Busy!

I've been busy working on projects lately. We needed gifts and we needed them quickly, so I've been working my little heart out to get them done!

First up, the girls ended Awana last week - both of them earned their first book for their respective group (for those of you who are familiar with Awana I have one daughter in Sparks and one in T&T). So we needed a little something for their leaders - who, we are so blessed, that each girl really liked her leaders. But, we're on this whole budget thing over here and it makes gift giving, well, a bit trickier! So, we together decided to give them washcloths and soap!




Okay, here's where I admit I was pretty nervous. My dad jokingly (well, actually probably not so jokingly) if we were trying to tell them that they all smelled bad. ::sigh:: Anyway, I was nervous that they would look at their little washcloth and soap and think we were crazy bad gift givers (although if you are wondering, I've gotten the same thing as a gift before and I love it!) Two of the teachers were so thankful it shocked me. The one said her mom had knitted her some in the past but they were in need of replacement so getting a new one was so great! The other just couldn't get over the fact that we made them just for her. Amazing what a washcloth and a bar of soap can do for someone! =)

Next up: cute knit/sewn dress for a little girl




Okay, now be honest, how cute is that? I kind of wish I had a 2 year old to put in it myself! I think I would keep it and find something else to give the little girl LOL! Anyway, it wasn't too hard to make and was quick so that was good. Am hoping it fits and that they like it half as much as I do! LOL!

This party is actually for 2 girls in the family, so I asked the older girl what she wanted. She didn't know. That answer wasn't helpful. So we asked a bunch of questions and discovered: she likes jewelry but never wears it so that's not what we should give her, she likes music and CD's but they are very unorganized, she has a spot on her wall to hang things, and really anything we get will be fine. So 9 year old and I put our heads together and created this:



Well, do hope it will be fine. My 9 year old okay'd the project (and it's her friend so that was VERY important). Except when it was all done, she said in a sort of funny voice "Wow. That's big. Bigger than I thought it would be." And then she quickly added "But, I like it. You did great mom!" Which makes me wonder if it is too big and oh my goodness this poor girl is gonna hate it but have to pretend she likes it so she doesn't hurt our feelings. But what can I say? I didn't have a pattern, I just made it up as I went along. It holds 24 CD's, which I don't think is a large amount. And if there isn't enough room on her wall, well, it fits on a door too! LOL!

Aside from that I finally learned to make bread without a bread machine. I know, how silly does that sound? But we haven't bought bread in over a month. I've been making it for us. Almost every day - 5-6 days a week. We go through lots of bread and well bread machine loaves are smaller than most loaves you buy at the store. And we love bread. It was getting too hard to keep up! So, I did it by hand today and made four loaves (two whites, two wheats). Except I don't have 4 bread pans. So I had to improvise on the fourth loaf. Anyway, two are in the freezer and 2 are in the fridge waiting to be eaten. If I'm lucky I won't have to do this again for 5 whole days LOL! I'd love it if I could stretch it out for a whole week ;-) Except making the bread was fun. And now I'm looking to bake other things ... I'm thinking muffins, bagels, and a whole plethora of other ideas. And the 6 bread/muffin/baking cookbooks I checked out of the library are helping fill my mind with ideas!