All about me

Things I want to do in my spare time (since I don't have any work to do til next week):

* sew jean skirt (check)
* sew curtains for kitchen and tiny stair window?
* sew ruffle cardigan
* paint Marissa's polka-dots on her walls
* paint canvases
* sew corn hole bags for Dan (check)
* sew ruffle shirt?
* sew skinny jeans (check)
* sew ruffle pillow
* sew Marissa's Cubbie patches on (check)
* sew Arianna's felt Mr. Potato Head pieces for her birthday
* write Xanga post about what I want to do and what I'm interested in lately, but don't have time to do, so I just read about it instead (check)

Well, Dan and Marissa are at Cubbies right now, and Arianna is taking her 2nd nap of the day. So I have some quiet "me" time, and no work to do! Well, I mean no *paid* work to do - I should probably be doing dishes, but I already did them once today, so I don't feel too guilty. Hehe.

Lately I've been feeling like I never get to do what *I* want. I enjoy plenty of the things that I've been doing, but it's just not usually what I'd choose to do. But since it's a slow time of the month for work, I've had some spare time lately, and it's been so nice! It's still not quite the same though, since the girls still need a lot of attention, and I still am kinda lazy But I've really been getting into sewing, as you can see by my reminder list at the top of this post. I have a crappy tiny sewing machine, but it works pretty well, and it has served it's purpose: I really just wanted to know if I *could* sew and if I enjoyed it. I can, and I do, and I would LOVE to have a nice big normal sewing machine now. There's only one stitch on mine, and it can't even go backwards, do buttons, or pretty much anything else - just sew one straight line. But nice sewing machines are so expensive! Today on craigslist I spotted a free one nearby, so I had a friend pick it up. I won't get it til Saturday, but I so hope it works! The person didn't know if it worked or not, and didn't know much else about it except that it's a Kenmore. But I've got my hopes up!

I was supposed to host Bunco for ladies from church yesterday, but with all the snow we've been getting, I figured it would be best to reschedule it for next Tuesday. But I had already got the prizes and planned the menu, so I don't have much to prepare for it for next Tuesday. I didn't have a lot of money to work with for the prizes (since there weren't many people there last month when we collect money for the following month), but I hit Target clearance, JoAnn's $1 spot, and the dollar store, and I think I got an awesome gift pack for each of the three winners (most wins, most big buncos, and travel). It was kinda fun to pick everything out! And I realized again how much I love our dollar store (I think it's a Dollar Tree). There's a lot of junk there, but amidst all the junk there are some real finds! They have cute mirrors, picture frames, vases, "sticks" to put in vases, odor-control bags for dirty diapers...I even got Marissa a brush there and it works just as well as a Wal*Mart brush. Lol. I got myself a little black box that says "Love" on it, and a oval mirror in a fancy frame - and they both match my downstairs decor perfectly! Last week I bought a chalkboard at Hobby Lobby that has a fancy black frame around it, and put it up over my new side table (Malm occasional table from IKEA) in the dining room. Now instead of a plastic kiddie kitchen in that nook, I have a beautiful table with a drawer to hide junk, a nifty chalkboard calendar above it, and my three musical plaques above that! I wish I had endless amounts of money to decorate our home with, but sometimes (and only *sometimes*) it's fun to use what I have and decorate slowly. If it wasn't for our HIDEOUS couch and recliner, I would call our living room "done." I would love a modern black dining table set sometime in the future, but I'm kinda scared what kids would do to something like that - so I'm ok with sticking with what we have for now.

Speaking of that, I found this blog not too long ago that gives the plans for building tons of expensive furniture for much cheaper: http://knockoffwood.blogspot.com/ and Dan just recently bought a table saw. When I showed him the website, he got super excited, and we'll probably start building our own furniture now. It's fun to have him get excited about "house" stuff too. We'll probably start with an "island" to put in the nook in our dining room (and I'll move the Malm table upstairs to use as a vanity in our bedroom), and then if that goes well we'll probably do a dining table next. I'm not really sure if we have the skills (or the time) to do it, but it will be fun to try!

Speaking of having the time, I realized that instead of decorating or sewing, it's easier for me to *read about* decorating and sewing, since I can basically do that while the girls are awake and playing. I'm subscribed to so many decorating and crafting blogs, it's ridiculous - and I've started to unsubscribe to some because I just can't keep up with them all! But I love getting inspiration from them, and I have a list (and bookmarks in Firefox) a mile long of things I want to try when I have the time or the money. As a SAHM it's really hard to have time and money to devote to hobbies. But at least I get to live vicariously through all these bloggers that I read about. I just keep telling myself "someday..."

As I sit here, I'm looking at the toys on the floor. Marissa and Arianna were playing some "shopping" game before dinner, and Marissa put alllllllllllllllllllllllll the small toys in a bag and then dumped them all out on the opposite side of the room. It was so cute watching them play together, and hearing Marissa say "come here Arianna, do this Arianna" etc. that I couldn't bear to tell her to stop. I feel like my house usually looks pretty decent most of the time - except dishes every once in a while - and of course except for all the toys! Arianna will watch me start picking up toys, and then she darts over to the toybox, checks to make sure I'm watching, and starts flinging them out of the toybox as fast as she can. It's stinking hilarious, but so frustrating! We had a couple from church over a few days ago, and Arianna was napping when they got here so it actually stayed clean for more than 5 seconds. Lol.

Well, it felt good to get that all out. I kinda just typed and typed and didn't really read through it like I usually do when I write. But I feel better now. Maybe I'll start working on a "M & A" post now...