101 Things Update - Summer Review Part 2

To make up for the lack of pictures in Part 1, I've included an overabundance of pictures in this update.  :)

5. Finish batik project with Chloe.  It's kind of amusing that we didn't finish this before, since all we had to do was iron the wax out of the fabric and then wash it.  The ironing took maybe 30 minutes.  We finally got this done, and have some exciting plans for the final resulting fabric, but haven't done anything about them yet.

37. Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes.  Here are a couple of them:

They're part of a larger project I did that I'll feature on here within the next couple of weeks.

72. Reread the Betsy-Tacy books.  I finished the whole series this time!  I will say that Betsy gets pretty silly in high school, and there is also a situation with an Ouija board that is not handled well (in Heaven to Betsy), but other than that, this is a really good book series.

95. Dye my own crazy daisies.

This is where you get a lot of pictures! This first one is terrible and blurry, but I wanted to show all the cups lined up.  I got them ready in the evening.

For all these next pairs of pictures, the first picture is after sitting overnight, and the second is after about 24 hours.

First, red:

Overnight didn't seem to do a whole lot for the red food coloring, but by the next evening they looked really fun:

Yellow was the best by far:

The colors only got brighter:

Blue started out really speckly, but still really cute:

And even though it never fully absorbed the color, I really liked it:

Green did almost as well as yellow.  

Purple was an interesting one:

It got purple all over, but different shades:

All the other colors were done with liquid food coloring, but I also have some electric pink gel color I wanted to try.  It looked really promising after one night:

But apparently gel food coloring is toxic to flowers: 

I took some of the red and blue daisies, and some white ones that I hadn't dyed and brought them to a 4th of July party.  They were so cute!

And finally....

99. Make a crochet dragon.

I was going to follow the pattern from the pin I chose, but then I found this pattern, and it's so much better! I used baby-soft rainbow yarn to make this guy:

His name is Stanley and he loves hugs and cuddles.

His new best friend is Cora, the giant pink unicorn that my friend Tracie got for me:

I hope this makes you smile!

Love and Sparkles,

Leah Joy

P.S. Does anyone know how to get those Pin Widgets to be centered?

101 Things Update - Summer Review Part 1

I didn't get quite as much done this summer as I had hoped, but I did make it out alive, so let's chalk the whole thing up to a win, alright?  Also, in the middle of the summer, our camera stopped liking batteries, so I've been making do with Caleb's tablet, but it's just not the same.

So, we'll start the list today and finish another day, but don't expect too many pictures.  Sorry.  :(

First up is Number 10 - Onion Soup Mix.



Gross.  In case you had no idea, turmeric stains everything yellow.  And this stuff just smells bad.  And I will never ever try this again.  Moving on.

I'm jumping out of numeric sequence just a bit because it makes more sense this way. Number 44 was Strawberry Picking.  We chose to go on a Saturday after it had rained nearly all week.  A lot of the berries at the farm were squishy or moldy because of the weather, and when we got 72.5 pounds home (to split between my parents and us), we had to triple wash all the berries because they were so dirty.  Pretty sure we picked about 5 pounds of dirt.  But then...

Number 46 was Strawberry Jam and that is a pretty good reason for living.  We also finished Number 33, which was Strawberry Rhubarb Jam.  This may shock you, since I'm normally obsessed with anything involving strawberries and rhubarb, but I'm not a huge fan of this jam.

Number 45 was Blueberry Picking.  This time, the picking was so easy, it was practically a joke.  Caleb and I picked 26 pounds in about 2 hours.  The blueberries were huge and delicious.  They practically fell into our hands.  It was perfect. :)

Number 58 was to wash our pillows.  This was one of those household tasks I didn't know you could do, but I'm now wishing I had done sooner.  It's easy, too!

And to wrap up today's post, Number 73 was to go to the beach, by which I obviously mean Lake Michigan.  Caleb and I did go there back in May, but it was about 50 degrees out so we didn't stay long!  However, I was able to go again this past weekend and it was delightful!  And I get to go again this weekend!  

Hopefully, the next part will feature a few more pictures for you. :)

Love and Boring Updates,

Leah Joy

The End is Here!

Summer camp is over and I am back with some very exciting announcements!

(None of them involve offspring, so just stop thinking that, okay?)

First of all, my last day of camp work was this past Friday!  That's right, not just last day for the summer, but last day!  (Okay, I still have one day of training with my replacement, but still.)  Caleb and I decided it was time for a change, and with some nice signals from God that we'd be okay, I tendered my resignation. (What a grown-up phrase.) I left the camp on good terms, and hope to still be involved in some of their fundraising and outreach events.

Second of all, I have made it through our library's hiring process to be in the 'pool' of shelvers for hire.  I don't have a job yet, but when a shelver position opens up, I will!  That might not sound exciting to you, but to the girl who alphabetized her mother's extensive CD collection at age 10 (for fun, mind you), this is a really exciting thing!  Part of the interview process was to take a shelving test, and I had so much fun putting all the books in order.

And third and finally, I have decided to open up a home bakery!  I've had this idea mulling around in my noggin for months, since basically anytime I bring baked goods to someone, he or she usually responds with, "This is soo good! You should work in a bakery."  As Caleb and I started talking about needing to make a change, I thought about what I'd like to do for a job.  What do I love?  Books and baking.  It was pretty obvious to me, too.  :)

So, this fall, the Blue Door Bakery will get up and running as an order-only provider of baked goods: muffins, cakes, cupcakes, scones, truffles, cookies, and baby pies!  I'm so excited to get started!

Now I need to go paint my front door.

Love and Sugar,
Leah Joy

P.S. The Blue Door Bakery is on Facebook! :)  Click here!

P.P.S. I can also promise that you'll have posts 3 times a week for at least the next two weeks!  How crazy is that? :)