Sugar and Spice, and a Tutorial!

Well now, it has been a long time, hasn't it? After a long break from blogging, which was unintended but turned out to be totally needed by most of us, the Praiseworthy girls are back! We'll be here and there, somewhat less regularly than we used to - we have springtime to plan for and babies on the way! - but I think I can speak for all of us when I say we missed you. So here we go.

I always thought that the little rhyme about "sugar and spice and everything nice" was a teeny bit unfair to girls ("everything nice"? I mean, that's a pretty tall order, don't you think?). Until I had a little girl - who is smart and helpful and funny and pretty and independent, and sometimes a whole lot more spice than sugar!

Here she is at just 4 days old. Sassy already! ;)

Now, to be perfectly honest, I love spice. Ask anyone. We have a whole kitchen drawer dedicated to spices, and a box in the pantry for what doesn't fit in the drawer. There are two ingredients I never measure anymore: vanilla and cinnamon. And when I use either of those two lovely lovely things, especially the cinnamon, I cannot help but think about how fortunate I am. I think "here is this precious spice, a spice that whole countries once fought other whole countries over, and I have a big jar of it right here in my pantry, and it's abundantly available to me when I run out. And here I am, I don't even measure it, I just toss some in like it never cost anyone anything." I don't know, I just love that thought; I love how simple it is, and how good for the soul.

Anyway, back to my point. My daughter has made me appreciate that little rhyme, by making me think about the spice. And I do love spice!

I also love this little skirt, which was made for my little Miss Sassy C when she was two:

It's sushi fabric! And it's reversible! She would wear this with her little red rain boots or her blue shoes with the orange stars, and just radiate the cuteness!

I loved it so much that when she grew out of it, I did some careful examination of the seams and stitches, and made a couple more in bigger sizes (and fabric that suited her better at four- and five-years-old). They're still favorites of hers and mine.

And so! When our Cortney's littlest girl had her last birthday, I knew just what to make. And I took pictures! So now you can make some too!

For a size 3-ish skirt, you'll need:

Two pieces of fabric: 37" x 13" and 37" x 15"
Elastic, 1-inch wide

Sew each of your fabric pieces into a tube with the seam along the short end. Zigzag stitch the seam together, and do another zigzag stitch along one raw edge of each tube. Fold that edge up 2" on the 13" fabric; and fold up 3" on the 15" fabric. Stitch those folded up edges close to the raw edge. Like this:

Turn one of your tubes right-side out, and pair them up right-sides together. Match up along the raw edges at the top. Make sure your tube-seams are matched up, too. Like this:

Stitch all around the top:





When you open it up, it will look like this:





Now fold it along the seam you just made, with wrong-sides together. Press to flatten, like this:

Now make another seam, a smidgen more than an inch from that one at the top, leaving a space open to feed the elastic through. Like this:

If you look between the two pieces of fabric, your opening where you'll feed the elastic through will look like this:

Trim your elastic to size so that it fits your daughter's waist with a little stretch. Pin one end of the elastic to the fabric with a safety pin, and put a second safety pin on the other end of the elastic. Like this:

Using that safety pin on the end, work the elastic through the opening and all around the skirt, making sure the elastic doesn't get twisted. Hook the two safety pins together, then shimmy and pull the elastic around inside the seams so it's all nice and even.

Once you like how it looks, stitch the two ends of elastic together and trim off the excess:

Turn the skirt back to wrong-sides together and stitch up the opening - just pick up that seam you left, right where you left off. You're done!

So cute one way ...


... and the other!

Bloom Where You're Planted (Or Sprout Where You Are)

Apple blossoms in the backyard!

A few months ago, my daughter found that one of the seeds in the apple she was eating had sprouted. We stared at it in amazement for a little while, then wrapped it loosely in a damp paper towel and set that in an empty yogurt container on the windowsill. And forgot about it. Days and days later my husband happened upon the forgotten seedling and what do you know? It was growing! Obviously, this little plant wanted a chance. So we put some soil into the yogurt container and planted the tiny tree. And it grew and it grew. Reaching for the light outside, it got a little lopsided so we turned it around so it could reach the other way. And it grew and it grew.

Here is our little apple tree last week just before we put it in a bigger pot outside. We didn't really have much hope for it in the beginning, but now I'm looking forward to seeing it become what it was meant to be. And when it gets bigger it probably won't bear tasty fruit (apple trees from seeds don't grow the same apples they came from - weird, huh?), but it's worth giving it a chance, don't you think? You know, just in case.

There's an analogy in there about life and relating to other people and seeing the hidden potential in ourselves. Pick your favorite! It's sure to be delicious (hehe!)

Clean as a Bean

I can't do it.

I've tried and I've tried, but I simply can't think of what to write on our topic this week: clean. The hard truth is that I'm far more familiar with dirty. I did think of a pop song, though ... again! But I'm not going to tell you what it is, because I think it's time for another giveaway on our lovely little blog. So how about this? The first person who can guess the song I'm thinking of will receive a bottle of one of Jennis' favorite cleaners. Would you like a hint? I used to mishear one of the lyrics; I thought they were singing "clean as a bean." Good luck!


And while we're waiting for someone to guess, here's something I've been dying to share that has nothing to do with clean or dirty. Last Saturday was our stake's Relief Society conference and it was so inspiring. The theme was "Celestial Garden Shop" and all the classes - from dealing with depression, to teaching your children, to making your marriage more fun, to finding joy in motherhood - took some aspect of gardening to help illustrate the point of the class. The keynote speaker was my favorite, though. She shared seven "celestial gardening tips" and I loved how she tied it all together. Here were the tips and my notes about them:

1. Plant in season. Everything has it's season, and you can't have it all at once. Learn what season you're at in your life and plant accordingly.

2. Pick your seeds. A little like the first; you will only have space in your garden for a limited number of things. Don't try to plant more than you have room for. Also, don't plant carrot seeds and expect cucumbers.

3. Nourish your garden. Building a celestial life takes work. She quoted Lou Erickson: "Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration."

4. Reap the harvest. Enjoy what you have, even if it doesn't seem like much. That tiny, funny-looking cucumber can be just as delicious! Feast on the scriptures and bask in the light and warmth of the Spirit.

5. Preserve the extra. The winters in our lives will come. It's wise to store up what we can spiritually to carry us through the dark and cold.

6. Seek guidance from the Master Gardener. I didn't need any notes on this one :)

7. Don't forget the value and importance of fertilizer. And what is the best fertilizer? Manure. Our trials can help us flower! I added a note about pruning, too, as she'd also related Hugh B. Brown's story of the Currant Bush.

Great, huh? As weak as I am as a gardener, I do so love all the life lessons you can relate to gardening!

Dirty Enough to be Happy

Once, when I was little and we were visiting the extremely clean home of a family friend, I noticed a plaque that read: "Dull women have immaculate homes." After asking my mom what "immaculate" meant, I only remember spending the rest of the visit thoroughly confused. This home was without a doubt immaculate, and I couldn't understand why this woman would call herself dull?

My own housekeeping quote-of-choice goes: "This house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy." (Followed closely by Mrs. Fussypants' "We can't both look good. It's me or the house.")

With two small children running about the place, my house is no stranger to dirt. I can't even tell you how many times a day I clean this one spot right here:

This is definitely the dirtiest spot in our house at any given moment on any given day. (Except, of course, when I'm taking a photo of it. :) But most of the time I don't mind. It's a reminder of how much LIFE we spend outside, and that's a good thing.

In fact, here's something I've been looking forward to for a while, and finally we got a sunny day to do it!

This is our old backyard fence. It's seen better days. We took it apart last fall to build a new one (in process!) because the dog who lives behind us finally came crashing through it to nosh on our tomatoes. Which we actually think is kind of funny, and it's a just a relief our son noticed him before he noticed our backyard chickens running free. It currently stands lined up like this near our garden shed, waiting. For ... something.

Well, today part of that something happened.

I pulled off about 10 of the pickets, grabbed an old can of white exterior paint (left in our garage by previous owners), said "kids, go get your smocks!" and we started painting.

After they were all dry, we got out the Sharpies, and ... Voila!

I just LOVE making good use of old things!

Asparagus Cake Awesomeness

I know it's Saturday morning and the sun is shining here when all the news said it was going to be rainy today, and I really should be outside in the garden ... but I HAD to show you

this cake.

I'm not typically a fondant fan, but holy smokes this might just make me a believer!

This 'n' That

In honor of "this 'n' that" week here on Praiseworthy, I humbly offer a few of my recent favorite things:

Neatorama - which is all full of "this 'n' that" and awesome randomness.

Marianne Binetti's gardening blog. Great ideas for northwest gardens! And she lives right here in my little town.

This fabric (Which I waited on and hunted down for weeks before I finally found it here in amazingly enough time to use it for my daughter's Easter dress - from this pattern/tutorial and son's Easter tie - from this one. I also made my daughter a matching dress for her doll using this super simple and fun pattern/tutorial.)

This cake! (Which I am totally going to attempt recreating for my son's 4th birthday next week.)

And so? What's new with you?

A Blank Canvas

Ah, Spring! The season of endless possibility, the blank-canvas time of year! At least that's how it is at my house. See?

I built this! It was easy! Now what should I fill it with ... ?

I took the stones above from this part of the garden. Amid the wreck, I see a fresh start for what used to be the vegetable patch ... but what will it become?! (Currently we're thinking of filling it with all our squash and pumpkin plants this year.)

New raised beds for the vegetables! They were also easy - and inexpensive! About $70 for five beds, made with 2x4's and fence boards.

Peas!!! And all that brown stuff is alfalfa pellets (basically rabbit food), working their magic on the soil. They break down fast in all our springtime rain and then it doesn't look so odd, by the way.

It doesn't look like much from the photos above, I know. And it isn't ... yet.

After almost three years, I finally have some definite ideas for what I want my gardens to look like, really and truly. My head is spinning with ideas and plans. What should I plant under my new lovely camellia? What is it going to look like when all those daffodils I planted colonize into a little sea of springtime yellow? What should we use for a path between the vegetable beds? Oh, the possibilities are endless indeed! And that's my very favorite part.

What's your favorite thing about Springtime? What magic is happening in your garden?

What Day is it Again?

Sorry, sorry, I'm late again. Yesterday was just too gorgeous to spend inside, so the kids and I stayed outside all afternoon. Then there was the PTA meeting and a date with my mama - a gardening class she signed us up for, taught by Marianne Binetti (and I am all full of ideas for my garden, I can't wait to give them roots - literally!). Today was full of appointments we had to reschedule since we were sick last week, and company for dinner.

But that was yesterday. And today. We're here to talk about Thursday.

Thursday is my day. On Thursdays I have nothing to do and nowhere to be. Thursday is the new Saturday night, as far as I'm concerned. Lately, I've been devoting my Thursday mornings to sewing and my afternoons to scouring the kitchen - two very different but very cathartic and renewing activities. And that's it. If I get those two things done on Thursday, I consider my to-do list completed. No apologies and no worries. I love it! Nobody writes songs about Thursday; as days of the week go it's probably the most boring. And I wouldn't have it any other way ... hip-hip-hooray for Thursday!



P.S. Also? If you live in Seattle, you might already know, but if you don't you should, that most of the major museums in and around the city have free admission on the first Thursday of the month. Lots of families go to the museums on this day, so it's my favorite time to take the kids - nobody glares at me and my little hooligans in the museum because we're not the only ones making a ruckus!

Higher Education

My daughter on the staircase of the library at my alma mater.

She told me today she doesn't want to go to college , because she doesn't ever want to leave her mama.

Awwww ...

I always knew I would graduate from college, and indeed I was the first woman in my family to do so. I had hoped to go to graduate school, but our all-wise Heavenly Father had other plans for my life. And I am extremely grateful. Then, to add blessings on top of blessings, there is General Conference. I know, Conference would happen regardless of whether I have a Master's degree. But since I don't, I like to think of it as a different opportunity for a Higher Education. Truly, every time I listen - really listen with my heart - there is always something said that takes aim right at my heart and teaches me exactly what I need to learn the most.

One such lesson last weekend came, as with Jen's post, from Elder Lynn G. Robbins' address. Here's what caught my attention:

"A sweet and obedient child will only enroll a father or mother in Parenting 101. If you are blessed with a child who tests your patience to the nth degree, you will be enrolled in Parenting 505. Rather than wonder what you might have done wrong ... to be so deserving, you might consider the more challenging child a blessing and an opportunity to become more godlike yourself. With which child will your patience and long-suffering and other Christlike virtues most likely be tested, developed and refined? Could it be possible that you need this child as much as this child needs you?"

Now, I've always believed that our particular children are entrusted to us because we are the ones who are best suited to help them learn and grow. But I've never really taken to heart the possibility that our particular children are also sent to us because they are the ones best suited to help us learn and grow. And finding myself in possession of the blessing of being enrolled in Parenting 505, it really does make perfect sense. I hope it's a lesson I can keep remembering when my frustration rises; I hope I'll remember to think of those moments as blessed opportunities to become more Christlike.

Higher Education indeed.

Wednesday is Good for the Soul

Photo taken on our trip to Nauvoo, Illinois in 2005.

Just an example of the images in my mind as I've studied the Doctrine and Covenants this year.

I'm not good at schedules or regimen. I'm terrible at exercising and even worse at ... well, anything that takes planning and discipline. Which is why it is no small thing for me to say that every Wednesday morning since the school year began, failing only due to sickness or dangerous weather, I've been attending a religion class. Which sounds really unremarkable, I know. Except that for the first time in my life, I have been making scripture study and meditation a regular part of my day. Oh, I've started and stopped and started up again, knowing it's important but never quite making it work every single day over a long period of time. But this time, wanting to be an active participant in class each week (and, let's be completely honest, wanting to sound smart during the discussion), it's stuck, and I'm already planning what I want to study this summer so that I don't fall behind in this daily ritual.

With a home and family to care for, there's not much time left for Mama, as we mamas all well know. And when there is time, I'll admit I'd rather spend it sewing or reading a good novel. My inclination to skip over the spiritual aspect of my life is a hard one to break. But I'll tell you this: One day, after a particularly busy morning, I finally had both kids in their rooms napping, and all the morning's messes beckoned. I started to pick up the toys when I thought that maybe I should just sit and study for a while. But oh! the mess! What was I going to do about the mess? After a few minutes of inward battle, I finally picked up my books and my journal and started to read. And when I was done, there wasn't any time to do much housework until the kids woke up. But here's the point: after making what was good for my soul a priority, the messes just didn't matter. I got to them eventually, and while I don't remember what the exact subject of my stud was, I'll never forget what I learned that day: that learning what's really important, and then doing it first, makes all the difference.

What is the one thing, beyond everything else, that's good for your soul?

How do you make time for it in your busy life?

Come Into My Closet

Inspired by Jenni's post, I decided to take some time today and see what I could do to improve my closets within the couple hours that my daughter was at school. Want to see?

Okay, not really a closet, it's our entryway. But it works a little like a closet and this mess is the first thing people see when they come to my house - eep! It wasn't hard to fix, though. I just put the bags away and hung the bulkier coats in the coat closet around the corner (coming up next). Here's the after:





Next, the coat closet!

For this closet, I put away our winter coats and consolidated the things on the shelf. This is where we keep our emergency kits, as well, so I organized them a little bit too.

I still have some wintry coats here, yes, but we live in the Northwest; easy access to warm clothing is a year-round necessity. Oh, also, I'm in the process of painting all our trim and doors white, but the doors have to wait until it's warm outside. So, yes, the closet door is brown and the trim is white. For now.



In my/husband's closet:


I put away the laundry, re-stacked sweaters, and arranged hanging shirts by his/mine.




Not too bad for a morning's work. But it didn't end there! Once I was on that roll, I tackled:

The living room table:

(That stuff on the sofa is my growing pile of things to donate/consign after cleaning out the closets - hooray!)

And the sideboard (which is where I store most of my craft and sewing stuff these days):



With just a spark of inspiration and a little time, it's amazing what can be accomplished! Is there something you've been neglecting - whether temporal or spiritual, domestic or otherwise - because you've been taking care of everything else? Go on and do it! Chances are, it will be easier than you think.