under 20 post.

Why do I make blogging so hard. I set lofty unrealistic expectations and then don't write when I am too tired to meet them. Time for another under 20 minute blog. This one is inspired by Mommy Coddle

Currently watching Zero Dark Thirty. Fascinating and sickening.

My husband's book and the record he produced came out in the last 2 weeks. Humbled. He is a smarty and a good at a lot. Here is an interview that tells a bit of what he has done in the last year.

I sewed 1 Easter dress and have the skirt of another done. It has been fun, but I don't have enough time! Below shows my beginnings plans for quilted Easter baskets. Even though I started early, life got in the way and I don't think they'll be done this year. Maybe by next?

I finally reached that point again in exercise where it makes me feel better instead of making me want to give up. As a result my RA is slightly more controlled. Slightly. Still gluten free which also helps. This may be a blessing. Going gluten free. I may blog more on that later....

Our friends Bryan and Chandra moved. We are so so blessed to have been in community with them for a few years. Bryan is a super coach and I think you should browse his blog for productivity and organizational growth, Brian Howard.

I have been re-watching Alias and Veronica Marrs. I love those both so much. AND THEN the Veronica Marrs movie went on Kickstarter and it is happening! What are you watching?

I just read on a sewing blog tonight about  Foyle's War and I am pretty sure I will watch it next week in marathon. Tell me if you do too!

XO blog friends.

Costume: Supergirl

It is February! And I forgot to write about the Supergirl Halloween costume!

 Photo made with Over!

Here are my super late and quick notes of how I accomplished it.

Using this classic picture, Dorothy asked for it to be exactly the same. "I'll try".

The Leotard. I made a practice fitting using a cheap black t-shirt knit material that I bought on sale. I did this by tracing her favorite swimsuit onto freezer paper. and using this tutorial at No Big Dill and lots of the info I have learned from all these posts on my Sarah's clothes to sew: knit pinterest board 
to sew it all together .

The practice fitting or "muslin", fit well so I kept the pattern which like I said was basically a trace of her suimsuit folded down the middle. (I took pictures of all of these steps, but must have deleted them because they are not on my phone or computer. Sorry!).

I added sleeves by tracing D's favorite long sleeve shirt and attaching it with my favorite sleeve method, A cheater's guide to setting in a sleeve At A Fashionable Stitch.

The "S" for Super... it took a long time. I used fusible interfacing and made a patch out of the knit materials. I have hopes of making my own tutorial on how to do that. Until then google that concept if you want to know how to do it.

The Skirt. Mom's of girls, This is my favorite skirt tutorial for girls. I had made a couple of these all ready last fall so I had done the math and this was the easiest part of the outfit. I used the gold to cover the waist band: Dana Made It: The Circle Skirt. Make one now.

Are you still with me?

So.

Cape. I honestly can't remember how I made the cape. I made three versions out of red lame' and that fabric was gross crinkly fabric for me to work with it kept ripping even though I used the right needle. And I made it the night before and she didn't want to wear it. We were both over the cape and of the three times she wore the costume she would not wear the cape. Luckily her cute wool blend coat looked matched with the rest of the costume when she needed it.

Super Dorothy,  Butterfly Jamison, and Little Red Mags

Boots. There is this tutorial on making super hero boots. I was on my 5th or 6th day working on the costume and I just didn't have the energy, also I was not keen on cutting the tape off her legs, so I just took her red tights I had bought for the tutorial and cut them and stretched them over her boots. It cost about 3 bucks and 30 seconds.

And that sewing friends, that is how I made Supergirl costume and learned how to sew with dancewear/swimsuit knits.  I think the costume cost about $18-20. I could have bought it for about 5 or 10 bucks more through a costume store, but I learned a lot of sewing skills which makes it so worth it.  I enjoy this so much. I know there are people that wouldn't, but this stuff makes me giddy.

Fall Decorating

 Leaves on sticks. Looks kinda crazy, but I like it and that part of the room needed something tall. 

 

We stayed home today, despite 3 major things we were to do today including church. It has been a long season of sickness for all of us. RA, backs, asthma, colds.  Super down about missing church again and I sat down to read my blog list and saw another mama in my shoes, read her thoughtful words here.

 My favorite family picture, a clearance Anthropologie C, and the little fall bouquet I bought my Grandma Lois the last fall she was with us.

 

The girls wanted to decorate for fall and it was a perfect day to do so. You can only watch so many movies.

I have too many pictures in frames and now I am putting out seasonal pictures in frames. The girls and all their cousins in pajamas and Christmas clothes along with our December wedding and anniversary pictures will probably replace these of last year taken by the amazing Mickie Winters when we decorate after Thanksgiving. I like this blog post about a Halloween Photo Garland and just might do that too.

This was what the 3 and 5 year old did. On the couch side table Mike and I share they chose a pitcher that Mike made in high school pottery class. It has a spider on it and we usually only use it around Halloween. The were ecstatic when they found it and we decided to keep the remotes in it until we redecorate for Christmas. Want to make 2 kids happy, let them decorate and fold their own laundry. Who knew?

A few favorite Valentines Posts

Molly Piper's You Can't Quantify My Love
I love her honesty and realness. She talks about the Gospel but doesn't pretend things are always perfect. Molly has been a real blessing to me and so many of my friends in her writing about motherhood, wife hood, loss, and loving her family and God.

Eric Carle's A Love Story and a Love Song
Chances are you live under a rock if you haven't heard of this guy and his amazing books, yet his blog is so simple and sweet and he reminds me of one my favorite professors from college.

Emily Henderson's Happy Valentine's Day
I like this gal. She has a blog and a TV show. She is funny and real (I like real. OK?). I think she is single handily saving HGTV for us 20-30 somethings (that don't want to be labeled 20-30 somethings). And I love that she takes her marriage seriously. And because I am a pastor's wife and have very mixed bag of readers I will tell she says a word or two that might offend you. BUT most of all. I love her description of when they met and "knew" and were like, uh this wasn't supposed to happen so quick but I am pretty sure you are the one. (I know a couple with names that rhyme with Sike and Marah Sosper that were they same.exact.way) She says " Lets face it, there are a lot of drawbacks of finding your 'person' so young...(BUT) You watch them become different, but the same. Older but the same. And better, but the same."


Well Mike Cosper. The drawbacks of eating Aldi's mac and cheese and Kielbasa and Jiffy muffins for 5 years 4 times a week and being broke and all kinds of sick throughout our 20s and early 30s far under weigh the beauty of you pointing me to laughter, joy and Jesus for the last 12+ years. You are a great man, friend, husband, pastor, guitar player, and dad. I love you.


* Edit. Tera asked how many days we have been married...If my math is correct (and it may not be, I retook algebra...) We have been married 4, 425 days. Yahoo!

Favorite Pinterest Boards

Whoa so many new friends on Pinterest!

Here are more link love from Pinterest. This time from people I don't know.

On the Head
Headdresses and wreaths

Fox Obsession,
Call it hipster, but I am pretty sure fox is the new owl. And I am gonna love them both. mmK?

Mason Jar Love
From canning with my mom as a kid to the elegance they bring to a party, I think Mason Jars should be around for ever.

Pinterest

This post is much less heavy hearted than the last two. But if you need more on suffering I will have more to say:) Until then, the barometric pressure is exhausting me and causing fatigue, headaches, and foggy mindedness. So here is is a more light hearted post!

I have heard so many say that they don't want to join pinterest, because it is just one more thing to keep up with. I understand. But in case it might help you I have a little explanation for you.

I love collecting ideas. I always have and because I am not naturally inclined to be organized with paper, pinterest is helpful. I tried bookmarking, evernote, and the flickr favorites to keep my ideas straight. Also I have had piles and stacks of magazines, ripped pages and articles. Pinterest has mostly eliminated all of those other ways to save ideas. Organized and my house and computer are much less cluttered.

It is also extremely inspiring and fun. I absolutely love pinterest. I really wish I had had it as a student teacher planning so much. That would have been so helpful.

From Pinterest's about page,
"Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests."

Here are some of my favorite pin boards. Don't worry if I haven't linked yours! I love them all so much I may one day!

The first one I ever saw was my friend Leesa's:
Forever 90s
Eyeliner Gives Me Wings
Mason Jars and Twinkle Lights and Pretties

Another Friend, Madison always has great party ideas:
Crab Party
12th Night Party
Woodland owl party or shower

Courtney has one of the best boards on
Nails

I love the nostalgia of my Terri's board
Me

My awesome cousin, Annie is an expert on Pugs
Pug Luv

Here is a great beginner's guide to Pinterest! Since the guide was written last spring there may some differences in how things work now as they have upgraded Pinterest many times, but it is the most helpful pinterest guide I have seen.

What about you? What do you love about it? What idea have you been so grateful to find? Do you want an invite? Message me your email if you do!

• I should clean up my links on this blog. I know that some don't exist anymore.

• Everyone I know likes baked beans. They have always been disgusting to me. I wonder if this recipe would change my mind.

• We recently watched Freaks and Geeks and I think it is one of my favorite shows of all time. Except I kept relating to the parents more than the teenagers. Yikes old lady Cosper.

• In a conversation with Mike I kept saying Tyler Perry meaning Tyler Florence.

• Anyway I was talking about it because I always want to like coleslaw because Mike loves it, but I can't discuss the issues that broccoli and cabbage have with my digestive system. It wouldn't be lady like. So I LOVE butternut squash and Tyler (the chef, not Madea) has a butternut squash coleslaw. We are getting ready to make it for lunch right now. Mmm.

• Speaking of fall recipes, Tera has some here. Yum.

• I have been making crepe paper roses for the last week for my parents 40th anniversary party. The first one took me about 15 minutes to make, but I can make them in about 2 minutes after all this practice. I love this kind of stuff, but finishing over 30 so far...it might be a long time before I craft with paper again.

Links

Here are some links that I have found in the last week or so.

These encouraged me as a stay at home mom:
Staying-balanced-while-life-is-full

7-ways-to-find-motivation-at-home


Fun places to waste time:
Awkward family photos (Mike and I laughed nonstop at these)

do u haiku? Flikr group

Recipes:
27 Pasta Salad Recipes

A year of Slow Cooking (I was excited about summer meals and variety in these recipes- it's not just roasted chickens)

Enjoy!

My new favorite ideas...

School is gearing up and there are lots of great resources out there!

• Crafty Crow This is a great collection of kid's crafts out there in blogging land!

• Chasing Cheerios Oh! I just found this last night and there are so many projects that I want to do with Dorothy as she gains my trust that she won't eat everything I give her :) Check out the part on Homemade toys and toddler activities.

• Let's Explore This is a great list of transition ideas for your new kindergartner. (4 years away for me:)

• Design Mom This is a cool theme for a little one's birthday. So simple!