My Little Seamstress - Grand Princess One

Princess three got rid of some clothes awhile back, and she let her sisters look through the clothes and take anything they may want. 

There was a cute dress that she wore lots many years ago. It was blue and gathered at the top. Somehow, grand-princess one got a hold of it and liked it so much she wanted to alter it. 

Her mother showed her how to take it in and Grand Princess started sewing it and taking it in by hand. She took it in and liked it so much, she decided she wanted to wear it for her baptism. She got a cute white sweater and wore that over it.

Princess Three saw her wearing it and sent a few photos of her wearing it to the family chat. It was fun to see them both wearing the same thing so many years apart. 

Both of my grandmothers were wonderful seamstresses and my mother also sewed and I sew. I have sewed since I was 16 and things went from there. I didn't teach my girls to sew other than working on quilts, but Princess One started sewing at 21 and has gotten really good. It is fun she is teaching her daughter. 

I gave Grand-Princess One a purse sewing kit on the night we arrived, and she had it sewn the next morning. It was crazy how she figured it out by herself and got it finished before I was even out of bed. I also gave her a cross stitch kit which she was working on while we were there! She really enjoys crafts and takes after the people who have come before her. I still enjoy crafts! 

I look forward to seeing what she will create in the future as her talent grows!

Have a blessed day!

The Loss Of A Beloved "Dad" in My Life

I have shared over the years that I was an exchange student through Rotary International 38 years ago this month. 

I was blessed to go to New Zealand. I had a Host Liaison familly, and then four host families that had me for a few months each. They were varied family sizes and dynamics, but I LOVED each of them so much! 

My first host family was a wonderful couple with one daughter. I was one of 8 children, so moving from a crazy busy home with an active family, to one with only one child, was a bit of a change for me. 

I was so grateful to this family for "breaking me in" as I was dealing with jet lag, culture shock, homesickness, and missing the social aspect of my small religious community where I would see my friends weekly at school and church. 

I already had two younger sisters and a younger brother, so I was used to being a big sister. My host family was really easy to love. They were so gracious to allow me to stay there and to make me feel safe and allowed me to feel all the different feelings that came up those first few months. 

My first host father passed away unexpectedly this past week. He has stayed active and rode a bike on his last day. He was in his 80's and was such a active and buoyant person. 

He and my fist host mum came to visit me a few years back and got to meet all my girls. They came to visit many years ago when we lived in the East as well, but this time was so fun as they were able to meet my girls and grand-daughter. 

I was so sad to hear of his passing this week. Princess One actually saw a post on Facebook and then let me know. It was so unexpected and sudden, that it took everyone by surprise. 

There is a blessing in the world due to COVID, and that is that everything has had to go digital! With the resurgence of of COVID through the world, they had to limit the amount of people able to attend the funeral. With that, they were able to stream the funeral! 

It was amazing to be able to see my host sister paying tribute to her father, and hearing all the people share about their life tributes. They also did a video / music slideshow which was fun to see. He and his wife have traveled extensively and watching that video, it was even more evident how much they traveled. 

It was fun to hear about the awards he got for service as he received NZ's highest honor for service. He was in Rotary International leadership for years. He was a friend to everyone and that was something that was mentioned by every tribute speaker. 

I know that his family will take some time to adjust to life without his fun sense of humor and kindness daily. I have been praying for them, and pray that God will allow them to heal and adjust quickly. 

RIP Dad! I love you, and am so grateful that you allowed me to be your daughter!

Posting Over a Year Old Post Draft - Clearnace Shopping

I have been fighting another headache that started a few hours ago. 

I sat in the chair to blog. I started writing in my journal and just kept falling asleep. I kept waking with my headache being worse and worse, but I am so tired, I just kept falling back to sleep.  

I love clearance shopping. I try to buy gifts, prizes, or team treats when I knew there would be items for sale on clearance, but tried to buy things that could be "anytime" treats rather than things that were holiday specific. 

I also try and buy the chocolate melting discs on clearance for the following year, as they are usually $2 - $4 a bag, but after a holiday, you can get them for less than a dollar and sometimes $.50 or less. 

I use the candy melts for my Christmas popcorn treat. Here is a link to that post.

Who would have known in early April 2020, that we would skip an entire year of holidays where I would have used these treats, bags, and activities. 

I wasn't able to do our family Thanksgiving and Christmas parties like we have in the past due to COVID, and didn't want to keep the treats for over a year as I knew I would have the treats I purchased on clearance for a long time not having those family events. 

I had purchased an entire tote full of candy necklaces, ring pops, and some other Easter bags and activities.

With that, I decided to give these treats out for Halloween as we couldn't have kids over to do our traditional jewelry give away, (see how we give out jewelry here) so I tied a ring pop onto the candy necklaces and gave them out in a reverse "trick-or-treat". Here is a post about that.

I got the candy necklaces for $.25 each. The ring pops were two bags for a dollar and each bag had three rings if I remember correctly, so that is half what they are at the dollar store. 

I got the candy melts super cheap for the next treat needed, and the little gift bags, we used for our annual Easter Camp-out this year in 2021. 

I offered to let the girls have the cookie decorating sets, but they didn't want to do them, my grand-children aren't allowed red dye, which even the white icing contained, so I gave my nieces families all the cookie decorating kids I purchased for a dollar or two. They were happy to get them.

I love when I can find a bargain and I love to be able to share the things I find with others. I find joy in bringing joy. 

I may be posting some other old drafts as I have 85 drafts that I started and haven't ever gone back and finished, so this week of many headaches, I may just finish up some of those older posts I started. 

Never overlook the clearance section! It may be holding treasures! 

Have a blessed day! 

Beauty Amongst The Stress - Beautiful Flowers In My Yard

 We have been having a drought in the west this year. I stressed about watering my lawn and have had yellow patches and dead flowers and shrubs in the front and back. 

It is interesting that in the past two weeks, we have had rain every day! We have been praying and fasting for rain and I believe God is our Father in Heaven and he cares about us. I believe he is blessing us with moisture when needed. 

I turned off my sprinklers and really enjoyed the beauty of the flowers around my yard. I almost felt like God knows how stressed this week and next week will be and is just sending me reminders to find the JOY in life. 

These trumpet looking flowers come from bulbs my mother gave me. They do not bloom every year. With all the moisture the past few weeks, they shot up and blossomed in the past two days. The orange lilies do bloom most years but are rather vibrant. Those came with the house. 

The pansies in my mailbox planter were left over from helping a neighbor plant flowers. It is weird that only one rose is in bloom, but one of the other five has a white blossom on it. I am not sure what made that one blooms twice, but I pruned the old blossoms off last week, and this one must be enjoying the water. 

I also have the front flower pots and they have been dying and this burst of water has brought them back. It is lovely to see beauty in so many spots in the yard as I still have other spots that aren't as beautiful. It is a struggle with all I have going on to keep up on the yard.

I have half the monkey bars landscaping done and the wood chips need to be put down, and I have dead shrubs needing to be pulled out, I haven't sprayed any poison on the yard and I have weeds in every part of my lawn due to the field next door. If I don't get it done soon, there won't be much lawn left. ha ha 

I give gratitude for my eyes almost every day feeling so blessed to be able to see so many of God's beauties. 

Have a blessed day!

Marie Kondo Konmari Blesses More Than The One Cleaning House

I have been watching several makeover shows on Netflix lately as I am working on sorting projects on my fathers history. The last show I watched this week was a British Show about which person in a couple was the "hottest" and the loser in the couple got a makeover. 

I had the thought that maybe I should give myself a makeover but don't really have the funds to do that so the idea came and went with a thought. 

God is so good to me. It seems like whenever I have a want or need, he takes care of that situation for me. 

Today at church, a friend of mine said her daughter cleaned out her closet this past week and was going to take all the clothes to a second hand store to donate. The daughter is a plus size blogger and so she thought that maybe I could use some of the clothes. She told me to stop over at her house after our Sunday meetings and pick them up.

There were about five bags of clothes and I liked most of them. I was very grateful that she thought of me and I was able to pass some of them onto my niece. 

I had been going through my own stuff in the house and I had many bags of clothes to get rid of and had two different people take some of them. I thought about selling the rest at a yard sale but with all the stuff going on with my dad, I hadn't been able to do anything with them. 

I was so happy to have some cute clothes and think I will get rid of some of the clothes I kept now that I have gotten some new ones. I decided to donate the clothes I had been saving for a yard sale to maybe bring joy to someone else and give them some clothes they may not have the money to purchase. The local food bank gives out clothes for free so I would rather donate them there than a second hand store that charges. 

I know when I had all the kids home, free clothes were so wonderful and even second hand stores could get expensive when outfitting five kids for school. 

I feel truly blessed to have friends share with me and think of me. I love how in the Konmari method she has you give gratitude to the item you are getting rid of and I have a saying in the house that says, "Give gratitude as your blessings come and go" and I believe that is true. I feel gratitude for the clothes coming in and for the clothes I had to share with two friends and that I have some to share with the food bank. 

Have a Blessed Day!

Homemade Stockings and Aprons Out of Old Jeans or Levis

 I saw the cutest thing today. Someone made these adorable Christmas stockings out of old jeans or Levi's. 


It reminded me of the aprons I made for my kids using old overalls. Here is a link to part 1 of that post. Here is a link to part 2 of that post.

The nice thing about these, is you could potentially get lots from one pair of jeans. There are usually four pockets on a pair of jeans and they could be really decorative if you used a "bling" pair of jeans. These ones I found today are more country with the fabric sewn on the toe and heel but if you used a bling pair, you wouldn't need to sew any decorations on.

I think it would be really cute to use some of their own jeans to make these. The kids rips out the knee and you make him a stocking. So fun! I also thought these would be great "friends" gifts and you could personalize them with stitching their name on the pocket or at the top. The possibilities are endless! Very cute idea. 

I want to make a "homemade" tree at some point. I have lots of ornaments I made out of my grandmothers old quilt and some angels to put on it, but these would be a cute addition for sure! 

Have a Blessed and Merry Day! 

Mixing and Matching Missionary Clothes For a Larger Wardrobe - Finished Shopping For Clothes

I shared last week how we picked up most of the summer clothes for Princess Five. She had lots of dresses and some summer skirts we found, but the winter clothes were only a glimmer at that point. 

We traveled to the larger cities and hit several different stores and I shared that we were shopping over 11 hours one day. Princess five was in the dressing room for hours and hours trying on things Princess Four and I found for her to try on. 

As our time was limited, I would break down the shopping list and give each of us an assignment in the store. Since shoes are a personal thing to style and size, we gave Princess Five the shoe isles first in all the stores. We had a cool experience with the white shoes as there was only one on the rack / shelf and so we left and started looking at other clothes and Princess Five felt that she should go back and look at the shoes. 

I went with her and it was interesting as she told me not to look in a larger size for shoes and I didn't listen as I know all shoes are sized differently and I can be a 9 to a 10 1/2. So, I looked in the larger sizes and I found the two leather / designer shoes in the larger sizes that fit her. She was also able to find the other white shoe which is her favorite pair! 

Princess Four would hit the turtle necks and long sleeve shirts and also the bags looking for a good book bag for her. She brought over a cart full of silk, wool, and a few cotton each store. She was such a trooper shopping for such long hours each day for her sister but it was VERY reminiscent of when we did the same thing for her just over two years ago. 

I would hit the jackets and skirts looking for any sold colored jackets and wool skirts that could work for her. She is going to a humid climate and she has never lived anywhere humid before and doesn't know wet / humid / snow that can chill you to the bone. I have never been so cold in my life as I was in New Zealand and in the East Coast when it was humid. It is hard to describe if you haven't experienced that type of cold. 

I found her about five solid colored skirts in wool and we got some solid colored jackets and then Princess Four found her a great selection of wool, silk and cotton long sleeved shirts and turtle necks. I wasn't able to find many wool sweaters as none of the stores have them yet but even thought none of the stores had out winter coats, we were able to find a military all weather long trench coat that they had to dig out of a box in the back room. 

We also found a wool lined mid thigh rain coat that she LOVES and the fun thing is, I bought her a down coat a few weeks back and she put that on, then the rain coat and then the trench coat and it looked cute and with all the layers, she will be able to wear either the silk or wool long johns, wool turtle necks, the down coat, the rain / wool lined jacket and then the military overcoat as needed! 

The colors are drab but they will all mix and match. She may need to find a few items of bright color to wear but she can find those while there. At least the important warm items are purchased and I know that she will be warm! 

I feel so blessed and grateful that we could find all the things she needed in one trip. It took me a long time and many shoe stores to find what Princess Four needed so I am grateful that things have fallen into place more quickly for Princess Five. 

I have already washed everything and have it ready to pack into her suitcase! I spent the entire day one day last week washing all the wool items making sure they were nice and clean smelling for her and that she will be able to know they are ready. For some reason, I felt the need to get all her stuff done now. I don't know if she will leave early or if I will be busy or maybe it is just for peace of mind for her, but whatever the reason, I am glad to  be able to check things off the list. 

She was wearing some of her new items today and I joked her about it but I know she is excited to have found all these things and have them ready. It is getting her excited to leave. 

I am having withdrawals in my head as soon, my nearest daughter will be many hours away. I have always had at least one daughter within a two hour drive and have never really had the empty nester blues but as I get ready to send one to a further away university and another to a different state, I am feeling a bit melancholy. 

I am proud of my girls being strong and independent and not afraid to face the world and take on challenges. Maybe I need to be a little bit more bold myself! 

Have a Blessed and bold Day!

My Talented Fiber Girl - Princess One

I shared in my last post how Princess One is into doing natural fiber crafts such as crochet, spinning, weaving, and felting. 

She started out by crocheting after she returned home from her mission. She then got married and made up her own patterns crocheting fun baby clothes etc. Here is a link to Grand Princess One's first photo shoot and she is wearing a dress her mom made and laying on the afghan she crochet for her. 

Here she is four years later on that same blanket. Her mom wanted to make a different type of blanket for each of her children so she has learned different techniques and skills as she has progressed and each child has a different blanket from their mother. 

When I was there watching the kids for her youngest birth a few months back, she asked me to do a photo shoot of them in their blankets she has made.

It was a bit of a struggle getting a not quite 2 year old and a new born to both be looking in the same direction and not be blurred as they both moved around so much, but in the end, I did get some good pictures. I just went through and deleted about 100 pictures. :-) Not even exaggerating on the number deleted. 

My old camera was struggling due to being dropped a few too many times and the flash only worked if you pulled it down past a certain point and so half the pictures were dark, shadowed or blurry. 

In the end, the children ended up playing in their blankets like a "queen" or just wrapping it around themselves or rolling around on the ground on it. 

I was able to get a cute picture of them together and one with her and the new baby! Doesn't she look great for having just had him a day or two before! She is a trooper and a talented one at that. She looks GREAT for having three kids! 

The blanket the baby is on is her first loom work. She was trying out different techniques and patterns as a sort of sampler and I think she did a great job. I forgot to ask her how many hours it took her to make the blanket but I am guessing it was MANY hours. 

It was cute when the two year old decided he needed to wrap the baby up and cover him so I have about 20 pictures I saved of him starting at the top and working his way down making the baby into a human burrito in his woven blanket! It was so funny that I couldn't delete them. Someday they will joke about all those pictures. 

Have a Blessed and Crafty Day! 

Yard Sale Blessings - Gods Little Intervention

Last week, I drove home on a road I don't usually drive down at a time of day I don't normally go out. I went to the Chiropractor and have only been there once for myself in the past year and once for Princess Five due to her accident / and dancing last year, she had some neck pain that lingered so we went once for her.

I spent lots longer visiting than normal as I hadn't been in so long. On the way home, I saw a yard sale. It was weird as it is still cold and it was on a Tuesday early evening. I passed the yard sale not taking note of anything for sale as I rarely go to them anymore. Maybe one a year, if that, as I am trying to clear out my house, not buy more as the girls buy what they need and I am looking for specific things I need rather than just "Stuff."

I got several blocks past the sale and had the "nagging" that I needed to go back to the yard sale. It was getting late but I promised God a long time ago that if I felt "prompted" or "urged" to do something, I would, as I had a friend that called me looking for help and I didn't answer the phone even thought I had that "feeling" I should and he took his own life. So, from that time on, I have always tried to follow those "feelings" or "promptings" when I get them. Here is a post about that.

I pull up and got out. I looked around at the overwhelming mess of stuff wondering what was going on that there would be such weird stuff in boxes and bins. I didn't feel like digging through the boxes and bins and there was stuff everywhere on the ground with only one table. The woman came out with a small girl on her hip and we started talking. She is moving across the country and the house used to belong to another family member, then another and much of their stuff was stored in the garage but now that she is moving, it all needs to go so she had stuff from at least three families as well as she had been married before and had older children and then remarried and has a younger daughter from that marriage as well.

We got to talking and her first husband took his own life. I felt like I should share about the parasites as if the husband took his life and had them, perhaps her kids and family also have them and I wanted her to know that maybe, they had this parasite and that her husband was "compelled" to take his life due to them. I explained that none of this could be proven and that it was just my theory after having been diagnosed with Horsehair Nematomnorpha and that parasite is known to get its host to kill itself, it does raise that question.

Then, I saw a scanner and I have been looking for a specific one that does books and it looked like it could work so I asked her if all the stuff was in the book scanner and she said she didn't know. I thought we could just peek in and see if it was there but she took the entire scanner and out and opened it up.......God is in the details as laying on the scanner bed was a history for her father who died 18 months ago! She seemed to get emotional and took it into the house immediately. It turned out that the scanner was not new enough for what I needed but she also had a bin of old cords for computers and phones so I started digging as I am looking for a Dell laptop computer cord for a back up computer I purchased so I can get rid of my PC.

I found one in the bin and asked her about it and she said, "Oh my gosh, that goes to my work computer, I am so glad you dug through that, it doesn't belong to me!" So, I helped her find the charger to her laptop amongst the mess.

I had been thinking about a week ago that I needed some new large thick plastic tarping as I want to have a large yard sale cleaning out the house while all five girls will be home for a month or two before Princess Five leaves on her mission. She has decided that she would like to follow her sisters and go on a mission for 18 months. That tarping isn't cheap and I got the last long one I had from someone that had their roof done. The clear visqueen plastic sheeting is tough and waterproof and comes in long sheets. I like it as it covers the yardsale if their is rain and then I can just pull it off quickly if it stops and someone comes. I can cover it at night and pull it off in the morning if I want it to go for more than one day. I line up the tables and then the sheeting can tuck under the table or boxes and then the rain doesn't get anything wet. Also, for clothes, I lay them out on the tarping and then if it rains, I just roll the tarp with the clothes on it and unroll it when it stops raining and it is all laid out and ready like the little puzzle keepers do.

I look over and she has a near full box of the stuff. She also has a full bag of smaller sized sheeting. I couldn't believe that I had just had that though not a day before and here she has it! She also had some food storage freeze dried food that was unopened and some sidewalk chalk I thought I would use with the kids when Princess One goes into labor.

While there, I saw a garbage bag slightly open with a little pair of jeans, I asked about them and she said she didn't know as they were from her sister-in-laws son. I asked about buying the entire bag as Princess One is having another boy and needs clothes for her older son. She told me to just take what I wanted and pay her what I wanted. I found a pair of Ugg boots, a charger for the girls computer that was exactly as the one they have with a little short in it so I tried out the new one and it worked.

I dug down a little in the bag of clothes and saw all little jeans that looked in good condition so I grabbed those along with a Stetson Cowboy hat in the box that was in good shape. Those always sell well online so I looked into my wallet and had only $20. I offered her that and she took it but I told her I felt bad about not having more to offer as I know that bag of clothes was worth something as even at a second hand store, ten pair of jeans at $2 each would be the twenty and that isn't including all the other stuff.

I brought the bag home and explored the bottom and there were some shirts and shorts all in great condition in it as well. I washed up the Ugg boots and let them dry and I am sure one of the girls will be able to use them.

I was headed out the next day to run errands and felt like I should take $10 more dollars over to the woman. I ran back into the house and grabbed a $20 from my bank stash vowing I would replace it later. I went to the store and was walking out as it was closing and remembered I needed to change the $20 for two tens. I went back in and did that and then drove around looking for the yardsale street as I said I don't drive that way and wasn't sure which street it was. I found it and went to the door and when she saw me she said, "I am SO glad you came back, I was telling my mother-in-law about you and I couldn't remember your blog name or didn't have anyway to contact you.

I smiled knowing I had that "feeling" that I needed to take her more money, and the "reminder" to get change" and knew that someone needed me to return to her home. She is moving and I will probably never see her again but we talked a bit more about the parasite and she asked for my blog information saying she was praying that I would come back so she could get the information she felt she needed.

I am grateful that I was able to help her and she was able to help me. God IS in the details and he knows that perhaps she needed to know that maybe it wasn't his fault that he killed himself or maybe she had some guilt there. Perhaps her dad wanted her to have his history / information from the scanner. Maybe she really could use the $30 and maybe I needed to get those great like new little boy clothes for Princess One, and he was answering my thought of wanting more plastic sheeting, or maybe we both just needed to connect with someone in our stressful lives so that we could both know that God does care! That prayers are answered! That "feelings" and "promptings" are real! Whatever the reason, I am grateful that I get to be part of the greater picture!

I hope I always listen when that "Feeling" comes and that others can learn to recognize it so they can help me when I need it as at some point, we are all in that place!

Have a Blessed Day!