I like little crafty projects that I can knock out in less than an hour with scraps I have lying around. Plus, I like crafts that are useful, not just clutter. As I was lost in the clicky-linky-magic that is the blog world, I found a tutorial on DIY doll diapers. I had all the materials on hand, and I knew Hannah would enjoy the product.

She loves to play with her baby dolls, and she tries to put her size 5 diapers on them which doesn’t work very well. These little ones with velcro seemed worth a shot.

If you have a little girl in your house, check out the tutorial because the instructions and pictures were good, and it was a fun evening project. I made two in less than an hour.

Yes, I should have checked the right-side-upness of the birds before cutting the second one. But otherwise, they turned out really cute, and Hannah is enjoying easy doll diapers that fit.

Good stuff on the web lately:

Naming God’s Gifts – Doorposts of Your House – “We have a black cat that we have never named … I thought of that black cat today when I read a quote from C. S. Lewis: Now, in the Bible a name . . . reveals the very essence of a thing, or rather its essence as God’s gift. To name a thing is to manifest the meaning and value God gave it, to know it as coming from God and to know its place and function within the cosmos created by God. To name a thing, in other words, is to bless God for it and in it.”

Don’t Carpe Diem – Momastery – “Every time I’m out with my kids – this seems to happen: An older woman stops us, puts her hand over her heart and says something like, ‘Oh– Enjoy every moment. This time goes by so fast.’ Everywhere I go, someone is telling me to seize the moment, raise my awareness, be happy, enjoy every second, etc, etc, etc. I know that this message is right and good. But as 2011 closes, I have finally allowed myself to admit that it just doesn’t work for me. It bugs me.”

10 Ways to Re-purpose Old T-shirts – Frugally Sustainable – “T-shirts, t-shirts everywhere! You have them lying on the floors, hanging in your closet, and stuffed into your drawers. Now, all that clutter is starting to irritate you! But wait…don’t throw them out…because with these 10 super easy tutorials you can repurpose those old t-shirts into useful everyday items.”

Quiche Cups – Cutting Back Kitchen – “I discovered these delicious quiche cups! Not only are they quite tasty, but freeze wonderfully, and are low in calories.  It’s so nice to have a healthy breakfast on the go!  Just warm them up and top with a little green tobasco sauce!!”

50 Tips for Saving on Groceries – Frugally Sustainable – “As is the case with most growing families, we go through an awful lot of food. In fact, behind the mortgage and transportation costs (car and gas) groceries can be one of our biggest regular monthly expenses. I have a feeling that this may be the case for many of you too. So today I want to pass on some of my most helpful money saving tips.”

5 Frugal Real Food Meal Ideas – Keeper of the Home – “Without proper planning, a whole foods diet can be more draining on your wallet than you might expect! … Here are five of my favorite meal ideas for keeping our grocery budget under control.”

An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess – Jen Hatmaker – “For some time, I’ve had this feeling messing with my faith. That one when you’re trying really hard and adhering to most of the rules and checking a lot of boxes, I mean, some boxes that seem really important, legit boxes, and yet…I don’t know. Something feels wrong. The mechanism is off. The parts are not creating the whole like people said it would … A bunch of my generation, millions if you want to get nitpicky, up and left the church over it, because the template didn’t end up changing the world or even changing lives. It left us with a laundry list of behaviors but conspicuously ignored way too many elephants in the room to be taken seriously.”

My newest pair of shoes! I just started taking a weekly adult ballet class. It has been 15 years since I was plié-ing, so I was a little concerned about jumping into a 90-minute class mid-year.

My concerns were justified. I am soooo sore today. But it weirdly feels good.

The class is taught by a homeschooling mom of three who was hired by a nearby Baptist church to do their dance ministry (yeah, Baptist church with a dance ministry? what?). She teaches classes in a large room in the church’s education building; the church even purchased several free-standing barres and giant portable mirrors for her to use.

The other three students in my intermediate/advanced adult class are college students. So I feel a little old, even for the adult class. But I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.

I was talking with the teacher, Meredith, at the end about why I’m excited about doing the class. She mentioned an article she read recently entitled The Best Exercise. Instead of a hot tip of the latest fitness trend, the article said the best exercise is whatever you actually enjoy doing. I think I found it.

We got a new dining table. We checked various stores, outlets, websites, Craigslist. In an attempt to limit our purchases of new items this year, we decided Craigslist was the way to go, and we found a table that met our criteria and exchanged several emails with the seller. Normal Craigslist stuff.

Then I got online to register for a local adoption conference next month. The speakers were listed. I paused and blinked. There was a name … that seems familiar … the table lady!?!?

Yep.

Out of the freakin’ hundreds of dining tables on Craigslist, we happened to buy the one listed by a passionate adoptive family with five kids who we get to hear next month. Crazy small world.

When we picked up the table, we could have chatted a long time, but you can imagine that with six kids running around (Hannah jumped right in the mix) and a table to disassemble and load, there was a lot going on. It was just neat to make a connection, and we left saying, “See ya in a few weeks.” Not normal Craigslist stuff.

Now we just need to decide how we want to paint/stain the table and chairs…

I have a super-fun birthday – New Year’s Eve! This year, it was a pretty laid-back Saturday. The weather was amazing, and we went out to lunch at an outdoor organic burger place with a big playscape.

Then, I went shoe shopping. I went in to DSW with the intent to replace my trusty Converse All-Stars, but I was distracted by some tan cork wedges. The wedges won, and my current Chucks will have to last another year.

For a special dinner, I decided on sushi. The rolls were beautiful – one California roll, one with shrimp, avocado, and a spicy sauce and one with fried soft-shell crab and eel sauce.

The California roll was supposed to be for Hannah, but she wasn’t a fan. Instead, she liked the one with the crab. She ate the long fried crab legs like they were french fries, and the eel sauce was a little sweet which I think she liked. We just peeled off the nori, and she dug in.

Partway through the meal, Hannah announced to our waiter that she loved him. He came back with an orange carved like a panda bear holding neatly-segmented orange slices. Amazing!

The tiny umbrella was also a hit.

Hannah ended up thinking this was her birthday, but I had a pretty special day, too. :)

It’s beginning to look more like Christmas at our house. Home-decorating is not something I spend a lot of time on in general, but it’s fun to get out some special things in December. I try to keep it simple by using handmade and gifted items. Our tree is decorated with the ornaments we’ve grown up with and some inexpensive silver balls. Last year, I cut some scrap fabric into strips and tied them together to create a simple garland.

Next to the tree, I hung some ribbons on the wall with mini clothespins to display the pictures we get. I covered a storage bin with some Christmas fabric I had lying around to make a Hannah-sized table. We put the Christmas cards in a basket and laid out the Christmas books.

For our mantle, I splurged a bit on Hannah’s monogrammed stocking from Pottery Barn Kids. But I figured it’s something special for her to have for a long time. And yes, even though we don’t “do Santa,” we plan to fill the stocking with special snacks for her to open on Christmas morning (and be honest and tell her they’re from us).

The piano displays my Willowtree nativity set – love! There is also a little fake greenery to go behind the candles.

New this year, I was trying to think of a way to display ornaments besides putting them on the tree. I came up with this randomness for under $5, and it can all be reused. It seems to look better in person than in the picture.

Outside we have the deer made by Brett’s dad. We have a string of white lights on the house and a lighted wreath on the front windows. This is Hannah last year with the deer.

On my list for next year, I want to try a simple window decoration of ornaments hanging from ribbon that my sister-in-law did.

And I just realized our pumpkins are still displayed on our porch from October, so I guess our house is caught in holiday schizophrenia.

Bloggers are in the Christmas spirit. Here are a few of my favorite posts lately. I wish I knew how to put pictures to go with the links, so you’ll just have to trust me this is some good stuff:

The Christmas Conundrum – Jen Hatmaker (includes some of the reasons we don’t do Santa as a family)

The 5 best toys of all time – GeekDad (were you lucky enough to have any of these?)

Christmas crafts:

Mason jar snow globes – Glittered Nest

Glittery ornaments – Cutting Back Kitchen

Handmade gift ideas – Keeper of the Home

Yummy food:

Jalapeño bacon stuffed mushrooms – The Pioneer Woman

Pumpkin scones – Raising Homemakers

Easy holiday dishes – Generation Cedar

Cranberry orange muffins – Frontier Kitchen

Chocolate gooey butter cookies – Paula Deen (this isn’t necessarily a Christmas recipe, but I made it for a cookie exchange last week, and YUM!)