Pardon my absence

I have been a bit busy this week and have not been on here.

This is what I have been up to however.

I have been trying to figure out what is wrong with my foot for about 2 weeks now. After an x-ray, MRI and a visit to the podiatrist, this is what fancy shoe I will be sporting for the next 6 weeks.

Turns out I have 2 stress fractures in my foot. No running or high impact activities - just weights. I now have a couple of extra free hours in the day, maybe I can get some crafting done!

The magic of kids

Okay, I don't know about all of you but I am having a hard time getting back into the swing of things here. I am loving having the kids back in school, but I cannot seem to craft. I have two projects just waiting for me to finish them, and they will continue to wait because I just don't want to work on them.

It is a sad day around here.

I am getting together with some friends this week, I hope that it sparks something into me!

On an up side I am really enjoying my kitchen staying clean for longer than 5 minutes. Here it is in all of it's glory.

But when my dearly loved children come through the door it quickly transforms into something more like this:

I am amazed at how fast this happens. To be fair though, some of the stuff on the counter is from me - but just some, not the majority. ;)

I hope that all of you are having a fabulous day, and that you are able to get something done. I am going to try and sew something and see what I feel.

Antiqued Bed

Do you ever have those projects that seem to never get done. Or I guess that just take forever to get that last step completed? I sure do. And this bed is a great example of that. (sorry for the washed out look - the sun was super bright through the window!)

I had it all done about 3 months ago, and then it just sat in Thing #2's room. Waiting to be put together.

This weekend it finally happened and she could not be happier. She is now off her mattress on the floor and on a real bed.

If you remember the bed started out just wood color with a slight varnish. I sanded it and then painted it. I really do not have space to do this, so I was at the mercy of one of my friends. After a few weeks I got it done and brought it home.

By this time it was summer and so I had it on the back patio and there I sanded it and applied a light varnish to give it that 'old' look as my kids like to call it.

I really love how it turned out. When we put it together we decided to flip the headboard and foot board so that she would have lots of space underneath to store things. Now to find some cute little boxes to use under there.

One end of the bed I painted with chalkboard paint and she loves that she can draw on it whenever. I think I am going to get one of those little tin pails for her to keep chalk and eraser in. Then I can just hang it on the corner.

And here it is all made - probably the only time it will look this nice unless I make her bed for her! But she was so excited that she finally got her bed together and can sleep on it!

And for those of you who care this project only cost me $15! Not too shabby right?
bed $5
paint $5
extra wood for support $5
Other supplies borrowed from friends, or had on hand.

End of Summer

I cannot believe that summer is quickly drawing to a close. I have no crafts or sewing projects to share with you, so I am sharing a little insight into my life and what I have been doing this summer instead of crafting. I have had so much fun this summer. But now it is just about over and we are getting everything ready for school. We have tried to do a lot of different things - but of course the pool was by far the favorite activity of the summer. Not that I expected anything else.

Look at how much fun these kids were having. They were all nice enough to stand there for me to take a picture - and no one tired to push anyone in for this shot! No all of these are not my kids, these were a lot of the same people that we hung out with this summer.

By far my favorite activity this summer was going on hikes with my kids. We only did this a couple of times, but I would have loved to do it every week. Even Thing #5 hiked almost every one - which was great, even if it was a little bit slow! :)

I just had to share this picture. Thing #5 is so tan - you cannot really tell by this picture, but he is darker than all of my kids, and he is the one I am most diligent with the sunscreen on! You can even see a vague sandal tan. You can really see the Hispanic side coming out.

To me this picture says everything about summer, bare foot tan feet, out in the grass. Not a care in the world. And that is what my summer has pretty much been all about, relaxing and enjoying each and every minute with my kids.

What was your favorite thing you did for summer break? And are you ready to get back into school ?

3 ingredient Lemon cookies

I waste a lot of time on Pinterest. It is full of so many great ideas and quotes. I found the recipe for these cookies on there and love that they only have 3 ingredients - if you don't count the powdered sugar for dusting. And I love just about anything lemon, so they were perfect.

I made them for a party we had and they were so easy and quick. Thing #2 actually did most of the work, I just supervised. I' m good that way.

The recipe comes from TidyMom and here it is.

1 box Lemon Cake Mix*
1- 8 oz container Cool Whip
1 egg
1/3 cup powdered sugar (for rolling)

• Preheat oven to 350°
• In medium bowl, beat cool whip, egg and cake mix until well blended. Dough will be thick and sticky.
• Drop by teaspoonfuls into a bowl of powdered sugar and roll to coat.
• Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 10- 12  minutes.

Let cool and enjoy! The kids were excited that I made cookies, because it has been so hot here I have not really cooked anything - including dinner. So they were excited that they got something cooked!

This is our last week before school starts - we are trying to squeeze every last drop of summer out of it! I hope you are enjoying the summer before it is gone!

Sand and Surf Quilt done!

Here is the quilt I was telling you about yesterday. Yesterday was a beautiful day here, slightly overcast, perfect for taking pictures outside! And it cooled down! I finally have this quilt done! I love how it turned out, and that it is big!

When I was making this I had to sew it twice because I did not follow the instructions correctly, and did not match the fabrics correctly. Can you say pain?!

I have mentioned before that I am trying not to buy any fabric, just use up what I have in my stash, and so I have had this fabric for a long time. The down side to that is that I did not think about the binding. So I tried my hardest to get something that would match from Joann's. It is not my favorite, but it works.

I just love the beachy feeling this quilt has. If only I lived by a beach - I guess we could take it to the lake.

Here it is in all its glory.

I am not sure why I am showing you this, but this is what the finished huge squares look like. For some reason I took a picture of the one that I used the same fabric around 3 of the center squares. But I was out of options and patience - so I just did it. You probably would not have noticed had I not said anything, right? Me and my mouth.

Hope that everyone is having a great time as summer wraps up. One of my kids starts school next week, and I am just looking forward to a more steady routine! But I have a ton to do to get ready . . .

Taking care of business

I want to apologize to all of you that there was no Fantastic Friday last week. We went out of town one last time before school starts - which is next week for us - and there was internet reception, but it was slow.

Slow internet + Jen on vacation = no Fantastic Friday.

I basically just enjoyed some quality time with my family and it was super laid back and nice - except when I got sick.

Also I have decided that I am not going to do Fantastic Friday anymore. There are a bunch of reasons behind this, the top tow are that no one is really clicking on the links and giving you any traffic, I don't make any money on this blog and I cannot afford to spend any extra money on linky tools.

Those are the main reasons, but I also feel like I need to be spending more time with my family and less on my blog. I know there are those of you out there who are able to 'do it all' but I am not one of those. I need to enjoy my kids while they are young and want to spend time with me.

I will still be posting about my sewing and craft projects, but I might not be on here all the time. I appreciate your understanding here, and I do have a beautiful quilt to show you hopefully tomorrow!