to tell you the honest truth

wait, wait! i forgot about my new goal!

My post below is from being tagged and in the 3 goals section I forgot about this!

On the 4th of July I bought this cool vintage dresser off Craig's List.  See Mom, isn't it cute!?  What I decided on that day is that I was buying more thrifted and vintage items for my house.  The dresser has reminded me of my grandparent's homes and staying overnight there when I was young.  My mom is also awesome at finding stuff like this and spending mountainous hours giving them a new life.  The original plan was to paint it white and "antique" it, but now the warm wood color is growing on us, but we'll see.  I'm sure eventually it will get painted though. 

I have kinda been out of the swing of decorating since we moved into this house.  It's a nice home, but really not my style...I loved our little Tacoma house because it was cute and old and had character...more country/vintage style...unfortunately it was in the getto and we needed to leave.  Plus, it was tiny and had a mouse sized kitchen and only one bathroom.  I was more inspired there though because of it's charm and it matched my style. See how cute!  I miss it!

At this house, I just don't know what to do so I really haven't done much.  Some of you would be disappointed in me!   This is my house now....please don't think I am complaining, it's a nice house, it's just harder to feel that country-vintage vibe here. 

Anyway, when I brought this dresser home, it inspired me to do that sort of shopping more often when looking for something for the house.  Then, maybe eventually I can get more of the desired look into my house and feel inspired more often to be creative in my decorating.  Less Target, less Macy's, more antique stores, thrifting and craig's list.  I would love doing garage sales too.  The dresser has reminded me of my grandparent's homes and staying overnight there when I was young.   There is a little antique vanity at my Grandpa and Grandma McCann's house that I accidentally etched my name into one time by writing on a piece of paper, but it went through.  I didn't know I did it until my grandpa said something to the effect of the furniture being for me since it had my name on it.  So we'll see, but that would be pretty cool!  And if you want to come lend some vintage-style decorating advice or help, I welcome it completely!  :) 

So...buying more vintagey items could be considered a new goal of mine!  Have a nice day!

P.S.  If you're not dancing in your chair yet to this song, you're straaanngge!  hehe.  I had heard it on the radio, but didn't know what it was called and was so happy to run into it on Karina's playlist!  Thanks!  :)

tagged

I was tagged...here's the info!

3 joys:  being creative (that would include sewing, drawing, making stuff, decorating, photography, baking), watching movies with Pete, exploring new parks and beaches with the fam

3 fears:  water, failure as a mother, bees

3 goals:  to get away for at least a few nights with just Pete....we've only had one night away since having kids...and that was about 11 years ago, develop my talents, be a better mom

3 Obsessions:  Unfortunately, I don't really get obsessed about anything much...okay, well maybe josh groban from time to time.  I'm a pretty easy going person. 

3 Surprising Facts:  I used to love my theatre classes and had no inhibitions about being in front of people, I procrastinate terribly, I only drink a few soda's a year...i like water, juice or lemonade!   I really don't know what to do about my hair!  I know that is 4, but it really is bothering me...what should i do?  maybe that is an obsession right now...hmmm?   oh dear. 

Thanks for the fun Brenda!

I'm tagging Trista, Kerri, Talia, Lisa, Julie, Sadie...c'mon girls!

dresses from mom

I know I'm a day late for this post, but I wanted to do it anyway.  I have been thinking about my mom a lot this past week and what I could say about her.  My mom is most definitely the QUEEN of all SUPER-MOMS....I think she must have invented it.  There wasn't anything she didn't do that would disqualify her as being a super-mom...the list is endlessly endless of the proof of her total super-momness!  I'll name some....

*ran an immaculate and organized household of seven children and a husband.
*cooked and baked every meal and every goody from scratch...i didn't even know what rice-a-roni or hamburger helper was.  (we did have mac-n-cheese, i think because my dad liked it, so of course we ate it too.) 
*grew things in a garden, canned things
*planned amazingly fun family parties
*made beautiful patchwork quilts for every bed in the house, tied quilts for every baby and now for every grand baby.
*organized a "family corporation" - CARLSEN FAMILY DYNAMICS - we all had certain duties and responsibilities with fancy titles...I planned the family parties, but it had a cooler name...there were things like someone helped with finances and we got tickets for offenses and then had to have a family courts.  (I remember getting a ticket for wearing my brother Brady's purple jeans without asking.) 
*made all our easter baskets- called macrome (?) i think
*was a dancer and a cheerleader
*is an artist...draws, paints, knits, crochets.
*made sure we did Family Home Evening and read our scriptures
*painted lots of beautiful ceramics for the home and for us children
*has been crocheting baby bibs and knitting scarfs lately.bibs for babies, scarves for all the girls...i think my dad got one too.
*built my brothers a go-kart when we were little....we all used it.
*painted and decorated, made crafts for the home
*takes pride in how she looks...is pretty every day! 
*picked me and my sister up every day from high-school for lunch when the "friends" weren't being so nice.
*can STILL waterski!
*is creative and talented
*hardworking...sun-up till sun-down...seriously!
*self educated
*refinishes furniture and cute little wooden boxes!
*very spritual...gave the best Relief Society lessons!
*a wonderful friend...fun, understanding, patient.   
* Sewing, sewing, sewing!  She made us outfits, dolls, hair accesories and more. She sewed dresses, dresses and more dresses for all 4 of us girls. From baby blessing dresses and Kindergarten dresses and holiday dresses to prom dresses and wedding dresses.   

Which brings me to my pictures!  I want to share some of the dresses I have that my mom made for me.  Trust me, this really is only an eensy-weensy sampling of the dresses that she made me, let alone for all of my sisters!  She must have made a hundred!  Thank you for all these beautiful dresses!  :)

My Kindergarten Dress...had a matching backpack with my name on it.  :) 1978 all the way!

I love the bright colors!

My baptism dress...worn with a white apron made by my mom...all of us girls wore that over our baptism dress.  The pink flowers have fallen off the sash.

This dress is missing it's pretty pink sash.  :(

My mom did lots of smocking!  So detailed and pretty!

My Wedding Dress!  My sister wore it too!  :)

Handmade pearly buttons...each bead sewn on by hand!

My veil...made by mom too!

Thank you, Mom for your wonderful example of how to be a mother and a homemaker.  Thank you for being my friend, my supporter, my encourager.  I am so grateful for parents who did their very best to raise me the way Heavenly Father would want them to, who put forth every effort to provide a home and an upbringing that allowed for the best potential outcome of each of their children.  I have wonderful examples to help me and Pete as we strive to do the best we can to raise our family.   Thank you!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM!  I LOVE YOU!

P.S. I couldn't resist the urge to try on my wedding dress today, veil too, and yep! it still fits...except for the fact that my boobs have most definitely shrunk. :)  oops, did I just say that! ?   

more fun with photos

I hope I don't bore anyone to death with my photo editing fun, I got some great shots of the little boys yesterday evening during Taylor's game...Austin won't just sit and watch so we end up running around.  It is pretty fun photographing little people in the perfect evening sun with lovely scenery in the background while of course, wearing coordinating outfits.  :)  Here's a small sampling of what I took.   

Did someone say runway???  Heehee.  :)

This one is in for the fact that I caught the perfect little bubble on Isaac's tongue!

I love this one of Austin running because this was his reaction when he saw Pete!

                                     ...the perfect ending.

paper and pencil.....and lots of erasing!

Here are a few things I have been working on lately.  I just do the drawing when I feel like it, although I guess I need to get moving on the coloring now.  I have plenty others besides these, some still need work, actually some of these still need a little.  As you can see, I do lots and lots of erasing...mostly the faces give me grief, but oh well, right?  I did get some nicer erasers that don't ruin the paper as much as the cheapies do.  And unfortunately my sharpeners disappear quite often so I am stuck with a dull pencil, which doesn't ever turn out to be very helpful.  But when the mood strikes, I just carry on! 

One of the girls was inspired by a friends darling photo of her daughter, Ella...doesn't look like her much,but it gave me a cute idea!  I have ended up drawing several girls lately because I have seen great bits of inspiration here and there.  Anyway, that's all folks!  Have a great day!

erasure, life, proitities, balance....

I had been noticing on a couple of family members blogs, Erasure in their playlists.  Erasure, Erasure, Erasure.  Let me tell you about Erasure in my life.  It all began when I was 14 and heard my older sister listening to them.  I was hooked!  They then proceeded to be my FAVORITE band all through high school, through my young adult single years and into the beginning of marriage life.  I had a pretty good collection of their tapes and listened 100's of times over.  LOVED them!  Pete and I used to travel to Spokane a lot in the first few years of marriage and man! how fast the drive went when singing along to Erasure...loudly! :)  Somewhere after that it faded out.  We moved on to different music and different things distracted us from enjoying music as often.  Last night I was up late...alone....and thought I would search around on Project Playlist and traveled down memory lane listening to Erasure.  It was great fun, but also very reflective of how fast time has gone by these past 20 years since I was 14!  Kinda freaky actually!  This music memory has only reinforced my recent thoughts. 

Lately I have been thinking a lot of life and my little family I have here.  I love them more than I could ever express.  What am I doing for them every day?  What am I teaching them?  What am I providing to them?  I have been feeling a great need for balance in our home and questioning my priorities and where I focus my efforts.  With my fun little Etsy shop taking all my spare time, I have noticed other things not getting what they or it needs.....children and house to name a couple obvious ones.  I have struggled with what to do about my newest idea of opening an Etsy shop with my artwork.  This wasn't quite as easy as we thought to get everything up and running and to have that thing I have been craving....BALANCE!  How do we get that in just a short amount of time each day...each week.  Hmmm??  I have decided at this point to pull my listings in the Small Sprouts shop.  This may only be temporary.  Hopefully.  But if it doesn't fit into the highest priorities in my life then maybe it won't happen.  Children, home, spirituality, husband.  First.  Then art and sewing.  Any thoughts and ideas welcome!  How do YOU focus on priorities and still have time for hobbies and such? 

MEANWHILE.....please enjoy some of my favorite Erasure songs...not all of them are available on Project Playlist, and a few of them I didn't really notice when I was younger that the words were a little inappropriate...oops, and there was one that was a really bad recording so i didn't put it on my list.  The first song playing, March on Down the Line, was one of my first favorites when I was 14 that hooked me to Erasure.  It's not a great recording, but oh, such memories!  Can I be 14 again?!!  16?!!  18?!! ...24?!!  Dang.  34 is old and I think I am freaking out a little.  Sorry to let it out. 

Anyway, on the priority list  today...preparing a Family Home Evening and providing a presentably cleaned up home for my family to enjoy. :)

Okay, I'm done..Thanks for listening!

*Update #1: I have had so much fun listening to Erasure that I added a few more songs that were from my favorite 80's bands...OMD and New Order.  LOVED these too!  :)

* Update #2:  Ideas, advice, suggestions required!  Just be nice!  :)

oh my land sakes, that was a long, tiring day!

Wow!  I am seriously exhausted from this day we just had!  Why am I still awake then you ask?  It's 11:30 at night!  Well, Pete's at basketball and I'm a little chicken to go to sleep until he is home.  So I have been editing some photos of the day.

The day goes something like this.... 

1) It started out bright and early with my hair appt. at 8:30 and of course, that takes awhile.  Seriously, this photo is as good as it gets.  I am getting more and more unphotogenic as the days and minutes pass.  Sad, but true.  I do like my hair much much better than before though. 

2) We then proceeded to debate the weather and the "going to the beach" thing so much that we actually ran out of time to go so that we could be back for the other items on the schedule.  The weather actually turned out pretty decent, but oh well.  We ended up doing some errands and getting lunch, then off to a nearby park.  The boys did great when we were out and of course, loved playing at the park.

3) When we got home around 4:15 we pretty much all wanted to fall over...but we couldn't!  We had baseball at 5:00 for both Caleb and Taylor.  Pete took Caleb and Austin one way and I took Taylor and Isaac another way.  Practices are 1 1/2 hours!

Isaac and I had a pretty good time playing at the park, watching Taylor and wandering around...this is a great park with lots of space, big toy, grass, a lake with ducks and sports areas.  I had fun taking a bunch of photos of Isaac, he is so handsome and photogenic!  I think I will post one now and do some more tomorrow or another day.

okay, there's 2.  I was having quite a fun time in photoshop tonight!  :)

4) Came home and met up with the other half of our family who showed up around 7:30 and glad to see them with pizza in hand! 

5) After little one's were in bed, Pete was off to basketball and I did a little sewing! 

6) BEDTIME!  It's midnight and Pete just got home!

my good spring day!

So, lucky you, another day in the life of me!  I am trying to have a little more balance lately, and since it is Spring Break and all my kids are home, it is a good time to focus on balance!  I had a great day getting things done and playing with my boys a bit.

Today I....

1)  walked to the neighborhood park with the boys (and the little girl I babysit).  Caleb went on a skateboard, Taylor on rollerblades, Isaac on his bike and Aussie on his running feet!  He was so excited!  I had fun playing "soccer" with Taylor and then taking pic's.

2) started two new patchwork blankets for The Hayloft!  I just felt "in the mood"! 

3) gave Austin a much needed hair trimming!  I always do this while he is taking a kitchen sink bath.  He doesn't like getting his hair cut so I can usually be pretty sneaky while he plays with toys, but he is easily in my reach being in the sink.  He was catching on to what I was doing now that he is getting older so I had to talk him through it more.  A little tricky, but mission accomplished!

BEFORE

AFTER

4) made grilled cheese for dinner! (I am scheduled for a hair appt. tomorrow, so cheap dinners it is!)

5) enjoyed the spring weather!

Tonight?....taking it easy!  :)  Well, maybe a little sewing! 

spring break wish list

A THRIFT STORE FIND THAT HANGS IN MY CRAFT ROOM.

So here it is...Spring Break....already!  Holy Moly! (Pete would say Holy Mac-n-Cheese!)  Anyway, I have been thinking of what I could accomplish and what I would like to do for a little family togetherness time and this is what has been on my mind! 

1)  Get my hair done!  We can eat an extra amount of soup and grilled cheese for all I care!  This hair is more important!

2) Paint my kitchen.  I have a new color...well, new to the kitchen that is.  I have made a simple curtain for the kitchen window over the sink and INTEND on doing more for the other windows.(Not right now)  I have so loved my red wall, but I am tiring of it a bit and I need something fresh! 

3) Complete a couple drawings.  That's all I am saying about that. :)

4) Family outing to the Space Needle.  Now, I haven't looked at the prices lately, although I know they are high.  I'll check it out and maybe it is truly just A WISH!!  My boys would LOVE IT though.

*Space Needle Update:  $13 X 6 = $78 plus gas and lunch...maybe some other time...ug.  I guess I could clean Isaac's room instead!  What fun!

5) Go to the beach!  We love doing this in the spring and summer and didn't do it enough last year.  We love finding a new place or going to an old favorite. 

6) Jump on the trampoline with the boys.

7) A little extra cleaning.  I don't like to put too high of expectations of myself in this area.  I know myself, that's why I said 'a little'.  Even though it should say 'a LOT'.  oh well. :)

8) Leave Caleb in charge for an hour.  I know it sounds freaky, but Pete thinks it's time.  We will try to relax and enjoy an ice cream cone at McDonald's or something.  Probably will be antsy and go home after about 45 min.  We'll see.

9) Go on a walk with the fam.

10) Mail Kerri her order!  And I promise it won't be the last thing on my list!  You WILL get it this week...I promise, promise, promise!  Sorry I am lame and slow and keep forgetting!  I will not forget anymore!!!

coming soon!

I am very happy to say that I am getting close to opening my new Etsy Shop!  Since Pete and I are new at all this printing stuff, we have been surprised at how much there is that goes into this whole process!  Printers, papers, colors, OH MY!  I am so grateful Pete is so much more techy than me...I just wouldn't be able to do this without him!  I am seriously not computer savvy!  I am sure a lot of times he might be doing some simplistic things, but it is still not in my genetic make-up.  :)  Plans are to be ready by early next week... basically we are waiting on paper!  Not as simple as you may think!  We are having so much fun though!  This little guy will be the first in the shop.