Ice Skating

All this week, a couple of my siblings and I have been going ice skating. The activity center in Digby has had an hour of free public skating every day, since kids aren't back to school yet. It has been so much fun! We have not been skating hardly at all in the last 6 years, and so Rachel doesn't remember skating at all.

I don't ever remember going skating on a rink like this. All my past skating experience has been on "real" ice...the kind with cattails sticking up through it, ripples in it made by the wind, and a cow pie or two. :)
Thats Justin in the green, myself in the black and pink, and Rachel in the blue.

It has been great fun! Hopefully we get to do it a lot more before the winter is over!

Christmas Project

Now that Christmas is over and all my gifts have been given, I can show you one of the projects I was working on before Christmas. Yes, one of the ones I was working on, like, right before Christmas. But I did get them done!! And I did give them as gifts, no matter how much I wanted to keep them.

I made four sets of these pillowcases:

They are fun and super easy to make!! It is so fun to be able to pick out three coordinating fabrics. If you are like me, you LOVE browsing through the bolts of cloth, and being able to get a little of several bolts was oh so fun!

I would walk you through a tutorial on how to make these, but my friend Tammy has already done such a great job of it, that I will just let her explain everything. Go here to have her walk you through the super-easy process!

I personally think these make great, personalized gifts for everyone on your list! Depending on what fabric is available in your area, you could make pillowcases to exactly match someone’s bedroom, or just a theme that they particularly like.

And hey, why not start now? That way next Christmas you won’t have to cram them in the last second....

Definition of Busy

BUSY:

Being

Under

Satan’s

Yoke

-Ron DeGarde-

Luke 10:41-42

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Top Ten Tuesday - Christmas Pictures

We had a fantastic time in Maine with our family and friends last week! Here are ten of my favorite pictures:

10. My Grampie, covered with stickers from the new sheet sets my sisters got.

9. Baby Isabella

8. Baby Kevin in his adorable new hat

7. Kati, my best friend since birth. We split this gigantic pancake and still didn't finish it!

6. Oh brother! We got to see some other friends from school while we were there.

5. A group of friends...we've been friends like our whole lives.

4. A few of my cousins and me. We have this tradition, a party in the... well, you don't need to know where it is. Its a secret. :)

3. Us with our new pj's that Heidi bought.

2. This is all my first cousins, minus one. "We are family!"

1. And this is all of my family that was at this Christmas! 49 of us! That makes for fun times, lots of great food, laughs, tears, games, parties, gifts, etc, etc. :) The only thing there isn't a lot of is SLEEP!! But thats ok, we have too much fun to sleep!

I hope you enjoyed this peek into my week in Maine and my families Christmas. How was yours?

Note To Self

Like I said in this post, I decided to make most of my Christmas gifts this year. Happy to announce that the end is in sight! Which is a good thing, because so is Christmas.

In the process, tho, I learned a great lesson I’d like to share with all of you. Especially the ones out there that sew. You’ll appreciate this most.

Don’t ever buy pre-cut cloth.

Now, for some of you that may be a no-brainer. I probably would have never done it either, until I moved to Canada. Up here, the buying cloth thing is way different. For one thing, most fabric is priced between $8-10 a meter. A meter is just a little less than a yard. .9144 of a yard, if you wanted to know exactly. Translate that into English: EXPENSIVE!!! And this is coming from the girl who broke out in hives when she had to pay over $2 a yard in the States.

The other thing is that up here pre-cut fabric is way more common than in the States. In fact, our Walmart here doesn’t have any bolts any more, its all pre-cut. There goes that option.

So when I was looking for some Christmas cloth that wasn’t going to cost both my right and left arms, I found this little pre-cut baggie of 4 different cloths that looked oh so cute together. I firmly believe that is why they started doing this pre-cut thing, because when they put them together with coordinating fabrics, they are even more eye-appealing than cloth already is. But anyway, the price seemed good, and it seemed to be enough material for what I was doing with it.

So I gave in to their marketing system and bought it. And for weeks I just looked at it, so cute in its little bag. And then I finally went to use it.

What I then realized is that the person cutting did not have me standing there watching their every move, and so this said person didn’t care what it looked like. I am convinced that this person didn’t even lay the fabric out smooth before they cut...they just unrolled and chopped. Then they ironed it so it looked smooth and folded it so that it looked square on the outside and put it together with 3 other coordinating and equally-crooked pieces of fabric, and bagged it in a oh so cute deceitful bag and sold it to this sucker. Or maybe it fed crooked through a cutting machine. Whatever the case, it was so horribly crooked that I wasted several precious inches that I had already wasted several precious pennies on.

And so, lesson learned for this seamstress. And sorry Walmart, no more business from me in your fabric department. I would rather stand there and watch a warm human body laboriously cut my fabric, thank you very much.

Have you had any problems with pre-cut fabric? (Or am I the only dumb one?) How much do you pay in your area?

Top Ten Tuesday - Christmas Traditions

I already blogged about the most important Christmas tradition for my family. But I thought I would share a few other, smaller traditions that I enjoy.

10. Trimming the tree. In past years, it was always Dad’s and my job to wind the tree with lights and garland. Now with so many willing little hands, the job is delegated a little more, but still taken very seriously. There is this big joke every year about putting the lights on vertically instead. My mom hates lights that go up and down a tree, so at some point it invariably comes out: “Whatdya think about just putting these things up and down this year?” Its a really old, dumb, lame joke, but my dad or I (or both) always bring it up.

9. My Campbell’s soup ornaments. Okay, so this is technically part of the tree-trimming, but it is a separate, important tradition. For the first 7ish years of my life my mom every year got me a round ball ornament from Campbell’s soup with a different picture on each one. Then for many years she couldn’t find them any more, and then sometime when I was in high school she located a couple more. So I probably have somewhere around 10 of them. Every year I very strategically place each globe on the tree, in order by the date on them. They are my most important ornaments. Now the dumb thing about this tradition is that for the first time I didn’t even do it this year. Go figure. Actually, when the tree-trimming process was going on I was sick in bed, and the tree was very full of ornaments by the time I got up, and so none of my ornaments are on the tree. But thats ok. I’m not bitter.

8. Getting a new ornament every year. Ok, after this one I will leave the tree and its ornaments alone, I promise. But I have to include this one. Every year my mom gets us each a new ornament that we get to open the day we put our tree up. Its the only present we are allowed to open early. She gets one for my dad every year, so that when we are all out of the house, they will still have ornaments for their tree. Yeah, so they should have roughly 35 ornaments by the time Carrie leaved the house. So not counting the ornaments we get from grandparents and who knows who all else, this year we have 92 ornaments from my mom alone. Wow.

7. Celery sticks. Weird, I know. But its a Risinger tradition, that on Christmas Eve when we spend the day at my Dad’s parents, my Grammie takes celery and stuffs it with cream cheese and olives. Doesn’t that sound disgusting? I don’t even like olives, but this combination is amazing! It wouldn’t be Christmas without it. Ok, so it would, I know, I’m just saying. Try it sometime.

6. Calling my Uncle Paul. Like I already said, Christmas Eve day we spend with my grandparents and my dad’s sister and her family. My dad also has a brother, Paul, that lives out in Oregon with his family. Each year we send presents to them, and they to us, and on Christmas Eve we call them and we all open our presents with them on the phone. We always look forward to the family being all together in this way. I really, really wish that they would come home for Christmas again though. Just in case Uncle Paul is reading this! ;)

5. Christmas cards. My mom has this thing for the Christmas cards we receive. She hangs them from every door post all over the house. And leaves them up till February. I kid you not. We take down all our other decorations and christmas paraphernalia on New Years Day, but the cards? Oh no. we can’t touch those for two more months. She says she likes to leave them up because some we don’t even receive until after Christmas, and so those ones she wouldn’t get to leave up very long if we took them all down the next week. So up they stay. And every year we complain about it, just to give her a hard time.

4. Christmas gift exchanges. I know that sometimes it seems like you have a bagillion $5 gifts to buy for all those many gift exchanges, but I enjoy them. There are so many ways to do it. I like the one where everyone is in a circle and someone reads a version of the Christmas story, and every time they say “right” or “left” you have to pass your present that direction. You never know what you will end up with! White elephants are fun too. One time I gave a giant pickle in one of those. How fun!

3. Drinking soda. Ok, so this is more of a fun past tradition, but is was super important at the time. Growing up, I was not allowed to have caffeine because it made me even more hyper than I already was and kept me up all night. So the only day of the whole year that I was allowed to have Mountain Dew soda was on Christmas day. And yes, I looked forward to it for 364 days. My family still sometimes teases me about it now, when they see me drinking soda on Christmas, and they’ll say something like, “Are you having your one soda, Nicole?” :)

2. Staying up real late. When I was younger this was because of #3, but the older I have gotten the later and later I have stayed up. A lot of times on Christmas Eve the last few don’t go to bed until 2 or 3 am. I also have graduated to sleeping on the pull-out sofa in the TV room with my older cousins. Yup, some of the best Christmas memories are of 3 of my cousins sharing that bed and then going to wake them up in the morning for presents. Not very nice, was I? Now that I am in there, I am the receiver of such treatment though. :)

But you know what my number 1 favorite tradition is? Yes, I love the fun and fellowship that comes along with all of our Christmas festivities. But more important to me is:

1. Reflecting on the birth of my Saviour. It awes me to think that the God of the universe was a tiny baby on earth. He was a baby to be held, just like my little cousin Kevin (that I get to hold in 9 sleeps). Maybe its because I am a woman, but it awes me to think of Mary, giving birth to my Saviour in the muck and mire, with nothing to lay him in but a manger, and no clothes for him but swaddling clothes. It awes me that my Saviour humbled Himself to be born among cattle, shepherds, and sheep. Did you ever think about the fact that the baby Jesus needed his diaper changed too? Talk about humbling Himself!

I know that the focus of our redemption is on Christ our Lord dying and being resurrected for our sins. But the blessed fact remains that He did come as a Baby, stooping to such humble dwelling to be born to a virgin girl. And that fact to me is awesome.

So I hold my baby cousin Kevin, I plan to imagine what it would have been like to hold the Saviour of the universe, the One that died for my sins and yours. What a humbling thought.

What traditions do you enjoy? What traditions are unique to your family?

Hello Out There!!

That is my cry from deep beneath the mound of “things to do before Christmas.” Are any of the rest of you there? Ok, ok, I know its my fault. When it comes to gifts I am a terrible procrastinator. But I think I work better under pressure. Don’t worry, I’ll get all your presents in time.

This year seems almost busier than the past 4 years when I was busy getting gifts together, packing for a 20+ hour trip to Maine, studying and taking finals, making up hours of piano practice, finishing projects and papers, cleaning for white glove, going to a library Christmas party, a league Christmas party, a dorm Christmas party, a Sunday School Christmas party, a couple cantadas, last minute necessary fun things like trips to Sonic with my friends, and who know what all else. Phew, did you get as tired reading that as I did writing it?

Ok, so maybe this year isn’t as busy, but there is still a lot to be done. This last week we had two Christmas parties, one at a Chinese restaurant (Score!!), and this coming weekend is our Christmas program. It is going to be very small, but yet we are still super busy preparing for it. We also will be going caroling Saturday. After Christmas program rehearsal.

I also need to soon start at least thinking about what needs to go to Maine with me. Cause knowing me I’ll forget something really important, like my pj’s. Or my presents for the party in the... well, don’t ask where that party is. Its a secret. :)

Then there are my last piano lessons before we break for Christmas. I’ll have 6 of those this week, because thats how many piano students I have right now. You can read more about that here.

And of course, I must finish up those presents. I thought I’d be a good girl and make most of my presents this year. Yup, I am planning on that being the case. I just have to finish them up. So my room has these sorts of things laying around this week:

This:

And this:
A couple of these:
These:
And unfortunately, this:

:(

Of course, I can’t give you the details about any of that, now can I? It might give away the surprise. And we can’t have that at Christmastime!

Oh, and in case anyone wanted to know, at a gift exchange this week I got this super cute tin. It was even cuter because it had peppermint patties in it. And this was while I was at the Chinese restaurant. Wow, can life get any better?

Number 1 Christmas Tradition

Here is my first blog post with the new name. If you had trouble with the switch on your dashboard or Google reader or whatever else you use to keep track of this blog, let me know! I am really hoping that it just “worked” all by itself and that I won’t have to call Andrew Minion fix it. :)

So, its almost Christmas. And I have not blogged about it. At all. My bad.

I had intended to have all these nice little posts about my Christmas traditions, but there are so many of them that I didn’t even know where to start. For real. (If my english teacher is reading this, please excuse me, but it looks like this is the post for fragments.)

So I decided to at least share a few of them between now and Christmas. But I am for real serious about there being too many to blog about. For real for real.

I guess I should start with the basics. My mom’s family has this tradition. And over-riding, above all else, most important tradition. One that almost no member of the family would ever dare to break. One imbedded on our hearts since birth. And that is this:

Everyone must come home for Christmas

And you are saying, who is everyone, where is home, and ... who says?

Well, first of all, my Nana says. Actually said, because she really is home for Christmas, and has been for 7 years. (Wow, how time flies!) But when Nana speaks, we listen. And obey. No exceptions.

Seriously, even if Nana had not ingrained this in our thinking from birth, we wouldn’t want to miss it anyway. It is such a good rule that almost no one would ever think of breaking it.

So who is everyone??

Everyone consists now of my mother and her two sisters and two brothers, their spouses, kids and grandkids. Yeah, all total that is 50 people this year. Now there are a couple of rebels cousins that only come every other year. This year is an “on” year. The “off” years they go to their spouse’s family’s house. Understandable, I suppose. But forgivable??? That is another matter...

And finally, where is “home?”

Home for us all at Christmas becomes my Aunt Susan’s house. Believe it or not, the house is big enough for all 50 of us to spend the night, not just one night, but two! And at least all the adults will get a bed/couch/mattress. Only a few kids sleep on the floor. Yeah, its a big house. The tradition started 35 years ago when my Aunt Susan had just given birth to her second daughter Loralei. Not wanting to go out for Christmas, the rest of the family decided to come to her. At the time the “rest of the family” was my grandparents, their 5 kids, two spouses, and only two or three grandkids. (I think...Aunt Susan did I get that right?) This year, it will be 5 kids, 3 spouses, 14 grandkids, 7 grandkid’s spouses, 20 great-grandkids, and 1 adopted cousin. :) (Yes, I just added it and that equals 50.)

So there it is. Our overriding, most important tradition. I’m almost sure its written in the Bible somewhere. Trust me, if my Nana was here, she would be able to give you the chapter and verse.

New Info

Ok, the old "switcheroo" will take place in just a little while. Before I go changing everything on you, I will give you the updated information so that you can get to this blog once I change it. Again, if you have any issues with it, let me know. Blogger makes it look easy to do, but who knows?

The new address will be: nicoleslifeafter20.blogspot.com (Inspired by my aunt Susan's blog which is "Susan's life after Homeschooling." I just thought it was kinda cute. )

The new name will be: "A Living Sacrifice."

So here goes! Let me know what happens!

This Blog It Is A-Changing

When I started this blog, I named it “Pohnpei Posts” because I love Pohnpei and the people there and because I intended to blog about it. And in case you haven’t noticed, I have not done much blogging about Pohnpei. :)

So after much arduous consideration, I have decided to change the name of this blog. I decided that a blog about my life at the present should have a name that better reflects my life at the present. Trust me, this wasn’t an easy decision to make, because I still love the people of Pohnpei and the ministries that are going on there. But I think you’ll agree with me that a blog should not be called “Pohnpei Posts” when it has nothing to do about Pohnpei.

I do hope that before we move from the topic of Pohnpei entirely, that you will take a minute to pray for these missionaries to that island:

Rickson and Susan Kihleng - Rickson is a native of Micronesia that went to school at Ambassador. They have 5 children and started Ambassador Baptist Church on the island. Recently they had quite a scare with their youngest daughter, less than 1 year old, when she got a piece of plastic lodged in her throat. Praise the Lord, she coughed it up before they left for Guam for surgery.

John and Christa Boylston - John and Christa and their 5 children are on deputation to go work with the Kihlengs to translate the Bible into Pohnpeiian. Although most people on the island do understand English, there are some that don’t, and there is a desperate need for the Bible in their own language. Please pray that they will be able to raise their support quickly. Also pray for Christa’s health. Just a few short weeks after they made the decision to go to Pohnpei, she was diagnosed with MS. The Lord has been gracious, and pray that he continues to give her the strength she needs for deputation.

Dave and Ruth Ann Arthurs - Dave and Ruth Ann run a radio station on the island that reaches several surrounding smaller islands that have no gospel witness. Many have been saved through that ministry. They are currently in the states because of some serious health needs. Pray also for the couple that is on the island running the station while they are away.

Gabe and Susan Eiben - Just recently Gabe and Susan announced their desire to go work with the Arthurs. They have one small son. If I remember correctly, Dave Arthurs was instrumental in Susan Eiben’s salvation, but I may have that wrong. Pray that they will be able to get to the island quickly. As far as I know they have no health needs at the moment :) but certainly Satan will try to stop this great work going on there any way he can.

I know there are a few other missionaries and national pastors on the island, but those are the ones I am most familiar with. Please do keep these in prayer, and pray for the work being done on the island. You can also listen to some great sermons about how the work in Pohnpei started and what the Lord is doing now by clicking here.

Stay tuned for the big el-chango soon. Honestly I have no idea if this is going to affect your blog “following” or not. If you have issues with some of that techy stuff...ask someone who knows. :) Just kidding, ask me, and I’ll do what I can. ;)

Making Chair Cushions Part 3

Did you miss the other parts of this tutorial? You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

Well, here we are with the final part of this cushion tutorial. Personally the buttons were my favorite part. They just are so easy and come out so cute!

You can buy the shells of these buttons at Walmart or any craft store. They come in several sizes, so pick whichever you prefer. I used 3/4” for these. I really wanted 1” ones, but our Walmart wasn’t carrying them any more. Bummer.

To turn these buttons into beautifully matching masterpieces:

1. Cut out a circle of fabric for each button that is 1” bigger than the button.

2. Spray lightly with water. When it dries, it shrinks slightly, which makes for a nice, smooth button.

3. Center one circle of fabric over the button-maker. Place button shell over the opening, and push all the way in.

4. Tuck edges of fabric into the button shell and place back of button on top of this. Make sure the loop is facing up, or else you won’t have a way to attach your button. Minor problem.

5. Use little pushy-thingy to push the back of the button evenly into the button shell until it snaps in.

6. Push your finished button out of the button-maker.

Viola! Your buttons are now complete! And it is almost that easy to put them on your cushion:

1. Mark 4 even places on your cushion so that you can put your buttons on evenly spaced. I used chalk to make little marks on both sides of my cushion. That way I knew they would be evenly spaced on both sides.

2. Thread a long needle with several thicknesses of thread. Tie the end of the threads to the loop on the back of the button.

3. Push needle into top of cushion and pull through tight on the other side. Make sure this top button is “dimpled” however much you want it to be.

4. Here’s where I got ingenious and used a clothespin to hold the thread on the back side while I attached the other button. Otherwise you need about 5 hands to do it. It worked well!

6. Cut off needle; thread the other button on and tie it tight. Make sure you are “dimpled” on both sides of the cushion.

7. Wrap ends of thread around loop and tie a couple more times to make sure it will hold.

8. Cut off ends of thread. Please, oh please be careful that you don’t cut the cushion. That is one reason I used black thread for this, so I would be sure to tell the difference. The other reason was because it was a little thicker thread then the colored was.

And its complete! I personally think you could not beat these cushions at the store!

Did you learn anything through this tutorial? Have you ever made chair cushions before?

Making Chair Cushions Part 2

Well, here we are with part two: cutting out your cushion and sewing it all together!

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the cutting out part, so you won’t get to see my mad cutting skills. :) but I will do my best to explain without pictures.

Oh, and in case you missed Part 1 of this mini-series, which was how to make the cording, you can read it here.

Cutting out your cushion:

1. Cut cushion front and back whatever size you want, plus the depth measurement plus 1”. The depth measurement is necessary if you are making a box pillow/cushion, which I did.
2. Fold front piece into fourths with corners together. Mark a point halfway between the corner and the fold on each open side. So you should have two points you mark. At the open corner, mark a third point that is 1/2” from each edge.
3. Trim fabric from the point on the side to the point on the corner. Repeat on the other open side.
4. Unfold the front and use it to trim the back piece in the same way. This step eliminates “dog-ears” on your cushion. Yes, I always wondered how to keep them from doing that too.

Now that we have our pieces cut out, we are ready to start putting it all together:

1. Pin cording to right side of cushion top with the cording facing in. (Oh what a difference those little words make!) Sew together.

2. When you are about 2 inches away from the point where the cords will meet, stop stitching and leave needle in fabric. Cut off excess cord, leaving enough for it to overlap by 1”

3. Take out 1” of stitching from each end of the cording. Trim ends of the cord only, not the casing, so that the cords just meet.

4. Fold under the end of the casing that is on top to hide raw edges. Lay it over the other end and finish stitching.

5. Lay back piece on front, right sides together. Sew together. Leave part of the seam open that will be on the back of the cushion.

6. I chose to make mitered corners on my cushion, but there are other options available. To do this, follow these steps:

• Cut the excess material off at the corners.

• Separate front and back at corners. Line seams up and pin at seams.
• Make a line half the thickness of your finished cushion away from the corner. For instance, my cushions were to be 2” thick, so I make a line 1” from the corner
• Sew across this line.

• OH MY GOODNESS THAT IS SO EASY AND IT LOOKS SO PROFESSIONAL!!!!

7. Stuff your cushion. Oh what funness!!! You can use a foam chair form thingy available at Walmart or any craft store. Or just stuff it with regular pillow stuffing. If you are making a cushion, you will want to stuff it very full to that it will be nice and firm.

8. Now it is time to make the ties. You can make these as big or as small as you prefer, but make sure you make them long enough to be able to tie them to the chair securely. For mine I cut a piece of fabric 2 1/2”x14”. You must make 4 of these per cushion.

9. Press under 1/8” on long edges. Press in half lengthwise, wrong sides together.

10. Edgestitch on open edge. Leave ends open. Tie a single not at one end of each tie, enclosing raw edges. My material was very sheer, so I put a drop of Fray Check on the end as well.

11. Pin these ties into opening on the back of the cushion. Pin two ties next to each other on each side.

12. Make sure your pillow is stuffed completely before going on!!!!! Or else you will have to rip out your seam to fix it. Take my word for it.

13. Sew opening closed, making sure to secure ties well. Yes, it is a bit awkward, especially with a small work space. So just make it work.

Yes, I know my pins are all going the wrong direction. You...uh...dont’ prick yourself as easy that way. Seriously!

And now, my friends (my very dedicated friends, if you are still reading this thing) You are done your very cute, easy cushion. Unless, of course, you want to finish it off with cute, easy buttons...which will be the last part of this tutorial...which I will post soon. :)

Note: when using this comfy swivel chair to quickly move from sewing machine to iron to bed workspace back to sewing machine, do not, I repeat do not knock over ironing board with said comfy swivel chair. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.