A new obsession

I've officially become addicted to making stuff out of upcycled (the new trendy word for repurposed, which WAS the new trendy word for recycled or reused) stuff. A thrift store on Saturday was having a 25 cent sale on all blue tagged clothing items. What looks like a dress or jacket to you is fabric to me, so naturally I left with bags and bags of clothing. Tomorrow I will start on a new project for - MYSELF! It's a rare thing for me to make something and not sell it or give it as a gift, but this will be all mine. I hope it turns out well - if it does I will post results here!

Hot for hotwheels!

I have this vision of being some fabulous artist...not of the paint and paper sort, but of fabric. I love to create unique items especially if I can use upcycled materials. I found this hotwheels sheet years ago at a thrift store and could see the possibilities - a quilt for a nephew maybe? But when I came across this free pattern for a toddler backpack on indietutes I just had to use the hotwheels fabric to make one. This pattern was very simple to do and I love that it has no zippers! There's and easy open overlapped flap that will be so easy for Levi to put things in and out. It didn't call for lining it, but I did anyway which wasn't too hard. Next time I think I will use a thinner interfacing as it was really hard to press nice clean lines using the heavier kind. This designer was particularly generous as she allows you to sell these as well. I'm thinking you may see a few more of these at the farmers markets and in my Etsy shop!

Mare's eat oats and does eat oats...so should you!

All through the night and early morning I felt sure our house was going to be blown to bits. Rain and wind pelted the windows. It was a perfect morning for a steamy bowl of oatmeal, making me especially grateful for oatmeal today! I never used to like oatmeal. It was mushy and gross! Then I discovered Steel cut oats. If you've never seen steel cut oats, they are pictured above. Steel cut oats are actually the whole oat groat cut into 3 or four pieces. They look similar to a cut rice. Popular brands are McCann's and Bob's Red mill. Sometimes it is called Irish or Scottish oatmeal. I find mine in the bulk section of my grocery store. Chewy with a nutty flavor, this oatmeal is absolutely delicious! They take a little longer to cook, but you can make them the night before with this cool recipe!

Crock Pot Oatmeal

1 cup steel cut oats
4 cups water (I use 3 cups if I'm cooking stove top)
1/2 cup half and half or milk
1 cup dried or fresh fruit of choice (fresh fruit will make the oatmeal thinner)
1 - tbsp butter
1/2 - 1 tsp Cinnamon
Milk/cream and brown sugar (or honey) to taste
Pecans (optional)

Find a 1.5 quart bowl that will fit completely in your crockpot. Mix oatmeal (you can toast them first for a nuttier flavor and other ingredients in the bowl. fill crockpot with about 1/3 of the way with water, put in bowl add enough water in the crockpot so it is the same height as the oatmeal in the bowl. Cook overnight on low. Serve with milk and brown sugar to taste. Top with pecans if desired.

STOVETOP - combine all ingredients in 2 quart saucepan. If you are using fresh fruit wait to add it. Cover and bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer for 15 minutes and add fresh fruit, bring to a boil again, reduce heat, cover and simmer 10 more minutes. Serve with milk, sugar and nuts if desired.

Curl up by the fire on a blustery fall morning with a hot steamy bowl!

Fresh Starts

Yesterday I was sustained as the young women's president at church. For those of you who aren't familiar with the LDS church, that means that I lead, along with my counselors, the girls ages 12-18 in general with a focus on girls 16-18. Previously I was in the presidency as 2nd counselor over the 12 and 13 year olds (Morgan's group).

Working with these girls has always been fulfilling for me and I have always tried to give 110% to everything I do there. The previous presidency I was in all served these girls faithfully, but in the months prior to this new position the previous president and I knew there would be a change coming and found it so difficult to keep the momentum going, not knowing when we were going to be released and for me, if I was even going to remain in Young Women's at all. By the time I was called I was ready for the change. Though I will deeply miss Maureen who became one of my closest friends and confidants, I know that this is what Heavenly Father wants me to do and appreciate the women who where called to serve with me.

After months of so-so effort, I'm grateful for this fresh start. A chance to renew my motivation and to serve these girls again to the best of my ability.

The Whisperer

Anyone who knows Morgan would think that the title "The Whisperer" was definitely not intended for her. She takes after her mother and is a loud one! She has been since birth!

I titled this "The Whisperer" because of Morgan's uncanny sixth sense when it comes to animals. ANY animal. We raised goats, chickens, pigs, ducks and rabbits on our farm - that's not counting the two dogs and three cats! Morgan would come to me and say, "Mom, Capella's sick." I would go and check her out, take a temp and conclude that there was nothing wrong. Within a matter of days that goat (or whatever animal it was) would be sick. I learned to trust her. She could notice a case of hoof rot coming on long before I did and we could treat it early.

Animals have loved Morgan and she them from the very beginning of her young life. When she was about 12 months we had walked to the grocery store near our house. Morgan was sitting in her stroller and this HUGE black dog came right up and started licking her face. I expected a frightened scream, but instead got huge squeals of delight! Teaching her that all animals were not safe and how to approach them became of huge importance. Still, she sought them out whenever she could. When she was 3 Les took the kids trick or treating and at every door she said, "Do you have a dog? Do you have a cat? Can I pet it?" It think the pets were far more important than the candy!

It was natural for Morgan to participate in dog and later horse 4-H. Currently she belongs to a horse 4-H group and rides a huge horse named Doc. Doc is borrowed from our generous friend Denise who mentors Morgan in Horsemanship. Though currently Morgan has lost some riding confidence from a few bad throws, she still is able to control a horse on the ground without the aid of a lead rope, which her trainer says is a rare gift.

Morgan is developing a pretty voice and recently got a lead role in her musical drama production at school. It has taken her awhile to try to work on this gift since she knows it's my "thing" and what 12 year old girl wants to be like her mom? I'm proud of her for finally acknowledging her talent!

Morgan's biggest struggle is having a severe learning disability in which she cannot retain information she has read. All her books need to be read aloud or on audio versions with her following along for her to retain information of more than a paragraph and math is a huge thorn in her side. Through supportive family and great teachers in her home school program she is learning how to adapt her studies to best suit her specific needs. While she often has bad days she tries hard to be positive. We are so proud of her!

Morgan is helpful and organized. I think this is in part because of her learning disability requiring things to be in their place. Sometimes her room gets a little messy, but she is quick to pick it up as she prefers a non cluttered environment and also likes it that way so she can hang out with her friends in there. If I want anything organized I nearly always give her the assignment because she does the best job!

Though she may play shy and quiet initially, Morgan is a social butterfly and is lucky enough to have 3 of her 4 friends from church in the same home school program as she is in. They are thick as thieves and fun to be around. They will be a great support to her as she enters public school as a freshman in a couple of years.

Morgan is fun to have around and I'm grateful to call her my daughter!

The Funny Man

"Laughter is an instant vacation." ~Milton Berle

Today I'm expressing my thanks for my youngest son, Kipp.

If I could pick just one thing I love about Kipp, it's his laugh. Not just the little chuckley one, but the big belly laughs only reserved for tickling, silly animal you tubes and slapstick comedy.

As part of our sabbath day observance we initially said no TV with the exception of a few select family movies. When we discovered that ABC is leaking through our cable internet hook up (we haven't had cable TV for years) we started watching "Extreme Makeover, Home Edition". Then Kipp discovered that "America's Funniest Videos" was on before it and we agreed he could watch that too. It is totally worth it to hear him laugh. Hopefully Santa will bring us a DVD recorder and I will secretly record it someday and post it here.

Not only is his laugh great, but he's funny too! He has a memory like a vault and can quote movie lines verbatim after one viewing. He loves to quote them and use the voices too. That really helped him in auditioning for the part of Tweedle-dum in the play Alice in Wonderland. He got the part and already had the lines memorized. It's the perfect part for him, totally corny! If anyone in the family is going to make us laugh, it's Kipp. He takes after his Dad that way. (Don't tell him that!)

Along with his laugh and sense of humor are his big brown eyes with those long lashes. It's not so much that they're gorgeous, but that they conceal nothing. Every feeling, every mood is expressed through those eyes. I can tell when he is happy, ill, tired, mad, sad and unfortunately for him, when he's fibbing! Poor kid, he'll never take up poker...and thank goodness for that!

When motivated by money or privileges Kipp is our number one worker. He really loves to be praised for his hard work too. We have found him to be the best salesman of all our kids at shows and the first to volunteer to do a something that needs to be done for the business. This spring the kids wanted to earn money for vacation and we told them if they pulled up t-posts from our property they could keep all the money they got from selling them. Kipp alone pulled 30 of the 60 + posts - and that was by hand in clay soil, with no puller!

Kipp is in Archery 4-H and is getting better and better at shooting his 40 pound compound bow. He hopes one day to be able to hunt with it. He also played soccer for the first time this year and enjoyed it so much he wants to play indoor too so he can play all year round. This summer he cleared a rough field behind our house and mowed it down to play soccer and to set up his archery target, like I said, he can be such a hard worker!

Kipp turns 11 next month and I'm so grateful our funny man is a part of our family!

Stay Beautiful

"Corey's eyes are like a jungle; He smiles, it's like the radio..." (Taylor Swift, "Stay Beautiful") This is what a few teenage girls I know sing about Corey.

In the tradition of my posting a thankful post everyday I thought I would post a few about my children, starting with my oldest, Corey. And yeah, I'm totally going to brag!

It's fitting to start with Corey not only because he's the oldest, but also because he's entering another big phase of his life...driving! Yesterday he got his learners permit and let me tell you, there should be an instruction manual complete with instructions on how to get your affairs in order for parents of teens with a learners permit! - But that's a post for another day.

I can't believe he is 15 already. I remember most vividly the day he was born and how Les and I sat up in the hospital into the wee hours of the morning cuddled together on the bed just staring at him in total wonder of this little miracle. We kept saying, "We made this! Wow!"

I'm proud to say that Corey has always been a very easy going, good kid from the very start. I'm knocking wood right now as I say that...but truly I have all the confidence in the world that he will stay on the straight and narrow, because he knows exactly who he is and what is expected of him. He rarely gets angry and generally makes the best out of every situation.

Corey loves to play sports, but is not overly competitive. He usually plays a sport every season, but ditched out on basketball this year in favor of drivers ed. This year he placed 4th on his team at districts in cross country and I'm sure we will see great things in soccer this spring as well.

Corey has an amazing ability to be liked by everyone. I'm thankful to say that he is best friends with some of the greatest boys whom I genuinely like to have around the house. They drive all over the place going to different church dances and activities. It seems like if there's a dance within 75 miles they will find it and be there!

Corey is beginning to overcome his greatest challenge in his young life, a severe stutter. Since his very early days of speech he has stuttered, often repeating phrases, sounds or words 10 times or so. He's rarely expressed being upset by it, it's been almost like he had an accent or something to him, just a part of him people would have to accept - "I have brown hair, brown eyes, and I stutter". While Les and I were glad for his confidence, it has required patience on a grand scale for two busy parents to listen to what he had to say without interrupting or finishing his sentence. It was often painful to watch him struggle and we knew there were so many challenges he would have to face; job interviews, dating, serving a mission.... We are so proud to say that his stuttering has vastly improved, so much so he doesn't even go to speech anymore.

His optimistic and loving personality have been such a blessing in our home. When asked to do something it isn't often we hear, "but I did that last time" or "In a minute". The worst we ever get is a disappointed "Oh, Ok" which we count as pretty good for a teenager!

I'm grateful to Corey for setting such a good example for his siblings, parents and all those around him.

Stay beautiful son, I love you!