Week Two: Dog Bed

 I am going to attempt to make Twinkie a dog bed to sleep on in my bedroom. I have tried taking her regular bed into my room but she gets upset and tries to drag it back to the sewing room. She sleeps on my bed right now on a small blanket. That was okay when she was small and would stay at the foot of the bed. Twinkie now thinks that she needs to sleep curled up against me. Needless to say that is not going to work, especially since she kicks in her sleep and whimpers in her dreams.

The bed is made and it came out rather cute. I knew I had picked the right fabric from my stash when while I was pinning the fabric she came and rubbed on it and then tried to take off with it. 

The pattern was very easy to follow and only took a few hours to make including stuffing it and closing up all the openings. 

The bow in the front is a drawstring. This allows you to make the bed either flat or bowl shaped. Twinkie likes curling up so I did a slightly relaxed bowl for her. 

The first night I made it she tried to pull it onto the bed so that she could sleep on it and still be with me. I tried putting her on the floor in it but by the time I got covered back up she was on her blanket at my feet. I have been very consistent this week though about making her stay at the foot of the bed. She still tries to sneak back up next to me but it is getting less frequent. 

Miss representation

Week One: Chalkboard Paint

 This was written a week ago, I just got around to downloading my camera. 

This week I am working on turning my kitchen pantry door into a chalk board. When the kids were little we covered an entire wall with chalkboard paint so they could create whenever they wanted too. The board is still covering the wall and currently has a giant Pac-Man screen on it. Every time I go past the board I think about writing on it. Then while looking around on Pinterest I saw a chalkboard door. I thought it would go perfect with the new look I have planned for the kitchen and allow me to scribble a picture when ever I feel like it.

I taped of the recessed section of the door first to make sure I have a crisp line. The rest of the door is going to be bright red. We are redoing the walls so the frame is currently off the door. I am also putting on an marbled antique door knob to match the rest when we are done. 

I applied one coat and then sanded the rough areas smooth as directed on the can. The white areas are where I had to sand. I then applied a second and third coat to make sure it was smooth. 

You have to wait 48 hours before conditioning the board which is simply rubbing chalk all over it and then wiping it.

I know the door itself is ugly but I am happy with the chalkboard portion and wanted to share the results. In a few weeks I plan to get the door painted and the frame put around it.

I placed a container full of bright chalk on a shelf near the door so we could easily find it. So far we have had two rounds of tic-tac-toe on it and left three messages.

I found this via Pinterest. It is from Natalie's Sentiments.

Clean Eating Meal Plan 1-9-12

The first meal plan of 2012! I started the new year juicing and eating mainly raw foods. I did slip twice but overall I stuck to the plan. 


My schedule at work is now fairly consistent which has made meal planning easier. To make things easier on me I am using some premade meals on the nights I work.  I hope to buy some smaller pans so that I can freeze up some quick meals but for now Sams is taking care of it for me. 


Eating healthy was hard on the days I worked nine and ten hour shifts. I often found myself ordering a to-go salad from Chili's since they are in the same parking lot as JoAnn's. The cost and inconsistent quality aggravated me so two weeks ago I bought some cool salad and soup containers. Now I can make my own salad! 


Monday
breakfast~  Mock V8 Juice
lunch~ tomato soup and veggies
dinner~  black bean tacos and rice


Tuesday
breakfast~ Apple, pear, spinach and carrot Juice (my favorite
lunch~ salad with boiled eggs and grilled chicken
dinner~ Cilantro Lime Chicken Cacciatore 

Wednesday
breakfast~ Juice
lunch~ Pitas and fruit
dinner~ Angel Hair with cherry tomatoes and basil and salad

Thursday 
breakfast~ Crepes
lunch~ quesadillas
dinner~ Spicy Southwest Chicken soup. Recipe from Food Network

Friday
breakfast~ fruit smoothie
lunch~ Salad
dinner~  Weight Watchers zero point soup 

Saturday
breakfast~  fruit
lunch~ salad, fruit and grilled chicken
dinner~ Guiltless chicken Parmesan and tossed salad 

Sunday
breakfast~ Oatmeal
lunch~ Left-overs ( I work all day)
dinner~  Ratatouille Stew  and French Bread

Looking for more recipes? Be sure to visit the other sites I am linking up to: Menu-Plan-Monday, Homestead Revival Barn Hop  and Monday Mania

A Sneak Peek at the 52 weeks

In no particular order I thought I would share a peek at a few of the projects I have planned for the next 52 weeks. I am using One Yard Wonders, Simply Sublime Gifts, Amy Butler's Style Stitches, Sew Serendipity, Bend The Rules Sewing and a several patterns out of my stash. I also have several projects from HGTV.com and Realsimple.com.

I promise they are not all sewing projects!


1. Chalkboard door
2. camera bag and strap
3. Front room pillows
4. Bed room curtains
5. Footstool from Butterick b5230
6. Pillowcases
7. Dinning room and kitchen curtains
8. Pot Holders
9. Nightgown for me
10. Redo the laundry room
11. Smoked round pillow
12. File Cabinet Cover


13. Hanging Wall pocket
14. Plant markers for the garden
15. pincushion
16. lunch bag
17. Bias Skirt
18. Skirt with embroidery design
19. Craft and tool belt
20. Bird Mobile
21. Dog Walking coat for Twinkie
22. Basket liners
23. Recover the bench at the foot of my bed
24. Paint a mural in my sewing room

Good-Bye Grandpa George

Yesterday I woke up ready to celebrate my 39th birthday but within a few hours of getting up I found out my grandpa had died in the night. George married my grandma when I was around 11 but he lived down the street from her so he had always been around. Even before he was my grandpa he teased me, played with me and kept me "inline" as he called it.

Grandpa George adored my grandma and made her life wonderful in every way. He was calm, peaceful, loving and giving. My summers with them were filled with camping trips, boat rides, fishing, more yard sales than I care to remember and thousands of trips to McDonald's and the ice cream shop. Grandpa thought ice cream should be a daily event but grandma only allowed it weekly.

As I got older Grandpa and I swapped gardening tips and tales of who had the largest tomatoes. His were always bigger but since they lived in Ohio I always got the first tomato of the year.

When I had children of my own they each took a trip to Ohio with my mom where my grandparents spoiled them just as they had me. Grandpa taught them to make bread and grandma taught them to play jingle bells on the piano. At Christmas time every year we received the same gift from.... McDonald's gift certificates. Grandpa said every kid had to eat there at least once a year (he thought it was crazy I didn't take my kids there at least monthly).

Then two years before my grandma died Scott and I took the kids to spend Thanksgiving with them. We stayed 5 days and didn't really do anything but watch movies, look at pictures and take pictures of us all doing silly things. Every year that goes by I cherish those pictures more and more.

Yesterday as I began to cry God instantly comforted me with the reminder my grandparents are together
again. Grandpa is no longer tired, sick or lonely. He has been reunited with the love of his life.

Thank you grandpa for being a wonderful husband to my grandma and the best grandpa a girl could have! I will miss you but I rejoice in the memories you have left me with! If you care to read more about him you can here.