What I Wore - the gimpy arm edition

I have to admit, getting dressed has been the least of my concerns this week. BATHING. That's the real struggle.

No. 1

Target tank top, Forever 21 cardigan, American Eagle jeans, Trend Shoes booties

No. 2 

Ross top, YMI vest, Maurice's jeans, Target booties

Yep. That's it. You know what's not hard to put on with one arm? Sweatpants ;)

Of Sports and Thumbs {Life Lately}

I'm comin' at ya with one working typing hand this morning evening (seriously, this is taking a sweet forever) so this may not be very long! It's been a while though and things have been a happening so I thought I'd recap...

First of all, our church hosted a womens conference called IF:Gathering a couple weekends ago, and not only was it fantastic and amazing, it led to me reconnecting with an old high school buddy who used to be one of my very best friends!

K'Lynn and I catching up between lots of hugs and laughter. Oh the beauty & blessing of girlfriends!

In the meantime, Russ and Cooper were given courtside tickets to a Blazer game and had themselves a boys night!

Somehow this included a new Blazer tee and beanie for Cooper (yay for Blazer bucks!), and Dutch Bros. 

Next, Kendall talked me into taking her and her friend Hannah to the movies, and that's how I ended up crying like a baby through Storks, appropriately, since it's actually about babies. And darn cute.

But mostly what we've been up to lately is watching sports. Cooper finished up Junior High cross country...

Kendall finished up JV volleyball...

The varsity team (that Kendall swings up on) won their district tournament and are now on to State...

And we watched our neice Miranda who's playing for the Multnomah University Lions for the 2nd year (and completely dominating!)

Sports, sports, sports. It's the story of our lives these days. 

And this is what else has been going on. Remember a couple weeks ago when I wrote about my grape juicing day and mentioned I cut my thumb on a soup can? It healed up real nice. And unfortunately without any feeling. Apparently I severed a nerve, and last Friday I had surgery to repair it.

You'd think a little thumb surgery wouldn't involve full hospital garments and general anesthesia... at least I thought it wouldn't. Which is why I fully planned on attending a wedding that same evening. Alas, the doctors and nurses all laughed at me and my hopes were dashed to the ground. Not that I cared after I woke up again... hellllooooo pain meds. I pretty much slept for the next 24 hours straight.

And now I'm sporting this subtle look for the next two weeks. How many times have I had to tell the soup can story, you wonder? Way WAY too many, is the answer. 

Things haven't been all bad though. Our lovely neighbors brought us the most delicious homemade meal with flowers and a card, and Russ and the kids have taken on the household chores like champs.

And my splint didn't stop me from spending the day with these ladies yesterday, putting together 84 freezer meals to split 6 ways! (Although I definitely was the least useful woman in the room.)

It took us 7 hours and it was actually really fun! Fun and tiring. I was out by 8:00 pm last night. All that supervising wore me out! 

(Kidding. Believe it or not, I was in charge of opening all the canned goods. HA.) 

What I Wore No. 304

No. 1

Ross top, Maurice's cardigan & jeans, Old Navy scarf, Trend Shoes booties, Nickel & Suede earrings

No. 2 

Kira tee, Ross cardigan, Maurice's skirt & necklace, DSW boots

No. 3 

Maurice's shirt, American Eagle jeans, Converse sneakers, gifted scarf, Nickel & Suede leather cuff

No. 4 

Costco shirt, YMI vest, Maurice's jeans, Converse sneakers

You know what? For all that I complain about summer ending, I really do love to dress for fall weather. LOVE IT. 

What I Wore No. 303

No. 1

thrifted Target dress, DSW  boots, Nickel & Suede earrings & cuff, clothes swap scarf

No. 2 

Costco shirt, American Eagle jeans, Old Navy scarf, Trend Shoes booties

No. 3 

Target tank top, Old Navy cardigan, American Eagle jeans, Trend Shoes booties

No. 4 

Maurice's sweatshirt, American Eagle jeans, Converse sneakers, gifted scarf

Shout out to scarf season... I've been waiting for ya!

Monday Confessional - the new phone

I would say this is a cautionary tale, except I don't think anyone else would be dumb enough to need cautioning on what I'm about to share.

Behold, my beautiful new cell phone. Russ and I just replaced our 3 year old phones as a belated birthday gift to each other. Our birthdays were in August but we were waiting for the new iphone to release so we could get the iphone 6s for a discounted price. And apparently we waited too long because the 6s was all sold out and not available any time soon, BUT we could trade in our old phones for $400 towards the iphone 7, so... why not? Thank you, Verizon.

Anyway. Setting up my new phone and syncing it with all my stuff from my old phone took up the better part of last Wednesday night and the following morning. Downloading my apps, re-entering the passwords to use them, setting up email and voicemail, I dove in head first until it was exactly how I wanted it. I probably spent 2-3 hours on it when all was said and done.

Next I followed the instructions online to completely wipe my old phone so I could mail it in as a trade-in and get the $400 credit on my account. I did everything correctly and hit the final "reset" button and then clicked "yes" when asked if I was sure I wanted to permanently erase everything. Done.

And then I looked down at my lap and noticed my old iphone... not in my hands, but laying on the bed next to my knee. In my hands was my new phone. Newly erased of all the work I'd just completed.

DON'T BE LIKE ME. ME IS AN IDIOT.

The end.

What I Wore No. 302

No. 1

Banana Republic tunic, American Eagle jeans, thrifted leather belt, Trend Shoes booties, Nickel & Suede earrings & cuff

No. 2 

Old Navy shirt & scarf, American Eagle jeans, Birkenstock sandals, Nickel & Suede earrings & cuff

No. 3 

Costco top, Eddie Bauer jeans, Trend Shoes booties, Maurice's necklace

aaaannnndddd... those same Nickel & Suede leather pieces! I like em.

Happy Wednesday, folks! Thanks for stopping by :) 

Monday Confessional: The Bumbling Duo

{Ahhhh, the majestic sight of freshly sealed 1/2 gallon jars of grape juice!}

Last Saturday was grape juice and jelly making day at the Halverson homestead. Really, the only time of year I truly embrace my inner pioneer days spirit and make use of the fruits of our fields (aka: backyard.) As always, my mother came over to help me (because she is a saint), and together, we managed to harvest all of the grapes, make 4 batches of jelly, can six 1/2 gallon and four quart jars of juice, AND create a number of fiascos that had us laughing and crying throughout the whole day. 

First of all, while clearing out my sink to fill jars with hot water in preparation for hot grape juice, I grabbed an empty soup can by the lip and deeply sliced the inside of my thumb below the first joint. Probably the worst cut I've ever had... I might have even taken myself to the hospital for a couple of stitches if it hadn't been a Saturday and we didn't have Kaiser insurance (a combination that would have equated to a full day wasted in the waiting room.) Instead Mum bandaged me up and I tried to only use one hand the rest of the day. It didn't work. Thumbs are important, guys. 

Next, after cleaning up my hand, we decided to check on the first batch of grapes we had started steaming and discovered we'd forgotten to make sure the tube coming out the bottom of the steamer was squeezed shut, so hot grape juice was pouring across my concrete back patio and into the grass. TRAGEDY! We quickly closed it and mourned the loss of propably a quart of juice. Not the best start to our day!

After filling all of my 1/2 gallon jars without incident, we decided to move on to jelly and made our first double batch on my stove inside. I like to turn my jars over to help them seal after filling, and it was during this process that fiasco #3 occurred; a newly filled quart jar of hot jelly was accidentally dropped on the counter while being turned over and the lid hadn't been put on properly so it popped off and the entire contents poured all over the counter, engulfing all the other jars in a sticky mess, seeping through the tea towel they were all sitting on and oozing under my toaster. ANOTHER TRAGEDY! Homemade grape jelly is like GOLD in our house! Mum and I were horrifed but couldn't stop laughing, what were the odds?!!  

After that mess was cleaned up, I decided I needed to make an iced coffee and poured the last of the pot Russ had brewed into a tall glass and went to the fridge to get milk and ice. When I turned back around coffee was all over my other kitchen counter... the glass had cracked and while I was sad to have to toss it, the worst part was that there was no more coffee! Why, God? Why?!

After finishing laughing over our bumbled day, Mum had to head home and I decided to hold off on making my second double batch of jelly. I set aside the 10 cups of grape juice I'd steamed for it in my large cooking pot sitting ready on the stove, and put the lid on to keep till the next day. I did want to finish steaming the last of the grapes into more juice though, so I turned on my small saucepan of lid seals to simmer and it was only AN HOUR LATER, while wiping down my entire kitchen, that I discovered I'd turned the wrong burner on and had been slowly simmering away my reserved grape juice instead. 

Dang pioneer spirit! Look where it led me! I'd call the whole day a giant fail except, look at all my pretty jars all filled up and looking delicious! I think I still came out ahead ;)