Physics.

Physics is kicking my butt.
I briefly considered dropping the class all together in a moment of desperation when my brain was fried from crazy amounts of stress...
But I can't do that.
I won't do that.
If I chose to drop the class, I wouldn't meet my personal goals...
and I know I can get through this and pass this class
and meet on of my goals.

Associate's degree completed in December 2012

Basically,

I've been doing almost nothing other than:
cooking, cleaning, and homework.

I have plans.
Lot's of crafting plans.
I just haven't had time for any of them.
It makes me so sad.

We're moving at the end of this month as well.
So, I'll soon be cooking, cleaning, packing, and doing homework.
But somewhere in there I'll be squeezing in some sewing so that the boys have Halloween costumes.
Possibly my own costume as well.

Here's to planning some better time management!
Winter break can't come fast enough.

Run Ragged

I hate when my blog gets neglected.
Lets admit it, that's most of the time.

Between school, my kids, babysitting my neighbor's rambunctious 3 year old, and Vault Denim...
I'm exhausted.

I usually don't get my homework done until after my kids are in bed.
I usually don't finish until at LEAST midnight.

My house is a disaster zone.

Gabe has started waking up around 3am every. single. night.
Then he wakes up for the day around 7 or 7:30am.
I am not one of those people that functions well on little sleep.
Nope, no can do.

Maybe I just need some better time management skills.
Feel free to leave me a comment with any tips you may have.

 

Today, I have 40 flash cards to make.
Jazz musicians.
And then study them.
That's what I need to know for my first test next Thursday.
I also have to do 3 or 4 physics labs before Friday.
Those are the big two.

I definitely need some Super-Mom powers!

Simply Delicious

There's something you should know about me.

I am unbelievably stubborn.

My way is always the right way.
(actually, I will sometimes admit when I'm wrong... but only if I'm actually wrong.

Which is rare.)

One thing I look forward to every fall is a local town festival that we have in a neighboring city.

I only look forward to it for one real reason.

Food.
Specifically, Walking Tacos.
Made by Boy Scouts. 

I bring this up, because it always happens that I will go somewhere new and they will advertise "Walking Tacos."

Then I get really excited,

but I am always disappointed.

Always.

In these last few summer months,

I've seen a number of blog posts about Walking Tacos.
I'm disappointed in those too.

;)

Frankly, y'all are WRONG.

Let me inform you of the right way to make a Walking Taco.

Because it's delicious.

I'm not going to post a recipe.
Frankly because it's so easy to do the right way
and recipe isn't necessary.
I promise.

Prep all your preferred taco ingredients.
Cut open the side of a bag of FRITOS.
Add taco incredients.
Eat. Or in my case, devour!

See? Easy.
Ignore all other "recipes" that tell you to use:
Doritos.
Tortilla chips.
OR
A bowl.
ugh!

I only took the one picture - sorry! 
I was too busy enjoying the party in my mouth.
=)

Thrifting.

Today, we decided to check out a new thrift store in town.
My favorite thrift store was bought out a while back and now the prices are outrageous.
Not cool.
I had high hopes for this new store...

I got these books for the boys for birthday/Christmas gifts.
All in like-new condition.
Total cost: $1.12

I call that a SUCCESS.






That is all.
=)

Jeans, jeans, jeans.

I just finished some quick sewing.
Super quick.

Yeah.
Quick and not at all creative sewing.
Hemming jeans.
(and our apartment has gross carpet. Ignore that. We're moving soon.)

A lot of the jeans we have in our inventories run really, really long.
Which is awesome.
It's awesome because really tall women have a really hard time finding jeans that are long enough for them.... I know first hand and I'm not even THAT tall.
It's also awesome for petite women, because they will end up with jeans that are the perfect length for them.
Everyone is happy.

Where else can you buy jeans and everyone is happy?
Probably no where.

I absolutely love that I am able to help women feel sexy, beautiful and self confident.

BUT, moving on...

This week I'm going to be working on a custom dress for a friend.
I'm looking forward to that.
We have a group on facebook full of crafters and instead of exchanging crafts for $$, we trade for other crafts.

=)
Pretty awesome.

Lots of really talented women, too!

I also have some really exciting news coming up in the next couple weeks.
I'm not going to reveal it until I have pictures to show you as well.
Just trust me, it's awesome.

Also, tomorrow morning is my first class of the semester.
Things are about to get crazy busy and I am more than excited!

What We've Been Up To...

I haven't had many opportunities lately to hop on and post, so I downloaded the Blogger app for iPhone so I could update on the go! However, I can't quite figure out how to get the pictures into the post... I uploaded them, but then couldn't figure out what to do with them!

Back to the drawing board.

Here's what we've been up to lately:

 

These first two pictures were actually taken a while ago, on our vacation... but still very share worthy!

Levi was so excited to get to drive the boat and then swim in the middle of the big lake! 

 

 

I am a Vault Denim Fashion Consultant and had a big party during tax free weekend.

Lots of prizes to give away!

I love my job so much.

 

We've had some fun trampoline time with friends.

 

Gabe learned to feed himself finger foods!

He's only gotten puffs so far.

Trying to get the hang of the whole 'swallowing foods that aren't pureed' thing.

 

We had this gorgeous sunset the other day after a quick summer storm.

Just beautiful.

 

Levi and I did some tree climbing.

He's going to be a pro in no time!

 

 

And finally, my last semester at community college will be starting on the  21st!

I am really excited and anxious at the same time.

I also still have to go get one of my textbooks - they were sold out of it!

Boo.

But REALLY excited to have a course about education this semester.

It feels good to be learning about what my career will actually entail.

:)

Stress free, finally!

I've been feeling a little stressed this past week.
A little bit like this:

(Photo courtesy of Autumn Rose Photography)

That is Levi, circa summer 2010, by the way.

This week was finals week for the summer semester and I literally JUST submitted my last assignment.

We will be trying out another new recipe this weekend, so that will be showing up in the coming days.
Sneak peak: it's lamb.
It was supposed to be on the menu on Tuesday - but look how well that's turned out.
Today we had Kraft macaroni & cheese and green beans from a can.
Gourmet cooking, I'm telling you.

But now I'm feeling a little more like this:

 

No shame. We keep it real around here.
Messy hair, no make up, tired eyes.
BUT I'm happy and wearing a neon pink t-shirt... and giving that awesome thumbs up.


Bedtime.
Sweet dreams, readers!

Sunday night dinner at our house.

Today we tried a last minute science activity while waiting for dinner.
I decided to try a new recipe - Veggie Lasagna.
The downside was that it takes an hour to cook in the oven.

I wasn't really prepared for a special activity.
One of the things I'm going to work on - activities with my kids outside their plastic, manufactured toys.
However, I managed to have some vinegar, baking soda (miraculously), and food coloring on hand...
And I remembered pinning this  kids activity a while back... so we did a little experimenting.

Fill the dish with baking soda.

Vinegar tinted with food coloring.

Use a medicine dropper to drip the colors onto the baking soda and watch the awe on your child's face.

At first, Levi was pretty amazed at the way the colors fizzed when he dropped them.
But then he started to experiment... "I wonder what color it makes when I put yellow on blue?"

It was the perfect activity for Levi to kill the time until dinner was ready. He's the perfect age (2.5) for this, I think.

Oh, and when he was done, he decided he needed to taste it... ew.
Dinner will (hopefully) taste much better, little Bear!

 

 At the very least, it LOOKED much more appetizing. =)

Zucchini, squash, tomatoes, onion, and bell peppers.

I wish I would have taken in-progress pictures.... but my kitchen is a disaster zone when I'm cooking.
Who am I kidding? It's a 24/7 disaster zone.

I used the recipe that Laura at We Wilsons talked about a couple weeks ago. The cheesy sauce is wonderful - but we also added some spaghetti sauce on top of our own servings. I think it is ingrained into our brains that pasta needs spaghetti sauce.

I got so much wonderful produce at the farmers market this week.
Including the world's most amazing tomatoes.
This was the perfect recipe to use them in.
The original recipe calls for broccoli and carrots, but it would be delicious with pretty much any veggie.

But Levi wouldn't touch it.... so he had spaghetti with butter and Parmesan.
Adventurous, that one.

This vegetable lasagna recipe looks wonderful, too.
(Actually, it's one of the Pioneer Woman's recipes... so let's face it - it will taste AMAZING.)


P.S. Ignore the mess in the background. uhhhh... I don't have an excuse.

Linked up to: Making The World Cuter

Hello again!

Here I am.
About to open my blog with it's new design and new purpose.

I have one other post besides this one and it may seem kind of random, but let me explain.

This blog is about my life.
It will continue to be so.
The new change is that the new focus will be on becoming the woman and mother that I aspire to be.

Projects, cooking, parties, and juggling all other aspects with school and a career.

I'll be starting out with projects from blogs I follow and love.
No tutorials from this girl.
Big opinions on tutorials, though. =)

And lots of pictures of my handsome boys.

Levi.

(Blowin' bubbles!)

and Gabe.

I can't promise daily posts.
School, work, and life as a single mom is grueling most of the time.
I can promise that I will do my best.
Somewhat scheduled posts a few times a week.
I promise.

I'll work on smiling. ha!

I can't wait to meet you, reader.

One down. 135433125 to go!

My little blog is getting off to a slow start. That is perfectly okay by me, because at least it's going!

I spent the last few days working as quickly as I could on a special treat for my littlest little guy. If you know me, you know I have more ideas than I can possibly make the time for. And so, because of this, I have a to-do list about three years long. But then again, what crafter doesn't? I mean, really?

Especially with the new addition of Pinterest to our lives? I know your list is just as long. It's okay.

I've recently decided that my crafting has hit rock bottom... not okay by me. So I'm powering into projects as often as I possibly can. I will soon be showing you all the projects I've recently completed in our tiny little apartment.

The goal is to make our home feel like just that... home. Because before now it's really just felt like the place where we keep our stuff. I've never really decorated or fully unpacked.... We've lived here for 7 months. Shame on me!

However, the main focus of this post is really supposed to be on my cuddly baby, Gabe.

Trust me when I say that this kid doesn't want for anything. He is absolutely spoiled rotten (as is his older brother!). However, I felt that he needed something made just for him by his Momma.

Personally, one of the things that I feel like a 3 month old can never have enough of is blankets! Actually, I don't think you can have enough blankets at any age. I love them. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm actually kind of scared to see how many we'll collect by the time the boys are in high school...

But I'm sure I'll be mighty happy with blankets filling our closets! And we'll never be cold, always a plus.

I wanted something bright. A fun pattern with some neutral grey and a pop of color. Being super soft is a definite must.

Green, black, grey, white... Perfect for my boy!

Normally I don't go to Hobby Lobby for fabric... the day I desperately wanted to get started, though, was drizzly and gross outside; Hobby Lobby is our closest option. I much prefer to have a broader selection of fabrics, but I'm so happy to have landed on this beautiful print!

I used the Faux Chenille Blanket Tutorial by Dana over at made. Her tutorials are so wonderful.... Beautiful pictures. Perfectly worded instructions. Great ideas. I'm envious, that's for sure.

I absolutely adore those super soft stripes. The best part is that they will only continue to get softer the more my boys love on this blanket. I really love the feeling of fulfillment after finishing a project... it makes me so incredibly happy.

 

Little Mister just loves it! Which is good because he's about to spend a lot of tummy time on this blanket... when are you going to learn to roll over, kid?

I am looking forward to the day I look around my home and see it filled with things made by my own hands. Thankfully, that day is coming soon. I can feel it!