DIY Doll Furniture: American Girl Doll Adventures

You can tell when I'm truly desperate for entertainment if I turn to crafts.  With winter coming, crafts will be an ever more frequent occurrence, hopefully accompanied by quiet, cleanliness, and things we can actually use.

I have an American Girl Doll...girl.  She is 11 and adores dolls.  Being 11 means she is also capable of managing a craft of her own choosing without making a ginormous mess.  I have been waiting for this day to come...

She was perusing the internet for all things American Girl, and came across a couple of websites and YouTube channels.  The YouTube videos show gigantic handmade, ceiling to floor and wall to wall doll houses, with 10+ rooms and full of furniture that the dolls can stand in and actually use.  It was seriously impressive.

Here are a couple of those videos.

I'm left to wonder, why oh why didn't I think of this???

The DIY website she found is called "American Girl Ideas" and you can find it here at americangirlideas.com.

The project she picked, after HOURS of debate, was "Julie's Table & Chairs".  Julie is the doll from 1974, so her furniture reflects that time period.

The list of supplies is longish, but you probably have most of the items on hand, which is a large factor in whether or not we do crafts around here.

Everything can be cut with scissors, and this is another big bonus.

This is our mid-project photo, the table is assembled, and the chair and base still needed to be glued together.  We chose two spray paint colors we had on hand, and blessedly Girl #3 was please with this option.  $ saved.

The finished product was darling, and the dolls could actually sit, albeit not very comfortably.  As AGD's knees don't bend, this makes sitting awkward.

The hot glue lasted about two days on the chairs with the torque the dolls place on the joint as they sit.  I'm not sure how to fix this without melting the chair plastic.  I also would like to figure out a heavier base for the chair than the 2.5" steel washer that we glued under the round base.

Photo Cred: Girl #3

She also made the "Hot Lunch" food set from the printable she found on the same website, because obviously there must be something on the table when dolls sit down at it.  Without a color printer it was a little lack-luster but she was thrilled, which is all I ask for.  Cutest video ever, it's long, but it's her perspective. 

All in all it was successful, my daughter was proud of her accomplishment and played for hours with the set.  I was probably a little more involved in the process than I needed to be, but my inner perfectionist wouldn't let go.  Girl #3 is totally capable of spraying furniture, although my trust in her ability to NOT spray the porch was low.

Have fun with your kids and let them be in charge sometimes!

Summer Catch-up

I've been off the radar, I hope someone noticed...  It all began with a little hernia operation, 4 boring weeks of doing nothing, and four weeks of gradually getting my life back.

School's out (thank the heavens!) and summer has been good to us.  The girls have been spending time at Lagoon with each other and friends, softball under the lights, earning money, swimming, water skiing, going to the zoo, taking piano lessons, crafting, reading, going to the temple, major yard work, serving neighbors, playing night games, running amok, keeping up on the minimum of house work, and generally trying to keep a tenuous cease-fire among all parties.

 One of the things that has kept me sane and productive this summer has been my determination to keep working out every day.  Once my four-week ban was lifted I crept back slowly, and am now at full speed.  My favorite new activity this summer is water aerobics.  I use the term aerobics very loosely.  It's more of a gentle resistance training, which is a perfect complement to my half marathon training.  I have gotten on the bike a couple times, one very memorable and miserable time when it was 100 degrees out.  I'm enjoying fruit smoothies for lunch, and light dinners, taking advantage of summer fruits, veggies, and the heat.

I have found that my sanity stays in tact when I take time for myself, by exercising, sending the kids to friends' houses, dropping them off at Lagoon, or sending them to sleepovers with grandparents.  It's a tough thing to do in the summer when you're together all the time, but even an hour helps alleviate the tension and stress that comes with intense management.

Having big kids is ridiculous amounts of fun, and we are taking full advantage of our new freedoms and abilites.  At 15,13, & 11, they require less supervision, they have more friends and varied interests, their independently-mobile radius is wider, they are more capable & responsible, they are working and earning money so they are financially independent, and their bedtime is later.  They've been nannying, doing yard work, and babysitting, saving for college, girls camp, and enjoying a little spending cash.  It still irks me when they blow a wad on candy or junk food, but it's their cash so they can figure it out themselves.

We've enjoyed two outdoor movies on the screen I made.  We saw "Tangled" and "Jurassic Park" the original.  That movie was a blast, and all I can say is that special effects have come along way, especially in the severed-arm category.  With the long summer nights we couldn't start it until 9:30 pm, which made for a really late night.  I forget how relatively simple it is to set the outdoor movie equipment up, and we'll be showing more, once the nights start a little earlier.

We threw our annual Fourth of July family party again.  It was amazing!  We had doner kebabs, like Greek gyros, french fries, homemade ice cream in a baggie, and fried anything/everything for dessert.  We swam, played frisbee & bocce ball, sat under the misting hose, watched a mini kid parade, and had a GIANT fireworks show.  It was pure heaven.

I hope your summer is as fun as ours has been.  Sometimes we get really stuck on the idea that getting out of town is what it takes to have a great summer, but there are plenty of things to do right at home.  If you're a Salt Lake local, watch for fun (and mostly free) ideas to do with your ducklings, big or small. I'll post details about summer parties, food, and fitness, including some goals and ways to get there.

Sorry I was gone so long!  Thanks for catching up!

Gardening: Lawn & Flower Beds

The rain is KILLING me!  It's thrown off my GROOVE!  My plants are so late getting in the ground, I have very low hopes of seeing anything productive before July.  Sigh.

During a short break in the rain, we got my front flower bed planted.  It's been a sore spot for me since we moved in, full of creeping myrtle and really shallow.  It never did showcase any color or interest for the house.  Last spring I finally acted on what I knew needed to be done all along.  I cut out 18" inches of grass to pull the bed out deeper.  I pulled, dug, and killed all the myrtle and the other weedy perennials.  I covered it all with new nice dirt, re-positioned the large rocks that add texture, and transplanted three decorative grasses.  Voila!  I get my really great black mulch from the dump.  It's under $20 for a scoop, which fills up the back of a pick-up truck.  It's a lot of shoveling, but it's a great workout!

It turned out beautifully!  And best of all the myrtle has stayed dead!  I won!  I can't find the pic of the garden in full bloom, but I decided to do mostly annuals.  The perennials I planted were 2 creeping flox, three grasses, and one butterfly bush. 

The first thing I learned about annuals is to plant them much closer than the suggestion on the tag.  I just crammed them in there, all mixed up, but tallest in back and shortest in front.  Even after close planting I ended up squishing another flat in around the first of July.  I love when it's just bursting!

This is our planting session on Saturday.  The girls have really started to love gardening...to a point.  The last 10 minutes was a struggle.

I can already tell I'm going to need more plants.  One problem with all this rain is I have several drowned plants that will need to be replaced.  Last year some got scorched, but my zinnias are all in a two inch puddle.  Sad.

My FAVORITE thing from last year that I was sure to get this year are flowering cabbages.  They are amazing!  They add a huge interest factor, they are gigantic, and they are a cool green and purple color.  Everyone asked about them.  They really bulk up the look. 

I've also been collecting planters, and now have about 7 large ones, two of those being humongous!  They have been fun to also add flowers that are vibrant and spill over everywhere.  I'm still figuring out geraniums.  I don't love them as they seem to always be dead looking instead of colorful and they stink.  I have also really loved sweet potato vine.  The light green cascading leaves are gorgeous and look lush!  It comes in this reddish color which is pretty, but I really love the vibrant green spilling over the sides of my containers and off my porch.

The next front project is to get rid of the awkward pine tree by the door, which has stayed due to lack of commitment on my part.  What to put there instead?  Good question.  Any ideas?

I have three more main flower beds that need planted as well as my little garden spot.  There is major work to be done along the back edge of our yard including trimming lilac bushes that didn't even flower this year they're so neglected, major weed killing, and moving some huge clumps of gorgeous purple irises to spread the love.  Also prepping and setting up the swimming pool, if the weather cooperates.  So stay tuned!  It'll be a summer-long project!

Tiny House Project: Laundry Room Makeover

Life is all about perspective.  Nine weeks ago we were doing this, to replace our 20-year-old washing machine, schlepping the old and new washers home and to the dump, and reveling in the new-fangled-ness of technology.

Last week the dryer pooped out.  It was much less traumatic than when the washer went out.  And we waited the three days and let it be delivered, so I have zero cool trailer-hauling pictures to show how tough and pioneer-like I am.  It turned out to be pure heaven.  We got the matching dryer put in, and the old one carted away.  I thought only super-rich people got that kind of service.  Turns out they do it for average joes, too.

Then I stepped back and took a good look.  Whoa.

I remembered a quote I read in "The Happiness Project": 

" No money is better spent than what is laid out for domestic satisfaction." -Samuel Johnson

We all realize that things need to be done, and spend a lot of our time and energy gearing ourselves up to the task.  Laundry, bathroom cleaning, exercising, mending projects, and organization and just a few of those tasks.  And when the mood is right, you just know you have to dig in and go for it.

But sometimes (most of the time) reluctance to spend money is the reason for not improving something.  Somehow we feel we shouldn't spend money on improving our home's cosmetic atmosphere, or as Mr. Johnson put it, our domestic satisfaction.  When by sheer hours of use, home projects have by far the highest R.O.I. (return on investment).  If you were a company, a high R.O.I. makes spending money on a project a no-brainer.  Dealing with the frustrations that come from disorganization can be far more taxing on our attitude, feelings, and happiness than we realize, and this space was pressing on my last nerve.

For 12 years I've been washing in the basement, looking at the gray-painted cement wall, and the early 1970's sheetrock-and-tape in i'm-not-saying-what-color-of-yellow wall.  I knew the new washer and dryer had to have a better home and that I needed a brighter, cleaner, more organized space in which to spend the third of my life-time which is doing laundry.

The "hanging" situation: the water and natural gas pipes serve as my drying racks.  They also serve as our overflow closet, sports gear storage, seasonal use storage, and etc.  The hanging clothes block the natural light from the window.  Had to change.

The storage situation: laundry soap and sundry are on the floor. Along with everything else.  The laundry room is the gateway to the storage section of our basement, thus everything gets dumped just inside the door without ever making it to its appropriate space.  I'm sure this never happens to you.

The square footage: technically the laundry portion is 15 ft long x 11 ft wide, quite a large space in reality.  Perspective made me realize this and be grateful for it.

The Plan: repair the wall on the left and add a bit of sheet rock where there was just a stud wall; paint the cement wall behind the washer and dryer on the right; sort, box, and re-position the hanging items so the daylight could come in; add shelving above the washer/dryer and the folding counted to clear the appliance-tops and make folding at the counter an actual possibility.

I began by adding a shelf above the washer and dryer on a set of sturdy U-brackets (typically used for garage storage), securely bolted into the floor joists above.  Then I added a wire shelf.  Once I got all the stuff on it, it sagged terribly in the middle.  My fix? Two daisy chains of zip-ties nailed to the floor joists.  And a promise to revisit that solution at a later date.

You can see the old gray wall behind.

This is a portion of the wall I wanted to sheet rock.  It bears the doodlings of my kids at the time we finished the front half of the basement, and my meticulous notes about when we snaked the clogged floor drain and other major plumbing incidents.  I'm weird like this.  When I got the sheet rock up, the gals were in a tizzy for covering it up.  Solution: I took pics and I will frame them and hang them on the wall.  They really missed it that much.

The back wall was first to be painted.  I did one coat of primer and two coats of white paint.  I chose the first white I saw in the cheapest paint product Home Depot carried.  I taped off the stripes using Frog Tape, and used the leftover paint from the gals' room from oh, about 4 years ago.  Does paint expire? I have no idea.   But it worked great and it was free.  I've always wanted to stripe something, it was really easy, super fun, and I love how it turned out.

Next was the sheet rock.  I used a large bucket of sheet rock mud all up fixing that icky wall.  I added the pieces of sheet rock to the wall that is to my left in the picture below.  I taped it and added a corner all by myself!  Just don't look too close...I will be hanging some strategically-placed decorations in awkwardly-low positions to hide the flaws.

This wall I did two coats of primer and two coats of paint, all speed-dried by a rotating fan.  At this point I begin running low on steam and the family upstairs is running rampant so this project needs to be done, stat.

I really do love plain white walls.

This is the taping for the stripes.  There's one more strip of tape that is completely covered by paint.  The trick with tape is to paint and then peel it off while the paint is still wet.  This prevents peeling.  It also promotes drips and runs if you have blobs in corners where you just, well, blobbed the paint on in a super-hurry.  Good thing I'm the master of cosmetic-repairs.

This is the Rubber Maid Closet Maid wire shelf: 20"x 4'.  The supports are a cinch, adjustablity is limitless, and I have the option of adding additional shelving elements if I find I need something different.

Some colorful (cheapo-clearance) baskets add cheer and organization, as do the wire shelving ad-ons.  My favorite is the basket to the left.  It is the new home of single socks, clearing some valuable space on my folding counter.

The table is the counter top from the original kitchen upstairs.  My wonderful and talented dad made it into a laundry folding table for me when we moved in.  It has saved my life.  Baskets fit under it neatly and I have a place to fold clean clothes, assuming it is not covered in clutter.  The best thing I added to the laundry room was this little, black, collapsible stool.  Now I can reach everything!

With a little work, everything is back nice and tidy.  At the end of my laundry space is my "craft nook".  I have wrapping, sewing, & crafting supplies here, along with my ridiculously out of control fabric stash, which is high on the list of purging projects.  The fire extinguisher is a must in a room with appliances and the electrical panel.

This is the newly designated hanging bar.  Supplemental closet items and hang-to-dry items go here, as do the rag box, beach towels, and other frequently used items.  My paint-can stash is here to, to keep paints at a comfortable temperature, so I can use them again in 4 years.

This shelf above the appliances gets everything off the ground and in a reachable place, utilizing valuable overhead space that would otherwise be empty.  Wire shelving lets light from the window through and prevents dust from gathering.  Paper towels are safe and dry from the occasional plumbing mishap.

The floor is still cement, and the floor joists are still exposed, but the white paint and fun stripe change the atmosphere drastically.  The continuity of the white and stripe help to define and unify the laundry space.  Visually this is so much more pleasing to my mind and heart. Everything has a place and a function.  There is ample light, and even daylight, too.

Perspective is everything.  I am so blessed to have a place to do laundry inside my home, and I'm even spoiled enough to have a craft center/table in my laundry room.  I never thought about it like that before. I find myself doing tiny loads of laundry for an excuse to spend time down here.  All I need now is some chocolate candies in that candy jar as a sweet little reward for all my hard work.

Remember it doesn't have to cost a bundle.  Check the classifieds for used shelving, counter tops to turn into tables, all at a screaming deal.  Be brave and do it yourself!  You're far more clever than you realize!

Let the laundry battle commence!  Or is it laundry therapy, now...?

Book Review: 5 Nutrition Books That Will Change the Way You Look at Food

I don't know about you, but I love information.  I also love to read.  And eat.  And cook.  So that's why nutrition books are something I enjoy.  

If you are on a fitness journey, and you are trying to guess your way through it, you need to get another plan.  Information is power.  Power to change.

These are my five favorite books about food, nourishing our bodies, and eating for change.  There is an absolute truth that calories in < calories out = weight/fat loss.  But it also matters what you are eating for calories.  Here's what these books taught me:

1. "Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle" by Tom Venuto - this is basically a weight-lifter's book, but the method is sound.  It teaches the calorie equation: how many calories you need to eat each day.  It follows the "clean eating" model, which is basically high protein, veggies, fruit, healthy fats, & low/no sugar or bad fats.  It has a meal-assembly guide based on your metabolism type, which is figured out in an entire chapter.  Lots of math. Love.

2.  "The Eat Clean Diet" by Tosca Reno - Tosca's story is inspiring: around age 40 she changed her eating habits and exercise pattern & became a body builder/fitness model.  She sets out all the positives for eating clean & exercising from skin improvement to energy level and overall health, and every other reason in between.  She has a separate cook book with additional recipes that are all simple to follow and delicious.

3.  "Practical Paleo" by Diane Sanfilippo - Paleo is a gatherer diet, based on vegetables & fruits that have not been domesticated or genetically altered, high in protein, and avoids all legumes & grains, since those are "man-made".  She is heavy on the research based on her own experience with benefiting from Paleo, and provides several tweaks in the Paleo diet to combat diabetes, weight loss, systemic inflamation, IBS, and other issues that can be solved with Paleo.  

4.  "Shred: the Revolutionary Diet" by Ian K. Smith - this book promises big things, and again is based on eating clean.  The book outlines a week by week eating plan based on food groups.  The meal plan is filling, and I especially like the 8 or so pages of 100, 150, & 200 calories snack ideas.  

5.  "Thin Side Out: How to Have Your Cake & Your Skinny Jeans Too" by Josie Spinardi - this is a fun and eye-opening read about all the pitfalls of restrictive dieting & the reasons we eat or overeat.  It goes in-depth about the psychology behind why you reach for firsts or for seconds, & how to get yourself to stop, feel satiated on less, and get out of destructive eating habits.  Even if you aren't a binge-eater, this book provides the key to understanding why we eat beyond fueling.  

All of these books boil down to four things:

Eat clean: 

protein & veggies are the answer to long-lasting health & fat loss

Exercise: 

when combined with healthy eating it's the one-two punch that'll make a knock-out

Processed Sugar is bad: 

and we all need to eat less. it is the hard-work-eraser.

Results:

if you can stick with anything long enough, you'll get them

We are all different.  One book or author will speak to you more than another.  One eating plan will seem easier to you, and so you'll be more likely to follow it.  Find out what it is and do that.

Also, knowledge alone won't help you. Use your new-found knowledge and become wise.  Apply it.

And last, nothing will change unless you are willing and ready to commit.  It's like potty-training.  There's no point in starting unless there's interest.  Forcing leads to failure leads to lower likelihood of you ever trying again. 

I fall into the category of lots of lots of knowledge and a little application.  I have lots of room for change and improvement.  I've started and failed lots of times, but I know that when it's time I'll know.  Make sense?  I knew it was time when I kicked of the Summer Slim Down.  I felt ready to commit, ready to make it public, and ready to have a support system of women to come along with me.

Happy reading!

Book Review: Enjoyable & Humorous Reads

Nothing besides family brings me as much happiness as curling up with a good book.  Summer, Winter, Spring, or Fall, I love to read.  I loved it as a child, staying up late with a flashlight, finishing a whole book in one night, re-reading my favorites, like "Anne of Green Gables" many times over.

English class was an adventure for me, being introduced to classics, and exploring challenging books with fascinating meanings and lessons.  I loved dissecting the hidden meanings, symbolism, and plot twists.  

As a young mother I pretty much gave up reading, for my own entertainment and pleasure.  I read with my children at every opportunity, enjoying their joy & pleasure in children's stories, and the comfort they found in the repetition of their favorites.  I had "Little Miss Spider", "Everywhere Babies", "Fancy Nancy", & "Felicity Wishes" memorized.

When my kids went back to school, I picked up reading again...voraciously.  I can easily read a book a week, losing all track of time, space, and human interaction, burying my nose in pretty much anything with pages and a cover.  

That's not to say I'm not discriminating.  I won't read just anything, and I stick to my standards.  I really love to read from all genres, as well.  I've enjoyed a Dickens phase, a Tolkien phase, a Fantasy phase, a Period Romance phase, and a History phase.  Mostly concurrently.  I love recommendations from friends and family, belong to a book club, and keep a "to-read" list on my phone, as well as a Good-Reads profile. I really hate to lose titles that have piqued my interest, before I have a chance to read them. 

Here are a few of my recent favorites:

A couple years ago I read "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake", by Aimee Bender.  The main character has the ability to taste the emotions of her mother in her cooking.  As a mother I was fascinated!  And horrified at the implications! I couldn't stop reading it, and as it developed I was ever more intrigued.  By the time I finished, I called my sister-in-law and begged her to read it fast so I could talk to someone about it! I love books with unexpected endings.

I just finished this book last week: "The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of The Window and Disappeared" by Jonas Jonasson.  My mom recommended it highly, to me and my brother.  She said it was crazy funny.  It is about a man who leaves his nursing home on his 100th birthday and begins a crazy adventure.  As the book progresses, however, you realize that this is basically par-for-the-course for Allan Karlsson, who over the course of his 100 years, has lived through every major world crisis from the Bolshevik Revolution to the Cold War and beyond.  The dry humor had me laughing from start to finish, and also reading passages to my husband, who willingly listened, and even laughed along sometimes.  Thanks, dear, you're a good sport.  

I have a penchant for non-fiction literature.  "One Summer" by Bill Bryson was an entertaining and fascinating read.  History is fascinating with all it's twists, turns, and when looked at as a whole is amazingly intricate.  Truth truly is stranger than fiction.  The book related events happening in and around 1927, and it reveals that this one summer was hugely important and changed the face of America.  Bryson writes about the nature of Americans at this period of history, daring, reckless, adventurous, and unstoppable, on top of the world.  He finds the humor in every story and makes reading history superbly entertaining.

The most recent epic fantasy book I've loved is "The Stormlight Archive" by Brandon Sanderson.  A writer from BYU, he is known for his intricate and involved universes.  I find the books intriguing and fascinating, stepping out of the world of rules we know, and into another place.  The series will be upwards of 10 books.  At two years per book, and being only finished with two books, I'll be an old granny by the time the series is complete.  Ugh.  If you're looking for a completed series in the same epic fantasy genre, "The Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan is also a fantastic read.  Thirteen books, totally done.  In fact, the last two books were basically written by Brandon Sanderson, because Jordan died before he could finish.  Hmm.  I really enjoy both of these collections. 

Call me a nerd, I can totally handle it. 

         

Hopefully these have given you some good ideas.  If you have any recommendations, leave a comment.  I'm always on the hunt for my next good read.

Happy reading!