What would you do with Gingerbread?

Today is the second Wednesday of the month so Aubrey and I have our link up for what would you do!

We made our annual pepparkaka hus (gingerbread house) using a set from IKEA and leftover candy from Halloween!  A few days after Halloween I went through the candy bucket and pulled out anything I thought would be good for our ginger bread house.  I wanted to buy some peppermint sticks to use also, but we didn't get around to it.  Oh well!

Adam doesn't like to waste frosting.  So he made it snow at our house!  Hahaha!!

Then I wanted to make my "clean" pumpkin bread into gingerbread.  This was not super successful.  Oh it's totally yummy, just not very gingerbread tasting.  More like really rich spice cake.  I swapped the pumpkin for applesauce, the honey for molasses and the spices for ginger and a little pumpkin pie spice.  And I still put in chocolate chips!  Any ideas for making it taste more like gingerbread???

Next month we're rocking chic winter fashion by styling our yoga pants or basic black leggings.  Join us!!

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What "work from home mom" looks like to me

Just doing some Saturday night sewing while Adam wrestles the kids in their bedrooms right by my desk.

How much work do you have to do to be a work from home mom?  Am I even allowed to write this post?  Well, I'm going to anyway.  Truth is I make about 4-10 baby/toddler clothing items a week.  Which is way more than I thought I would be capable of in the beginning!  But it looks like we do get faster at things the more times we do them, go figure.

So I thought it would be fun to document my day.  Because people act like it's so hard to do this, but it's really not so hard.  And that makes me think maybe I'm doing it wrong???  You tell me.

Between 6-7am Olivia comes in my room (writing this at 7:15 on a Friday morning and no sign of her!  This is going to be a good day) and we snuggle and watch netflix until I get up the will to live shower.  I shower and she keeps watching what she's watching.  This week it's Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, but only the Donald Duck part!

After I shower and dress (I only wash my hair on Sunday and Wednesday) we're downstairs for breakfast.  Olivia eats "plain oatmeal" (raw oatmeal with milk and brown sugar) and I make a pot of cooked oatmeal for Axel, and maybe me depending on how much he wants to eat.  I drink two glasses of water before I eat anything (but that belongs in my diet post, not my work post.  Sorry) I also unload the dishwasher from the night before so that my dirty dishes have somewhere to go.  This system is my favorite.

Axel gets up around 8 if it's a preschool day.  I get the feeling he doesn't enjoy this.  If left alone he'll sleep until 9 sometimes (He did today!).  He eats, Olivia gets dressed for school and we're out the door by 8:55 (and even then sometimes we're early.)

Now I have two free hours with the worlds easiest one-year-old.  So I lock the baby gate and he plays while I sew (my work station is in the hallway right next to the two kid bedrooms so we're all sort of in the same space but still separate enough to not bug each other)  Yesterday I had no orders (except for five orders, but no sweatshirt fleece yet, thanks to the longest wait ever from fabric.com!) so it was just me and Axel time.  We read all of his books and snuggled.  When I do sew I keep his pants next to me, and if he comes over to pull out the fabric scraps from my serger, I ask "are you ready to get dressed?" and he runs away to play. 

After preschool is lunch time.  yep.

After lunch we play for a little bit or watch a little show.  Axel takes a nap at 1.  Olivia only gets 1 1/2 hours of quiet time, so we have alone time before or after quiet time, just depends.  Yesterday we played play doh for an hour and then she had quiet time and fell asleep.  During this time I either sew or cut.  I love to cut while watching TV, it's my favorite.

When the kids are up, we hang out together, wait for dad to come home OR we have a babysitter and I do more work, like run to the post office or draft a new pattern.  Then around 4:30 or 5, Olivia and I cook dinner while Adam tries to keep Axel from screaming.  He never eats dinner, but if he's not throwing food on the floor by 5 or 5:30 watch out!

We eat dinner and then one parent takes the kids to play or bathe and the other cleans the kitchen.  Usually I do the kitchen because I need a break from kids.  After that I put Olivia to bed and Adam takes Axel.  Always.  Olivia and I like to read for 30 minutes or so.  We just finished the Kirsten American Girl books.

And then I work some more.  I sew if I need to sew, but usually I cut out a lot of stuff while we watch TV together.  If I can get everything cut out at night sewing is so much easier during the day.  I go to bed at like 10pm. 

Somedays, if I have no orders or I just need it, I announce it's a no work day.  And then all the times I wrote about working, I usually do some cleaning.  My house may not be perfect, but I really need some order.  Downstairs is always 10 (kid free) minutes away from being spotless, even if that means hiding all the clutter in the stair well.

And if things get overwhelming, Adam takes the kids for few hours on Saturday and that's usually all I need to catch up.  It will be interesting to see how I handle things as my business grows.

I don't feel guilty working while my children play in the next room over, because I worked full time when Olivia was a baby so I know what a privileged it is just to be near them.  I still change the poopy diapers and I can always stop what I'm doing to give a hug and kiss the owie.  I think for now, it's the perfect set up. 

What Would You Do. . . with cranberries??

Once a month, Aubrey and I come together to ask, What would you do with. . . and then we Aubrey comes up with something awesome and we each do a recipe, a craft or a shopping trip!  96% of the time, we don't know what each other is doing until we read our posts!

Every now and then I come up with a pretty good idea, and this month I picked cranberries!  I lurve cranberries.  The tartness and the color make it perfect for the holiday season!

I'm not going to lie, I'm cheating a little bit with this post.  Not really doing anything new and I'm only telling you what I have done since business is booming and I'm a busy mama.

First, if you haven't done it before, you GOTTA try making your own cranberry sauce.  One year my brother made it from scratch instead of using a can and it's so good and so easy, I'll never go back. Click here for the recipe.

Second, cranberry salsa.  My aunt makes this all the time for our holiday parties and I LOVE it. 

1-12 oz pkg fresh cranberries
1/2 c sugar (or less)
1 medium jalapeno (be careful!  This is sometimes too hot for me, depending on the heat of that particular jalapeno, so maybe start with less if you're sensitive to heat)
1 green onion
1-2 T fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp cumin
Put all ingredients into a food processor.  Process until mixture is coarsly chopped.  Store in fridge over night to blend.  Serve with cracker and cream cheese if desired.

I don't even like serving it with cream cheese (crazy because I love cream cheese!) because its just so fresh on its own.  Thanks to my aunt Linda for giving me this recipe.  What I love about it is the tangy flavor, it feels healthy and fresh (don't you just crave healthy and fresh after eggnog and like five brownies?) and its red and green.  Hello?  Christmas.

Next month, we're doing GINGERBREAD!!!!!  And I'm so excited because I have a really fun idea for it.  Join us.  Do a craft or recipe, write it up and link it up!  We love company.  ;)  

In the mean time, if you have a cranberry post to share with us, link it up baby!

An InLinkz Link-up

Five Little Confessions: The Holidays

Once a month Aubrey, Carrie, Jacquelyn and I team up to bring you the 5 Little Confessions link up!  You can confess anything your little heart desires.  And link up!

1. I love Halloween, until I don't.  That's usually a few days before Halloween (not very convenient!) but this year it was right about perfect.  And I think it's because Halloween landed on a Friday.  When it falls on a Monday or Tuesday we celebrate the weekend before so I feel like it should be over, but it just. Keeps. Going.  Glad it's over now ;)

2. Every afternoon nap time and at bed time I pick out four or five mini candy bars and eat them.  I haven't gained any weight, but I haven't lost any either.  I've got to knock it out pronto!

3. I love Thanksgiving, but I don't love the gratitude posts on social media.  Gratitude belongs to the person who gave it to you.  You're thankful for your husband?  Say a prayer and tell your husband.  Write it in a journal.  Otherwise it feels like bragging to me.  And I think some things we're grateful for can really hurt others who don't have those things.  It just makes the comparison problem of social media easier to get sucked into.

4. Not only am I listening to Christmas music, but Olivia is watching The Year Without a Santa Claus right now!  I'm actually impressed that she remembered it from last year and started begging me to watch it.

5. Adam keeps begging me to get a new Christmas tree.  I don't know why!  Ours is small (5 foot, $20 special from Wal Mart like 6 years ago) but our space is small too, so it fits.  I don't think it's the size that makes a tree, but the beauty of it. 

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Living my dream

When I was 6 or 7 my friend's grandma gave each of us a large box of fabric.  I don't remember if I loved fabric before that (who can remember that far back!?!) but I know that I loved using that box of fabric to make . . . oh gee, lots of things.  I don't know if you can really name what I made.  Maybe crap?  Ha!  I wasn't allowed to use a sewing needle (At least not at my friends house, my mom probably would have let me) so we stapled a lot of fabric together to make clothes for our toys.

I got a child's sewing machine when I was 8 (guessing).  It was broken half the time and I really needed something better.  I dropped out of dance classes to take sewing classes when I was 9 and then for my 10th birthday I got my very own sewing machine!  It's the one I still use today (well, as soon as I get it tuned up, I'll be using it again!).

I've done a lot of "crafting" (hate that word, I'm an ARTIST, not a crafter) Crochet, knitting, needle point, etc etc.  But I feel like I always go back to sewing.  I majored in Family and Consumer Science (the new name for Home Ec) I took a lot of cooking, interior design and sewing.  Funny thing, I didn't take pattern making because the class intimated me too much.  And now I make my own patterns for every piece in my shop!  If I could go back in time. . .

All this to say, sometimes I feel like a fraud.  Like who am I to try and make a mark in the baby/toddler clothing world?  But when I look back at my story, I almost wonder if I ever had a choice? 

What is my goal?  I would love to make 2-3 sales a week.  I don't know if I can handle more than that, but that is a bridge we'll cross when we get there!  And sometimes I wonder if I should just make these clothes for my own kids and would that be enough?  But I think, no.  It wouldn't.  I'm just living on this high I get from sharing my looks with the world (or the small section of the world I share with on instagram!)

What is your life dream?  That hobby you just can't get away from?

*All sweatshirts in this post were designed and sewn by me and are available for purchase here. 

Food Friday: Homemade Apple Sauce

The food of September is the apple.  And that's when I made this.  I just didn't get around to posting it until now.  Oops!

This is such a simple recipe, so it's fun to get your kids in on the action, especially if they're any good at peeling apples.  Olivia isn't, but that didn't stop her from giving it the ole college try.

We peeled and cored 10 apples and then I just kind of took it from there, with a giant scoop of creamy honey, lots of cinnamon and a couple glugs of my imitation vanilla (I know, I know, my argument is that I don't really bake and I'm not that picky!) Cooked that sucker in my crockpot for 4 hours on high and then mashed it with a potato masher.

It was SO yummy, but not very pretty. Okay FINE, yes I really just forgot to take a picture. But it still wasn't pretty, so you're not missing out.

(Hey!  I've been working on uploading all of my iPad pictures to my picasa web album and check out the gif they made with these pictures.  Equal parts creepy and cool that they do that with out me telling them too. . . )

Food Friday: Clean Pumpkin Bread

Last weekend was LDS General Conference, which means that all around the world, moms and dads are making yummier than usual breakfasts for their families.  (I've always suspected this, but instagram confirms.)  We're also listening to the prophet and apostles teach us about the doctrines of Christ.  Good food just goes great with church on TV (and pajamas if you weren't raised by my father, who insisted we get dressed to help us better pay attention)

Well, I'm ashamed to say I've never really been one of those people.  I just don't like baking!  Pancakes are even more work than I want to do on a regular basis.  But dang it if those instagram photos didn't get to me, and so in between sessions of conference (we watch four 2 hour sessions of conference spread out on Saturday and Sunday) I whipped up a batch of pumpkin bread.

I'm pretty much in love with the clean banana bread recipe I use, and I couldn't find any pumpkin bread recipes that I liked, so I just swapped out a few ingredients and replaced them with what I wanted.  I did pumpkin instead of bananas and applesauce.  I did 1/2 c honey instead of my usual 1/4 c, since the bananas and applesauce usually add to the sweetness and I took them out.  And instead of the 1T of cinnamon (which I'm always a little hesitant to add that much of, since it covers up the banana flavor) I did 1t each of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger.  (OR you could do like 1 1/2 Tbs of pumpkin pie spice) I really liked the amount of spice in this bread, but I like a lot of flavor.  Adjust to your own liking :)

I usually make my banana bread in a blender, but this dough turned out thicker, my guess is because of the liquid level in the bananas and applesauce vs pumpkin.  Who knows.  So maybe just make this in a bowl if you try it.

Ingredients:
1 15oz can of pumpkin
1 egg
1/2 c honey
1/4 c oil
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
pinch of sea salt
1/4 c semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.  Combine wet ingredients, and mix well.
2. Add in dry ingredients (here's a trick I use, if you put the flour on top of the wet ingredients, than add all the powders and sodas on top of that, they wont react until right when you mix it), mix well.  Add in chocolate chips and stir until combined.
3. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with cooking spray and pour batter in.  Bake for 45-60 minutes (I like to turn the oven off around minute 50 and then let it sit in the oven for the last 10 minutes, so that there aren't any doughy spots at all!)

And just a reminder before you go off to enjoy your weekend that I'm giving away TWO burlap pennant banners.  Sometimes I do giveaways to get more followers (honesty!) and sometimes I really just want to GIVE.  This is the second one.  I wish I could give one to all of you!

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What would you do with. . . a yard of burlap?

This time last year we were working on packing our apartment and getting ready to move to our house!  Our closing kept getting pushed back, and so by the time we got in and got everything painted, it was time to set up Christmas.  I've been looking forward to fall decorating ever since then.

So when Aubrey suggested burlap, I was excited to make a decoration for fall. 

I picked out this darling burlap with gold foil circles, only to discover it was $15 a yard!  Eek!  I hoped that I would have enough for a little triangle garland if I just got 1/3 of a yard.

Enough and then some!  Why do I always think I need so much more fabric in the store than when I get home???  And it turns out I have enough for several!  So I would like to give two away.

If you're interested in making your own, there are LOTS of tutorials.  I will tell you that I made my triangles five inches across the top and six inches from top to bottom.  

Anyway, on to the pictures:

Aside from the fall decorated shelves, we've got this fun action going on on our door (they didn't stick to the wall very well.  Falling spiders, that wasn't freaky. . .) 

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And as always, link up your posts!!

An InLinkz Link-up

My personality and following the prophet

If you're LDS, you know who Thomas Monson is.  Not only do we as members of the church know him to the be the Prophet of God today on the earth, he's also an incredible human being, who is known for his ministering to the individual.

My friend Sierra was posting her personality type as well as the personality types of some of the apostles who were speaking during General Conference yesterday.  She posted President Monson's (ESFP) and so I looked up a little test and took it.  I'm an ENTJ.  I googled it and read a little bit about this personality type.  Other than being extroverted, I'm exactly opposite of President Monson.

President Monson's personality really leads him to look at the details and to be concerned with the feelings of others.  I'm more big picture and while I understand the feelings of others, they don't really direct my decisions.  In church, when we talk about the importance of ministering to the one, I agree!  But I also feel so overwhelmed.  Looking at all the little details is not my strength. 

I think we need all types of people to make this world and this church go round.  People who want to focus on the details can do that, knowing there are people like me keeping an eye on the big picture. At the same time, knowing my weakness, I can focus on them a little more and work to be better at ministering to the one.

Everyone is needed, every talent can be used for good (or bad!).  Learn about yourself and your talents and practice using them for good.  Look at your weaknesses and work on being a little bit better at those things too.  That's my goal, anyway.

But I like to try

My best selfies always include a kid.

So for a few days last month, I think everyone on my facebook feed had shared the Colbie Caillat video, Try.  And I kind of like the message. . . As a feminist I don't think that a persons' self worth or strength should come from their looks.  But what if I like to put a little makeup on?  I know that I'm still a worthwhile person while in my pajamas, but I feel more awake and happy if I'm dressed. 

And in the same way, I feel better about my day when I have a little makeup on.  (I should mention that I have such natural dark circles around my eyes that as a kid people often asked me if I had a black eye.  So I'm not just trying to look pretty, I'm trying to not look like an abuse victim)  I have a mirror in the kitchen above my dining room table.  When I'm feeding my children their meals and I see my reflection in the mirror, it's nice to feel put together and healthy looking. 

Wearing makeup and doing my hair and putting on clothes isn't about being a 1950's housewife, but if it helps me feel away and happy, I'm going to keep on "trying".

5 Little Confessions: Clothes

 

Once a month Aubrey, Carrie, Jacquelyn and I team up to bring you the 5 Little Confessions link up!  You can confess anything your little heart desires.  And link up!

When the first of the month is a Wednesday, Five Little Confessions seems to come around even quicker than usual!  This month I decided to tell you all about my clothing and shopping habits!

1. I wear a size 12 pants.  My ideal size is an 8.  I feel really good about being an 8.  I've lost more weight and my 12s are a little loose, so I'm happy about that!

2. I buy all my jeans from the thrift store.  Especially since I want to keep losing weight, spending a lot on jeans doesn't make sense.  It's nice to know that I don't have to pay more than $8 a pair (that's how much all jeans are at Savers)

3. I pretty much refuse to shop at WalMart.  I've never cared for their stores and then when Elizabeth Ivie told her story here, I just decided to stop shopping there.  But I do go about once a year to shop the Bella Bird selection, since I feel in some way that I'm supporting local designers, even if it is via WM. 

4. I often want to take outfit pictures for my blog, but I'm worried that Adam doesn't like taking them for me. 

5. I only have a certain number of hangers (although I don't know what that number is, I've never counted them) and when I get a new shirt I have to give one away so that I have a hanger for it.  It's my little system to not get overwhelmed with clothes I don't love.

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Ding dong the bells are gonna ring!

Today is my sister's wedding!  She's going to marry this awesome guy, and we're all excited for her and their new adventure!!

I told them they needed a social media tag, so search #alaoweiandkellie if you want to see more pictures!  ;)  You're especially going to want to see me in my fabulous African wedding clothes.  I have never felt so beautiful!  (Okay, except maybe on my own wedding day!)

High school students walk out over dress code

Have you heard about the students who walked out of class in protest of the dress code being enforced at Homecoming?  You can read it here if you haven't. 

At first I was interested in this because I used to teach high school. . . and then I looked closer and realized I used to teach AT THIS high school!  So, my thoughts:

I don't think it's a modesty issue.  Regardless of what you believe about modesty, the administration still has the right to make rules regarding the styles of clothing the students can wear to the dance.  Notice I didn't say "dresses" because the boys should be dressed according to the standards as well, it's just that I haven't see a lot of backless suits or dress shirts.  I'm sure they have rules about pants being at the waist, but sagging pants isn't really the style at Bingham right now, so probably not an issue. 

But, like I said, they can make the rules what ever they want (you know, with in reason).  And they announced those rules and tried to make sure that everyone knew them.  How do I know this?  Because I worked there and I know how they do.  But I also know that a lot of kids don't pay attention to things they don't care about, and rules usually fall into that category. 

Add to that, that in the past Bingham hasn't been the best at enforcing the dress code at dances.  I know this because I would be the ticket taker, someone would walk in wearing a strapless dress (against the rules that year) and we were told to let it slide.  They're going to wear what they want, and we don't want to turn people away after they paid for tickets.  Enforcing a dress code is hard!

Why enforce it this year?  This is the first dance of the year and along with that a new student body president and vice presidents.  They have a lot of say in this kind of thing.  Also, there may be new admins (I don't know personally) Maybe they're trying to start off on the right foot.  Or maybe dresses have been an issue in the past and they've decided to take a stand this year.  But what ever the reason, they've decided to really enforce it this year.

It sucks, I'm sure, to not get to go to a dance you were really looking forward to.  It also sucks to tell someone they can't go into a dance and to face that wrath.  I guess I'm saying, I'm on the side of the admin here.  If it's been done differently in the past, doesn't mean it has to be done that way for all of time.  And if going to the dance is that important to a student, they need to follow the rules.  Dress code, not going drunk, not fighting, dancing appropriately etc. . . all of the rules. 

September Slumber Soiree: A blogger event

Back in like May, Aubrey mentioned the idea of having an all night blogger event/party.  Because we like to stay and visit long after blog round tables or blog meet ups, it only made sense that bloggers would enjoy an all night party to talk about our favorite thing: BLOGGING!

The location was GORGEOUS!  I drove up with Ashley from A to Z and we made pretty good time!  Except that my directions from map quest were kind of wonky and I was worried we were lost a time or two, Ashley kept her head and she has a great sense of direction!

I started eating like as soon as we walked in the door!  And then we had dinner (Cafe Rio copycat salad with actual CR dressing. . . Mmmmmm!)  I limited myself to three very small Dr Peppers in hopes that I might sleep that night.

First in line because I know how to break the ice!

FOOD!

See how tiny the cups were!  But soooo cute!!

After dinner photo booth shoot

After dinner we all introduced ourselves and had a short blogging discussion about growing your blog.

Sierra, Laura, Ashley, me and Kyla at the bottom :)

Then the sweet, wonderfully funny Jen did Aubrey's makeup while teaching us about her favorite products and techniques.  Seriously, finding her blog was one of the best things about this trip, she is the cutest!!

This is what dirt does in your pores

After the makeup we did a quick photo shoot with our Agnes and Dora leggings.

Pretending to laugh made us actually laugh.

What?  You can't see the leggings enough?  Here!!!

Eek!  Leggings aren't pants, I really wished I had a tunic top!!

Amberly and I were like dozing off during the pictures, so we headed to bed, or so we thought!  Let's just say that the white noise was not enough to drown out the sound of ten other people having way more fun that us ;)  But I kept telling myself that even though I couldn't sleep, it was better than trying to sit at the table and paint my nails.  I am just a girl who NEEDS sleep.  If not, I cry and I'm suuuuper grumpy.  Just ask my family how sweet I was upon returning home :)

Saturday was my favorite day, despite feeling a little dizzy in need of sleep.  We had breakfast by Flippin' Waffles and it was AMAZING!  Seriously, like dessert for breakfast. 

This was not mine, but it looks just like the one I had.

The cute LauraAnn of Flippin Waffles.  I reeeaaly want to have her cater a party at my house.  Can anyone give me a reason to have a party???

Then Amberly lead the best discussion about sponsoring blogs, ever.  I want to send her all the products from my shop and pay her to promote me.  She's just so good at it.  AND!  She showed us her blog planner and I'm psyched to implement something similar for my blog and shop and social medias.  I think it will be like my teaching days when I used to schedule my lesson plans out for the week.  And I really miss that, for some reason :)

We had lunch and then finished up with a Q and A round table discussion about anything and everything blogging related.

Lunch!!  Because I love eating and I was the first in line again!

After the Q and A.  I look like a corpse.

Ashley and I left at 2:30 and I sang all the way home to avoid falling asleep at the wheel!!  Eeek, I was exhausted, but seriously it was so fun!!  I can't wait for next year, but I might have to find a hotel nearby, hee hee. 

All pictures in this post are compliments of Kaycie, who was our photographer for the weekend.  She seriously rocks!!!

And thanks to our other sponsors not yet mentioned:
Ready or Not Blog
Hello Maypole
Livy Loves to Run
Dandylion Design Studio
Xtend Barre Provo
Start Flower Skincare
Julie Ann Caramels

September: summer month or fall month???

Summer stuff and. . .

. . . fall stuff!!  On the same day!  (Last year)

When I first started blogging three years ago it seems like everyone was like "OMG FALL!!!"  And now people are all "Long live summah!"  and I'm saying this:

September.  It can be what you want it to be.

If you lurve summer, you can still enjoy summer activities, especially hiking and going to the park.  It's wonderful that it's cooled down enough to enjoy these things a little bit more.  I need 100 degrees to swim, so I don't think I'd be down with a trip to the pool, but if you don't mind 75 degree swims, go for it!

If you're a fall person like me (I am a summer person too!  But I'm so done after July 24th.  Summer is just soooo busy and I'm a relaxed kind of person) do your fall stuff!  Apples are especially wonderful in fall.  Make homemade apple sauce, maybe an apple pie.  Drive up the mountains to see the leaves change and wear boots on rainy days.  Oh, and of course, decorate your house with pumpkins!  I'm taking Olivia to the pumpkin patch next week just to pick out a few for the house.

So I just want to say it again, September can be what you want it to be!!!!

The end.

What would you do with $20 of school supplies!?!?!

It's time for September's What Would You Do link up!! Brought to you by Aubrey and myself.

Guys, I've been blogging so much lately, but I just haven't gotten around to finishing many posts, so someday you'll get just a flood of them.  Until then, you know I'll at least be cranking out my scheduled posts, like today's!  Today we're talking "What would you do with $20 to spend on school supplies?" 

I would send you a bouquet of sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.  Huh?  You've heard that one before?  Well shoot, looks like I have to come up with something else. . .

Speaking of sharpened pencils, I did need a pencil sharpener, so I grabbed this little guy at Target last week.  It filled the criteria of being small (I don't have an office so I just need it to fit in a probably already crowded cupboard) and inexpensive (on sale for four dollars!).  It did not fill the criteria of being great, but it gets the job done for now.  We'll see how often I actual use it, and then maybe I'll trade up.

Also, drafting patterns for my etsy shop has turned out to be easier and more fun than I thought it would be.  And to think I stayed away from the Pattern Making class at BYU because it scared me!  Well, I really could have used some help, so dang it I should have taken it.  Aside from that though, I needed a place to keep all my patterns I was drafting, so I grabbed some Up and Up (miss you, old Target brand!  Up and up will never replace you!) manila 6"x9" envelopes for 2.19 a pack (x3) 

So where we at now? 10.57 before tax. Tax will be less than a dollar, so let's just say I have 19 dollars to spend. I obviously am throwing this post together at the last minute.  I have about 8.50 remaining.

I'm babysitting my niece and nephews this week, so I can't run to the store (oops, I really did wait too long this month!) but I know I would blow the rest of that money on Crayola goodness.  How about two packs of markers (one for Olivia and one for me!) and the big box of crayons?  I once wrote a letter to Olivia about Crayola crayons you can read here. 

Do you just love school supplies in September???  It's one of my most favorite things!

(ALSO, in an unrelated note, I am giving away $35 dollars to my etsy shop, along with some gorgeous other prizes @oilostudio on instagram.  You just gotta enter!!)

An InLinkz Link-up

Five Little Confessions: My phone

 

Once a month Aubrey, Carrie, Jacquelyn and I team up to bring you the 5 Little Confessions link up!  You can confess anything your little heart desires.  And link up!

I think that I am going to be the LITERAL last person on earth to own a smart phone.  I've got to be getting close.  It seems like every day a facebook friend is announcing their first smart phone.  Not this girl. . .

1. I don't have a smart phone, just a little flip phone.

2. I hate getting stuck in group texts because they don't make any sense to me on my phone.  They each come as an individual text and so I don't know who is talking to who.

3. If you send me a link, I'll try and text it to my email.  If that doesn't work I'll ask you to email me the link :)

4. I instagram from my iPad.  I would say that ghetto, but I don't think you'll see that many iPads in the ghetto. 

Photo credit: @ericstonestreet on instagram

5. Even though I would love an iPhone (or Adam says he would only let me have a droid) I figure what's the point since I'm mostly home all the time.  My iPad and laptop can do everything I need them to do, I just need my phone to be a phone.

An InLinkz Link-up