Here in Indiana

We are settling in... you can see the garage floor, meaning that we have cleared a lot of boxes out of the garage. I am learning my way around Evansville. I was happy to discover that we have a Joann Fabrics, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and a Hancock Fabric. I also found out about a sewing guild that meets 1-2 times a month. I will be attending their next event. Our neighbors are super friendly and both work in school administration so we have had a lot to talk about.


Family has been asking for photos of the new house. No rooms are complete, but I will share a few of my favorite spots... (No rooms will be complete for some time... this is a work in progress)



We've been spending a lot of time outside in the huge (for us anyway) yard.



I don't know who is more excited about having a climbing tree... it might be me.


The kids were promised a trampoline as soon as we had a yard large enough for it. This bribe wasn't my doing!


This is my favorite spot. The living room is a rectangle, it's a little hard to arrange the furniture, so the couch is a tad close to the fireplace. I think we'll have to move it when we have a fire this winter. I have my shell project on display as well as some other treasures we picked up at the beach.




This is the 'bar' in the basement, the kids craft supply area. I love having the supplies all in one place and out of the way, but easily accessible. Across from the cabinets is a bar where the kids can do art projects. I can supervise and pass through supplies as well as clean up in the little sink here.





Here is a cubby shelf in my sewing room. I love having all of my cotton fabrics out available and organized. My fleece, felt, scraps, satin, etc are on the opposite wall. They are in tubs on shelves. My pile of projects in process are on top. There is a skirt up there that I can't wait to get to.




Here is the kids favorite spot. They have been playing restaurant and grocery store for hours. It's just around the corner from my sewing room, so that has been convenient.

In other news, June Bug (new name) is using the litterbox now 75% of the time. Things are looking up for her!

recycled magazine beads

Here's a fun 'green' project. This has summer camp written all over it and I think that's the first time I remember making these magazine bead necklaces. They are super simple to make and can be made with different sized holes based on what you wrap them around (a tooth pick for little holes, best for big kids and thin string, a pencil for big holes, best for little kids). Just cut slips of paper, rectangle or long skinny triangles. Make the width of the shape the width of the bead. Cut them a few inches long. Roll the paper slip (starting at the widest edge) around something round (toothpick, rod, straw, pencil, etc) and then use a little elmers glue or modge podge to seal the last inch or two and you are all set. Slide the bead off the pencil and let it dry. When you have a bunch, you are ready to start stringing. These photos are from our friends birthday party. They used this as a craft for the kiddos to make.

I like how our friend used hemp string, which comes in varying thicknesses and is nice and stiff. the end doesn't fray either when little fingers are jabbing it into the bead. Also, she tied round beads onto the ends so that kids could add their paper beads without worrying about them slipping off the other end.

It's too late

It's too late... I let him taste pop. I don't normally drink pop or keep any in the house, but I picked up some root beer to make ice cream floats. I made the mistake of letting Lou taste some of the root beer. This screaming episode is what followed when I wouldn't let him have more. He spent 30 minutes camped out in front of the fridge.

He is holding a blue cup that he got out of a box himself. He's crying, "pop- I need pop." He pulled up a chair to help reach the handle and to be prepared to wait it out.

I know, it wasn't very sensitive of me to take photos when he was so upset, but I thought it was so funny. He even banged his cup back and forth across the handle like a prisoner in a movie would bang his cup across the bars. I did not give in, and I will remember not to let him know about any future pop.

shell project #2

Our new living room is getting the same beach treatment that we had in FL plus a few little new additions. I shared this first shell project (which has a new home on my mantel) a few days ago. Here's project number two, a little shell nightlight. I saw this one on Martha Stewart's website and knew we had a great selection of shells to choose from. It went together in just a few minutes and looks really nice.


I tried a few different shells but decided on the sand dollar.
I needed to build out the light a bit so that the sand dollar didn't rest directly on the bulb. I found a little piece of thick craft foam paper and hot glued it on. Then I covered that in white ribbon since it was lime green.

Then I just found the nicest positioning for the sand dollar and glued that on too.

It lights up the hall really well, important since two little people keeping finding their way to our room in the middle of the night.

welcome Roses Scratches

Bee was promised a kitten once we got settled in our new home. Nothing says good parenting like a little bribery! Really, the intended purpose was for the kitten to act as a diversion, helping her not to miss friends in FL. I am not sure that I would say we are settled, but we did go to an adopt-a-thon for the local animal shelter Saturday and found our kitten. We knew that we wanted a female and hubby and I really thought it would be nice to find a tortoise shell like we had when we were first married. She is cute and is currently going by the name Roses Scratches. We aren't saying it's official, since it's an awful name, but it's what the kids have come up with. She and our boy cat, Ellis, are still feeling things out, but I think we'll be fine.

It should also be noted that Bee has spent a good deal of time in time out since Saturday for locking the kitten in her room, holding the kitten after we told her that she HAD to put the cat down because she surely has to potty at some point, and for chasing the scared kitten. Oddly enough, she seems to be the only one of us who has gotten scratched.

EDITED TO ADD: If you know of any tips to getting Miss Scratches to use her litter box, I would appreciate it. I have had several cats and never had an issue with them not knowing how to use the litter box.... ARR.... Nothing says fun like tracking down the smell of poo.

shirt to a shirt

I have made Bee two 'shirt to a dress' dresses and I decided it was my turn. Hubby had this great linen like flowy work shirt that he never wore. Yeah for me.

Kids were sleeping in my room so my normal tracing of an existing shirt didn't so much work. I just eyeballed it. I cut the shape, added elastic in the sleeves and collar and scrapped together enough fabric from the sleeves to make a belt.

If I would have traced one of my current tanks, I probably wouldn't have needed the belt, but I really like the look of it. I had been saving this shirt to make myslef a flowy linen like skirt, but I like what I ended up with.

Lou took this picture... he's 2. Here we are right before the move.

cheat sheet

I mentioned that I had created a cheat sheet for my favorite recipes and I finally got hubby to make it into a file that I can share. However, I can't figure out now what to do with the file. I ended up laminating mine back to back (it's 4 pages) and then hole punched them and store them on the fridge. When I made out this weeks grocery list, I went to my cheat sheets, decided what we were going to have this week, marked them with a dry erase marker and made the grocery list. Like I mentioned in the original post, this is just my list of meals I make a lot for our family. I know the methods, I just need to check ingredients and maybe cooking times. I saw this idea on one of the blogs I used to read before I started blogging. I didn't pay attention to where ideas came from I just jotted them down in a notebook. I can't give credit where credit is due. If you have seen this too and know who I can thank for the great idea, let me know.

We are here...

We are here in our new town. The moving truck is gone, the garage is full of boxes. Hubby and I worked to get the necessary boxes (marked with red tags to show that they needed to come right inside to be unpacked first) unpacked. It is important for all of us that we not tumble over boxes and live randomly out of boxes for the next few weeks since we have been doing that for a few weeks already. The kids stress level seems to be down already.

We are not sure if the house we are living in right now is the one we are going to buy or if we should go elsewhere. We had friends in FL with an empty house in our new town (coincidence?) and they are kindly letting us stay here. Their house is growing on us like crazy! There are lots of opportunities for projects. In fact, everywhere I look there is a project to be done (and something that needs cleaned). My dad is coming Friday today to take a look around and tell us what he thinks. The yard is fantastic and the neighborhood is great. It has all the room we need and a great sewing room! The kitchen is tiny, but the stove heats quickly and bakes so evenly. It's begging for some homemade bread and I think it will get it this afternoon.


This morning we are headed out to find a library since most of our books are in boxes in the garage. We are also going out to a you pick vegetable place to see what they have. We are arriving at a fun time for gardening... the picking!

Unrelated photo really, but it makes me happier than the garage full of boxes.