Activity Days

Around the end of this summer I was called as one of three activity day leaders for the 10 &11 year old age group in my ward and we are just starting to get into it. Even though there are three of us, with our busy schedules (not to mention the girls' crazy busy schedules) it has been really hard to get going, let alone get organized. This week I am in charge of the activity and I have been doing some research to help with what can be best labeled as a "mess" at the moment. Well, through my searching I found this AMAZING site (look at the cute button I've got on the side that links you there! --->) with tons of help and ideas! I am going to present my ideas to the other leaders hopefully today and have all of this ready by the activity if we all like it. I think they will, the guides are so helpful and very cute! I think for this activity I will have all the girls' folders made and then let them fill in their information as well as decorate them! It will be fun, crafty, and something that will help us out a ton. I'm excited!

P.S. I have always dreamed of having a calling in YW's and while I was learning more about all of this I realized it has some of my favorite parts of YW's, just younger! So maybe I'll get to live one of my dreams with these activities without all the stress and time consuming commitment of YW's!

Getting an education is HARD!

Ugh! I hate moments like these! First the problem, my current class is confusing and hard. We've been assigned way too much reading (10-20 chapters a week) and I can't seem to find the answers I need to do my assignment I was working on tonight. It's a discussion question and so I looked at what my classmates answered to see if I could find some clues where to look. My classmates sound all smart and make it look easy but I have no idea where they found their answers unless they read every word of the textbooks and inferred it all. I just do not understand how I cannot even find a hint to what I need. It seems like everything I'm reading has nothing to do with what we're focusing on for this assignment.

So because of all of this stress I have found myself in my normal dilemma of questioning if school is worth it. Why do I put myself through this just for a goal when I do not even need the degree necessarily. Of course it is good to meet goals, it's good to have a degree just in case I need it later in life, and I've come this far (5 years now and only 1 and a half to go) so it seems silly to just give up. Plus, I'm not the kind of person who gives up, I've never given up on anything and I'm not about to start, but whenever I get stressed like this that same question always pops up. I think it's not because of me wanting to give up but rather a chance for me to remind myself of why I am doing this, why it is worth it, and a reminder that I can get through it.

So to all of my student friends out there who are stressed with school, I feel your pain and we will get through it! I'm cheering you on and will be up late doing hw in the middle of the night right along with you. If it's this hard it must be because a degree has a high value so let's earn it and get that piece of paper that says we worked hard, learned a ton, and gained an education.

Sewing Projects and Other Crafts :)

Some things I have done/things I want to do:

Hair Bows
I want to make millions of hair bows and flowers! So far I have only made one...lol:

Not the best pics but they show the flower well

This one's cute though!

Custom Wedding Frames
I love making these for weddings :) That are just so cute and fun! I keep forgetting to take pictures of them before I give them away though... At least I have a couple:

They are mostly see-through

Depending on the light they can throw shadow echos of the saying

It's just fun and personal!

Wall Sayings
These are fun too! Here are some pics of things I've done:

 Bathroom saying

I'm farther than in the pic now, it just needs to be put on wood :)
I love how the colors are layered on top of each other.

Hallowen Costumes
This last year for halloween our little family were each characters from Phantom of the Opera. Wayne was the Phantom, I was Christine, and Claira was the symbol playing monkey. Wayne's costume is done (I made him an awesome cape/cloak and he made his mask, the rest is a tux and other stuff he already has) and it looks awesome! He even does his face under the mask to look burned :) My costume is somewhat done...I've got most of the dress done and still need to make my robe (I'm making my own version of the dress she wears when she goes to the Phantom's hideout. I really want to finish it with all the detail but did not have it done for halloween since I was not feeling well. At least I had enough done that I could still wear it, it's just not as fancy. Claira's monkey body was bought so that part is done. Now I just need to make her hat, vest, and symbols. I was going to make the monkey body too but knew I wouldn't have time with school, so Wayne found a cute monkey at Target instead. I'm excited for when we have the finished projects! ...Although I don't know if we will want to be Phantom again this year...but since we moved we could totally repeat and get away with it! Here's a pic:

Baby Blanket(s)
I have been crocheting this baby blanket for Claira for months (or a year even) and have yet to finish it. I is about 3/4 done just needing a few more squares, attaching all of the squares together, and doing the edging. The problem is that I often only work on it while at doctors offices and other places requiring a wait. I just need to finish it.

And then there are all those other baby blankets I have fabric for but have yet to make them. I think the reason I haven't felt the need to make them is because I received so many baby blankets that there is no rush or need to add more to the collection. So maybe I'll make these bigger blankets more for a toddler or small child so that she can have some then. Except for her quilt...and bumper and mobile toys...I probably should make those for her eventually since she's moved into her crib so that she can have her own special made crib bedding (plus extras are always good while one is washing). But there's not a huge rush for that right away either because her cousin Emma gave Claira her old crib bedding set :)

Quilt
I already mentioned Claira's quilt, but I also want to make an Americana quilt for Wayne. I've got a lot of great fabric for it and have an idea of what I want it to look like. I want it to have those star/flower designs made from triangles as the main idea among others. I've never quilted before though, so hopefully I pick this up as well as I have sewing. Oh and the best part of this quilt will be that it will have a wool blanket inside of it. This is Wayne's most important request because he loves how it makes the quilt so warm while staying thin. I'm very excited for this project :) Anyone want to teach me to quilt?

Boy Scout Blankets
I'm noticing I have a lot of blanket projects, lol. But there are two scout blankets that I want to make. One is a square of fleece that has the boy scout logo on it. I'm not quite sure what I will do with this yet... The other is a "patch" blanket made from old patches from camps and Wayne's awards on top of denim or something like that. I've considered putting these two into one blanket but can't decide.

Elegant Dress

I have left over material from making my bridesmaid's dresses and just love it! I really want to make a beautiful dress out of it. Maybe one day I will get on that...

AND A MILLION MORE... But that's good for now :)

Saving money or getting things for free=AWESOME!

My friend sums up my feelings on this subject pretty well :) Read it HERE and then if you want to join SwagBucks come back here and use my Referral Link so that I get some SBs :)

I've gone private

In order to protect my baby from the evil people in the world I have gone private so that I can post about her as much as I want :) If you are reading this you must be "allowed" to see my blog, so welcome! :)

FYI: I use this blog for my personal feelings, crafts, and whatever else I like. If you want to see our family blog that has all the fun adventures we take together daily it is also private and you will need permission to see it: walkersforeverandever.blogspot.com

I hope you enjoy reading along! I promise I'm going to try to post more often!

New Mood

I am going to try to get better at many things in my life, blogging being one of them. To do this I need to improve my time management... we'll see how this goes. But I would like to inform you of a specific thing I am doing to improve this blog :) I am going to start sharing my crafts! Yay! <-At least I think so ;) I am very excited for this! Secondly, I want to make my blog better, but I am blogger-illiterate so I may need some help. Anyone want to offer to teach me their tips for making a blog awesome? I don't even know how to include links to a word...so if you want to help please leave me a comment! I have skype and facebook and we could get chatting away. Thanks!