Want to Make: Bookends

I think my little guy's room could use some bookends. Not sure if owls are the way to go...maybe turtles instead...but here are some tutorials I've found.

Super cute owl bookends.

Another owl bookend tutorial.

But since I have two boys, maybe these are a

better ‘want to make’:

Boyish bookend designs.

One-Pot Pasta Dinner

This lasagna recipe is really yummy and makes cleaning up easy! It tastes like lasagna.

1 # sweet sausage

1 small onion, chopped

1 jar of spaghetti sauce (26 ounces)

4 cups of egg noodles

1 cup of water

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

2T Parmesan cheese (from the green plastic can)

1 T fresh parsley, snipped into tiny pieces

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded.

1. Cook sausage and onion in a large pot until brown; drain.

2. Stir in spaghetti sauce, noodles, and water and bring to a boil.

3. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occassionally.

4. In a separate bowl, combine ricotta, parmesan and parsley. Drop onto the pasta mixture. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top. Cover and cook for a few more minutes to melt the cheese.

Nursery Wall Art

My dad made these frames for our littlest guy's room! I filled them with animal figures from the fabric I used to make his crib skirt.

There's no glass in them which allows them to be lightweight (the frames are pine). That way I'm not worried about them falling off the wall!

I used foam board I bought at the dollar store for the background. I painted it with acrylic paint and then cut the animals out of scrapbook paper. I used double stick tape to attach the animals

Baby Shower Gift

I made a gift for a friend’s baby shower. The bunny was made using this tutorial & pattern, and the blanket and burp cloth were made with my pattern and tutorial.

The bunny was my favorite part.

Quiero Perfecto

A few weeks ago I was at a MOPS meeting talking with one of the mentor moms about a few frustrations I was experiencing. She said to me, "It sounds like you just want everything to be perfect. It isn't going to be that way."

She's right.

But yesterday I had a day where I want everything to be perfect. The last few sewing and crafting projects I’ve done haven’t turned out exactly the way I imagined them {perfect}. So I'm frustrated. Other things I want to be perfect:

I want my kitchen to be perfectly clean, yet have a perfectly presented meal for dinner.

I want my kids to never have runny noses or food on their clothing.

I want them to nap (at the same time) between 1 and 3 pm.

I want all my craft projects to go perfectly.

I want my craft/sewing area to be perfectly clean.

I want my bathrooms to be spotless.

I want my kids’ toys to be arranged in proper order.

I want to be able to sit on my deck and enjoy my perfectly mowed yard with perfect landscaping.

I want a beautifully organized linen closet and empty laundry baskets.

I want to wake up feeling rested.

I want to have a relaxing Saturday morning with my husband and our kids play without crying.

I want to wear PJ’s that match.

The reality is:

I’m always cleaning the kitchen.

My little boy’s nose seems to be constantly running due to seasonal allergies.

My kids rarely nap at the same time.

I have to sand the shelf and end table I just painted and attempted to glaze to correct my mistakes and start over.

The zipper pouches I spent so much time on the past few days don’t look the way I expected.

I don’t know if the showers have been cleaned in the past two weeks.

It is raining outside and our grass is still patchy.

I’m exhausted when I wake up in the morning and race to brush my teeth and put in my contacts before my two-year old decides to jump out of his crib. [I’m trying to prevent him from learning to escape. Just a few more months, please!]

My husband is busy biking, running, playing his saxophone with a band, and too busy with his own pursuits for relaxing over coffee. Our kids whine and cry a lot.

None of my PJ’s match. I wear old t-shirts with shorts to bed.

So while I’m sitting here longing for a blog-perfect or magazine-page family, house and life, I wondered why we all long for perfection. Why do I spend my free time creating things? Taking pictures? Posting them online? Why do I clean my home, attempting to make it appear perfect? It just gets messy and dirty again. The laundry fills up. Another meal or snack has to be served.

Hygienic motivation for cleaning aside, I was thinking that we were all created {by God} to live in a perfect world. God placed the first two people in the Garden of Eden, which probably didn’t get dirty. Kids weren’t supposed to whine. Beauty and perfection abounded in this garden.

We’re all trying to recreate the beauty and perfection God intended for the world. We can’t do it and always fall short. Bummer. But that’s because we weren’t created to live in this world. If you confess Jesus Christ to be your personal savior, you can have the assurance that you’ll be surrounded by beauty and perfection for eternity.

There’s nothing wrong with making fun crafts and cleaning your home. The problem comes when it becomes an obsession and you can’t stand your house because it isn’t as perfect as a lovely picture you’ve seen on someone’s blog or in a decorating magazine.