Homemade Bubbles review

I've been wanting to make my own bubble solution for a while, just because it seems like a cool skill to have, and because J loves bubbles so much, it might be handy in the future. So, I finally took some time to find a fairly easy bubble solution recipe, and made it up.

I used this recipe (http://www.playathomemomllc.com/2011/09/bouncing-bubbles-2/)

Overall, I have to admit I'm not such a huge fan of them. They were easy to make, but after sitting for 24 hours (which was a killer to J) I discovered a few things that rather put me off.


1- The liquid seems rather watery - maybe it was just me, or maybe it was the glycerin in the solution, but it didn't seem as slimy as the other stuff. On the one hand, that was kind of nice, on the other, it lead to number 2.

2- It doesn't bubble well - I think myself a fairly good bubble blower, and with the store bought bubbles, I can get quite a few bubbles (think 6-7) out of one dip into the solution. Not so with this one. I could get (on average) about 1.5 bubbles. As you can see from the pictures, we also have a more J friendly bubble wand that you can wave about and get bubbles that way.  It didn't work, and so J couldn't help with bubbles.

3- The bubbles, when they do finally form, seem heavy and don't blow very far. You'll notice that I don't have any pictures of the actual bubbles. That was mostly because i had a hard time getting them to bubble in the first place, but secondly, they fell fast to the ground, and I couldn't get a good picture.

Take Away: They work okayish... I've been hoping that as I just let them sit on the counter longer, they will magically start to work better. I think that what I need to do (now that we've used some of the solution and actually have room in the jar) is to add more soap to the mixture, and see if that helps (I think it will a LOT). However, this will be far down on my list of things to do. We were given two huge things of bubbles by neighbours moving out, and I think for now, we'll just stick with using those :) They work better. So if anyone out there tries adding more soap to the mixture before I get around to it (I'll edit this if I ever do) please let me know how it turns out. I want to be able to make this work. 

Quiet book - all finished up :)

So, I don't remember just when I started the quiet book, but I've finally finished it! You can now imagine me doing a dance of joy for having it finished.

Okay, so you're right. I didn't completely finish all the pages I have planned. But, I have enough for now. I've decided that the rest of the pages get to come later. As birthday or Christmas presents. Because frankly, I need this to be done. I need to have it not weighing on my mind all the time, and sitting in the living room for weeks on end not seeming to have any progress made.

But, I want to show off, just for the few of you readers who actually read this, my current finished quiet book :) I'll have links to some of the pages that have links here, otherwise all the other pages were found in an old book from my mom. I have no idea what the title of it is, so.... sorry?

So here we go!

First, the Cover, loosely based off of this.  The plad material covers some magnets to keep it closed :)

Page1 - This one came from that book, and has no link (though I guess if I looked hard enough, I could probably find one.

Page 2 - Again, from the book

Page 3 -  From the book

Page 4 - loosely based off of a page in this book (though lets face it, I wanted to do the whole book :))

Page 5 - Based off of this page 

Page 6 - this one doesn't have any real source page, I just saw a bunch of counting pages and wanted to include one. One thing I would have changed on this is to make the strings tighter. Otherwise, I love how this one turned out. J already loves to play with it, even if there isn't much counting involved :)

Page 7 - From the book

Page 8 - From the book

Page 9 - From the book

Page 10 - From the book

Page 11 - From the book

Page 12 - From the book

Page 13 - From the book

Page 14 - Loosely based off of this page (see the rest of this page here)

There are things I would do differently if I were to do these pages again.

1. I would change the type of Velcro I used. I happened to have some on hand, but it is super thick, and very...well... Velcro-y. It is really hard to get apart. I would have invested in a LOT of less sticky Velcro. I ended up using it more than I expected.
2. I would make sure the pages lined up better when sewing them together. 
3. On the last couple pages I put together, I cut down the excess fabric on all the inside seams. it helped a LOT with it going together smoother
4. I would pay more attention to where my hot glue went in consideration to the edge of the pages. Having the hot glue right on the edges made sewing the pages together nigh impossible in some parts. 
5. I would only do button holes and majority of sewing while little fingers aren't around to try and help and get fingers stuck under the needle. Pages done while J was awake easily took 3 times as long as the ones done when he was asleep. this is also probably why it took so long to get it all done. 

A house of order

I've recently started watching a little neighbour boy for about an hour and half every Thursday morning while both his parents are in class. Every time I go to their house, I'm struck by the feeling in their house. Just how easy it is to feel the spirit. And it's made me wonder why isn't it that easy at my house? What's the difference? And while I'm sure there are several things, the one thing that has recently struck me is just how orderly their house is. And how orderly their house always seems to be. J likes to sometimes stop by unannounced to play, and no matter when it is, their house is always very orderly. It's gotten me started thinking, and wondering if that is the difference between our houses.

Heavenly Father has told us that He dwells in a house of order (see Doctrine and Covenants 132:8). This tells me that If we want a place where the spirit of God can dwell, then we should probably have a house of order too. That's something that I have always struggled with. Especially now that I have a kid who likes to explore and pull everything out of drawers all the time. So, is there a way to fix this? Probably.  Do I currently know what that way is? No, I really don't.

We have been given hints about how to make our house more orderly. One talk in particular has come to mind as I've been pondering this idea of a house of order=house easy to feel spirit in.
It has several ideas of how to make the house more like a temple. One of my favorite things in this talk is taking a virtual tour of the home. It is something I need to do, and I think do frequently.

I feel like something else needs to be said on this, but I'm honestly not sure what else there is to say. So, I suppose I'll just awkwardly end this, and hope to do better, and to learn to be more organized. 

my life, now with a toddler

I know it has been WAY too long since I've updated anything about my life (what, only... 10 months?) and the last one wasn't really anything about life, it was a really cool Christmas card that I made myself using Java (I was so proud of that card!) J is no longer a little baby, Drew is in school, I've finally come to terms with my now somewhat hectic life that involves a lot of running after a very willful toddler. And as we've been struggling with J not picking up words and a general lack of communication (though J is finally better understanding and (sometimes) listening to what I say), I've been thinking a lot about this article.  I'm pretty sure that toddlers still learning words (or not learning words as it may be) is a really hard time for me.

Life right now looks a lot like this...

How the living room looks fairly frequently

 And this....

What? I wasn't doing anything, honest!

 And this...

But I wanted to eat ALL the food while you were making cookies mom!

 And this....

This was the face made while excitedly wiggling looking at pumpkins

It's a learning experience for both of us, I know. And, at times, yes. I love being able to stay home all day with my little guy, and experience the world through his eyes. Other times, I just want to run away and never have to deal with it ever again.

I'm sure this isn't a new thing. I'm sure that all parents feel this way.

But, life will go on, and I'm so thankful that someone else voiced my idea of "why am I not loving every single moment? Isn't that what's supposed to happen?"  I'm so glad I can feel....justified perhaps? in my lack of over enthusiasm. Do I still love this little guy? Yes. Do I still enjoy the overall time with him, even if the moment to moment can be a trial? Yes. And I think that's what matters most.

greeting card.

you'll have to click on the link to be able to play with it, and it looks like even to look at it. but it was somewhat fun to make. hard, especially triangles, but fun.

Greeting card 2

Made using: Khan Academy Computer Science.

Gourd eating adventure

We found these cool looking gourds on sale at the store. They were 99 cents each. 

Many of them came with Tenticles, or other ridges. Drew decided it would be fun to try and eat.  I had been going to get one, just for decoration, but Drew insisted. So today, we tried to eat it.  First, we tried to just cut it open with a regular knife.

That really didn't work, so we had to pull out the big guns. 

This seemed to actually work pretty well. we got it open, and stared to clean it out.

we put the seeds in to cook, and try them on their own, just like pumpkin seeds. they tasted vaguely like popcorn, but it wasn't my favorite.

we chopped up part of the rest of it, to try it fried.

it wasn't amazing, but it wasn't horrible either. I wouldn't suggest eating it like this again.  The other part, we shredded up to have as hash browns

They actually turned out pretty good.  I think that if someone offered me these and told me they were hash browns, I might think they were funny colored but that they tasted just like regular hash browns. 

the life of a mom of a colic-y child.

This is a post that I've been debating if I wanted to write for quite a while. It's one of those topics that people just don't seem to talk about, and honestly, I can understand why. But, I decided the other very early morning when both J and I were in tears after a long and hard day and not sleeping well, I needed to get it off my chest.

One word sums it up fairly well: Frustration.  Not all the time, but it's probably the most prevalent feeling out there. Frustration at not being able to do anything to help my son, frustration at not being able to do anything around the house because he just wants to be held, and standing, and walking the apartment hallways, frustration at his dad being able to escape to work and class, and having homework when he get's home. Frustration at his dad for sleeping through it all at night, and getting his full 7 hours of sleep, when I'm running on less than half of that.  Yes, even frustration at J for crying all the time, even though he can't help it because he has excess gas that won't go away, and his tummy hurts. 

The days like this...it makes me wonder again and again why I wanted to be a parent, and will this really ever end? I've heard it does, but really.... will it? 

While endlessly walking the halls in our apartment, or at church, I meet other people, and they "helpfully" mention, "You know there are other ways to calm your child. You should look up such and such video on YouTube to find out more" Do you really think I haven't tried it all? Do you really think I enjoy walking that much that I wouldn't try anything else? Okay, maybe sometimes I do enjoy walking, and spending time exploring and showing my son the world. But do you really think I enjoy it that much at 1am?  

And then there are the times when no matter what I do, and how much walking we do J just won't stop crying, and yes, it's getting to me because it's been _all_day_long. So I put him in the crib, walk into the bathroom, and shut the door. J is crying hysterically out there, but I need a cry too because I feel like a horrible parent and want to hurt something because I can't get my son to stop crying. I know that in the long run, it won't do him any harm, no long term damage. But I still feel horrible about needing some time to let it out with a good cry. And again, the thoughts "Will this really ever end? What if this just keeps going...forever?"

There are the good days and good times too.  The times when we are cuddling, and I'll whisper "I love you" in his ear, and he gives me a huge smile. The times when he get's so excited when I come in to pick him up from a nap or in the middle of the night. And those times make me SO happy and feel like the luckiest person alive. Do they drown out all the frustration?  No, absolutely not. I'm sure that when I look back at J's childhood, it's something I'll always remember is the frustration of these early days. And honestly, it makes me scared for the children we want to have in the future. Are they all going to be like this? But, the good times do make it that much easier to go on, and to see another day through.