Menu Boards

Here are the finished projects that I started on Monday. I love how different they all are. It all started with my desire to help my little sister be less stressed in the evenings.

Working a full time job AND being a Mother is like having three full time jobs. I wish I lived closer so I could help in a real physical way....but alas...it is not to be. Yet.

So I took sheet metal and glued it in a frame and Mod Podged scrapbook paper to it. I made magnets with glass marble thingies with a flat side and more paper and Mod Podge.  

I printed some dinner ideas and laminated them. I folded an envelope to store them in and a hook at the bottom and there you have it.

I have this one sold to one of Kim's friends in Idaho. I hope she likes it. I am still trying to decide how to hang them. I love them in a big easel on the counter, but some folks (me included) don't have the counter space.

I have made a menu for years now and I love it. I make a list of things I will need (I usually make a two week menu, cuts down on going to the store) to make dinner for the week (or two) and BAM! Done and done.

I do hope this will help Kim with her hectic evenings. Planning for a weeks worth of meals on one day and getting all of the shopping out of the way is very helpful. I will probably send her a link for some freezer meals too. Those are always great to have on hand.

So if you know of anyone looking to buy a menu board....I have the yellow and gray one and the orange and gray available right now. 

Next project will be a chore chart. Wish me luck :)

Project Day

I love project day! Of course any day is project day at my house. It just so happens that I have a CUSTOM ORDER!! Yep, someone liked one of the projects I made for Kim so much that she wanted to pay MONEY for one. (Real American money...not even rubles or Pesos!!)

Still kind of in shock. But now the pressure is on. Will she like the finished product? Crap...it was a lot easier to just give away any extra projects I made (you know the three project rule)....but this one was a little too spendy to make three just for the heck of it.

So I am making a couple and will probably post them on Facebook to see if there is any interest. OH SNAP!!! The ultimate form of rejection....what if no one likes them....sheesh. Oh well. At that point I will just give them to Good Will. They won't let me down ;)

Without realizing it I have found the PERFECT colors for my craftroom re-do. Was I planning to paint? NO! But oh my color-love!!! Look at that coral-y pink and the navy....swoon!!! Throw in the gray that is on the other side of the navy and I am in LOVE!! Jim is going to be so happy!! bahahahahaaaaa!!!! {sorry honey}

So for now, happy Monday!!!

Honing My Skills aka Avoiding the Vacuum

Why is it so hard some days to focus on what I am SUPPOSED to be doing. Hey wait, who says what I'm supposed to be doing? Not my Mom...My hubby gave up on that years ago...Who is it that I owe this debt of guilt to? Huh...anyhoo...I was SUPPOSED to be vacuuming and doing laundry and dusting, you know stuff that needs done during the day. But I didn't feel like it. I would start to move in that direction and would get pulled back to my craft room.

The problem was I bought some fabric a while back and wanted to get these 30 minute table runners made. Did I NEED them? No. Was my life going to be less without them? No. But they are pretty and easy and I needed something pretty AND easy....and let's face it, vacuuming and laundry are neither of those. 

SO I sat down at my sewing machine and in less than an hour had three pretty (and easy) table runners to feather my nest. I do love quick, easy projects. They match nicely with my ADD!

I think this one is my favorite. I am still working on the pumpkin placement...I only took out half of my collection this year. Who really needs 40 zillion pumpkins anyway?

Next on the project list (other than a couple requests from my sweet, adorable, lovely sister...) will be a sash for my Life Badges. It will look similar to a Girl Scout sash...maybe with a little more glitz and glam.

What are Life Badges you ask...Simple. When you have learned a life skill, such as patience (that is a hard one to earn) or balance or even kindness you get a badge to sew (or hot glue, if you are in that camp) onto your sash. The beauty of the badge is once you have earned it, you no longer have to work on that life skill. It is yours. No repeat lessons required.

Now obviously to have mastered patience you must be patient for more than an hour. Probably even more than a day. Let's say two days. If you are patient in all your dealings for two whole days, the badge is yours. Similar time constraints can be established for each Life Badge. Some will be longer, some shorter depending on the skill required. Honesty for some will be harder than patience, while balance might come easy and happy might take a bit. No matter. It will all be worth it for the badge. Do you want a sash? What Life Badge will you be working on first? What will be hard for you? I myself, will be working on....being self motivated. I figure in three days I'll have it mastered and then I can move on....(bahahahaa) Aahhhhh.....if only......

Clampett Style

We loaded all of Jo's things in the truck Clampett style...if only they'd had duct tape!! She didn't have much. Not many kids her age do. Just enough to fit in a small one bedroom apartment.

The backseat was filled with boxes and blankets and more memories than I could count.

I only took a couple photos of the inside. I will take more when I see her in October. They have a nice living area complete with T.V., chair and a futon (for those pesky visits from ME!). 

Their room. Big enough for a bed and two small dressers, and hotter than blue blazes!! Had a hard time sleeping. 

The other side of the room...the BIG dresser...to make up for the not so big closet. Oh well. They will learn to be very organized this way.

Tiny but functional bathroom. There is a nice sized linen closet to hide all their junk...if they'll use it.

The step saver kitchen has a cozy feel...like being upside down in a sleeping bag with your sister sitting on your feet. Cozy...

To take these pictures I didn't even have to move my feet. So convenient!!

Even with it's creaky floors and lack of cross breeze ventilation...this apartment is so cute. It could be because my baby Jo and her bestie Steph live there that I can't help but like it. She is going to love her independence and living so close to all of her friends. I will tell you about my (almost) pod of people moment. We were on our way home and we stopped at a gas station. I was washing my hands in the rest room and turned to grab a paper towel to dry them with. A person came out of the stall and I froze. I would have sworn in that second that this person was not the same gender as I. At that moment I didn't know who had gone in the wrong door...but I was sure it had to be me! I was so freaked out that I was in the men's room that I flung my paper towel somewhere near the trash and RAN out of there. Luckily I did not try to speak. Who knows what bad things would have happened then. I went to the pop cooler to find my love and I something to hydrate ourselves with and that same person was coming to the shelf next to me. Upon closer inspection it turns out she really was in the right place and SO WAS I!! She had the manliest haircut I've seen on a woman and the most painful looking facial piercings ever. Her tattooed arms and gruff demeanor finished her overall appearance. She was a woman...and a butch one at that. If she noticed my scramble for the door she probably assumed that her appearance somehow had me ruffled. While that is somewhat true...that fact of the matter is I really thought I had screwed up and gone into the men's room. So all is well that ends well I suppose. Fun things always happen when you least expect them....and usually in the bathroom!!!

Now That She's Gone

Now that Jo is in her own place I felt I could really clean her bathroom and it would stay that way for more than three days. This isn't a true before photo. I would DIE if you saw the real before. Let's just say that is photo represents two hours of sweat and maybe a little swearing.

I needed to replace a few things while I was at it. I'll give you a complete run-down when I get the paint touched up and everything. We seem to have bright red hair dye ON EVERYTHING! I put some contact paper n the shelves to hide the dye. I like the way it turned out.

This clock was upstairs but looks good here and is functional. See, the outlet goes dead when the light switch gets turned off. Great if your daughter forgets to turn off her flat iron....bad if she uses an alarm clock in the bathroom to tell time. 

Not a ton of accessories. No cute matchy, matchy towels, just a clock, a candle and some q-tips in a jam jar. 

I'll keep working on it and let you see the rest when it is done. I am so excited for it to BE and STAY clean!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Epic Fail

 I have to say, I am not proud of the photos you are about to see. In fact I am appalled and disgusted. I just want to show you them as a cautionary tale. My daughter's room isn't one I walk by very often, and her door is closed most of the time. 

I'm not saying I was deluded enough to think it was in pristine condition. But I really wasn't prepared for the sight I encountered. A little context...the bottom right picture is of some biscuits from KFC that we had for dinner on JUNE 29TH!!!! Gross.....

Dishes, old food, dvd's and clothes are just the top layer. The book "Not About Birds" is from the bookshelf of my parents 30 years ago!! If you want them to feel like crap about themselves and never want to have sex....have your kids read this!! Jo did have a bit of a hoarding problem. She LOVES the bags from Victoria's Secret and other stores. She feels terrible throwing them out.

These are some "during" photos. You can see some definite improvement. The clothes are either put away or in the hamper. The dishes are gathered up and we are beginning the "Store", "Donate", and "Trash" piles. At this point, I wanted to give up. I was tired. But we pushed through and made more progress. Just a side note....never, ever let your kid use hair color in their room ON THE CARPET. I thought that it would be a common sense thing...maybe not.

I'd like to say that these are the "After" photos....but they're not. There is still a little to do...but after four hours, I tapped out. We will finish it up before she moves it all out in a couple weeks. Until then, at least I won't vomit looking at it. 

So I will deal with my failure as a Mother and try to impress upon Jo the value of doing a little everyday so it doesn't get out of control. With a bruised ego I encourage you all to make sure your kids know how to clean....and how to stay out of the sty :) I thought I had. Kevin seems to have figured it out. I guess Jo will too. Sheesh.