Sunday, January 30, 2011

Cheesy Crafts

In November I learned how to make those cute satin flowers that you see everyone wearing in their hair. It was perfect timing because I was able to make a bunch for my sister(13) and sister-in-law(16) for Christmas. I tried to find a picture of them so I stole some pics from my sister Dana's facebook page :)

It's a little dark but she is wearing a satin one. These are made by cutting out circles of some polyester-based fabric and burning the edges over a candle's flame. pretty simple and very easy to make. I must have made 3 dozen.

I taught myself to make the felt ones. I wish I could get a more up-close picture because they are really quite adorable and on etsy.com they were $15 a piece!! insane.

Anyway, on Saturday for our Relief Society activity we made a bunch of fabric flowers- all shapes and sizes. I spent most of my time helping the other girls make theirs but when I got home I was in one of those "crafty moods". So I spent a few hours on making some more. I really like how they turned out!


On most of these I put both a bobby pin and safety pin on the back so that they can be attached to hair or clothes.

These are so EASY to make, require very few materials at little cost, and look fantastic in your hair, pinned onto a sweater, glued onto a belt, or even attached to a diaper bag.


The possibilities are endless :D

I am so glad that so many sisters in the ward enjoyed this cheesy craft and it brought a lot of us closer together. I don't care if its cliche to do crafts for RS activities and say that it makes us better people. Because I truly think that it does. Today at church I saw lots of girls, including new ones that just moved in, wearing these darling little flowers in their hair. It made me smile :)

Monday, January 24, 2011

cheesecake!

I love cheescake. It is my favorite dessert alongside frozen yogurt. My mom used to make cherry cheesecake for my birthday instead of birthday cake. so yummy.

Recently I've found a fondness for baking homemade cheesecake. There is nothing sweeter (literally) than biting into cold, creamy, delicious cheesecake concocted in your own kitchen aid. So far I've made this one for Thanksgiving, a cranberry chocolate one for Christmas, and then this one on Sunday. I let Jonathan pick out the flavor.


"Brownie Cheesecake"

It turned out great! We couldn't even resist taking a slice or two before I took a picture :)

If I keep this up I will never slim down to my pre-pregnancy weight, fo sho...

Saturday, January 22, 2011

I used to write poetry


Not anymore, not for a while. It stared when I was about 14 and from then on it seemed like I couldn't stop. The peak of my poetry fetish was while I worked at the Salt Lake City airport, and I would write 2-3 every day. One time I took out all my albums and counted how many there were--over 700.
I found this one today in one of my desktop files. It was for a poetry class that I took here at BYU-Idaho. I don't remember what grade it got or my teacher's comments. But I do remember that it was one of the last poems I wrote, and that was nearly 3 years ago. Maybe I should start up again.

Lindsey Judkins (my maiden name...I wasn't yet married)
English 352- Poetry
May 4, 2008

The Classified Connotation of Poetry

It was her Inspiration-
the science of not knowing anything commonly known at all,
of being downwind from perfect cherries unfolding into roses,
bruised from their dispassionate thorns but learning still the process-
every “how to” and “how come” before the age of sixteen.

It was Her- thinking in colorful metaphors and lyrics
and figures and sounds…releasing the cares of the day-
embedded in others’ dreams so pleasingly near-
alone in the deepness of self-
the river’s whispered lullaby her only consolation.

To her, it was Martha May nibbling on dry toast-
with eighty year-old lips and yellowed bones,
and giant tears falling feebly on the grained bread
as photographs on the far wall slid sideways and swung-
frames featuring her beloved’s eyes that sparkled with tease.

It was woven baskets of oranges resting sweetly
below the white blossomed trees across the lawn-
their smells drifting across young Thomas’s face…
when, in that moment, he thought he tasted heaven
and so knelt over the oranges to offer his first prayer.

In a sense it was every first sound dreaming
of a newborn child, from the first second of moving blood
within their delicate bodies- flushed and warm and
breathable-
like their mother before.

For her satisfaction, it was the morning melody of a crow-
its black feathers fluttering as eager eyelashes overhead,
while the spiders scattered into dark clumps of dust through the field
because dewdrops like grenades slipped faster down slippery weeds
onto their death-calling terrain.

Once, it had been the stifled screams of her little town
underneath the helicon of a hospital wing-
how they blended into the diamond lights below
as she took another swig of sea salt and Jone’s,
believing the noise would catch her fall.

Then, how could it not be the bristle-haired beast
howling and pounding in sorrow
against a fruitless earth that leaves its cubs
to starve on their hunger-
or flocks of black umbrellas
shielding a lusterless city’s criminal acts of sin?
Perhaps the spouting showers of golden ashes
that glow so prettily in the forest’s moonlight
with the careless, youthful kick of a worn shoe-
perhaps that is it…
Even lines of roaring engines ripping down
European trails into the most brilliant dusk
while one balloon that forgot to grip
onto its possessor’s sticky apple wrist
floats easily overhead and wins the race.
So much depends upon the perception of beauty-
Our God-given feel for song in tragedy abounding all over;
and so what will depend upon a connotation?
Poetry is,
to her and to Martha and to the raging animals,
a scene of natural Discovery-
left at last to be the minute hand
ticking
and ticking away
heartbeats in a timeless realm-
as the final constellation
existing in the expanse of
space that was never space,
opening wounded doubts to
enlarge the un-knowing and
clarify
the Imagined.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

A lobster with every meal

Lately I've had this ever-growing pet peeve. It happens when we go out to eat. I have to locate or request a highchair, and 9 times out of 10 that highchair is
1) unavailable
2) smothered in grossness
3) uncomfortable for little guy
4) easy for little guy to slip out of
5) of no use because the straps are twisted, broken, or missing
6) bulky
7) not the right height of our table, making it difficult for him to self-feed or play with toys.

Once again Phil&Teds have made my life better. I give you "The Lobster".

This most wonderful of products is not yet in my possession, but I cross my fingers that it will be. Soon.
This would make eating out much more enjoyable. It is easy to clean, very supporting of a chunky little dude, fits on any flat surface, and folds up nicely into a little black bag. Genius I tell you!

Phil&Teds is gonna make me broke.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Holidays & Re-decorating

For this holidays season, our family of three was blessed to able to fly to my home in Louisiana. We were there for two weeks. It was in one word AWESOME :D It was great getting away from the snow for a while, too. It still felt like Christmas even without all that snow, especially with all the traditional stuff like my home ward's Silent Night Contata, carolling in the neighborhood, and doing our Christmas Eve nativity re-enactment. I regret not getting any Christmas morning pics of all of us and our new toys, but we were just enjoying the magic of it all I guess :) Next year I will get lots! Besides, Talmage is still too young to really understand whats going on, haha. We tried to get him to play with his presents and he just stuck the ribbon in his mouth :)
We also enjoyed eating out at some of my favorite places, such as Counter Culture, Raising Canes, PieWorks, and Ralph & Kacoo's. We shopped till we dropped, then shopped some more when we came back through Utah and stayed with my grandparents. Overall, it was a wonderful time!
Here are some memorable moments:

We drove to Texarkana for the day and were able to see Jonathan's brother Daniel, his wife & my friend since forever Megan, and their daughter Ryleigh. :) I wish we could have spent more time with them!

Mimi (playing the angel for our nativity) holding our mock baby Jesus :)

First encounter with Santa! He was tired but at least he didn't cry!

He and Roux were BEST friends during our stay. They were always together.

Since we've been back in Rexburg I've decided to re-decorate a little. We've added a dark orange color to our living room with some new curtains (thermal ones- because it seems like no matter how high the heat is a draft always comes through). I accented the curtains with a few fun things:

I got this fabric from a warehouse in Shreveport called Best Fabrics. I never knew this place existed while living there and it is AMAZING. Hallways of wholesale fabric that goes on and on. I must have spent a few hours in there at least.

While in Utah we got this bookshelf from Ikea. I found the vase at TaiPan Trading (thanks Sarah for taking me! I loved it almost as much as I loved seeing you!) and the reeds at Joanns Fabrics on clearance. The candle holder and mosaic picture frame are from World Market. Put it all together and poof! :) A new decorative piece.


I've decorated our TV mantle with organic-like pieces. Most of it from the Dollar Tree. can't beat that :)

Recently I've re-done our bathroom, too. Before it was all red satin, but the red got old. We've pretty much outed all the red in our entire apartment. Our toilet room is now seashells :)



I found this little number at TaiPan and had to have it. I love how blue and pretty it is.


Remember that fabric warehouse I mentioned? Well I also found this fun green and brown reversible fabric there that I used to cover our chair cushions. They were red before.


And they're removable!

Someday I will have something better to do with my time. But for now, in this little apartment that I dwell in day after day, I have to have *something* to keep me sane. :)

This post is long enough so...until next time! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!