Crafty "New" Rug

If I haven't mentioned it before, we have moved into a house with incredible orange carpet. Don't be jealous. I know most of you do not have to pleasure to call your carpet orange, but we now do :) So during our move, we originally left a carpet remnant at our old house, not thinking we would have anything to do with it or any need for it. Then, I got to thinking. I told Michael as we went back to our old house for our final walk through to grab the remnant and I would come up with a way to use it in Sarah kate's room. I knew it would be pricey to get the carpet bound, but knew with a little research, I could find a way to bind it myself. Blogs are lovely things. It took no time to find a creative way to turn a boring remnant into a cute rug to match any room. So here is what I decided to do. I went to the fabric store, found 1 yard of cute, heavy duty fabric and went to work. I cut the fabric into 8 inch wide strips and sewed them into 1 really long strip. Then I hemmed one side (the side that would be on top). I then got out the ole hot glue gun and heated it up. I glued the hemmed side of the fabric to the top of the carpet (making about a 3 inch border). I set some heavy things on top of the fabric while it dried. After going all the way around, I then let it dry, then turned it over to glue down the other side of the fabric (not hemmed side) to the bottom.

I plan to get some ribbon to add around the border, but for now, I think it turned out cute! Sarah Kate acts like it is a stage to dance on in the middle of the room when we are playing music and it covers some of the crazy orange carpet that doesn't exactly match her pink kitchen. All in all the project costs about $10 for the fabric. I already had the glue and thread, so no costs there.

I love how it turned out and hope this might inspire someone else too :) I know plenty of us have carpet remnants around our house!

Camp Cornerstone week!

Well, we have had a crazy week! It is camp cornerstone week at our church and Sarah kate has been having a blast (I admit I have too :)). I have been helping with the 4 and 5's group and Sarah Kate is with her friends in the 2 and 3's. She has done so well. I thought if she ran into me during the day she would end up tagging along with me, but she has pleasently surprised me. She saw me pass by in the hallway today and just waved and said "Hey mama!" and kept playing in her class :) She is beginning to look like such a big girl to me. My group has been so awesome too! We are learning to be Soldiers of God's army and how to arm ourselves with the Word of God against the devils schemes. Not only a lesson these children need to hear, but one that I need to hear too. I have been meaning to get a picture all week, but of course, being the good mother that I am, I have not. Sarah Kate loves the singing time and music and has been dancing in the gym with all the big kids. It is so fun to watch her without a care in the world, dance to the music. Oh, to be a child again. One day in heaven, I can picture me and Sarah Kate dancing at the feet of Jesus. Maybe I can catch a pic tomorrow, but for now, you will have to see how we look as soon as we leave camp and head straight home for naps!

Dishwasher Detergent finally perfected!

So I have been trying to figure out homemade dishwasher detergent for a month now. I had decided to give it a try after running out of store bought and already having things on hand to make it (since I had made laundry detergent). My first attempt was a flop. All of my dishes came out foggy and I was completely disappointed, but determined to figure it out, since I knew it would be so much cheaper to do the homemade. So I got online and researched and came up with a new recipe that was a combination of ideas I had found on other blogs and such. My first recipe I will share first (remember this one didn't work for me):

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

2 packs koolaid lemonade packets

*you use 1 Tbsp. in each compartment--so 2 Tbsp. total each wash.

I discovered after my own research that the compartment door to the main wash cycle was not openning at the right time, possibly due to the detergent getting wet during the pre-wash and turning into a paste-like mix that made the door stick. I found 2 solutions to this online, and decided to go for this new recipe:

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

2 packs koolaid packets (all like before recipe)

2 Tbsp. salt--this is suposedly helpful in getting rid of the clouding

*I use 1 Tbsp. in the pre-wash part and do not put it in the main wash part. I open the door at the rinse cycle and add in 1/2-1 cup vinegar to the tub (again to get rid of cloudyness).

So far, this recipe has worked best for me and is SO SO much cheaper than the electrosol packs I was buying before (even with coupons).

For fun, my mother-in-law, came up with a cute idea during the unpacking at our new house to store the detergent in a mason jar on the window seal over my sink. *Thanks, Theresa! It looks cute and is easily acessible.

Hope someone finds this idea useful! just thought I would share :)

Settling in

We are finally getting somewhat settled in to our new house. Sarah Kate is loving her new yard to play in and begs daily to go pick blueberries from our sweet neighbors yard. The moving process went well, but of course there had to be some crazy things to go along with it. Here is a short list of things we should remember from this move:

1. Phones that sit in water tend to not work afterward.

2. Don't put your keys anywhere except for your purse, they are sure to get lost and be lost at the most inconvenient times.

3. If it is going to be a crazy day anyway, go ahead and decide to get 4 new tires and an alignment on your car (since we realized the morning of the move that my car was showing steel on the tires).

4. Refridgerators are larger these days compared to the 70's. Therefore they might be a bit of a bugger to fit through doorways--but We are so thankful for our family and friends sacrificing all their strength to lift our fridge over the rails of our back deck to get our fridge in our kitchen--which then the fridge still did not fit in the built in spot--therefore we will have a fridge sticking out in the middle of our kitchen :)

5. Hot water is a lovely thing. Since this could not be appreciated at our new house till Tues., we got to appreciate it elsewhere (well, Michael took cold showers, but i refused--esp. since we have such lovely friends offer their showers).

Well, that is a short list of things we enjoyed during this move. Overall, the move went fast, we were so thankful for our friends and family coming to help clean, move, and unpack our boxes. Sarah kate has transitioned so well too, which I am so glad! She loves her purple room, that coordinates so well with the orange carpet I might add. The first night we went to put sk to bed, we realized her ceiling was covered with glow in the dark stars. She loves it!

I am going to miss the downstairs room Michael and his dad built. I loved how the fireplace turned out! This mantle was from an antique store that we found after a long hunt (It was out of an old house).

This is Sarah Kate the first morning in our new house. We were getting ready for church and she decided to put on make-up like mommy. She got into my lip balm and covered her nose with it. She had been crying cause daddy wouldn't give her more. Goofy Kid :)

Move Day

well, it's early and I am up before everyone of course. We officially move into the "new" house today. If you haven't seen our new digs, you should come check them out. We are really excited about it, esp. the yard for sarah kate. she is loving it already. It helps make the transition easier out of the old house when there is so many fun things about where we are going. i will hopefully get some pics today and post them later, just thought i would do a quicky blog while i wait for everyone to get up. i get asked a lot, am i sad to leave our first house? truthfully, maybe a little, but God has given me such a peace about it and such an excitement to see how he has openned the door at this rental house that I am okay leaving this house. I am so amazed at God's provision through this. We have had some great memories here and I have loved many things about this house, that I am sure I will end up missing (like a microwave and a normal shade of tan carpet), but overall, I am excited. It might be too that I am too tired to even think about whether i am sad or not. Moving is a lot of work, and we still have a ways to go.
And, on a side mushy note, my husband is pretty much the best there is out there. He has been so sweet during this process. He loves me and Sarah Kate so much and it is reflected so much in how he cares for us. We are truly blessed with a pretty amazing man of God. I don't think I could make this move it is wasn't for him. Well, actually, I know I couldn't. Not for physical strength, but for the support he has shown me and his love. Well, I off to finish packing last minute stuff. I will hopefully post more later on the move!

4th of July and day after with daddy!

We had a great 4th with family this weekend! Sarah Kate had a blast to say the least. Here's some pics we took from that day and on Monday, daddy was off so we decided to check out Gardendale's splash pad that we had heard about and relax some before the big move this weekend!

Glimpse into our home lately...