Sewing Headbands

This week I have been making headbands for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  These are costing me $0 since I already have everything....the fabric used is scraps.  When I organized all my scraps months ago, I cut these out, placed them in a plastic container....and forgot about them.  Stuff got piled on top of my container and "out of sight, out of mind" happened ~ I uncovered it this week!  Many years ago I bought a handy, dandy tube turning tool, and never could figure out how to use it ~ this week I figured that out too.  Products really need to come with explicit directions for "dummies".

insert the plastic tube into the fabric tube

shove the end of the fabric into the plastic tube with the dowel

viola....it works.  *see further instuctions below

fabric tubes ready to be ironed and attached with elastic to headbands

finished headbands ~ ready for shoeboxes

*when inserting the dowel you need to have enough fabric "caught" to encase the dowel ~ kind of like a fold of fabric.  Otherwise the dowel shoves thru the tube with no fabric and accomplished nothing but frustration.  Once I figured out the trick, my fabric turning went a lot quicker.  In other words....play with it till ya find out what works for you! 

The link for the headbands is http://www.happytogetherbyjess.com/double-sided-fabric-headband-pattern/.  My suggested to slightly change her directions is....to sew one side of the headband and press,  then turn under both ends, press and sew.  Then sew the other side and turn, then press.  It seems like this would be a whole lot easier than trying to shove the ends up to encase them in the seam after the top was sewn on both sides.  I am going to try this next time...because I did it the "shove" way this time.  Even if you don't sew the ends, you can press the ends.

Happy Crafting!

Crazy Idea

Sometimes, I am not known for having sane, normal, make sense ideas.  This is probably one of them.  We've decided to go low carb and lose the weight that has been slowly creeping back on ~ with a lot of help from us.  That idea in itself isn't crazy, but doing it in the month before vacation is. 

But we did it and we have both lost weight.  I have a specific goal and pray that I reach it (sorry, not sharing that part!)!  And, of course, we get easily bored with the same old thing to eat....so my research into recipes is beginning and I found some awesome ones on pinterest and the Atkins site. And in this age of electronic everything ~ I have decided to print out the recipes I find and make us a Low Carb cookbook ~ its so much easier to do it this way for me, then I can see the page (my kindle likes to "go to sleep" from being on 1 page for too long), keep referring back to it, and make notes of any changes we make.

We have made Impossible Cheeseburger Pie (using THM baking blend in place of the flour "THM-Trim Healthy Mama"),  and the Shepherds Pie using mashed cauliflower in place of mashed potatoes.  They were both delicious!  The recipes are readily available online.  I also fried chicken strips the other night, using the THM blend for the breading ~ yum!

Also, I found on Amazon some Bobs Red Mill Low Carb baking mix and have ordered it to use.  We renewed our Amazon Prime Unlimited subscription and I've downloaded 4 or 5 books to read for this lifestyle.

We will be taking our little tote with approved goodies on our vacation and refreezing our freezer packs everynight to keep everything cool.  I know there will be some "cheats", and I know that they will be....like Mickey ice cream sandwich, a Gaston's cinnamon roll, and a chocolate mousse from France.  But I am hoping to avoid the sandwiches, buns, etc.  And exercise will be taken care of by the huge amount of walking.

chicken strips/fingers

Shepherds Pie

Thankful for ~

a lot of new recipes
this journey with my husband
initial success
Atkins bars
vacation anticipation

Blessings

Blessings and Thankfulness from last week ~

Celebrated Alvin's birthday!
Mom is moved (mostly)
Loads of help on moving day ~ 12 folks if I counted correctly
Dinner with Aiden and his parents!
Amy's creativity with her new Cricut machine
some cross stitch time
1 very quiet afternoon
Started our low carb diet again.....2.5 pounds lost in 6 days
family time
laughter
finding new low carb recipes (more on that later)
anticipation of vacation ~ its coming soon
our church study on The Sovereignty of God
worship on Wednesday nights & Sunday mornings
temps are supposed to drop from the 90's to the 80's this week!
some leaves are changing colors

a little fall color in our Dogwood Tree

Disney shirt Amy made for me for vacation

Moms former/my new dining room furniture

Sweet Birthday Boy

Our sweet baby grandson turned a year old, this past Monday.  We celebrated on Sunday night ~  Needless to say, the chocolate cake was a huge hit! 

trying to cram it all in with one fist

Where did it go?

Hey guys....the bowl is empty!

I am out of CAKE!

PaPa to the rescue!

Thanks PaPa!  The cake is yummy!

We are thankful for ~~~~

getting to see this little sweetheart on his birthday
watching him cram cake
His smiles and giggles
his tentative little steps
his enthusiasm for food ~ all food, in great quantities
his snuggles
his health
his big blue eyes and whispy blonde hair

The Move is Starting!

Mom bought a nice house not far from me.  The man selling the house was moving overseas....so he left most of this furniture in the house.  Supposedly to help the buyer move into a "ready to live in house".  However, there is the issue of his cats ~ that explains most of the mess and smell.  In fact, as we move more stuff out of the house, the stronger the smell is. 

We have split some of the furniture up between the grandkids ~  Allen & Jennifer got the master bedroom suite and the washer & dryer (the mattress and box springs were tossed), Ben got the weight bench, Amy got the dining room table and chairs (her hope chest is now a hope barn), and Katie got a little dresser for the boys and an outdoor table & chairs.  We hauled a bunch of stuff to the street in front of her house ~ a neighbor came and took most of it.....then we saw the neighbors garage ~ it appears she is a hoarder.  We have set stuff on the road in front of our house and it has all been taken ~ 2 desks, a small tv, and 4 rugs.  Greg got some speakers and the carpet installer asked for the rest. The rest of the stuff is getting donated to the thrift store. There was a bunch of lawn equipment and its getting split up too.

Now we have the new house cleaned out.  My sister and niece are painting the walls a nice neutral color.  New carpet is getting installed Wednesday (yay! no more cat smell!).  Amy has scrubbed the bathrooms.  Greg, Bryant, Will, and James installed 2 new toilets, and ceiling fans.  The garage is now housing the guys old fridge...a spare for mom to use, helpful since her upright freezer quit earlier this summer.  Yesterday, Greg moved the metal shelves from her basement and garage at the old house to use for storage for the doo dads we all have ~ planters, plant food, weed killer etc.  They will also hold her large soup pot, turkey roaster, etc. 

Sat., with wonderful help (Brenda, Doug, Amy, Will, James, Allen, Bobby, & Bethany) we moved stuff from moms house to our house~ I got her dining room furniture, Amy got my former bedroom furniture (went in the barn), and we moved over the single beds from upstairs to the barn.  Bethany got Moms extra bedroom furniture and it was moved to their house.  Hopefully, what is left at the old house will fit in the new....we will know this weekend!

2 1/2 weeks we leave for vacation!  Yay, Hooray!  I would say it was going to be restful, but you don't go to Disney and rest!

Thankful for ~
many helping hands
trailers and pick up trucks to haul furniture
a new dining room
saving for the future (a hope barn!)
making progress
quiet after the busyness of the weekend

Happy September

This will be a great month with much to be thankful for ~~~

Weather will be getting cooler during the day & night (thank you Lord)
Football Season is starting
My birthday is in 3 weeks
Vacation is in 3 weeks (which means Amy's honey will be here in 3 weeks)
Mom is moving over the next 2 weeks
Closing on Moms old house is end of the month
Sweet grandson #4 turns a year old
Amy is starting her cricut business....more info later
Leaves will start changing colors
I get Moms dining room set since her new house is too small (much longer table!)

Lots going on!

Its almost time to say ~ Happy Fall Y'all

Hummingbirds

Last week we made our annual pilgrimage to Gregs parents house at Smith Mountain Lake, VA.  While the guys love the water sports and the jetski ~ I love to take pictures of the hummingbirds.  I have to sit in the kitchen with my largest lens on the camera ~ I have not succeeded in sitting on the deck and taking the pictures ~ they avoid the area then.

This little guy must have been posing ~ they usually don't stay still too long

Greg loves to zip around on this monster

Will learned how to ride the wave board & did great!

Rob learned how also!

Thankful for ~

Rob being about to go with us
Success for the boys in learning a new skill
Gregs enjoyment of the jetski
visits from hummingbirds
quiet times
a new Clive Cussler audio book for the long ride
a boat ride