Archive for October, 2009

Homemade Halloween, Part II

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Considering Emma’s costume worked so well, I figured III’s would be a breeze. At first Emma wanted him to be Pooh Bear, but I talked her out of that and convinced her that he would be way cuter as a bumblebee. I figured that costume would be easier, and would be cute since she was a flower. But then Lloyd reminded me that many months ago we thought it would be hilarious to dress him up as a garden gnome. He’s got such big ears and a big head—and a cute little grin! After once again convincing Emma that a bumblebee was not the way to go, and a gnome was really much better, I set to work! (I know I really didn’t have to convince my 3-year-old, but I like letting her feel like she’s involved.)

I looked at a lot of pictures, and decided to sort of follow the Travelocity gnome. I considered looking for little boots, and Lloyd wanted me to make little clogs, but then I remembered that he had some little brown, footed pants, and decided that would be good enough (after all, he’s not even one yet, he can’t walk, and he would probably just pull any shoes off, so I know the pants would stay on. Oh, and I already had them so I wouldn’t have to spend any money.). Next up was a blue shirt, a belt, and a hat. The shirt was easy, and I thought I would just use one of Emma’s belts turned inside-out to the black side. So then I went back to the craft store for more felt—red and white.

My brains must really be going to mush without being in school anymore, because I sat with my piece of red felt for a long time wondering what shape a cone is when it’s out flat. Eventually I gave up and consulted my handy friend the internet. I found 3 different versions of how to make a cone hat. One involved a full circle, one a half circle, and one a quarter circle. Considering I was making his costume an hour before our church’s trunk-or-treating, I knew there could be no mistakes. So I got out some paper, taped pieces together to be the same size as my felt, and experimented with all three methods. About the time I got done making paper examples, III woke up. So I now had a model! He was not as excited as I was. He thought he was waking up to get fed, and instead I just kept sticking things on his head.

Anyway, the circle cone was too short and wide, and the other two made nice cones (the quarter-cone being nice and tall), but none of them came close to fitting around his big head! Gnomes are supposed to have their hats down to their ears and these hats didn’t come close to fitting. But I had no more time and no more felt. So I decided to go with the half-circle, as it had a wider base, and was fairly tall. Now, in creating my model every website said to be very careful about making it even. They said to use a compass or a pencil with a piece of string tied to it. Of course I have no compass. I did find a pencil. And instead of string, I turned to my ever-trusty dental floss (also good for tying up a turkey to cook!). I was finally ready to cut my felt.

halloween 010

Taped the floss down at the center of the felt.

I also taped the felt down to the floor to make sure nothing moved. Then I traced my half-circle. Then I cut. By this time, III was starting to get cranky where I left him in his bedroom. He was even happier when I came in and stuck another thing on his head and then left again. But it was almost done! For some strange reason, the felt hat turned out much wider at the base than the paper one had, and this one actually fit on his head. So I wrapped the sides around and hot-glued the seam.

The cone

The cone

Next I added white eyebrows to the brim of the hat, and then took a break to feed the little gnome! After he had a little something in his tummy, I took advantage of the fact that he was stuck in his highchair and brought out the cone hat once more to measure the size for the chin strap. In between bites I attached elastic to the inside of the hat. Last, I cut out a beard-like shape to attach to the elastic. I figured he would never let the beard stay on, or would at least try to eat it, so I wanted it to be removable. I had some sticky Velcro dots laying around, and I put one on each side of the beard “straps” and the elastic band. We were ready a little late, but that’s pretty normal.

Here he is!

Here he is!

The belt ended up not really staying on, but the beard covered it from the front anyway, so we ditched the belt. Then he ended up pulling the beard off, leaving the Velcro behind, so I need to glue it back on (the fuzzy bits on the felt stuck to the dot, but then pulled apart from the rest of the felt). Still, I’m happy with the way it turned out!

Posing! (sort of)

Posing! (sort of)

The cost of this costume was $3.50 for the shirt (which can be worn when he grows into it!), $2 for felt, and then the leftover elastic and Velcro dots, which would add about another $5 if you bought them just for the costume.

Happy Halloween!

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

1
Tags: , , ,
Posted in Freestyle Fridays |

Internet Creativity

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Without the internet, I’m pretty sure I’d never make anything. I’m pretty sure I’d also get a lot more housework done. Because I’ve signed up for random contests and whatnot, I’m constantly getting e-mails from Better Homes and Gardens, and HGTV, and a bunch of other crafty/make-your-home-nice websites. And while part of me really wishes I didn’t waste so much time surfing, I am also really thankful I have it for a reference. (I am thinking of getting some kind of timer thing, though, so I can start limiting my time.)

Seriously though, the internet has become a source for creative projects, for dinner ideas, for how-to-potty-train-your-child ideas, and has filled a void that I suppose is present because so many of us are so disconnected from personal attention. And I don’t mean we all sit around being lonely, but particularly with things like cooking, I know I wasn’t raised to be a chef. It used to be that the children were taught all things related to running a household because that’s what existence meant. Now, we’re very focused on education, which I don’t think is a bad thing, but there’s just not as much time to pass on a lot of traditions. (I know, there are exceptions, and many kids do still learn a lot from their parents; let’s just say I’m talking about me, ok?)

So I’m thankful that when I want an idea for a different way to carve a pumpkin, I can just go to my computer and not only find some cool ideas, but find templates to print off that I can use! When I don’t know what to make with the random tuna and barley in my pantry, I can go online and find a recipe for a casserole (which really didn’t turn out too badly). When I don’t have a clue as to where to begin with decorations, or gardening tips, or whatever, all I have to do is Google it, and I have the advice of the masses. It can be overwhelming, and I know it’s not as personal as your own mother, but one person can only know so much, and it’s pretty stinkin’ cool that I can learn something from someone I’ll never meet who lives on the other side of the planet.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

0
Posted in Thankful Thursdays |

Homemade Halloween, Part I

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

So I’m not big on the whole homemade clothing thing, but when it comes to Halloween costumes, I not only do not want to spend too much money on a mass-manufactured, overpriced, and cheaply made store-bought costume, but I also want my kids to be unique. It seems to me that Halloween is the one time where having something made just for you isn’t lame. It’s creative, right? Well, that’s how I remember it as a kid anyway. I remember one year being so proud that I had found this weird stick in the yard that had this hole through the middle of it, and we used it in my hair so I could go as Pebbles from the Flintstones. I don’t remember anything else about the costume, but I remember thinking the bone-like stick in my hair was awesome because nobody else would have that. Now, maybe it was lame, but I didn’t think so at the time, and so far my own kids aren’t complaining, so here’s my how-to on our Halloween costumes this year!

For the major part of this last year Emma has been saying she wanted to go as a big m&m for Halloween. I don’t know where she got the idea, but she seemed pretty fixed on it. Then one day she randomly decided she would much rather be a flower, so all my m&m plans were forgotten and I moved on to focusing on how I was going to create a flower. Of course, she wanted her face to be the middle of the flower, and she wanted the flower to be pink. I thought of a lot of dumb ideas, and then one day came across a costume in one of my magazines for the Queen of Hearts. This is relevant because the face of the little girl was surrounded by a giant heart—similar to how I needed the flower to be. So I stole the idea and decided to make the flower out of stiff felt (which I only vaguely knew existed before reading about this costume).

I looked at some pictures of flower costume designs, but as usual, decided to just wing it. I knew the flower needed a center piece to go around her little face, and then pink petals to surround it, so I bought a bunch of white and pink felt, and some green for leaves, and headed home. Then Emma and I sat down to watch Anastasia and create her flower. I started with the easiest part of cutting a circle in the center of my white felt. I cut it very small and then continually annoyed Emma by holding it up to her face to see if it fit yet, while cutting more and more out of it. Eventually we had a perfect little Emma-hole. Now I wasn’t sure what to do. It needed to be thick enough to support the petals, but the piece of felt was only so big. And for once, I got smart. I got out some paper, and made a little petal stencil. I wasn’t entirely smart for the next part, but I did get lucky. I started placing the petal on the felt and tracing around it to create my center flower petals. Fortunately, the size I chose ended up fitting perfectly around the Emma-hole, without having the last one being smushed. Then I cut it out.

Next, I used the small stencil to create a large stencil that still followed the same shape, and I cut out as many petals as I could from my remaining felt.  I had 7 petals to work with. Here are my supplies thus far:

halloween 001

Then I placed them how I wanted them around the flower, and once again got to bust out my new hot glue gun! I glued it all together, and was actually very pleased with it. I could have bought more felt and put one more petal at the bottom, but I had originally planned not to have petals down on her chest because I thought they would get in the way. Maybe it would be better with petals all around, but I still like it anyway. I then took some elastic (3/4 in. thick) and hot-glued it to one side, measured it around Emma’s head, and hot-glued it to the other side as well.

Her first time trying on the flower. She was very excited!

Her first time trying on the flower. She was very excited!

The leaves are basically the same process, except I procrastinated and was making them the night before she needed them, so I just free-handed the cutting out. I had originally planned to have leaves around her neck or maybe on her arms, but she’s so tiny, and the flower petals cover most of her neck, so instead we decided to make a Tinker Bell-like leaf skirt.  I cut, glued, and then added some white felt cut into strips as ties so it can be put on like an apron.

halloween 006

The worst part was the store-bought part. I thought for sure I could find some plain green pants and shirt, but I couldn’t! I had bought some plain pants with a matching top that had a little picture on the front that I thought the leaf-necklace would cover up, but since we made it a skirt that wouldn’t work. I had also found a plain long-sleeve shirt that she ended up wearing, but the green was really clashy with the green in the pants, so she’s just wearing some pajama shorts she had, which don’t really match either, but aren’t as obtrusive. Anyway, at the end of the day Emma was really happy with her costume, and that’s what matters!

The Little Flower

The Little Flower

As an end note, I think I spent maybe $4 on felt, $2 on elastic (which I also used in III’s costume), and $3.50 on the shirt (which she can wear normally), so I think it was worth it money-wise, too! Stay tuned for my little gnome . . .

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

8
Tags: , ,
Posted in Wanderlust Wednesdays |

A Daring Day

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Today was my very first Daring Baker challenge. Of course, being the wonderful success that I am, I only remembered last night that the deadline was today, so I had to get in gear quickly! I went out to the grocery store and was fortunate enough to find almond flour last night, so I at least started today with all the ingredients. I had planned on baking while III was in his happy mood after breakfast—you can guess how well that plan worked out. He surprised me and slept until noon! Had I known that, I could have made the cookies before then, but I kept expecting him to wake at any moment, so I of course accomplished very little.

Anyway, I had to wait until his nap around 2:30 to get started. So I pulled out my 5 egg whites, which had been sitting out since last night (I read a bunch of posts that say 3-day aged whites are really good, but I didn’t have that much foresight). The next step was to whip them!

The egg whites . . . and beaters that don't reach them

The egg whites . . . and beaters that don't reach them

Don’t worry, I figured it out, and the eggs were beaten. It took about 10 minutes to get them to form soft peaks, and then I added the sugar and continued to beat. I was afraid of underbeating and overbeating, so I was beating on the lowest two settings and checking them at least every minute. I think total it took almost 20 minutes, but I got my peaks:

My eggs are peaked!

My eggs are peaked!

Next I folded in my flour/sugar mixture:

macaron 009

Then, using a Ziploc bag, I piped the batter onto my parchment-lined baking sheets. I was afraid they’d be too thick if I just squirted it in one big pile, so I sort of did a pinwheel onto the tray. Looking at pictures of other macarons, I think I should have piled them up, but it wasn’t a big deal.

Ready to go! See the swirls?

Ready to go! See the swirls?

So about the time I got the first tray filled, I heard III start to cry from the other room. Meanwhile, Emma had insisted she was tired, so she had laid down, but had been getting up every 2 minutes for various inane reasons. This really wasn’t a terrible time, as I had read that it helps to let the cookies sit out about a half hour to an hour before cooking, but it got worse . . . Emma came out crying, and I found her in the bathroom covered in the oranges she had eaten an hour earlier. Ick. Isn’t it great being a mom?

So my cookies got their chance to sit out while I cleaned and fed my children. Eventually Lloyd came home to help out, and I got back to my baking. Imagine my joy at pulling those cookies out and seeing their feet! I was convinced I would fail—either because that was just the way the day was going, or just because this was my first time trying and it seemed the most likely outcome.

Feet!

Feet!

Not as puffy as perhaps they should be, but still ok!

Not as puffy as perhaps they should be, but still ok!

The last part of the challenge was to fill the cookies and make a sandwich. Now, originally I was going to make pumpkin buttercream, but instead I took the easy road on this challenge, and used some caramel from a jar. Weak, I know, but still yummy!

The sandwiches

The sandwiches

I did it! One crazy day, but it ended sweetly! (Well, it’s not over yet, but dessert was good.)

The Macaron!

The Macaron!

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

1
Tags: , ,
Posted in Uncategorized |

Totally Tolerant

Monday, October 26th, 2009

So, remember how our family was going to cut out dairy as a little well-living experiment? Well, my husband gave up the first weekend, and refused to buy a dairy-free cookbook for me, and I seemed to be the only one who cared. (And by refused, I mean he kept procrastinating and telling me he was going to but never did.) But I persisted. I moved off of soy milk and on to rice because my stomach was constantly making weird noises after ingesting soy, which concerned me. I did continue eating soy yogurt, which didn’t have any weird effects on me, but it does taste a little funny. It’s somehow thicker than dairy yogurt, and maybe creamier.

I just stopped eating cheese, and used the rice milk in any recipe that called for milk, and really didn’t feel that encumbered by the change in milks. Really the lack of cheese is what did me in. I think Lloyd gave up when he realized going dairy-free meant no more pizza. And I should also mention that the price of dairy alternatives did not help the cause. I’m cheap, and spending twice as much money for half the amount of milk was not encouraging.

I was really trying to cut out anything that was remotely dairy-related; this meant not ingesting anything with whey or casein, which are basically milk proteins, and most people who avoid dairy due to allergies are not affected by them. Going this hard-core was really difficult. I have gained a whole new understanding for what it’s like to go grocery shopping with food allergies. It sucks. Not only are things more expensive, but I spent half my grocery trips reading labels, only to discover that most everything I picked up contained milk products. It was nice that most products list in bold if there is milk present, but really discouraging to discover all the things that do!

Unfortunately, the milk proteins are not counted as allergens, which upset me the most. I will explain why: I went shopping about 2 weeks in, determined to find a cheese-substitute. I had seen an advertisement for a veggie Parmesan cheese, and I was really craving some for spaghetti. So I picked up a container of it, only to read in the ingredients that it was made with casein, as was pretty much every other cheese substitute! Is it really fair to say something is not cheese when the main ingredient is from milk and cheese?! I believe that was the day my resolve started to waiver.

A week later, as we were eating yet another bowl of soup (remember how everyone was sick?), I randomly decided to look at the ingredients of the crackers I had been crumbling into my broth daily. Guess what? They’re made with milk. Now maybe you already knew that, but I guess I don’t really think about all the things milk is present in. It is a lot. (Oh, and earlier that day I was accepting Goldfish crackers from Emma as she shoved them in my mouth, and was thinking how divine they tasted . . . then I realized it was because they were made with cheddar cheese. Duh!)

Soup just isn’t as good without crackers. And I was stressed. I felt like I couldn’t eat anything. The only good thing was the tofutti ice cream bars, which I may just get again because I really did like them. Eating and cooking was a worse chore than ever before. So I decided to end it. All the little articles I was reading said that you should go at least 7 days dairy-free and then binge as you normally would to feel the difference. Everyone said you would feel just awful. Well, I didn’t technically go 7 days because of the crackers, but I also don’t know that the amount of milk in 5 crackers can possibly be that overpowering.

Saturday night. A nice pepperoni pizza. A Dairy Queen pumpkin pie blizzard. Bliss. No heartburn. No cramps. No lack of sleep. Nothin’.

I was a little disappointed. All that effort and it didn’t make me feel any different. I did lose about 5 pounds, but I’m not sure if that was because I cut out dairy, or because I barely ate since I couldn’t find anything to eat.

That’s it. The end of the dairy-free challenge. I am so sorry for those of you out there with diet restrictions. I understand now. (Well, not how eating foods makes you feel bad, but how hard it is to find things to eat anyway.) I still want to do more research on milk, and I still don’t believe it’s amazingly good for you, but I have no problem with it for the time being. And I do love pizza.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

1
Tags: , ,
Posted in Mediocre Mondays |

No Fun in Fundraising

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

As a kid, I was in the Girl Scouts and played soccer. That was it. So the only fundraising I remember doing was selling cookies, and I really don’t even remember doing that. I mean, I can remember sitting in at a Brownies meeting in our elementary school’s gymnasium, and being given a form to take forth and sell with. I also remember them enticing us with all the prizes we could win, and while feeling dreamily hopeful that the one super-seller would be me, there was also this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that was telling me I was going to let the whole troop down if I didn’t sell hundreds of boxes of cookies.

It was stressful. That’s what I remember. And I know I never won any prizes. I never knocked on any doors, or sat outside grocery stores pleading with complete strangers to buy some cookies. I’m thinking I got this anti-fundraising attitude from my parents, because really, how do children ever raise funds unless their parents are helping them do it? It probably also would have helped to have two parents who worked in offices where they could leave the form sitting on the break room table for anybody to order from, but I think my mom only worked with five other people, and my dad was in school (and I can’t really see him being the type to pass around cookie order forms).

Anyway, in getting Emma involved early in activities (in this case, dance), we have also gotten her involved in fundraising. On the one hand, I wanted to simply toss it aside, but on the other, I’m a saver, and I wanted her to raise a little money because that means a little less that I have to fund myself. The money goes toward their costumes, which weigh in at a ridiculous cost of sixty-five dollars. Roughly. No wonder I never did anything fun as a child. I recognize that there are teachers to pay, and buildings to keep running, but spending all this money on Emma really makes me jealous, especially when she still can’t even hop on one foot. Couldn’t my money be better spent on something more useful—like new shoes??

Anyway, their brilliant fundraising scheme is selling candles. Candles. They come in 2 sizes and 7 scents. That’s it. Don’t get me wrong, I like having a few candles around, and I’m thinking of investing in more just in case our country comes under nuclear attack and all our power is wiped out and the only source of light available will be by candle (well, fire in general), but it’s not the greatest fundraising item. I think they need to diversify. Throw in some candy or at least something edible.

At first we ignored the fundraising because it seemed annoying that she could only sell candles, and I didn’t know who to sell them to. I have about 1 friend (who did buy a candle), and the only other time I see people is at church, but we couldn’t sell there because there is another little girl that goes to the same dance school and she already hit everybody up. Granted, a few well-placed eyelash flutters probably could have gotten Emma few sales, but I just didn’t want to pimp my daughter out like that.

So. Finally, the day the order forms were due, I decided we’d make one little visit to Daddy’s office (even though there is a mother of a dancer in that office, too), but I insisted Emma must do the asking (which really was sort of silly because I don’t think she really gets the concept or understands the relevance of raising the money. No matter what, she knows she will still get a costume, so why worry, right?). We practiced a little speech, and she seemed ready to go. We even talked about Daddy’s friends in the office specifically, so that she would know who she was going to talk to.

First up was Lloyd’s boss, who Emma is typically very chatty to. Suddenly, she locked up. Wouldn’t show him the flyer, wouldn’t even get out from behind my legs. Not even a smile. Some salesman she turned out to be. So then we moved on to one of the ladies in the office, and Emma did a complete about-face! She walked right up, held out the flyer, and said, “Would you like to buy a candle? I’m selling them so I can get a costume for my dance class.” And she smiled. Who can say no to that?? She made her first sale.  (I might also point out that before Emma could open her mouth, her wonderful father prefaced with, “This is really the most horrible thing ever. You shouldn’t buy anything. It’s overpriced and just ridiculous and useless. Really, why couldn’t they sell something people actually want?” so she had some odds to overcome, too.)

Total she sold 5 candles. Not incredibly impressive, but it did save me 25 bucks. And reminded me how obnoxious fundraising is. Whether it’s a car wash, a bake sale, or some catalog of chocolate, it’s still no fun . . . which is probably why I say yes to every poor child who asks me to help them out.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

1
Tags: ,
Posted in Freestyle Fridays |

Coolness

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

We’re finally entering into cooler weather here in Texas, and I am so thankful. I am quite the winter-lover. Today was a “cool” day, and absolutely beautiful: slightly cloudy, a slow breeze, and about 65°. This is the time of year when our part of Texas becomes nice. We get lots of rain, so everything is green, and you don’t sweat through your underwear just going for a walk around the block.

Today I am doubly thankful for the cool weather, as it seems to have revived my dead garden! The vines have finally slowed down in their mission to overrun the entire yard, and have settled into fruit-making. I went out to look at things today, and imagine my surprise when I saw this:

It's about the size of my fist

It's about the size of my fist

Now, clearly this pumpkin will not ripen in time for us to carve him up for a nice Halloween jack-o-lantern, but maybe he could fill in as a tasty Thanksgiving pie. He wasn’t the only one out there, either. There were two other little pumpkin buds, and while there have been others in the past that ended up withering, maybe with this nice weather they will actually survive. I am curious about pumpkin-raising in Texas though. There are plenty around, so I know it’s possible to have them by October, but how?? Not that I really care; I’m just a little curious.

Also, despite the fact that I wrote off the garden and quit trying to take care of it, the tenacious tomato plants seem to be doing ok, even with the pumpkins trying desperately to take them down. They’re just cherry tomatoes, but check it out:

They're almost the right size!

They're almost the right size!

I found a total of four tomatoes, which is more than I anticipated! Let’s hope the critters stay away long enough for them to finish growing—I’d really like to eat at least one thing from my garden (do birds eat tomatoes? I heard I can put a silver pinwheel out to scare them away…maybe I should do that).

So that’s it. Beautiful weather brings a revival of life and hope to my garden, and I guess to me, too!

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

0
Tags: , ,
Posted in Thankful Thursdays |

The Wreath

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

In the last 5 years, we’ve lived in 5 different homes (6 if you count crashing with our friends for a few weeks between residences!), and I really haven’t gotten much better at decorating. Our first apartment was pretty much an homage to student living; I don’t remember having anything other than a clock hanging on the wall, and the floor was constantly littered with papers and textbooks. Then I got pregnant, and Lloyd’s sister was coming to live with us while she started school, so we moved to a wonderfully-priced apartment in the basement of someone’s home. I really loved that apartment. It was only two bedrooms, but it was so nice. Our decor consisted of pictures. Lots and lots of pictures, all taken by Lloyd, and all hung by Lloyd. I put some candles on the shelf between the kitchen and living rooms, and that was it.

I did have a moment of domestic creativity, though. After Lloyd’s sister had moved out, and baby Emma had moved into her own room, I used a weekend while Lloyd was out of town to redo our bedroom. I put those little hooks for hanging plants in the ceiling above our bed, and then rested adjustable curtain rods between them. Then I draped gauze curtains from the rods so it looked like a canopy bed. I also bought some artwork to put at the head of our bed (we’ve never owned a headboard), and hung a few cute pictures of our family on the wall. I bought an old recliner and lamp to put in the corner of our room along with a bookcase that had been in another room. It was all pretty inexpensive and I loved it. I was also very proud of it (which is why I recapped the whole thing—reliving the glory days).

But then we decided to “invest” in a home, in the hopes of fixing it up and selling it for enough to at least pay off my student loans. I won’t get into the depressing story of debt that followed, but besides painting all the rooms (which was a pain, but I did like the colors in all the rooms), not a single bit of decoration ever graced the walls of that fixer-upper. And Lloyd left for his new job in Texas before it was even finished.

Of course, the house didn’t sell right away, so we found the cheapest place we could stand so that we could sort of afford to pay the mortgage and rent, and we spent the first few weeks just cleaning the layers of grime off of walls and counters and light switches (oh, and by now I was pregnant with #2 as well). At this point we were sick of just getting by in another blah home—and we lived so close to an IKEA—so we did buy some new things to make our little rental a little nicer. We put some shelves up  on the wall for books, and we hung a few pictures. Really the only improvement we made was buying a stand for our tv and putting down a rug, but it was something.

So now the point of this whole story (besides just giving you something to waste your time on; I feel like I’ve got two weeks to make up for, so I might as well throw some history in): I have been determined not to let this second house to be just a stopping point. It needs our personality. It is completely new, so it doesn’t need new drywall or cabinets; it just needs decor. I started by painting Emma’s room and our room, and then we bought Emma a super-cute bed and a pink curtain to hang over it, and her room is totally hers. I love it. But that’s pretty much everything.

Now, budget is a big factor in decorating, so I recognize that I can’t do a lot, and really shouldn’t be spending money on anything, but just like the Sims who get happier when you make their home nicer, I get happier when my home is nicer, too. I don’t want to feel like I’m living in an empty box. Even if we do move again in 6 months, I want to feel like my home is mine.

So I’ve turned to crafts.

I’m not much of a crafty person, but I respect the creativity and energy most projects take. On a whim, while at the craft store getting felt for Halloween costumes, I picked up a grapevine wreath to decorate. I’ve always wanted to hang a wreath on my door, and I do like the idea that I can be original and unique (plus, I really wanted an excuse to buy a hot glue gun–I love those things!). And finally, I composed my wreath, and am actually quite proud of it:

Happy Fall/Halloween!

Happy Fall/Halloween!

Here's the little ghost I decided to make to give it some Halloween flair. I'm thinking I can put a turkey here later.

Here's the little ghost I decided to make to give it some Halloween flair. I'm thinking I can put a turkey here later.

Isn't hot glue amazing?! It can hold a whole pumpkin!

Isn't hot glue amazing?! It can hold a whole pumpkin!

I also stole some of Emma’s pipe cleaners to add some sparkle. Total, I think this cost about $8 to make, and I have more leaves and orange ribbon left over. They may be fake leaves, but even the store-bought wreaths with fake leaves cost $13 for the cheapest ones.

I feel kind of dorky for being so proud of it, but this is what my life has come to. Even though I hated homework, I was good at it, and always pleased to get a good grade. Now, I’ve got no one assigning me anything, and the things I accomplish are the same every day: dishes, laundry, sweeping, etc. I need new assignments. Even if I’m not too crafty, and end up being stressed by all the choices and where to put things, I still take joy from meeting a challenge. Felt about like a homework project, actually.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

1
Tags: , ,
Posted in Wanderlust Wednesdays |

In A Funk

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Ok, I know I haven’t been around for a little while, and there’s a sort of good reason for that. I’ve just been in a bit of a funk. Plus, half my family was sick for a while, and we spent our days watching tv shows on Netflix, with no thoughts of blogging even making their way to my peripheral thinking. I’m going to try to be back, but here’s the thing: When I started blogging for real, it was good for me. I enjoyed it, and I was able to find time to do it. In the last couple of weeks, the idea of blogging became more of a chore, and nobody likes chores! I kind of just wanted to do nothing for a while, and that’s pretty much what I did (I am not proud of the state of my toilet right now). And I also started to feel guilty about choosing to type rather than choosing to load the dishwasher. Maybe you don’t think that’s too bad of a choice, but add all those things together and my outlet was no longer an outlet.

Since then I’ve been doing things again, and I’m feeling a little excited about sharing things. I think I’ll still try to stick to the categories, but I may have some random posts for a while. I’m working on creating some sort of organized day for myself and the kids, and maybe if there is a predictable schedule, I can get my posting done predictably!

So, here’s what you have to look forward to:

*Update on the Dairy-free challenge
*My fall/Halloween wreath
*Halloween costumes
*More Joy School details
*My tiny dancer
*An exercise challenge?
*My first Daring Baker challenge!
*Some thought-related posts (rather than action)

Don’t give up on me yet! I’m still a work wife in progress. ;)

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

3
Posted in Uncategorized |

I Am Insane; The Phone Is Dead

Monday, October 5th, 2009

A few weeks ago my phone stopped working. It may have been because of baby drool, or it may have been something inside the phone that just snapped shortly after being gnawed on by a baby (I can understand the feeling). Whatever the cause, I will never know it. And I think it’s time to let go.

For the first day, I tried turning it on again at least twenty times, hoping that the next time I pressed that power button would be the time to make it magically come back to life. After all, it was working immediately after the baby attack; it was only several hours later that the phone turned black, never to relight again. I tried plugging the phone in and turning it on, but still to no avail.

Next, I ordered a new battery, which took over a week to arrive. Then I spent at least an hour or more trying various things to make the phone turn on—taking the SIM card out, taking the memory stick out, plugging the phone in, unplugging it. You get the picture.  At this point it would occasionally blink a red light, which I thought meant good news—some small flicker of life (if only I could chant “I do believe in cell phones” to make that light stronger!). The phone also got pretty warm, so there was obviously some electricity going in and doing something. After no success, I gave up for a while. But I still hoped.

After a week or so of using my stand-in phone, which has absolutely nothing to brag about, I decided to try again. This time I looked online for troubleshooting. I followed every suggestion. I cleaned my phone with alcohol, I pushed random buttons while standing upside down and clapping one-handed (well, not really, but almost; the many things they suggest become quite ridiculous), and still the phone refused to live again.

So today, even though we just got back from our trip and there is much unpacking to do, I decided to finally call technical support. Well, first I chatted with technical support, where they provided me with more magical combinations of button-pushing, and I’ll be honest, I really thought something was going to work this time (this is why I am insane). I think I avoided this step because I knew that once my options were completely spent on getting suggestions for how to make my phone work then it really would be dead. And everything I had saved on there would be gone forever. (As a side note, the phone I had when Emma was a baby abruptly died after she chewed on the charger port, and nothing brought that one back. I should have learned my lesson and not saved so much information only on my phone, but I didn’t.)

Last, I called. I spoke to some guy that spoke in such an accent so as to be nearly unintelligible (another reason why I dreaded calling). So, despite the fact that my phone will not turn on, he had me download some software update to my computer, and plug my phone into the computer (the plugging the phone into the computer part I had previously tried for another solution, and the computer did not recognize that anything was plugged into it, so at this point I was very skeptical that my phone could receive a software update that would magically fix it). Guess what?

Nothing happened.

I just kept watching the screen display its little video of plugging the cable into the phone, and I kept trying it, and nothing continued to happen. So I called one more time. This time, I was told my only option left was to send it in…ok, how much does that cost?? I thought maybe fifty bucks, which would be unreasonable, but I would consider it to have my sweet phone back—I mean, it’s practically an extension to my arm. But just to send it in to have it looked at (no promises if they could fix it) would set me back $135. Shoot. I could buy a better phone than my Dearly Departed on ebay for that.

So ends my trial. Today I am letting the phone go. It is dead. There will be no resurrection—not even in a brainless zombie form. But I am still insane, because I still want to push that power button one more time, and I still believe just maybe I could have a different outcome.

Of course, the real insanity here is how attached I am to an inanimate object. Really, I should be working on letting go of that attachment, but I have absolutely no clue as to how to do that. I certainly don’t love my new phone as much; I think some of Emma’s toy phones are more sophisticated. But it still represents my connection to the world. And without a phone, I feel alone and isolated. How’s that for sad and pathetic?

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

1
Tags:
Posted in Mediocre Mondays |
« Older Entries