Flip Flops with a "Splash" of Color

Nothing says "summer" quite like water balloons and flip flops! BUT, have you ever tried to combine the two to make a pair of shoes??? I did this weekend and they turned out super cute!!


The supply list is nice and short. All of my supplies cost $4.50 and I over bought on the balloons!

You need:
Flip Flops
Water Balloons (about 80 for a little "poof")


That's it! And some time.

The How To:

Tie each balloon on to the flip flop with a double knot. A single knot will just pull out.

Here is a "do as I say, not as I did moment": Start tying on the balloons from the top near the toe separator. It is much easier to work back from there.

Be sure to slide them as close together as possible as you go to give the finished product a really "full" look.

Go as far back down the flip flop as you want. I did the first one all the way around and with the colors I had picked it looked like I had stepped in a clown! It also made it harder to put the flip flops on my feet.


The second flip flop I only did a few inches and it looked much better so I cut some balloons off the first one to match the more more toned down second flip flop.

How cute is that for a little slash of summer on your feet?! I now want to make even more of these in different color combinations. The possibilities are endless!

I got so many compliments on my flip flops over the weekend, I am making another pair to match different outfits!!

A Lady's Housekeeping Tips

The book club I participate in, Ladies in Waiting, has been reading Little Women this month and I was asked to write a post about housekeeping tips. I had a few of my own and a few from my mom and aunt. Thinking that this are handy tips for everyone to know, I am sharing them here as well.



Here are a few housecleaning tips that have been passed down in my family:

• For baked on dishes that you don't feel like SCRUBBING... pour a little bit of fabric softener such as Downy in the dish or pan and let it set for about an hour. It will come RIGHT out.


• If you have rust stain on carpet...sometimes from the feet of furniture... a little bit of white vinegar will remove that rust instantly.


• If your stainless sink is looking rusty, use a little baking soda and a scrubber to get it pretty and shiny again.


• If you run out of laundry soap and have a load of white laundry to do... use dishwasher soap, it has a little bleach in it and will work wonders.


• A blood stain on something white will come out quick with a little peroxide.


• My favorite cleaning solution for windows and mirrors can be made at home:



1 teaspoon Dawn dish soap
2 cups Alcohol
1/2 cup ammonia
To the above add water to make 1 gallon. Good for windows and hard surfaces.

• After you make up the solution, put it in spray bottles and keep one in each bathroom. Makes cleaning a cinch and your bathroom can be wiped down in about 2 minutes a day!

The best tip my mom taught me growing up was almost any household chore can be done in 5 minutes. If it is a quiet task like dusting or wiping down a bathroom or folding laundry, I will do it while on the phone. A 5 minute phone call and a room is dusted! Makes housework super simple!

What is your best housecleaning tip?

Infertility Resource for Ministry Leaders (and others)

Last week, in anticipation of NIAW and because I had been thinking for awhile that I needed to do it, I sent an email to our pastor about infertility.

I had been thinking that it can be hard to know how to help someone, or what to say to someone, when you don't know what they are going through. Furthermore, if you are not in a particular community, you often don't know of the resources that are out there. So I thought it would be helpful to send some along.

Now, I know many ministry leaders...I am related to a pretty good number of pastors and ministers, not to mention lay church leaders...so I want to share my resources information here in case there are any who could use the information.

Infertility Awareness Day is May 1st, acknowledged the week prior to Mother's Day as a show of support for women and men who long for children. Infertility is currently the 3rd leading disease in the United States behind cancer and heart disease and affects about 1 in 8 couples. It is hard to know by just walking in to a church who is carrying this burden in the congregation, but it is probably more than most pastors realize.

Also, it may be something that a visitor is dealing with as well. This time of year is hard for families like ours. So many of my friends walking this journey have stopped attending church because of the focus on family and children. Not that either of those are bad to focus upon, but it also means a great deal to families that are hurting to know that they are also important. In general, infertility causes a crisis of faith, after all having children was one of God's very first commands and yet not everyone has the opportunity. It is really hard not to be mad at God.

Many church leaders, though, seem unsure how to acknowledge this issue in their church. I just wanted to provide you with some resources, particularly in light of the upcoming awareness time for infertility. I know there are some churches that do special prayers and such for the hurting families or do some other show of support. And some of these resources are just in case you do come across some families that are looking for help.

This website has some great resources for ministry leaders and ways to show support for the families suffering through infertility: Dancing Upon Barren Land

Focus on the Family has information about infertility and marriage: Direct Link

Hannah's Prayer is a christian support group for women experiencing infertility. They put together a list of ways to help a loved one, the church family counts as loved ones, I think: Direct Link

RESOLVE is the national infertility organization and has general resources about the condition.

The following letter to a pastor was not written by me, but I do share many of these sentiments:

Dear Pastor,

It's almost Mother's Day again. They seem to come so quickly. I'm sure you are planning a very special service for all of the mothers. I know that it is such a special day for them, and I do not want to spoil anyone's joy. It is important for all of us to rejoice with each other, and even those of us who are not mothers can give thanks for those who are mothers.

All I ask is that you remember that this day can be extremely difficult for a number of members in our congregation. For women like me who struggle with infertility, Mother's Day can be the most painful day of the year. I've thought about staying home, but I know I need to be in God's house.

The most challenging part of the service is when all the mothers stand and the congregation smiles and applauds them. It feels awful to be the only one still sitting. I want to be able to stand with them. I want more than anything in this world to be a mother. It's something I have always wanted. I have carried children, but they were taken before they were ever born. I do have children in heaven, but I'm not a mother in the eyes of those here on earth.

So, on Mother's Day I often go home and cry, not quite able to understand why I am unable to become what so many in the church consider to be "God's highest calling"...a mother.

It is not only the un-mothers who feel lonely on this day. It must also be a painful day for single women who have never married, for mothers who have lost children, and for moms who have sons or daughters wandering from the Lord.

As Mother's Day approaches, I pray that you will remember that it is not only a day of rejoicing for some, but a day of painful reminders for others. I know that God will help you to be a blessing to our congregation as you minister to us on this Mother's Day.

Anonymous

If there is ever someone that my readers know is also working their way along this journey, please feel free to give out my name as a resource.

Inside the Heart of the Hurting

When I am hurting, struggling, walking through a journey it is sometimes hard to tell someone what is in my heart.

I can talk about infertility from an academic and treatment perspective all day long. In fact, it is safer to talk about the logic of it. I have a better change of not crying.

But if you want to know what my heart looks like, watch the video in the link below. I didn't make this video, but it says what my heart is feeling every day.

Empty Arms Video

Thank you for taking the time to listen to our hearts.

NIAW Infertility Myth: "You are so young"

This is National Infertility Awareness Week. A week dedicated to raising awareness and support for the many families walking the road of infertility.

Resolve, the National Infertility Association, challenged bloggers to "bust a myth" about infertility this week. All the myth busting blogs are linked here.


I chose to bust the myth "you are so young". It is also posted on the Ladies in Waiting Book Club along with all the myths busted by fellow members.

“But You are So Young!”

“But you are so young.” I cringe every time I hear those five words. Actually, I cringe every time someone asks my age right after I say we are trying to have a baby because I know what is coming. “But you are so young”. Or a close cousin: “You have lots of time”. Infertility has been pushed off in society as a problem for “older women”. There seems to be a myth that young people don’t have ANY problem getting pregnant.

It simply isn’t true. Infertility does not discriminate, and it certainly doesn’t discriminate based on age.

This myth is based on the truth that women are born with all their eggs, the number diminishes at an increasing rate with age, and eventually the woman enters menopause. However, there are many reasons for infertility and not all of them are egg related or dependent. These can strike at any age.

My “infertility diagnosis” came at 25, just months after I married my wonderful husband. Everyone said I was “so young”. That was three years ago, I may still be young, but I am glad I didn’t wait until now to get started.

What the uninformed conversationalist doesn’t know is that I was first diagnosed with Endometriosis when I was 18. I had surgery for stage IV endometriosis at 19. I knew that having a baby was NEVER going to be easy and I was YOUNG. Women with endometriosis can have trouble conceiving because there are endometrial cells covering their reproductive organs. Endometriosis is often diagnosed in the late teen and early 20’s.

A later diagnosis on our journey was Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome(PCOS). This condition has a whole host of symptoms including weight challenges, unwanted hair growth, irregular periods, and annovulation (failure to ovulate consistently). These symptoms can manifest themselves during the teen years shortly after a young woman goes through puberty. Women with PCOS can, and do, have children, but they will struggle even when they are young.

Another common infertility cause is a structural problem; this can include blocked or damaged tubes and uterine deformities. Women with this diagnosis often can only be helped through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Structural problems can be genetic or caused by trauma and can obviously occur at any age.

Couples that have male factor infertility face a whole host of other stigmas, challenges, and treatments. For these couples, it is clear that the age of the woman doesn’t matter at all. Telling a woman whose husband has low sperm count that she is “young” isn’t going to win any points.

There are some problems with female fertility that do get worse with age, but youth doesn’t automatically equate to easy conception. Personally, I am glad I started young, because I don’t see it getting any easier waiting until I hear “but you are so old”!

Learn more about infertility here.

A Personalized Journal

I love making my own personalized journals. It is a very easy and inexpensive craft....two of my general crafting requirements!

I have made a few of these over the past year...

For my 2010 "Word of the Year"

For my "Baby Prayers" journal..where I write down my hopes, dreams, and prayers

And, most recently, a place to write down all my thoughts as I am reading each month's book club selection


For the last one, I also did a tutorial for my book club members and thought all the readers here would like it...so here it is from me to you!

Now for the super easy "how to":

First, you need supplies:

• Composition notebook
• Something to cut with
• Adhesive - I recommend spray adhesive because it will keep the paper from curling up and gets right to the edges.
• Colored paper
• Embellishments of your choosing - I printed my from the Internet images because there are not many infertility related scrap booking stickers and such ;)

Next, cut the paper to the size of the journal:



(I generally leave the black binding showing, but that is just my own preference)


Now, glue the paper to the notebook (I highly recommend putting down paper if you are using spray adhesive):


Last step is to add the embellishments with the same adhesive as above:


(Sorry there is no picture of them actually being attached, I didn't have enough hands)

And there you have it, a book club journal:


What kind of journal will you make?

(If any part of this didn't make sense, please leave a comment and I will try to answer any questions)

Ode to My Ironing Board

The title may be an exaggeration, but I AM going to talk about my ironing board :)

It comes to my attention from time to time that people don't like to iron their clothes. Really?!? This always shocks me. I like to iron, there is such a sense of accomplishment with ironing. There is a task, it can be finished, and the results are visible. Perfect! Some may even say I love to iron...that probably isn't a far stretch. I even have "ironing shoes" I always wear when ironing. Crazy? Maybe, but we roll with it.

As people talk about not liking to iron I find that they have a terrible set up for it. No wonder they don't like it. To properly enjoy a task, one must have the right tools.

So I am going to share the best tools for ironing with you now.

*Disclaimer: All I learned about ironing I learned from my mother. She is totally the world's most amazing ironer (is that a word? oh well)*

Here we go:

First the ironing board. Oh this is so important. My ironing board came from Walmart. It wasn't fancy. But it HAS been modified!!


The standard cover that comes with a basic ironing board is AWFUL!! AWFUL!! For two reasons. One, it slides around all over the place. Second, there is barely any padding. And where there is no padding there is no good surface to really get in to the clothes and get the wrinkles out. This padding can also slip about because it isn't secured to anything. This will cause you to iron wrinkles INTO your clothes and potentially to say naughty words to your ironing board. This isn't fun for anyone.

So you MUST get a new cover. People, I am NOT talking a serious investment here. Maybe $15. and you are set. I have had the same one for years. Here's the thing: It must have elastic around it so that it fits snug on the board AND it must have a thick padding. This padding must be sewn into the cover otherwise it will slide around and make for an uneven surface. Again, most of the $15. guys will have this.


This picture here shows the padding inside and the elastic band. Super easy. Super important. Ironing board is modified. Done.

Next part. The iron. It kills me how people hate to spend money on household appliances. These are an important part of your life, folks.


I have a Rowenta iron and I refuse to buy anything less. This baby can make some serious steam and get wrinkles out in a New York minute. Since I use this every week, I am willing to spend some money here. Even so, you can get a decent Rowenta for about $60ish. Make sure it has a full range of settings and steams well.

And that is IT. With just two simple investments ironing becomes a joy (ok, maybe still not for everyone, but at least you are not fighting the process anymore).

Maybe I really am crazy with the whole "I like to iron, doesn't everyone" attitude. BUT I have introduces many people to the combination above and it never fails to make ironing at least pleasant.

Let me know if you try these tips and how it worked for you!

New Word, New Year, New Me

I first posted this entry at Inspire.com an online support community (for lots of things, but I am a member of the infertility section). After reading it over, I thought some who read this blog might also benefit...

I was so ready for 2010 to be over!! It was pretty easy to know it was the worst year I have had and I wanted it to go away!

So here is 2011 and I want to make it better!!! I often pick a word to focus on for the year. This year that word will be "joy". Finding joy, bringing joy, living joy! Not necessarily over the top happiness, but heart-level joy. Where my soul is at peace and I can see the wonder of the world around me. I often fill my home and office with my word so that I have a visual representation to remind me (and I need to go shopping now to find some word art!).

This morning Mark and I joined a gym. We have never been big work out people, but both of us were more active before we got married. I think this will be a great chance to do something positive together. We also went on a 6 mile bike-ride New Year's Day...the first time our bikes have been out in a long time.

With still doing acupuncture, trying to focus more on finding quiet time to read my Bible and pray, a new word, and a gym membership... I am ready to take on the year.

I hope it is a year filled with our greatest blessing, but even if it is not, I want to know I did count my blessings!