The Well-Lived Life

*Sigh*  The well-lived life....  Is it possible?  I wonder.  So, I made a list during lecture in my Bible study class (ADD strikes) about what it would take for me to believe I have lived a "well-lived life".

Here's my list:

1.   Daily scripture study with the kids - have been tanking on this one for sure

2.   Holding FHE every week - ummm nope 

3.   Attending Church every week - sketchy sometimes

4.   Service - meh

5.   Teach kids life lessons with a heavenly perspective in mind - *crickets*

6.   Exercising - HAHA!!!  Although, I've taken 3 Pure Barre classes and am trying to stick w it

7.   Eating healthy - sort of besides the enormous portions of pasta - go carbs!

8.   Organizing my "house" - e.g. not missing appointments, kids games and activities, keeping things in their proper place like car keys - missing half a brain when it comes to this stuff

8.   Cooking regularly with a meal plan - ughh... the bane of my existence.  Cooking daily is a nasty chore for me which I completely stink at.  Beep boop beep boop... take-out anyone?

9.   Personal scripture study - doing better here but only b/c I feel like a loser if I don't do my lesson for Bible study class

10.  Homeschool - yes, I'm the weirdo who homeschools her kids.  I think I do okay but that's only b/c my kid doesn't need much teaching since he's in high school

11.  Being patient with husband and kids - PUH-LEEZ

12.  Personal time - to do whatever the heck I want!  I do pretty good here because I'm selfish like that

Is it possible?  Am I crazy?  Can it be done?  Here are my thoughts:  Maybe a few people exist in the world who can actually do this with out being stark-raving mad.  But, I do about 3 or 4 of those things on my list, but how do I do them all?  LAYERS and serious prayer!  One thing at a time with God's strength.  I've decided to pick something and work on it.  Most people fail miserably when they try to do too much at one time.  E.g. the out-of-shape 40 year old woman who tries to do P90x after just having a baby... ahem.  Layering with the Lord's help is the key.  One thing at a time until its a habit.  It takes approximately 66 days to form a habit.  So, my approach is to tackle one thing at a time, pray fervently that He helps me maintain it, until it is a habit.  Then, move to the next goal and then the next, until I can look at my life and say, "I am living the well-lived life."

Diapers Part 2

Wow, two posts in the same month.  I'm doing good!  These are the diapers I made for baby boy.  I had to tweak a few things but mostly it was easy.  I discovered that the pattern from the book was larger than I anticipated.  I made a couple of large size diapers thinking they would fit, but they were WAY too large.  He is growing so fast.  I have no doubt he will be in them soon.

I still have gobs of fabric to make more (I went a little crazy buying all the cute PUL fab).  For now, we have plenty of diapers until he outgrows the medium sized ones.  Yesterday was the first time in over a month we bought paper diapers.  Too awesome!

Quilting

Since making a quilt for my baby boy's crib, I've been intrigued by the process.  Actually, I love it.  I am still making clothes but lately, I have made a few quilts.  Nothing too big yet (I've got a queen size quilt in the works) but fun to snuggle up with on the couch or let the kids roll around in.  I made the one below from a free tutorial at Cluck Cluck Sew here.  She has the best tutorials!

Whatcha think?

Diaper Making

Anybody ever consider using cloth diapers?  I'm not talking about the kind of cloth diapers your mother used...no sticking your little cuties with diaper pins.  Cloth diapers nowadays are just like disposables but MUCH more friendly to the environment and your pocket book.  Just look at all the info out there regarding diapers in landfills not to mention the nasty chemicals in them that go into the ground water (and touch your baby's bum all day).

I know cloth can be intimidating.  What about the poo you say?!?  What about it?  Hold the diaper over the toilet, shake it off, flush.  Or, spray it off with the hose if its really stuck.  I've never done this.  I actually put in a diaper sprayer in my toilet (totally easy to do btw).  Then, throw in the washing machine.  I swear none of my clothes have poop on them.  No poop is left in the washing machine.  Occasionally, I run bleach on the rinse and spin cycle just to clean it out.  But, I'd have to do that anyway b/c my machine is front loading and starts to smell musty after a while anyway.  See, no big deal.  Don't be afraid of the poop!

Obviously, I made the decision to use cloth.  I still use disposables when we go out or on vacation ~ I'm not quite ready to be a full-blown cloth user, but I'm close!  I bought cloth diapers online but my "man baby" has since gotten too big for even the large ones.  I decided to make my own.  I actually bought a book at Joann's but there is a great tutorial at Tutu Mafia.  She does an AMAZING job of showing you how to make different kinds of cloth diapers ~ snaps, velcro etc.  Its not hard.  Joann's has tons of fabrics for diapering.  Everything is right there in one little section.  It tends to be a little pricey but did you know you can sell your used diapers on Craig's list?  People buy them like hot cakes.  There are some online companies like Nature's Fabrics who sell diapering material too.  Here is the book I purchased at Joann's:

So far, its been pretty easy to do.  I'll post pictures later of the diapers I made.  I hope you consider doing this too.  You can do it!

Need Your Blogspot Address

Help!  I just re-set my html and lost all my friends's blogs. Unfortunately, only 2 were on my reading list.  Can you please give me your url again?  I am a true, no out-of-the-box, blonde!!!!

To Etsy or Not?

I've been sewing a lot lately, both for Finn and Julia.  A few people have suggested I make clothing and sell it on Etsy.  I'm really nervous about doing it.  What do you think?  Here are that last couple of things I've made for J:

Sweet Baby Face

I've been having so much fun with my little man.  He has the sweetest face!  Everybody adores him, even his siblings.  He's still not sleeping the night but its hard to be upset when he's so dang cute!

I had to add this last one in here.  She's so funny ~ always trying to get in front of the camera.