Monday, March 29, 2010

It's About Time!

That the weather is nice enough for me to run outside!

These pictures were taken the day I cut my hair.

It was 40 degree's and I was so excited about it.  I bundled up my babe and got out my jogging stroller that I was so very excited about getting and headed out the door. 

I went 3 miles and Naomi slept.  The road out where I live is very rough so she was giggling all over the place so I don't think it was the best sleep.  I don't think I'll take her out again until I can sit her in the front and I get a cover for wind/sun.  Also when she will be awake for it. 

Who knows, maybe she liked it.

I know I did! 

In fact, Saturday I dropped her off with my Mother in Law and ran 5 miles without stopping.  In 53 minutes!  I'm very proud of myself as I haven't done that in almost 4 years. 

Very exciting.

See how I'm running? :)
And now I have a snazzy amazing ponytail.  Or.. part of one. 


Sunday, March 21, 2010

Bye Bye Long Hair.......

I did it again.  I chopped off all of my hair.

No. This is not the "Mom" haircut that all Mom's do.  I guess it looks like that because it was so drastic and because it was so much hair.  But that's not why I cut it.

I chopped all of my hair off almost 2 years ago(click on "again" above) and gave it to Locks of Love.  I liked it short so much that I decided I wanted to keep it that way.   But I also liked donating so much that I decided I would also try to grow it out during pregnancy (since hair grows faster) so that I could donate again.

Then the pregnancy happened and I grew it out and I gained 46 pounds and my face was a giant swollen ball and I couldn't cut it short until I lost most/all of my baby weight.

I was/am 3 pounds away from my pre pregnancy weight and decided it was time.

So, chop chop chop and I'm left with VERY VERY short hair.  A good 1-2 inches shorter than my first time.  But, in order to donate I had to go that short. 

Before 

During
After

I love the way it feels, but am not sure if I like how it looks.  I feel like I look older and I don't feel as pretty.  And I was finally starting to feel like my face was looking pretty again after loosing the weight.  I think it needs to grow out another inch.  I'm enjoying the super short hair washing shower time and the fast styling. 

Monday, March 15, 2010

Lately

  • I have been a bad blogger
  • I have been obsessed with my daughter
  • I have not been as on top of housework as I'd like to be
  • Lately I have had to put off running
  • I have been sad about not running
  • I have lost endurance
  • I made a decision to continue training
  • I have been busy
  • It's been hard to see how busy I've been since the house isn't spotless and blogs aren't updated and the miles aren't climbing in my training log
  • I've been obsessed with photography and editing
  • I've been wanting things I can't have (like CS4)
  • I've been very, very grateful for our Heavenly Father
  • I have been dying for spring to come (I've not been outside for longer than 3 minutes since October)
  • I've been missing family
  • I've been missing friends
  • I've been lonely
  • I have been dreading April as the start of farming and Jaren wont be around so much
  • I have been excited for April since that's when my family is coming
  • I have been feeling stressed about April because my house is not ready for said family to come
  • I've been feeling better about myself physically
  • I've been wanting so badly to chop all of my hair off 
  • I have been wanting to nap for more than 30 minutes in a day
  • Naomi has been sleeping 12 hours strait at night
  • I have been waking up in a lot of pain because Naomi doesn't need to eat at 3 a.m. anymore
  • I have been mostly, 97% happy (the other 3% has to do with self improvement)

Lastly, here is a picture Jaren took of me yesterday.  One of the last with my long hair since tomorrow is the day I chop it off and send it to Locks of Love for my second time. 
Can you tell I've not been outside since September? 
I'm trying to decide if I want bangs or not.  And not the kind that go all the way across your forehead.  I was annoyed with them while I was pregnant and let them grow out.  But now I think I may want them again....  thoughts?

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Lindsey's Accident

First, let me say Lindsey is fine.

I can't stop thinking about it.  About how bad it was.  About how I heard it all.  About how it took Lindsey 1-2 minutes  (or maybe it just felt that long) to pick up the phone and tell me she was okay and where she was.  About how when I was a mile away from the scene I could see the flashing police, ambulance and fire truck lights.  How I tried so hard to keep my speed at 45 mph for that mile, but found myself having to constantly slow down.  About how her car looked.....

Linds called for a phone number.  I gave her the phone number and we were talking about envelopes for her invitations when she said, "I don't think they're stopping."  and then  "Oh no... Oh My Gosh!"  over and over and over and then I heard the crash.  I was holding Naomi so I didn't scream.. or at least I tried not to.  I kept repeating, "Lindsey?! Lindsey?! Lindsey!"  I heard rustling and moving and then she picked up the phone and told me she was in an accident.  I asked her if she was okay - she said she was and I heard her telling other people she was fine.  I asked where she was and she told me.  I told her I would be right there.

As I was hanging up I heard Jaren pull into the driveway.  I was so glad because I didn't know what I was going to do with Naomi.  She was tired and was almost ready to go down for her last nap.  I was freaking out.  I always thought I'd be calm and fine in scary situations and depending on the situation I think I am.  But not this one.  Maybe it was because I heard it?  Because it was Lindsey?  I don't know.

Jaren walked in and I said, "Lindseys been in an accident. She's at this intersection. I'm going."  I tried to hand him Naomi before he had even taken his coat off.  He told me to calm down.  I tried.  I put Naomi on our bed under the fan - that always keeps her entertained for as long as I need to get ready for something.  So I changed and left.

I was speeding the whole way there... I'll admit it.  I tried not to - but 45 and 50 mph just isn't fast enough when I knew I needed to get there.  I called my Dad and told him what was going on.  I knew Lindseys fiance who is a Deputy would be there and have the situation under control just fine... but there is no way I could just sit at home and wait to hear what was going on when I was less than 10 minutes away from it. 

The last mile was the worst.  I could see all of the flashing lights and the speed limit was 45 mph.  I stayed within 45 and 50 which was quite the accomplishment as I was going a bit faster on the other roads.

My first thoughts when pulling up to the accident?  Well, I saw the van first and thought, "Oh no, it's worse than I thought"  For some reason I thought it was a little fender bender.  I thought she was in town at an intersection where the speeds are 25 or 35 mph.  So, realizing it wasn't that is probably why I started freaking out even more.  I jumped out of my car and started to jog towards the accident looking for the ambulance Lindsey said she was in.  I was stopped by a cop and told not to run.  I said "Okay, I'm sorry, my sister was in this accident."  He pointed me around a giant bush and told me if I knocked on the back door they would let me in.

When I rounded the bush I saw Lindseys car.  I couldn't believe she picked up the phone, walked away from it; that she was okay!  Her car was totaled.  The entire front end was smashed and smooshed and all over the place.  As calmly as I could I walked up to the ambulance and knocked on the back door.  An officer stepped out from the side and said, "This door is open."  So I stepped in and saw Lindsey and started crying right away.  She was fine!  Totally calm.  Stood up and hugged me.

Aren't I supposed to be the strong older sister?  I've been trained in CPR, First Aid and all that stuff a few times.  I've been in my own accident - I knew what to do in this situation.  But all of it went out the window  when it was my baby sister.  I'd like to think I'm still insanely hormonal from having Naomi.  The previous 2 days were oddly emotional for me so I know I was more of a mess than I might have been a week from now.

She showed me the big gashy scratch on her left hand.  Said, "I think I chipped my tooth," and showed me.  She did.  The same one that I chipped years and years ago on the trampoline.  But I just thought that - didn't say it.  Maybe I'll show her later.

Nate was there and he was calm as well.  I knew that would be a given seeing what he does everyday.  Why was I the only one shaking and trying not to cry and freaking out??  I'm blaming it on the hormones.  I'm quite embarrassed as to what a mess I was.

Linds was filling out the accident form.  I offered to do it for her, but she wanted to do it herself.  But as officers kept coming in and out she was distracted in answering questions.  So I took it and wrote as she told me exactly what happened.  When everyone left out of the ambulance she showed me the scratches from the seat belt on her hip.  It looked like it stung.  We were kicked out of the ambulance and it was COLD.  Linds didn't have a jacket, just a small sweater.  Nate got her a blanket and a beanie.  We stood over by her mangled car and finished writing the report.

She wanted her orange out of the front.   It was covered in glass.  Maybe there was even some embedded in it?  I don't know.  Everything was a mess.  Airbags out.  What is weird is that this used to be my car (see post about a pervert with a rock) before I was married.  It's been 3 years since it was mine, but it was weird still.  The Volkswagen has given us nothing but trouble.  Breaking down all the time and constantly needing things replaced.  It was a lemon.  After the situation sinks in and Lindsey iss fine we can laugh about how my Dad is relieved to be rid of the car.

I went around and took a bunch of pictures with my phone.  I almost brought my camera - I wish I had.  As the adrenaline was wearing off Linds said her jaw was hurting and she could feel it in her neck and upper back.  When I talked to her this morning she told me she had a giant bruise on her knee and her hand hurts to open and close.  Her hips are sore from the seat belt and she said her shoulder is too.  Big head ache and her neck is in a lot of pain from the wiplash.  She is so lucky.  If you call it that.

She is going to the doctor today to get everything checked out and get her hand X-Rayed since it's hurting her pretty bad.  Everyone who saw the car said she was lucky to be alive.  That had she not been wearing her seat belt it could have been fatal.

I needed to write down my feelings and what happened.  It's such a sobering thing.  Something like this.  Especially when it's family.  I've never told anyone this... but I've always had a fear of losing my sister.  More than the regular, "I hope nothing bad never happens to her."  And yesterday came way too close.  Maybe that was part of why I was such a basket case?

I guess I didn't say what exactly happened.  She was driving down a highway going 50 mph and was coming to an intersection.  There are houses on the sides of the road and there was a church to her right of the intersection.  She saw a van going really fast to her right - she says probably around 60 towards the intersection.  She slowed a little but said, "You know how some people drive really fast and then slow down really fast at a stop sign?  I thought she was going to do that."  Linds looked for break lights and saw none.  That's when she knew what was going to happen but it was fast.  The lady hit the intersection first and Lindsey clipped the rear of her car and it spun Lindsey around and off the road into a fence and bush.  The van flipped completely over the bush and landed, wheels down, on the other side.   The other lady had a casserole all over her car.  She must have been taking it to someone and was in a hurry.  She has a local license plate, I'm sure she is from around here.  She had to have known there was a stop sign there.  I'm not originally from around here and I know there is a stop sign there.  My guess?  She was speeding, figured she'd just blow the stop sign because she's done it before.  She might have seen Lindsey and figured she'd beat her so she floored it - or she didn't see her.  Or who knows, maybe she didn't know there was a stop sign there, but I doubt it.  She was taken away in an ambulance.  She was saying that her back was burning.  I don't know how she is, but I hope she is okay - there was a toddler seat in the back.

Looking back at these pictures there's no doubt in my mind that she was watched over and protected. 

Here is her car



 Here is the other lady's car
Lesson to take home?  Wear your seat belt and don't run stop signs!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Finally, Finally here is the post on how to dress up a barn star. I've been wanting to do this for a good year and a half but haven't sat down and taken pictures of the process.

Thank you to whoever bugged me on formspring (the little box for questions on my sidebar) because you kicked me into gear.

First you will need:
  • Barn Star or a metal star
  • scrapbooking paper - 10 sheets of 12x12 paper
  • Scissors
  • pencil
  • ruler
  • modpodge
  • paper towels
  • glitter spray (optional)
Here is the star I used. You can do any size. Sometimes you can't find the color you want.  I suggest buying spray paint and painting it the color you would like.  Only a little bit of the star will show though - unless you want a lot to show or none to show.  You can decide.
 The top star is the one I did for my nursery - it's finished and is the same brown and black as the naked one.  You can see my Project 365 picture of it here.

The easiest way to make a template is to trace it.  I tried using a ruler, but it's really hard.  Unless you have a compass (like you used in geometry).  I found a piece of 12 by 12 scrapbook paper that was thin and I would probably never use. 
 
  Lay it over one of the triangles and then use your finger to follow the creases.



Then fold each side.  


Here is my first side folded.


When you fold them over  you might want to cut the extra paper away so it doesn't get in the way.

Fold the bottom under and then crease the fold.


After you have all of your creases - cut out the triangle. If your lines aren't perfectly strait that is okay.  You can fix that later.
Next you will decide how much of the star you want to show.  I personally like about a quarter of an inch.  Just a bit to separate the papers.  Slide your triangle down so that just a bit more than what you would like shown is shown.  

1 - I slide my paper down 
2 - it's off the star
3 - I creased along the bottom of the star and then folded the paper up - placed it back on the star to see if the amount of star that is shown was enough for me.

Making sure it's exactly what I want


I clipped off the little tail to make it a perfect triangle

Next, organize your scrapbook paper in the order you want it to go around the star.  You can choose 10 different papers or 5 different papers so you'll have each repeated once throughout or all the same.  Whichever you want.  I like to make the two that are facing each other compliment each other - then I make sure that any of the papers that are touching aren't too much alike so they don't clash.  But I think this part is personal preference.  You can always move them around when you are finished cutting them out.

I have a black and white room - so all of this paper is black and white.


Notice there are only 9 sheets.  A lot of scrapbook paper has another pattern on the back that uses the same colors on the front.  I decided to use the front and back of one of them.



Next we will trace the triangle.  Take your template and figure out where you want your first paper to go.  
1 - place the template face up on the paper you are going to use.
   - slide the template under the paper with the top face up
2 - flip it over and you should see the bottom of your template.  Keep it that way or you'll have the triangle going on the opposite side of your intended side.  I hope that makes sense.  You might find out on your own - I mess it up at least once a star.
3 - Mine-as-well get one edge perfectly strait.  Line up the template with an edge of the paper

 
Then trace the triangle!  For this first one, trace a faint line so you can use the ruler to make the line more strait.  Your ruler line will be the dark one.

Here is my first trace.  It is a faint line and has some crookedness.
To straiten the line, place a ruler along it and then trace a darker line over your faint one. 
Then cut it out!  
A little advice; don't mutilate your extra paper.  There is enough left over you can use the excess for more stars or other projects.
 
Here is my first peice.  Put each one where you'd like them to go as you cut.  You'll stick them to the star when you are finished cutting all of them out.

For cutting out the rest I used the first paper I cut because it's edges are strait.  
1 - place it on the side you want your paper to sit
2 - place it face up on the paper you are going to use
3 - slide it under the paper face up
4 - flip the paper over and trace and cut!

Repeat this until you have all of your triangles cut out.
 
All are cut.  Now is the time to look at it and decide if your paper is where you want it to be.  I think there is too much white down in the bottom left.  So I switched and now I have this:

 
I think it looks much better.  
The next step is to Mod Podge your star; that will glue your paper to it.  
You will want to put some sort of liner down to protect your surface.  I use tin foil.  

 
1 - Mod Podge
2 - I use paper ripped up paper towels, but you can use a paint brush or newspaper.. anything that will smear Mod Podge around.  (If your using paper towels use a new one for each paper because paper towel falls apart easily and you don't want chunks of that in your mod podge)
3 - smear it all over the side that you will lay your paper over

 
Once it is all mod podgey put your triangle piece of scrapbook paper on it, straiten it out so it's right where you want it and then smooth it out with your finger.  You'll get the mod podge coming out of the sides - that is good.  Don't wipe it up - it dries clear and it helps keep the edges of the paper glued down.  

 
The picture on the left has 4 triangles glued down and the picture on the right has all of the 10 peices of paper glued to the star

The next step is optional.  If you would like glitter on your star then do this and if not, then skip it.  I like the glitter because it just gives the star a tiny bit of shimmer.  You can't hardly see it, but it's enough for me.
Go outside or out in your garage and lay down some sort of liner.  I use a cardboard box we cut open. 

 
Spray the whole star.  Let it dry for around an hour or so, then come back and get it for the last step.

Your going to cover the whole star in a layer of mod podge to seal the paper.  It also gives it a finished glossy look.  If you like the matte paper look then just be very careful while you are initially mod podging your paper onto the star to not get any of it on the paper so it's totally uniform.  

1 - I find it easiest to just dump some of the mod podge onto the star 
2 - spread it around with your paper towel.  A little tip: Make it look as nice as you can, because even though it's drying clear you can still see how you wiped it on when the light hits it.
3 - Finished!  Now just let it dry and your done!
 
Here is mine finished
And here I am holding my finished product!  All showered and clean and everything. 
(me, not the star)
 

Now, the cool thing about making this yourself is that you have the paper you used and you can do other projects with that to make accessories that match the star for your room.  Coordinated accesories!
For example, the star I made for Naomi's nursery.  I took the colors from her bedding and picked out the paper.  Then I bought the letters of ner name and used that paper and decorated them so now that color pallet is carried throughout the room.  And it's much cheaper than buying the accessories that come with the bedding.  Even though I did get a few that I couldn't recreate because I couldn't find the same fabrics: the valance, changing pad cover and mobile.  
Here is the star I made for her

 
 And here is her name with the same paper (I took this picture while I was working on it so it isn't the finished product.  I haven't hung them in her room yet, but I'll try to do that this week so I can post a picture of that all finished up)

 
I also made a shadow box with her blessing dress and shoes.  I used the same paper for the background.  I'm also going to do a painting where I'll copy some of the art from her bedding.  I need to buy paint brushes for that.  But, her room will be the only fully decorated finished room in the house!  I don't mind.... it's definitly the cutest.
Hopefully in the next week or two I'll finish her room and I can post pictures of all of her art and how it flows.  

I hope this made sense.  If you have any questions about any part of it either comment, send me an email or ask a question in my little box on my sidebar.  

And I want to see what you made!  So send me a picture of your finished product or the link to your blog post about it! 

One more thing.  You can do anything with these.  I have a Halloween/Fall one and I have all the paper cut out for a few Christmas and Winter ones.  I've made 3 for friends baby showers for their nurseries.  You can tie ribbon on the top for something extra or you can use more scrapbook things to decorate it even more.  I have seen people hang these then use them as a magnet board for pictures.  

Good luck!