dia con mia

I have the sweetest friend, Rachael.  And this morning, she invited my kids to her house and I am blessedly sitting at the library playing on the wifi. 

Ah. So quiet.

I want to remember a day when my mom and sister took Henley for "an adventure" and that left Mia with us.  It was, literally, the first day we've spent just enjoying Mia all by herself. In almost 3 years!!! It's always the two of them and I LOVE it. But it was about time to give this girl a day to herself.

We called it "Dia con Mia".  :)
 Most of it was spent exploring a gorgeous ranch nearby.  

 

All the single ladies, all the single ladies... 

 

Check out these lovebirds. 

                                     I sure love this girl. She is pure sweetness.

ruthiemayes shop now open!

just wanted to showcase our little shop my sister and i have started.

she (molly) paints signs and i (bonnie) make crafts. we sell our stuff.

right now, crafts and signs.  soon to come, vintage and junk!  fun.

our instagram account is ruthiemayes.  follow us, if you will!

life.

passing me by?

nah. we're living and loving it.

but- whew!!!!

want to remember our busy, crazy life through this blog so here's a bit of what's going on...

* mia is potty trained! took much longer than henley.  jellybeans. marshmallows. little bear toys. stickers. finally, though, DONE!
* the chicks started gymnastics and man, so adorable.... of course, the bars and beam and trampoline are fun, but the best part? the stamps they get on their feet at the end of the class!!
*  boerne handmade market came and went.  LOVED participating in this fun, local community event again. molly sells her hand painted signs and i sell ruler growth charts and banners and succulents and sheds.  VERY fun.
*  on the way to St. Louis in 2 weeks for MOPS convention. can i just tell you MOPS has changed my life as a stay at home mom?  if you are even wondering if you would like it, give it a try.  new friends, instant play dates, delicious breakfast, a new place for my kids to have fun.  seriously.  i was not sure about it all, seemed hokey and i LOVE it.
*  threw a big ole garage sale and with the proceeds will have new doors installed in our house.  french doors!  yay!
*  hubs is in working in town now and it's woooonderful.  it's so convenient and nice for him to come on home for lunch. 
* took a break from my running but i'm ready to get back on track. something about this fresh fall air makes me think i can get back to it. we'll see. it's the soreness i'm afraid of!!!

leaving you with a couple pics.

50 letters update!

Well, 50 letters down. It was easy #1-30 and #31-50 were tougher. I had to think outside the box and make sure to choose people who have influenced my life. 

Most were people I interact with each day. Family, friends, former coworkers. Some were people from my past I haven't seen in years. Some I am a little nervous to send out as they don't even know I admire them from afar. Kinda creepy, I thought. 

Now, I find myself thinking of people who deserve a letter all the time.  I hope it will motivate me to write more often. Even little notes to deserving waiters or helpful cashiers at the store....

I even burned up a pen (black) during my letters! And of course, the second pen (red)  I wrote with was much more comfortable.... I discover this on letter #47! :)

I saved them all to drop into the mailbox at the same time.  What a fun rush! They slide right down and I'm excited to know they will bless someone when they go to get the mail.  

 

Loved this project.  Made me feel vulnerable. Honest. Grateful for these wonderful people in my life.  Blessed. 

50!!

Well. I said I was back. Apparently, that wasn't the case.

I've just felt a blank. I've been busy. And needed to make some goals. 

So here are 2 I'd like to share with you. 

50.
 When I think of my 2 goals, I think of Sally O'Malley shouting "I'm 50! And I can kick! Stretch! And KICK!"

* 50 miles in July. Following honeyholden's idea- getting in 50 miles in July. Mostly walking. I've been a little discouraged because in February, I was up and running, literally, every morning. Then I just stopped. And I can't get running again. But I got a new stroller and it has made getting out MUCH easier. To be honest, I don't feel this is as strenuous of a workout as I'd like. But (1) I am pushing a 70 pound stroller and (2) this is Texas in July. Enough said.

Making it better are these shoes and these shorts.

Nike Tempo running shorts

* 50 letters. I'm writing letters to influential people in my life. Nothing special- a little note on a paper explaining my project and envelopes decorated by the chicks. Markers, watercolors. It's been fun and
challenging. Some are obvious- family members and best friends. Former teachers. A few are going to people who I don't really know but have inspired me or that I admire. I'm nervous to mail a few of them out! I think I'm going to save them and mail them all at once. I've done 19 so far. 

So there's a little update on the ole blog front. This post has taken FOREVER (hours!!!)

because I'm trying to get used to doing it on the iPad and finding the photos and linking up. Urg. We'll see if it gets easier!! 

blog break

Oh, little blog.

Part of me doesn't really worry. I don't think hardly any follow this blog. And we switched from my trusty pc to an iPad. Quite an adjustment! I like it the ease of it but miss my laptop! Everything had to be figured out again- uploading pics, making documents, even accessing blogger!

But honestly, I hadn't been feeling bloggy and needed a break! Yes, I was still crafty. And yes, found great treasures at the thrift! And yes, I wanted to remember fun moments with my chickies! Just didn't want it enough to blog about it.

Break is over. I'll be back.

diy: felt heart garland

for today's daily make, i wanted to try a heart garland i saw on pinterest. looked pretty easy!  i went to the link here but it was all in another language.  so i wanted to test it out for myself. 

 
here's what you need: felt rectangles, scissors, sewing machine, embroidery thread, embroidery needle

i had a bunch of this heart patterned felt and this is probably the only time of year i'll ever use it. plus it makes it really easy to see my tutorial steps. plain felt would be perfect, as well. (and you won't have to worry about getting the "right side" out.)
 you really only need about 2 sheets of felt.  SUPER CHEAP PROJECT!

cut your felt into 2 rectangles, about 4- 5 inches wide by 11 inches long. (note: i had a giant sheet of felt and didn't use squares. so in my pictures, i have quite a bit more felt than you'll use with sheets.)

 start by putting the right sides together and sewing a straight stitch all the way down the long edge.  then, sew another line about 1 cm away from that edge.  now you should have 2 stitches all the way down.

turn your felt inside out so the right sides are showing. sew a stitch all the way down about 4 inches from the left edge.

 trim on the right side of the sewn line.  be careful to leave a little felt on the side of the stitch so your heart will have a little tail.

 now, cut your hearts to your desired thickness. this reminds me of cutting cinnamon rolls out of a long dough roll!  i got about 6 or 7 hearts- about 1 1/2 inches wide each.

 turn your heart back inside out and trim the the excess.  on my heart, this is in the middle.

 stringing your hearts is a precarious step.  string too high or low and your hearts will flip over and won't stay upright.  i found that if you squish your heart and string your needle through the middle of the two stitches you sewed in the middle of the heart, it won't flip.  but it took restringing my garland a few times to get it right!  you can always snip the knot off the string and slide off the hearts if it doesn't work, so don't fret. 

they look cute when you've got them all squished together on the string!  and, when it's time to store it for next year, just squish them all down and wrap the extra string around it a few times! easy!

 then just hang your garland somewhere and puff out your hearts!  

 love it! easy! 

looks pretty darn cute vertical, too! wouldn't several of these in the window be precious!?!?

looking back- maybe next time i would attempt beads or something else in between the hearts.  and of course, now that i finished my tutorial, i just found a wonderful tutorial on huckleberry love. check it out. 
anyway- happy crafting to you!