Weekly Menu

I am not sure why I didn't think of this before or realize that this would really help my busy family out, but we have started a weekly menu plan. The light bulb finally turned on after visiting a friend in Michigan and seeing her dry erase board full of dinner ideas for the week. I was getting pretty bored with my usual dinner routines and scrambling around at the last minute and making a mish mosh of random items for dinner. I also knew it was getting pretty boring for my family when my husband announced that we have tacos like 3 times a week!

I already have a dry erase board that I use to write down the activities for the month so I took the side of it and designated it the dinner menu side! The boys and I brainstormed on what we should have for dinner for the week. I wanted to include them because if it was up to me I would make vegetarian or adult dishes all week and I would hear the lovely whining of "I am not eating this! It is gross!". Including them really worked out well and they get really excited to check to see what is for dinner that night of the week.

It also really helped when going to the grocery store. I usually just had a mental menu that I would try to remember when going shopping. Or I would just get whatever and throw it together and see how it turned out. This way I was able to figure out what we had and what we needed. I was even thinking that it may help if I ever wanted to venture into the crazy life known as couponing!

Here is am amature photo of what our menu is like for this week:

 

 

With the boys starting soccer and tae kwon do, we are busy every night this week! This menu has been so much more helpful than I ever realized it would! And thanks to Pinterest and the All Recipes App for my phone, I am able to find new recipes when I am in a rut.

 

 

Here are a links to some of the recipes I am making this week:

*Kids Fave

 

 

Picture Via: Better Homes and Gardens

 

Meatloaf*

 

 

Picture Via Yummly.Com

 

Corn Casserole*

 

 

Picture Via SkinnyTaste.com

 

Lasagna Roll Ups

 

 

Picture Via Better Homes and Gardens

 

Tortellini Bake

 

 

I hope to make this post a weekly thing! Good Cookin' to ya!

 

The Shiny-ness Has Worn Off

Going into the third week of school and what I expected to happen on the first day of school, has finally happened. And I hope it to be the last.
B had his first "I hate school!" breakdown.
And it was super hard for me to stay strong.
I cried after he got on the bus. My heart felt for him.
But what do I do in this situation? As a mom who wants to do everything I can so my child has the best day ever, it was hard for me to not just say "Ok stay home!". I can't baby him and keep him home and cuddle watching movies all day. Which I am sure he would have loved to do, and was probably waiting for me to actually do that. *sigh*
But, I had to be a really strong parent and literally drag him to the bus as he tried to run off even at the last second. I know he will be so tired all day and he will probably still have a hard day no matter how many times I tried to tell him to "stay positive" and that "he will have a better day". But his comebacks were still "I hate school!", "I just want to stay home.," "I don't want to go to school." *sigh, again*
I will just keep telling myself I did the right thing by throwing him on the bus and that it was a bit of an accomplishment for me as a mom. Because I just could have well given in and said here's a big chocolate candy bar to enjoy on the bus, now stop crying and go to school. In the end, I hope it really shows that I AM a loving and caring mom for telling him he still has to go to school whether he wants to or not.
*sigh*
Let's hope tomorrow is a better day.

If I Hear The Word Wiener One More Time...

Seeing as I am a mother of two boys (and sometimes three if you include my husband), I hear a lot of things that come as a shock to me. Such as the usage of the words wiener, pee pee, butt, fart and poop.

Now I am all about being truthful and honest with my boys about things that go on with our bodies. But, really? Do I need to remind them everyday that saying the word wiener every chance that they get is just not appropriate?

It doesn't even stop during homework. My oldest son L, has to put words in alphabetical order sometimes during his homework. He and his brother have found it utterly hysterical to say every letter in the alphabet twice during this homework process in order to say a certain body part:

 "AA, BB, CC, DD, EE, FF, GG, HH, II, JJ, KK, LL, MM, NN, OO, PP!"

Yah, may be funny after the first time...but does it need to be said during every alphabetized homework page??

Now, they are not using it in an adult way at all! They just think it is hilarious to draw animals with wieners, draw people with wieners (in which they know they will get in trouble for this and keep it a secret between themselves), wrestle and say "Oh my nuts!" and act as if someone has hit them in the nuts, and they just crack up every single time! And don't even get my started on the farting! To say the least, it is getting a little annoying on my part as a lady (a lady that belched quite well, but that's not the point at hand!).

I want my kids to have fun and be kids and be comfortable talking to me about anything. But I also picture my kids being well behaved little boys for the rest of their lives. I know, I am digging my own ditch with that thought in my mind! And most of all, I really hope they don't go to school or to other peoples houses and talk like that! I could only imagine what other adults might think we talk about at our house after hearing the word wiener like 50 times!!

I explained to my husband that this wiener craze needs to be toned down. He informed me that they are boys! They are going to be obsessed with it at some point in there lives and I have to just get used to it. I about fainted! I can't picture my little Lo-Lo and Bro-Bro obsessed with...oh wait...they are males...well, seeing as I am a female and have always been surrounded by boys my whole life (I have 3 brothers). I should be used to it by now!

But it still never ceases to embarrass and annoy me when I hear the conversation at dinner time steering towards the dreaded wiener talk.

I guess I better get used to it! While I bake my cookies and paint my nails pink, I still know that with all these boys around I have a lifetime of fart jokes, poop stories, and wiener drawings to put up with. Someone save me now!

Let's Be Honest

After attending the first run through of the LTYM show, I realized how many different moms there really are out there. I mean, yah I have kids and I am around moms a lot more than any other time in my life. But to hear a small tid bit of their mothering lives has dug a crevice in my brain and makes me think about myself as a mom.

Now, if it isn't hard enough to try to figure out who you are in life. I feel as though I am also figuring out how to be a mom in my life. Yes, I will always be A MOM. But what type of mom am I? I think that the description of what type of mom I am will be ever changing. But there is always be an underlying platform of what type of mom I am that I will stand on.

I wonder what type I am when I am witnessing moms with their children at the store. There are moms that will buy their kids anything and everything, ones that won't buy them anything and just let their child cry it out in the aisles, moms who will give lectures to their children on why they are or aren't getting a toy, moms that will yell or spank their children in the store, and moms that will calmly pat their child on their heads and speak in such a calming voice it is a bit scary (to which I think, are they really that nice all the time or are they putting a show on in the store?). I have been all of the above mentioned moms. So, where is it that I fit in again?

I would like to think all of us are at some point all of those moms, but I think that isn't true. There are parents that do not raise their voices to their kids. There are parents that don't go anywhere without their children. There are parents that cuss in front of their kids. And their are even parents that have a beer in front of their kids. Shocking, I know.

There will always be critics for any of the above parenting styles. My thing is, who frickin cares? And why do I care? Part of me thinks that how my parents treated me tend to play a role in who I am as a parents, but I also think that makes me NOT want to raise my kids as my parents did.

I guess I am thinking that moms are always put into a categories: hands-on mom, fun mom, non-spanking mom, let-your-kids-stay-up-late-watching-TV mom, drinking-when-your-kids-are-on-your-nerves mom, doing-everything-for-your-kids-and-not-yourself-mom, or even feeling-selfish-when-you-do-things-for-yourself-and-not-your-kids mom. And sometimes society (or family or ourselves) make us feel bad when we are not living up to one or more of their preconceived notions of a true and hearty MOM. I think that I fit all of these categories at one point or another in my life as a mom. I just hope that my boys will appreciate me and see all of the hard work I do for them to be happy. Also, I hope that they realize it on their own. Not when I reach a boiling point and I am crying and asking them if they realize all the stuff I do for them!

This has just been on my mind lately because I feel as though trying our best and feeling out ways that work and don't work is also a category of being a mom. I envy parents that have it all together (or seem as though they do). But I also think to each his own. Whatever works for you and whatever works for me is the way it is. It is just a different point of view.

Besides, what adult life would be complete without stories of your crazy mom.

Growing Up

This week I have had some young boys growing up. I signed my youngest B up for kindergarten. They set up little mini-testing stations at different tables and  he did really well. They said he is definitely ready for kindergarten.

While we were at the school, the same school my oldest son attends, I figured we would stop by and say hi. I LOVED when my parents came to say hi to me or came to have lunch with me. It was such a cool surprise! So I thought he would enjoy it too.

 It was their lunchtime so we just popped in really quick to the lunchroom and found him sitting with his friends. A lot of the kids were waving and saying hi to me because I am a room parent for L's class, know some of their parents and see them at Cub Scouts. Logan was really surprised to see us and smiled and kinda acted shy. I just rubbed his head and patted his back and said my hello's and wished him a good day. Then left.

That afternoon when I got home L had just gotten off of the bus and when I walked in the house I interrupted a conversation L was having with my husband. All I heard was, " Don't tell Mama...". 

Of course I am going to ask what happened or what is going on after I hear that! They both were really quiet and so I asked again "Did you get in trouble at school? Did something happen?" Still nothing. Then my husband just says "L got embarrassed at school today." I said "Who embarrassed you?!" To which L responds "You did! When you visited me at lunch!"

Uh...shot to the heart! I was all "Oooo...kkkk...What did I do that embarrassed you?" 

Apparently, rubbing your kids head and patting his back while making a nice visit to him at lunch is completely unacceptable in the first grade! Like, mortifying, I guess. 

I proceeded to ask him who was making fun of him or who said something to him about me coming there? To which he responded "No one! I was just really embarrassed by it!"

To which I responded, "Well, I am really glad that you let me know this because next time I come to visit you at school I will be wearing a really fancy dress and I will come right over to you and give you the biggest hugs and kisses you could ever imagine. Then you will really know what embarrassing is!"

Things My Kids Say

I am writing this knowingly that there are some other Mom's to boys out there that at some point have this talk when they are young.

I have vowed to always be honest with my kids. No matter what they ask me, I am going to be honest. Whether I need to explain it in a child-like understanding way, it will still be the truth. I ask them to be honest, so why wouldn't I do the same for them?

The "talk" I am speaking of is why boys are called boys and girls are called girls.

Here are a few misconceptions I have had to clear up:

B, my 4 year old, says, "Girls have pee-pees too."
I respond, "No we do not have pee-pee's we have Vagina's." (Which I have already explained in the past is where babies are born from).
Response: "BAGINAS!!??" With a puzzled look. Then it was left alone for awhile.

B walked in on me one day while I was going to the bathroom. As I yelled "Privacy!" he looked at me funny then walked out.
 After I got out of the bathroom he asks, "If you don't have a pee-pee how do you go potty?"
I explained that he goes potty out of his pee-pee, and I do the same just out of my vagina (just keeping it child-like on the explaining here). He leaves it alone.

While traveling with my Dad, B busts out and says "Papa, did you know that girls don't have pee-pees?!" My Dad just looked at me and says, "Rrreeaallyy?"
And then I hear my oldest talking all low and snickering as he says, "Ya, Mama poops and pees out of  her BUTT!"
Me, " Uhhh...not true!" But it was funny that he thought he was making a joke out of it....more childlike explanations were in store on this one.

Then, over the weekend B asks me, "If you punch your pee-pee too much will you turn into a girl?" I might add, that he is 4 and asks this VERY seriously. I say, "Well, you may hurt it instead. But (jokingly say) you might turn into a girl :)."

His response," Is that what happened to you?"

Tent It Up!

AHHH!! That is the sound of relaxation! The summertime weather is here!!! For some reason I love making forts and tents in the summertime.

Homemade Tent For The Boys To Hang Out In Over The Weekend.

Well, I like to make tents any time of the year but I have seen some really cute ones around the web that you can make yourself! You know I am all about some D.I.Y!! Here are some that caught my eye:

A-Frame Tent

Via Cakies

Materials for the A-frame:

4- 1'' x 2'' x 48'' whitewood moulding

1- 3/4'' x 48'' poplar dowel

drill with a 3/4'' spade bit

measuring tape

pencil (marker)

This one is the easiest one I have found out there. For the full directions click here.

Pup Tent

Pup Tent Via CasaSugar

This one takes a little more tools and help, but cute all the same!

What You'll Need For This Tent:

• Three yards of cotton fabric (upholstery weight is best)
• 20 half-inch finishing screws
• Power drill
• Four two- to three-inch wood screws
• Four six-feet-long boards, anywhere between four and six inches wide
• One one-inch square, five-foot-long board
• A friend who can hold the structure as you're building it

For full directions click here.

This is a similar one via Readymade

Don't forget about the Tee Pee!!

Via SewMamaSew

This requires some sewing knowledge and is a little more advanced, but what kid (or adult) doesn't like

a tee pee?

Materials Needed:

• 6- 6ft bamboo garden post (can be purchased at Home and Garden Centers)
• 3 yards of 60 inch wide white painter’s canvas
• Scissors
• Pen
• Craft paint & brushes
• 3 Strong rubber bands
• 6 plastic 1 ½ inch rings
• Embroidery floss or strong thread
• Sewing needle with large eye
• 12 Large Grommets & grommet setting kit (I used 1/4”)
• Hammer
• Ribbon approximately 3 yards for lacing (additional ribbon for decorating is optional)
• Straight pins

For full directions click here.

Card Table Tent

Via MyCakies

I absolutely LOVE this idea! All you need is a card table, sewing machine (along with sewing skills), and fabric!

No Sew Play Tent

via Dollarstorecrafts (which is such a cool website for decorating on the cheap)

You can always just grab whatever furniture and sheets or blankets that you have lying around and make your own tent or fort. These are just on my wish list of cool tents!

Tid Bits and Side Notes

Things are beginning to wind down a bit in the Hauser household. Well, school wise that is. B finished his first year of preschool! We had a parents play date where they had different stations for the kids and parents to play with. We then had ice cream on a blanket.

*Side Note:  We shared our blanket with a friend of B's and his grandma while eating our snack. As we are sitting there in silence, B decides to, not once but twice, rip the longest and loudest fart I have ever heard and did not say excuse me either time. In turn, his friend blamed it on me.

Our family has joined the YMCA and I LOVE it. It has been almost a month since when have joined, but with B not going to school I will have a lot more time to go to the Y and work out. I only really do the elliptical and weights right now.

*Another Side Note: I love the treadmills, but a year or so ago I was working out at Cardinal Fitness and did an embarrassing trip on the treadmill and almost fell, so I tend to steer clear of those now!

I am also going to go to some Yoga classes and get the kids signed up for swim lessons soon. They know how to swim, but I want them to be stronger swimmers and they just think my husband and I are trying to drown them when we are really trying to teach them to swim on their own. I feel an outside person would be way more helpful in this situation.

I have slowly been getting things in place for a space at an antique shop to display my vintage wears. The ball is rolling on my tax information and I also made a dream purchase this weekend at a garage sale. I got a mannequin! Yep, a true fledged mannequin. It is a woman mannequin, still working on a name, but she came fully dressed with a wig and all! My kids are DEATHLY AFRAID of her (which I feel mean laughing about, but it is funny) and I honestly got a little freaked when I forgot she was in the garage and turned around to see her staring at me! She was $25 and the woman selling it to me told me she has two other ones that she is keeping. Her son in law was more than happy that I was taking it off of their hands because he said the thing creeped him out because his mother in law would have it wear a wedding dress in a guest room and in his words "at night when the moon hit it just right, it really would scare the crap out of me!".

I have also found a place in Valparaiso that I can sell my crafts at! I am pretty excited to get the ball rolling on that too. I enjoy making things for friends and family, but I have never really sold anything. I am going to try and see how it goes. Here are some magnets that I have been working on:

It feels nice to have a little extra time with B and to do thing that I have been putting off. Here are some things I need to put (and cross off) on my to-do list:

-Repot house plants (if you know of any cute plant stands or planters on the cheap let me know)*they are still living!!*
-Plant garden
-Plant flowers outside, either in pots or in the ground
-Do more craft items
-Make more banners and totes
-Make a craft for for my craft partner in the UK for the Craft Swap I joined
-Get sun tan started ;)
-Buy this swimsuit *returning it, it was UGLY! in person!*
-Work out more so I can fit into that swimsuit
-Make dinner (from my favorite cookbook) with black beans that have been patiently waiting for me to use them in the pantry
-Get things going on my next tattoo
-Figure out what to get husband for 7 year anniversary (any ideas?)


Hope this warm weather is getting your butt in gear too!

Homemade Crayons

I have seen homemade crayons on various parts of the web, like at KittyBabyLove.com, PlanetGreen.com, and Earth Grown Crayons. They seem so simple to make and who doesn't have old broken crayons laying around?

I have been searching for the right type of mold to put the melted crayon wax in for awhile. I had no success until my recent trip to IKEA. Once we had the vessels to make crayons, the homemade crayon party was on!

Homemade Crayons

You will need:

• An assortment of broken crayons, preferably older, used crayons because no one likes breaking a perfectly good crayon to bits. (Well, maybe kids do, but adults would rather cherish new crayons until the next homemade crayon party!)

• Old tin cans (such as soup cans or canned veggie cans) preferably washed or rinsed out. You can also use glass or ceramic jars (I used old jelly jars because I didn't have any tin cans around). They should be small and something you will not use again unless it is for crayon making or other art projects. *The wax from the crayons may not wash off well after the melting.

• A small pot, you may want to pick one up from a local thrift store on the cheap or be prepared to scrub away or put it away for another art project. *The wax from the crayons also got a little on my pan and didn't come off that well, so just giving you fair warning.

• Long popsicle or craft sticks or old spoon (not plastic) that you might not mind throwing away when finished. *You will use these for stirring the melted crayons so it might be wise not to use any untensils that you may use for eating with afterwards.

• Plastic flexible molds. You can also use tin foil made into shapes as described at KittyBabyLove.com

• Oven Mitt and/or pot holder *Also, something you won't mind if wax gets on them.

• I also had cardboard handy that I put under the mold as I was pouring the melted wax into them to protect my counter.

First you need to gather all of the old and broken crayons that you have laying around the house (you know you have some!). You then take all of those crayons and begin to remove any wrappers that are on them.

The boys going through the crayons.

We decided to do yellow, green, red, blue mixed with metallic crayons, and brown mixed with gold crayons. You will want to also break them into small pieces so they can melt easier.

These are the jars I ended up using. I didn't use the large one, but all of the small ones worked out great.

Start off by putting the pan with cold water onto the stove and let boil. Once boiled set the jar of crayons into the water and let reboil. I found it helpful to keep a watchful eye on it as they are melting and to keep stirring until fully melted.

Yellow crayons in the ceramic bowl as they begin to melt.

Once the crayons are melted, it will be VERY hot! Do not hesitate to use extra caution at this time. I used the oven mitts to hold the jar as I stirred in the boiling water and when I removed the jar from the water. Turn the stove either on low or off and put the jar onto the cardboard so you can get a better grasp on the jar when ready to pour into the mold.

Here are the molds from IKEA. They are originally made for long thick ice cubes, but will now be our new crayon molds.

Try to work quickly, but safely, when pouring the melted crayons into the molds. I tried my best to pour the melted crayons in as neatly as possible, but it didn't matter in the end because you can carve or break off any extra pieces as you please. Let the molds cool as long as needed.

Once cooled, pop them out of the molds (this is where flexible molds work the best) and color to your hearts intent!

These were so easy and I feel like I really liked doing it more than the kids! The boys got a little bored with the beginning of the project because it took awhile to take all of the wrappers off the crayons and break them into small pieces. But once we got into the actual part of melting the crayons they were very interested! All I had to do was explain to them that we were doing a science experiment and making something new from something old and they were hooked! They couldn't wait for them to cool so they could create some art and to be able to call themselves scientists!

Snow Day Bored-ness = Sockpuppets!

If you have kids, then you have heard "I'm bored!" a million times! How kids can be bored with all of the  crayons, board games, toys, the Wii, the Nintendo DS, and movies that they have is beyond me! But I do understand having a blizzard hit and messing up their usual routine. Which in turn means there will be the snow day bored-ness.

If you are in this pinch, the following may save your kids from dying of being bored and save your ears from hearing anymore about it!

Sock Puppets

To the left is Button Eye Sockpuppet and to the right is Ned Sockpuppet.

All you need is:

-Old clean sock (I used ones that I couldn't find the matches to anymore)

-Assortment of buttons

-Thread (I used different colors for different eyes because I thought it looked cute)

-Needle

-Marker or Pen

-Scissors

I let the boys choose their socks and which eyes they would like. I had them put their hands into the sock and with the marker/pen I marked where I wanted to sew on the eyes (buttons).

Then just thread your needle with desired thread color and sew on the button.

This should buy you a few hours of free time. If you feel like joining in, make one for yourself and have a snow day puppet show!

Valentine's Fun and Thrifting Thursdays

I know I do not have a theme to my posts, but I want to make Thrifting Thursdays a definite keeper. I LOVE thrifting, which I have mentioned before. I just went recently and actually didn't buy any clothes for myself-which is rare! My friend Annie and I are really close to getting our Etsy vintage shop in gear, so I didn't want to overload myself with new things to put on the website. But it will be up soon!

I snagged this lamp with a little help from my youngest, B.

It is quite large, but in such good shape! B totally saw it from a mile away and said we had to get this one. It was $4.50 at Salvation Army.

After putting all my Christmas stuff away, I realized that I really do not have any Valentine's Day decorations. So I thought it was high time to make some of our own! My friend Karen and her daughter came over to do some easy and fun crafts with my boys and I. Well, it ended up being that the moms were the ones chatting it up and doing crafts while the kids played. But it was well worth it, we had a lot of fun and got some cute stuff made.

We really only used construction paper, tape, glue stick, hot glue gun, string, pencils, markers, crayons, and popsicle sticks-things most of us have around our house. Here is how they turned out!

X's and O's on a string

I had the boys trace X and O cookie cutters and decorate them how they want. They decided to put funny faces on them. I then cut them out and taped them to a long string and hung them on the window.

 Heart Guys

These are Heart Guys (or so L and B call them)! I drew a heart on a piece of construction paper and had the boys draw faces on them. Then I cut them out and taped string to them for legs and arms and hung them from the window.

The ones below I added some bouncy arms and stringy legs.

Valentine's On A Stick

 These are the same as my Christmas post. This time we used Valentine's coloring pages from the library and added them to cardboard and card stock paper and hot glued them to the sticks.

Heart Hands

These turned out so cute! I saw them in a magazine from the library. You fold a piece of construction paper in half and put one of the child's hands so the thumb is on the fold. Then trace their hand and let them, or you, cut the hands out a decorate. Then cut a heart out and glue into the center.

I really was blank on ideas for Valentine's Day crafts until I went to the library. Most of the books they had on crafts for v-day were really old and geared more toward older kids. Around holidays or a time of year when I need some new recipe ideas, I like to go thru the past few years of periodicals and snag the month I am looking for. That is where I got most of these ideas. It is way better than buying a magazine and never using it again or having it sit around until next year.

Let me know if you guys make any of these crafts. And I love comments so leave me some, even if it is just a hello!

Birthdays From The Grave

January 9th. This Sunday. My mom would have been 54.


What do you do on the first birthday of someone who has passed? Throw a mini party? Look for a card you will never send? Cry?

I am not sure since this is the first time I have ever experienced it.


Things have been going good on the aspect of my Mom lately. Too good, at least that is how I feel. After awhile, things just kinda seem normal without her now. That sounds terrible, but I am just trying to be real. How can I dwell on the time without her, when I really did have a lot of time with her?
Don't get me wrong, I miss her A LOT. But after awhile, I realize, I am alive. I have living to do.
There will always be a lingering of my Mom everywhere in my life, but what good does it do me to be sad about it all the time?

Now, it does seem like I am so casually saying these comments like I am over the whole my Mom passing away thing. It is not like that. I am not like this all time. Shoot, not even the majority of the time! These words and phrases are something I feel I should to be telling myself.
There is always something in my life to remind me of her. But I feel like, why be sad about those things? Why not take that memory, scent, picture-whatever it may be-and store it in your memory, or better yet, a journal? That way you will always have something to turn to when you are down and miss her.


My beliefs are being tested from this past year until now. I know my opinions on life and death may offend some people, but I do not apologize for what I believe. Nor should anyone else, but I also do not look down on others for their beliefs, nor should anyone else. 
For a long time I have not believed there was a heaven or there was a hell. My belief in God has not been in my mind for a long time. I am not trying to push buttons by saying this, this is honestly something that I have just felt to my core being for a long time.


Seeing someone pass is nothing like I thought it would be. I thought it would be like a movie. Deep dramatic breathes, tearful goodbyes-but it was nothing like that. Simply, just the stopping of breathe. No sad music, no angels appearing, just silence.


Most believe she is an angel in heaven. Which I do tell my kids. I tell them this because as a kid, when someone passed away and my mom told me they were in heaven, it made me feel a lot better. Whether I believed it at the time or not. The kids and I even send balloons up to Oma on special occasions so she knows what is happening down here (or so my kids say). That is a comfort thing for them.
But I also tell my kids that everyone has a soul. And that the soul is who you are. That soul is an energy and energy never dies. Which, to me, is also spirit. A spirit can manifest itself into whatever it's next life is to be. Part of me believes in this, part of me doesn't. But right now I find comfort in this for some reason. When they get older, I will get into the deeper stuff. At 6 and 3, this is all they can handle right now.

I also believe your body is not made up to live forever. That is just life. Accidents happen, disease happens, cancer happens. This is the body you live in and once your heart is not beating to sustain it's life, then you are gone. That is why viewings at funeral's are a little creepy to me. That is a just a body. Not that actual "person" you are missing. But I do understand, for some, a viewing is seeing the person for the last time and remembering their time with them. 

Some may say your energy, or spirit, moves onto heaven. My previous thought of your spirit moving into another being or life force can probably be seen as the same thing. But as I said, I really only half believe that.


I have a mish mosh of things swirling in my head! (Confusing? I know!) I still can't say that I have a concrete belief in what happens to you after you pass. Or if anything even does happen. But does anyone really? I think what someone believes has to do a lot with personal comfort. The comfort in believing that we have some place after earth is helpful to people in times of sadness and stress.

We all will pass (which has been more of an in-your-face-reality to me this past year). Maybe it is helpful to just have the comfort in knowing something will happen to you. But it is actually more comforting to me, to know that I do not have to be a saint, or if I am considered a sinner the only one to be able to judge me, is me.

When I pass, maybe my soul will just become love and whenever you think of me and feel that love, you know I am there. That is what my Mom has become. That feeling of Love. Because in the end you are who are and the mark you have left on other's will be the most lasting memory after you are gone.

There is no real ending to these thoughts. Maybe I am just having them and being tested because I do need to do some research as to what I believe. I just know what feels comfortable to me and what doesn't. I am not ashamed of my beliefs and I am not saying I am right or wrong. They feel right to me and that is all that matters. Because in the end all there is, is me and my thoughts.

Yet, I will probably still get a Happy Birthday balloon to send up to Oma. Just so my kids will always have something to remember her birthday by.

Puppet Master's Humpday Hangover

The puppets are done! I am ready to make some more! They were so easy and so fun to see the boys play with them.

Here are the materials:

• Puppet Template
• Pen/Marker
• Felt or any other sturdy fabric
• Scissors
• Sewing Machine
• Thread that matches the color of your puppet
• Hot glue gun or other type of glue (optional)
• Acrylic Paint and paintbrush(optional)

First I printed out the puppet template, cut it out and traced onto my felt.

I put another piece of felt, the same color as the felt I traced on, for the back of my puppet.

I put pins on the head, arms, and bottom so it stays together while I am cutting.

This is what it looks like after you cut and before you sew. I begin sewing in the bottom left hand corner and sew around the whole puppet towards the head. That way you have one consistent line.

Hello puppet! All it needs is a face!

I made this one into a simple ghost by painting the face on with a small paintbrush.

Here are some of the more advanced ones I did.

For the alien and the lizard, I pre-cut the tongue, antennae, and small circles for the eyes and spots and hot glued them to the top part of the puppet before sewing.

The top ones I made for my boys. I made shirts and hair for them. I made the shirts by tracing the body part of the puppet and free hand drew where the neckline and sleeves would be.

For the hair I traced the head shape from the puppet template and then free hand drew what I wanted the hair to look like.

For everything that is going on the top portion of the puppet, it is a good idea to glue or sew those parts on before you sew the outline of the puppet. That way you do not glue or sew the back and front together!

Beginning of hair.

After hair!

Here are the boys enjoying their look-alike puppets!

I meant to post this yesterday, but got into putting Christmas decorations up and never got back to it. So, I am going to do a Humpday Hangover of things that are keeping my attention right now and that you might enjoy checking out before the week is done!

• I love Adele! Her voice and sound just really makes me relate to what she is singing or just want to get up and dance. Her new album comes out in February. I don't buy many CD's but this one might be an exceptions. Here is a song from her upcoming album 21.

                                   

• I really liked Jessica Seinfeld's first cookbook Deceptively Delicious. She came out with a new one called Double Delicious.

There are way more recipes that still include the same premise of adding veggies to ordinary recipes, yet you wouldn't even know it!

P.S. I like to check out cook books from the library and look thru them before I decide if I would permanently like to add them to my collection.

• If you like zombies, then you will be half excited, half disappointed that the season finale of The Walking Dead will be on AMC this Sunday. Can't wait to see what happens!!!!

I love me some good ol' hairdressing! Check out these photos from jakandjil.com (which is a super cool website on everything fashion with great photography!)

• So Exciting! I got my first ornament in the mail from The Color Challenge Ornament Swap.

 You make three different ornaments only using the colors green, red, and gold. You then get the addresses of those you send your handmade ornaments to from the creator of the event, Louise Gale , and in turn you get three ornaments from other crafters.

This is supposed to hang, but you wouldn't have been able to see the beautiful hand drawn and painted details of the ornament if I took a hanging photo.

I also received this cute drawing of Santa that I am going to frame and put up for Christmas.

Thank you Heather Foust!

P.S. She also has an etsy store!

I do have my ornaments done and they are waiting to be sent out. I would post pictures, but don't want to spoil it for anyone who gets them in the mail! I will link to the flickr page in the future.

I will leave you with a little food for thought for that Humpday Hangover: