Weekend Review- Am I crazy?

Where did the weekend go? I have no idea how it is already Monday. Like, really. We had a great weekend though, and probably one of the most productive ones yet. It started on Friday with a friendly game of Monopoly- Planet Earth Edition- that ended up with me being frustrated because I was bankrupt. I need to grow up.

Pre-sadness/bankruptness.

When I finally got over being frustrated about not winning, we had a good rest of our evening. Saturday I woke up to this:

My sweet husband made me breakfast in bed! He made me toasted bread with fried egg and Turkey bacon with orange juice. Such a keeper.

Then I got a sweet tooth and went and picked up these little joys:

My kryptonite

On my sugar-high, I decided it was a good idea to go craft-crazy. That was fun. Then we went along with our planned hang out which was tennis. We laughed a lot. Let's just say tennis is not our strong point. We won't be competing in the Wimbledon anytime in the near future. But we did enjoy time together and a break from crafting and whatnot.

My hot husband

sugar-induced crafting

Kai looked cute all weekend, as usual.

Finally, I created an etsy shop. Yep, you heard me. OPENED.  I'm completely nervous and scared about this. Is this product really worthy of selling? Am I really good enough to have people pay me to make things? Is this real life?

To not knowing if I'm crazy or not,
Tera

Fabric Envelope System- Tutorial

I hate spending money. It's a good thing, don't get me wrong. The problem is I cannot enjoy myself when we go out to eat because I look at the prices only. Marriage has completely changed the way I look at money. It is now our money, and I want to be a good steward of it and do my part in helping us save for the future.

I am also a recent coupon-er. I am proud to be able to save any money for our family and it ends up being a contest to see how much money I can save on a given week. I find so much joy and probably find a little too much pride in saving money, but the Lord is working on me.

Ryan and I have talked quite a bit about converting to an envelope system. This will help me mentally be able to spend money because I know that is where it is being allocated. We are starting the system soon and in preparation he asked if I would make envelopes. Of course, he was meaning to go buy some paper envelopes, but I figured if these were going to be in my purse they need to 1. Be cute and 2. Be durable. So that's why I landed on the idea of making fabric envelopes.

***If you'd like to buy them from me from my etsy shop, click here.

Envelope System Fabric Tutorial (Dave Ramsey Inspired) 

First- I went and got some fabric. I spent way too much time in there contemplating which fabrics to choose, mainly because I didn't want to spend a lot of money, but alas I sucked it up and bought some.

Fabrics I chose

Things you'll need:

• Fabric
• Interface for added thickness
• Matching Thread
• Fabric Scissors
• Printable Fabric or Canvas paper (I've used both and still trying to decide what I like best)
• Velcro
• Sewing Machine
• Rotary cutter with mat(or use scissors) 
• Ironing board and Iron
• Sewing pins

Step One: Measuring and Cutting fabric

Cut out fabric in 8 1/2 by 7 1/2 rectangles (2 per color). I used my rotary cutter to easily measure and cut the fabrics.

Love my rotary cutter!

Step Two: Measuring and Cutting Interface

Cut out 4 pieces of interface in 6 1/2 by 7 1/2' rectangles

I opted for the "iron on" interface since it would be easier

Step Three: Ironing

Iron on the interface to the back side of one piece of fabric. (You have two pieces of each color so just iron on to one of them). Then face both top sides face to face and pin the fabric together (you won't need a lot of pins for this).

Turn them facing each other so the right side is facing in and the out side is facing out (that you will later flip)

Step Four: Sewing

Finally, now you get to actually sew! I apologize in advance that I didn't take enough photos of this stage.
Sew the fabric pieces together. Face the fabric on the side where you can see the interface so it can help gauge where the flap will be. Start sewing on the side right after the flap (make sure to lock the threading). Sew three corners using a 0 stitch or a 1. Sew as close to the edge as you can. When you are done sewing three sides, cut the the excess fabric and corners to clean it up. Then flip the envelope right side out, cut the excess fabric around the sides and then iron the whole thing. Fold the last seam of the envelope (the flap) and use a 0 stitch to sew it closed.

Now fold the envelope long ways (hamburger style) and iron it flat.  I learned a trick the last few weeks: put the velcro on BEFORE you sew up the sides! line the velcro where you want it- prefereably in the center and sew it on. Then now you can sew up the sides. You should be able to feel where the interfacing stops and that is an indicator where the fold will stop so that you will have a flap. Try to stay as close as you can to the edge and I used a 0 stitch for this as well.  When you're done with this, clean up all the threads and iron on top of the envelope to make it all straight.

My favorite print

Step Five- Labels!

Phew! Last step! This part is the fun part though. Decide what you want your categories to be (groceries, household, clothing, gas, childcare, spending, going out, date night, entertainment, etc). You should probably decide this before-hand so you know how many envelopes you are making. Anyways, type up whatever categories you want and get out your canvas paper or whatever paper you are using.  I acutally bought printable fabric paper that goes through the printer at Joann. I would recommend to buy a standard 8 1/2 by 11 in that will fit in your printer or buy a cardstock or canvas paper whatever you prefer. Cut around the categories and get back to your sewing machine! I wanted to put these on top of the flap because it would cover up the sewing line from where the velcro was and thought it looked cute! Sew around the label using a 0 stitch and clean it up when you are done.

Our Categories.

Step Seven: Done! Show them off! 

Now I'm trying to decide if I'm going to put them in an Etsy shop (which would be cray-zay) or what. I think the next step is to make a clutch for them to all fit in.UPDATE: Ok so I DID make an etsy shop and it's going quite well! I've learned lots of tricks and how to make a zipper pouch, so I'm enjoying it a lot! If you would rather someone make them for you, don't hesitate to visit my shop! Otherwise, happy sewing!

Love the end result

 ***If you'd like to buy them from me from my etsy shop, click here.

So today I felt productive. No, I didn't work out. No, I didn't even clean the house like I intended, but I did get these completed.


Let me know how yours turn out!
To a crafting sort of day,
Tera

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Ryan and I have started this new thing in our marriage: intentional hang out. Let me preface this by stating that I am a pretty needy wife in that I need time with Ryan. A lot of it. I also like planned hanging out. I don't just want to be in the same room as him, but actually engaged in discussion or actively doing something together.

Ryan had a bright idea the other day to plan out a month of planned activities together. These range from grabbing coffee (or tea in my case) together to swimming, to board games to playing tennis, etc. Yesterday on our plan was to swim. In my mind this meant to lay out, jump in the pool for a couple minutes, play in the pool together, and then lay out some more.

Ryan had a different idea in mind. He wanted us to swim laps together. Laps!? I am not a swimmer. I tried laps last year and failed miserably.But- since I am working on being less selfish, I smiled, dug out my one piece and found my goggles hidden deep in my drawer.

We had to wait awhile to get a lane and I looked down and saw this:

It was dark when I put on my shoes, but how does this happen?

Ugh. Not only did my shoes not match, but I couldn't find my hair tie. I was done. This is not what I wanted to do. No. My selfishness wanted to creep out but I persevered. I made a conscious decision that I was going to enjoy our evening together albeit swim laps, and make the most of what we had planned out.

My competitiveness comes out too much when I'm right next to Ryan- the amazing swimmer- that I feel like I am failing. I kept repeating to myself "slow and steady wins the race." So lame but it got me to realize that I don't need to swim as fast as Ryan and that this was in fact not a race.

I learned something yesterday though, perseverance adds character. If I give up, I miss out on the opportunity to be sharpened. I miss out on the chance to grow. I want need to grow and mature and I have to use these opportunities to help me.

When we were finishing up, Ryan insisted that I do one more. "Just when you think you're done, do one more." Ughhhhhhhh. Fine. Perseverance. I did it and was glad I did.

Slow and steady wins the race.
To always persevering,
Tera

Homemade Chicken Fried Rice

I find it rewarding to try new recipes. I think this is probably why I love Pinterest so much. Although, it's super disappointing because I don't have all the time in the world to make all of those wonderful yummy dinners and deserts and do all the crafts I'd like to do, but nevertheless it is helpful when I am searching for a new recipe.

As much as I love to try new recipes, I get stuck in weekly ruts. I plan meals on Sunday and when I'm in a rush I just choose meals that I know are good, quick, and healthy. Because that's how we roll. 

This week I made chicken fried rice. I made it with brown rice to make it healthier and it was delicious!

Chicken Fried Rice                                                                                             

Ingredients

3 cups cooked brown rice

3 tbs sesame oil

1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)

1 small onion, chopped

2 tsp minced garlic

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 chicken breasts

1/4 cup chicken broth

Directions

On medium high heat, heat the oil in a large skillet.  Add the peas/carrots mix, onion and garlic. Stir fry until tender.Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, then pour your eggs on the other side of skillet and stir fry until scrambled. 

Mixing the egg and veggies, letting cook all the way through

In another skillet, heat oil. Add chicken, sprinkling with chicken broth and soy sauce. Flip often until cooked through. 

Cooking chicken with soy sauce, garlic salt, and chicken broth until cooked through

Mixing together thoroughly

Now add the rice, chicken, and soy sauce and blend all together well. Stir fry until thoroughly heated!   

Voila! Dinner served!

 We loved it! I especially love one-dish meals. We have tons left over too, which is awesome for Ryan because he eats left overs. One day I'll learn how to be better at that.

Kai was sad he couldn't eat any. We're so mean and feed him dog food.

To trying new recipes,

Tera

Snow Cones, Fireworks, and Thankfulness

It was so fun to have a day off of work in the middle of the week. I had to keep reminding myself that it was Wednesday not Saturday like it felt. Ryan and I fully embraced the idea of a holiday. Our day consisted of sleeping in past 7am (hallelujah), swimming, going to see the new Spiderman movie (still trying to understand why there's a new one), snow cones, and then cookout and fireworks with friends.It really was the perfect 'Merica day if I do say so myself.

How I snow cone.

How Ryan snow cones.

4th of July party at the Reeves

Love his face. So serious.

We made friends with the neighbor coon.

We saw a bunch of these

It's difficult to get back in the swing of things now that it is only Thursday. The good news is the weekend is tomorrow. The bad news is today feels like a Monday.

Yesterday made me thankful for a good home church, sweet friends, and a husband who spoils me with letting me get snow cones way too often. I'm also very thankful to live in a country where we are free!

Thankful for today even if it is only Thursday,
Tera

A tea latte kind of day

Today is a tea latte kind of day. I was not anticipating to be woken up at 5:15 in the morning, but sometimes that's just the way they go. It was all fine until Ryan could not find his card for the gym. He started searching the entire house and Kai started crying. I just wanted to go back to sleep.

Sleep did not happen for me but I did learn something. I am selfish. I knew this. This is not new, but my initial reaction was "freaking just go on a run" not "honey let me help you." I need to cultivate a heart that is more willing to serve my husband. I need to be more sensitive to his needs.

So as I was pondering this and pouting, I decided that I deserved a tea latte. After all, I was rudely woken up. While I was sipping away though, I started to be convicted of my actions thoughts this morning.

Lord, help me to see Ryan's needs and to be willing to be his helper because this is what you have called me to.

As long as I strive to be better and have that be the goal, I believe that my heart will slowly begin to mature and become more like Christs. 

To a tea latte kind of day,
Tera

Mini-Vacay

We went to Kansas City this weekend. It was awesome. So refreshing, encouraging, and just plain fun. We got there Friday night just in time for dinner. We brought our sweet Kai with us and he got to meet his cousin Tucker for the first time.

Our sweet pooches, Kai and Tucker

They had a fabulous time playing, chasing each other, stealing each others toys, etc. We stayed up late talking and Saturday morning we had a lovely breakfast outside on the backporch. We let the dogs play then we took them on a walk around the neighborhood.

After our walk, we made a plan. Can I just say that I love plans? Kyle insists on always having a plan before we do anything, and it just made me laugh. We tossed around several ideas until we decided we would go to Lifetime, guys would work out, girls would swim, and then meet up and rock climb. That's precisely what we did. The girls swam- which really meant going down the water slides 5 billion times and then jumping in the pool every billionth time we slid. I love my nieces.

Then we went rock climbing.

Lifetime in Kansas City has this amazing rock wall with several areas you can climb, and even provides shoes if you don't own your own!

I must be a big wus because I am still  throbbing with pain. We had a blast though, scaling the walls, attempting to be as good as the little ones. It is quite surprising what good climbers little kids can be!

After rock climbing we went to their "neighborhood pool." It technically is across the street from their neighborhood and a city pool, but this is not the type of city pool I grew up going to! Sure there were diving boards, and swimming laps and slides, but not your average slides. One slide was about 10 feet long and you can go down with tubes that they provide! Then there is another slide that is windy and up on a grassy hill. So cool! Then there's the beachy area for kids to play in the sand and the zero depth entrance. My sister and her husband and I were talking about how much pools have changed since when we were kids.

After spending hours swimming, climbing, working out, eating, etc, we decided it was probably time to check on our furry babies. They played some more and then we went to out to dinner for bbq. Kansas City is known for their incredible bbq so naturally we made a plan that that was where we would go. The ironic thing was they wanted to go to a place called Oklahoma Joes.

My heavenly meal. Carolina- pulled pork with cole slaw sandwich with a side of smoked chicken gumbo. Be still my heart.

Dinner was to die for. We found out that Oklahoma Joes originated in Stillwater, OK which was just an unexpected coincidence. After dinner, we were stuffed but wanted ice cream. That doesn't even make sense but we figured we would drive there and want it so to kill some time we went to Trader Joes and stocked up on wine. I mean STOCKED UP. Ryan let me pick out lots of chocolate too because he knows I'm not much of a beverage drinker, but I can down my chocolate. Love that man.

Okay, may sound weird but don't knock it until you try it!

Gelato was next... so amazing. I just love Kansas City, there's so much to do and it's such a nice city.

How can you not love those precious faces!?

We enjoyed our gelato outside and took turns racing each other to the other side of the turf and back. We're awesome.

Sunday we went to church which was one of the most emotional spiritual experiences I've had in a while, and truly felt close to the Lord (more on that later). Then we went to brunch and sadly had to hit the road back to Stillwater, America. We loved our mini vacation and were sad to leave but had an amazing time with people we love.

Looking forward to celebrating the 4th in just two days! It's going to be a quick week.

Until next time Kansas City,
Tera