Hoarders Anonymous

Hello, my name is Sarah, and I am a craft supply hoarder.

Good gravy I don't know where I have accumulated so much stuff.  I have been going through our office/sewing room trying to condense stuff and pack stuff away to turn the room into Austin's bedroom so his current room can be the nursery for baby girl.  I have tote after tote of crafting stuff, mainly fabric.  I had four large totes stacked up in the corner of the closet and I have gone through them and sorted the stuff out and condensed down to two totes and a few random projects that need a new home. 

What was in the totes you ask?  Each had a hodgepodge of crafting stuff- scrap fabric, big pieces of fabric, batting, stuffing, old patterns and designs, yarn, ribbon, old t-shirts (saving sentimental ones for quilts), craft kits, and probably more that I am forgetting.  I sorted the fabrics into a scrap tote, and a tote of just significant pieces of useable fabric, like at least larger than a yard.  I sorted the yarn and saved about 8-9 full(ish) skeins for future use and boxed up the rest to donate to Austin's preschool.  Any projects in progress that were in those totes I have sitting out on the floor for now until I go though about 5 more medium sized totes that mainly hold other projects in progress.

I also threw out a bunch of scrap fabric.  I know, I know some people are probably gasping at the thought, but a bunch of my stash came from various fabric scrap finds at yard sales and auctions from back when I lived in Colorado and had access to those kinds of events.  Often these bags of scraps came from some older lady who was a quilter who passed on and the family tried to make a buck since none of them followed in the ladies footsteps with quilting.  Often the bag contains a few good sized pieces of fabric, but mainly scraps and quilting pieces.  Usually there is no pattern with the pieces, and there are not enough to do more than a wall hanging.  A lot of times the fabric has old style prints and some so old that you get the feeling that if you tried to sew it, it would just turn to dust.  So as I went through the scraps I got rid of anything that was too small to be realistic in another project, ugly, or pieces to some mystery pattern that I will never take the time to figure out.  I should mention that I also made a pile for the thrift store of useable pieces that maybe I didn't like, but could see being useful in the right project for someone else. 

An Impromptu Family Outing

We were thinking of going camping this Memorial Day weekend, but a storm front came in and brought with it nasty strong winds on Friday and Saturday and cold temperatures during the night (I won’t even go on about the frost that occurred a full week and a half after the supposed last frost free day that took out some of my tomato and pepper plants!) so we decided against camping.  Instead we went on a family adventure around the North Kaibab National Forest where Dustin works which is along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. 

First we stopped at the Big Springs Forest Service Administrative Site.  Dustin had a project there this week patching a hole in the bottom of one of the ponds that then overflows and provides his horse pasture with water.  The pond was full of water, so he was happy to see that his project worked.  We also took apples to the horses.

Austin had fun throwing rocks in the pond.

Checking out the spring at Big Springs.

Next we went to So What's Point overlook of the Grand Canyon.  Dustin has led a couple of work parties by packing the horses threw the canyons you can see below.  He was able to point out different projects from up above.





The local fauna.



Next we ventured further east towards the Park Service area.  Austin fell asleep for his nap, so we just drove and I suggested we go to Fire Point Overlook.  Several years ago one of Dustin's coworkers died in a motorcycle crash and his family spread his ashes at Fire Point, so I was always curious to see it since they thought it was such a beautiful and tranquil location. 

It was beautiful, but the unfortunate thing was when we arrived there was another couple there and they had a dog.  Right away the dog ran up to our Xterra and was barking and growling ferociously.  Dustin had already jumped out, but I was hanging in the car until we saw what the dog was going to do, I am not at all a dog person anyway.  It came right up to Dustin and was acting like he was about to bite.  The dumb owner was all slow and acting like he thought he could just call off the dog simple as that.  He said "oh, he is just really protective."  He finally grabbed the dog and pulled him away from Dustin.  Then he asked Dustin if he wanted to pet him.  It's like come on man, that crazy dog just acted like it wanted to take off Dustin's hand and you want him to pet it?  Just take it away!  I hate dog owners like that, they defend their vicious dog just as the dog is about to maul you. 

These flowers were such a vivid pink, the photo does not do them justice at all.  It's amazing to me the beautiful things that will grow in the harsh desert environment.



29 Week Bump.

After Fire Point we stopped at Jacob Lake Inn for dinner.  They changed up there menu and had some fun new dishes that were really delicious.  I ate way too much, but it was oh so good!  The perfect end to the perfect day.

Happy Memorial Day

Austin and I just walked to the convenience store to get ice to make ice cream and he noticed the flag in our front yard. I told him today is a special day where we remember the good people who gave us our freedom and we fly the flag because we are proud to be Americans. He says "I an American?" and I said "yes you are an American" and he goes "WAHOO-YEAH!!!" Happy Memorial Day!

Carnival

A traveling carnival stopped in the town just north of us for a few days.  After hearing about how all of our friends took their kids we decided we had better go check it out ourselves.  Austin had a good time, but was a little zoned out as I think it was overwhelming.  He went right up and got on the rides himself, so I was proud of his courage and independence.  I was happy I got to eat cotton candy!

5QF

1. Are you a napper?

I am pregnant and work fultime (32 hours a week), so yes, on the weekends I usually love to take a good long nap at least one of the days.  When I am not pregnant I mostly don't nap though.

2. What was your favorite subject in school? Most hated?

Fav was science, I'm not sure I could narrow down which discipline though, for the most part I like them all.

Most hated was Intro to Electrical Engineering.  I failed that beast twice before passing it, barely!  I don't think it was the subject matter though, it was mildly interesting to me, it was because the stupid lazy professor only gave four tests and one final, all multiple choice for the entire grade.  I SUCK at multiple choice tests and he would be really tricky about the answer choices and put the correct answer, then the other choices would be the answer if you dropped a negative sign, or made a logical mistake, so after you solve the problem and come up with an answer that is a choice you feel confident that you got it right and don't recheck your work.  The third time I took it there was a new professor and he gave homework which was 10% of the grade and that helped me squeak through. 

3. Did you have the something old new borrowed and blue at your wedding? What were they?

Old:

My Mom's Dad collected coins and she has a bunch from his collection.  She gave me this old 1897 Indian Head penny and it was the oldest thing I had that I could think of so I carried it in my hand during the ceremony.  The year was kind of significant to me because I graduated from high school in 1997.

New:

My tiara was the only thing I purchased new.  We went to David's Bridal to try on dresses and took along my earrings that I had for a while and the tiara matched perfectly so I bought it.  I ended up getting my dress and veil gently used.  Technially my ring was new as well.

Borrowed:

My oldest brother Kenny died in a car accident when he was 19 and my newphew Joseph was full-term still born, so I borrowed the angel pins from their respective Mothers to add to the ribbon of my bouquet so they would be there with me.

Blue:


Our wedding color was periwinkle blue with pastels as an accept.  I had blue ribbons in my bouquet that my best friend Amanda and I created since we did all the flowers for the wedding ourselves.

4. What one thing are you determined to do this summer

I really need to get on packing up the stuff in our office which is also my sewing/craft room.  It will be our son's new bedroom so the baby can have his current room.  I have to have it done by the end of June as we have friends coming to visit and I want it done by then so after they leave we can transition Austin over there and give him at least a month to adjust before the baby comes.

Other than that just keep as cool as I can through my third tri.

5. Ice cream or Popsicles?

I love them both.  I would have to say though that I have to be in the right frame of mind for ice cream since it is a more substantial dessert, where a popsicle is just light and refreshing anytime. 

Thursday rambling

Baby #2 Updates:

• I am 28 weeks, 5 days now. 
• My next OB appointment is June 6.  I hoped and planned to go with my friend Britt since we are both going to the same OB (80 mile drive) and our schedules have been off until now since she is on her weekly appointments.  But, she is already having some contractions and making progress, so I'm doubting she will still be pregnant by then even though her due date is June 15.
• My physical therapy has really been helping my hip pain and they cut me back to one session per week.  I am also sleeping with a pillow under my bump now for support which helps immensely.
• Still no name, still working on it!
• My friend Jess is planning a shower for me tentatively the weekend of June 16/17.
• I ordered some fun new summer maternity tops last night.  Motherhood Maternity was having a sale, that for clearance items it was BOGO and other tops were buy 3, get the 4th free, so I ordered 6 new tops. 

Austin Updates:

• Austin is 3 years, 4 months now. 
• He is still full of energy and always keeping us on our toes.
• He has been extremely stubborn and opinionated lately, gee I wonder where he gets that from? Some days he drives me crazy!
• At the same time sometimes he can be mild and well behaved, I can never predict how he will be though, it's anyone's guess.
• He still has certain words/terms for things even if we tell him the right way to say something.  Like my Mom is always "Papa" which she is okay with since I think she finds in endearing in light that my Dad passed away so she is Grandma and Papa.  He can totally say the word Grandma, and we always tell him that she is Grandma, but he calls her Papa.  For candy he says something between "can-can" and "tin-tin", and suckers are "Popsicles" which I think he associated with the word lollipop. 
• He loves pretend play right now.  He is always pretending to be a doggy.  Sometimes he will be a kitty, bird or froggy, but mostly sticks with doggy- my poor deprived pet-less boy!
• He loves to play games and is really into Candyland now.  He also loves Mario Kart Wii, and is really getting very good at it now, like scary good for a 3 year old. 
• His transition to big boy bed went way better than we ever anticipated.  He loves it and sleeps well in it.  He seems to not grasp that he can get up on his own because when he wakes up he always calls for us to come and get him.  I'm okay with that though because I don't have to worry about him wandering the house alone, or trying to come in our room and get into bed with us.  The only down side is he wakes me up to take him to the bathroom, but it's really not that big of a deal to me. 

Other life updates:

• We missed out on another job.  This time it was a BLM job in Buffalo, WY.  Dustin interviewed for it, but it was kind of advertised funny, so we wondered if they already had a person in mind for it. 
• We are still looking forward to applying for the Fort Collins Forest Service job, and are now kind of hoping the announcement is delayed a couple more weeks so he wouldn't have to start until after the baby is born in case he gets it.  They actually posted the call for applications, but then pulled it back down as they said there was some problem with how they did it.  We still haven't seen the revised announcement.
• The nice thing about knowing about the Buffalo job is now I can move forward with preparing for the arrival of the baby.  I have been in a little bit of limbo since packing to move and packing up a room for storage means different strategies.  We will be in our current location until at least after she is born so I can proceed with readying our office room for Austin and transforming his current room back into a nursery.
• I am about half way through my current book club book A Prayer for Owen Meany.  I read it back in high school, but it's fun to reread it. 

Kreative Blogger Award

My new A-Z Challenge friend Jen at we're living a full life was kind enough to bestow an award upon me.  I have been so lazy about posting this month after a busy April with the A-Z Challenge, so I thought this was a good way to get my blog writing going again.

Now I have to tell you ten facts about myself that you might not already know.

1. When I was a kid I loved to play with Barbies and played with them well beyond the typical age range.  When I was old enough the play turned more into creativity as I would sew or crochet my own clothes for my dolls.  I remember my childhood best friend teasing me for still playing with them in fifth grade, so I became a closet Barbie player.
2. I have been invited to be in wedding parties three times.  I was the flower girl for my brother Doug's wedding, a bridesmaid in my brother George's wedding, and a bridesmaid for my best friend Amanda. 
3. My first rock concert was in 2003 to see Stone Sour at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver with Powerman 5000, Ra, and Systematic.  Dustin's cousin is Joel Ekman, the original drummer for Stone Sour and he hooked us up with free tickets and back stage passes, not too shabby for that first experience!  I mostly remember a whole lot of noise, the "f" bomb more than I ever care to here again and Corey Taylor talking about how he thought certain people should kill themselves (like Avril Levigne and all the band members of Good Charlotte)...I was terrified of going back stage, but in reality the guys were just a bunch of good ole Iowa farm boys.
4. I once dyed my hair purple while in high school. Well, not all purple, but got "eggplant" streaks.  My Mom and I went to visit my brother Doug in Portland, Oregon and he saw an add for it and talked me into having it done since we worked at a bank and could not. 
5. When I was in college I was in a professional society called ASAE- The American Society for Agricultural Engineering.  It changed it's name at that time to The American Society for Agricultural, Food, and Biological Engineering.  Now it's called ASABE- The Society for Agricultural and Biological Engineers.  I was a local student chapter officer and one year was elected as a National Officer (Secretary) of the Preprofessional Council. 
6. If I could have gone to college anywhere I would have went to Notre Dame.  I visited the campus in Indiana during the summer between my freshman and sophomore year with a program that I was in to encourage first generation kids to go to college.  I LOVED the campus and so would have loved to have gone there.  My ACT score was one point less then the recommended range for admittance, so I chickened out on even applying. 
7. I sewed my own senior prom dress.  It was a 4-H sewing project so I also showed it at fair and I was mad because the way they displayed it it was accessible to the public and everyone wanted to touch the silky fabric.  After the county fair it was covered in finger oils and I wasn't allowed to have it cleaned before it went to the state contest. 
8. I have no desire to ever go to any of my high school class reunions.  I didn't really have "true" friends in high school and am only loosely in contact with some through Facebook. 
9. My first year of college I went to University of Northern Colorado and was majoring in Kinesiology.  I wanted to become an Athletic Trainer, but realized I was wasting my potential so after a year I transfered to Colorado State.
10. I collect cow things.  I have cow tea cups with saucers, cream and sugar holders, a cookie jar, pillows, stuffed animals, and figurines. 

Now I'm bestowing this award on seven of my bloggy friends:

1. Sandy at Pardon My Dust
2. Brandi at Life of a New Mommy of Two
3. Briana at Sweet Carolina Grace
4. kbreints at A Little Crazy and a Lot of Love
5. Lisa at Our Janidlo Clan
6. Dot at Musings from Dot
7. coltonsmommy at The Colton Chronicles

Solar Eclipse

I live in far north Arizona so we were right in the band that was treated to the full solar eclipse this evening.  I didn’t plan ahead and get any of the cool glasses, or special filters for my camera, but I was able to capture it with my camera by looking at the LCD.

We also projected the eclipse through a pin hole on the side of our house.

OB appointment

I had an OB appointment today and everything is still looking great.  Baby girl's heart rate was 155 BPM.  My blood pressure was low, but I gained 6 pounds since my last appointment 4 weeks ago.  The doctor didn't say anything about that, but it just surprised me!

After the appointment I ran some errands before returning to work.  It was fun to go shopping, but it was super hot there today, I'm sure over 95 degrees F.

When I got back to work my boss came in to talk to me about a couple of things.  She asked about the water spots on our floor.  This morning I popped into my office for about 15 minutes before I left for the big city because I had to prep the coolers and ship the water samples I collected yesterday to send them to the laboratory.  I packed them with bagged ice cubes the day before to keep them cold over night and some of the ice melted and pooled in the bottom of the coolers.  Each site has 6 different bottles and they are all together in a plastic bag.  Some of the bags collected the melted ice water, and I spilled some of it on the floor as I was moving around bottles to prep the coolers.  I explained to her what caused the water spots and she gave my co-worker who I share an office with a funny look and he grinned.  He then told me that he told her that my water broke this morning causing the water spots and that I had to rush to St. George to deliver the baby.  I thought that was pretty clever and hillarious!

Happy Mother’s Day

I was impressed by how many of the people who I follow already wrote Mother’s Day recap posts on Mother’s Day.  I took the day off and enjoyed my special time with my boys and girl.  They pampered me and took good care of Mommy!
First we went to Zion National Park.  When we got there it was packed.  The parking area was full and the sign said to drive into Springdale to park then catch the shuttle, but we thought that was too much effort so we decided to find something else to do.  Luckily the day before at the ninja party I was talking to one of my friends and she told me about an unmarked trail in Zion that is in an area you can drive to.  When we drove by it there was a parking place so we decided to give it a try.  Even though it's not advertised it was a great, well mainained trail that followed a little creek.  She said if you go all the way it ends in a pool fed by a waterfall, but we didn't quite make it that far.  We found a nice shady area that had little tadpoles in the water.  We played there for a while wading in the water and checking out nature.
















Checking out a tadpole

Then we went to lunch at the Zion Mountain Resort at their restaurant called the Buffalo Bistro.  It overlooks a pasture for a buffalo herd and right outside the restaurant they have a farm type area with gardens and animals. They offered that while we were waiting on our food we could take Austin out to pet the colts.  He of course loved it!
  







This is the restaurant with the huge windows facing the buffalo pasture.  The food there is really great, very gormet.  They even try to raise much of the produce that they serve.  I had a CABLT-crab, avocado, bacon, lettuce and tomato on a roll with a balsamic sauce, it was so good!  Then we got a chocolate fondant dessert that was so delish!

Here is my card and gift from Austin: