Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO Macro Motorized Telephoto Zoom Lens for Nikon SLR Camera

Um, need I say more. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new camera lens as well as all of the sweet photo effects that I have found at www.befunky.com.

Check out these great pics I got using both.

Can't wait to play with this more. It will be great for documenting my next project which is the adultifying of my front porch which I plan to tackle this week.

The Perpetually Lost Fingernail Clippers

I am so proud of my hubby for this fantastic idea that he had that I had to share it will the world. Think of it as a sort of Father's Day tribute. In truth, his idea was to glue magnets to all of the things that we can never find and keep them on the fridge. Great idea for sure but seemed like a lot of work and I had just scored these 3 magnetized IKEA containers at a rummage sale and was wondering what to do with them.

So, here you will find my fingernail clippers, tweezers, chapstick and little measuring tape right at anyone's fingertips. Can't wait to get more!

Super Z!

Since we're on a superhero kick and there's no preschool today and we have to kill the next 8 hours, here's another totally slapstick project made with the following items.

1 - One old work shirt, pit stains and all (you don't use the sleeves)
2 - One piece of felt cut out in the shape of your child's initial copied from a letter printed in your favorite superhero-type font.
3 - Tacky glue (to use instead of interfacing, just lightly glue the letter on fabric to hold it while you sew it on.
4 - Velcro.

First, cut off the back of the shirt along the side seams right up to that straight seam that goes across the back of the shirt.

Second, glue on letter with a small amount of tacky glue, let dry for long enough to sort of hold on and sew it to the shirt.

Third, make the kid sit still for long enough to sort of cut the thing into a cape like shape that fits him with some strappy parts at top (see below).

Fourth, sew two strips of velcro on the strappy parts, don't make it too loose, he/she will make you redo it.

Fifth, after it rips because you didn't reinforce any seams, fix the rip and sew a zigzag stitch around the whole outside.

45-60 minutes(counting time for repairs and redo's) and you have a super totally NOT PERFECT cape that your Super Kid will love!

Batman.

If you thought I was one of those humble people who was going say that my life and most everything about it was riddled with imperfection and then proceed to produce awesome TOTALLY PERFECT crafts, foods, etc. in my sparkling clean design magazine home, you were wrong.

And to prove it, let me introduce batman.  A little project that I cranked out one morning (before I had even had coffee) so that I could shut up the little voice that had been following me around for 3 days saying "sew me a batman!  sew me a batman!"  And when that turned into "mommy, do you think today might be the day that you might please sew me a batman?  I really want a batman.  I've been waiting for a batman!," I knew that either today WAS the day or I was going to be breaking some pretty serious household rules, namely, no yelling and no bad words.

So, here is batman.  He's made with two pieces of 25 cent gray felt and some scraps.  Half his seams are on the outside, half on the inside, the eyeholes on his mask are WAY bigger than what I had in mind and also up in his ears that are WAY smaller.  

BUT, batman isn't for me.  It's for a child.  And that child loves his batman.  A lot.  And if I had tried to make a perfect batman I would still be hearing "sew me a batman. sew me a batman" and using a lot of really bad words.

A Year In the Life.

So, it's June 1st and here is the first entry into my 2011 blog that was going to follow the progress of my beautiful garden throughout the course of a year (yes, it was meant to be the 2011 calendar year).  Not happening.

That is what living like me is like.  Nothing ever really goes quite the way I had planned, I rarely actually complete the exact project that I started, my garden isn't so much beautiful as it is green (thanks, weeds) and after 38 years of life I have decided that I'm cool with that.

So, instead, I'll just ignore my perfect blog about my perfect garden and blog about my actual life and all of the great things you can do when you lose the expectations of perfection and just decide to live like me.

I'm Leah, I live on a very small farm in the middle of Portland, Oregon.  It's actually a large yard but if I call it a farm then I've already reached one of my life goals which is, living on a farm.  It has vegetables, fruits and chickens.  It's a farm.  So there.

I'm crafty, but not artsy.  I'm handy, but not very skilled.  I cook things sometimes and most of the time they turn out okay.  I garden with varying amounts of success.  I don't do windows, or really any cleaning for that matter.   I left a job that actually paid me money 4 years ago to raise a child and have spent most of that time trying to convince myself that I am a "homemaker".  Which, you will find, I'm totally not.  I'm just a woman who wants to live a good, simple life with my family.  Ever tried that?  Not as easy as it sounds.

Anyway, that's me.  Welcome to my world.