I’m Back! Did you miss me?

It’s been a while. I think I’ve just had the craziest 6 months of my life beginning when my father passed away in April. Since then, life has been coming at me nonstop. Here are some highlights:

• My son, Michael, finished up his Eagle Scout application, had his board of review and his eagle court of honor 
• Michael graduated from high school
• We had 4 birthdays and my 25th wedding anniversary. 
• My husband and I volunteered as youth leaders on a church pioneer handcart trek reenactment. 
• Michael submitted his paperwork to serve a mission for our church and received a call to Russia with 8 1/2 weeks to prepare before reporting to the MTC.

Last Saturday, I helped give a baby shower for a friend having her first child. I decided to make a rag quilt out of some cute flannel I’ve been collecting for the past 13 years or so. 
Here’s the final product:
  

Cute, huh?  
One thing I love about these quilts is that they’re super easy to make, and they’re very forgiving. If the seams don’t line up, that’s okay. You’ll never notice. 
To make it you need to be able to do a few simple things: cut fabric in relatively straight lines, sew a relatively straight line, and be able to make many small snips with your scissors. That’s it. 
Here are the basic instructions:

• Start with 5-6 yards of your favorite flannel.
• Cut 70 9-inch squares.

  

• Sew two squares together, right sides out, forming an X. 

   
   

• Lay out pattern. 

  

• Sew squares together in rows with a 1/2-inch seam allowance with all the seams facing the same way. 

  

• Sew rows together with a 1/2-inch seam allowance with all the seams facing the same way. 

  

• Sew around the outside of the blanket with a 1/2-inch seam allowance. 
• Snip all the fabric between the seam allowance and edge of the fabric. 

   
 

• Wash in your washing machine and dry in the dryer. 
• Trim any loose threads and enjoy!

   
   
Try it out and let me know how it turns out!

New Year’s Resolutions: Yea or Nay?

Have you abandoned your New Year’s Resolutions yet? 

I’ve been doing really well this year, but to be honest with you, I rarely set New Year’s Resolutions.  I prefer to set goals at the beginning of the school year, because my life is dictated by my kids’ school schedules.

I have one long term goal which I started working on a year or so ago.  It is: Do at least one thing every month to improve my preparedness.

The one thing can be practically anything.  Some months, I buy some additional food for food storage,

 

Food storage!

 

or I learn a new skill (like baking bread, patching holes in clothes, using old clothes to make a blanket or other useful item, or making my own spice mixes),

 

 

or I inventory what I have on hand and see if anything needs to be replaced or used before it expires,

 

This is the food storage iPhone app I use called aptly enough, “Food Storage App.”

 

or I purchase non-food supplies such as soap, first aid supplies, laundry or dish detergent, blankets, batteries, etc.

 

 

When I’m really on the ball, I do more than one thing!

 

This year, I set some real resolutions.  Want to know what they are?  You don’t have to twist my arm.  I’ll share.  Here they are:

1.  Index 1 batch a week and arbitrate as many batches as possible.  (Indexing is part of genealogy.  I use a free computer program to view historical documents and input information from it into the program.  The data is used to create a free, internet, searchable database used to find your ancestors.  You can find the database and info here.)
2.  Exercise more regularly.  This is pretty self-explanatory!
3.  Read Old Testament (This is a 2-year goal.)  I started this several years ago, but I stopped after finishing Numbers.  I’m determined to read the entire thing cover to cover within the next 2 years.
4.  Intelligently add to food storage.  This is a continuation of my prior goal, but more focused.  I want to increase the variety in my food storage and make sure I store things I’ll actually use.

 

Well, what do you think?  How are you doing with your goals?  What keeps you  motivated?

Please share!

 

 

I’m still here!!

Sorry I’ve been absent so long! First, there was the craziness of having kids home for the summer, next came my son’s wedding, and, finally, the holidays. The trifecta of death for any personal blog, huh?

Hopefully, life will be a bit more predictable which will translate to more blog posts.

Here’s a few pics for your enjoyment showing what I’ve been doing during my blog “vacation.”

 

My third son completed his Eagle Scout project this summer. He organized a collection drive and filled backpacks for children at local schools. He was able to provide over 200 backpacks!

 

The back of my car was filled to the brim with backpacks!

 

I went to Disneyland with a friend for her birthday.

 

I cut myself with my lovely new knife. No stitches needed, but it hurt!

 

My family and I (including my new daughter-in-law) coordinated Halloween costumes for the very first time.

 

I visited a dear friend to attend her wedding in Utah, and I had to buy warmer clothes to survive!

 

I accidentally took home the wrong crockpot lid from Utah. This one was too small, so I found a way to make do until I can switch back lids!

 

I was planning to have a big gingerbread party with all my friends and their kids, but I got sick. A couple weeks after the planned event, I made a small batch of gingerbread, and my youngest son and I made our choice of gingerbread object. He made a house, and I made a tree.

 

And, finally, we celebrated Christmas. We gave gifts to express our love and to remember the first gift of Christmas, Jesus Christ.

 

I’ll be back soon with a fun food storage related post! I may not have been blogging, but I haven’t stopped preparing!