Curtain Tutorial

Curtains are probably my favorite thing to make. Weird, eh? I think its because I never use a pattern, I just measure the window and go. Its fun to think up the style in my head and make it come out my hands!

I am in the progress of making curtains for our new bathrooms. I have one done, and have the other all cut out. Here is a little tutorial on what I did:

Just so you know where I am going with this, here is the style curtain I made:

I just measured how long I wanted the curtain on the outside edges, and how long I wanted the middle to be. Then I cut diagonally between these two points. I left allowance for the top ruffle as well. This is a pretty large window, so had a 2” ruffle on top of the curtain rod. All total, with the bottom hem as well, I had about 6” hem allowance added to the length of the curtain. I cut two of these to make two triangle-shaped pieces for main part of the curtain. I also cut a rectangular piece for the middle that was the same length as the shortest side of the triangle pieces.

When that was cut out, I ironed all my hems. Here I am ironing the top. This is a large hem to make the place for the rod to go through and the 2” ruffle on top. (There is a real name for that place the rod goes through, but it isn’t coming to me right now!)

After they were all ironed, I used the curtain like a pattern to know how big to cut the lining. Ingenious, aren’t I?? Hey, whatever works! I wanted the lining to lay flat with the edges hidden by the hems of the curtains.

Next step was to serge all the edges of the curtain. This is so nice, so I don’t have to do the whole double iron-foldy thing on all the hems!

Then I just laid my lining in, and sewed all the edges! I started with the sides, then the bottom, and finally the top edge, making the curtain rod-thingy and the ruffle on top. (This is a very technical description, isn’t it?)

And viola! That was all there was too it!

Heres a picture with our $1 shower curtain. Doesn’t it all match so well!

When I get the other bathroom’s curtain done, I’ll show you a picture of that as well. I am absolutely hearting the fabric we got for that one!!

Organizing Challenge

Ever since I became passionate about this getting-my-room-organized thing, I have been reading the blog, I Heart Organizing. Seriously, this woman’s amazing. She is one of the ones that hyped me up about organizing in the first place. And she is oh-so-practical and fun!

Every month, she issues a month-long challenge in organizing and planning one area of her life, and invites all her readers to join in. Last month was photo organization. This month is putting together a household binder. I don’t have many photos, and they already were pretty much organized anyway, thanks to iPhoto, so I did not join in that challenge. I did, however, decide to join in creating my own planning binder system.

Ok, so I know that really I don’t have much of a household to organize. But, I have not previously found a great dayplanner that functions as an all-in-one place for me to keep my life organized. I have tried several ways and none of them have been “it.” So I decided to try this out, as there is so much that can be included besides a schedule. And even though I don’t have a busy schedule and life right now, I’d rather be organized already when that season of life comes. (Hmm, thats funny, I think that the Bible says something about that. Imagine that. Luke 16:10a, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much:”)

The first step of the challenge was to get a binder. Wow. This is going to be difficult. Just kidding.

I already had a white, clear-pocket-cover binder. (Or whatever you call it) (Somehow I don’t think “white, clear” makes any sense, but oh well.) I decided instead of just sticking a nasty looking cover sheet in the front, I would dress it up with a little scrapbooking paper. I snagged a package of fun paper at a discount store for a couple dollars, printed off a labely-thingy and went to work.

I just love the bright colors!

And of course I couldn’t stop with just the cover..I managed to shove some of that uh-mazing paper down the binder and on the back cover too. Yes, I am a bit OCD, why did you ask?

When that was all said and done, I loved it so much, that I decided to do the same thing with my prayer journal!

This has absolutely nothing to do with I Heart Organizing’s challenge, I just wanted a beautiful cover for my prayer journal, too. I almost like how this one turned out even better!

But back to the challenge. At the end of the month, I Heart Organizing will have a big linky party where we share our success stories and blog about our binders. So I am going to save the big-o reveal-o for then. But I wanted to let you in on the project so that you could be anticipating the end result, and so you could jump in the challenge if your little heart so desires! In case you haven’t noticed, the end of the month is very stinkin’ close, so you better hurry! I Heart Organizing has some FREE printables to put in your binder that are only going to be free for this month, so get them while you can!

Just for kicks, heres the list I came up with of the things I would like to see included in my planning binder:

General Calendar

Important Dates (instead of having to transfer these to a new planner every year, they can stay here from year to year. Woo-hoo!)

Blog Posts Checklists

Gift Ideas

Wish Lists

Sizes and Measurements

Personal Goals/Resolutions/Personal Mission Statement

Random Idea Lists

Important Phone #s

Finances

Storage Inventory

There are plenty of things that I can add as they come down the road, such as menu planning and cleaning checklists, and possibly a sheet for passwords. (Not for important passwords, mind you, just in case you thought you could hack my bank account. Just those random, unimportant passwords I always forget. Like Hallmark and Walmart.)

I’m interested in knowing...does anyone else use a method similar to this? Or do you have another method that works for you?

The Incomparable Christ

My heart has been challenged during the last few months by listening to a series by Nancy Leigh DeMoss on Revive our Hearts. I download the podcasts to my itunes and enjoy listening to them during the day when I get a chance. We do not have any good Christian radio stations in our area, so this is my alternative. Itunes makes it convenient for me!

Last week, Nancy began a series for the days leading up to Easter based on the book, The Incomparable Christ by J. Oswald Sanders. She has challenged us to read a chapter each day and then listen to her podcast further studying the thoughts along with the book. I was lucky to already own a copy of the book, as I had to read it for Christology class while I was in college. It has been such an encouragement to begin my day by focusing on Christ.

Here are a couple thoughts that have been new and challenging to me so far in this study:

“Jesus increased” from Luke 2:52. Although He was God, and therefore perfect, as a human He had to grow! He had to grow physically. Even though at this time He was 12 years old and considered a man by Jewish traditions, He still had to grow in wisdom and had more to learn. And yet He was the one who created all there was to learn about! (Don’t even try to wrap your mind around that one!) He also had to grow in His favor with God and with man.

Jesus was a model for us in the area of work and physical labor. Until He was 30 years old He worked in His earthly father’s carpenter’s shop. (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3) These years of physical labor helped form the physical strength and stamina that he would need for His earthly ministry. So often we think that He could handle it all without a problem because He is God, but He also had a human body! The long days of work with “not where to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20) needed great physical endurance to accomplish. Just from the accounts of His journeys that are recorded in scripture, Sanders book points out that He covered at least 2,500 miles...on foot!

At the time of Jesus baptism, God was already “well pleased.” (Mathew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22) Jesus had not yet accomplished and finished the work of His Father here on earth, but already, with just His growing up years and His years of work in the carpenter’s shop, God was “well pleased.” Luke 2:52 states that after that instance He increased in “favor with God.” By the time He was 30 God was “well pleased.”

I would encourage any of you that are not listening already to hop over to Revive our Hearts and join the series. It is not too late to catch up on the chapters you have missed. The podcasts are about 25 minutes in length, so it doesn’t take large chunks of your time. Even if you don’t already own the book, the podcasts alone will be an encouragement and challenge to your spiritual walk.

As we enter this season celebrating the death and resurrection of our Savior, lets keep our thoughts focused on Him and remembering what He did for us!

Disclaimer: This post is by no means a blanket endorsement of all you may read or hear at reviveourhearts.com. While I believe this ministry to be a challenge and encouragement to the spiritual growth of any lady, I encourage you, as with anything, to compare what you read and hear with scripture. God’s Word alone has the answers to every situation.

Spring Break

Its that time of year. Warmer winds are blowing (somewhere), grass is getting green (in North Carolina), wood piles are diminishing (ours is anyway), and schools are...well, out of school.

Which mean that, for a special group of my friends, it is also SPRING TOUR!!!

This special group of friends is the Ambassador Baptist College 20-voice ensemble. For four years I was privileged to travel with them throughout the school year, and for 10 days over spring break. And while I sit writing this blog post, they are out on the road, singing and ministering in churches.

I WANT TO GOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Ok, so I really miss being out with them. (In case you hadn’t noticed.) So I thought to bring more cheerful thoughts to my mind, I’d tell you all about spring tour and share some pictures of the years I traveled.

Our #1 ministry (yes, I said “our”, old habits die hard!) is people. This means ministering to the people we come in contact with, in their homes, at their churches, and stops along the way. Our #1 activity is eating singing. Ok, so we do a whole lot of eating, but we really are out there to sing.

Unfortunately, while I am singing it is quite hard to take pictures of us singing. So here is my one and only picture of the whole group singing. This was my freshman year:

We usually had about 20-25 songs in our repertoire, and sang about 6-8 of them a service. We had services every night and Sunday mornings for 10 days. Sometimes we also did some Christian school chapels during the day. Translate: a lot of singing! But we loved it!

I absolutely loved meeting new people and being in people’s homes. You learn so much that way! Seeing how other people live is so eye-opening!

For those 10 days, the 20-ish of us that traveled formed quite a tight bond. Here was our schedule: get up late, travel, eat, sleep, eat, sing, sleep, get up late, travel, eat, sleep, eat, sing, sleep...you get the picture. :) It seemed like that was our schedule anyway. But really we squeezed in some fun stuff together, too!

Sometimes we passed some time away at a mall. Here are a few picts:

This is Amber freshman year. She got in one of the show cars. :)

This is Kenny being...Kenny :) My freshman year Amber, Kenny and I would walk through malls together and do crazy things like this!

Senior year. Christy, Jaimie and I all bought new shoes!

Malls were always nice, not only to spend some time shopping (which didn’t happen much during school) but also to get some much needed exercise! If we went to a mall on a Sunday afternoon, that meant we were dressed in our matching outfits. 10 girls in one mall = weird looks and questions. People would stop us and ask if we were all together...no duh. Others would ask if we were all related...oh yes, we are dectuplets. (???)

Doc loved to stop at Goodwill, too. This was way more practical than a mall anyway...what college student has $$ to spend at the mall? At one Goodwill, Christy and I found the coats of our dreams....

Just kidding!

We also took fun pictures while waiting:

Melinda and Karen, senior year

Junior year

Lara, Amanda and I sophomore year.

This is Doc, talking on a cell phone. You have to know Doc to know the significance of this!!

Sometimes a church would put us up in a hotel instead of in families homes. This was always a little more relaxing and we were able to get some more rest...when we weren’t doing things like this...

Senior Year

The time spent traveling together in the van is probably my most favorite time of all. We did so many fun things together!

Sleep...

Here’s Scott driving...

Oh no! Uncle Beaner took Scott’s toilet seat cover!!! (Ok, some things you just had to be there!)

We would take lots of self-portraits to capture the fun, but they always came out blurry because we were driving down the road. :S Oh well!

Senior year

Sophomore year

Here is a picture of our vans, sort of. We traveled in three vans my freshman and sophmore years, and two vans my junior and senior years. My, wasn’t I spoiled those first two years! When we switched to two vans, we also pulled this small trailer for our luggage...which was extremely minimal, let me assure you!

Probably some of my most precious memories were from my last spring tour. Almost every day, a small group of us in my van would share what we had learned from our devotions that morning. We would also periodically have heart-to-heart conversations about things the Lord had impressed us with or things he was teaching us. It was such a precious time of edifying each other! Not only was it spiritually refreshing, it was fun too. (Like the morning Dan T. said, “This morning I read about the purification of a woman after child-birth. What!? I can’t help it that I’m reading through Leviticus right now!” :D)

There are many aspects of spring tour that I don’t have pictures of. Banquets, a favorite of mine...watching movies....getting pulled over (anyone remember who was driving?? :D).... studying together...passing a football in a church parking lot...listening to Doc and Dan beat world records in snoring...drinking slushies...the list could go on and on!!

I hope you will take a minute to pray for the Ensemble as they travel this week. They will get back to school late Sunday night, and have classes at 7 am. the next morning! :S Pray that their voices and overall health with hold up, and that they will have safety on the road. (No hitting deer this year!) Most of all, pray that each one will be a missionary to the people they come in contact with. Pray for the salvation of souls!

Missionary Monday - Prayer Request

I would like to ask you all to pray for a friend of mine, Esther Lockhart. Jeremy and Esther and their three small children are missionaries to Brazil, South America. They have been there just over a year now. Esther has fought ulcerative colitis during this time, and just in the last week has developed a condition called "pyoderma gangrenosum." yeah, I didn't know what it was either :) but is is basically large ulcers on her legs as a result of the colitis. You can read more about what it all entails and stay updated on her condition on their blog. I know you will be blessed by the other things you read there as well!

Won't you right now take a minute and pray for Esther and her family?

A Week and a Half With Sheba

Well, we have had Sheba for over a week now. You can read here about her introduction into our family. Heres an update on how she is doing!

At eleven weeks old, she is surprisingly smart! She already has some of the basic commands down- come, sit, stay, and get in your bed. She hears those ones a lot. :) When she is really excited or in a playful mood, she tends to “forget” what those words mean...but most of the time, if she knows you are serious about it, she obeys. It is SOOOOO hard not to laugh at her when she disobeys...she KNOWS she is doing wrong, but its oh so cute!

A very cuddly puppy when she is tired!

She really does not chew on things that she’s not supposed to. She has a box of toys and if she is bored she knows how to go pick a toy out of the box to play with. She usually is content to chew on one of those. Her one downfall in the chewing arena is wood. If we don’t watch her, she’ll chew on the rungs of our chairs. And she loves to eat the ashes and slivers of wood around the woodstove. We are trying to break her of this habit, because eating wood can’t be good for her! I have even seen her drag a large piece of firewood across the floor so she could get to it better. We are kind of perplexed why she is so obsessed with eating wood, as we give her plenty of food, doggie bones and chew toys.

From day one she has slept through the night without getting up and with no accidents. Thats great! Its during the day that she still is having some struggles. Yes, I know that makes absolutely no sense! She can hold it 8+ hours at night, but sometimes doesn’t wait 1 hour during the day.

Justin is her one-and-only. Three times this week I’ve had to “baby-sit” and let me tell you, it isn’t fun. She knows he is gone and she is very naughty. It was during one of these times that I observed the log-pulling incident I mentioned above. She whines and paces and chews on more things and begs to go out fifty-eleven times until he comes home. It is good that Justin is her one-and-only, because she is his dog. She just has to learn not to have separation anxiety!

Oh and one more thing....Killer. Let me assure you that Sheba is learning to have a healthy respect of the cat. :) She has gotten her nose batted more than once. Killer is good about that...she gives a warning bat without her claws extended before she actually goes in for the kill. We humans have been warned this way many times. :) Sheba just needs to learn that the cat doesn’t want to play...and then all will be well. As long as Sheba minds her own business, Killer is really indifferent to her. So I don’t think we need to fear for Sheba’s life any more. :)

It is fun to watch her grow and learn!

Sheba also wanted me to extend a personal invitation for all of you to come and meet her. She told me to tell you that you all are welcome any time! She loves company!

Top Ten Tuesday: Church Signs

Here is a somewhat humorous list of things actually found on church signs. Sad to say, some of them are very true!

1. "Looking at the way some people live, they ought to obtain

eternal fire insurance soon."

2. "This is a ch_ _ch. What is missing?"

3. "Come work for the Lord. The work is hard, the hours are

long, and the pay is low. But the retirement benefits are

out of this world."

4. "Have trouble sleeping? We have sermons--come hear one!"

5. "Do not wait for the hearse to take you to church."

6. "How will you spend eternity--Smoking or Non-smoking?"

7. "God so loved the world that He did not send a committee."

8. "Come in and pray today. Beat the Christmas rush!"

9. "When down in the mouth, remember Jonah. He came out all

right."

10. "Sign broken. Message inside this Sunday."

I know this will technically make this a list of eleven, but I have to share with you my favorite church sign that I saw personally. It said,

“The church is a gift from God. Assembly required.”

Cute, huh?

More Organizing

I did a little more organizing this week. I had had my eye on this for a while...

...but it was more moola than I wanted to pay. I kept checking, and sure enough, the price went down! Happy dance!

I planned to use it to store my toothbrush and paste, combs and brush, makeup, hair clips, etc. But there is a lot more room in it! So (happily!) I get to organize more and put more in it!

I did some cleaning out and some moving around to try to find exactly what would work for me. One thing I’m not too sure about it my makeup. I usually stored it like this:

In the green pouch is my daily makeup, and in the blue pouch is more eye shadows and such. It worked well. But I thought I’d try it like this:

Very unorganized. But for some reason, I am liking it this way. It is easy to see and grab what I need. And let me tell you, when you are as blind as I am, knowing where everything is and being able to recognize it is important. So yes, it is very unorganized, but I think it may be what works best for me.

I also got these for my room...

You should feel very privileged to be able to see my garbage, let me tell you.

One is for regular trash, and one is for paper trash. Here in Canada we are required to separate our trash, but thats another post for another time. I was using these two wastebaskets:

But the yellow one was way to small, and the wicker one, no matter how cute it is, won’t go with my room when I redo it. I found the new silver ones at the dollar store for only $2 each. How can you beat that?

And yes, I know that silver doesn’t match with the purple and brown color scheme I told you I was going with. But you think you can find these types of things in brown?? Oh no. So I thought silver might bring a soft touch to the room, more so than white or black would. We’ll see!

Our Family

Yesterday, my family went from a family of 8 to a family of 9!!!!!!

HOLD EVERYTHING! Wait, I only have a family of 7???

So I had a family of 7. Here we are, the way most of you know us:

Yes, there are 7. Phew, I was beginning to wonder if I could count that high.

Then we moved to Nova Scotia, and our family of 7 became a family of 8, by the addition of this face:

This is Killer. Her name used to be Snowy or something like that, but Killer fits better. She came with the house, but we are so glad. Because she lives up to her name, and kills everything. Mice, rats, rabbits, even mink. We are just waiting for her to drag home a deer or something.

She wasn’t too sure about us at first, but the kids spoil her, and now she loves us. Can’t you just tell by the look on her face??

Umm, wait, did I say the KIDS spoil her?

Whatever.

And then yesterday, our family grew once again. Enter Sheba:

Oh.my.cuteness. The Dog, that is.

She is Justin’s birthday present. His birthday was last week, and but my parents couldn’t find an actual puppy before his birthday. So he got this instead:

Which made it obvious what his real present was. Unless he’s really that hungry.

Yesterday the phone call came, and a lady in our church had seen this puppy and her sister online. Mom immediately made the phone call. She was part lab. She was only 10 weeks old. She was short-haired. And she was free. Win, win, win!

Justin immediately got busy training her. She’s doing remarkably well for only one day! And she is the most cuddly puppy we’ve ever seen. Oh, she has her playful, attack-your-toes moments, and her not so fun, piddle-on-the-floor moments, but she so far is a really good puppy. Here are some more pictures:

Welcome to the family, Sheba! From all of us...except Killer. :)

Yeah, still working on that...