TWEETY

Matt: (growling) MEGAN!! I DONT look like TOAST!
Meg: Noooo- I said I have 11 toes.
Matt: oh.
Both: ha ha ha ha

-I live a weird life.

12 K's of Christmas

As you know (if you've been reading) Aaron and I have been Caroling this season with the Copperstar Carolers.  This last Saturday 9 of us caroled at the 6k marker at Gilbert's 12 K's of Christmas race.  It was fun even though I almost fainted a few times- we had to sing from 9:45-11:30 in the full 80⁰ weather with our Dickens Caroling garb on.  I saw friends Jen, Adria, and Erin before the race started and got a picture taken with them

Fun Stuff!

Ha ha!  Jess Leonard saw this post and it turns out she was the photographer for the whole event!  Here are some of her pics.....

OM Gundersnatch I look funky!  Oh well.  It was a fun day- besides almost fainting in my getup..

ketchup

I'm sitting here sipping my hot water with lemon and honey (surprisingly soothing) and a corn bag on my throat thinking that I really need to catch up (ketchup) since it's december and the last time you heard from me was mid november... I'm catching up on a ton of homework that I delayed doing since I was oober busy this sememster (so now I'm double oober busy-that's fun to say)! Aaron and I are part of Copperstar Carolers- so if you need awesome dressed up carolers to come entertain at a party, let us know.  We are having a lot of fun with that.  I am SUPPOSED to be auditioning for my vocal music scholarship tomorrow at CGCC but I'm going to have to delay it once more because I'm as sick as a dog. welll... not really anymore, but my voice hasn't healed yet so I can sing maybe three notes.  Matthew's kindergarten concert was tonight and he was SO cute up there and was so proud and beaming.  Anywho, that's a quick catch up. I've got more to say but no time to say it- I'll do another ketchup soon.  Here is something cute my mom sent me today in email and I thought y'all would appreciate it.

STREAMLINE YOUR HOLIDAY DECORATING:

Talk to y'all soon! Keep the holidays real!  Oh, BTW, I cooked a thanksgiving meal for the family tonight (we bought a turkey after the fact and I cooked it up with homemade from scratch mashed potatoes, stuffings, and gravy. SOOO good!  I haven't had homemade stuffing since I lived at home. it was amazing.  I better pace myself on that cause as Scott Pilgram would say... "bread makes you FAT?!?!"  mmm love it.

Haiku Wednesday

Evil coffee mug

Spill in crotch and clank on teeth

Mug-2, Steph-0

TWEETY

Every so often I will tweet something funny or interesting my kids have said.... and even less often I will deem it worthy to share with the blogiverse.  When that happens I'll just title the post TWEETY and then copy and paste the tweet into the post.  Here's the first.  It happened this morning while I was dishing out Rhodes cinnimon rolls I'd just baked for the kids' breakfast:


TWEET:
MEG: where did you get that? ME: #Walmart MEG: you can get EVERYTHING at Walmart. Except dolphins. MATT: and Spaceships. (Yup. pretty much.)

PARIS!! Je t'adore!

I know... how the heck do I have the time, right?  Well, I don't.  I just thought I'd show you what cool and FREE photo editing I've got. it's called GIMP.  Look it up on the internet and download it for free.  Pretty cool stuff.  This was actually a picture I took of myself a month ago at the top of Camelback mountain super-imposed on a random picture I found of a guy taking a picture of himself at the top of the Eiffel Tower...  I'm SUPER imposing.  lol.  I know, I am a loser. AND hiking all alone. Come on, people! You need to hike with me!  Let me know if you're interested in hiking on Saturday mornings and I'll let you know the deets. ok. gnight y'all.

Haiku Wednesday

Hot Cocoa is best

For these chilly sweater days

Sniff sip mmmm yumm ahhhhhhhh

stay tuned for a post about our fun private chocolatier tour and chocolate tasting we had tonight....

Hailloweenku

Trick or treating kids

So cute in their fun costumes

Mom's their candy pimp

Haiku Wednesday-that's right, it's back.

Trick or treating kids

So cute in their fun costumes

Mom's their candy pimp.

a little diddle.

Thought I'd catch y'all up on what's going on....
The Sound of Music show was a hit and even though I had a really hard time with the whole Aaron kissing another woman right in front of me every night as Captain Von Trapp, I'm reeeeally glad we did it.  I noticed that Aaron has been a million times happier since we did it, which is WONDERFUL. 
So now that I know how to help my husband to be happy and fulfilled, I am gung-ho. I wrote up his acting resume and sent his headshot and resume around... I got him an audition for Fred in a Christmas Carol at Hale Centre Theater yesterday, which he nailed (yet to hear).  I got him an audition for a Fulton Homes commercial tomorrow, and he's going to audition for Sound of Music at the Broadway Palm Dinner theater later this month.  We are also going to be Dickens Caroling with Copperstar Repertory Company (the company that put on Sound of Music) next month to earn a little extra cash. woot!  busy busy.


Megan and Matthew did well in their poetry contests despite the fact that I didn't practice it with them at all except for the time I taught it to them.  Matt had a harder time remembering it (cause really, I wrote it and I didn't even remember it...booo bad busy mom.) and they had to prompt him.  He got an honorable mention :)  Megan pretty much remembered hers because she's got an amazing brain. seriously. She usually remembers a poem or verse after hearing it once. kuh razy head.  She got third place in the 2nd grade division.

This Thanksgiving is going to be fun.  Our good friends, Nick and Shelly Goodman are hosting Thanksgiving for their friends and family in the Chateau de Vie - If I haven't told you about the Chateau yet, forgive me.  Nick bought a mansion in Chandler that they plan to make into a reception center for weddings, parties, etc.  it's pretty amazing.  They have to get it rezoned and need the community to agree to it, so they had an open house for the community to come and tour it and have a meeting in the lakehouse.  I led tours.  It was a lot of fun.  Also, if you saw any of the pictures from the press release of Sound of Music, the pictures were taken at the Chateau.  Nick's sister in law is a photographer who is doing mini family photo shoots at the mansion- here is a plug for her and shots of the property

Poetry Contest

Meg and Matthew have a poetry competition coming up for school and needed poems to recite.  I looked online and didn't find quite the right poems for them so I just wrote some real quick today.

Here's Meg's

Turkey Day

It’s turkey day! Gobble Gobble!

We’re gonna eat til we wobble

With all our chums

Until we need tums

And then back home we will hobble

It’s Turkey day, what a treat!

There’re so many things here to eat!

Stuffing and yams

Potatoes and hams

Black Olives and jiggly red beets

 

It’s Turkey Day! Family’s here!

From all their homes, far and near

To celebrate blessings

With turkey and dressings

Thank you , Lord, for miracles dear.

Stephanie Shumway

Here's Matt's

 I love Christmas

I love Christmas! Do you know why?

There are candy canes, elves, and reindeers that fly!

Stockings with oranges way down in the toe

Twinkly lights, carols, and don’t forget snow!
But do you know why I love Christmas the best?

Baby Jesus was born so that we could be blessed.

-Stephanie Shumway

Here is a runner up. I started writing it for Matt, but it got too long.

Cookies for Santa

I’m leaving out cookies for Santa
So he can stay all fat and pudgy

There’s a reason that he stays so happy
It’s cause he eats chocolate that’s fudgy

He starts out so thin in November

But as holidays come he gets plump

Eating turkey and taters and dressing

And his favorite: Roasted Rump!

So I’m leaving out cookies for Santa

To help him fit in his red suit

It’s a way to say thank you to Saint Nick

For all of this sweet Christmas loot.

 

-Stephanie Shumway

Catching up in a paragraph

I haven't posted since September 1st?!?!  hoy! ok, real quick- Aaron is cast in Copperstar productions' The Sound of Music as Captain Von Trapp and I am cast as Sister Sophia and Maria's understudy. Megan is in the preshow show choir, and Matthew starts soccer on Wednesday. I went hiking on Labor day at Telegraph Pass and yesterday (saturday the 11th) at Camelback.  Loved both hikes! Matthew got his head cracked open last night with a metal baseball bat (accident) and got a cat scan.  It freaked out the babysitter and the friend who did it.  Everything's ok, though. no worries. DONE!

HAIKU WEDNESDAY!

Today's theme: Exercise

This morning we left the basketball court lights off during our workout..... I remarked how weird it was to wake up to exercise so early that you can still see the stars when you start.

Five in the morning

Star gazing, sweat in my eyes

Orions weight belt

Link up, yo!  I changed the linky dink since some people don't have a blog to which they can link. You can just fill in your haiku if you don't have a blog. Otherwise, the rules remain the same. You have until midnight tonight to write your exercise haiku. woot woot!
ADDED NOTE!! When you post, put two spaces then a slash and two spaces again between lines.  so.... Huffy Puffy Me / Wheezing while I push and pull / Back of Parking Lot

Holy Shlamoly! I forgot! HAIKUUUUUUUU (read that like the Yahoo sound que)

Brittney, dont kill me! I forgot about our Haiku Wednesday Linky Dink!!! Ok, Chicas and Men (what's the spanish equivalent for men? Senor? Chico? anywho..)

I'm extending it a day, so you need to wow me with your poeming skills.  Just write a haiku and post it somewhere and then link back here at the bottom of the post, y'all! The deadline is tomorrow at 11:59:59!

Get on it, people!

Today's Linky Dink Theme: SCHOOL


My haiku:


What is my major?
Textiles? Physical Fitness?
Kill me now-Business.

Tomorrow's Hike: Barks Lower Canyon Loop

Meet tomorrow (Saturday, August 21) at 5:00am at the Peralta Trailhead. We'll start hiking right at 5:15am. Please comment or call if you're planning on coming. ..or if you're gonna be late or need clarification 480-216-4327

Below is the hike description from my favorite hike forum, http://www.hikearizona.com/ :

This hike offers a lot of bang for the buck! Normally it is necessary to substantially penetrate the Wilderness for descent returns. At only about four miles round trip, this is a rare example of close in quality. I would consider it almost on par with the Cave Trail (always a favorite) but less strenuous and much easier to follow. It is so nice in fact, I wondered if it was wise to post it. Then, if it is hiked responsibly, I really would like to see other hikers enjoying this beautiful little canyon.

Starting from the Peralta trailhead, take the Bluff Spring trail up Cardiac Hill, past the Cave Trail intersection to the top, and then down the other side to the bottom where it first crosses the creek bed. Here you depart the trail and head south through the bottom of the wash following it several miles till you intersect the Dutchman Trail in Barkley Basin which then takes you back to the trailhead.

Directions to Peralta Trailhead: 7.6 miles east of the junction Idaho Rd / US-60. Turn Left on to FS77 which is Peralta Road. Follow FS77 5.6 miles to a left and up turnoff. Continue 1.9 miles to Peralta Trailhead.
The trailhead has restrooms minus running water. The parking lot is huge. It does fill up in season on weekends. 0.5 miles before reaching the trailhead is an overflow lot which is also suited for horse trailer parking.

Hike:This is the simple part. From the point just over a mile in, where Bluff Spring trail crosses the wash at the bottom of Barks Canyon it is simply a matter of following the creek bed all the way south to the Dutchman trail. I saw no cairns or footprints through the numerous sandy areas testifying to the unexpected solitude of this of this seldom used canyon. The wash is easy to follow with only minor rock hopping and only one small spot of thick bush. Route finding is a cinch as the canyon presents only a singular route. However, with various paths to choose from through the bottom, I suggest varying from side to side to follow the more interesting terrain features as you go along. The sides are alternately lined with small cliffs and numerous smooth rock areas seeming to grow more and more interesting as you proceed. Despite the extremely dry conditions present at the time, there were numerous large pools of water along the way.

As you approach the 2.5mi point where the basin starts coming into view, look ahead for reddish colored mine tailings spilling forth about 100 yards up the slope on your left. It cannot be seen from directly beneath so you need to spot it as you are approaching from up stream. This tunnel is shown on Tom Kollenborn's map in Helen Corbin's book The Curse of the Dutchman's Gold as being Charles Crawford's camp. No date is given and I don’t know if this was a producing mine or merely a prospect. It does go back for a long distance into the mountain possibly indicating a mine, on the other hand, it is in a very straight line, and that would indicate a prospect. It does however finally fork at point where the bats were getting thick and I lost the courage to proceed. This may indicate the start of a “drift”, or the point at which they possibly began to follow a vein of whatever ore they were seeking. It never ceases to amaze me the amount back breaking work that must have been involved in those hellish conditions to move that much solid rock by hand.

Soon after passing the mine, the canyon begins to open up into the Barkley Basin. Continue to follow the widening wash a short distance to the well-worn and easily spotted crossing of the Dutchman trail. From there it is a short one mile cruise back to the trailhead.

An option for the diehard who may want a bit more strenuous hike would be to add what I’ll call the “Mid Barks” section. To do this, initially remain on Bluff Spring trail going north until you reach the Terrapin trail intersection. It is here that you now follow the same creek bed south but add on about 1.5 miles extra total distance and a bit more rugged terrain.

The best part is shortly downstream of the intersection where you will encounter a lengthy and steep series of cascading pools carved into the smooth rock beneath sheer walls. You then enter a beautiful, but dense thicket of trees at the bottom that requires a bit of determination to penetrate. From here you basically parallel Bluff Spring trail and eventually merge onto it as you approach the previously described starting point.

As I mentioned at the outset, I sometimes agonize over whether to publicly post some material given the virgin or delicate nature of a certain area. I realize there are good arguments both ways. I have listened to many and Im still listening. Enjoy the hike~

There is a life outside of the computer?!? Documenting this strange occurance...

I know, I know, I haven't posted about all the hiking and other fun stuff we've done... okey dokey, here goes-

A little over a week ago (before school started for the kids), we decided to have a fun-packed weekend before school started. 

(not our limo. Lawl)

We went to GameWorks and I had so much fun romping all over Aaron in Dance Dance Revolution! I've never really been that great at it, but all of a sudden it clicked and I could do it-I had a blast. Then we went for a midnight swim in our friends' pool (they were out of town, but we had permission :) 

The following morning at 5 we did our routine Saturday hike but it was just Aaron and I and the Wilsons. It was like a fun double date. We planned to go to the Willow Springs Canyon hike, but since we woke up late we just hiked Hieroglyphics Springs again. The guys liked it (and so did Josefina and I, but we've already been there).  There were no more frogs; instead there were little tadpoles and a bunch of the tiniest little black frogs I've ever seen! soo cute! Sorry, no pics of them! Just to give you and idea-they were about the size of my thumbnail. Some of them were halfway changed from tadpole to frog and had long tails.

We picked up the kids from the Downey's house (they had had a sleepover [if you dont have an overnight bbsitting exchange with some friends, I highly recommend it!!]) and then packed our lunches and went to the Salt River to go riverboarding.  Now, this riverboarding was MUCH different than what we used to do in HS- we used to get a large board and anchor it to the shore so it stayed in one spot and skimmed the water, then you'd swim to it and get on and ride it on the rapids back and forth, jumping the waves and what not with your body weight.  What we did on on Saturday was a lot more exhilerating and much more difficult. You hook a Banshee Bungee to your board and then hold your board perpendicular to the current so it pushes you down river, then when you think the bungee is stretched enough you lean forward and it bolts you forward on the surface upstream. lots of fun!  The first time I tried, I ended up letting go of the board cause I realized that with the water pushing the board back, it also pushed my swimmingsuit into a nice wedgie. I didn't want to lean up out of the water and have everyone see my tush!  I donned the shorts and did it a few more times.  It was pretty challenging, swimming across the strong current to the other side of the river but was tons'o'fun!  The kids played in the river trying to catch fish with cups and skip rocks. (thanks, Dopps, for arranging it!) Oh and I should mention here that Bryce is a stud for taking bee infested garbage to the trash bin. Go Bryce. now pay up :)

After the river we decided to go see Inception- good movie, BTW.  I thought they rushed through the concept and plot a little too much, but I'm a sucker for Sci-fi, so whatevs.

School Started during the week.  My little Matthew is in Kindergarten now! boo hoo! He seems too young to be in kindergarten :(  He seemed fine when we took him to his class and he stood in line during the morning assembly (every day thing)  but when his class filed past us to go inside he looked like he was going to throw up- I asked him if anything was wrong and he just frowned and looked at me with the saddest eyes ever.. I said "Matthew, was someone mean to you?" and he burst into tears and said "No, I just don't want to miss you!!!" and flung his arms around my neck. Awwwww... poor little guy. I walked with him in line and held his hand. Then we seperated and he went to class and I had to still my throbbing heart. what a sweety. 

After i picked him up I asked him, "You didn't miss me at all, did you?"  "Nope!" he said...and that's that. He's officially too grown up. 

Matt and his teacher, Mrs. McKinney

 I told him we could eat lunch wherever he wanted since it was his first day of school ever- he picked Ono Hawaiian BBQ- A boy after my own heart. We shared the Chicken Katsu as usual.

i have to say though, later I was in the bathroom and he walked in.. I told him to get out, I was in the bathroom, but he wouldn't leave. He said "I'll plug my nose and close my eyes. I just want to be in here with you..." he stayed in the bathroom crouched in the corner like that. ha ha.. so he did miss me a little. cute.

.....a few posts later and we are at this last weekend.... Friday was Aaron's and my 11th anniversary.  Our ACTUAL anniversary.  We were married on Friday the thirteenth of August and as far as I know, this is the first time since we married that it's been on a Friday again. 11 years. sheeeoooot!  I KNOW, right?! We're old!  We celebrated by dining at Liberty Market, of course! Aaron got the burger of the day which was actually not a burger at all, but a salmon patty with dill cream cheese, capers and greens. 

I got the mussels and artichokes in a butter/white wine/garlic sauce with grilled semolina toast. ummm YUM.

And again we shared their perfection in a cup bread pudding. nom.

We went and saw Scott Pilgrim VS the World (cool movie) and then headed home to bed for our early morning trip. woot!

In the morning we threw on our raggedy clothes, packed some snacks/water, and got the kids headlamps, Aaron's cap light and extra batteries for my maglite and caravaned with brother in law, Brian, and neice, Jessie, to Oracle, AZ (about 2 hours away).  Yay Spelunking!

Peppersauce Cave was nice and cool and very very very slippery with mud. We named it peanutbutter cave- at one point my foot was stuck so good that my foot came out of it when I tried to walk. ha ha.  Megan was so afraid at first. she was on her hands and knees crawling along was blubbering "I'm so scared!! I dont want to do it"..etc. I told her, "Megan, we are all here with you- you're safe! Just get up and walk!" She said, "But mom... I'm TERRIFIED!"  I started laughing and just helped her along- she was happy and singing in no time. She just had to get used to it. At one point we stopped and took pictures and told everyone to turn off their lights so we could see how dark it was.  You will never be in a darker place than a cave. Couldn't see ANYTHING. it was awesome.  What WASN'T awesome is that my flashlight led bulb went out. BOOO! Extra batteries dont do you much good if the dang bulb is on the fritz! I ended up using the flashlight setting on Aaron's droid and it worked great!

Sorry about the quality! This was taken in pitch black with a droid- and no, that's not Aaron. He's taking the picture.

Brian, Jessie, Megan, Matthew, Me

Me in front of the crawl space we had to squeeze through. fun fun!

Me crawling through- are you looking at my bum?? ;) I guess I shouldn't have worn muddy camo if I wanted to be seen in this pic!

Coming out the way we came in..

We aren't THAT dirty......are we?

When we got home I made everyone strip before they entered the front door- we had our pile of clothes and shoes by the front door for a couple days :) ha ha I'm such a slacker- luckily the only things that were ruined were our white socks. other than that we came out unscathed!

BTW Matthew LOVES the headlamp. He took it to show and tell on Tuesday along with prints of these pictures and told his class all about spelunking in Peppersauce Cave :)

What a fun adventure!

Haiku Wednesday

 

AC went kaput

Perspiration beads on face

Ew sweaty kneepits

Haiku Wednesday Linky Dink!

Heya bloggers! I was given this idea by my friend, Brittney- Thanks Brit, you smarty pants! I'm going to give you all the opportunity to join in on Haiku Wedensdays :) Every Wednesday I'll write a haiku and do a link up so you all can write one and link back here.  Now everyone can try their hand (or brain) at haiku-ing :) what fun!

Each week will have a theme. We will start this next week with the theme of: SCHOOL.

  

Traditionally haikus have something to do with nature or the seasons, but we are taking a more modern approach. Use the theme either as the subject, or mention something about it in passing. (ie: If the theme were dogs, you could either say "My dog is dirty" OR "she had Lassie hair"). We will still do the pattern 5-7-5, however. To learn more about haikus, see here and here

yay! Ok, rack your brains and I hope to see you in our linky dink in one week! Commence countdown!

Time until our Haiku Wednesday Linky Dink!

Haiku Wednesday

"Don't want to miss you"

Said with a tear in his eye

Kindergarten Blues

Heya Sugar...

I was not going to post this.  I was going to just keep it to myself, but I decided that posting would guarantee a sort of accountability so here I go:

My name is Stephanie Shumway and I am a sugar addict. 

I can't just eat one cookie.  Once I have one, I have to eat them until they're gone. ESPECIALLY if there is milk involved.  In the last couple weeks I have eaten a whole batch of snicker doodles, a whole 1/2 gallon of Reeses icecream, 2 pieces of Tiramisu Cake (this is my favorite food and 2 pieces is REALLY good for me.. I used to eat a whole sheet cake in a week) various untracked candy snacks like tootsie rolls and a candy bar and a half... oh yeah, and brownies. oh and creampuffs, oh and Brittney's Trifle and dang delectable peanut butter bars. hum-uh-nuh   hum-uh-nuh.....
Needless to say, I gained a little weight. It's a good thing I exercise to combat the weight gain cause, seriously, I would've doubled in size, and it's a good thing I have access to insulin to combat the sugar cause I think I would've gone into a coma had I not. Do I have an addiction?

Here is what Catherine Morgan has to say about it:
Webster Dictionary defines addiction as…


a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly : persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful.


Thankfully, I’ve never been addicted to alcohol, drugs, or even cigarettes…But I do have symptoms of withdraw when I try to stop eating sugar, and when I am eating sugar I crave more and more of it (even when I know it is contributing to weight gain, and negative affects on my health). So I guess it does feel like an actual addiction.


Ahem. this being said......


I AM GIVING UP SUGAR!
Today I detox. No more refined simple sugar for me.  I will still be eating breads and the like, but hope to limit those very extensively. I will still be eating naturally occuring complex sugars, but I won't be drinking juices and I've already given up soda pop-even diet. 
Yay WATER!  I'll be starting David Kirsch's nutrition plan on Monday and plan to track everything with a food journal. 


Do you have a food addiction or just need to get healthy and in shape?  Join in!
-Pick a food to eliminate out of your diet (Soda pop is a good start) and remove it from your house!
-Even if you don't have a nutrition plan, at least make healthy choices- here are some healthy recipes
-Amp up the exercise! You can always join me for a good workout at 5am at ASU East Campus and/or go hiking with us on Saturdays. You can't argue with FREEEEEEE! (but you CAN argue with sore- I died at Yoga Friday today! Awesome)
-Get a buddy!  Things like this are always easier if someone is doing it with you. Especially your spouse!
-Tell people about it!  The more you tell people, the more accountable you are for your decision.


Here is what other bloggers are saying about sugar addictions:


Falling off the Clean Eating Wagon…


Over the weekend, I was at the Newport Jazz Festival where I was inspired by the fabulous music and gorgeous weather…and tempted by the notion of being away and carefree. And that clean eating I pride myself on was well, semi-clean at best (don’t ask me about the greasy breakfast sandwich, ice cream and strawberry shortcake — you get the idea).


From That’s Fit – Slash Sugar to Drop Weight…


The American Heart Association is now urging everyone to cut back on sugar intake. Easier said than done, since sugar is present in many food items, like commercially packaged bread. Still, you should try, because Americans are consuming an average of 22 teaspoons a day.


From Body Acumen – Teaching Kids To Eat Healthy…


This may seem obvious, but somehow we stubborn Americans often don’t understand that if we don’t want our children to do something, we shouldn’t facilitate it. (I know you’ve seen that episode of Geraldo, Oprah, Dr. Phil, whoever, where the parent comes with her toddler and states, “she dresses like a whore.” Hello, who bought her those clothes?!?!) If you don’t want your child to eat twinkies, don’t buy them, even if you like to secretly eat them yourself.


From Girl Get Strong – How to Cut the Sugar and Sweets From Your Diet…


The American Heart Association recently released recommendations for added sugars – and they say “slash slash slash” it way down. According to their position paper, the usual intake of added sugars for Americans was 22.2 teaspoons per day (355 calories per day) in 2001-2004. American Heart Association would like to see American women consume no more than 100 calories per day and men no more than 150 calories per day from added sugars. Why? Excessive consumption of sugars has been linked with several metabolic abnormalities and adverse health conditions, as well as shortfalls of essential nutrients.


From My Year Without Sugar – American Heart Association Recommends Less Sugar…


As we enter into the “Age of Transparency” cutting down on sugar should become easier. As we, the consumer, demand more nutritious foods and less sugary junk food, the food producers will scramble to satisfy our demand. This is not going to happen overnight, but I have high hopes that the pendulum will swing in favor of health food.


Here's a little sugar-free treat- if you read this whole post look back up at the candy picture and click on it- it's a Magic Eye Picture :)

Ruffle Shirt Makeover-Crisis Averted!

I was doing laundry yesterday and set aside one of Megan's favorite shirts that I've been meaning to get rid of for a while. Afterall, it's xs (4-5) and she's turning 8 in November! I told her we needed to give it to goodwill and she was so sad! I said to her, "Megan, it's too short" and she said "mom, can't you add a ruffle or something to the bottom so it can be longer?" (Who's daughter is this? ha ha JUST like me)  I said, "Megan, it's too tight! Why don't we make a headband out of it?" Megan just got this really sad look on her face and cried, "But I want to wear it on my body!!"  ok, ok, I knew I had seen a tutorial online once that turned a shirt into a cardigan or jacklet (I made up that word- like a jacket but short sleeved. Jacklet) Anywho, thinking this would buy her maybe a month or two more in this shirt, I went to work....

BEFORE:

Just fold it in half and cut right up the middle (only cut the front or you'll have two halves of a shirt and you're on your own. LOL)

This is the shirt I decided to use for the ruffles I was going to add.. I really liked it, but it started to fit differently and I didn't like it.  Also, it seemed like the right kind of thin material I needed for the ruffles.

 Now go ahead and cut it into 2" jersey yarn.  If you don't know how to do this, just cut strips in your shirt but stop 2 inches before the end....DONT cut all the way across!

Now put your arm inside and open the shirt up

now lay it out so that the intact side seem is in the middle

Now cut just the top layer from one incision to the previous one on the other side in a diagonal line... like this:

It should look like this when it's spread out a little

Now wha -la! you have one long continuous piece of jersey yarn.  I only ended up using half of this yarn for this project, just so you know (you would cut it thinner than this if you were using it to crochet or knit, though.  It more closely represents yarn when you stretch it- it rolls up).

however, do not stretch your yarn! you want it to lay flat so you can sew it!  I just took the strip and stitched on the longest straight stitch available on my machine.  I did two running stitches down the middle of the strip seperated by a sewing foot's width

you can choose to trim it now, or after it's gathered. if you trim after it's gathered you'll have to snip touch up later cause it doesn't cut exactly straight. but it's not a big deal. I cut mine after and it looks great.

 Gathering......  it's up to you how gathered you'd like it- I ended up doing a minimal gather and it still looks really gathered and it was easier to sew since there wasn't as much material to get through.  I also should let you know that I gather the two sides at the same time. I just held both threads.  If you have never gathered anything, see this tutorial by Ashley at Make it and Love it

trimming........  Now measure how long you need it and cut.  Pin it to the front of your shirt- make sure that the edge of the shirt lays between the edge of the ruffle and the first ruffle seam.  I just made sure that first the seam was on top of the shirt material so when I sewed over it, it would actually attach to the shirt :)

Pinned... now just fold the ends under the bottom and sew along the gathering stitches again but with a shorter stitch this time, back stitching at the beginning and end to secure it.  Dont worry about folding the beginning of the strip over the neck part- it's going to be covered by the neck ruffle. you can leave it raw.

yay! repeat with the other side and the neck....  When pinning the neck, be sure to  fold the edges over the side..

sorry so blurry!  Now is the time if anyone wants to give me a better camera so I can deliver better tutes.... just sayin! Free advertising... I may have to look into this theory that advertising gets you free stuff.....

Oooh much better....  Ok, now I just cut two 1" x 12" strips for ties at the front.  I put it on Meg to see where we wanted the ties and pinned them on. 

These, you may stretch.. see it starts out like this:

And streeeeeeettttch..... ala kazam. yarn. sweet.

Now just hand sew these babies on making sure to only go through the shirt and not the ruffle....

Final product.....

 

Cute Cute Cute!

and see how cute it is on her?! 

 

still a tiny bit small... hee hee

She did NOT want to get her picture taken- it's was bright outside!  well, what do you expect in AZ?

Granted it is still a very small shirt, but it'll last at least a few more months until the next growth spurt.  She's had it since she was 4! Lawl! Oh man we are so ghetto. I love it.  What we mothers do to avoid breaking our daughters' hearts....

side by side:

yay! now I need to go sew some ruffles on something for myself!