BUTTER!!!

Inspired by Della at Householder's Guide to the Galaxy, I decided to try and make butter from scratch. I had these old notions of churning and churning all day like what I'd read in my Little House books as a child, but thanks to technology, the whole process took about 10 minutes start to finish. I watched a few YouTube videos, bought a quart of cream, poured it into my KitchenAid mixer and voila. Butter. Made by me. It may be silly but I feel a bit like a superhero. Next time I plan to go to the local dairy and buy the all-natural cream. Here is a pic to show my end product!!

Yay me!!!

The Privilege of Being a Nurse

This is an amazing article. As a nurse on the OB/GYN floor, it is not uncommon to go from one room, helping a brand new mom learn to breastfeed her baby to the next room, where another woman has just had her breasts, uterus, ovaries, (everything that makes her a woman) removed. I feel humbled and blessed on many nights to have the important job that I do. I've been entrusted to help these patients recover during life changing experiences; how awesome is that? When I was a student I felt the same about the learning opportunities. As much as I disliked clinicals, I felt awestruck to be one of the six people in the OR during a patient's most vulnerable moments. I can only hope that the student mentioned in this article has begun to see the privilege of her profession and the importance of making her patients feel safe.
Read it here:
Article: I will fear no evil: for you are with me 

Re-tee #1: Ruffle and rose tank

I had a boxy, ill-fitting, hole-containing, favorite-colored mens t-shirt that needed some re-teeing. I found this cute tutorial, and although it took me a bit longer than she said it would, I think it turned out so cute! Can't wait to pair it with one of my hippie skirts!

(the right side of the collar ruffle really isn't messed up, I just didn't realize it needed flattened back down before I took the photo!)

Here is a link to the tutorial I followed:
ruffle and roses tank refashion tutorial here

Previous Re-Tees....

These don't really count per-se, because I did them awhile back, but here are some newborn gowns I made out of adult tees.

Here is the tutorial that I used: http://thismamamakesstuff.com/2008/08/tutorial-t-shirt-to-newborn-gown/

My Blog Sewing Project

Sew, (or so, haha) I've been really inspired the last few weeks by blog projects. Della's year long quest to make all things from scratch, "This Busy Mommy's" project-a-week for 52 weeks, etc.... I've finally decided on one to do myself. For the rest of the year, (hopefully I'm disciplined enough to keep going!) I'm going to upcycle a t-shirt into something else. We are getting ready to build a walk-in closet/enlarge our laundry room, and in purging clothes I've found that we have WAY too many t-shirts in this house. Not to mention, on any given day you have an endless selection of dirt cheap tees at the thrift stores, just waiting to become something fabulous. Alas, here I am announcing "Project Re-Tee." Stay tuned for my photos and tutorial links! It's going to be interesting, if not fun!

Lazy days

Hey, I just noticed it's almost time for my annual post! No really, I should try to do this more often. Done with nursing school, (yaaahhooooooo) I work a full time job that actually turns out to be part time most of the time, so I really have no excuse. Yes, I've promised this before but I am actually going to give it more effort. Promise.

a break from nursing school insanity

Nursing school is intense, nerve wracking, freedom-stealing insanity. I learned this the first time I went. Yep, I said "first time." You can't really say that unless there is a second time, right??? well, unfortunately there is now. I went back. Why, if it's such torture? Well, a bigger paycheck is a huge incentive. Not to mention the greater opportunities I will have with an RN after my name rather than an LPN. Administering blood, taking care of premature labor patients, and even preemie babies on IV's and ventilators. Oooohhh, and maybe the helicopter.... someday. All I can say is that I was crazy enough to go back for more, but the good news is that I'm halfway done with the last leg. Only 6 more months to go.

Something I've been missing most is my sewing hobby. It just makes me feel too guilty to indulge in it when I have a pile of studying to do. I happily realized today that I can do an occasional short and easy project and still get my homework done. Well, most of the time. So here is what I made today. Yay!

If you want to make one for your own bike, you can find the tutorial here:
http://www.noodle-head.com/2010/06/bicycle-bucket-tutorial.html