DIY Curtains from A Flat Sheet

I am planning for a birthday party, for mid April, and have been making a to do list/spring cleaning list. On my list I have things that of course happen on a regular basis, but also things like finish the dining room walls....which has only been on the list for about three years, like since we moved in. But, my lack of a knack for plaster work is another story, about my DH's ability to procrastinate.

Anyway, one of the items on my list is to wash my kitchen and mud room curtains. Now, I dislike my kitchen curtains (they came with the house), and I have fabric to make roman blinds...but that is on my eventually list, not my birthday party list. The mud room curtains I made when we moved in, there are three windows all different sizes. The first set I made, I really liked, but I had a plan to make them all a little different, so I stuck to my plan....and didn't really like how they turned out. I kept them out of laziness, and lack of motivation. They were fine. 

Well taking them down to wash them, I decided I didn't want to put them back up. So, I dismantled them, to use part of them to make the new ones. Then I went and bought a king size flat sheet from Walmart. 

I started by measuring the length I wanted the curtains, then I cut off the excess from the bottom of the sheet, setting it aside for a future project.  Then I cut the rest in half, and then one side in half again. You would need to do whatever you need for your window measurements.

I took out part of the top seam out on each side and then folded it under.

I sewed an inch down from the top making a rod pocket, if you don't like the look at the top then just leave it the way it is. 

Here is a picture of the stripe piece pinned on, I used the fabric from a set of pillow cases that I got on clearance. It is the same brand and thread count as the main curtain. 

Here are the finished curtains, are they perfect.....nope. I am a realist, I have kids and a cat who sits in windows. So, I am ok with them being imperfect, not to mention that they were inexpensive, and with the way I change my mind that is a must!

Laundry Center Ikea Hack

After looking online and in the Ikea catalog, I set out to buy their kitchen island to use as a laundry folding table. Now it takes two hours to get to the closest Ikea, so when I got there and the kitchen island I thought I was getting, was not actually set up the way I expected was disappointing. So,  I set out wandering around the store in the hopes of finding something I could use. 

I found the Stenstorp kitchen cart, as seen below. And bonus, at the time it was on sale with the Ikea family card, yea!

See the cart on the Ikea website. 

 Heading over to the laundry department, I grabbed a Blaska laundry basket, and it is a perfect fit for the shelves on the cart. 

See the laundry baskets here. 

We loaded up, and headed home, then I proceeded to put the carts together, minus the tops.  I don't 

have pictures of the process unfortunately. But, here is where we drilled holes into the legs and used

long bolts to connect the two together. 

And then since the tops are not predrilled we just butted them together and drilled where it lined up. We had to off set the center line some, and we haven't treated the top because I was afraid of it getting on the clothes. I will probably stain it eventually, and will post an update photo when I do. 

So, you may have noticed in the pictures that the countertops are not the same.  I can tell you that I 

was NOT pleased about this. When you get this cart at the store in Pittsburgh you have to go to the 

warehouse to pick up the boxes, and who would have thought that they would have even made different ones? Well since I did not discover the difference until I had the second base built, (Ugh) I would have had to take it apart, box it back up, and drive two hours to exchange it; then drive two hours back after getting a new one and making sure it had the right top.  Well needless to say, we kept them, and now if they are not covered in laundry it is a talking point. 

Here is the finished product! Very functional if I do say so myself.  

 
   

Intentions

I really did have good intentions of continuing to workout while at the hotel in Minnesota. I was going to  take my son and nephew down to the convenient exercise room and run on the treadmill for half an hour.  And I did, once.

 I got home Wednesday and it is now Saturday, today is the first day I have worked out since last Thursday. I know that others have said it, heck I have said it. You don't realize how good you feel until you start feeling crappy again. I am sore, everywhere, and that was before I ran today. I had such a hard time convincing myself to get back on it, and a really hard time completing the program, even though I picked one about a week behind where I stopped. Why, oh why do I do this to myself?

Porch Surprises

I went to let my dog out this afternoon, and to wait for my son to get off the schoolbus and found this.

Holy macaroni, there is an o'possum on our porch.  My DH was using the "refrigerator on the porch" (meaning just outside) for our honeycomb and when I walked out this guy was helping himself. Then he made himself at home on one of my porch chairs. We went out later to find him in our chicken coop, which sadly means he had to go, but he was good for a shock and a laugh.

Heather

Homemade Laundry Soap

Homemade laundry soap is not a new thing, but as it is time for me to make a new batch I figured I would post about it.

A friend of mine last year, had made a batch and gave me some to try.  I am not a fanatic about laundry soap, as long as it works I'm happy, and not having to spend a fortune on it...even better.  So, last March I made a batch, and am just now having to make a new batch. A years worth of laundry soap = awesome.

I got the recipe from here.

• 1 - 4lb box of Borax
• 
  
• 1 - 4lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
• 
  
• 1 - box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz 
• 
  
• 1 - 3 lb OxyClean or store brand OxyClean ( I use the Free kind, because I have kiddos with sensitive skin )
• 
  
• 3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap

You should be able to find all of these items at your grocery store.

Use 1-2 Tablespoons per load.

Here are the pictures. 

 

Thank you Ninja for the "free" food processor that came with my crockpot! I have an HE washer so I grind the Fels-Naptha soap pretty small. 

I mix right in my container, which is a dog food container that I got at Walmart. It has an airtight seal, but it still ended up clumping after a while. I just kept a butter knife with it, and it crumbled with little effort. I was originally using the scoop from the oxyclean, but my DH broke it, so I got the 4 tbsp measuring cup (also from walmart). 

I love my label maker! I like to put the date on when I make it, so I know how long it lasts. 

 I found this website, with other recipes, and some great tips. 

Happy Valentine's Day

Thank you, Dear Husband.

My entire office appreciates it :-)

Sleep walking?

My husband and I put our kids to bed last night like we always do, I stayed up for awhile, while the DH got ready and went to bed early, for an early wake up.

After a couple of hours, I headed upstairs and found my older son in the bathroom. His underpants (aka pajamas) were wet. Now this isn't a regular occurrence,  but it isn't necessarily unusual either (small bladders run in the family).  Herding him back to his room in the dark to change and go back to bed, I with my bare foot came across a wet spot on the carpet. Now unfortunately my first thought went to dog puke....really. For the moment I thought it was more important to get my son back to bed, I headed in, made sure his bed wasn't wet, (it wasn't)  and put him back to bed.

By the light of my cellphone I located the wet spot, which alas was not puke, yea! I went downstairs got a handful of paper towels to soak up the mystery wet spot, and started cleanup. Of course in an attempt to discover what it was, I sniffed the paper towels, after soaking the first handful and of coarse it was pee. He must have gotten up, then stood in the middle of the room and just went....

It took me two more trips downstairs to get enough paper towels (cause I couldn't have just brought the roll up) to soak it up enough to feel okay leaving it until morning.

In the morning, bringing the spot bot upstairs, my son asked what I was doing. He didn't remember any of it.  Awesome.

Surprises in the New Year

Occasionally, crazy stuff comes at you from nowhere, and rearranges your life. Car accidents, job downsizing, tornados, that sort of thing. Most people experience it at some point in their life. 

One just happened in our house. 

On January 1st, my dear husband awoke with a racing heart rate, but no other symptoms. After milling about the house for a few hours, we decided we should probably get it checked out. So we bundled up our three year old son and headed off to the acute care clinic. 

And without much ado, they sent us off to the Emergency Room.  

In the ER, they poked and prodded and listened and medicated. "He's in atrial fibrillation," they said, but not much else. His chest X-Ray was fine, the CT scan was fine. 

And then they knocked him out, slapped a couple of patches on his chest, and shocked him back into rhythm. A half hour later, we headed home with instructions to make a follow up appointment in about a week.

All righty, then. 

So I send him off to his appointment a week and a half later, not expecting much to come of it.

"You have an Atrial Septal Defect. It's pretty large, so we'll want to fix it."

"Oh. No. We can't do this through catheterization. Your defect is pretty rare, so it requires an open heart surgery to repair."

"But it's not an emergency. You've had it for 39 years, after all."

"We've discussed your case with the team of surgeons here, and they don't feel like they can do the procedure. We're referring you to Mayo Clinic."

Now, I held it together pretty well up to this point. My husband was stunned, of course, but the "Mom and Dad of the Sisters" have been through several open heart surgeries, so I am familiar with the routine of supportive loved one for cardiac patients. 

But then we waited. And waited. We didn't know if we would be called to Rochester, MN within the week, or the month, or six months. Everything hinged on the pending date. Hotel rooms and child care and vacation days - We couldn't do anything.

I had a little melt down. Then I felt better. It's amazing what a crying jag can do for you. :-) And it seemed like the next day, Mayo Clinic called with the schedule. I got booking.

My fantastic sister offered to fly in for the surgery and help manage my kiddo. I owe her a vacation.

Although we're still tense, there's a goal now. As of this writing, we are T minus ten days and counting. 

In situations like this, unexpected things happen. Mayo Clinic calls a few days after scheduling and says "You should go to the dentist." 

So I make my dear husband an appointment and he goes. While still at the visit, he calls me. 

"I need to have my wisdom teeth taken out."

I just laughed.

 

Beginning

I feel like since this is my first entry on our blog, that I should introduce myself. Hi. My name is Heather, I live on a "farm" (more on the quotations later) in northwestern Pennsylvania. I am a wife to my dear gluten free husband, a mom to two boys ( 6 and 4 ), a male dog, a male cat,  and two male gerbils...Hands Up! They have me surrounded! I work part time as an RN at an independent surgery center, and the rest of the time I take care of "the boys".
My sister and I grew up in South Dakota, where she still lives. At age 17 I ran away from home and joined the Navy. I had one of the most boring Navy careers anyone has ever heard of, Ha! However, I met my husband, fell in love (awhhhh) and he dragged me to Pennsylvania where we have made our life.
I am crafty, but not always very good at it. I like to cook and bake and am on the recent adventure of making our home gluten free. And, I do things that are "hippie"  but try not to be weird about it.

My turn, because even though I might say I don't like to talk about myself, I really, really do. ;-)

I'm Jennifer, the older sister. Although at this point, the three year age difference doesn't matter until I'm 40 and she's not. Believe me, she'll remind me regularly.

Though I live in South Dakota, I do not live on a farm. I can see corn field from my back yard, but I am strictly Midamerican suburbanite. I freak out if my internet service goes down, because then I couldn't shop online. For shoes.

Ten years ago I began dating a race car driver, against my better judgement. I mean really. Race cars? But it worked out, and now we are happily married with an almost potty-trained son. And there are currently no race cars in my life. (I win!)

I work in health insurance, and since no one cares about it but me, I won't talk about that. 

I write fiction. Ok, I write first drafts of fiction. I'm still working on the edit process, so someone other than Heather will be allowed to read what I write. And when writing stresses me out, I knit and crochet. Usually hats. To match my shoes.

We will post random stuff-isms that happen to us, or things that just make us say "I should post that." Join us, and comment as the whim strikes you! We want to know that others are as crazy as us...