Cleaning Schedule Printable

With school starting back last week and my youngest beginning preschool next week, I thought I would revisit and share my weekly/monthly cleaning schedule with you guys. I didn't realize until I decided to write this post that nearly exactly a year ago, I wrote the first post about my new schedule! My current one has been changed slightly from that original schedule.

I have dropped the ball on keeping to the schedule during the Summer months. Things have fallen apart. Laundry builds up quickly in our house with five people. Dishes? Ugh. Sinks overflow after just one missed washing.

Having a visual checklist every day really helps me to keep up with every day chores. It also helps to break it up over the whole week and I really only spend about an hour every day doing the daily items. Laundry, of course, is the most time consuming, but because I try to do at least one load every day, I'm not spending all day Saturday or Sunday just doing laundry.

Download a blank version here.

Did you know that Good Housekeeping recommends only washing your towels every 3-4 uses? I had no idea. I wash them all after just one use. I'm just not sure I can get on board with using a towel for a week before washing. I still wash the bed sheets once a week, but they also say you only have to do that every other week.

Do you use a schedule to keep up with all the cleaning in your home?

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

You guys. I've been drunk since my last post.

Not really, but wouldn't that have made an interesting new post. Really though, things are slowly looking better.

Remember how the washing machine repairman was due to be here on July 31st? Well it was still July so of course I got a phone call a little after lunch saying that he had left his route early due to sickness and wouldn't be arriving that day. The soonest she could reschedule him was August 17th. AUGUST 17TH! A full month after his first visit and almost a month and a half after the washer broke down. I grudgingly agreed because what else was I supposed to do. It wasn't the fault of the lady on the other end of the phone. It was just still July.

The more I thought about it and the closer the first day of school got (August 6th here), I decided I'd had enough. I wasn't waiting another almost 2 weeks for him to come. I had already had the thing taken apart before so I did it again. It took my husband and myself less than 20 minutes to fix the damn thing. Works like it's brand new. I've been washing clothes like a MAD WOMAN. I know this is a "first world problem", but I am so happy to have my washing machine back. Yesterday I finally called the A & E Factory Service number and told them I just wanted to cancel the upcoming appointment. When he asked me why, I told him I didn't want to wait a month to get my washer repaired. We paid for the 3 year warranty, but having to wait for a month and a half to get repairs done is ridiculous. The repairman is coming all the way from Nashville so no wonder he only gets "in the area" once a month.

And let's see... I made some stuff.

Kaia needed a backpack/bag and I just couldn't go out and pay $50 for a good one so I made one. This one has love in the stitches bitches. Plus it's mostly black and has skulls, but the skulls are colored so it's the perfect compromise. I'm working on making several shirts, dresses, and pants/shorts/skirts for Rowan to wear. I have all this fabric so I feel like there is no sense in buying new clothes when I can just make them.

P.S. My baby is starting preschool next week. Boo. So I'll leave you with a photo of the oldest two who started yesterday.

Plum Paper Planner 2016

Last year, I thought I was in trouble. In 2013 I'd finally found a planner, Much Ado About You, that was so helpful in helping me keep up with the kids activities, bill, birthdays, etc., but then it was time to order a new one and the owners had decided to stop making them. Bummer.

Of course, I knew about Erin Condren. Those planners are awesome. They are also crazy expensive. Too expensive to be not as customizable as other planners. That's when I discovered the Plum Paper Designs planners. You can see my first semi-review here. The MAAY planner ran from September through August. One of the great things about the Plum Paper planner is that you can order it with any start month you'd like. My first one was 16 months so I could get back to a January to December calendar and I purchased the add-on stickers. This year I went with a 12 month with no add-ons.

The very first thing I noticed with the new planner was the quality of the cover. The new one is smoother with better color. I desperately wish they would do away with the frosted plastic covers and go with laminated ones instead. This is not a deal breaker for me though. I've been using my first Plum Paper planner since last September and the frosted covers are still intact and working fine. The picture above is without the frosted covers.

They changed up their monthly colors around May. I love the new colors. The monthly cover being color instead of white is nice as well.

The monthly at-a-glace, pocket folder, and basic layouts stayed the same. I have the MORNING-AFTERNOON-EVENING layout. I briefly considered going with a family planner, but for me the M-A-E works great. Another thing I love about the Plum Paper planners are their four different layout options.

Now here is something really awesome. I usually just pack my planner in my bag. Sometimes the pages get bent or things fall out. Or in. A couple of weeks ago, someone in a planner group on Facebook posted a photo of a cover that a friend of hers had found at Wal-Mart. I thought it was very cute. The problem was (and still is) everyone was having trouble finding them. They aren't listed online and many stores don't have a good book/magazine section.

It is a bible cover y'all. I would never in a million years have thought to see if a bible cover would fit my planner. But they do and it is wonderful. Plus... $9.95. I've looked at planner covers online and they are always out of my price range. With my old Much Ado About You planner, I made my own cover, but it doesn't fit the current planner. When I saw these I knew I'd have to check my local Wal-Mart for one. Luckily, I was able to find this one at the second one I checked.

There are only a couple of things I wish Plum Paper could/would change. Laminate their covers and get rid of those frosted things that take away from the brilliant colors of their covers. Label the backside of their monthly tabs. I can get past these issues though because the regular planner is only $31 plus shipping, which is $8.75. There are usually 10% off discount codes floating around too so you can always get 10% off that price!

I am definitely a Plum Paper planner user fo-eva!

Wringing Wet - A Reality

Some times I read blogs or Facebook posts and I wonder how every one can keep their life all together all the time.  I'd love to show off a super awesome house, but that is not the reality of my life. I've begun to realize that we love to share all the smiling happy moments, but never the struggles or disappointments.

The real deal is that we don't own our home. We make the payment, but it's my in-laws who actually own the house. And we have had a leaking roof for a while. It's become so bad that we use a pink plastic kiddie pool in the floor because I ran out of bowls. This isn't in our living room or anything, but in what we call the "back room". It is mainly used to our cats who are in a rotation of who is in "the mood", all of their do-dads, and our washer and dryer.

The room is a mess. We struggle to keep up with all the cat hair and random litter that accumulate around the room. And dryer lint... that stuff multiplies.

The point of me telling you this? Our washing machine is on the fritz. It just turned a year old. About a week before the year anniversary of purchase, we started to get the "uneven load" code. No matter what we wash, the load will not spin. I've tried every setting possible, but all that ever happens is the machine stops and beeps. I go and adjust the clothes and the cycle will start over from the rinse cycle. Over and over.

We purchased a three year warranty when we bought the machine, but I feel too embarrassed by the state of our back room to call a technician. So I have been washing clothes without a spin cycle. Which means I have to wring the clothes myself and hang them on the line because they are still too wet to go into the dryer. I don't mind hanging them outside, in fact, I prefer to do it that way. I'm not a big fan of wringing the water out though.

I am too embarrassed...... so I made my husband call Lowe's. Seems logical, right? The tech guy is scheduled to come on the 17th. In classic repairman fashion, they gave us a nine hour window between 8am and 5pm for arrival. Of course, Kaia has a dentist appointment smack dab in the middle of the damn day at 12:30pm.

That's my reality right now.

P.S. The roofer was supposed to be here three weeks ago to fix the roof. My in-laws haven't heard much from them, but last week some supplies were dropped off at their house (they are getting a new roof too) so we are hopeful. EDITED to add: Yesterday three strange guys (two of which did not even speak English) showed up on my front porch yesterday with a big ol' ladder. Asking if I'd called for repairs. However, they were NOT professional looking whatsoever. They asked for Jimmy (no one by that name here) and couldn't give a last name or address. Just that they were looking for a house next to the church. I sent them to my in-laws because I thought they might have been looking for their house (also next to the church), but they came back. My MIL called and told me they were going to measure the roof, but I watched them for about 15 minutes and they never did. They sat on the ground in the shade under one of our trees. Oy vey.

Big B's and Lots of Strings

I decided to boost my craftiness this year by following along with a Tumblr blog, Craft Challenges.  Doing a new project every month.  Probably a lost cause before it even starts because I rarely ever finish a challenge.  I do try though.  And this month is already complete!

This month's theme was white.  You are open to interpret that however you see, but it must have something predominately white about it.

I was randomly searching through Ravelry for something I could use.  I definitely didn't want to knit something white for the toddler to wear because it wouldn't be white for long!  I happened upon a pattern for a pillow.  With a big B on it!  If you don't know, our last name starts with a B.

Turns out I learned two knitting techniques while doing this project, intarsia colorwork and how to use mattress stitch to seam a bound off/cast on edge.

I've done stripes, but not blocks of color.  I did not do it right.  At least for the first half of the B anyway.  I was cutting the yarn at every color change.  I hang my head in shame.  What can I say?  I'm still fairly new to this.  I realized that this just wasn't right, considered frogging the whole damn thing, watched a few videos, discovered yarn "bobbins", and finished it.

The original pattern called for using a crochet hook to weave together the edges with a nice contrasting yarn.  I wanted a more finished look so decided I'd go with what I know.  The mattress stitch.  Except when I got to the cast on/bound off edges, I realized I had to go back to videos.  Turns out it's pretty easy and I got nice pretty seams.

The B may not be pretty.  It's got tons of mistakes.  I think for my first go with so many new things (a pillow, colorwork, these kind of seams), I like it.  I hope to possibly make other letter pillows in the future.

Online Eyewear

Way back in November, I told y'all about my trials and tribulations with my eye doctor over my prescription.  I finally got around to ordering a pair online.

DISCLAIMER:  I was not asked, propositioned, or solicited in any way by the following company to review their product or service.  I did not receive any free or discounted product for this post.  I just wanted to share my experience.

I chose to go with Zenni Optical.

They have a wide selection.  Men, women, and kids.  If you are worried about price, like myself, they even have a whole section for only $6.95!  I opted to go with a pair that were $19.00 though.

Image source

Price is a big factor for me.  My current insurance doesn't cover new frames or lenses.  I definitely can't afford to shell out $400 for a new pair.  Shipping is $4.95 per order.  So if you want to buy multiple pairs at a time, still just $4.95 to ship.  My total was only $28.90.  

I placed my order on December 22nd knowing/expecting to not receive them until after Christmas.  They shipped on December 31st.  Somewhere between leaving San Francisco, CA on January 2nd and arriving in Nashville, TN on January 6th, my glasses took a four day vacation.  I speculated that they were chillin' in Nebraska.

Until they were scanned at Nashville, the expected delivery date was still showing January 3rd.  Ironically, I contacted Zenni via their live chat on the 6th and got a pretty lazy ass response.  Basically they said... we checked the tracking number via the USPS website and your package left CA on January 2nd.  The "expected" delivery date is just a best guess.  You need to give it a few more days.

...

Gee thanks for that generic ass response that tells me nothing I don't already know Zenni rep.  Please don't be troubled enough to research where my package is.  *le sigh*  In the end, my glasses arrived and that's what matters.  I mean, I paid less that $30 for these.

Packaging was a bit less than what I was expecting.  My mail lady was able to just put it in my mailbox.  I was a little bit worried.

Just a basic bubble mailer.

Even though the packaging was a little skimpy, the glasses and contents were not broken.  My order came with a plastic case (padded on the bottom), cleaning cloth, PD measurement tool (more on that in a minute), and my glasses.

Taadaa!  New glasses.

I can see just fine, but there are a few issues.  These glasses are smaller than I anticipated so they fit quite snugly.  Remember the PD measurement tool?  PD stands for pupillary distance, which is the distance between the center of each pupil to the other.  This number is used to make sure the center of focus on your lenses is in the correct place.  Zenni has a printable measurement tool that I printed out and used to check mine.  Because don't ya know the eye doctor didn't write that on my prescription.  Anywhosie...  I measured myself several times then I had my husband measure a few times (measure twice, cut once theory) and we got the same number.  63.  I think I may have measured a few millimeters off OR I just need to let my eyes adjust to the new shape/size of these lenses/frames.

When I am looking straight forward through my glasses, all is well.  It's the peripheral that is a little off for me.  It's a bit distorted and causes me to be unfocused for a second.  I seem to remember having this issue when switching to new glasses in the past too.  I'm just hyper aware of it this time because I feel like I did this all by myself and I don't want to mess up my vision.

Conclusion:  I will definitely buy more glasses from this site.  In fact, I'm super excited about trying out some sunglasses.  I've been wearing glasses since about the 2nd or 3rd grade.  Never worn sunglasses, just squinted my way through life.

Wax On, Wax Off

Holy hell... I haven't posted in what feels like F-O-R-E-V-E-R!  I can't believe how busy we have already become since school started!  I've barely touched the computer in days.  Most of my days have been spent getting the filthy house cleaned after a Summer of being lazy.

See here's the thing... I'm not domestically inclined.  And I'm lazy as hell.  That combination usually leads to an overwhelming mess that adds up quickly.  Last year, I implemented on myself a cleaning list.  I thought it would help me to get shit done.  It did for the most part, but still needed work.  The chore charts that I had made for the kids weren't really working either.

A quick Pinterest search turns up a plethora of weekly cleaning schedules.  Cleaning schedule sounds so much better than chores, doesn't it?!  I found one that met more of my needs from Uncommon Designs.  It was colorful, but wouldn't suck every last bit of ink from my printer.  The problem was that it didn't really cover all that I needed like a place for monthly cleaning.  You know... those items that just don't need to be done that often, but still need to get done and if you don't have them on a list, you will just forget and they NEVER get done.  Yeah, I needed a spot for that.  And they spelled vacuum wrong and it was bothering me.

My cleaning schedule...

Download this version here.

I also adapted this list for the kids.  They have every day chores like making their beds, brushing teeth, emptying or loading the dishwasher, and laying out tomorrow's clothing choices.  Their weekly chores rotate between them and revolve around pet care and taking out the trash.

As you can see there are no Friday, Saturday, or Sunday items.  Because everyone needs some time off work, right?!  I've found that getting everything done during the week leaves not much left to do on the weekends anyway.  It's nice to not feel overwhelmed with all the housework.  Small tasks each day get everything done and still leave time for other things.  Unless you are like me and abandon your cleaning for the two months surrounding Summer break from school.  I do not recommend that approach.

Also available in a blank version here or both versions here.  I used Photoshop Elements to adapt my list.

My Plum Paper Planner!

I nearly forgot to tell y'all about my new planner!  I was seriously bummed when I couldn't purchase from a previous company.  In a quest to find a new planner that would cover all the things I needed, I became easily overwhelmed.  So many companies.  So expensive.  I happened upon a planner company called Plum Paper Designs through Etsy.

So many choices!  So not expensive!

Behold the beauty that is my planner.  Ignore the retro yellow Formica table.  For real though, it's my sewing table and I love it.  Back to the planner...  There are so many different cover designs that it was seriously hard to chose just one, but I ended up going with this one.  The front and back are covered with a sturdy plastic so no worries about the edges getting crumpled and bent.  Oh and you can have it personalized too!

One of the issues I was facing with my current planner was that it only runs through the end of August.  Most planners are in 12 month format and start in January.  One of the great things about Plum Paper is that you can add up to 6 months to your planner!  Because you can specify your planner start date, I was able to get a planner that starts in September of this year and runs until the end of next year.

I also opted to purchase sticker sheets.  They are built right into the planner so you don't have to worry about searching around for your stickers.  They fit perfectly in the monthly layout part of each month.

There are four options for the weekly layout.  I chose to have the day broken up into morning, afternoon, and evening.  We have so much going on at various times I think this layout will work well for trying to keep up.  At the beginning and end of each month is a full page notes section for any extras I need to write down. There is an option to add more note pages if two aren't enough for you.

In the back is a two pocket folder to keep... well, whatever you need to keep.  I've got some extra note pages that I use to make my grocery lists and the band practice and competition schedule in mine.

I wish that I had just gone ahead and ordered it to start in August.  I can't wait to use it!  The one and only issue was that it took quite a while to ship.  The shops policies do state that it will take 3-4 weeks before shipping though.  And considering just how many options and choices you can make, it's not that bad.  I ordered my planner on June 12th and it arrived on July 10th.  I sent a message to the seller because I was afraid it would arrive while we were camping and they replied within a few hours and the planner arrived before we left.

If you are looking for a new planner to purchase for the upcoming (very quickly upcoming) new year, check them out on Etsy.  I will definitely be purchasing from them again!

*I was not paid, asked, or encouraged to post this.  I just really, really like my planner!

Halfway There

Today is June 30th.  The last day of June.  This is RIDONKULOUS.  How are we already halfway through the year?!  This is simply not possible.  I clearly must have dozed off from February through May.  I mean, that's the only explanation, right?

You know what I did with my all too quick weekend?  A whole lotta nada.  We did all the usual stuff like mow the yard, do a good straightening up of the house.  The Husband and Son cleaned out the back of our garage.  Which our garage is more of a huge storage building.  Stores everything, but the car.  Neil was less than amused to have to be out of bed before noon and actually doing physical labor.  He kept trying to escape with excuses like, "I need to grab something to drink."  Then I would come inside and find him holed up on his bed with his computer in his lap playing games and I'd have to drag him, kicking and screaming, back outside.  Not literally though because he's bigger than me.  At his basketball physical last week, he was 5' 9" and 122 lbs.  He bests me in height by 8 inches and he still has a couple of years of growing left in him.  Crazy.

I did a bit more sewing this weekend.  I made the youngest a cute little purse.

It sewed up so quickly!  I could easily make two or three a day.  Definitely going on my list of items that I could potentially sell.  Except I'm out of interfacing and seriously don't want to drive 35 miles to buy some.  Pencil this in on the calendar as just another thing I need to do!

It's All Wishy Washy

Back in 2008, I was trying to make strides in the energy efficiency department.  We had a very loud, noisy, and less than "green" washer and dryer.  I was GUNG HO EXCITED about buying a new front loading, HE washer and dryer set.

Worst mistake EVER.

I will admit that in the beginning, I was sucked in by it's fancy spinning and near soundless operation.  I told everyone how great it was, how much it cleaned our clothes.  Before long, I started doubting my own words. I started feeling like maybe our clothes weren't getting quite as clean as I at first suspected.

And there were the problems...  mold, mildew, smells.  God forbid you forget a load in the washer.  It would take two wash cycles to get that mildew smell out of them.  And don't even get me started on unbalanced loads.  I had to start leaving the door and detergent tray open to stave off the ickies.  Running a cleaning cycle once a week with  *gasp* bleach.  I started to think this was way more trouble than it's HE goodness was worth!

Then I had a baby and began using cloth diapers.  Cloth diapers + front loader machine = DOES NOT COMPUTE.  I ended up getting lucky and my in-laws were moving into my step-FIL's parents house and they gifted me the old 40+ year old top loading washing machine that was there.  I would use it to wash my diapers, towels, and bedding.  The Husband is a welder/fabricator and his work clothes are filthy so he would use the top loader for his work clothes as well.

On top of all of this, our washer/dryer were in the basement.  I began to dread doing any laundry at all.  We live in an older home so we really didn't think there was anyway we could get them upstairs, but finally we figured out a way to set them up in the back room of our home.  It was long ago a back porch that had been enclosed.  Then....  THEN!!... the washing machine pump began to sporadically work.  Sometimes it would work just fine, others I would check on it only to find the water hadn't drained at all and was half way up the door and the door wouldn't unlock.  If you are familiar with front loaders, you will know that the water never gets that high.  What a pain in the ass.  We would have to remove the back of the machine and smack in the general vicinity of the pump to kick start it.

I was over it months ago, but we didn't have the money for a new washer.  The last straw happened when on Thursday morning, I attempted to wash a single load of clothes.  On Friday afternoon, I finally gave up and took the dripping, soaking wet clothes outside, wrung them, and hung them up on our clothes line.

Saturday morning, I bought a new washing machine.  A Samsung.  Our luck rarely swings to the good (as evidenced in the rest of this post), but Lowe's (the only place we shop) was having an appliance sale!  I was originally looking at one that would match our dryer, but we've been slowly replacing things with Samsung products.  We've had Samsung phones for years, in fact I still have my first flip phone Samsung that was washed and dried, but still worked, in a drawer.  When I saw this washer, it whispered my name.

I was stupid excited.  It's high efficiency and Energy Star rated.  It's actually got the highest Energy Star rating and only uses an average of $18 A YEAR!  It's the same height as our old washer, but a little slimmer. We've only had it since Saturday afternoon, but I have to say that so far, it is performing beautifully.  I even washed a full size comforter in it with room to spare!  Now I can wash all the sheets, pillowcases, and comforters (per bed) at one time instead of having to do them all separately.

 Moral of this story is... DON'T BUY A FRONT LOADING WASHING MACHINE!  This public service announcement is brought to you by a laundry washer tired of unclean clothes.  Good day.

Pickled Salad

Korean BBQ salmon with pickled salad
and red pepper gastrique.

This past weekend went by too fast.  As most weekends do.  Saturday we took our son and his girlfriend out to eat at a local restaurant, Novo Dolce. Today is their one year anniversary!  I had eaten there once before with a friend, but they recently moved to a newer building and I had been excited to check out the new digs.

I was not disappointed. I had their margherita pizza, which is what I had last time.  I know I walk on the wild side.  I can't help myself.  It was delicious.  The Husband had the special of Korean BBQ salmon.  I snuck a bite.  Or two.  It was cooked perfectly and tasted oh so yummy!  The red pepper sauce was HOT, but was balanced out well with the pickled salad.

For dessert we had their made-in-house gelato.  My son and his girlfriend had the chocolate chip and I tried the Fruit Loop.  The chocolate chip was very, very good.  The Fruit Loop?  Not so much. It kind of reminded me of those last few bits of cereal in the bowl.  A little soggy and there are crumbs floating in the milk.  Meh... next time I know to get the chocolate chip.  I definitely look forward to going again.

Next up... Maleficent.  Much better than I was expecting.  I don't really know what I was expecting though. Angelina Jolie isn't one of my favorite actresses, but I enjoyed this role.  It's definitely a movie worth watching.

On Sunday, my dad and husband replaced the battery in my husband's truck.  Then discovered that it was the alternator so they replaced that too.

Somehow this morphed into cleaning up the garage.  I can't remember the last time we actually parked a vehicle in that garage.  It's more like a storage building now.  We really need to spend a whole weekend just disposing of the junk that has accumulated there.  While they rearranged and threw a few things out, I sat in a folding camp chair and supervised.

Rowan procured the services of her sister to dig up and then bury various rocks found in the driveway. This girl loves to dig in the dirt.  She's become fond of worms too.  Usually they are already dead, but she just thinks they are sleeping.

Basketball and Needles

Knitting needles.  Not needle needles because ack, who likes those?!

I just realized that I haven't been around for almost two weeks.  I fear it's just a sign of the times. Springtime! We've been going outside any time the weather was above 50F and on the weekends, we've been cleaning the Winter out of the yard.  Cutting down dead trees or half dead trees, cleaning out dead bushes and overgrowth.  We've been busy.

I couldn't help myself this weekend.  I planted some flowers.  Even though I know that later this week the temperatures are going to be below freezing.  The label said to plant after the threat of frost has passed.  Except I live in Kentucky and we may still get frost in June.  I've just covered them all.  It was simply too warm and beautiful outside to not be in the Spring spirit.  I would show you photos, but I've been consciously leaving my phone and camera inside.  It so easy to get distracted from the moment because I feel the compulsion to check my FB or IG.  It's better to just leave that behind and have fun.

Back to the needles...  it's March Madness time.  That means that there is perpetual basketball games on our television.  I've been using the time to get in some knitting.  I mean, I am already sitting here so I might as well make use of my time.  I put a few items in the Etsy shop.  Knitting is relaxing.  I'm glad that I made that a goal for myself last year and that I achieved that goal.  I'm excited to make new things.

But the yarn... oh the yarn.  It's all so lovely and soft.  And pricey.  I think I need to buy a sheep.  Then someone will need to teach me how to sheer it.

Happy Spring everyone!!

ACHOO! *sniff* *cough* *wheeze*

We have been doggy sitting my in-laws three dogs for a few days.  My father-in-law had to have surgery to remove a spot of cancer from one of his lungs last week.  Not to worry, the docs say that it was found early, fully removed, and no chemo/radiation!  Dodged a bullet there.

Luckily they live only a hop, skip, and a jump from us.  Really it's only across the church next door's back yard and over a road.  We've been walking back and forth to let the dogs out to do their business, eat, drink, and be merry.  On Friday, I brought the schnauzer over to our house to spend a little time socializing. All was well.

On Sunday we were expecting a bad ice/snow storm.  News reports were urging everyone to have back up heat and supplies because it was nearly certain that we would lose power due to ice on the lines and fallen trees.  The National Weather Service released a briefing that upped our snow/sleet total to 7-10".  Nearly an unheard of number for this part of Kentucky.  We decided that it would be best to pack up the dogs, their crates, food, etc. and bring them all to our house.  We didn't want to have to trudge through snow and ice to do all this IF we did lose power.  Which the news outlets were saying was a near certain probability.

Like I said, they have three dogs.  A schnauzer, a pug, and a German shepard.

Within a few hours, I had developed a scratchy throat with cough.  By the end of the night, it felt like I had a wad of hairy mucus stuck in the back of my throat and our son began coughing as well.

That's when it hit me.  I remember feeling like this before.  I had thought it was just seasonal allergies.

*light bulb*

It was our dog.  And in this case, it was the pug and German shepard.  I was fine with the schnauzer, who are hypoallergenic dogs, but as soon as we introduced the other two dogs into the house, the itchy, scratchy throat began.

We kept them overnight.  We didn't receive nearly the snowfall or ice that was expected so we didn't lose power.  Monday afternoon after the plow trucks and sunshine had done it's thing, my husband packed the dogs, their crates, food, etc. all back up and took them back to their rightful home.

A few hours later, I was fine.

It's taken me 35 years to realize that I'm allergic to dogs.

DIY Four Leaf Pillow Cover

I first ran across this pattern last year at GoToSew.com.  I hadn't used it though.  It sat quietly in the far reaches of my Documents folder.  Until I had to look at my sofa for a few days with it's cute, but lonely looking pillows that I recently made other covers for.  I had the leaf template, but didn't have the details so I headed to the original creator's, Mmmcrafts, page.

An aside: I did not follow all pattern instructions.  I've had some difficulty in the past finding piping for projects.  I've still not found a good place to buy it.  Which I am bummed about because the finished photos of pillows with piping are so cute!  Also I've not used glue on my fabric projects before so I did without that as well.

What you'll need:

An existing pillow or purchase a new pillow insert (18")
A yard of cotton fabric for background and envelope back
Scraps of cotton fabric for applique
Fabric pencil or disappearing marker
Leaf applique template
Notions (thread, pins, scissors, etc.)

Wash and dry fabric, then iron.  Measure and then cut one 19" square for background and two 19" x 15" pieces for envelope back.

Along the long side of one envelope back piece press 1/2" toward the wrong side.  Then tuck 1/4" of that under, pin, and sew.  Repeat on second back piece.  I used a heavier decor fabric and this was not fun.  I will use a lighter fabric on the next covers I make.

Each leaf needs two 3.5" x 10.5" pieces of fabric. Eight pieces in total per cover.  I used patterned fabric, but you can also use solid contrasting fabrics.

Sew 1/4" seam along the long edge of two pieces, right sides facing.  Press seams open.

Line the points of the template along the seam on the right side of fabric.  Trace the leaf template and mark a dot in the hole on the template so you know which end to put toward the inside.  Then cut out leaf!

I took the square 19" background piece folded it corner to corner, pressed, then folded the other corner to corner and pressed to make a nice X across the background fabric.

Here's where I didn't use glue...  align the leaves (hole/dot side in!) along the lines and pin in place. Press.

I chose to do a straight top stitch before sewing along the edge with a zig zag stitch starting at a point, but you can do whatever stitch you like!  Larissa (original pattern designer) had some great advice to help the zig zag look cleaner.  Make sure when turning corners that the needle is on the OUTSIDE edge of the leaf.  It makes it look so much better!

Next lay the leaf side right side up.  Place one half of the envelope back right side down lined up along the top edge.  Then place the other half of the envelope back making sure to line up along the bottom edge.  Pin in place.

I sewed, starting at the seam of one of the back pieces, with a 1/2" allowance all the way around.  I backstitched over all edges of the back pieces just to give them a little reinforcement.  Cut the seam allowance to 1/4" and clip the corners.

Turn right side out and push out the corners.  Done!

Front

Back

The original tutorial is easy to read and follow and I think that helped.  I finished this in just a few hours.  Probably could have done it quicker if I weren't chasing a toddler around. I can't wait to make a few more using different fabrics!

DIY Pinterest Style

I am the world's worst decorator.  I see things in magazines or online, but can't seem to recreate it.  The walls in my living room are fairly bare and contain only a collage frame of 4x6 photos from 7 or 8 years ago, an antique mirror that has seen better days, and a large framed drawing that my mother drew when she was pregnant with me.  So what's a wayward decorator to do?  Pinterest!

We've all seen the embroidery hoop projects.  In fact, I think it was one of my very first pins. I loved them for their simplicity, colorfulness, ease of change.

So I bought some hoops, more fabric than I needed, and a can of paint.  I waited for what seemed like months to have a day that was warm enough to paint.  I took the inside hoop out of all the hoops and just painted the outside hoops plus the chipboard letter.  Mostly though I painted my fingers.

These hoops are so easy to make.  The hardest part is trimming the fabric around the edges.  I warmed up my hot glue gun and glued the letter to one of the bigger hoops.  That wasn't nearly as easy as you think it would be.  Hot glue doesn't stay hot very long.

I thought seven would be enough, but I need more hoops!  Also my friend, Cam, mentioned that a nice thrifted photo frame (one of those scrolly kind) would be great to go with them.  So now I'm waiting for the next semi-warm day to head out and go on a thrift and find mission.

A word of caution about Command adhesive.  We live in an anomaly of a home.  When we first moved in we thought the walls were made of plaster, but as it turns out, no.  It's concrete.  No seriously.  Concrete.  Which I guess is a good thing because we live in a tornado high traffic area.  Not such a good thing when you want to hang photos or other things on your walls.  You have to get a drill, drill bit, anchors, anchor screws, blah, blah, blah.  I opted to use these adhesive tabs that are touted as being easy to put up and remove.  I put this particular one up about two inches below where I had intended to so since I had extra tabs I decided to remove it.  Oops.  Took some wall with it.  Either I was too eager to remove it or it's not as handy dandy to remove as they say.

In any case, I love the way they turned out and they make at least one wall of my living room look good!  I made pillow covers too!