How Mom Taught Us to Sit Still in Church

There seem to be a lot of differing techniques and opinions on this subject. Some people think that snacks should be completely prohibited from church. Others are against toys or coloring or even quiet books. Here's what I think, simply based on experience, having been taught this way growing up. If you disagree with anything I say, that's fine. But I reserve the right to have my own opinion based on my own observations and experience. I'll respect your opinion, if expressed respectfully, and I hope to be able to expect the same from you! Any nasty comments will be deleted. Sorry.

Mom's technique had multiple facets. Part of her process of teaching us to be reverent in Church was recognizing that we were children, and thus had different needs and dispositions than adults. She made sure to take care of our needs and harness our dispositions appropriately, such as hunger and boredom. Here's how she did that:

Snacks:
Tiny tummies get hungry faster than adults. Hungry tummies make cranky children. My personal opinion is that it's okay to bring something small for your tiny ones to munch on. Three hours is actually a long time for those tiny tummies to be empty. HOWEVER, don't bring an entire meal! Don't bring something in a wrapper that makes noise and interrupts the Spirit! Don't bring something that will make a million crumbs all over the floor of the Lord's House! Those are not appropriate. And if you make a mess, clean it up! Check your bench or pew before leaving the chapel and leave it as clean as, or cleaner, than when you arrived. Remember, we're visitors in the Lord's house.

Toys:
Depending on how old your child is, they may have shorter attention spans, appropriate to their ages. I have a child between 1 and 2 years old. We bring a plethora of toys, because she moves around a lot. I have a 4 year old niece. She needs far fewer toys to keep her from getting antsy. Whatever the age, antsy children turn into cranky children. My qualifiers are these: if you opt to bring toys, they should be QUIET toys! Nothing that makes music or talks, nothing that jingles or rattles. Noise interrupts the Spirit. Even if children have a hard time listening to what's being spoken over the pulpit, they can still feel the Spirit and learn to recognize it.

Quiet Books/File Folders:
 These are great options for appropriate activities to occupy your children when they need to be reverent. Quiet books can be purchased (I have seen some pretty great ones on Etsy), or they can be made. There are MANY blogs that give different patterns for them for free or very small prices. If you've never heard of file folders, they are just simple activities or games that are glued into file folders. There are some GREAT ones by Finch Family Games here. Or you can search for File Folder Games and find quite a few ideas and downloads. Both quiet books and file folders can be intellectually and/or spiritually stimulating, thus assuaging that need to be busy that little kids have.

WHAT MOM DID THAT TAUGHT US TO SIT STILL:
The most important thing to remember here is that you need to start teaching your children when they are small. This applies to anything you're going to teach them. you have to keep in mind that the longer they go without being taught, the longer they have to get into their own methods of doing things. Is it not better to teach them the right way from the beginning instead of trying to turn them around after they're used to something else? That being said, here it is:
Whenever we were noisy, Mom would take us out. She did NOT let us run around. She did NOT let us goof off or have fun. We had to sit in her lap or sit right next to her. When we were calm enough to behave, the two of us went back in. The point is to make it more pleasant to be in the meeting being quiet, where we have something to do, instead of sitting with Mom doing nothing. If there are too many children running around undisciplined outside the meeting, go into an empty classroom, or even the car if you have to. You are teaching your child a new skill, being able to exercise self-control and be reverent.

YOUR CHILD WILL RESIST THIS!!! Just as they resist any new skill you begin to teach them! You teach them to go to sleep by themselves, they resist. You teach them to go to the bathroom by themselves, they resist. If they know that putting up a fuss in the meeting will get you to take them out and let them play, they will do it! They're smarter than we sometimes give them credit for. If we hold them to a higher (but definitely not impossible) standard, it is incredibly beneficial in the long run, and not just in learning reverence. In life, reasonably high expectations can be the difference between success and failure.

One thing I personally think you should NOT use is electronic babysitting! Don't give your kid a phone, tablet, ipod, or any other electronic device to play with during a sacred meeting! By doing this, you are teaching your child that sacred is equivalent to the mundane of the rest of the world. Sacred and mindless electronic games DO NOT belong in the same sphere. In order to teach your children reverence, they need to understand that church is different, it is sacred and thus should be approached with an entirely different attitude than everyday life. It is entirely worse when parents snub the sacred things to engage in mundane. Don't be a bad example, please.

Sometimes we were rowdy without actually being noisy (this was when we were a little older). Mom came up with a new way to teach us reverence. She would, of course, ask us to stop and to behave with reverence. If we didn't, she would pay attention to how long we were misbehaving, and when we got home, we would have to sit quietly and reverently on the couch for the same amount of time, so that we got plenty of practice doing it the right way. Your children will either learn what you carefully teach them, or what everyone else or they themselves teach them. Every skill they need to learn has a way to teach them. If you look, you can find ideas for about anything. Like I mentioned before, some people will fight against what I've said. Have your own opinion, but I know from personal experience that these things work, and there are many people who agree with these things. It's not torture to teach your child a new skill in a loving and patient way like this. Thanks for reading!

How to Deadhead/Clean Geraniums

One of my jobs is at a local plant nursery, and right now hanging baskets of flowers are in high demand. Some of the baskets that are sold have huge geranium plants in them. The boss pulled one down yesterday for a customer to see, and it looked like this:

See all those ugly dead flowers? Yeah, that customer didn't end up purchasing that one. Boss man asked me to fix the flowers. So I did!

Would you believe that this is the exact same plant I just showed you? Well, it is! Looks WAY better! As I was doing this same thing to the 30ish other plants that desperately needed it, I decided to show you how to do it, too! I've had customers ask me to show them, so why not share with everyone, right? It's actually pretty easy!

A lot of people try getting rid of the dead ones like this, just breaking it off just below the spent blooms. Don't do that!

By leaving this stem on the plant, the plant thinks it still has those flowers, and most geranium varieties will actually stop producing blooms because of it. Also, the plant keeps wasting energy keeping that worthless little stick green. You may ask, "So what do I do instead?" I'll tell you right now!

See where my pointer finger is pointing? If you follow the stem of that dead flower down to the main stem, you want to break it off right there.

The easiest way to do this is to press or push that stem away from the main plant. The connection is brittle enough all the time that it should just snap off. You use this same technique to remove dead or yellowing leaves. Take the whole thing off.

Now that everything is off, don't you feel better with this lovely plant? When you do this, the plant will take all that energy it was pouring into those dead things and push up new buds and blooms. Your plant will love you! And definitely don't worry about hurting the plant when you do this. It'll be just fine! I've done thousands of plants and they just get better! Happy gardening!

Baby/Toddler Maxi Skirt TUTORIAL

Hello there! This week my sister-in-law (who's expecting a baby - YAY!) asked me to make her some maxi skirts for her to wear this summer. Well, I've never made one, nor have I sewn knits of any kind. That only terrified me a little...or a lot! I had a small piece of black rayon/spandex knit lying around from an impulse buy of a remnant at the fabric store, so I decided to make a small version for Tiny One to see if I could do it!

 

It worked out better than I expected! Now I'll share. Here we go.

To begin with, I grabbed a pair of Tiny One's pants that still have some room in them for growth but still fit pretty well. I have some pattern pellon that is just fantastic, and I grabbed that, too. I laid the pants on the pattern stuff. It's hard to tell in the picture, but I traced down the sides of the legs, about 1/2" out from the edge to make the sides of the skirt.

For the bottom, I just drew a line across the bottom of the legs, ignoring the crotch. Just go right across. 

This picture is actually from something else, but it demonstrates something important. At each corner of anything, I drew a little dot, just to keep track of where the real corners were. The pants I grabbed were little yoga-style pants, with the roll down waist. I wanted that still for the skirt, so I drew a dot at the bottom of that little fold over part, and drew a line across, 1/2" up from the dots. Cut out the pattern piece we just made. I folded it in half lengthwise and trimmed to make it symmetrical.

I measured the little waistband, so I could duplicate it exactly. It's 8 1/2" on one side, so 17" around. It is 4" tall, but it's folded in half, so 8" total. I added some for seam allowance, and I decided to cut a piece 18"x9" for the waistband. 

Now it's time to grab the fabric. I cut a piece for the waist, and then I folded the fabric in half, then in half again, so there are four layers. On the fold without cut edges (two folds), I pinned the pattern piece, folded in half. The fold of the pattern should be on the fold of the fabric. Cut it out! NOTE: Really, this little thing can be made out of any type of knit. Just make sure to cut the waistband so that it stretches the long way (around the waist, not up and down).

Now you should have three pieces: waistband, front piece, and back piece. Lay out the front and back pieces, one on top of the other, lining up edges. Sew them together down the sides. Since this is a stretchy fabric, you don't want to use just a straight stitch. When the fabric stretches, the seam won't, and it will break. I used this stitch, but I don't know what it's called, but it does three straight stitches, then it zigs. If you have a serger, that's best. If you just have a regular machine, you can use the stitch I used, or a zigzag, or if your machine does an overlock, that's good, too.

I forgot to take pictures of this part, so I'll just explain it as best as I can. Take your waistband and sew those shorter ends together. Now fold it in half the long way, so the seam you just made is inside, and you have a little round thing. The raw edges go together. Grab the main skirt and make it right side out, with the seams inside. Center the seam of the waistband between the side seams, lining up the raw edges of the waistband and the skirt, pinning it on the outside of the skirt. Sew those raw edges together and flip up the waistband. 

Fold it in half again, down to the seam you just made. It's done! Isn't it cute? And didn't take that long, either! Good job!

If you want to make your skirt have a "Chevron" look, check out this post!

Fairy Gardens

The plant nursery where I work is giving a class on Fairy Gardens, so we made some gardens for examples and inspiration. If you want to know what's in them, just ask!

One lady I work with did this one in a small wine half-barrel.

Boss's wife did this one in a larger wine half-barrel.

And I did this one in a little 12x12 pot!

They were really fun to make, and they've been fun to watch filling in. I took these pictures just after we'd planted them, so they're not grown in at all yet. Enjoy!

No Bake Cookies RECIPE

It's been a while! I have a lot to share! I made some simple No Bake Cookies recently, and it's such a great recipe. I found it in our family cookbook, and we've been using this recipe for years and years.

ALLERGY ALERT: This recipe contains peanut butter

Here's the recipe:
 No Bake Cookies
2 c sugar
4 T cocoa
1/4 t salt
1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c milk
1 t vanilla
2 1/2 c quick oats

Combine in saucepan sugar, cocoa, salt, peanut butter, and milk. Bring to boil and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and add vanilla and oats. Mix well and drop on cookie sheet or parchment paper. Refrigerate.

Easy, right? That's the recipe exactly as it's written in the cookbook.

Here are my notes:

An easy cleanup way to measure the peanut butter is to drop it into the milk. Here's what I mean:

Measure out your 1/2 c of milk.

Drop spoonfuls of peanut butter into the milk, small amounts at a time, until it measures up to 1 cup.

If it's not exact, it's totally fine! It won't affect how well the cookies turn out. When you get that measured out, dump the whole thing straight into the pan with the dry ingredients, and start to cook!

Don't boil it on the highest temperature, and stir it CONSTANTLY because it will cook to the bottom of the pan very quickly!

Time it for one minute. During this time the sugar will melt and the mixture will get smooth. When the timer's done, remove from heat and add the oats and vanilla.

As for oats, I've used all sorts of oats, and they do just fine: Rolled, steel cut, baby, old-fashioned. Just any old oats are great!

I usually use a mini ice cream scoop to measure them out, or you can just drop spoonfuls. I use waxed paper just on the countertop, not even bothering to put them into the fridge. Nobody wants to wait that long! They will be gooey at first, and then gain more solidity as they cool.

They usually don't last long past cooling anyway!

Double Bandanna Skirt for Infant/Toddler TUTORIAL

I have a pile of bandannas sitting around, being in the way. I have an adorable little girl who MUST be cute and well-dressed all the time! Hmmm. Sounds like a match made in heaven! So I came up with this cute little skirt, made from two bandannas, a bit of elastic, and some elbow grease. Ok, maybe no grease. Ew. Want to make one, too? Let's go!

Materials:
2 Bandannas (the ones I used were around 22"x22")
Elastic
Pins
Thread

I measured my little one's waist, and it was 16" (ish). I added an inch, and I cut a 17" piece of elastic, and set it aside. Go ahead and do the same. You won't need it for a few minutes. (If you don't have the little one nearby, or you're making it for someone else's, I admit I've cheated and gone to a nearby clothing store and measured the appropriate size of clothing and just matched that measurement).

Now for the bandannas. I want this little skirt to last a bit longer, so I decided on making the waist be maximum 22", so we need to cut a 7" circle. Lemme 'splain. I grabbed my 22" measurement out of the air. I thought an extra 6" would be good. Then I grabbed my calculator and divided it by pi (3.1415....dadada). It came to 7.0030. I rounded to 7. No matter what your ending measurement, it's easier to go with a simple number. Round to the nearest whole or half number (e.g. 6.5,7, 8.5). That way it's simple to measure in inches. If you need help, send me a message and we'll figure it out together!

I got on the computer and made a document with a 7" circle, printed, cut it out. Then you need to fold it in half, then half again. Looks like this when you're done:

Go iron your bandannas next. Believe me, it'll make it easier! They don't have to be completely pressed, just soften those intense fold lines they get in the store. Now take them and fold them the same as your circle. Half and half again. Don't unfold it yet!

 
Take a pin and poke it through the very center of your circle. Now use the same pin, with the paper on it, and poke it through the very tip of the folds in the bandanna.

This way you have that circle exactly in the middle of the bandanna. Very carefully lay this down, making sure the circle stays in the middle. Pull out the pin, and carefully trace around the paper. I admit, I just used a fine point Sharpie, but you can use a fabric pen or pencil. The marked parts will disappear under the elastic anyway. Repeat this process with your second bandanna.

You can barely see them, but they're there! Now carefully cut them out. Easiest way to start it is to fold the bandanna in half, then snip just a tiny bit on the fold where the marking is. Open it up, and cut around on just one layer. Do both of them!

Now for a kinda difficult part. Don't worry! You can totally do this hard thing. Now you're going to make one cut from the circle to the edge of the bandanna. They will look like this:

For one, you'll just fold it in half, cut in the fold to the center. The other one, you'll fold it diagonally, and carefully cut in the fold to the center. It doesn't have to be perfect! Imperfections can be hidden easily when you sew!

Next step. You want to lay them on top of each other. Make sure that the tiny hems on the edges are facing the same way, so that the outside is the outside on both of them. I put mine with the rolled part facing up. I wanted the red one worn on top, so I put it underneath the blue one. If your rolled hems are facing down, then put the one you want showing more on the top! Get it? I hope so! Match up those cut edges and pin around the circles.

You want both straight cuts lined up. This makes the points of the underneath one showing outside the straight edges of the top one. Baste around the circle. If you want, you can pin and baste up the straight edges, too.




Once it's basted, fold it all in half, with the cut edge as one edge of the fold. Mark halfway around the circle (fold) with a pin. If you want, you can fold in half again and mark the quarters as well. I did, and I found it helps a lot when you're adding the elastic. Now grab that elastic that's been waiting! Fold it in half, mark with a pin. Quarters if you did quarters on the bandannas.

Now match up pins and pin together. The bandannas will bulk in between the pins. That's excellent if yours does that! Also pin the ends of the circle and the elastic. Head to your machine and start. You'll want a zigzag stitch for working with the elastic, so that it stretches with movement and doesn't break. Start sewing, do your backstitch, and then you'll stretch the elastic out to be the same length as the bandanna and sew along the edges, lining them up as you go. You may have to reach behind and stretch from behind your machine foot so that you're not pulling your work backwards. Make sure to backstitch at the end, too!

The bandannas will bunch up a little when you stop stretching the elastic. That's what you want!

Now you'll flip it over and turn the elastic up, with the sewn part down, and you'll do a straight top stitch really close to the elastic (on the front - the seam will go through the bottom of the elastic on the back). THIS PART IS OPTIONAL! I think it hangs better when this is done, but if you don't like it, don't do it! I'll never know!

Last step! Are you ready? I know I am! Now all you have left to do is sew up that raw edge down the side/back of the skirt. I matched up the elastic, and pinned, then I matched up the opposite ends, the pointed ones and straight ones, and pinned. Then I pinned up the middle. I sewed about a 3/8" to 1/2" allowance. I hadn't cut mine very straight! I just made the seam as straight as I could and it was good enough! If you want to, you can do a zigzag stitch inside of that to prevent fraying, but I haven't seen the previous ones I've made fray much at all, so I never worry about it.

Flip it right side out, and find someone cute and tiny to model it!

Enjoy!

Padded Camera Bag

Hey there! The past few days, I've been working on designing my own bag pattern. The best part about it is that I made it so that it could be a regular bag, or you can use it as a padded camera bag! Here's just the bag:

 Made two because I loved the first one so much! Now here's the insert, which I made using the magnificent tutorial over at Makeit-loveit, here.

Someone with cute little fingers was totally trying to photobomb this one!

 Now I just have to save up to get a nice camera and lenses to put in it! This camera is borrowed.

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 Pretty stylish, and functional, too. To purchase this bag, you can go visit my etsy shop here.

Or here's the listing for the bag: here, and the foam insert here .