Stuff to get me by

I started a project a couple of days ago that is still sitting on the burner, and then I began another project this afternoon that I didn't expect to take as long as it is. I love sitting and watching paint dry *rolls eyes*. So, I guess until I can give you something else to look at with or without tutorial here are a few things I dug out of my photobucket this morning.

The first is our old house when we first moved to Hawaii. We were allowed to paint the walls, so I probably went a little overboard. Imagine that.





I never finished it. Kind of sad about it now that I look back. I wondered when I started with the original plan if the big tree would scare the crap out of Gillian at night. Amazingly it did not. She still tells me that she misses that house and her wall. I think really the only thing she misses is the wall.

Here's Brenna's. Not as overwhelming as Gillian's.



I got into painting names for nursery's for a while. It ended up that I couldn't charge enough to make a profit off of it. Too much work to do for free.



And I hope my parents don't mind me posting pictures of their living room, but these are my favorite. Richard always promised me when we bought a house that he would make sure I'd have a mud room with a wheel and a kiln. I miss throwing....




And that's all she wrote about that. I'm hoping that I have a finished project to share with you tomorrow.

Until then.

~Audrey

DIY Tissue Paper Flowers

I've had friend after friend after friend ask me about the tissue paper flowers I made and hung up in my oldest daughter's room. I said that one day I would make a tutorial showing them how easy (and cheap) they are to make, and that day has FINALLY come!

To begin with these are the supplies you are going to need.



12 sheets any color tissue paper that you want to work with
floral wire
a good sharp pair of scissors
ruler (optional)

Step One

Lay out 12 pieces of your tissue paper flat on top of each other lined up as good as you can. (From what I have noticed a package typically contains 8 pieces, so 3 packages will make 2 flowers for you.) Once you have these lined up you need to measure with your ruler and make a crease on one end about 1 and 1/2 inches in. A rough way to guesstimate this is half the width of the pre-folded crease from the packaged tissue paper. Continue folding the tissue paper accordion style to the opposite end.




Step Two

This is where the "sharp" pair of scissors comes in hand. You may just want to take a few folds at a time if you don't have a sharp pair of scissors and cut each end into a point like such.



It doesn't have to be perfect. Believe me, I am a self proclaimed perfectionist when it comes to this kind of thing typically. But, with this project the petals will end up blending in together well. This was most time consuming part for myself, because I have crappy scissors! If you want to add a different texture in your mass of flowers, you can round off the ends instead of making them into points.

Step Three

Find the mid-point of the length of your tissue paper. Take your floral wire and wrap it around it making it nice and secure. Leave the ends a bit longer and if you plan on hanging like the original picture, make a loop with the remaining length.



Step Four

Spread out the layers of your fan without flattening the creases.



Begin peeling back the layers one by one on both sides of the fan. When you get a few layers through, it'll start to look like this.



One you are all through, fix any holes and flat spots. It should end up looking like this.



When you hang them from the ceiling, you will need a few small eyelet hooks and some fishing line (or clear jewelry string). This is why I said to leave a bit of length on the floral wire and create a loop. Cut the fishing ling to the desired length. Tie a loop on one end to go through the hook. Tie a knot in the other end once it's looped through the floral wire.

This is a really cheap project and adds three deminsional value to any space. Each package of tissue paper cost me seventy five cents and the whole package of floral wire cost one dollar.

Happy Creating!

~Audrey~

Happy 14 Weeks To Me!

I'm finally officially in the second trimester. This pregnancy is dragging major butt. I don't have decent pregnancies to compare it to though. The first child that entered my world didn't inform me she was in there for almost the whole first trimester. The second child that took up residence in my uterus did so when I had a 9 month old to take care of. This go around I have completely self sufficient children to contend with and an absent husband. I'm not even wiping butts anymore...guess I counted my lucky stars too soon on that one.

The second trimester comes very bittersweet to me. For one thing I get to find out the gender of the baby in just a couple of weeks. Some are betting boy, some are girl. I have my own educated guess, but if you really are that interested in what I think it is you could just ask...or you could wait two weeks to find out the truth. We are ready to welcome a healthy baby, no matter the sex. Although I'm finding it hard to wrap my head around anything boy related...even names.

The bitterness. Evil pubic symphisis dysfunction. If you get grossed out easily by pregnant women and their bodily functions, please read no further. Pubic symphisis dysfunction or otherwise known as pelvic separation happens when your body prematurely excretes the hormone that allow your pelvis to separate and the baby's head to fit through the birth canal. Thus, your pelvic area starts to loosen and separates while you are still pregnant. I never had this wonderful side effect with G, but was blessed when I was pregnant with B. It's rearing it's ugly head again. Feeling the bones between your legs grinding into each other as you are shopping in the mall is not a pleasant experience. Neither is feeling your crotch pop as you are rolling out of bed in the middle of the night when your bladder is being smashed like a pancake. Throw in the severe back aches, the sharp pains running down your legs...getting the point? I hope so cause just writing about it is making me ache. So, it has kicked in already. No fair. No freaking fair.

Pity party for one please. Is it not hard enough that I have to parent both of the girls alone while Richard is away at school, grow this baby as good as possible, prepare for said baby, pack out our house, clean and clear our house, ship our car on a boat cross country, fly 4000 miles with the kids alone to meet my husband at 8 months pregnant..... But no. I have to do all of this that I had every intention of doing with a smile plastered on my face. I have to do all this, smiling, all the while my crotch bones are grinding and popping.

So is life. So is life.

12 Weeks

I don't think it looks like I've gotten much bigger after seeing this picture but I feel bigger! I'm definitely out of all of my regular jeans and am in dire need of buying more than the one pair of maternity jeans that I'm sporting right now. I've got a couple of selections sitting in "checkout" waiting for payday because I'm breaking down....the cheapest pair that I've picked out are $75. I cringe at that thought, but then I think...I'd spend that much on a normal pair of jeans to have a GOOD pair of jeans so why should now be any different? Especially when you buy so little for yourself because you will live in these clothes for such a short period of time, but the things you buy you wear the heck out of???

I get to go hopefully (fingers crossed) hear the heartbeat at my first official appointment with the doctor on Friday. I at that point will make a good guesstamation at the gender of the baby. Both of the girls had heartbeats around 140 or slightly higher. I know they say that the gender doesn't determine the heart rate while they are in the womb, that it takes a few weeks after they are delivered for it to change per sex, but if both my girls were the same then you would think there is a little truth to it right? Who knows. I guess all babies are different! I can still drive myself crazy though until August when I can officially find out :)

Time Flies When You're Having Fun (or sick)

So, I'm not going to lie. I've been neglectful of my blog. Richard came home and tossed me up in a whirlwind of cuddling on the couch and we were in the middle of full blown t-ball season. That and getting a kid to and from school. We originally only planned on him being home for two weeks and it somehow stretched into two and a half months. I'm glad I had the time with him though. I get to play single parent and have a long distance phone relationship with the man I'm married to for the next five months. He'll get no more leave, so we just have to suck it up!

So here he is with the girls when we picked him up at the airport back in April.


It's amazing how you forget little things like the way they make you feel when they look at you when they are gone for so long. The separation stinks, but the reunions make for great reminders of why you fell in love in the first place.

Here we are the next day at Gillian's first official t-ball game.


See we look happy! This is because it's the week prior to me locking my purse in the trunk of my car along with my keys and my cell phone. How lucky was I that he was here and drove separately to the game that day. I never do stuff like that! I remembered why once I realized how infuriated with me he was ha ha.

Richard took the girls shopping...


They were so excited to wear their dresses and tell everyone that their dad picked them out for them. Richard was then (by no surprise to me) shocked to find out that Gillian got told dresses like that weren't allowed at school. Eh, I'll just stick a tank top under it from here on out.

This is Gillian at her May Day celebration at school.


They were sassy little mynah birds. Funny story about that. Only a week after this we actually had a mynah bird nesting in our exhaust fan duct in our half bath downstairs. That thing gave me the heeby jeebies and I wouldn't let the kids pee in there until it was removed. Yes I'm a freak, I know.

Gillian had water fun day at school.



We had to go out and specifically by one piece bathing suits for the girls because to my wondering eyes they only owned bikinis when I went searching. They allowed little brothers and sisters to join in the fun, and I think Brenna had just as much if not more fun that Gillian. It made her feel like a big girl, and she's all about being like her big sister right now!

Oh ya did I mention I'm pregnant???


That's what happens during reunions I guess ha ha. I'm 9 weeks there. I know people say "you shouldn't be showing yet" and "are you sure you aren't further along than that?" Yes, I know I in the worldly view not be showing yet, but I am. I get huge. I get huge fast. I'm short and have a small hip to rib cage ratio. I have big babies. And I'm sure I'm not further along than that because well...that would make me the Virgin Mary. Not possible. I'll try to scrub the grub off of me in a bit and take a 12 week picture in a few. I don't think I'm any bigger now, but who knows. Only the picture will tell!

We took a trip to the zoo.



We decided that our dog Winnie looks like a meerkat. I think we spent half an hour watching them dig for cool sand and guard. They really are fascinating little animals with hella long sharp little claws. I wouldn't want to be cornered by one of these little guys to put it lightly. They were awfully cute snuggling up on each other though. The girls were so intrigued with them and laughing at the resemblance to Winnie that Richard bought them each a stuffed meerkat at the zoo store on our way out of the gate.

And finally the fourth of July.


This is the girls with their friend Elizabeth. We had just dropped daddy off at the airport. He wouldn't allow me to take any goodbye pictures. I think he was too upset about leaving. It was a sad day for all of us. Gillian and I did have a little fun during the fireworks though playing with the camera.


I will be better about posting from here on out!