Weekly Obsession: Patchwork Love

     We spent a weekend in northern Minnesota recently and my mother-in-law sent home with us a breathtakingly beautiful patchwork quilt for our daughter. I wish I had the time and skill to make something this amazing. This was her first time doing patchwork and I guess she had to take it apart several times in places. Maybe when the kids start school I'll have a chance to learn how to quilt.

In the comments: do you know how to do patchwork or quilting of any kind?

Snap of the Week: 010

Deklyn standing next to Great Grandpa Wayne's robot. It's almost as tall as him.

In the comments: how many generations are still around for your kiddos?

Weekly Obsession: Dropbox

Here I am trying to avoid sweets and lose weight and DropBox is telling me to 'grab a snickers'.

     I am really loving that all of the photos on our phones go straight to DropBox and from there I can automatically import it to my hard drive when I import photos from an SD card. We also recently decided to put our huge collection of music on DropBox so that my husband and I could access it on our phones or laptops easily. The amount of space we were given for free works just fine for us. Even with over 6,000 songs being synced as we speak we still have over 20 GB of free space left. If you take a lot of photos on your phone I highly suggest using DropBox, I've already seen a friend of mine lose all the photos of her twin boys first year when she lost her phone.

In the comments: do you have a process for getting your photos off of your phone?

Snap of the Week: 009

Waiting for the zoo gates to open for behind the scenes weekend. :)

In the comments: have you ever had a chance to experience behind the scenes at a zoo?

Weekly Obsession: Spring is Near

The ice melting is a true sign of spring and warmer temps.

     Is anyone else sick of this nasty winter? Way too cold all the time... and this snow. No thank you. So my obsession this week has been finding projects, recipes, and things to do around the house to remind me that spring is near and it's going to be OK. This has included lurking around on Pinterest looking for Easter and spring crafts, grilling recipes, sweets with orange or lemon, and smoothies. I got out for our first walk of the year with our new double stroller. Oh man did that feel nice - and my brother got to ride his new-to-him bike too.

Taste This: Three Ingredient Orange Cream Swirl Fudge

     Found this one over at A Pinch of Glitter and I love anything orange cream so I jumped at the opportunity to make this one. Only three ingredients, pop in the microwave and throw together, and the perfect reminder that warm weather is on it's way. My white fudge for the swirl didn't seem to come out to the right consistency but I'm thinking it needed to be heated a bit longer. This recipe was definitely worth the five minutes for someone who's getting very tired of winter.

Craft Time: Leprechaun Hat Planter

     I've seen this cute little craft all over Facebook and Pinterest. I bought the cute little terra-cotta pots to do it more than a year ago and I finally got the motivation to just sit down and get it down. I'm glad I did because it didn't take me long at all. I was able to get a couple of bonus paper shamrocks (from over at Meaningful Mama) made up while I waited for the paint to dry between coats. I attempted tracking down the original source of this cute little hat craft with no luck.

     After a quick trip to the store I came home with 57 cent green acrylic paint, a 47 cent foam brush, and some 88 cent pipe cleaners. I don't remember how much the little pots cost me so long ago but I know I found them at Michael's on sale.

   It's a pretty straight-forward project. Paint the pot green, add a hat band (pipe cleaner), and add a buckle (pipe cleaner). Took me maybe twenty minutes not counting drying time. When I originally saw this project pipe cleaners were not used but after wandering the store looking for supplies this is what I landed on. It turned out better than I expected.

Snap of the Week: 008

I love that you can see the snowball he attempted to throw at Daddy falling apart mid-air in this shot. Add the smile on his face and it's wonderful.

In the comments: did you get a chance to play in the snow this winter?

Weekly Obsession: Lindsey Stirling

     Over the last week I have been listening to Lindsey Stirling almost non-stop. The first time I had seen her was in Pentatonix's cover of Radioactive. If I had cable, I may have seen her first on America's Got Talent. I have taken the time to sit down over the last week and just play through her YouTube channel non-stop. A lot of her music is very calming to me but still has enough spunk and energy to get me through my day. Please do check out her YouTube channel, you won't regret it.

Taste This: Pizza Nachos

     When my husband found this recipe for pizza nachos on TaylorMade's site I was a little hesitant. But now that we have tried them, oh man is that amazing. I'd rather eat this than pizza most of the time now. It's quick and easy and you are in complete control. We like to add lots of cheese and discovered the last time we made it that if it's left in the oven just a little bit longer it ends up like a pizza nacho omelet. This was an amazing discovery for someone with bad teeth who was struggling to eat the crispy chips. I highly suggest you give this recipe a try. We also added crumbled sausage this last time and that was pretty tasty. The seasoning and garlic sauce makes this dish so don't omit that if you can help it.

Clutter Buster: Laundry

     A lot of people have a laundry problem. I did for a long time. You know that problem where the house would look pretty darn clean if only you could get a handle on all the clothes, dirty and clean, around the house. After we got our new washer/dryer unit in our apartment I started to get a handle on things. People laugh at me when I tell them this, but I do laundry every day. I took note of where dirty clothes gathered in my house and made sure there were baskets in those hot spots but otherwise all dirty clothes hit the washer right away. In the morning I check both baskets, one in the bathroom and one on my husband's side of the bed, and put those clothes in the washer. Every night I add the dishcloth and every other night I add the hand towel from the kitchen. Once a week I wash the bedding and same for the towels.

     When the washer is full, I run it. I wash on cold so I don't have to worry about separating colors. I set a timer on my phone to be sure it goes in the dryer when it's done. Then I wait for it to be nap time or bed time for the kids - or at least the toddler. Once he is asleep I fold, hang, and put away everything without ever letting it hit a basket or flat surface. If it hits the bed, table, floor, or laundry basket - I have an excuse not to take care of it right away. If I leave it in the dryer, it has to be done so I can keep washing every day.

     These two rules have saved me from the never-ending laundry monster I dealt with for quite a while and I know a lot of others do too.

1. wash at least one load every day - try not to worry about separating
2. never let the clean laundry hit a flat surface or basket

In the comments: how often do you do laundry in your house?

Snap of the Week: 007

He doesn't get to hold her often so when Uncle Stephen holds his little niece he feels really special.

In the comments: do you have a sibling 10+ years younger/older than you?

Weekly Obsession: Photoshop Elements 12

     Having recently acquired my wonderful MacBook Pro I also purchased Photoshop Elements 12 and have spent the last week re-learning Photoshop. I was previously using Photoshop CS4 on my old HP. I've been trying to learn new shortcuts and little tips and tricks in PSE. So far I am missing text justification and layer grouping so if anyone knows how to do this without purchasing an add-on please let me know. I am loving the photo bin feature however. Great for digital scrapbooking.

In the comments: do you use PSE 12? What are some of our favorite tips/tricks?

2014 Digital Project Life Blog Circle: February Update

     Welcome to another stop in the 2014 Project Life Blog Circle. If you have been following along then you would have come from over at Ashley's blog. I decided to participate in this blog circle as a way of motivation. And I'm glad I did, because in the last two days I have placed all of my photos into templates. I felt pressure to get it done though - and was angry with myself for not finishing the pages completely. But then I realized this is the perfect time to show you my process. The pages I am uploading now have no text, no embellishments, no stamps - it's just the pictures and my base. This took me two days of working on it here and there and now I can go back and add bits and pieces. Part of the reason for my scramble this month was because I spent a good chunk of time scanning old prints this month as well as trying to catch up on old edits. I am half way through November of last year. YAY! By the end of this month I am determined to be caught up on my past edits through December of last year, finished with the February pages, and current for March. The plan is to make a page every time I clear a memory card. And every time I clear a memory card, I have automator on my MacBook set up to download my pictures from mine and my hubby's phones through DropBox as well. This way nothing is missed. I don't know if this is a little ambitious or not. I guess we'll see how things go. I think I can do it. Hope you enjoy a sneak peek at my family's February. Please be sure to head on over to see what Kristi has been up to this past month.

In the comments: do you put too much pressure on yourself? Even things that other people seem not to care so much about at the time?