Vlog!!!

That means video log, in case you didn't know!  


Dennis has been after me for awhile to try this... so here goes. 

What happens on Monday mornings around here... 

So here's the link (hope it works, tell me if it doesn't because I have NO IDEA what I'm doing)... 

https://youtu.be/sjjFRHopMA8



Enjoy!

~Tabitha 

Bible Cover

Hello Hello!  

My 6 year old has been wanting to learn how to sew...so I've been giving him basics as I sew along-how to thread the needle, the bobbin, refill the bobbin, measure etc.. Before I know it he'll be asking to help (that's what scraps are for, teaching how to sew-or so my grandma always told me.  

finished!

While this didn't turn out EXACTLY  as I wanted-one of my pockets gave me fits and I didn't want to remeasure and recut, so I just left it off.. And it is a little big, but that's ok.  And the bias tape... I don't like bias tape-but I have A TON of it I was gifted, so I might as well use it vs throwing it. 

My Pattern

I wish I knew how to do PDF documents to attach so any who wanted to download, could.  But I don't.... Sorry.  Let me recap from my last post... I measured my bible, added seam allowance.. WRote down WHAT I wanted in the cover...drew myself a little sketch... Then measured, added seam allowance and was finally time to cut. 

I did cut more of the green polk-a-dot for inside for the flaps to make those doubled, too. This is all scrap fabric, jean material I used to recover our footstool last year, the green is flannel from baby butt cloths.

So I cut everything, then pressed the fabric.  If you use ribbon, don't forget to heat seal the ends with a lighter so it doesn't become frazzled (yes I've forgotten before).  Added into this stash of fabric was also brown bias tape.  I sewed my two pockets-all that I kept was was the long skinny one for the pens. Then sewed it onto a flap... right sides together I sewed green polk-a-dot to the jean material, turned right side out, pressed, then top stitched. 

The main part of the cover, I just sewed the two pieces together and cut off the extra fabric.  Then I pinned on the flaps and the ribbons to sew everything together... Things were a bit uneven-but that's what bias tape is for, right?  

I may end up cutting the ribbons a bit shorter, we will see. I also positioned my pen pocket in a way so if I want another, there's room without making it look squished.

As you can tell, the bias tape and I had a bit of an argument.  It won.  And no,  I have no idea what I'm doing with it.. I know I have an attachment to do it for me...but I don't know how to use it-every time I try it tears my fabric my up.  But hey, this works and it's functional.. A little fancy, but not so much it's distracting.  

I slid Bible in, and wall-la.  Dear hubby thinks I need to add some type of closure (he suggested a zipper....then I explained my hatred of sewing zippers....)  So I might be added some sort of closure in the future, but for now, this works great.  

Hopefully I didn't confuse you with how I did this.  Let me know and I'll try to explain more.

Have a Great Week!

~Tabitha

Let the Sewing Begin!

First things first.. 

My blog posts won't be as frequent, things are getting a little crazy and I'm finding it hard put to sit down and be able to a blog post every week... I'll try for every other week-but unless I happen to have content, I can't promise you'll hear from me every week.

We are considering revamping the school curriculum. I LOVE Abeka, I LOVE having the lesson plans... But the cost (while completely worthwhile) is daunting.  With Andrew starting to get into grades where consumables won't be needed as much, we are considering making up our own lesson plans using books we have (we are major book hoarders around here).  So that's on the table.... 

My sewing plans have started for vacation things around here.  First thing is to get my mending pile down to a manageable level-mostly because I have to un-bury my sewing machine first.   

Then I will be making my Bible cover.  

 There's my plans...

I made a list of what I want-pocket for writing, marking, note taking tools.  A pocket for note cards to keep track of the verses the kids are working on.  And place marker ribbons.  My husband bought me a new bible for Christmas, but forgot to check to make sure it had place marker ribbons.... so those will be added to my cover. 

Then I took measurements of my Bible, and added a reasonable seam allowance. Then I measured what I wanted, and wrote those sizes down along with seam allowance. All that's left is the picking of fabric from my stash and the sewing.   

The next project will be a toy bag for vacation. 

There's my plans.  I got the idea from Pinterest of course, with the Clarks Condensed Blog and their shared pattern and idea.  

I plan on using fabric I have and making roads and decorations on the inside with either sharpies or scrap fabric. 

We are still on break from school this week.  We'll start again next week.  It's cold up here with lots of snow (Loving it!!!).  

Have a great day!

~Tabitha

Winter Is Here!

I love snow.  I love watching it snow, I love seeing the snow on the ground.  I do not love (or even remotely like) the sub zero temperatures that come with winter for us.  I am, however, thankful for this nice warm fleece robe. :D 

Winter has definitely found us (finally killed the fleas!!! YAY).

There has been a picture floating around Facebook for awhile, it's a link to blog where a genius made her daughter a nice, warm, winter poncho... Us parents know you aren't supposed to buckle your kids into their seats with their coats on, it loosens the belts up and makes it unsafe... and it is a HUGE pain in the rear to take the coat on and off when making a bunch of stops-but it's necessity. 

Then comes this lovely mommy-genius over at Reality Daydream blog.  She made her little girl (cute little thing) a nice warm poncho for such a time as this...  Her tutorial is in the link, it's easy, a lot easier than it sounds..  My sister in law saw me share the picture and enlisted the help of my mom to make her little girl one. She loves it so much I decided to make Hannah one, too. 

This lovely genius-mom idea allows a nice warm coat, a hat that's harder for my little one to take off (and it's soft, so she likes it), and it can stay ON HER while buckled... Flip up the back side so there is nothing between Hannah and the seat, buckle UNDER the front side so she stays nice and warm and safe.  

I did get the hood a little big, and the only thing I messed up on was when I cut the circle I cut on the fold instead on the open side of fabric resulting in one layer being two semi circles vs a circle, so a few extra seams-but that's ok.  

Even with the help of all three big kids, this took me 2 hours... Well, 3, but I did had to stop in the middle to take care of Hannah.  Most of it was scrap fabric from previous projects-the brown minky fleece is from Hannah's baby quilt... The white minky fleece I found 1/2 yard piece for $1.50 in the Walmart ends bin.  

We've only used it a few times, but I'm loving it, and as you can tell from the big Hannah grin, she loves it, too.  

In other news, we are more than half way done with school.. We are at the point in Andrew's lessons where doubling up is no longer an option as most of the reviewing is over, so a lesson a day, we have 68 lessons left.  Barring major sickness we should have no problem getting done before vacation.   He is reviewing his cursive.... I don't want it to be perfect, but I do want to know he can write it legibly.  We basically just started the cursive over again and most letters he is doing awesome at. That's the beauty of homeschooling-you can go slow, or completely stop and master a problem area before moving on.  

Our shopping is this weekend.  The next few days will be busy for me getting everything ready for that and keeping Hannah happy. She hasn't been feeling good at all.  

Have a great week and stay warm! 

~Tabitha

How I Use My Kindle

Hello hello! 

Last year my husband bought me Kindle Fire (these things are cheap during this season). 

I haven't messed with it too much, but I learn a few new things here and there.  

When Hannah was born, I put Facebook and my email on it-with the intention of taking it back off as she got older... But I never took it off and am enjoying sharing pictures with family and friends.

Of course I use it for an e-reader.  I'm hoping to get a subscription to a homeschool magazine soon and use it on my Kindle rather than having more paper piles piling up around the house-but that's up to Mr. Budget.  I have the OverDrive app, which I use to borrow e-books from a library if I run out of free titles through Amazon-I refuse to pay for an e-book.  If I have to spend money, I'm getting paper.

I do admit to playing way too many games on it-I shouldn't, but I do-one stereotype from my generation I will admit to, the gaming stereotype. 

I use it to check the weather with The Weather Channel app.  I have looked up a few things on YouTube before, so I finally put the app on it so when I do find something to watch on Youtube (usually a tutorial on a new carry with my moby wrap or mei tei), it saves to my profile so it's findable again.  

I read my Bile on it through Bible Gateway. 

Pinterest and FitBit apps are on it. Pandora, too. 

My favorite app has got to be Sermon Audio.  I know I've told y'all about them before.  I can listen to sermons wherever I am-house, car, park... I love it.  

A discussion on a homeschool page this morning is going to send me to Amazon underground to see what I can discover for free school apps.  

How do you use your smart phone or tablet for school?  

Have a great week!

~Tabitha

Shopping Trip From 11/12

To say there is a lot going on here is an understatement.. So let's start where we left off.

As for my grocery shopping trip last week, it was crazy as usual.  
At HyVee we bought a boneless ham, got a turkey for free.. For getting a turkey we got a free 2 liter of Dr. Pepper. Among other things, our total was $113.76
At Aldi's we got our usual-mostly dry goods along with cheap eggs and margarine. The total there was $134.09
At Sam's I stocked up on my chicken and also baking supplies. Total there was $239.64
At the discount bread store I only needed 6 loaves of bread, making a total of $4.79. 
Finally at the health food store I got a bottle of raw honey for $11.70. 

YOWCH. Grand Total of $503.98.  We usually budget more around November and December if we can because I do try to stock up on a few things and take advantage of the meat sales available. (Aldi's also had bone in ham for .89 cents a pound.)


On to other things. I am making lasagna and cinnamon rolls for Sundays. The lasagna is something I can stick in the oven at noon and it will be done by 4, so I can sit down and listen to the church services (we watch church online).  The cinnamon rolls we have been doing those on Sundays for a few months.  I am simply making them this month instead of buying. We'll see how that goes.  In order to do this precooking that I'm not used to, I had to buy some foil pans with lids as none of my glassware has lids.   

Now, What's happening today (besides grumpy children) you ask? 

I have chili going on in the crockpot.

Half a bag of pinto beans (I soaked those overnight)
1/2 lb ground beef, stuck it in raw
2 cans tomato sauce
1 can diced tomato
1 onion chopped
Chili powder (I just dumped, I'll taste before we eat to see if it needs more)

Stick everything in, set it low and let it go. I stirred everything and broke up the meat about 10 (it went in at 7). 

My big turkey I cooked Monday.. Then I warmed it up this morning and deboned it.  I can't do it when it's cold, the cold just goes up my arms and tenses my shoulders up. I got 6 quart bags and two turkey bacon ranch wraps out of our 13 lb turkey.   What I put in the freezer I'll use for soup or pot pies. 

I think that's everything for this week.  

Have a great week! 

~Tabitha

Shopping Trip Nov 12

We have officially entered the holiday season. Every year I pray there will be good sales.. So I guess we will see how it plays out the next few months.

I put off my meal planning again, so I'm still working on that.  But we are having some staples-tacos, chili, shake n bake chicken... 

Our biggest meal is, of course, Thanksgiving.  We aren't big turkey people around here, so I get a ham.  Sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn, (skipping the biscuits-there might be a overthrow in cooking lol), pumpkin pie and apple pie.  I would love to skip the regular potatoes and the second pie, but Eva needs food she can eat, so we do both.  

Everybody's biggest question is always what to do with the leftovers.  

We eat as is for a few times. Make sandwiches... I found a really awesome loaded baked potato casserole that's 10x better with leftover honey ham vs loaf ham.  We also do super easy ham bone soup.  

Get creative with your recipes. Utilize Pinterest. Or stick it in the freezer if you start to get tired of it.  Just make sure you label so you know what you have.  

While we aren't really big turkey people..  I do usually take advantage of Hyvee's buy a turkey, get a loaf ham.. It's an awesome deal.  Then I cook and use the turkey for the kids' and I's lunches.  I can cook the whole turkey, then shred or dice and freeze and have the meat all year round.  And if it is cooked right (not dry), hubby is all for eating the meat for one meal.   There are ways, my friends, there are ways.  ;) 

Something I made for the kids this week...

It's a toy basket crocheted from old cut up shirts.  The jury is still out on if they like it... But I think it'd make a great reusable shopping bag. Very sturdy. 

Have a great week! 

~Tabitha