Keeping it real.

I try to post normally about happy things. Crafting. Recipes. Decor. Amazing Places. Stuff. But today, I am just keeping it real.

Every day, at 1500, I go to pick up Cooper from school, then Lily from daycare (in a home). Frank takes the kids to school and daycare each morning. He has the harder job. But yesterday was a hard day for me.

Picking up Cooper is always a joy. He runs to me and hugs me and pulls me excitedly to show me what he painted, drew, created that day. Always happy for me to be there.

Lily I noticed the last couple of days was less and less giddy to see me when I picked her up. Yesterday was the worst.

I came in, and yes it is a bit chaotic with normally 5 other kids there at that time to distract her, but Lily hardly noticed my presence. I picked her up and kissed her as she tugged away reaching for the ground grunting. I let her go back down and she happily went back to playing. I grabbed her things, talked about her day and tried picking her up again. This time she really wriggled to get out of my arms. Holding her sideways as she struggled to get out of my arms I said goodbye and Shannon walked with me to the door. Lily was reaching for Shannon giving her high fives and even gave her a big wet kiss.

I should be happy that she loves Shannon so much and loves being there so much. I am. But, I am also feeling depressed and angry at myself. Very much so actually. Feelings of inadequacy are tearing me up. I want to be the one playing with her each day. Feeding her. Reading to her. Napping with her. Loving her. Discovering the world with her. Being her mother. Instead it is Shannon.

I get Lily in the hard hours of the day. Where she is tired and I am tired and dinner must be made, baths taken. She wants to go to sleep so early. She needs to in fact. But that is hard for me. I am not being a real mother. Just a provider. That doesn't give me warm fuzzes.

Why can't I come up with some ingenious blog or craft or invention so I can be a mom and provider? Surely there is a way. These are the thoughts that are constantly going through my mind. A cure for my guilt.

Our plan is for one of us to stay home in two years. We're working our butts off now to get there. Two years seems so long. Too long. Two years of the most tender precious baby years we're missing. We will get there though.

For now, I know to focus on the positive. Enjoy my time with the kids and make it quality time. Focus on the good I do. Find the positives, the silver lining in everything. I'm working on it. Just having one of those moments.

Transformation Tuesday - Rope

I've been climbing now for 14 years. Wow. That's hard for me to believe. During that time frame,  Frank and I have probably gone through about 5 ropes. We've upcycled a fair share, but I could definitely make quite a few more things. Here are 10 fun upcycle ideas for ropes.

1. Rope Swings. We've made a few swings now for Cooper with old ropes and they are so strong. Finding a suitable tree is the hard part...

Source: Babajezas Wandertute

2. Dog Leashes.We have about 5 of these we've made for our dogs. Super strong and last. I wonder if I should try selling these at the next craft show seeing how well the doggie treats were selling.

Source: Etsy

3. Rope Covered Lamp (Jute in this case). I've done this one as well. We had a terribly ugly lamp that I covered over with jute and it made it so much better!

Source: Martha Stewart

4.  Rope Seat Stools. I haven't done this, but looks nice and simple.

Source: Martha Stewart

5. Make Floor Mats or Rugs! There are braided versions and circle rugs too!

Source: Seen on Green Prophet but sold at the cool store Hipcyle

6. Rope Bookends. I love the cube shapes. Cute for a nautical theme.

Source: Martha Stewart

7. This is a bit ambitious, but you can make all kinds of furniture out of rope like this Chair.

Source: LIV via Oscar Andersson

8. Make a Jump Rope. This has to be the easiest project. I'd just use tape for the handles...

9. Or a Rope Ladder. We might have to add one of these to our Power of Tower outside.

10. Dresser Handles/Pulls. Love this look.

Source: Design Squish Blog

Cold, Cold, Go Away.

Okay, another week of winter over here in Bavaria. This is seriously the longest winter with the least days of sun EVER in the history of Bavaria. Please, sunshine, come back! We saw it a few hours on Friday afternoon, but not long enough. I took the kids to the park despite the negative temps.

So, a lot of time spent indoors. Saturday we went swimming and Sunday we went climbing at the gym. Exercise helps. This weekend, we're headed down to the alps for Easter. Hoping for some sun and warmth down there! If not, at least a change of scenery will do us some good.

To brighten up this gloomy Monday, here are three amazing looking tutorials I am dying to try out. Don't know which to tackle first.


1. Baby Animal Towels. I give these as presents all the time from Pottery Barn, and they cost about $25! These look just as adorable if not cuter and would cost so little! Can't wait to try to make one for Lily. Cooper already has 3 animal towels. His favorite is a fish one from Target. I might have to do the bunny for Lily.  Which one would you do?

Source: U-Create Crafts who is sharing from Crazy Little Projects

2. Dress Shirt Dresses! Frank has a pile of these shirts seriously that all would look so cute as dresses! Dana from Made has all kinds of great sewing tutorials I'd love to try.

Source: Shirt Dress Tutorial from Made

 3. T-Shirt Dress from old T-Shirts. I love this dress. So cute. And I have plenty of old shirts I could cut up and do this to in my goodwill pile in the attic.

Source: Upcycled T-Shirt Dress from I am Momma Hear me Roar

Agrarian Dreams

Have you all checked out  Williams Sonoma Agrarian online store? I'm in love with everything on the site! Right now urban chickens are all the rage and I think it is wonderful!

Source: Williams Sonoma Chicken Coops!

Check out my favorite blog Under the Sycamore. She bought some baby chicks and the pictures are priceless.

Wish we could buy some chicks for Easter and build a coop in our yard. hmmm. Thing is, we likely move in less than two years, so it might not be the best idea. I want to make my own chicken coop! What a fun business.  Cheese making kits, beer kits, lip balm kits, and awesome garden goodies. Wish I could start something up like this!

I have broccoli, carrots, strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, basil and a few other things already about 4 inches high growing inside little seedling starters in my hallway window. Hoping for a warm weekend so I can get these babies planted in the greenhouse in our yard. Otherwise, I might just have to pot them before they run out of soil/space.

Any of you all have urban chickens or want to get some? Any of you all green thumbs? I try to be, but I'm not so great yet. Learning by trial and error. Last year, my pumpkins only grew to the size of tennis balls and I had about 10,000 too many tomatoes hoarding the greenhouse.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Transformation Tuesday - Egg Cartons

My poor baby girl has measles! She got them from the vaccination she had 10 days ago. Full blown case of the measles. The doctor couldn't believe it and brought his colleague into see. No wonder she was miserable all weekend. I feel so bad for her....

So, anyhow, that is why I am a day late in posting my Tuesday transformations. With Easter coming soon, I figured it would be useful to figure out some extra uses for the egg cartons! Enjoy :)

1) Adorable Packaging for Gifts

Source: Design Mom

2. Seed Starters

Source: Instructables

3. A Spring Wreath. Can you believe those flowers are from egg cartons!

Source: Addicted 2 Decorating

4. Checkerboard Game. So cute for Easter!

Source: Create Celebrate Explore

5. Hungry Caterpillars! Looking forward to doing this one with Cooper. This is the theme of his room.

Source: 2Paws Designs

6. Bird Masks

Source: Bristling Acres

7.  DIY Bird Feeder

Source: Ginger Snap Crafts

8.  A Flower Light

Source: Addicted2Decorating

9. Egg Carton Cupcakes

Source: Its Me

10.  Egg Carton Lamp

Source: Victor Vetterlein Lamp Via Inhabitat

Hope you feel inspired to make one of these awesome things! I know I do!

Craft Fair Attempt and Baked Amish Bread

So, Saturday, I went to my first ever craft fair. Well, I'd been to a few as a shopper, but not as a vendor. I didn't have much to sell. Just onesies, so I felt stupid going and almost talked myself out of it! I still felt a bit embarrassed once I was there even, looking around at what all the other crafters brought. There were some really skilled girls there! The girl next to me was selling the most adorable crochet owl hats and bunnies. Another girl behind me was selling dog treats that were so good looking I wanted to eat them. The ladies were all quite nice and it was good to meet new people and see how these things work.

I didn't stay the whole time, and didn't really sell too much either. However, it just wasn't a very big sale day. I did get a feeling for what does sell though and what people are looking for, so that was helpful. I might try again at Christmas time, and actually could create a variety of things to sell by then.

Sunday, for breakfast, I made this delicious Amish Cinnamon Bread using this recipe from Redfly Creations. Cooper loved it. Kind of like Coffee cake. Not too hard to make either, but in my oven, it took over an hour to cook vs the 45 minutes in the recipe. I can't bake anything right in my German oven it seems. So weird. Baked breads are so helpful for our stressful work mornings. I need to do one every weekend. Anyone have some great recipes to share?

Two interesting articles...

Yesterday, I read an excellent post on Design Mom about Highschool that discusses a fascinating article in New York Magazine titled “Why You Truly Never Leave High School”. You must read her post and the article if you have time. Gabrielle pulled some interesting info out of the article that really makes me want to homeschool our kids.

Today, I read an article from the NY Times titled "Living with Less. A lot Less." Makes me want to purge and get in full Spring Cleaning mode. We have too much stuff! Done with the buying. Ever since reading Mr. Money Mustache, I feel so much more inspired to be frugal. Not just to save money, but to save the environment (same goal as MMM and the article above).

Hoping for some warm temps this weekend. We have quite a bit of snow on the ground right now. Sigh. Will spring ever come! Only plans so far for the weekend are selling some onesies at a Craft Fair tomorrow and climbing at a gym. Wish me luck!

Amazing Broccoli Cheese and Potato Cream Soup

Last night was a rough night. And as Alexander would say "some days are just like that, even in Australia" (hopefully you have read Alexander and the Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day) and know what I am referencing.

Lily was exhausted and wanted me carrying her around non stop after 5:00 rolled around. She was just so tired. She went to bed at 6 last night poor girl. Cooper was in a very mouthy mood and got in trouble a few times calling us names. A lot of crying from both kids and my patience was very thin. Not a good combo. I make it worse often with my sighs and shortness with Cooper. Having very inadequate mothering skill feelings these days.

One good thing is I experimented and made a delicious soup. The downside? Cooper didn't touch it and I didn't take any pictures. He was already in a foul mood and just being plain stubborn. He is normally a good eater. Lately, I can't get him to sit still at the dinner table! We never had this problem a few months ago. Not sure how to nip this new inconvenient habit in the bud. Any tips out there? I will not do what my dad did and force him to sit there until he eats the food. I'm still a little mad at dad for doing that so many times as a child. It never worked and just built up anger. There must be a better method.

Okay, so now on to happy thoughts. It's a new day. I will have a GOOD night with the kids tonight and we will sing and dance and be happy. Determined.

Oh yeah, before I forget, the reason for this post! The recipe for my soup concoction last night! Truly, try it. YUM!

Broccoli Cheese and Potato Cream Soup

Ingredients
1 onion (diced)
2 Carrots (diced)
1 potato (diced)
1 bag of frozen broccoli (I didn't have fresh on hand last night)
1/4 cup of flour
4 Cups milk
1-2 Cups Cream
1/4 stick butter (melted in the pot)
Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese (a few cups)
salt/pepper

First brown the onion, carrots and potato in a pot with the melted butter. I let them cook about 5 minutes until browned on medium high. Then add the flour on top and mix together. Then add the milk and cream and broccoli and bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper. Reduce heat and cover for 30 mins. I used my immersion blender to blend up everything nice and smooth. Then added a few handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese. 2-3 cups at least I would say. Stirred until melted and then served with bread. Delicious!

Transformation Tuesday - Corks

Only Tuesday. Feels like it already should be Friday again. So, I still haven't created a project with the bottle caps from last Tuesday, but, I do plan to, really.

Here are ten wonderful projects to do with corks.  So save them up if you don't already! My favorite might be number 10. How about you?

1. Cork Trivets! We received one of these from our friends Janie and Jon when we were married, and I use it ALL the time. Have it right by my stove.

Source: WoodinyouDineDivine on etsy

2. Cork Flooring and Walls .


3. Animal Sculptures. I love this one by Lil Blue Boo. 

Tutorial by Lil Blue Boo

4. Stamps. Lil Blue Boo once again shows a great tutorial on how to do this.

Source: Lil Blue Boo

5. Wall Art! Check out this Tutorial over at the blog Little Things Bring Smiles. She used wood slices, but you could easily use cork instead.

Source: Little Things Bring Smiles

6. Small Rugs/Bath Mats.

Source: Ricki Roger Design on Etsy

7. Monograms

Source: My Happily Ever After

8. Picture Frames

 

Source: Every Little Thing by Pam McKnight

9. Pin Boards! I suppose the Trivets could also work as Pin Boards. Check out this great Tutorial on After Nine to Five.

Source: After Nine to Five

10.  Birdhouses! I love this one!

Source: Carefully Corked on Etsy

Easter Bunny Sign

We're finally over our colds and stomach bug! Well, mostly at least. As much as I hate being sick and the kids being sick, it was a really nice week because I got to have 2 extra days with the kids at home! A rarity.

This weekend, we went for a nice long hike in the woods with the kids and climbing on Sunday at the gym. My goal was to stay up late each night and make stuff for a crafts fair next weekend, but I failed. Fell asleep both nights super early with the kids and couldn't make myself get up! Going to have to this week if I want to sell anything at the craft fair. Really don't know how much to make and what will sell. Guess I'll find out Saturday.

I made this Easter sign the other day on a piece of scrap wood. I like it nice and simple, but Frank thinks it is missing something. Like a border, or words, etc? What do you all think? Do I need to add something to it? I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to paint it and followed the same technique I used for this sign.I still don't have a silhouette, so I glue on the image with a glue stick and peel it off after I paint over the sign. Works pretty well...

I got the wonderful bunny silhouette from The Graphics Fairy.

Linking up to parties in the link page as well as: Keeping it Simple, 
Craft-o-maniac and Sumo's Sweet Stuff and the Graphics Fairy

A Dress for Lily

I did it! By golly! I've been wanting to sew something other than a pillow for quite some time, finally found the perfect easy tutorial, and did it!

I used the Pillowcase Baby Dress Pattern from the wonderful blog Prudent Baby, and it was so easy to follow! I can't wait to make a bunch more of these. Of course, I didn't do it perfectly. I sewed the bias for one of the arm holes completely on the wrong side of the fabric! That was annoying. I left it on there and just covered it up with the bias I sewed on correctly. I'll get it right next time. I'd say it only took me about 2 hours total to make the dress. Hoping I can do it faster next time now that I know the steps.

Anyhow, here are some pictures of Lily wearing the dress. I am so proud of myself right now...

I didn't have any ribbon on hand, so I cut up an old blue onesie into 2 long strips for the ties. Since they are knit, I didn't have to sew the edges and they are nice and soft.

Other than that, I haven't made much or done much. The kids have been sick with colds and then the horrible throw up bug, and then I got it too. Knocked me off my feet for a day. Horrible. Today is my birthday and I'm trying to decide if I should post 33 goals for the year for my 33rd Birthday. One goal done  at least - sewing a dress for my baby girl! 

Banana Bread Brownies

I don't know about you, but I love banana bread for so many reasons. I love how simple it is, I love the smell when it's baking, I love eating a warm piece right from the oven and I love not throwing away the well intended bananas! I've played around with lots of recipes and have my favorites, but recently while browsing Pinterest I came across a recipe for banana bread bars and had to try them. Believe me, they are soooo good, you won't be disappointed and you won't be able to stop eating them. It also introduced me to the blog "Life's Simple Measures," what a fantastic blog! Thank you for sharing the recipe! I did have to change one thing, the baking time and temperature, only because I didn't have a sponge cake pan. I recommend going to her blog for pictures and more amazing recipes.

Banana Bread Bars with Brown Butter Frosting
Ingredients:
Bars
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
3 or 4 ripe bananas mashed
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

Brown Butter Frosting
1/2 cup Butter
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp milk

Heat oven to 325. Grease and Flour a 9 x 13 pan (I used my pyrex pan). For the bars, in a large bowl mix together the wet ingredients and sugar until creamy. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Pour into pan and bake for approximately 45 min or until your toothpick comes out clean.

While the bars are baking, heat your other stick of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling. Let the butter turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until smooth. Poor over the bars while they are still warm.

Transformation Tuesday - Bottle Caps

I've decided to start coming up with some weekly things to blog about on here, to get a little consistency in the blog going. Tuesdays will be the day I blog about a simple item you can transform into ten different things. First off, bottle caps. Something we have WAY too much of at our house, and I need a project to use them up, so this will help inspire me to actually do something with them. Which project would you start with?

1. Magnets

 

Source: The Finished Box

 2. Picture Frames

Source: Crafty Crafts

3.  Wall Art

Source: Man Made

 

4. Jewelry

Source: Ink Blots by TRD

Source: Hungry Hippie

5. Tabletops

Source: My Art Projects

6. Flowers for Wreaths

Source: Craft

7. Ornaments

Source: One Artsy Mama

8. Backsplash

Source: Unknown, sorry....

9. Mosaics

Source: Pizza Professional with OCD

 10. Make Instruments

Source: Fun Family Crafts