DIY Eye Makeup Removal {A Pinterest Project}

Once upon a time, as I was perusing Pinterest, I came across the idea to make my own eye makeup remover.

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Someone had found a recipe for eye makeup remover here in blogland and shared it on Pinterest. (My cousin's friend also has a recipe for eye makeup remover. Visit her blog,  A Lighter Journey, for her recipe and many money saving ideas!) What a good idea! I usually avoid washing my face before bedtime because my mascara and eyeliner get smudged all over the place and I find it in my pores the next morning. (gasp! I know. Some people say that a woman ages seven years for every night she doesn't wash her face. I don't believe those people -gasp again! I know. But if it were true, I'd look like I was 100 years old....and I don't think I look like I'm quite that old yet) Nevertheless, no matter how I try to avoid it, I always end up washing my face at night. I get into bed and get all snuggled up and then...dun dun dun...my eyes begin itching. The only way to make the itching go away is to get out of bed (and get cold again) and wash my face.

It hasn't always been this way. I used to purchase Clinique's Take the Day Off Makeup Remover, but have avoided the price of it lately. And so, I've been in the conundrum of black pores vs itchy eyes for quite a stretch. I decided that making my own eye makeup remover would be the solution.

Until I thought of a different problem.

Cotton balls. Those little white balls of fluff shed and the fibers get in my eyes. I don't like using cotton balls. What else should you use with eye makeup remover?

These!

Alli Crafts is a crochet blog with lots of useful free patterns. These are Alli's eye makeup remover pads.  These are my answer to cotton balls. I modified the pattern to reflect my own personal preferences and tastes (I really dislike the look of the double crochet stitch in anything) and made some of my own. I also used Kristin's formula for home made eye makeup remover. And now I can wash my face at night. No itching eyes. No straggly strands of cotton balls stuck in my eyes. No black pores. (and no looking seven years older every morning...if you believe in that sort of thing)
YAY!! I can get in bed, snuggle down in my covers and not have to get out and get cold anymore.....or at least for a few hours until my alarm clock wakes me up.

Here is my own eyemakeup battle remover kit

These little eye makeup remover pads work really well. I find that when they are made out of cotton yarn, they are soft and not at all abrasive to my skin. They also wash well, so my mascara doesn't stain them. I just throw them in my washing mahine with my towels. So far, so good.

I made a bunch of them (more than pictured here) because I....want to do laundry more often.

I also made coordinating washcloths. I think the pattern is really pretty and modern. Pretty, modern, and functional.

So, thank you, fellow Pinner, for putting this miracle answer to my every night problem on Pinterest. I am so glad you did!

One Decision Down

I have chosen the flooring for my house! Part of it, anyhow. This is monumental progress in my book. It took days and weeks of dreaming, looking, pricing, and dreaming some more to make a single choice.

The house had hardwood floors when we purchased it. Everyone wants those, right? The problem with the floors in this house is that the upstairs living room and hallway were done in a blood red cherry wood, and the bedrooms upstairs were done in a very light blonde bamboo. High contrast, right! And the transitions were done very poorly - you could see stripes of blonde bamboo at each bedroom doorway down the hall because they installed it up to the outside of the door jamb. We looked into what it would cost to just have them stripped and refinished to being the same color and found that it would be less expensive to replace it all.

This is the laminate wood we have decided to install for the upstairs living room, kitchen, hall, and bedroom floors.

It is called Marble Falls Teak. Had it fit in my budget, I would have liked to go with something a little bit darker and more rustic in walnut, but I really like this flooring. It was on sale and I had a coupon. Score! (Lumber Liquidators got the price even lower for us when Doug went in to negotiate with them) Definately an improvement from what was in the house when we bought it. Also an improvement from what is in there now. Though what is in the house now is a HUGE improvement from what used to be there. Doug has all of the floors ripped down to the subfloor. Believe it or not, the subfloors actually look better (and are much cleaner) than the floor that was there. Even so, subfloors aren't the prettiest. Those ugly subfloors will get covered up with new laminate flooring as soon as we get a fresh new coat of paint on the walls (or maybe 10 coats of paint...they desperately need it!)

Ug. I still have to choose paint colors. I've been looking for them for three months and haven't come any closer to deciding than the first day I began. But, stay tuned. I may eventually pick something out. Pinterest has given me many many ideas.

House Update

We got it! It didn't happen as quickly as we would have liked....but it didn't take this long either. Nope. We actually purchased our new 5 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 car garage home in December. And we've been renovating it ever since. It needs a TON of work. See for yourself.

This is a wall in the "finished" basement kitchen

Another "finished" wall in the basement

The laundry area (it is in the downstairs kitchen)

Peel and stick tiles in a lovely shade of blech (downstairs kitchen)

The dirtiest, ugliest carpet I have ever seen in my life. It was bright emerald green and had never ever been washed or vacuumed. This is the entrance from the downstairs kitchen into the downstairs family room. Ew.

I will just leave it at that so that my blog doesn't completely repulse you. *Sigh* There is a LOT of work to be done. Husband has been working on it after work every night, on his days off, and through the weekend. It is going to take a while. A while is a good and bad thing. Good because I am having the hardest time picking stuff out. Mostly because I like too many things and it is hard to narrow it down to just a few. I promise the next time I post about the house, you'll see better looking photos!


Why would we buy a house that needed so much work? Our condo was in good condition, and we could have easily made it fabulous instead of coming up with an insane amount of money to put down on a dump. The reason is simple. It just made more financial sense for us. Our mortgage for this house is much less than the mortgage on the condo, and there are no HOA fees. We are saving about $500 a month in this house. We also have instant equity in this home. It appraised for a significant amount more than what we paid for it. Even in the condition it was in when we purchased it. So we get a bigger (about twice as much space as the condo), detached house that we can customize to our style for less. Score!! As far as we're concerned, this house is a diamond in the rough. I'm glad my husband has carpentry skills and vision. We are both excited to turn this into a comfortable aesthetically pleasing home for our family.

Possibilities Maximus

I have my computer back!! Our computer's name is Max. I have missed Max, oh! how I have missed him. For the past few weeks, I have been working on our netbook named Mini. Mini's name is very descriptive of her screen. Miniature. A mere 7.5 inches I think. Yeah. Mini. Max, however has a comparitively humungous screen and all of the brains I need. He has my shop design, my product pictures, my photoshop and room to store all that stuff. I haven't blogged using Mini because she just doesn't have what it takes. Sad. But Max is back! Glad!!!

Anyhow. Remember how I said that we were going to close on our short sale house purchase within 30 days? And that we had superbly lucked out with the time frame of this house? Well, we haven't been as lucky as we thought we were. Short sales are famous for bank stall tactics. And stall they did. While we still won't have to wait six or nine months to close on our house, it has taken longer than we expected it to. It hasn't been all that bad. It took us a while to get a renter in our condo & to decide that this house is really what is best for us right now. We've been staying with Husband's parents, and we've been able to save more money up than we thought we would be able to. The only real downside is that I had to buy a new set of crochet hooks (mine are burried in storage) and I've had to use Mini for a few weeks. I have Max back (have I mentioned that I am so very glad about that?) so now I can blog and edit pictures and crochet and be happy during this inbetween houses waiting time....that will end December 6th -ish.

I say 6th-ish because we're planning to close on December 6th. But we're also planning on renovating the entire house. Little by little. Except the flooring and the wall colors. We are going to replace all of the floors and paint the entire place before we move in. Yay! actually....YIKES. I might not have all the crochet and blogging time I want. I might be going crazy trying to decide between carpet, wood, or tile and what paint colors in which rooms.

We went to Home Depot tonight to look at some options. Did you know the options are limitless? Have you ever been entirely overwhelmed by possibilities? I just don't know where to start. I thought I knew what I wanted. I saw it on Pottery Barn for the living room, and on HGTV.com for the kitchen. And then I get to Home Depot and get dizzy with a combination of alzheimer's and anxiety. We went from talking getting the countertops refinished with some paint kit thingamajig to considering granite in almost an instant. I thought I had to have wood flooring in the kitchen, but now I might want tile. White cabinets or off white? Black or brown glaze? What is that color in that picture? Why is that stuff too expensive?

One good thing did come of our trip to Home Depot. We got one of those color swatch booklet things that has like a million colors in it. And now when I see a color I like online, I can find something similar and not get distracted by the endless possibilities.

I Will (probably) Survive

Remember how I was going to be away for a while due to Fall Cleaning? I had a momentary spark of ambition to organize my house again and seem to have become lost in the process. Somewhere between emptying closets and deciding what to donate, what to sell, and what to keep we decided to buy a house and move.

We've been on the lookout for a house we would want to live in at a price we would want to pay for a long time. We've been particularly interested in short sales because we weren't in a huge hurry to move. We found a house - and everything has just taken off at lightening speed since then.

For those who don't know, the term "short sale" is misleading. There is nothing fast or speedy about purchasing a home that is worth less than what the bank loaned to purchase it. There are hoops and red tape and offers and counter offers and waiting and bidding. It usually takes 6-9 months and sometimes longer for these sorts of deals to go through.

But not in our case. We made an offer on the house, and the bank approved it about a week and a half later. And they want to close within 30 days. We sure did get lucky!! The difference between this house and other short sales is that this one is owned by the State's housing authority and the price had already been approved by the bank, so we didn't have to execute our mad hoop jumping skills.
I am still busy organizing my house. The task just exploded into being everything in every room, rather than just a cupboard and a few closets. We're organizing everything into boxes. J doesn't seem to appreciate this. He unpacks things as I pack them. He does appreciate the packing peanuts. I don't appreciate him trying to eat them. My house is a disaster - it looks like a whirlwind went through and undid everything. We are ( I am) staying up late each night to be productive with packing. I am also trying to fill some Etsy orders for hats and duvet covers. Plus I took some more family pictures. The moving thing happened when I wasn't ready for it, and it will probably be over before I get my head wrapped around the fact that it is happening. I haven't had enough sleep and my brain is as jumbled up as my house is. Trying to manage a very curious toddler while packing on my own, finding my way through a mountain of ruffles, learning how to dye fabric, editing and critiquing my pictures, thinking about inspections, planning renovations, trying to find renters for our condo, trying to come up with an insane amount of money, worried about getting financing....oy. I am very overwhelmed right now,  but know it will all be over soon and that I just might survive! And when it is all said and done, I'll have a single family dwelling with a private yard and a two car garage and I will get to do all of the fall-ish crafty things I've been desperate to try. By then, maybe all of the supplies for my projects will be on sale. yay!

Muy Saucy

At the moment, cooking is impossible. My kitchen has been swallowed by the contents of our closet stashes of junk while we slowly sort it out into piles of keep, sell, and donate. For dinner last night, I sent Hubbie to Del Taco to pick up some tasty Amexican cuisine. Our order included 6 taco items. This is how much salsa Del Taco sent him home with.

We counted it up & the grand total is 45 packets. 45!!!! For 6 tacos! That is mucho salsa.

 Thanks for some food storage, Del Taco.

Family Pictures

I make crocheted photoprops. Sometimes I trade my creations for services. Renee over at LaRee Photography and I made an exchange. Here are some of my crochet creations she's used.

We had her take our family photos this summer. She does a great job with family pictures and she is very reasonably priced. You should go check out her blog! And then have a look at the pictures she did for us. I am happy with the way they turned out.



Summer Vacation 2011

We spent a week on the road, drive drive driving to pretty amazing places.

We went to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. The cliff dwellings are awesome.

We visited Four Corners National Monument while we were in the neighborhood. Spencer and I always spread our arms out front to back when we cross the Utah/Idaho border so we can be in two places at once. Here he is in four places at once.

Hubbie got a little creative with his four corners posing.

Then we were off to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. If you haven't ever been there, go! And spend more than just a couple of hours there. This place is awesome. It is just amazing to me that there could be a place so deep on earth - that doesn't even reach the middle of the earth. It goes down for ever - you can't even see the bottom of it unless you hike down - and it stretches on for as far as you can see. It was kind of a hazy day, so visibility was a little limited. I wish I had been able to stay there longer, until the evening came and the clouds went away. That would have been a better picture.

We went to a cave that someone had purchased and turned into a dance hall, which someone else purchased and turned into a museum. It was more wierd than museum. But, it was a naturally cool escape from the late August heat of the desert.

The last stop before we headed home was Cedar City, UT. There is a Shakespeare Festival there every year. 2011 is the 50th anniversary of the festival. We went to see Midsummer Night's Dream. It was by far the funniest production I have ever seen. I laughed even harder than I do at Comedy Sports Club. Seriously. Until I cried. Good times.

Source

And finally after all that fun, we headed to our sweet little home. 

Master Bedroom Update

You know how some houses come with those boring, basic, yucky light fixtures? My condo *ahem, house* came with those in every single room. They looked like this. Even in our master bedroom.

Yeah. Pretty drab. Not to mention dull. And not just to look at. This thing barely emitted enough light to see anything in our bedroom. We needed to have it and two lamps on just to have a relatively acceptable amount of light.

I have always wanted a chandelier. My obsession with them began when I was little. I grew up being the daughter of a contractor. I spent most of my time with my father and we were always in the hardware stores and on various jobs. The hardware and lumber stores were a pretty boring place to be. Nuts. Bolts. Pipes. Wood. Blech for a little girl! But there was this one store, Grover's. I loved going there. They had two good things for little girls to look at. Samples of formica and crystal chandeliers. Lots of them. My dad would go do whatever it is contractor guys do at stores like that, and I would just go gaze at the pretty chandelier and marvel at their sparkles. I begged for one just like little kids beg for candy at the checkout isle. Needless to say I never got one.

Hubbie and I often talk about the elements we want in our dream home. Some of the things on our list include: A private, fenced back yard. A two-car garage adjacent to the kitchen. A mud room. A dedicated laundry room. Dual vanities. A HUGE walk-in closet. Two living rooms. And a chandelier. It just isn't dreamy enough until we have a shiny, sparkly, crystal chandelier.

We're a ways off from obtaining the house of our dreams. But, I got a chandelier of my dreams!! We were in Home Depot (this is Hubbie's idea of date night sometimes) and I got bored looking at power tools and various other man-stuff. So I decided to go look at the lights. I want a nicer one in our dining area. And then I saw it.

                                                                          (source)

Finally! Home Depot had something I truly wanted needed. Then I saw the price. $99.97. SOLD! Hubbie put it in the cart, we checked out, and took her home. He hung it up for me. And now, our master bedroom has a beautifully updated light fixture.

My life is now almost complete ;) and my bedroom is much brighter!!

Photographer in Training

Remember how I graduated in April? One of my graduation gifts was a dSLR camera from my dad. I had talked with him about how I wanted to be able to capture better pictures of my kids & how Jaden is just too darn fast for the camera I had. I'd press the shutter button & by the time the camera decided to take the picture, the image I wanted would be gone. I also talked with him about wanting to be able to take my own pictures for my Etsy. I found a used camera I felt would do on our classified ads and mentioned that maybe Dad could talk Hubbie into buying it for me if they went in together. Well, Dad decided to go ALL out and get me a great camera & a bunch of extras.
It has been a wonderful gift! I've been able to get some great pictures of my kids and the stuff I made.
Here are some pictures of my kiddos.





And here are some examples of the improvement in my product pictures.

Now:


and then:



I am SO very excited to learn more about photography. I've been reading books and articles almost every day. I need to get out in the world and practice the things that are floating around in my head - and I will. As soon as I'm over whatever sickness it is I have at the moment. Ug. Until then, I'll just be making some sweet stuff and taking pictures of it.

Catching Up

My husband and I recently became college graduates. (April 29th is still recent, right? Two months-ish isn't long compared to the years we spent accumulating credits, writing papers, completing group projects, and making presentations.) As if graduating wasn't awesome enough, we got to do it together. Even though I graduated from the School of Humanities and he graduated from The Woodbury School of Business, we were able to walk in the same ceremony. Sweet!



What is next in our lives? Having a fantastic summer with both of our boys! I'll be crafting, sewing, crocheting, managing the househould. Hubbie is preparing to take the GMAT & deciding which school he wants an MBA from. Right now, I think the next thing in my life is going to bed.

Summer Beautiful

Spring is my favorite time of the year. Summer is only a fraction of any measure behind. There are several reasons Spring is my favorite. No snow, warmer temperatures, flowering trees, and the knowledge that summer is ever so close. The best part about my summers is that my Spencer gets to be here with us.

I picked Spencer up on Friday and had the most interesting rest-stop experience of my life. After having driven for 6 strait hours, I was very very tired. Despite having consumed 64 ounces of Cup o' Life ( my pet name for Dr. Pepper). So, we stopped at a rest area for a potty break, and to take a little nap. I've done that dozens of times between here and there over the years, and didn't think anything would be any different.
I forgot I was in my husband's car.
A car which has, oh shall we say *ahem* unique? license plates.
After our pit stop, Spence and I got back in the car, cracked the windows to let in a breeze, tilted our seats back and tried to catch some zzzz's.
This car of my husband's also has a very noisy alarm system. Spencer accidentally set it off. I frantically tried to turn it off, but it made a lot of noise for much longer than I would have liked. The noise probably drew the attention of the FedEx truckers who turned and began to approach our vehicle. Oh great. They think we're stealing it. Oh wait - The 11-year-old- is in the driver's seat (It couldn't tilt back as much for sleeping and he wasn't tired, so we switched). I was trying to think of what to tell them, when they let me know that they just wanted to know what the license plates meant. Oh.
"Well, my husband (yes a grown man who has a college education, a job, owns a house, is married and has a baby and a step-son) loves the Power Rangers, and so he named his car after one." (I love him for loving the Power Rangers. It's a cute quirk that keeps us feeling young.)
We all had a good laugh about that one. Thinking I could now take a nap, I layed back down. But the sun was too hot. So I got my jacket out of the back seat and positioned it in the windows to create some shade. As I was doing so, a guy walks by the car, smiles, and heads to his motorcycle parked near us. I layed back down again.
"Are you naked in there?"
What?!"Um, no...just trying to make some shade to take a nap."
"Oh, well if you decide to get naked, just let me know & I'll walk by again"

Apparently, a noisy car draws all sorts of attention. I've never been hit on like that in my life & was so completely embarrassed, I decided to skip the nap and speed to the next C-store for some more Cup o' Life and something crunchy to munch on to make it through the rest of the trip. On the way, we passed the FedEx guys, who honked their big diesel horns at us. I guess they like the Power Rangers, too ;)

Now that the ordeal of our road trip is behind us, we are settling into our summer groove. Thankfully the weather has been nice for a few days in a row (this seems normal for weather at the beginning of June, but it has been a miracle this year!) Jaden is just loving having his big brother here - he laughs at anything Spencer does & thinks his big brother is the greatest thing since sitting forward in his car seat. I am SO ready for the beauty of this summer!

New & Improved

Goodbye, old Whirlpool washer and dryer set. You were here for us when we purchased our home, ready and waiting to make all of our dirty clothes clean again. You did your job well enough, and I am grateful to have had you. Because of you, I never had to go to a laundromat. I never had to fold an entire week's worth of laundry all at once, or put it away all at once. The laundromat was part of my single days - I can't imagine having gone there for a week's worth of 3 people's dirty laundry. Ug! Thank you for saving me from that dread!




Hello, new Maytag front loading washing amazingness! We are able to have you due to an unfortunate event, but are happy to have you in the family. I can't wait to introduce you to all of my clothes!



Sadly, my husband's grandmother died a few years ago. Her husband (step-grandpa) recently passed away, and so my mother-in-law and her siblings have been taking care of the estate. We are the lucky recipients of Grandma Petersen's washer and dryer. As you can see, they are much nicer than the ones that came with our house. They are quite a bit larger than our old ones, and so we might not be able to put the utility area doors back on, but that is so alright. I am looking forward to using our new appliances and making our laundry room/guest bathroom look as spiffy as they are!

Introducing Jaden

My littlest lamb. So sweet. Curious. He doesn't play. Nope, he investigates and tries to figure out the way things work. He has figured out the law of gravity, and that he can assist gravity in emptying our shelves. His day is not complete until he has pulled every last DVD and book off the shelf, and every tupperware container out of the kitchen cupboards.

Loves: Mama. Totally a Mama's boy. Daddy's rasberries. Remote controls. Cell phones. Especially Droids.

Doesn't like so much: Naptime. Getting his face washed. Bonking his head. Not being allowed to eat toilet paper.

Big blue eyes. Blondest blonde softest soft straightest straight hair. Big cheezy grin. Learning how to get around. This little scooter is working on learning how to run, not walk.

Spencer

Here is a little introduction of my oldest son, Spencer.

Energetic. Seriously kinestetic - the kid has to be constantly on the move. It is as though he'll blow up or spontaneously combust if he sits still for too long. A ticking time bomb.


Funny. Humor is obvious to him and he can crack a joke at any instant. He can always make me laugh.


Loves: Ducks (he can identify most types of ducks). Fish. Motorcycles. Target shooting.


Doesn't like so much: Reading (though he's good at it). Homework (though he doesn't have much).

He has the brightest blue eyes and the biggest smile to go along with his personality of awesomeness. He has a sharp mind and a warm eart. He is proud to be a big brother and is the best.big.brother. EVER. Story of cuteness demonstrating just what a fantastic big brother he is : He asked if he could share a room with Jaden. He's had his own room to himself all of his life and he wants to give it up to share with his little brother. Awe. Heart melter!

He is going to be much taller than me, but he'll always be my baby.

Jaden's Prank

Every once in a while my child does something completely unexpected. Sometimes his little surprises cause giggles. Sometimes they don't. Today's surprise was nothing to giggle about. Spring is finally here and has motivated me to dive into spring cleaning my house. I had just dusted the furniture in the living room and picked up all the miscellaneous items on the floor. I swept and mopped the tile in the entryway and kitchen. I was sure that my floors were clean enough to eat on...should there still be anything left to eat on them. (My baby thinks that anything left on the floor is fair game for eating) Since my floors were so clean, I didn't feel the need to tend Jaden as closely as I usually do. I was surprised to hear his little lips smacking and wondered what he could have possibly found to put in his mouth. When I looked at him, he was covered head to toe in brown. Chocolate? Where did that come from? Oh....nope. Not chocolate. Poo. All.over. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! What do you do when your baby eats poo? Clean him up? Call Poison Control? Which one first? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I put him in the tub and took his clothes off there, then filled it with water and LOTS of soap. Then I called his pediatrician and was told just to monitor him. The nurse gave me the number for Poison Control should I really feel the need to call them. I can look back and giggle at the whole situation now. After all, this moment of motherhood incident happened on April Fool's day. Jaden is now clean and napping. And even though I can laugh at this situation, I don't think I'll ever consider my living room floor clean enough to eat off again.

For Moms and Little Lambs

I am a first-time mom for the second time.

Wait...what?

That's right! I have two beautiful boys born ten years apart. Spencer is 10, and Jaden is 6 months. Because it had been so long since I was responsible for taking care of a newborn, I have had to relearn everything. At times, I fell like a brand new first-time mom. Other times, I feel somewhat savvy in this whole newborn/infant thing. Regardless of how inadequate or prepared I have felt, one thing is for sure. Things have changed in the last ten years.

When Spencer was born, I felt I had to buy the same baby stuff that every other mom was buying. The mass produced hum-drum mainstream stuff that Walmart, Kmart, Shopko, and Target stock on their shelves. There are many more options nowadays. Most of them are home-made by moms who have turned boredom into creativity.

Not satisfied whit what everyone else has, always wanting something unique that can make a statement as to who I am, and always having a difficult time finding, it I decided to make my own.
I have been able to combine a few of my very most favorite in the world things, motherhood, fabric and creativity, into something I truly enjoy. Petit Lambie.

I love love LOVE being a mother. I enjoy taking trips to the fabric store just to feel different textiles. I enjoy sifting through online fabric shops to feast my eyes on appealing prints and dreaming up things to make with them. I love being able to sew my ideas into something for little Jaden and enjoy seeing it be useful and cute. I began my business to serve other mothers and their little lambs.

I design and handcraft fresh and functional stuff for modern babies and stylish parents. Each peice is made from my pet free, smoke free home studio. (wish my studio was clutter free, too!) Visit petitlambie.etsy.com to shop, and stop by often to check out new stuff.

A special thanks to my husband, who believed in me enough to invest in me and this dream of mine. You're Mr. Awesome! and I love you. (sorry for the mush!)