Author Archives: Jess

Did you know?

Did you know that if your mom takes the jam out of the fridge and sets it on the counter while waiting for a bagel to pop out of the toaster, but you wanted to get the jam out yourself, the world may come to an end and you must scream “Mom you don’t do very nice fings” and “You make me feel really, really mad.” and “DON’T SAY THE WORD!!” over and over again?

Did you know that the prospect of making your bed all by yourself while the rest of the family goes downstairs can cause your stomach to ache, your legs to shrivel up in pain, your fingers to tingle too much to move, and your back to itch, all while you melt into a heap and wail like the boogey-man is after you?

Did you know that if you’re ten months old your high chair is a torture chamber that causes ear splitting screaming?

Well, I discovered all of these things at once this morning and had three kids screaming hysterically for a good solid 45 minutes while I begged and pleaded for them to just let me eat half a bowl of Cheerios so that I could see straight and maybe even think a little bit.

Barry has decided he wants to go into work earlier so that he can come home earlier, so i get mornings to myself again. And my mom was also here visiting for the past week and a half and has sadly returned to her regular life. And we stayed up late last night and watched the BYU-idaho dance teams perform… anyway, it was a crazy morning I momentarily thought I might not survive.

And, there’s more i have to process. A family in our ward lost most of their worldly possesions in a house fire last night. So, I spent the day on the phone tracking them down, finding what they need, answering phone call after phone call of questions and offers for help…

It feels good to be busy serving and knowing that my efforts are really needed…

Anyway, so much to do… so little time. Imagine not having underwear or shoes, or even a toothbrush.

felting with kids tutorial #1

Felting is fun for everyone! Felt beads are the absolute easiest felt project to make, so I enlisted my kids to help show you how.

First, you need some roving. Roving is processed wool that is ready to spin into yarn or make into felt. Get MERINO roving– especially if you’ve never made felt before. It’s not too picky about water temperature and felts really fast. I think e-bay is a great place to find roving for cheap and in big quantities.

I just do this on my kitchen counter, but you could do it outside just as well. I set out a towell, get my roving, and fill up a bowl with warm water with a little drop of soap.

waterandroving.jpg

Now, pull off a little piece of fluff

brenna piece of fluff.jpg


jonah piece of fluff.jpg

and dunk it in the water.

dip in soapy water.jpg

Now, rub it round and round in your hands like you would if you were making a ball of play-dough.

rub rigorously.jpg

It will seem like wet hair at first, then a soft, squishy ball, and after a little while it will be a firm piece of felt. The harder and faster you rub it, the quicker it will matt up and become felt. Brenna’s (5) beads were pretty round, Jonah’s (3) were oblong because he just rubbed back and forth.

show bead.jpg

I must admit that most of the time the kids were playing with their little “eels” who would swim in the water and then go potty all over the towell.

potty eels.jpg

White beads are okay,

white beads.jpg

but we wanted a prettier necklace, so we broke out the Kool-Aid. The only flavors I had left were Blue Raspberry Lemonade, Berry Blue, Pink Lemonade, and Cherry, so that’s what we used.

kool aid bowls.jpg

I put about 1/4 cup of water in each bowl and dumped in a whole packet of Kool-Aid. I’m sure it would work just as well with less powder, but I wasn’t to concerned about having leftovers. Then I put all the bowls in the microwave together for 5 or 6 minutes and let it sit for a little bit. Once it wasn’t scorching hot I scooped the beads out, one color at a time, and put the in a colander and rinsed them with cold water.

beads all dyed.jpg

Now, let them dry. Then, string them on a string (You can’t use a thick tapestry needle though, you have to use a skinny sewing needle, so my kids need my help to do this.)

string them on.jpg

We used a piece of skinny handspun yarn that we dyed with the beads so it would match, but you can just use whatever you want.

feltbeads and little eels.jpg

ALL DONE!! Brenna loves her necklace and Jonah played with his little eels all day.

If you try this with your kids, send me a picture!

Now, go get felting!

to be continuted…

bits and pieces

pieces.jpg

It started as this. Then it was this. My super soft angora yarn has been sitting in my yarn bowl for months just waiting to be transformed into something other than a skein, and April’s bunny pattern was the perfect thing!

patterns.jpg

Despite my crazy day I got quite a bit done. We started swimming lessons at the YMCA. Jonah screamed, so despite my best efforts to swim laps while my kids were in class, I ended up standing by Jonah, trying to convince him that holding on to the wall with me two feet away or 20 was the same thing. Brenna the fish had a blast.

Then we had the food delivery at church and one of the sisters didn’t get most of the groceries she needed. So, I spent the afternoon on the phone trying to track down canned goods and beans while Logan screamed and eventually fell asleep in the high chair.

Now it’s time for me to do yoga and go to bed.