Sewing Station

Lately I've been looking at our apartment to see how I can make it work better for us and the things we do. We have a desk in our bedroom that isn't being used at the moment, because everything that is typically done at a desk is done at our kitchen table. I wanted to be able to use it for something, not only because it seems like a waste to not use it, but also because I really like my desk and felt bad that I wasn't using it. So, I came up with a solution. I turned it into my sewing station. Now not only will the desk be put to good use, but it will also be a lot easier for me to sew, because I won't have to drag the sewing machine out of the closet every time I want to sew, something that has always been an annoyance to me. I set up the sewing machine, and took all of my sewing supplies out of their storage box and placed them in containers on the desk, so that they will be easily accessible. I also placed a small bench at the end of my bed, which perfectly holds my fold-up ironing board, so that I'll be able to iron my projects right there, also. It all turned out great - now I just need to think of a project to do!

Going, Going, Gone!

So yesterday morning I woke up to my kitchen looking like this:

Not the most pleasant of ways to begin the day. Unfortunately, it often looks like this in the morning because after making and eating dinner, I don't always feel like cleaning up right away. So I leave it and clean up in the morning. I had thought about cleaning the kitchen Sunday night when I got home, but, well, Extreme Makeover Home Edition was way more interesting! =)


Whenever I have a really big mess like this, I clean it in stages. I start by washing all the little things - the silverware, cups, bowls, plates, etc. until I've filled my dish drainer. Then I move the remaining dishes to the sink and adjacent counter. I wipe down the stove and the counter next to it. Then I go away and do something else for a while.

When the dishes have dried, I put them away, and wash some more dishes until they're either gone or I've filled the drainer again. When all the dishes have been finished, I wipe down the rest of the counters and the sink. When these dishes have dried, they get put away, and I have a clean kitchen! If only it would stay that way for more than a couple of hours!

It really helps me to clean a little bit at a time like this because since I only spent 15-30 minutes at any one time, the job isn't quite so overwhelming, but yet I do have good progress that I can see!

A Special Heirloom

I received this beautiful teacup from my grandma when I graduated from high school. What makes it so special is that she had received it when she graduated from high school! I love special treasures that are passed down to me! It is so fun to have things that were once treasured by other people. I feel like I have a bit of history in my home!

My New Shelf

My project for Sunday was to turn a board we had sitting around into a shelf. I've been meaning to do it for some time, so I figured now was as a good a time as any. We don't have any fancy power tools, so it's very simple and by no means perfect, but it fills the empty space on my wall quite nicely. It only took about an hour and a half of actual work time from start to finish (it took longer than that to actually be done, since the stain had to dry). The best part was that it cost me nothing - we had everything I needed already sitting around! I might still play around with what I put on it - I just stuck some stuff up there for now. I really love shelves - they always look cute and they're such a great place to put stuff that you have!

The Last Harvest

For the last several days, Seth and I have been trying to do some projects to keep ourselves busy, and one of my projects for Saturday was to clean out our garden. Our apartment complex has a small community garden area, so I was able to grow some things this year. I must say, it was a very easy way for us to have fresh, organic, and cheap produce. It only took me a few hours to dig up and plant the garden, and I only spent about 10 minutes a day watering it, and every minute I spent was well worth it! Unfortunately, the couple of strawberry plants I had only produced a couple of strawberries that animals got, the pumpkin plants died, and I never got any cucumbers, either. But, we got some beans and lots of lettuce and tomatoes, and I loved that it was so fresh! It was fun to go get some lettuce from the garden for a salad for dinner. Since we are required to clean everything out of the garden by November, that's what I did on Saturday. I dug up the strawberry plants and put them in a planter box, hoping that they'll make it through the winter. The rest of the stuff I just pulled out and tossed. I was surprised to find that I still had tomatoes growing. Most were green, but I picked them all, in the hopes that the green ones would ripen. I also found that the carrots I had planted were finally big enough to be picked! I had tried picking them a while ago, but they were still tiny. I'm not sure why they took so long to grow. I also found some more green beans that I picked. I ended up bringing home a whole bag full of stuff. I hadn't been out to the garden for a while, and wasn't expecting to find anything still growing, so it was a nice surprise. The green beans we had in our dinner yesterday. The tomatoes aren't ripening so far, but instead are starting to get spots on them, so I'm thinking that I won't get to use those. But we still have lots of carrots to use! Not bad when I hadn't expected to bring anything home at all!

God is Good

This is something Christians say a lot. Something that's a lot easier to say when everything's going great than it is when life is tough. Something that we have to be able to hold on to and believe even when we don't understand everything that is going on. It's been a tough week here for us. We found out a few days ago that we lost the baby we were expecting. Unless you've been through it, I don't think anyone can quite understand the pain and grief that comes with a loss like this. So many plans, hopes, and dreams taken away in an instant. We're still trying to come to grips with what has happened. We are so thankful for the love and support of our family and friends during this time. Although we can't comprehend why this has happened, we are holding on to the fact that God is in control of our lives and will work all things for good and we are thankful that He will carry us through this difficult time.

Montana

As I had said before, we spent the weekend in Montana. I had planned to take some pictures of the area to post, but ended up only taking one picture all weekend, and that was of some of the people we were with. So I have no pictures that show how pretty Montana is, and it really is pretty, especially with the sunshine we were blessed with this weekend. We went to Montana to have a Bible Quizzing competition. I am a coach for a team here that is involved in Bible Quizzing. Basically, in Bible Quizzing, the members of the team memorize several chapters out of the Bible each year, then several times a year will compete against other teams by quizzing over those chapters. We have a Regional competition in the spring, then in June compete nationally against other teams across the nation. The quizzers are in 7-12 grade. I quizzed my last two years of high school, and I have been a coach since then. So this weekend, two teams from Washington got together and took a bus to Montana, to practice our quizzing with a team there. We got lots of good practice and got to see a little bit more of Montana (this was our third time going there). Quizzing is an awesome ministry, and one of the perks of it (besides learning a lot of scripture) is that those involved get to travel to various places around the country. Each year Nationals is in a different place, so in my years of involvement, I've traveled to Michigan, Minnesota, California, Ohio, West Virginia & Washington D.C., Missouri, plus all of the other places that we've had layovers in, or traveled through to get to these states.
Anyway, it was a good trip, and we were able to come back with a little more rest than we often get at home, which is a bonus! =)

Home Sweet Home

It's nice to be home. We just got back from a three-day trip to Montana. It's always nice to be able to get away from the norm for a few days and relax, miss a little work and get a break from the routine, cleaning the house, doing dishes, etc. It was a good trip. It was a long bus ride there and back (more on that later), but we had a fun weekend. As good as it is to be home, sometimes I come back from a trip and wish I wasn't home quite yet. Because as soon as I get home, I start thinking about everything that I need to do and wish that I could postpone a bit longer. And as relaxing as it can be to get away for a few days, it can add more busyness and stress later, because sometimes there are more things that now need to be done. I often get some things done on the weekend, and since I was gone, I now have to fit those things into an already busy week. Like the grocery shopping I usually get done on Saturdays that I have to try to do sometime early this week. And I usually do my laundry on Sundays, but we'll have to make do until Wednesday. But all in all, a little extra work this one week is worth being able to "escape" for a couple of days, especially since it's something we don't do too often.

My New Friend

I found this little guy when I was walking around the mall the other day and I just had to have him for my table. Yes, it was totally an impulse buy, which I don't do very much, but he was too cute to pass up. I hadn't ever seen anything like him, so I got him and now this little turkey candle holder is keeping my pumpkin company. =)

You know it's fall when....

You get to go to the pumpkin farm! We took my preschool class on one of my favorite field trips of the year - the pumpkin farm! The farm is such a fun place for kids - their natural curiosity comes out with the plants, animals, and all there is to see on a farm. The farm we went to was perfect, small but had plenty to see, and our tour guide was great with the kids - she kept them interested and doing lots of different things. Then, of course, they got to pick out their favorite pumpkin from the field. I always find it interesting to see what kind of pumpkin each child picks. Some will go for the biggest they can find, while others choose a little tiny one. This year, several of the children didn't like the fact that all the pumpkins were dirty, so much in fact that they almost didn't want to get one. We had to convince them that they could clean it at school or at home, and then they chose one after all. Kids certainly keep life interesting!

Finally...

I finally finished the book I've been reading for probably about two weeks (I can't remember exactly when I started it). It usually doesn't take me that long to read a book, since I love reading, but it was one of the longer books I've read and it's hard to find the time to read. But I spent a total of about 3 hours today reading and I finished it! I've seen the movie a couple of times and really enjoyed it, so I got the book from the library and was pleased to find that it was very similar to the movie. It always bugs me when a movie is made based off a book and lots of things are changed. But Wives and Daughters didn't disappoint me, although I was very surprised to learn while reading that the author died before finishing the story. It was almost finished, though, and what wasn't in the book can be assumed based off the rest of the story. I've ordered the movie from the library, also, since I want to see it again, but it will probably be several months before I receive it, as I was 36 in the holds list, and there are only 8 copies to go around!

Home

It's so good to be home. I just got home from my second long day at work this week. Tuesday I got home at 8, and tonight at 9. Usually I'm home around 5:30, but this week I've had to take First Aid and CPR classes after work. It's nice that the classes are held at my work site, it just makes for long days. It's nice to just come home and be able to relax and not have to do anything (of course that's not really true - I have dishes awaiting, but then when do I really have nothing to do?). But still, it's nice to be able to sit and do something brainless for a few minutes! =) I love being home!