A New Venture

It goes without saying....but I haven't posted in a  r e a l l y  long time!

SO much has happened but where to even start?  I think the best thing is to just start from today.  I hope to be able to review some of the Hartleton House's past events, remodeling progress, and future plans along the way as well.

So with a fresh start in mind, I wanted to share a new venture with you.

I opened an Etsy store!

It's called KnotInPieces and at the moment only features knitted and crocheted items that I have made.  My goal with the Etsy store is to earn "fun money" to take my boys on adventures and experiences.

I would appreciate it SO much if you would take a look.  Maybe you will see something that will catch your eye!

I hope the shop reminds others that even though our life has many daily challenges, we are KnotInPieces but we are helping our sons win against autism one stitch at a time.

It's great to be back.  I hope to share some new things with you soon.

~Blessings~

Jodi

Ahhhh....Christmas

So it is now down to less than 3 weeks until Christmas.  And for the first time in several years, I am getting excited!  Since we purchased The Hartleton House, Dearest has been working really hard to fix it up and has done a superb job!  Considering all the work he has done, I thought it only fair to try to accent that effort by doing a bit more decorating this year than I have in the past few years.

But I didn't want to get in over my head so I decided to start with the tree.  Then, if things didn't work out for the rest of my plans, at least we would have that much. 

Here are some photos of our tree....step by step.

The Lit Tree

Adding some pretty ribbon

Adding velvet ribbon and some
berry garland and the star 

Closer picture of the previous activity.

White pontsettias and snowflake picks

Silver berries and swirly things

Silver ornaments and a fabric
 scrap tree skirt

Ta-Da!

Close Up of the Pretty snowflake ribbon
(Thanks Keith Phelps & Country Farm & Home!)

One of my favorite silver ornaments

Mission Accomplished

Now if I could just keep the cat out of it, all would be right with the world.  =)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

~Blessings~

November is Nearly Over?!?!?!

Wow!  How did a whole month fly by??? 

So here I am trying to remember what all happened in November, even though it isn't technically over yet. 

Friday Fun started - so there went most of my Friday nights
Spent lots of time planning and organizing the Craft Fair at my church.
Spent not as much time working on the BVCOB Women's Christmas Party.
I had a Thirty One party.....at my house!! (Yes, I allowed people in to see the chaos firsthand)
I attended a Miche party  (Now I'm torn between Thirty One and Miche.  Decisions, decisions)
# 3 broke his collar bone at Friday Fun
Thanksgiving
Black Friday Shopping (WOO HOO!  I love it!!!)
I participated in my first craft fair as a vendor.
Dearest and I spent the evening with a very dear friend of mine who is home on leave.  It was an awesome evening that ended before I was ready for it to end.  :/

Those were the highlights.  Of course there were lots of the daily humdrum of regular life. 

Oh yeah, I went  to a meeting.  I was totally frustrated with things that are far beyond my control.  I don't like feeling that way.  I just don't understand people in general.  Why are some content to allow others to take on more and more responsibility and then complain when things aren't exactly the way they want them or expect them??  I know it's the age old question and there isn't a good answer but one of these days I'm afraid I'm going to open my mouth and all this frustration is going to come tumbling out.  Woooo I hope that doesn't happen.  Pray for me to be able to hold my tongue. 

I am going to try harder to blog more consistently during the Advent Season which started Sunday by the way.  I know many people talk about what they are thankful for during November but I'm not one to conform to peer pressure so I'm going to think about what is important to me and why during December. 

Getting a head start....
~I am grateful for the family that I have.  My husband and my children.  My extended family.  Dearest's extended family.  I value the time I share with them. 

~I also value maturity....even though I don't always possess it.  :}  Maybe I should ask for that for Christmas??

~~Blessings and Merry Christmas~~

My Young'ens

So yesterday I told you that I would attempt to get some pictures of my young'ens in their costumes posted today. 

Lo and behold....it's going to happen!!!!
That will be about all that it is, but the pictures will be posted!

 #1  ~  The X-Ray  (Looks like someone was hungry!)

#2  ~  The T-Rex  (He was hiding his tail.)

 #3  ~  The Ghost-y  (What else can be said?)

 Brotherly Love  ~  Extremely Rare!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe evening! 

~Blessings~

Halloween.....

So today is Halloween.

I have to tell you that I really struggle with this "holiday".  The struggle comes from learning more about the history of Halloween and the types of things that happen on this day in particular.  I shudder at the thought. 

Long ago, well 8 years ago to be exact, I allowed my eldest (#1) to dress up for Halloween.  And by allowed I mean I stuck his chubby little 6 month old self in a cute little ducky costume and hauled him around to all the family members for them to oooohhhh and aaahhhh over.  And so the tradition continued and does to this very day.

So this year the boys decided what they wanted to be and to my surprise, none of them chose something that would be particularly difficult to make. 

# 1 wanted to be a skeleton.  *WHOA! Stop right there.  Now like I mentioned above, I struggle with this stuff so I say to #1 ~  Nope you can't be a skeleton.  I won't paint your face so it looks like it's inside out.  <Insert sad 8 yr. old boy face here> <And mom's heart breaking here> BUT! You can be an X-Ray.  Good compromise, right?? So once that was settled I moved on to #2.

#2 wanted to be a Tyrannosaurus Rex.  No shocker there.  This is the child who wants to be a palientologist when he grows up.  [Just what is the demand for that particular profession?  Anyone??]
Thinking back to last year's Pachycepholosaurus (yes, that is an actual dinosaur),
T Rex was a cinch!  So last but not least, #3.

#3 wanted to be a ghost.  *Ugh. Now what?!  Sort of similar to the skeleton but #1 was permitted to be a ghost last year and it is a simple costume to whip up.  I have to admit I was a little disappointed by his lack of creativity this year.  Last Halloween he wanted to be a .... are you ready for this? ... Baseball BAT.  Yep. A Baseball Bat.  And not a bat with a baseball jersey either.  The piece of equipment used to whack the ball. 

(Shout out to Dearest for cutting out all those little letters last year while I was at the kids retreat!!)

 
So the creating began.  I searched the web to look for ideas and found an awesome tutorial here for the "X-Ray".  I 'free-handed' the Pachycepholosaurus last year and wasn't sure I had the creativity or the time to do that again this year so I went on the search for a pattern and found one I could tweak enough to make it work. And lastly I raided the fabric cabinet to make my little ghost-y out of my 'under-pinnings' stash.  <That probably warrants more explanation but we'll save that for another post ;) >

I have to tell you that creating costumes for little boys is so much simpler than doing one for a little girl.  At least so far they have been. *Disclaimer - I haven't made a costume for a little girl but I know several and I don't think any of them would be satisfied to have a sweat suit as the base for their costume.* So I just gave it away.  I try to use sweats as the base for all the costumes if possible.  Last year's dino suit started as sweat pants and a zip up hoodie.  In previous years I used extra large sweat shirts to make their costumes.  I'll have to dig those pictures out.  #3 had l-o-n-g hair that year.  That's another post in itself too.

If you are interested in learning more about making any of the above mentioned or pictured costumes please feel free to ask.  I'd love to help you.  I know it's too late for this year but it's always good to plan ahead!

So Happy Halloween!  Please be safe if you Trick or Treat.  I will attempt to get this year's costumes posted tomorrow.......hopefully. 

Fabric Shower Curtain

Originally, The Hartleton House blog was intended to promote my home made all natural soap products.  I am finally discovering how much fun this blogging stuff can be so I thought I might expand my horizons and add some of the sewing projects I like to do.

One of my most recent projects has been making a shower curtain.  I am 100% certain it would have been cheaper and a whole lot faster to drive to walmart and buy a new shower curtain but that would have taken all the fun out of it.

We had an average run of the mill *white* shower curtain.  I am still trying to remember why I thought white was a good choice.  It had gotten to the point where I couldn't remove the dark brown dirt stains from along the edges where my 3 little lovelies would grab a-hold of it to enter the shower/bath.  I wish I would have had the presence of mind to take a before picture.  But like I mentioned before, I'm just learning how fun this blogging stuff can be.  But trust me, that shower curtain was not pretty.

So this is what I came up with that seems to be working out well for all involved. 

I used the top of the old white curtain so I wouldn't have to fight with/worry about making new button holes for the curtain rings.

Next I added a section of semi-sheer fabric that I previously used to make cafe' type curtains for the bathroom window. This section was all for the grown ups in the house.  We prefer lots of light and it was a given that a dark green shower curtain would not allow much light through.

Then I attached the green plaid homespun fabric to the bottom.

Considering that I didn't do much calculating, I am extremely happy with how this turned out.

Here is a close up view of the fabric.

I think I need something on the top now.  Maybe a valance.  Hmmm....I guess I'll ponder that while I work on the kids halloween costumes.  Where did the time go?  How can it be the end of October already??

Check back in a few days.  Perhaps I will add some pictures of the costumes in process.

Just Checking In

So I know it's been forever and a day since I posted and this really isn't going to count for much as a post either.  Just wanted to drop by and let everyone know that I am still mixing concoctions in the kitchen.  Trying to find the best product I can produce.  I still have my laundry soap and dishwasher powder at Koch's Country Store in Hartleton.  Every once in a while I get a surprise when I go over and they hand me money.  It really makes my day.  I like that someone is trying my items or is repeat buying which would make me even happier!

I am having a 31 party on November 5th at 6:30.  If anyone would like to join me or place an order, let me know.  Just putting that out there.  I love Thirty-One.  One of my very bestest friends in the whole wide world has become a consultant so I wanted to help her out and have a good time looking at totally fabulous bags, totes, and neat-o accessories for an hour or two.  ;)  It should seriously be a good time.

With that in mind.  I am going to prepare some samples for those who attend that evening.  So if you have been thinking that you might like to see what I've been up to in that wreck of a kitchen of mine, stop by and at least pick up your sample.  Dearest is working diligently on the walls in hopes that the kitchen will all be one color at the time of the party instead of Sage Green and Sunshine Yellow.  

Just for fun.....

                       Here are some pictures of what has become my kitchen when we first bought the house.

                                               Did you notice the Sunshine Yellow Ceiling???

 And the 1950's flooring??

  
                                        This is one of the new window and a little bit of progress.
                                                           (Look.......NO Ceiling!)

And this picture shows more closely what it looks like today....except we do have counter tops now. :)

(And #3's eyes don't usually glow in the dark.  wth?)

Well, it turned into more of a post than I thought it would.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.