Oh, Jos...

Like I mentioned last week, my husband recently turned 30.

That was a big one. Though the turkey wouldn't let me do anything for his birthday. I'll get into more of that later. But I realized that I've never really talked about my husband on this blog, and with him now living a ripe old three full decades now, I thought it might be appropriate to introduce you to him, and show off some of his great talents and skills.

We'll start with a few little facts about him first...

-Josten LOVES beards. I've always thought it was interesting that he chose a career path that requires daily shaving of his face... especially since he can grow a beard in 7 hours. A few months ago, his unit had the officers grow their beards out as part of an "incognito" mission training. Josten was in heaven. Below is a picture taken during that time period.

-Josten hates getting his picture taken. He doesn't even slightly like it, and he doesn't ever try to smile.

purposely blinking...(but at least he's smiling?)

Not even gunna try...just like his daughters

- Josten loves his family more than anything (of course), and can be quite a "Papa Bear". He's very protective of his family, and their physical and emotional well-being. This includes his extended family, as well; parents and siblings. You mess with a Cornett, you mess with Josten...

- Josten is super talented, physically, and can literally do anything and everything he sets his mind to. It's always something I've admired so much about him. When he wants something, he sets a plan, and goes for it, until he's accomplished what he set out to do. Success is his only option, and because of that he sees it quite frequently. It is very inspiring, and I'm blessed to have him as an example for myself and my kids.

-Josten is very simplistic. He hates attention (hence, no party), he hates clutter, and he hates being over scheduled. If Josten and I hadn't gotten married, he said that he planned on living on his own, with a mattress on the floor, a chair, a little table, one plate, one fork, one knife, one spoon, one cup, etc., that he just had to keep clean and reuse. He said that the only thing he wanted me to do for his birthday was for me to not throw a party. We're a good balance...because we know I'm all about complicating things...

- Josten is a very spiritually centered person. He continually stands strong and immovable against any adversity, and takes all his concerns to the Lord. He is very determined in living a life fully committed to the Lord, and constantly re-evaluates his standards to make sure they're in line with the Lord's. 

- Josten is extremely artistic and talented creatively. He's been drawing since he was a little boy, and can draw many things with impressive exactness. He's also very handy with woodworking, and general crafts. 

Here's a few pics of what this man can do...

A picture of Jehkiah and Casey he drew for their Christmas present

A chessboard case he made entirely on his own for Cameron for Christmas 2006

My birthday card from him 4.5 years ago

And just something he "whipped up" one day while bored... He's also good with computer art.

As you can see, My Jos is definitely not boring. Life with him is the best, and I can't imagine it any other way.  He is always making me laugh, making me think, and most of all, making me grateful. Happy Birthday to my awesome husband!!! May you live twenty more decades!!! ;)

Pinned It, Did It: Dolman Tee

Want a fun, Easy Project?

I saw this little baby floating around Pinterest for awhile, and saw an XL grey t-shirt on sale at Goodwill for $0.99, so I thought, "Why not?"

The Verdict:

I loved it. It was super easy, and I was happy with the results. The only difference I would make is this: She says to cut a diagonal line across the shoulders, but when I did this, the collar stuck up too much. It looked kinda funny. I would keep the shoulders as is, and do all your angling on the bottom.

(click picture to go to her site)

And here's mine...

If you're tall like me, I would recommend getting an XXL for length purposes. You can always take it in more. I got an XL, and since my frame isn't quite as tiny as the other gal's, it fits slightly different. I'm still pleased with it though.

Feed Me Friday: Peach Round Up "To-Try's"

Happy Friday!

Summer is still going strong, and combine that with the fact that I practically live in Georgia (right on the border, and I spend a lot of time there), and You guessed it, I've got peaches on the brain.

I love peaches. My only issue is that I don't have a lot of peach recipes. And the times when I do have a lot of peach recipes, I don't have peaches. Well, I recently decided to stock up on peaches, and so I've been perusing peach recipes like crazy. I've never actually tried them, but I'll share the links, and maybe we can try them together!

Here's some that stood out to me (click links below pictures):

Peach Custard Pie...Tell me you're not just drooling at the title

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/peach_custard_pie.html


My All-time favorite smoothie, Jamba Juice's Peach Pleasure. Here's a copy-cat version:

http://thedailysmash101.blogspot.com/2012/06/crazy-cooking-challange-peach-pleasure.html

Good Ole Peach Cobbler

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/easy-peach-cobbler-10000000257827/

And to refresh you in the summer's heat :


http://dinnersdishesanddesserts.com/?p=2630

T-Shirt to Dress for Sienna

I know I've mentioned over and over about how tall I am, and how frustrating it can be trying to find clothes to fit. 

My wonderful Sister-in-law, Casey, recently gave me a big bag of clothes that she wasn't wearing anymore. Among the clothes was the shirt below, which i thought was a fun shirt, but just one problem...yep, just a tad too short in the torso. 

Not only do I struggle with things being long enough, but unfortunately, my daughter, Sienna, has inherited my crazy long torso and limbs. The poor girl grows out of things so quick in the length, but never can keep up in width. Lately, she's been hurting in the dress department. She's hit a growth spurt that left most of her dresses looking like mini dresses, and her skirts looking like mini skirts. 

So I thought of a solution for the afore-mentioned shirt. Too short for me? Sienna needs dresses? Make it into a dress for Sienna!!

Here is the shirt "Before" (Half sleeves)

1. The first thing I did was I tried the dress on Sienna. I measure where I wanted everything at, including neckline and sleeves. (I didn't really need to measure the waist for this dress, because I just gathered the waist according to the size of elastic I used).

2. After that, I pinned the neckline into a "V" neck where I wanted it.

3. I then sewed a line *just on the collar band* and reinforced seam. Then I cut the extra loop of the band away from the actual t-shirt material along the seam as pictured below.

4. Next, cut off the loop, so the collar looks like an ordinary v-neck seam. Look at the pictures below. That's what you should be left with.

Gather that loop above, and attach to the collar V. There should be no holes after that.

5. Next, cut a piece of elastic to the size you want it. I measured it around Sienna's upper waist snuggly, then cut.

6. Then, attach elastic to the dress (I attached it about an inch and a half under the bottom of the V for a higher, but not empire waist) using the same method for smocking material with elastic, here. (Step 4)

7. I then cut the sleeves, and let the edge roll. I tapered a pretty big diagonal line from the armpit seam to the shoulder. You'll see in the final picture where it hits.

8. Now it's all about embellishing. I put a faux white top under the V to make it look like a little camisole. I had white knit fabric that I cut into a V that was just a tad bigger than the inside of my V on the dress. Then I attached lace to the top. I then attached the white to the dress by attaching it to the collar seams of the V.

9. I also made a bow for the front using the extra sleeve material.

And we love it!