Ta-Daaa! My new sewing room is finished...

Hi guys.  I know I mentioned in a previous post that I was in the middle of turning our family room into my new sewing room.  It's been finished for a while now but I finally took some pictures of it to share.  It turned out super cute and functional too (which is almost as important as cute).

Previously my sewing room had been in an extra bedroom.  It was cramped in there to say the least.  I had a big sewing table, a big cutting table, fabric rack, and a bookshelf in there.  There were also several chairs and an ironing board.  The problem was that it was cluttered and unorganized because I just didn't have enough storage for all of my stuff.  Meanwhile, we had a family room full of toys that nobody ever really played with and nobody ever really went in there.  There was a couch, a recliner, a toy box, some of Jason's stuff, and a whole bunch of miscellaneous stuff.  It finally dawned on me (after ten years of living here) that I should make the big family room my sewing room.  Duh!  So I did.  It was a lot of work, let me tell ya.

I started by clearing out the family room.  A lot of stuff got pitched (shh, don't tell Maleah), some stuff got moved to other rooms, and I sold all of the furniture.  I owe a big thank you to Bethany Kuhlig and Jessica Holloway because they came and helped me empty that room when I was down and out with my bruised tailbone from my skating "incident".  Another thank you goes out to Craig and LuAnn Cooper because they came and helped Jason move out the big gun cabinet that was in there and LuAnn helped me organize some stuff. 

After the room was empty, we got new carpet.  The room suddenly looked five times bigger and cleaner.  Next I made new curtains and bought new blinds.  The last thing to leave the room were Jason's big ol' deer heads that were hanging all over that room.  (They had to go.  I couldn't sew with those guys staring at me all day.)  Then came the big day when I finally moved in.  Jason wasn't as enthusiastic as I was but he had to do a lot of heavy lifting so I'll cut him some slack.  The house became a total wreck because a lot of stuff had to be moved into the living room while space was made in the room where it was going.  It's funny how when you start a "simple little home project" it suddenly turns into this big ol' monster job.  It was a little overwhelming that we had so much stuff to move! 

Craig came over again and helped move the cutting table (an old drafting table that weighs a ton) and the gun cabinet again to its final resting place.  Jason has sworn that he is never moving that thing again.  He now has his own room for it and all of his hunting clothes, etc.  (He has a lot of stuff too.  Don't let him convince you that I have more than him.) 

During this time Jason built me an amazingly awesome new sewing table.  I love love love it!  He did a great job and it is very sturdy.  So everything got moved in and then I hung stuff on the walls and got organized.  I am so happy that all of my scrapbooking stuff is in one place, all of my quilting patterns are together, my fabric is organized, my wrapping paper and bags are organized, etc.  I have a "station" for everything and I am thrilled!! 
My camera was lost during the move so I didn't get any "before" pictures but here are some "after" pictures.

This is my newest addition to the room.  I found her at a yard sale for 10 bucks and then recovered

her and dressed her in one of my aprons that I made. 

 I've wanted a dress form forever!

My curtains and ironing area.

My awesome new sewing table that Jason made me, with a few of my favorite things sitting on it.

It's all about the storage and organization!

My cutting table that I love so much...

Fabric and pattern storage.

Maleah's corner - her own sewing table and Hello Kitty

sewing machine.

Don't you just love the zebra-striped theme too?  It's just so me.  I love this room.  It makes me very happy.  It was a lot of work but it was so worth it.  Jason's happier too because he has his stuff all stored in the same room now too (the old sewing room is now called "Daddy's Room") and the kids haven't missed having that old family room one bit.  It couldn't have worked out any better!  I've already finished lots of projects in my new room and can't wait to do more!

Slow Motion in the Dairy Aisle

Someone should make my life a reality show.  It would be titled "Chasing the Mini Coopers Through Walmart."  Every time I go there I end up with really good writing material.  This week Carissa and I went in for groceries.  She was trailing behind me and talking my ear off.  Then I heard "Eggs, Honey?"  At the same time that I heard this, I was saying hello to someone who walked by.  I turned around and time began moving in slow motion.  "No-o-o-o," I say as I lunge toward Carissa.  She had very quickly grabbed a dozen eggs and was trying to put them in my cart.  In her defense, she thought she was helping Mommy.  She was very disappointed when the whole carton of eggs broke into a million pieces all over the dairy aisle.  I actually felt a little sorry for her because she looked so sad.  But never fear, I have Walmart on my speed dial.  So I whipped out my cellie and called the front desk, who then sent someone to clean it up.  The older lady who had been looking at yogurt was way more worried than me.  Hey man, broken eggs happen...

So after we left Walmart we headed home.  I told Carissa that we would blow bubbles outside after I finished bringing in the groceries.  Somehow in all of this, the bottle of bubbles got dumped all over the bathroom floor.  Poor Carissa.  She was having a bad day.  I really think that she was just overly excited and was bringing the bubbles to me.  She's always trying to help and instead just screwing things up.  That mess took a lot of paper towels and a lot of mopping.  And then, after that we sat down to eat lunch.  I was feeding her "Noo-noo soups" which means chicken noodle soup in Honey-Speak.  Somehow she knocked the bowl out of my hand and it ended up all over both of us.  More paper towels were used.  I am buying stock in paper towels next week.  After that, she went down for a nap.  Whew!

What else has been going on with us?  Well, Maleah has only a few days of school left.  She is so excited!  She is really going to miss her teacher and her friends though.  Tomorrow her class is putting on a circus for their parents.  She is the tight rope walker.  I can't wait to see it.  I'll take pictures, I promise.

I have had a cold and haven't felt all that great.  I am so ready for all of us to be healthy and stay healthy for awhile! 

The play was last weekend and it was so much fun!  It went so well!  I can't wait to do it again.  I played Grandma Grinch who got ran over by a reindeer.  I should have some pictures soon.  Maleah did a great job with her part too.  She didn't have any lines but she was a "girl playing" and she had to pretend to play with some dolls and then run off stage.  I wouldn't be surprised if she performs in plays in high school.  I personally think she would do great on the Disney Channel too.  I could see her having her own sitcom.  But I don't want her to grow up to be a druggie/alcoholic/slut so I won't.  All of those cute talented little girls on that channel seem to go down the wrong path when they turn about 18.  So I think we'll skip the fame...

Maleah is going to be playing tee ball soon.  I don't have a schedule yet but she is very excited about it.  Her team will be sponsored by OK Automotive, which is owned by my Uncle Timmy.  She was thrilled that she was on that team!  Now if she only knew what color the shirts were going to be she could relax a little bit.  Isn't that the most important part of tee ball - the color of the shirt?  That's all she cares about anyway.  Oh that, and she got a new pink ball glove.  She will be stylin' and profilin' on the field, that is for sure!

I have had a daily trivia website going for several years now.  It is a private game and is only open to my friends and people I know.  The link used to be at the bottom of this page but I moved it up to the top.  We would love to have some new players join our group.  We play against each other every day.  Each person gets the same ten questions and we like to see who gets the best score each day.  Some days the trivia questions are easier than others.  So if you'd like to give it a try, just click on the link on the right hand side of this page.
Have a great week everybody!  I will post pictures of the play soon!

Because I'm Worth It...

We had a great day today!  The girls and I went for a ride in the convertible after school, had a Tropical Sno, and played at the park.  At last, it finally feels like summertime.  We are so ready for it!  Maleah can't wait to sleep in a little later in the mornings (me either).  Maleah can't wait to swim (me either).  Maleah can't wait to ride her bike (me either).  Me and the girls are totally going to have the best summer ever!  I hope Jason does too but unfortunately, he has to miss some of the fun because of a boring thing called "work".  We are very thankful though for his job.  Without him working, we would have no fun.  Hopefully though he'll get some time off to enjoy the park and the pool too.

Here's my funny Carissa story for the week:  A new resale shop opened in town this week.  Carissa and I went to check it out.  There are two rooms in the store.  The front room has kids clothes and the back room has furniture, toys, and baby items in it.  While I was looking at clothes, she kept trying to try on sunglasses that were displayed on one of those spinning rack-thingies.  I told her to leave them alone and the lady that runs the shop mentioned that there were toys in the back that she could play with while I shopped.  So I took her to the back and there was no one else in there so I let her play.  There was a red Cozy Coupe car that she was driving and since she was in a safe room with no other exits I left her alone.  She was alone for maybe five minutes in a room with lots of toys.  When I was ready to go, I walked to the back of the store and said "Okay Honey, let's go."  That's when I realized that her shirt was now tucked into her pants.  It hadn't been before.  Hmmm.  I figured that she must have had to go to the bathroom.  Miss Independent does not like to ask for help.  The problem is that a lot of businesses have big toilets and it is hard for her perch herself up there without a boost.  I glanced around the room and noticed that amongst the toys was also a few baby items for sale - two bouncy seats and a potty seat.  The potty seat looked just like the one we keep in the car (Yes, we keep a potty seat in the back of the car.  I highly recommend that idea for anyone with a toddler.)  This potty seat was green and ours is pink, but that was the only difference.  I asked her "Did you go potty?"  She answered "yep," as proud as a peacock.  "Did you go in this potty seat?"  "Yep," she answered.  I walked over, opened the lid, and sure enough that potty seat that was for sale for $5 was now full of pee. 

So I walked up front to the lady working and said "You know that potty seat for sale back there?"  I told her the story and we agreed that I could dump it out into the toilet, rinse it, spray it with Lysol (she handed me a bottle) and I did not have to buy the seat.  It was pretty funny really.  Carissa didn't know any better so I didn't say anything to her.  If you gotta go, you gotta go.  There was a potty seat in the play area so of course she thought she could use it.  I wonder if the owner of the store moved the potty seat up onto a shelf after we left?  I am glad that Carissa accidentally tucked her shirt into her pants though.  Can you imagine if she hadn't done that?  We would have left, completely oblivious to the full potty seat, and then some poor soul would have tried to have bought it and gotten a wet surprise. 

Let's see, what else has happened lately?  Not a whole lot really.  Here's an interesting fact for you though.  I can't paint my toenails at home unless I do it in the middle of the night.  You want to know why?  Because when I paint them during the day I have to stop and paint twenty other little toes.  And those little toes can't stay still and wait for the paint to dry so then I have little specks of paint in places that I don't want paint.  The other problem is that I am not the only person who walks on my feet.  Two other little girls walk on my feet too.  I painted my toenails tonight three different times because I kept getting stepped on and the paint was smudged.  It was very frustrating.  It really makes me want to never paint my toenails again.  I know this may seem like a funny little story but I was totally annoyed at the time.  Next time I think I'll just go to the mall and get a pedicure.  Because I'm worth it...

It's been a fun week at the Coopers that's for sure.  Oh, and P.S.  The chicken and noodles were delicious!!

Alone With A Fully-Cooked Chicken

I did something yesterday that I'm not planning on doing again for long time. I cooked a whole chicken. It was disgusting. I really hate cooking meat and seeing organs makes me gag. I have been wanting to cook homemade chicken and noodles though and I've had a couple of people tell me how they do it so I thought I would give it a try. I debated about buying a whole chicken because I know how I am about meat. But I went ahead and bought one and then I left it in the fridge for four days because I was scared of it. (I really didn't want to see what was inside of it.) On Wednesday after school our 16 year old babysitter/friend Calli came over to go to church with us. She was telling me how great her chicken and noodles had turned out earlier in the week and made the chicken cooking thing out to be no big deal. This was from the girl who used to have a pet chicken. I decided to make her my official chicken cooker. She agreed. She took the chicken out of the IGA bag and put it in the crockpot for me. This was at around 4 o'clock. We decided to let it cook until about 8 o'clock and then after church she would deal with the bones and "other stuff". It would still be homemade in my kitchen, I just wasn't necessarily the one doing the dirty work. So far, so good. But then something came up and she ended up not coming back to my house after church. So there I was, alone with a fully cooked whole chicken in my kitchen.

I seriously considered dumping the whole thing in the trash and being done with it. (Remember, I really didn't want to see what was inside.) I gave myself a pep talk, got out two bowls (one for good meat, one for "other stuff"), some forks, a big spoon, and a canister of bleach wipes. I managed to not actually touch any meat in the course of the dissection. I shredded the super tender meat easily and threw away a lot of "other stuff". I gagged three times. I managed to not throw up. It was nasty. There were a lot of organs and bones and other ugly parts of the chicken that I did not wish to see. I managed to get a lot of good meat and broth out of the crockpot and threw away a lot of nastiness. I put the good stuff in the refrigerator and then today I took it out, put in back into a clean crockpot, along with a bag of Amish homemade noodles. It is cooking now and it better be worth all of the trouble. It's still homemade even if the Amish made it in their home, right? Maybe one day I'll figure out how to do my own noodles, but I think I might have to buy the broth next time and just use some boneless, skinless chicken breasts. That's more my style.  I am so thankful that I was born in the 1970s and not the 1870s.  How on Earth did those poor women of the past cook up all different kinds of animals and still manage to eat it?  I suppose if my life depended on it I would be able to do that too but ewww! 



I hadn't gotten a chance to tell you about our Easter yet...

We had a great Easter this year.  It was a little cold and chilly but we still had a nice day.  The girls both looked pretty in their Easter dresses.  We had to find some little sweaters to wear over them but that was okay.  The girls both got new swimsuits, beach towels, Play-Doh, and Crocs in their Easter baskets.  They were both very happy with that. 

Totally fake smile here.

Checking out her presents...

"Seriously?  Another picture?"

Looking pretty in the first Easter dress that she picked out by herself.

She's had enough of the camera...

We had a great breakfast and services at church.  Then we headed home, changed clothes, relaxed for just a bit, got our four dozen deviled eggs and headed to my Uncle Randy and Aunt Janet's house for a meal and Easter Egg Hunt.  The meal was delicious and it was fun to hang out with my family for awhile.  After we ate we had an indoor egg hunt in Randy's big shed.  It was great because it was raining, cold, and super muddy outside.  The girls found lots of eggs and won some super prizes.  Maleah found one egg with $40 in it.  She walked away with over $60 in cash, $5 in McDonald's money, and $10 in Dairy Queen dollars.  She also won a kite, a stuffed bunny, a fishing pole and tackle, bubbles, tons of candy, and other stuff I can't remember.  Carissa won around $20 in cash, $5 in Dairy Queen dollars, a stuffed bunny, an Elmo blanket that she adores, bubbles, and several other things.  I was amazed at all they walked away with.   I think I would like to hunt eggs myself next year.

Carissa got into some of her sister's Hello Kitty stickers the other day.  This is what she did with them:

Little Carissa has also not been wanting to keep her clothes on.  She wants to be "nakey" all the time.  But who says you need pants to roller skate?

Here's a cute one of Maleah Rose without her teeth (still!):

Maleah has about two and a half weeks of school left and she is getting super excited about summer vacation.  She is going to be hard to entertain for three months but I think she will enjoy it.  She is planning on taking swim lessons for sure and I am currently trying to come up with other ideas to keep her busy.  If anybody has any great ideas let me know...

There isn't much else going on around here.  I'll let you know how the chicken and noodles turned out...