Birthday presents

The problem with having children with birthdays in August and September is that it's too far away from tax time, and too close to the winter holidays.  Money is always short, and there's a great deal of stress involved in trying to make sure your child(ren) have a good time for their birthdays.  To be honest, it really SUCKS when their birthdays come around and you're perpetually broke from trying to make ends meet, never mind trying to save up for Christmas/ Hanukkah/ whatever holiday you happen to celebrate at that time of the year.

This is why I have taken to trying to make gifts for my kids.  No, they don't always appreciate the work I put into their things, and they also don't always entirely LIKE the games/ toys they're given, but that never seems to make me stop trying.  This year, I am making my daughter a "doll-making kit", but I'm having difficulty thinking of what else I should give her.  I know birthdays shouldn't be all about gifts, and I do try to teach my kids that they're really not, but sometimes I feel like that is the best I can do for them when it comes to their birthdays, and since we may be away from their father when their birthdays roll around yet again, I feel like I really need to make sure that they get something really special from me, and hopefully Daddy will be able to move with us by Christmas.

Oh, before you ask, no my husband is NOT military.  He works for a local grocery store and is trying to get transferred to a store in our target area, but so far isn't really having much luck.  He's on the list for management, which is a good thing, but honestly, who knows how long that could take to actually get?  But since he doesn't want me homeschooling the Littles, and I refuse to put them back into the school system in the county where he lives (they did not help my younger son in the entire 5 years of school that they had him, in fact they did him more harm than good) it looks like we will have to find a home and move back to the area we were in for all of last year, provided we can find one that's in our target price range and size.  THAT is where we will likely run into some problems, as my budget for housing is EXTREMELY small, but I'll manage, I always do!  :)

Birthdays

Have you ever forgotten about a loved one's birthday? I almost did this year, and I feel TERRIBLE about it!  See, this is my daughter.  She is every ounce of spunk and determination you see in this picture.  She is my youngest, and my only girl.

And she turns TEN in just over two weeks!!!  Here I was, thinking I still had over a month to plan everything, and now I'm kinda totally freaking out about it!  I haven't made any party plans ( though I have an idea in my head for one, I don't even know where we may be living in two weeks!), I haven't been telling my husband every ten minutes that we need to figure out what we're giving her, since 10 is what I consider to be a milestone birthday, and OMG NOW I'M TOTALLY FREAKING OUT!!!  Last year my parents gave her some toys, I made her a felt crown that she wore all day, and I made a few gifts for her, specifically the aforementioned crown, a "jumping pixies" game (tutorial can be found here), and  a rainbow ribbon wand (simple tutorial found here, though mine didn't look even 1/4 as lovely as theirs did!, but my little Lovey loved it anyway), the ideas for which were all obtained thanks to Pinterest and some of my absolute favourite blogs.  So now I have 2 weeks and 2 days to come up with gifts for her, and not only am I running out of time, but I'm out of money as well!  But no fear, I will definitely come up with ideas for things to make her, I always do!  And when I do, you can be sure there will be pictures posted.  :D

Dolls

Have you ever made a toy for one of your kids? Over the years I've made so many toys for my kids, it's not funny. And the past few days, when I couldn't sleep, or when the Littles were otherwise occupied, I've been able to sit down and make things. Specifically, I've been making little (and by little, I mean like 3-inches-tall, little) dollies for my Girl. I've been making them for years, but recently discovered a blog that gave me a great idea on how to make their feet and hands work so much better than I had been making them! And oh BOY have I been making them a LOT! lol Here are some of the ones made over the past few days. :)

These three are the very first ones we made, and by me I do mean me and the Littles. My sweet 11yo made the one on the left, and he was too impatient to sea her dress together, so he used glue instead. lol The middle one is my first try, and I rather like her. The third mg daughter started, got angry at when she couldn't get something to work right, and threw at me to finish, which I did, and now of course, V loves her. lol

(Please ignore the messy workspace, I have very limited room for my crafting, unfortunately) this little lady is my first attempt a fins on a bendy doll. I definitely need t tweak my fin pattern (too thick in the middle, too thin at the waist) but other than that I think she went fairly well. 

Now, this little beauty actually does have a face, though she didn't when I took this picture. Right now I'm trying to decide if I want to leave her as-is, or if I want to add little leaf wings to her back. And though you can't tell because they're covered, she has lime and green striped "tights" on her little legs, which make me think of a flower stem. And that works, since her dress is made up of disassembled faux flowers! :)

I don't have any single pictures of the doll on the left yet, but as you can see I made another with a flower dress. I and truly rather enamoured of these types, and foresee several more being made in the future. Also, I need to fix the eyes and mouth on the right-hand doll, as her eyes are too light and her mouth is too dark. But for now, at least, I have decided to leave her wing-less, though I may well make a removable pair that can be shared amongst the bendies. Oh, and I have SOOO many other ideas for bendies, just wait! I need to make a few improvements to the ones already made, and I have at least two dozen more ideas running about in my head for others, so I'll be sure to post pictures of them as I go. I'm truly having fun with these types of dolls, and I'm very glad I rediscovered their simple construction! :)  The tutorial for these little lovelies can be found here, at The Enchanted Tree.  I love these little things, and I think my daughter will enjoy playing with them as much as I have (so far!  lol) enjoyed making them.  :)

Teenagers

What is with them, anyway?  I mean, I've met some of the best, most well-adjusted, sweetest, kindest, amazing teenagers ever, and then...  Then there's my kid.  16 years old, constantly talking back, giving attitude, causing trouble...  I swear, he is just such a jerk it's not funny!  And I was the total POLAR FREAKING OPPOSITE when I was his age!  I just about never talked back to my mother, I did as I was told, usually when I was told to do it, though sometimes it would wait 10-20 minutes if I was already in the middle of something else, and he is...  I need an antidote for the boorish, anti-social, self-centered, egomaniacal teenage male, and I need it fast...  >.<

Crafting

I'm a Pinterest addict, have I mentioned that?  No?  You should check out my boards sometime, you would totally understand.  lol  Well recently, I found a page to make something called "Bendy Dolls" and realized that I've been making them FOREVER, only I never called them anything!  So here is the link to the craft I am going to attempt to make with my Littles today.  If they prove successful, then I shall post pictures of them later.  :)

Sleep.

Do you get the requisite 8 hours a night?  How about at least 6?  There was a study done a while back (can't remember when or who did it) that says our bodies work on 1.5 hour cycles, and you need at least two of these cycles of REM sleep in order to be able to function.  I, my friends, am living proof that this is not true, as I very frequently manage to not only function but pretend to be a normal person on less than 3 hours of sleep.  Today seems to be one of those days.  I really do TRY to sleep earlier, but for some reason, it never seems to happen.  Take last night, for example.  At 11pm, everyone was in bed.  As I lay there, staring in the dark at the ceiling, I thought to myself, "Maybe you need something else to help your brain unwind.  Why not try a book?"  Thinking this was a wise idea, I grabbed a book my sister gave me a few weeks ago, but that I had only managed to read about 4 pages in.  This was probably around 11:15 or 11:30.  I finished the book around 2:30, with no signs of tiredness happening any time soon.  So I picked up the second book in the series (there are three that I have, I don't know if there are more than that though) and read it for about 10-20 minutes, then realized I really needed to get to sleep because the alarm was set to go off at 8:45, and I really wanted to be able to get up then and be productive today.  So I turned on my white noise app, and laid down, fully prepared to stare at the ceiling for a few more hours before finally falling asleep.  Surprisingly I fell asleep quickly, but UNfortunately, I woke up much sooner than expected.  I'm guessing my hubby must've bumped the bed or something, because I woke up as he was getting ready to leave for work this morning (he went in as 6am today, and will be going in at the same time tomorrow) so by 5:45, I was awake.  I thought I could go right back to sleep, but that didn't happen, so I tried moving into his spot on the bed, to see if that would help me sleep.  After about 20-30 minutes of really trying and wishing that I was sleeping, I gave up, got dressed, put away the laundry that was sitting about in my bedroom, and came out to the computer, to discover my 16yo sound asleep on the couch with his glasses still on!  lol  So of course I removed his glasses (I really should give him back his contacts one day soon, lol) and sat down at the computer.  I've been here ever since, but I think I'm going to go do some dishes and start breakfast.  Maybe the smell of strawberry syrup and French toast will wake up my Littles so they can eat and work on some summer workbooks for a little while.  Most likely I will be back later, and possibly even with PICTURES of my attempt at a simple breakfast for my kids.  :)

Children and Chores...

For some kids, chores are simply things that need to be done before they can go about the process of having fun and enjoying the day.  They do them automatically because they know that doing them will get them to whatever it is they want to do that much faster.  Then there are kids who see their daily chores as torture and torment of the vilest and wickedest nature.  Unfortunately my children fall into this second category, and will go out of their way to do everything BUT their own assigned chores.  I'm trying to break them of this habit, but it isn't going so well.  I'm trying, though, always trying!  For example, my 11yo was told to put away HIS clothing the other day.  HIS clothing, no one else's.  Well, instead of doing that, he sorted EVERYONE'S laundry, but left his sitting in a pile on the floor!  lol  I'm tellin' ya, they make more work for themselves and they STILL don't get what needed to be done in the first place actually DONE!  It can be rather comical, but also most vexing.  But we're working on it, and I'm trying to change their bad habits to good habits.  :). It's not exactly working yet, but hey, I'm still trying! lol