'Tis better to have loved...

Here's my top 5 tragic (or at least sad) love story movies:

1. Titanic

2. Romeo & Juliet

3. Tristan & Isolde

4. Moulin Rouge

5. Becoming Jane

Those are actually the only ones I can even think of- but they are all good- any others? I just watched Tristan & Isolde for the first time this week and I liked it. It got me thinking about why we like movies (or TV shows) that make us feel emotional pain!

When it comes to movies, give me a romantic comedy with a happy ending, and I'll be happy almost every time. Ginger said, if you get to choose how it ends, why shouldn't it be happy? (I agree!)

Of course, in real life there are many more unhappy endings, even a lot of tragic endings to romances. The ending in a movie, might be when the couple finally gets together, when they get married, or when they make it through a particular challenge in their life or relationship. In real life, we go through a lot of things before we really get to the ending, and relationships that had happy moments, can end bad at any time due to life circumstances, or bad decisions by one or both people. To get to the happy ending in real life, you have to keep going through those times that look like potential bad endings. Most people fall in love (to some level anyways) more than once in their life, so that means there are a lot more unhappy endings than happy ones, so it really must be better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all!

I think I can do this!

Isn't that adorable? You can get the pattern from Keepsake Quilting by clicking on the picture, or you can figure out your own pattern, and I don't think it would be too hard. It looks like you just chop off the bottom of a onesie, and sew a big piece around the bottom with a drawstring. I tried to make one of those sleep sack things when Emma was a baby but I had too much trouble with the zipper so it sits unfinished in my sewing drawer- I love that this doesn't need a zipper!

Inspiration

These are so cute! They sell these cute label stickers to wrap around those Hershey's Mini's. Click on the picture to find out more about them. I wonder if you could buy printable labels that size and make your own? Hmmmm...

Make your own "rotisserie" chicken

I don't like to eat chicken on the bone. And I usually only get boneless skinless chicken breasts for cooking because there is minimal touching raw meat involved, but I tried one of those deli rotisserie chickens once and my family just LOVED it. For $5-$7 they are great when it's dinner time, and you have no dinner, and the only other option is stopping by McD's, but I discovered it's REALLY easy and cheap to cook your own chickens. (Ok, maybe I'm the last to figure this out, but if not, keep reading!) You can get those little 5lb chickens for $.57 a pound when they go on sale. You take your chicken, and scoop the "stuff" out of the inside and throw it away. (sorry if that's common knowledge, my mom had to tell me that part) Then rinse the chicken off and stick it in a big bowl. Sprinkle seasoning all over it- I use 1 1/2 TB Season-All, with 2tsp rosemary, and 3 tsp thyme leaves. Get the Reynolds Oven Bags- throw in 2 TB flour and shake it up, then put your seasoned chicken in there and tie the bag shut. Place it in a casserole dish, and cook it! For 5lbs I do 80-90 minutes at 350. (For other cooking options, click HERE.) It's the easiest, cheapest meal and my family loves it. If I pull the meat off the bones before I put it on my plate I can eat it just fine and it is good. We usually have plenty left over for one of those many recipes that call for "chopped cooked chicken" too.

In other food news, do you know what trans fat is? I know it's the bad fat of course, but today I realized it is shortening! I have a lot of tubs of trans fat in my food storage- partially hydrogenated oil. Gross!

I love my Mary Engelbreit daily calendar!

If you can't read it, the quote of the day (yesterday) is "It takes a mighty good husband to be better than none."
Sam is.

Birthdays are confusing when you're 2

We had a family party, which means 14 kids no older than 6, so it was a little crazy but Miss E seemed happy. She was singing "Happy Birthday" all morning, and begging for cupcakes all afternoon but I'm not sure she knew what was happening at her party. I think she's getting her 2 year old molars because I couldn't get any pictures with smiles, and in half of them she has her fingers in her mouth. My favorite part was when she opened this dress from Grandma Mimi and immediately started trying to take off her clothes to put it on! And only 2 short years ago, she was this tiny. (snif*snif*)

Printing on transparencies

I've been wanting to try this for a while now and I finally did it for Miss E's birthday invitations. You can buy inkjet printable transparency sheets that have a rough side to hold the ink better. I learned to reverse the image before printing it so you can have the smooth side on top. I printed the front of her invitation on it and then stuck it to the front of a white carstock card with double stick tape. The tape does show through a little, there are probably better adhesives but it didn't really bother me for these. It's fun and I think it looks pretty!

It's not over!

I finally finished Eclipse the other night! It was good but I still think Twilight was the best. I thought Eclipse was the end but I am so excited to know there is going to be another one! I can't wait! And I'm dying for her to finish Twilight from Edward's perspective(Midnight Sun!) Eclipse hit #1 on the Best Sellers list- how exciting! Now I need to get back into the Harry Potters- thanks to all of you who told me to read them, I'm on the 3rd one and I really love them! And I haven't read books since high school.

Candy Training

Miss E is "candy trained!" Which is very close to potty trained, in that whenever she wants a piece of candy, she goes potty! It might be twice a day, or it might be 15 times a day. I was bragging on her the other day because we had only changed the pull up once all day because she was doing so well, but the next day she only actually used the potty twice! So, I don't know. She's still a baby to me so I don't know if she's really ready, but she could be...

Back to School

First day of 1st grade- first day to be gone ALL DAY at school! So is she scared?

"I'm not scared mom, because i have my best friend with me, and his name is "Backpack!"

Ok then... Well how are little sisters doing without her here?
For the most part, just fine.

Sweet Birthday Pocket Tutorial

I have to give credit to Leslie who teaches Love Notes for this great idea. And thank Sam for his photography skills! I think these would make really cute shower favors, or teacher gifts too.

Ok- first step, get a 6x6 inch square of carstock, turn it over (to the side that will go inside the pocket) and put double stick tape down the right hand side and along the bottom.

Next, place your candy bar (the Hershey's with Almonds are nice and flat and a perfect fit for the 6x6 size and much yummier than just plain chocolate if you ask me) Then fold the right side over the left so the tape holds it together. Pull out the candy bar and press the bottom flat so it sticks together. Run the bottom half inch or so through a paper crimper to give it that fun professional look. (these are sold at Joanns or Michael's for around $10- save your Sunday coupon!)

Then load the top half way into a circle punch and punch out a half circle through the front and back. (I used 1 1/4")

Slide in the candy bar and attach a little tag to the top of the candy bar wrapper with a mini safety pin, and tie on a little ribbon.

Then you can decorate the pocket however you like, or leave it plain. I used a 2 1/2" scalloped circle cut with the Mini Monogram's Cricut cartridge, stuck a flower on the side with a brad, and then wrapped it around the side of the pocket attached with double stick tape.

I hope that gives you the info you need! Let me know if you have any questions and if you make some, post a link to the picture- I'd love to see what you come up with!

What is up

We got the devastating news that some friends (Robby & Melanie) lost their new baby to SIDS- my heart has just been breaking for them and it's been hard to really think about blogging. My thoughts haven't been far from them since. I don't know how people go on after things like this, but I know they do somehow. I find some comfort in the knowledge that they will see their precious son again, and because they have been sealed together for eternity in the Lord's temple, they will have the opportunity to be a family forever.

One of my best friends (Shauna) said goodbye to her husband for the next 7 months as he was deployed to Iraq. I don't know how these families do it either- you are amazing!

Now for the least of my sorrows, Miss E dropped my camera and it is not working now. I will see if I can borrow one to get pictures and do a little tutorial of those candy bar wrappers for those who were interrested- I loved the idea of making some Halloween ones!

We went to a Jimmy Eat World concert and it was amazing! Really, their music is powerful to me and it was a great experience- they are so talented and fun to watch, and the best part is I was able to stay sitting down for most of the show! (if that isn't proof I'm getting old, I don't know what is!) Is that music still called Emo? Because it makes me quite emotional- I think I felt the full range there, it was that good.

I was released from working with the Young Women at church and will now be working with the primary children- I am really excited about this but I will miss the young women I had gotten to know and love. No more girls camp!

Sorry for the lack of illustration in this post, I don't have a camera you know.

Sweet Birthday Candy Bar Pocket

When your Young Women's budget is spent, I think these are a really cute thing to give for birthdays! We made the one on the left in the Love Notes class at the scrapbook store a while ago, and I tried to recreate it with things I could find now!