Apron, Apron, APRON!

I FINISHED my APRON! I am super excited. It is super cute...although it does need to be ironed and starched a bit. Yes, it does match my the pillows on my bed...and NO it wasn't planned. I am now taking orders for future aprons...the price is negotiable.

Crafty Crafterson

I spent most of the day yesterday doing crafty things and I loved it!

I also, for the first time ever, made some fun Halloween cards...this one is my favorite. I LOVE SPARKLES! I purchased this sparkle paper in Arizona while shopping with my super cool friend JILL.

SPARKLES Rule...and so do women working towards becoming Domestic Goddesses...and I my book that means being a card maker.

(p.s. no worries if you are not a card maker...just use a different book on what qualifies you as a Domestic Goddess!)

Wow

Okay friends, I know I am trying to become a Domestic Goddess...but if I ever think this is a good idea, I give you permission to beat me senseless or do an INTERVENTION or something drastic. Wow. The only word for this is a stunned and slightly frightened "WOW".

Understitch, Slipstitch, What the?!?

Friday night was sewing night with the ladies (Shannon, Jodi, and Carrie). We planned to make aprons. It is a lot harder than it sounds. Armed with our sewing machines and material we were ready. Here are a few of things I learned:

1. When you meet a lady at JoAnn's who tells you that 7th graders could make this...remember that 7th graders have the teacher present at all times. What the heck is understiching?
2. Patterns should come with DVD instructions, the pictures do not really help.
3. When sewing with friends you need to have sewing snacks.
4. A requirement for my future house is a counter as big as Shannon's. It was perfect for laying out material to pin the pattern too.
5. Laughing at your self is essential!

I just have one final thing I learned: Pattern makers are EVIL. Why do they print patterns on the thinnest paper ever? And how do they expect you to fold it back up to fit in the packet?

Here are some pictures of the apron making event. I didn't finish my apron...I think this will be a project for Ardell and I.

Me! Smiling as I am pinning the pattern to my fabric.

Carrie, modeling the ruffle for the bottom of the apron.

Jodi, holding up her 1/2 finished apron!

Shannon, our gracious hostess, and the only one to finish her apron! How adorable!


Carrie and I sewing...notice I am not smiling now!

DG Lesson: Canning

I slept over at Ardell's house last night. She is a tricky lady. You know she has specific plans for you when she asks a question like "What are you plans for tomorrow?" It only took me 20 years to realize this was her roundabout way of telling you she has something she wants you to do. You must choose your answer carefully...very carefully! Just kidding...but I do think Ardell thinks she is being tricky. Any ways...she asked me this very question last night. The only plans I had were cleaning and organizing my house. Her plans for me were to can peaches and tomatoes. Yay! I am so glad I did! There are several reasons why I enjoyed this:

1. As most of you know, I want to become a Domestic Goddess/Diva. Learning how to "Can" food is a big part of this. Ardell has canned food her whole life and let me tell you...delicious and great for a budget!

2. At church we have had several lessons recently about getting a "One Year Supply." I got the prompting that I no longer can sit back and say "When I get married..." or "When I get my own house..." etc. I need to act and start now. Seriously, this has been on my mind a lot lately. I need to sit down and actually make a plan on how I am going to do this. If any of you have ideas about this, not only for food, but for other essentials, please let me know! I also have decided I need to learn how to cook with the basic's...flour, sugar, wheat, etc...seriously...any ideas on where to start?

3. The most important reason, I got to spend time with my mom. I was born when my parents were 46 (mom) and 50 (dad). It has been hard to see my dad go from full activity and intelligence, to where he is now. It really makes me think about all I need to learn from my parents and the somewhat limited time I have left to do this. When I was younger I don't know that I appreciated all the skills I could learn from Ardell, but I definitely do now, and hopefully time will allow me to learn them all.

Side note: You may have noticed I call my mom, Ardell. When I am speaking to her I call her mom, unless she ignores me then I call her Ardell to get her attention. But when I talk about her and my dad, I like to call them Dean and Ardell, I think it gives them personality! The name Ardell in my mind has so much character!

Side note the 2nd: I tried a little experiment with the tomatoes. Instead of leaving them whole, I diced them into pieces and then put a 1/2 teaspoon of garlic in them. Cross your fingers that they are YUMMY!

Just For Jill...

Meet Grandma & Grandpa Swasey. (R & Inez to be exact). They're adorable...don't you think? This picture was taken just before Grandpa Swasey passed away from cancer.

Any who, my AWESOME DG (domestic goddess) friend JILL, is an apronista...meaning she loves aprons and if I am not mistaken has made 3. All the aprons are adorable. She has visions of being a grandma with an apron with fun pockets with treats...it reminded me of my Grandma.

Grandma Swasey wore an apron every day. She only took it off to go to church or to town. She would wear it as she worked in the garden, when she would sit in her chair and crochet, as she was sewing or quilting, as she would prepare meals, and as she played checkers or chinese checkers with her grandkids (I think this was her favorite past time). Grandma Swasey's aprons always had pockets that she would use to carry various things. As she got older and her mind was going...she would "SNEAK" raisin's or chocolate chips in her apron pocket and eat them when she thought you weren't looking. She was an AMAZING woman, a TRUE lady, and a wonderful caring Grandma. All of my memories of her include an apron, it isn't the first thing that comes to mind, but it is always there. I can't picture her without one.

Jill, two thumbs up for your apron obsession, you are a DG!! I have chatted with Ardell about making an apron using the same pattern as my Grandma...now I just need to find some cute fabric!

It Feels Good To Be Done!

Yay! My table is finally done. I learned a lot while refinishing the table, the most important thing I learned is to do a project like this at your own house. My mom's house hosted this project and it took forever for me to complete. The table has some imperfections, it is my first job of this kind, but I love it!

Domestic Goddess - Lesson 1

As you know I want to become a Domestic Goddess. Well, I am excited to tell you that I am well on my way. My roommate moved out and with her went our kitchen table. Ardell (my mom) so kindly offered her old one to me. However the table has been lovingly used for 50+ years and needs some work. Enter Domestic Goddess Lesson 1: Refinishing a Table.

I borrowed the sander from my sister Liz. All I needed to get started were sanding pads...off to ACE hardware I went. The man who helped me...lets just say...shook my confidence in my abilities...who knew there where so many questions to answer to find the right grit of sandpaper. I just wanted "COARSE" and "LESS COARSE". It sounded simple to me...but apparently it isn't.

Armed with the right sand paper I went home. Well...our friendly ACE Hardware helper sold me stick-on sandpaper for the sander instead of Velcro sandpaper...like the one I handed to him. Whose smart now? No worries...I made the stick-on work. (see the sander below)
Armed with the sander and sand paper I went to work. It wasn't hard at all! It was a little tricky getting all the nooks and cranny's but I got them all! See the part- sanded table below.


After sanding came the paint. I went to the paint store and was in luck...I nice person who asked easy to understand questions helped me! Even better she interpreted my "I want it white" basic phrases and guided me to all the tools I would need! Yay!
Armed with painting supplies I applied the primer (see above)...and was done for the day. Paint needs to dry. The table isn't finished, I have one and half coats of paint left to apply, but it feels amazing to be able to accomplish this. While I didn't do it on my own (thanks to Joe and Marc, got to love brothers), I will do 90% myself. I can do this and much more. I am well on my way to achieving the goal of becoming a Domestic Goddess. Next time your at my house for dinner...keep in mind that it was made beautiful by me!

The best part is....I didn't even break a nail...sanded a nail...but did not break one!