How to make baby leg warmers

Last Christmas, my crafty sister-in-law Amy gave Eva little leg warmers she had made from women's knee socks. These things are the bee's knees, I tell you. So much better than tights, because you don't have to pull them down for diaper changes.

I don't know why it took me so long to get around to it, but after a quick little tutorial from Amy, I whipped up a few more pairs.

Here's how I did it:

1. Buy a pair of clearance women's knee socks. O.K., they don't have to be on clearance. But why not?

2. Cut the heel of the sock out and the toe of the sock off, keeping your cut lines perpendicular to the edges of the sock. (My cuts aren't perfectly straight here because I followed the lines of the stripes.)

3. Fold the foot portion of the sock in half on itself (right side out).

4. Slip the folded foot portion over the rest of the sock, lining up all of the raw edges, and pin.

5. Remove the outer platform of your sewing machine, then stretch the sock around the base to sew, leaving at least a 1/4" seam allowance. (The edges of the sock tend to curl, so pinning and leaving enough seam allowance is key.)

6. Flip the sewn cuff back over and—ta-da—you are ready to dress your baby!

Note: Stripes are difficult to line up because the knit stretches as you sew. Embrace the imperfections or pick a solid color.

7. Attempt to keep your model in one place long enough to take a picture and fail.

8. Squeeze those delectable chubby thighs.

Easiest project ever.

Eva is 10 months old!

Today Eva is 10 months old, so its time to document where she is at right now. I haven't kept a baby book or a scrapbook for Eva, so someday I will be very glad for the updates I've posted here. It is as much for me as it is for you. :)

What a happy girl! She loves to crawl and explore.

She pulls herself up to her knees on things, but she hasn't been brave enough to pull herself to her feet very much.

She had a blast playing with her cousin Oliver last week. She has started to be a little possessive, however, of toys Ollie was playing with and of her Grandma...

Bath time! Sorry, couldn't resist. I think Eva's baby chubs have her pretty close in weight to Ollie, who is 2 1/2 months older.

Special times with Great Grandpa. Grandpas are always good for having interesting things in pockets.

And Grandma is a pretty good substitute for Mom, but usually, this baby is still a big Momma's girl.

We unfortunately didn't quite make it through this month without a yucky cold and a run of antibiotics to heal up red ears. At least it has only been her second ear infection. She has been much luckier than her older sister's were in that regard.

Maybe due to her feeling better, this past week we have had some really good nights with several nights that qualified as sleeping through the night. I so love a good night's sleep!

Her hair is thickening up and still much darker than her sister's. Perhaps a little wavy, too. I just love her hair.

And no teeth yet!

Just lots of smiles, precious giggles and one sweet personality. We cherish every minute with her.

what we've been up to

Sorry I've been so absent lately. Here is what we've been up to:

1. This cold has been kicking my hiney. Eva, Sarah, and I finally got some antibiotics and we are slowly recovering. I've been taking it a little bit easy so it has definitely affected my productivity.

2. The basement is almost finished and I am so happy with it. We have moved back into the space and it is so nice to be using it. Here is what we have left:

a. Finish the trim around the stairway and caulk, spackle, and paint it. (The rest of the trim is all finished.)
b. Finish painting and hanging all the doors. (We don't have a functioning paint sprayer which would make this job go so much more quickly.)
c. Finish staining the bathroom cabinets that my dad built and install them.
d. Scrub the paint and perfa tape mud off the fireplace.
e. Caulk between the cork floor and the fire place and around the trim in the bathroom.
f. Install the backsplash in the bathroom after the cabinets are installed.
g. Get bids for a stair rail, order (or build) and install it.
h. Decorate!

So, as you can see we are almost finished. I promise to post pictures soon. It is hard to get everything straightened up enough for a photo shoot, but I just may have to quit waiting for these last few details to be finished and get something posted.

3. It is snowing today. REALLY snowing. Oh, April, you are famous for tempting us with spring and taunting us with winter. I still love you, April.

4. Basement progress has slowed a ton because the guys have gotten itchy to start spring farm work and have been spending their days outside—working on equipment, getting seed and fertilizer, and wishing the fields would dry up sooner than later so they can get to seeding.

5. We have nearly run out of water several times recently, so the guys have been working on our complicated water system to fix leaks and improve a few things. Its good to have water, you know.

6. We had a free plane ticket to use up before it expired, so Tom is in Texas having a redneck weekend (i.e. going to a Nascar race) and getting a few kicks in before the long season of hard work begins. Maybe he'll blog about his adventure. Maybe he won't. By the way, his peppers were delish and we've had them 3 times now. I know. He needs to update his blog.

7. Abby is in a Missoula Children's Theatre production this weekend—Treasure Island—and has been spending late nights this week at rehearsal. (She's a Villager.)

8. My sweet nephew Ollie turned one and he and his Mommy are visiting this week. I have some adorable pictures to post of him and his buddy Eva.

9. I am taking an e-course called Organize Your Paper Clutter by simplify101. I'm definitely learning some things and I'm hoping it will help me get on top of our huge backlog of paperwork. I think some of her other workshops look interesting also.

10. I'm obsessed with organizing lately, as evidenced by my last entry and my Feng Shui My Way challenge. We are still living in chaos of moving, and will be living in the chaos of remodeling for quite awhile, so it leaves me yearning for a clutterless household that runs smoothly and is easy to maintain. I have a lot of projects on my list that I'm sure you will be hearing about here on the blog.

11. I miss my housekeeper. (I know, wah wah. Can anyone say spoiled?) In Utah when I worked full time we had someone come every other week to clean and it was so wonderful not to spend our limited time together on the weekends cleaning. Cleaning bathrooms is my least favorite thing to do.

12. I've had a lot of design work come my way lately, which I've really appreciated. I'm hoping to eventually add a portfolio section to the this website. Now, if I could get just enough work (consistently) to pay for a housekeeper . . . (and if I could find someone who was willing to travel out here to the boonies . . .)

13. We earmarked our tax return this year to buy a swing set. Yeah! The nearest park is half-an-hour away, so I think the kids will really enjoy having one. Let the shopping begin!

14. Easter is coming and my sister-in-law and nieces are coming home from London! Tom's entire family will be together. I'm hoping to get a good photo of all the Clark cousins together since such a photo doesn't exist.

15. My brother is getting married and we just love our new auntie- and sister-in-law-to-be Annie.

16. My cousin is getting married on May 28. Then they will be our new neighbors on the farm! We are so excited!

There is so much to look forward to! Hopefully my blog will keep up with all the fun. Hopefully I can keep up with all the fun. All for now! Happy Friday.

Feng Shui Friday—Challenge #4 Results: Clean out the basement (its a contest!)

Click here to find out how you can join the Feng Shui My Way Challenge!

Challenge #3: Clean out your basement storage areas.

So, how are you doing? Have you cleared out any clutter?

I should clarify: Your clutter doesn't have to all come from your basement. Not everyone has a basement, but most of us have clutter. And if you do have a basement, you don't have to clear the entire thing out during this challenge. The idea is to make PROGRESS IN GETTING ORGANIZED.

Remember, this is a contest!

You have until Friday, April 15 at 8 AM to send me picture of your pile of donation items and e-mail it to me at joellynclark at yahoo dot com. The biggest pile will receive a copy of either Pioneer Woman's new book Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. or 27 Things to Feng Shui Your Life (Be sure to send your address with your e-mail!) Leave a comment on this post to tell me which book you would like to win or include it with your e-mail.

O.K., so now for my results.

Here is my pile all ready to load in the car to go to Goodwill. I have to wait until my next trip to Great Falls (without too many passengers) so I can take out my back row of seats and make room for it all.

Big pile, huh? Don't worry, I can't win this challenge. :) And to be fair, a lot of this stuff isn't really mine. There is quite a bit that belonged to my Grandpa and was here when we came. But it is still clutter and I can't even tell you how good it feels to get rid of things and free up space.

And this isn't my first load like this. It most definitely won't be my last. I still have more closets to clean out and this (my garage):

In case any of you have the illusion that I am a super organized person, here is a big dose of reality.

Someday when the weather is warm I will be tackling this space. It would be nice to be able to park in the garage. What a concept!

But since this started as a basement challenge, I thought I would show you that, too. Since our basement has been under construction, it has been through various stages of disarray. For a long time our storage room was packed to the gills with our basement furniture. Now since our flooring is in we have moved the furniture all back out and our storage room has become a work space for the last few projects.

Currently we are staining the cabinets for the bathroom in there. (Photos coming soon!) When we finally finish the last of the basement projects and convert this back into a storage room, I will be sure to post pictures of everything organized neatly on shelves and labeled. (Don't hold your breath.) But here's to progress, right?

P.S. I wanted to mention something about those donation items. Don't forget to write them off on your taxes! It really is worth it. They are a pain to itemize, so here is what I do. I lay everything out and snap photos. Nothing fancy—just snapshots of several items together laid out on the bed or floor. I keep a folder on my computer called "2011 Donations" and then we can refer back to that when when we are doing our taxes. Quicken makes it simple to itemize them. Works like a charm!

P.P.S. It is a coincidence that the contest deadline lines up with the tax deadline. If you haven't done your taxes yet, I will understand if your donation piles are a little smaller. But just think: next year you will have more deductions!

Feng Shui Friday

No Feng Shui Friday post today, I'm afraid. My family and I have all been feeling under the weather this week.

I'm sure you all don't mind having an extra week for the lastest challenge, do you?

By the way, I think I freaked a few people out with the idea of cleaning out their basement in one week. You don't have to clean out your basement in one week. Just get started by getting rid of a few things! This is a challenge to get rid of some clutter, and see who can create the biggest pile to donate. You will have a until a week from next Friday to send me your photos, so that gives you a total of 3 weeks to amass your donations. Good luck!

a trip to Utah

These new farm folk need their city fix once in awhile, so last weekend we trekked back to Salt Lake to visit old friends and do a little shopping. We had a fabulous time and loved seeing everyone. In our whirlwind to do as much as possible in a few short days, of course I didn't pull out my camera once. Camera phones work in a pinch, however. I did snap just a few photos using the Hipstamatic App on my iPhone:

Eva is happiest exploring the floor on her crawlers these days.

The girls and their buddies were so looking forward to swimming at the hotel. This time we decided to cheat on our favorite hotel (Little America) and stay at the Hyatt near the Gateway. Oops, their pool was outdoors. Oh well, the hot tub would do in a pinch!

These were our gracious hosts for two nights. We love our old neighbors and wish they could have come with us to Montana. Tyson is the cutest little two year old to ever have a conversation with.

Eva crashed in her high-chair at lunchtime. This was odd coming from a girl who doesn't fall asleep easily, but I guess we all partied hard. That and some yucky colds were acquired (and hopefully not passed on).

A stop on the way home supplied the opportunity to see my cousin and their sweet Aspen.

This and the next few photos were taken before our trip. But they were too cute to pass up including here.

I know, huh?

She doesn't suck her thumb like this very often, but I kind of wish she did. It's cute.

Mischievous and determined eyes cause me to predict a few personality traits shared with her sisters . . .

Feng Shui Friday—Challenge #4 Clean out the basement (its a contest!)

Click here to find out how you can join the Feng Shui My Way Challenge!

Challenge #3: Clean out the basement

Need I say more?

O.K. I realize for many of us this is a huge chore. So let me break it down. Clutter is the biggest enemy of Feng Shui, and much of it congregates in the basement (or the garage, or a storage room, etc.) Storage is a necessary evil, yes. But this week, let's evaluate the items we are storing and decide whether or not we really need to keep them. This is the stuff that goes from storage room to storage room when you move. Wouldn't it feel good to let go of some extra weight?

Then, let's see who can create the biggest pile to donate! Take a picture of your pile and e-mail it to me at joellynclark at yahoo dot com. The biggest pile will receive a copy of either Pioneer Woman's new book Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. or 27 Things to Feng Shui Your Life (Be sure to send your address with your e-mail!) Leave a comment on next Friday's results post to tell me which book you would like to win.

See you next Friday!

lessons from Frog & Toad

Did you see Abby's to-do list yesterday? Yes, she is her momma's daughter.

I've been thinking a lot about lists lately. Mostly because I live by one. I recently tweeted "I'm drowning in my to-do list. Save me!" I don't think that is what they mean when they say "live in the moment".

When I was grousing about this with a friend recently, she reminded me of Arnold Lobel's Frog & Toad Books, and one story in particular called "The List". I picked a couple of the books up from the library and have been reading the stories to my kids. They are priceless.

If you aren't familiar with this particular story, here is a quick synopsis: Toad wakes up and makes himself a list. As he finishes each item he crosses it off. Later, he is out on a walk with Frog and the wind blows his list away. He would chase after except (heaven forbid) that isn't on his list of things to do! So, he sits there for the rest of the day because he doesn't have his list to tell him what to do.

Finally, it is getting late, so Frog suggests they should be getting some sleep. Toad exclaims "Go to sleep! That was the last thing on my list!" So he writes "Go to sleep" in the dirt, crosses it out, and then Frog and Toad promptly go to sleep. Right there. Without going home, eating supper, and going to bed. I love it.

This is what I've learned from Frog & Toad:

1. Let go of perfection

This was my mom's reply to my tweet a few days ago, and it is sound advice. My to-do list weighs on me because of the pressure I put on myself to have a perfect house, cook a perfect meal, be a perfect person... And you know what? Nobody cares that my wallpaper is peeling and I didn't have rolls to go with my dinner. (As long as there is a good dessert! Ha.) And it didn't matter if Frog & Toad did everything on the list. They were together enjoying each other's company.

2. Be flexible

If there is one thing I've learned about being on the farm, its that having a structured schedule is impossible. We never eat at the same time and we never do the same things every day. Pile a baby on that and you never know what your day is going to look like. Some days I feel like I'm lucky if I cross one thing off my list.

The notes application on my phone is probably my most-used app. I keep my to-do list there, my grocery list, a list of blog post ideas, movies to see, books to read, and it goes on. The other day I found a note with gibberish written in it and several of my important lists were deleted, including my grocery list. (Sarah!) It caused me some frustration, but life went on. Sometimes your list blows away.

3. Celebrate what you've accomplished

I love how Toad wrote "Wake Up" on his list after he had already woken up, just so he could cross it off. You know, there is a lot of satisfaction in crossing things off your list. Sometimes I forget to celebrate things I actually did get done, especially the everyday things like doing the dishes, feeding and playing with the baby, reading the girls a story, and laundry. (Laundry is always on the list!) One thing I have been trying to do lately is "pick three". I prioritize my list and focus on the top 3 things. It helps me to focus my time everyday instead of bouncing around trying to do too much and accomplishing nothing.

4. Enjoy the process

This is the biggest lesson I want to learn—to stop stressing about what isn't done and just enjoy doing things. Sometimes I even let the fun things on my list stress me out. But if everything was done at once, what would I do with my life? What would I write about on my blog? (Ha ha.) Hard work is a privilege. Having a capable body and mind to do those things is a privilege. I want to learn to enjoy doing even the most mundane chores. So let's rename the to-do list, shall we? How about the Get-To-Do list? Or the Can-Do list?

Abby's list

Feng Shui Friday—Challenge #3 Clear out old pictures

Click here to find out how you can join the Feng Shui My Way Challenge!

It is time to reveal the results of our third Feng Shui My Way challenge:

Challenge #3: Clear out old pictures

I confess I didn't get very far with my own photos this week. But fortunately I already have a few systems in place to manage my photos. I have big plans to take this even further, and I will tell you about all that today.

#1: PHOTO STORAGE, ORGANIZATION, AND BACKUP

I started shooting digital full time sometime around 2004. Before that, I had a nice Canon film camera. I used to get doubles printed everytime I had them developed so I could give a set to my mom (a habit I got into especially after I had my first baby). All of my film photos are stored in photo boxes like this:

 

One thing already that would make this tons better is labeling my boxes!

Most of the boxes are organized by event. Unfortunately several are just filled with stacks of unsorted photos.

Had I really followed my own advice in this challenge, I would have sorted through all of these and tossed out duplicates and any photos that generated negative emotions and memories. Someday I will get that done. Eventually I want to scan the best photos and keep them with the rest of my digital photos, and ultimately to print them in photo books (more on that below).

My digital photography workflow is this: I upload my photos onto my computer and immediately label them by year, month, and event. I have a folder for each year, and each event appears chronologically within that folder.

In each event I end up with at least 2 folders: JPEG (full size files for all the keeper images) and BLOG (for images I have sized to post on the blog). I often also have a RAW folder for my best photos that I may want to go back and edit*.

*Since I shoot in RAW (read about that here), my files take up a ton of space. I know many people would NEVER delete their raw files, but I shoot so many photos to get one good one, and I can't justify taking up that much room on my hard drive for one good photo. So I delete all the blurry, bad photos, and the rest I process to JPEG.

I only keep the current year of photos on my computer. I want my computer to run as fast as possible, so I don't want my hard drive to fill up. The rest of my photos I store on two 500 GB hard drives.

Hard drives are inexpensive these days, so this is a small investment to keep your photos safe. My first drive (labeled Joellyn #1) stays on my desk and I try to back up to it every time I do a big photo upload, or at least once a week.

The second drive (Joellyn #2) is a duplicate of #1. I used to back up to it about once a month, but I have been slacking on it lately. My main goal is to make sure I have each year backed up on both hard drives before I delete it off my computer (so I have every photo in at least 2 places).

You can use software to set your hard drives to automatically back up. I haven't done this, but I should. You can also pay for online storage, another option I would like to explore but just haven't had the time. If you use one of these options I would love to hear about it!

One other thing to think about. It is good to keep your hard drives in 2 different locations. After I get my 2010 photos backed up onto my second hard drive, I intend to store it at my mom's house. This makes backing up a little less convenient, but it ensures I won't lose ALL of my photos in the event of a fire or some such tragedy.

If you haven't done this yet, take some time to back up your photos. Can you imagine losing them all? It happens.

#2: UPDATE FRAMED PHOTOS

Like I mentioned last week, I haven't gotten around to decorating this house much or displaying/hanging photos. In my old house I had a photo gallery in our living room:

I intend to hang it in our living room here also, and when I do, I want to fill it with my favorite recent photos (instead of letting them live on my hard drive where no one can see them).

My mother-in-law recently lectured us about how pitifully outdated her mantle was getting. (Gulp.) I am currently working on going though my folders to find images to print for her. In this digital age I have to work harder at remembering to print and use my photos.

#3: SHARING YOUR PHOTOS

Aside from remembering to print photos for your family (guilty), you should also be able to easily enjoy your own photos. Are you faithful about putting them in albums? I'm not.

I have 3 scrapbooks: my childhood, my wedding, and Abby's first year. Then I stopped. It isn't that I don't enjoy scrapbooking, but it takes too much effort for my life right now. I also don't like how I go back and look at them and cringe at the style of scrapbooking. (I know I'm not the only one!) Going forward, I have decided to do digital photo books. I have printed one before and loved how it turned out. I hope to do one for every year since we have been married (1997). And I might actually get it done if I can just follow the K.I.S.S. method (which goes completely against my grain)! I can just imagine how proud I will be to have 14 books lined up on my bookshelf.

A couple of benefits to digital that you may not have considered. #1: You can make multiple copies. Your mom wants a copy? No problem. Just print two! #2: Depending on the service you use, your photo book will be stored online under your account, so if something ever happened to your book, you could just log on and order another. Its a pretty good insurance policy against losing your photos! Have you tried to print a photo book yet? I would love to hear about it. I need some inspiration and motivation!

So, its a wrap. Um.... are you there? Did I put you to sleep? That was one long and wordy post, but I hope it will be helpful to at least some of you. See you next Friday for another challenge!

the big melt

This week the warm winds have blown in and have melted all our snow into big lakes. Lakes are an unusual sight for this dry landscape, as is the wildlife that has come with it.

If these lakes don't dry up within a month or so they will kill the seeds that are planted beneath them. But mostly the moisture is very welcome.

The water has also made for extremely muddy vehicles and nearly-washed-out roads. It had been running over the road in several places the past few days, but had receeded by the time I snapped this photo.

Such is life on the gravel roads! I have been enjoying the scenery, regardless.  And even though most certainly the Montana weather will bring us more snow again, I can feel spring in the air and I'm excited for the landscape to turn green.

I ❤ Grandpa because he feeds me ice cream

Today little miss Eva is 9 months old! I thought I would take this opportunity to document where she is right now.

These photos demonstrate how badly I need to buy a decent flash for my camera. Oh well, blurry or not, they were too cute not to share.

Eva doesn't have a well-child visit until she is 1 year, so I don't know exactly how big she has gotten, except that I just had to dig out the bin of 18 month clothes (hand-me-downs) I have because she is outgrowing her current wardrobe. If Grandpa keeps feeding her ice cream she will surely grow out of these before long too. :)

Eva brightens everyone's day with her smiles and giggles. She is so sweet natured and a joy to have around. She has turned into a BIG momma's girl, though—probably because she has the benefit of having me around 24/7. I think she is a little more mellow than her sisters were at this age, but of course it is hard to remember exactly how they were.

She enjoys eating anything she can feed herself, so she eats lots of veggies and potatoes from our table, and gobbles up all kinds of fruit. Cheerios are her new favorite thing. She still won't take a bottle though, so the weaning process might be a challenge when the time comes! She doesn't have any teeth yet... so we still have that fun ahead of us. She doesn't drool like I remember the other girl's doing, so I'm not quite sure what is going on in her little mouth.

She is doing much better in the sleep department, sleeping through the night about half the time. Except the past week. Maybe those teeth are finally coming?

And the biggest milestone reached this last month is crawling! She is no longer stationery and I can no longer turn my back on her for even a second. She crawls the traditional way (no crab crawls or army crawls) and now hates to be stuck in anything where she can't move. The Exersaucer we got her for Christmas is now defunct, I'm afraid.

She pulls herself up onto her knees and looks very proud of herself. It won't be long before she pulls herself to a stand, so we'd better be lowering that crib mattress!

We just love this girl and are so happy she is part of our family.

Feng Shui Friday—Challenge #3 Clear out old pictures

Click here to find out how you can join the Feng Shui My Way Challenge!

This week has just flown by, and I can hardly believe it is Friday again and time for another Feng Shui My Way Challenge:

Challenge #3: Clear out old pictures

The book 27 Things To Feng Shui Your Home warns that keeping old photos around can stir up old negative emotions and wear us down. Now, I am one to treasure old photos like nobody's business, so my first impulse was to dismiss this one. Why deny your past? Not all memories are good, but at least they teach us something. At the same time, when I look through old photos and find relationships and weddings that have dissolved, photos of myself that I don't like, and so on, its true that they stir up negative emotions. I'm going to have to give some thought to this.

The "My Way" part of this challenge is this:

#1: We should all have a good system for keeping our photos organized, both printed and digital. I take a lot of photos, and if I don't keep them organized as I import them, they would be a huge mess. Next week I will show you how I organize my photos and how I back them up to ensure they won't be lost forever in the event of a computer failure. I'm also going to take this week as an opportunity to catch up on my archiving process.

#2: The second part of this challenge is to update the photos you have displayed in picture frames. I haven't hung very many photos in this house yet, but I know the frames I have still packed away in boxes are quite outdated. I am going to make an effort to print some new images to replace them with as I hang them. (I'm not talking about the nostalgic ones. Of course I'm going to keep photos of my late grandparents, our wedding photos, etc. I'm talking about current family photos, school portraits, and the like.)

#3: Think about how you display your photos for others to see. This is where the greatest joy comes from. For me, this blog is a big part of my sharing, but I was recently reminded that I haven't been very good about printing photos for my extended family. My mother-in-law's mantle is severely outdated. Also, I am terrible about getting photos into scrapbooks or albums. The last scrapbook I did was of Abby's first year. I have decided to go digital with my albums, but I have yet to print even one book. Even though it is a project that would be so much for me to work on, it falls to the bottom of my to-do list and I may never get around to it if I don't carve out some time every week to start making progress.

So, join the "picture" challenge with me this week, and tell me how you've done! Good luck.

a trip for old time's sake

I hope you don't mind if I wax on about some special family memories today.

Since our basement project has kept us pretty close to home, after the carpet laying last week we were all ready for a break. That meant getting out of town. Some of my favorite childhood memories were spent in the Flathead valley visiting my Grandparents. I didn't get there very often after I left home. Even though my dear Grandpa and Grandma are no longer around to visit, we still have family in that area and I've been dying to go back there. So we packed up the Yukon (a.k.a. ranch limo) with all of us + mom and dad and headed out.

Even for a short weekend, we made memories and enjoyed every minute of the beautiful drive and our time there.

The girl's memories will be centered around feeding the lambs. They are in the middle of lambing season and had 6 new lambs the morning after we arrived! They have 4 in their garage now that are being bottle fed because their moms had triplets and couldn't feed them all. The girl's participated in feeding them every chance they could. And Abby even slept on the couch so she could join Uncle Dale in his middle-of-the-night lamb checks out in the barn. I wonder if their enthusiasm would last if they had their own lambs to take care of? (Not that we are considering it. Nuh-uh.)

The girl's participated in the morning chores. First they had to number a couple of the older lambs so they could be turned out to make room for newer ones in the barn. They are numbered to match their mommas.

Then they helped feed the sheep while Momma Llama looked on.

Afterward the kids were rewarded by getting to see a lamb be born!

This is one of the ewes that had triplets.

The rest of our memories will be centered around our time with family and enjoying Aunt Bonnie's good cookin'.

These sisters look nothing alike, do they? :) (Sorry, Mom, you probably won't be happy that I posted a picture with your hair uncombed, but this picture is sweet and you are both so pretty.)

We got to meet handsome baby Jace and get a few cuddles. And of course we did plenty of cuddling with little Eva, who was the best little traveler.

Sweet and spirited Paige. We found out Paige and Sarah are two of a kind. Here she is entertaining Eva:

The scenery there never disappoints and I was reminded to keep my camera at the ready.

Ah, am I ever happy to be back in Montana!

Feng Shui Friday—Challenge #2 Keep doorways clear

Click here to find out how you can join the Feng Shui My Way Challenge!

Happy Friday! Did any of you have a chance to meet Challenge #2 and clear your doorways? Friday came around really fast for me this week, so I was very glad this week's challenge was a little easier than cleaning out my closet.

The hallway/doorway leading to our garage has been driving me CRAZY. This is what it looked like:

Yes, that is a big dog and dog bed taking up most of the hallway. I also had this to contend with:

Tom would always come in from working outside and shed his work clothes and boots right inside the door. I'm trying to train him to hang them on the hook in the garage, right outside the door. Still trying.

I have a long term plan for this problem that includes removing the closets you see in the top photo. I will leave an area next to the refrigerator for the dog bed and hooks for Tom's long work clothes. Then, in the rest of the space, I want to have a long bench and hooks to function as a landing strip for our coats, diaper bags, backpacks, etc.

That is all well and good, but who knows how far off the "long term" plan will be. So, to ease my frustration, I came up with a great solution.

First, I removed the bottom two drawers in the built-ins. They weren't holding much more than a few paper bags and empty plastic jugs.

Then, we removed the drawer glides and hammered out the divider between the two drawers.

And we were left with a great new cubby for the dog bed!

Ideally, we would find a different place for the food and water bowls too, but baby steps, my friend. When the weather is warmer I think those can go out in the garage.... along with the dog, I hope. She is pretty spoiled and I don't know if I have the heart to kick her out, but she sheds SOOOO MUCH!!!! I'm pulling my hair out trying to keep her hair vacuumed up. But pulling my own hair out is sort of counter-productive. :) But I digress.

Mia wasted no time trying out her new bed and is just delighted with it, as am I. No more stepping tripping over the dog bed every time I leave the house!

Because of the carpeting deadline in the basement i didn't clean out any closets this week like I wanted to. But the two in this hallway are on my list. Have you been cleaning out your closets? Or clearing your doorways? Do share!

basement progress—bathroom teaser

If you could hear through cyberspace you would hear alot of banging in the background of this post. That is because the carpet layers have arrived and are nailing down tack strip in our basement! We have been putting in a few marathon days to get ready for their arrival, and while I wish I could say that we were 100% done with everything, we still have quite a bit more trim to caulk, spackle, and paint. We also have the flooring on the stairs to do and a few other finishing touches around the basement.

But for today, I thought I would show you the progress in the bathroom.

It went from this....   to this.....

And now to this....

Well, I'm not quite ready to show you the whole thing yet. We have some cabinets to build, mirrors to install, etc. and I want my final reveal to be complete. But I won't leave you hanging. Here are a few teasers:

A glimpse of the sink and faucet, with a peak at the marble tile countertop in the background. (We still have to add a tile backsplash after a tall cabinet beside the sink is installed.)

This is the accent tile in the shower, and below is one of the dual shower heads. We have my dad to thank for the gorgeous tile work. Considering how much tile installation would have added to our costs if we would have had to pay someone else to do it, we are incredibly fortunate to have a bathroom this beautiful.

The floor is simple except for the addition of a subtle "rug" accent in front of the sinks.

The light fixtures are from West Elm. You will have to excuse the construction dust on everything... it was futile to clean at this point.

We kept our costs in check by purchasing all in-stock items from Home Depot. The tile is a great line of porcelain that included a great variety of accent pieces to choose from. The sinks are semi-recessed from Decolav. The faucets are these by Glacier Bay, and while they were a little less elegant than I wanted, they were the only in-stock option that would work well with our sinks. We were willing to make a few concessions since this is, after all, a basement bathroom.

For example, I had my heart set on a Euro-style frameless glass shower door. After pricing a couple of options ranging from $850 to $1400, we decided we would live with a shower curtain. We are installing a rod that is hidden inside the shower and an extra long shower curtain, so it won't be visible when the shower is not in use. (I'll show pictures later.) So, as I said, we have made a few concessions; but we are still very pleased with the results (especially considering where we came from!)

Kids are awesome (Part IV)

My kids haven't quite figured out how to survive a Montana winter. They are getting antsy to get out of the house. It is March first and everyone I know is starting to fret about the fact that winter hasn't let up once since November. (I honestly don't remember a year when snow covered the ground THE.ENTIRE.WINTER.) But having grown up here I am keenly aware that winter could hang on for 2 more months. I hope it doesn't. But it could.

The other day the girls decided they wanted to try to play some basketball. This scene cracked me up. First, they tried to dribble the ball in the snow and quickly realized that wouldn't work. Then they tried to shovel the snow off—only Sarah grabbed a rake instead of a shovel. (And actually tried to move snow with it.) Even better is their clothes: sweat pants and rain boots? They have perfectly good snow gear. Abby is in a light spring jacket and has a neck warmer on her head. Being the good mom that I am, I just sat back and watched them suffer. Not surpisingly, they were inside 5 minutes later complaining about cold toes and begging for hot chocolate.

Feng Shui Friday—Challenge #2 Keep doorways clear

Click here to find out how you can join the Feng Shui My Way Challenge!

Hello! It's Friday, which means it is time for our next Feng Shui Friday challenge! Last week we tackled cleaning out our closets—no small task—so this week you will be happy to know we have a less-grueling challenge.

Challenge #2: Keep Doorways Clear

The book 27 Things To Feng Shui Your Home tells us that our doorways are like "mouths" to our homes in which we breathe and circulate energy. True. But if you don't want to look at it that deep, I know I don't like to walk around my house tripping over things.

I have a least one problem area in my house: the door leading from my house to the garage. I am constantly stepping over a dog bed and Tom's work clothes that seem to always land in a heap by the door, and it drives me nuts. I will tell you about my solutions to this problem (and any others I find) next Friday. I hope you will tell me about your experiences too.

Oh, and since this is a fairly simple challenge, feel free to still work on those closet projects and tell me about those too! I am hoping to tackle another closet this week also. Good luck!

a red-letter day

I almost forgot to tell you—we rolled out the red carpet! Rolled it right up and out of the house to the dump.

As much as we valued this carpet for nostalgia's sake (cough, cough), it was time for it to go. For it's aesthetics, yes, but more so because it was completely unsanitary—perpetuated by a slow leak in the toilet. Yep, sorry, this post is about a bathroom, after all. It was a dirty job to remove as it was glue-down rubber-backed carpet that had to be scraped up.

So, when we ordered our carpet for the basement, we asked the floor guy if he had a cheap piece of vinyl he could sell us. He offered this piece for $100, and we agreed sight unseen. We really didn't care what it looked like, but it didn't turn out half bad.

While we were at it we also decided to remove the lace curtains and the old glass shower doors to make sitting on the edge of the tub and bathing kids easier.

It made a huge difference in opening up the bathroom. It did leave some marks on the tub (that I can't get off despite trying vinegar, lime away, etc.) and some minor holes in the tile, but it was still worth it. I put up the shower curtain from the girl's old bathroom to keep the shower functional.

I hesitate to call these "after" pictures, because really they are just temporary. There is still a lot of work to do to improve this bathroom. It badly needs a paint job, for example (as you can see from the marks left by the old register). Tom lightly tacked up some baseboard to hide the unsightly black stuff left by the carpet base, but we didn't even glue the vinyl down.

Eventually we hope to completely redo this bathroom; new tub and sink, vanity, and tile floors and tub surround. Even though the guys are saying "whoa, one project at a time, lady!", I can't help but dream a little about someday . . .

image from Longman & Eagle.

I lost the source for this image. If you know it, please let me know. Thanks!

I especially love this bottom image. I am inspired by black and white tiled floors, lovely wood vanities (maybe even an old dresser), and unique mirrors. Does anyone miss the red carpet treatment now?

mount laundry

We get our water from a nearby river, and a couple of weeks ago the line had a leak, which happens occasionally. They had to shut the water off to fix it, so we had to rely on the water in our cistern for a few days (which we also share with my aunt and uncle down the road.) That put us in serious conservation mode, so I skipped doing laundry that week. The next week, when our cistern filled up again, I had Mount Laundry on my hands.

While I would like to say I'm one of those people who folds the clothes right out of the dryer and puts them away, I am not. I wash the whole lot, then sit down in front of a movie and fold them all later. This time I was out of laundry baskets to hold all the clean clothes, so I improvised:

Yes, we filled this ENTIRE play yard with clean clothes.

This had me wondering if there would me a more efficient way to do the laundry. I know some people like to do a little bit everyday, but I am an all-at-oncer. I keep a laundry hamper in each bedroom, and on laundry day I retrieve them and sort them by color. That way I have full loads of each color.

I am intrigued with the idea of throwing a load in every morning, though. If I did that I would probably make everyone deposit their dirty clothes in the laundry room every day instead of in the hampers in their rooms. Then I could just tackle the color that was the most full that day. How do you do your laundry? Do you have any great systems that work for you?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some clothes to fold.