Time Out for Women in Omaha!


I’ve been asked to be a representative for Deseret Book for the Papillion area to get the word out about Time Out for Women coming to Omaha on Friday, Oct. 24th & Saturday, Oct. 25th at the Qwest Center. If you have not been to a TOFW, it will quite possibly be the best weekend you’ll have in a very long while. I attended once in Kansas City with some girlfriends and we had a blast.

Let me know via email or comment if you are considering signing up and I’ll get you the details. You can register online but if you sign up through me I think there’s some sort of advantage…I’ll have to get you the details once I’ve got my house up for sale! But I’ll make sure you get taken care of for sure. I know that I’m supposed to be looking for people who want to help spread the word or form “groups” of friends who are going. Some can even take a training call from Deseret Book and be a “team member” to help with some event “chores” and get further discounts. Email me (or comment) and let me know what you’d like to do — individually register, form a group, or be a team “member” — and I’ll set you up!

I’ll see you all in October if I’m not in Texas by then!!! (…and in that case I need someone to take over my duties as the rep so let me know if you’re up for that, too — should I move before October — which involves a FREE TICKET and coordinating even more help at the event). I actually hope we don’t move before then, at least a little, because I looked at the speakers list here and it sound just wonderful. I heart Merrilee Boyack. She’s my Mormon Idol.

Disclaimer: This is a wonderful event sponsored by Deseret Book and not the Papillion Stake or LDS church. I have to say that.

Tree of Life Artwork

I have been intrigued lately with trees and, more specifically, artwork symbolically reminiscent of the Tree of Life. I found this at www.tenthousandvillages.com and have thoroughly enjoyed looking at their website. They seem to have reasonable prices, too. Reminds me of a good friend who purchased her living room furniture because the pillow fabric had a subtle tree of life pattern in the weave. What a nice reminder of scripture stories and imagery to have around your home.

Slipcovers 101 (or Adventures in Slipcovering)

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Just getting started. I will probably end up posting the instructions so everyone can learn from my mistakes – which there are bound to be several.

Today I was able to cut the linen blend fabric into the appropriate sizes for each portion of the slipcover and started T-pinning it to the chair, wrong side out. I had one packet of T-pins and had to stop at 3 p.m. and go buy several more. I got the fabric on clearance (enough for 2 chairs) for about $15 at JoAnn’s and the T-pins are costing more than the fabric…hmmm…can’t complain. I love the fabric. I am going to try a scalloped edge on the bottom.

I love the original chairs – they are from a designer who designed during the Eames era for Tiffany’s by the name of Ward Bennett. There are little plaques on the bottom of these chairs that say designed by Ward Bennett and the year (another Goodwill find – paid $12 each and they’re worth at least $250 apiece). I don’t want to mess with the actual upholstery – even if it is Martha Stewart blue it doesn’t go well with our current decor so I envisioned white slipcovers. We’ll see how it goes…this is scarier to me than birthing children!!!

The World’s Worst Seamstress Creates Giant 24″ Pillows (aka Recycling the Couch)

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We have an old plaid sleeper couch ripped and wouldn’t sell in garage sale or on Craigslist. I read somewhere online about an industrious woman who utilized every part of her aged couch instead of throwing it out. (We’ve come a long way from using all the parts of a buffalo, haven’t we?) In my guilt ridden state, I figured that the LEAST I could do was reuse the stuffing. So…I found some Liz Claiborne Home yellow scalloped shams at Goodwill (my favorite eco-conscious store) and made pillows to fit them for our master bed. They match perfectly! Here are pictures of the pillows – I encased them with a Lowe’s clearance drapery panel that I purchased for $4. It’s a soft, velour swirly sheer thing but it didn’t look good on our window so I used it instead of muslin. The pillows could stand on their own but I prefer them in the scalloped sham. Yeah for me! I’m so proud of myself, I might just be able to conquer these slipcovers for my furniture after all. Granted, it’s only two pillows and two hours’ work but for me this is huge! I used my sewing machine and didn’t croak or inflict any drama on anyone nearby. The foam is going to be made into a denim dog bed but what to do with the springs…

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The drapery fabric takes shape!

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Getting stuffed with recycled couch batting!

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In the yellow scalloped sham – Yeah!

Design Funnies – Reflex or Reflux Blue?

So my only good chuckle today was when my client requested something be done in Reflux Blue. For anyone who knows design…you will know this standard, bright blue color is called Reflex Blue. But it is so bright and garish that it should very well be called Reflux Blue. It looks pretty on the chip and, indeed can print very nicely but sometimes the color shifts and it can be very garish. I’ve had good and bad experiences with Reflex Blue.

Click HERE for a quick tutorial on Reflex Blue and Pantone colors in general. A beginner’s guide so to speak, if you’re interested in such things…

Deck Staining is…FUN!

We are actually enjoying this process. The bid for getting our deck spray/stained was $650 so we decided to do it ourselves. And it has taken a long time. And we really haven’t had any help from anybody (even though we’ve asked some people who shall remain nameless…). And we haven’t died. Yet. We are so excited and actually having fun! We power washed it a couple of weeks ago, cleaned the floor with cleaner and then sanded last week and then today we got the upper rails and most of the stair rails completed. Monday or Tuesday night we’ll finish the floor and stair treads and beams. Yeah for us! Hard work feels good…now if only the “red cedar” semitransparent oil stain we picked out didn’t look like dirty pink…oh well there’s no going back now! We hope it will look sophisticated to our prospective buyers! God can change the color in their eyes if we pray hard enough, right! Just kidding…maybe the fumes were too strong…

Click HERE to see a page with the color of Red Cedar that we chose – looks great, right! We thought so, too. Well, lesson learned: always sample on your actual wood (which, is actually cedar). I’ll post pictures in the light when it’s all done – it’s really not bad!

Kids & Stealth Vegetables

Feeding vegetables to your kids a challenge? Me, too. Fortunately my kids enjoy one or two vegetables without a fight – if only each kid enjoyed the same ones so that none would go to waste! There has been much talk in the media lately about “stealth vegetables,” i.e. hiding veggies in your kids food. This sounds ingenious but also sounds like too much work to me. I really loved this article from Wondertime. Very, very good read. Read it here. Enjoy! Take THAT, Mrs. Seinfeld!

Going Green: Tip for Saving Paper!

I’m supposed to be “on the road” this morning so I’ll make this one quick: The VERY BEST tip I’ve heard for saving paper in the home office is this: when your children come home from school with papers, take all of the papers from their backpack and select those that do not have printing on the back – even their school work sometimes fits this description (bonus: great excuse to not have to save every little thing! I’ve been known to run their graded spelling tests through my laser printer!). Remove any staples, etc. You will be amazed at how much paper this provides. I print a lot of labels for ebay shipping and during the school year I hardly ever have to use a new sheet for a mailing label – mind boggling how easy this is to do. Just imagine one backpack X4 kids and you can imagine how much paper we had last year…I’m anxious for school to start again just so I can stop using fresh paper for my mailing labels! Ditto for flyers on your door, in the newspaper, the possibilities are (unfortunately) endless…

Calling all Crafters – Knitting, Beading Etc.

Book Sale!

If you know me at all, you know I find the BEST SALES online so I just had to share this one! I don’t even do jewelry but there were some gorgeous looking wire wrapped bead things in the lot. If you love any kind of craft-ery you will love this sale. The books are NOT pristine but have a nice discount. If your books look like mine when you’re done with them, the newness will not matter to you, either. I already purchased a few…I can feel the smooth pages in my hands now… If you want to get some for yourselves (or just browse the titles), click on the pic above and enjoy!

Muttropolis – Online Utopia for Dogs

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So I was reading Entrepreneur magazine (no worries about my actually achieving anything, I’m so behind it was the Sep ’07 issue) – anyway, I saw this great article about someone who had developed Muttropolis stores and was successful. I just loved the name and had to check it out and share with all my other pooch pals out there.

Four Little Pyromaniacs

I have four little pyromaniacs, but only one who felt the need to involuntarily dance/convulse along with the fireworks…every single time one went off (thus the 2 different videos). I think I’d better watch this one as he grows up!

Houston…We Have A Problem!

So the only real problem is Donnie and I both despise the heat but it looks like our attitude needs to change quickly because we’re headed to Houston instead of Hotlanta (yeah, and we thought Atlanta was going to be hot). I’m sadly looking around at my favorite winter coats, pullovers and jackets and can’t even conceive of life where it’s Omaha-Summer-Humid-Hot ALL YEAR LONG. Yikes. We’re going to need more than a few prayers in our behalf for this adventure! I keep telling myself this is what I said about Sandy, Utah before we lived there and it became one of our favorite places in the world. Well, at least maybe I can sweat off those last few pounds…just looking on the bright side!