Busiest Summer Yet! I'm a New Mommy!

I'm EXHAUSTED!!! So let me tell you where this summer went in the House of Jensen this year.

This summer was probably one of the nicest weather summers we have had in the Pacific Northwest for YEARS. I mean, just gorgeous sunny days. Ok, maybe towards the end of summer it was a little on the humid side but other than that, it was great! But I really didn't get to enjoy the weather outside as much as I had hoped. I got some jogging in but virtually no hiking. :'(

I did get to do a tiny bit of this: (La Wis Wis & Mt. Rainier)

But that was not even until SEPTEMBER!!! And it wasn't even a hike! I miss hiking and I HAD hoped to do a great deal of it this summer since my cousin had whipped me and our friend Candi into shape last year. But this was a busy summer none-the-less.

My buddy Candi got married at the very end of September and both my cousin and I were also in the wedding party. so we were pretty wrapped up in the planning all summer. No joke, she had her wedding the first week of Fall and it stormed like a berserker! 40-50 MPH gusts of wind! Power outages aside, the wedding was beautiful and the reception was really fun!

This summer was full of baby showers, garage sales, visiting family, and even my very first (and possibly last) Mud Run!

Planning wedding showers and attending bachelorette parties kept us all pretty busy, but the biggest distraction, or commitment I had this summer, starting at the beginning of July was Henry.

No I didn't have a baby, or even adopt, but we did get a new little puppy. Not just any puppy, a hound puppy. Yes, the whole, Roo-Roo-Roo bit and everything.

Henry, as we have so named him, is a Walker Coonhound, bread for hunting and chasing down large prey animals like bears and cougars, as well as racoons or other small animals.

For those of you who might not know me all that well, I have been trying to convince my husband that we need a dog for at least 12 years. I just assumed we could rescue a potty trained angel looking for their "forever home." My husband thought otherwise, believing we would do better training a puppy from the get go and avoiding any possible bad habits... while of course, ignoring the fact that we would be creating them ourselves. 

I wanted a dog I could eventually jog with but not necessarily one that would chase all manner of small critters. So far, he hasn't shown much interest in chasing other animals... but he's only 13 weeks old.

So here is the real reason I have found time to write this update blog post. I am having separation anxiety about Henry's first day alone (in his Kennel). Up until today, Henry has spent time with either my parents or myself or an occasional kind auntie. Thank goodness he's so cute, or I probably wouldn't have had as much help in these first few weeks. I am in serious debt to my supportive family and friends for all their time and advice as well. Henry was a little young when we got him, so he needed tons more babying than a dog you would get at 9 weeks, Henry was only 5!

Puppies that young take a serious amount of effort for potty training and just reassurance. But like a protective mommy that I am, I watched every poo, monitored  his food intake and tried to mold his sleeping habits. We are crate training, but I had a tough time not just snuggling him back to sleep out on the couch. I still take naps with him that way.

The reality is, no matter what dog we would have gotten, they would have to learn to spend some of the workday alone. This is not unusual, and I totally accepted that it was going to happen. Eventually. But my baby is now at a point where he either learns to adjust to some lonesome time, or I pay buco-bucks for puppy day-care. And we simply cannot afford that.

I'll keep you posted about his progress much like new parents do on their mommy blogs, because in a way, I too am a new mommy. My best friend Kyla even sent me a new baby congratulations card, complete with a gift card to PetSmart to get Henry a special prize. (Thanks again Kyla!) 

Here is what Henry looks like as of 13 weeks: 

I work from home one day a week and this is what it looks like: (Hey mom, when can we play again? Whatever you are doing can't possibly be as cute as I am, right?)

Who could say NO to that face? It's tough I tell you!

I'm pretty sure there will be hundreds more photos of Henry to share in the coming months. So please stay tuned. I also have some fun crafts that I made shortly before bin Hank's arrival that I hope to post on here as well.

Thanks for reading!

Father's Day Gift - Fishing Tackle Box

So for Father's Day I made a little gift this year I made a neat little treat box for my Dad. I'm under the impression he doesn't get treats too often, but I might be mistaken. Either way, I wanted to include candy as well as non-sweet treats he could take with him when he goes out fishing with his buddies.

The examples I found online were equally as cute but used baby food bottles. There are no babies in this house, and I didn't have enough time to ask my friends to save their jars for me. This project can be made in very little time, which means I did it sort of last minute... typical for me.

I got my jars from the DollarTree and drew up my labels myself in Photoshop® and everything else I had on hand. Well, except the treats of course!

I had a box that fit 6 pint sized mason jars perfectly so I covered that in scrapbook paper. You could also cover your box in the wood patterned contact paper they have at the DollarTree and make your box look a little more authentically wooden or antique.

I printed my labels out on heavy weight white paper, but I would suggest using a cream color to make it look a little more vintage.

I used my 2.5 inch circle punch for the lid labels, and they worked out perfect! I just attached the labels to the lid with double sided tape, again, on-hand.

The side labels were also simply taped on with double sided tape. I cut them out by hand. I customized my labels to say what was in each jar.

My treats were:

• Swedish Fish
• Gummy Worms
• Peanut M&Ms
• Sunflower Seeds
• Mixed Nuts
• Goldfish Crackers

You could use all kinds of treats but I tried to stay with the fishing theme mostly. I added some labels to the box itself and voilà! There you have a sweet little treat box for dad on Father's Day or maybe for his birthday. And it doesn't have to be for only dad, it can be for any Fisher-person you have in your life!

FREE DOWNLOAD LABELS

Here are the labels I made in a free PDF download.

2 Minute Book Review: Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen

Reading time for this post: 1 minute, 30 seconds. Read it Later

Book: Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen
Author: Susan Gregg Gilmore
Audiobook read by: Tavia Gilbert

Since I haven't written in so long I thought I'd ease back into the swing of things with a short little book review. I don't give a review for every book I read but focus on the ones I really liked (our didn't) that aren't already on everyone's summer reading lists.

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen was a sweet little story about a small town girl dreaming of escaping to the big city of Atlanta. But as she begins her adventure in the exciting metropolis she's brought back home by tragedy and life altering news, changing her perspective of the place she grew up.

What I did liked:
The characters I this story were likeable even at their worst. I found the main character, Catherine Grace a realistic portrayal of a girl. Too often I read stories where a character is exaggerated as a story device rather than a believable or relatable person. This book's characters have personalities that tell you their back story without needing the extra chapters and I appreciate that. It's as though the author is giving the reader a little credit for a change! I also appreciate an ending where you can assume the best but it isn't completely tied up with a big shiny bow.

What I didn't like: 

This story starts when the main character is in her early teens so the beginning felt a bit slow but was necessary for character development. Another gripe I had was that many of the characters names were very similar which made parts of the story a little bit difficult to follow but that is likely because up here in Washington, we don't typically use both our first and middle names in conversation. Also some, but not all, of the secrets were given away I felt a little too soon in the story.

Verdict: 
Read this one, it'll make you crave a dilly bar from Dairy Queen for sure but it's worth the temptation. This is a charming little coming of age story but with surprising depth and themes worth discussing with friends or in a reading group. 

DIY Jar Soap Dispensers

SUPER CUTE GIFT ALERT!

These were a hit at the baby shower last spring and this last Christmas and quite inexpensive to make. And who doesn't need soap? It's a nice way to personalize a little, one of the most impersonal gifts I think a person can give, lol!

You can make this as hard or difficult for yourself as you'd like, and as a life rule, I decided on the difficult route. Even the difficult route is pretty simple so don't panic.

Here's what you'll need:

glass canning jars (pint sized is great)
galvanized lids - pre-drilled (This is just my preference. See link for available options)
high-temp hot glue gun
high temp glue
sand paper
soap pump
*optional glass beads
*optional twine or ribbon

I have used the lids that come with the jars, but I don't think they are as nice as the galvanized lids available out there. There are many places to order lids for your jars, in wide mouth OR regular just make sure you buy the right size to fit your jars.

You can get a pack of 12 wide mouth lids from Factory Direct Craft.com for less than six bucks! But you will need to do some work to the lids. You can buy their pumps too and not have to worry about them fitting into the pre-drilled lids, but I figured, why waste money on something I will end up buying anyways, right?

Besides, I prefer the foaming soap dispensers and they didn't appear to have those available through the same store. The only problem with the foaming soap pumps is that they are pretty wide. The smart way to make the holes bigger in these galvanized tin lids would be to use a drill it attachment and quickly drill the right sized hole. That is not how I roll though...

In all my low tech awesomeness, I just used a set of pliers and sorta peeled back the edges of the hole until I had increased the width enough to insert the pump... no measuring. Just insert pliers, bend the edge back and test.I apologize for not having a pict of this part of the process but it seems I was so unhappy with all of the pictures I took of that part, that I deleted them and have none left. Oops!

Once the hole is large enough, just slip the pump through. Make sure the hole is not so big that there is a big gap you have to fill later with hot glue. I sanded the section of the plastic pump that shows through the hole so the hot glue will have something to grab instead of just slick plastic. Trust me, I did not spend much time or effort making this part of the pump look fabulous, and neither should you.

Before I glued anything down, I screwed the lid on the jar. This is sort of an important step if you car about the logo showing on the front of your soap dispenser. Then I put the pump facing the direction I thought was most pleasing and made a mark on the underside of the lid. This might require a little bit of hand coordination so as not to accidentally move or misalign, but if you care enough about this part then you will get it right.

All finished with that, I hot glued everything in place. I suggest that you use high temperature hot glue because it has a stronger bond. Hot glue will also cover the sharp edges that you will make when you resize the hole, adding a little bit of protection for your fingers when you get ready to refill.

If you used the pint size jar, you will need 16 ounces of soap, and that means TWO Bath&Body soaps, OR you can add some glass beads to help fill the dispenser. I got the glass beads from our local DollarTree store.

Then to pretty them up, I added some twine and some holiday bangles I had! Voilà! A pretty little gift you can personalize via scent and decorations. You can buy these ready made for upwards of $35-$60 dollars online, but why when you can make them?!

Leave me a comment or send me a message and let me know what you think! Maybe I missed a step or didn't describe something well enough? I am happy to help!

Thanks!