the bottom, securing the trimming between the two pieces.

Step nine: Sew the sides of the pocket. [The top should still be open.]

Step ten: Turn your pocket right-side-out and enjoy. [Ugh, this is not my prettiest pocket.]

Once all the pockets are sewn, simply hot glue a looooong piece of twine to all 24 pockets. I spaced my pockets about 2 inches apart.

Then comes the fun part. This advent calendar is full of festive activities. Each day there is a little something-to-do to get more and more in the holiday spirit. I cut little cards from cardstock (read: old thank you cards from the wedding) and wrote the activity inside and the day-number outside. Each pocket holds one card, and once the card is read on that day, it hangs out of the pocket, adding a visual of how long until Christmas is finally here!

Here is our advent calendar, hung by the window (which should really have some lights up... I'll get to that soon... I think.) We're 4 days in and loving it. Mr. Allen has opened each day's card and most of them will be surprises for him. Today's was to hang up and enjoy the mistletoe. :] ...it's an all-day type of an activity.

Here is a picture of Mr. Allen's family's advent calendar, hung on the mantle. I think they are really enjoying it too! [I sure hope so at least.]

For ideas of how to fill your advent activity calendar, visit here and here and here.

Some other advent calendar ideas that I've liked: wrapping Christmas books up then reading one each day or wrapping up board and card games and playing one each day. I'm sure some day down the road, when the little one(s) are a little older, these will come into play in our family.

linking up with these parties:






joining this hop party:

clean up on aisle allen.

Last week our computer was "in the shop" for a few days and it was mid-term week for Mr. Allen. It was not a good week for me to steal the computer and throw in an update. That being said, blog post ideas have been brewing in my head this whole time I've taken off. (It's been 2 weeks. Have you noticed? I'm so sorry!) This post will be a catch-all or a clean-up on what's been happening since then. And, hopefully, with the computer back in the game and better than ever, I'll be able to get a few more posts in without the long pause in between.

Is it okay if I show off for a little while again? Me following all these crafty/sewing blogs has got me hyper-inspired to live on the crafty side of life. Here's a few of my latest projects:

This little monster is our front entrance door. I saw the same door while spending hour upon hour on Pinterest, made by this blogger. What are the odds that, not only would I absolutely love this little guy's design, but have a green door perfect for his face to hang upon? Last night I painted some recycled cardboard and created Frankenstein to haunt charm our neighbors throughout October.

Project #2: I think I've mentioned before (if I'm not crazy) that I'm sewing Cubbie's cloth diapers. Well, two of them are almost done. I'm going to show them to you as if they were done. So get ready to "oooh" and "aaah"over these adorable little poop and pee holders.

These are just two of the designs... there are many to come. I will post some more just to show you how cute they will be. I tried to get gender-friendly designs, but let's be honest - if Cubbie is a Mr., he will still be wearing that one with the pink, but it will be under his onesie and you will only know if you change his diaper. And if, while changing his diaper, the fact that he is wearing a diaper with pink on it is your biggest issue, be thankful.

And now, folks, comes the moment you've all been waiting for. Last week one of my facebook statuses mentioned that a stranger had noticed my baby belly. I was ecstatic. Then I wore the same pants for the next 3 days and I got nothing. So the bump, although it sure did exist, was, well, tiny. Shane and I could tell, and that special librarian, but the rest of the world didn't notice.

Then on Sunday, I wore a skirt that hid everything from anyone (not on purpose.) I had a friend tell me, who I hadn't seen in about a month and a half, that she was shocked at how little I was for almost 4 months. And here I was thinking that I was getting big. Well, Sunday afternoon I took off that skirt and switched to pants and WHAM - there's that baby belly.

Here it is today. 17 1/2 weeks. Cubbie sure is growing. Thebump.com tells me that baby is the size of an onion this week, 5.1 inches long and weighs just less than 6 ounces. What a shrimpy. But what a blessing.

We are so eager to meet our little Cubbie, and we still have so long to wait. In 4 weeks we will get to find out the gender, and then we'll be selecting names. I'm not sure how soon we will share the names, but just knowing more about our baby will be wonderful!

Hopefully this week I'll be able to get at least one more post in. Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave feedback in the comments or on facebook, I love to know who is reading and what they are thinking!

with patience.


linking up with...

time to show off.

Last weekend my best friend, Danielle, came for a short, wonderful visit. On Saturday we went to a vintage bazaar that, thankfully, was only minutes away. This bazaar is supposed to be one of the biggest in Chicago all year, and it was wonderful. There were over 70 vendors, which is amazing because I only really know of a few vintage stores in the city... although I'm sure there are more.

The weekend before I had gotten a strong hankerin' for perusing through a vintage shop and scoring some great finds. I went to the store closest to our apartment and it was my first time there. Although reviewed highly online, it was a big disappointment. I found a few little decor items that I would have liked to take home, but they were all over-priced, so I went home empty handed. Mr. Allen and I, when shopping for a dining room table a few months ago, headed to the Pilsen neighborhood (a little bit on the south side of the city and where I student taught/where we used to go to church) which is said to be the area for the best vintage markets. The store that Chicagoans love the most is called Knee Deep Vintage, although those Chicagoans are much mistaken when they claim that Pilsen Vintage (a shop literally across the street) carries the leftovers of the first store. We found our table at Pilsen Vintage at a great price and there was so much more I could have taken with me but didn't. Moral of this paragraph: don't believe the reviews - when vintage-ing in Chicago, go to Pilsen (definitely) and try out all the stores they have to offer.

Anyway, back to last weekend's bazaar... we had so much luck at the flea market. I went with only $20 (a wise choice because so much more could have been spent.) Here were my wonderful finds that I came home with proudly:

[two sheets of 2-pack buttons, $1 each. I plan to use these for a sweater project. And if that doesn't work out, because it seems to be leaning on the edge of failure, I will use the pink for a baby-girl project/gift and the black ones will wait for another home.]

[vintage cookbook, $3. If I didn't just adore the cover of this book, what's on the inside is the kicker. The old woman (judging by the little, cursive handwriting) who once owned this book has re-written and edited so many of the recipes. It adds so much more value, you know? Also, Mr. Allen says it's like the Harry Potter's ownership of his Potions book, edited by the Half-Blood Prince.]

[wooden press stamps, $1 each. As soon as I saw these little guys I was inspired for a project. Can you guess what I would make?]

Here it is! I'm so excited to show it off: some artwork for the nursery. Danielle had suggested to start making them in mass and to maybe open an Etsy shop for a place to sell them. I'm not sure about the Etsy shop at this point, although I may try it out in a few months. But I know that I will be testing out some more designs with the blocks, and I'm sure I'll be giving a few away as presents for some little ones to come.

In other creative news, this weekend we celebrated my nephew's birthday. Mr. Allen and I went to my sister and brother-in-law's overnight Friday to get to spend some extra time with their family. Last week I had posted a facebook status requesting a pin cushion. I was tired of constantly spilling my pins or poking myself because I had to grab them out of the dish. I was ready for them to be at-the-ready for me. My sister, Ashley, responded with a link to this tutorial, which we used and yesterday created this wonderful pincushion together.

Oh, I'm in love. My sister-in-law, Kelsey, had picked up a fabric scrap-pack for me (just because she's sweet) a few months ago, so I had these fabrics lying around waiting for a purpose. This was the perfect opportunity. I love my little pincushion/caddy for all those tools I need right there at a moment's notice. If I convinced you enough to venture out and try it yourself, please let me know and we could try a link-up to show off our creations. I'm sure the original tutorial writer would love to know as well.

Hopefully this creativity-bug will stick around, especially since I need to get some (24+) cloth diapers done quickly. And hopefully this blog theme will be just as well-received as those with baby news. :) Thank you so much for reading and enjoying.

with goodness.

[Edit: For a tutorial about how to get better blog photos, see this post. With her help, I was able to improve my picture quality and up my over-all blog appearance... because, let's be honest, pictures speak hugely, probably more than the words I write.]