The Days Are Just Packed... With Eve-isms

"You can't see me, Mom."

(Eve is mad at me. You can tell b/c she pulled up the non-skid surface from under the rug. She does that when she's mad at me. So odd.)

"Aren't there child labor laws?"

Eve loves playing in the kitchen sink.

I hope this is always the case. Like when she's 16. And helps clean the dishes.

"I love oatmeal facials."

"And hand facials too. Oatmeal rocks."

Totally random: A friendly seahorse appeared in our nativity this year.

Random.

Marker fun. She IMMEDIATELY drew on her face.

And didn't appear to know that markers are not for faces.

Jean Jacket

"Please, Mom? Please can I have a jean jacket just like my friend?"

I tucked her plead in the back of my mind.

And one day, a beautiful GAP jean jacket appeared at a very nice second hand store for $5.

I snatched it up.

She put it on and beamed with pride. She buttoned every button up to her neck.

And then, because she loves American Girl stuff, she made her own patch out of Sculpey. It says "AG" for "American Girl". We put a pin on the back.

A momma loves to see the pride in her child's eyes.

Christmas, Er, New Years Party

It's the thick of January. We've been breezing through 20 degree days, but today was definitely an "I am January, hear me ROAR" kind of day with its brisk below zero weather.

I have an amazing cold for which I must take drugs that require me to show my driver's license and sign forms, letting me know that the federal government will be monitoring my use of said drugs. Something about how I won't be using them in a meth lab.

I am at that time of year where I don't care how I look, so long as I am warm. And from what I can tell in my surveillance at the grocery store, others subscribe to this same notion. Dark, beefy jackets insulate hardy Chicagoans from the bitter temps. Plus, the jackets hide the flub-flub from December's Christmas cookies. It's win-win.

But on this particular chilly evening, I am being encouraged to join my husband at his company's New Year celebration. I think it's really a Christmas party that's really, really late, but that's just me.

For a few hours, I will learn to suppress my cold symptoms and my lack of feel-sexiness to meet my husband's boss and coworkers.

This feat will require a vast amount of aforementioned drugs and, AND, a really cute outfit to mask the glazed look in my eyes.

Enter dress and shoes.

This Christmas my hubs bought me this amazing vintage style dress. I felt so lovely that he would even CONSIDER buying me a dress on his own accord. He will admit that I dropped a fairly heavy hint, but to my defense: I drop hints all the time. :)

And then, because all I had were dowdy winter dress shoes, I bought these. I mean, sweet mercy, how could I resist the ruffles. On shoes. And on sale.

What's more, studies show that if you wear beautiful clothes when you feel lousy, you'll feel 67% less lousy.

So wish me luck, friends.

And if you're feeling a little punk, put on your favorite necklace, taking care to not let it touch your Vapor-Rub on your face and chest. You'll feel much better.

January

It's January.

We have colds. And sinus infections and coughs.

But secretly we LIKE to hibernate. Watch movies. Dilly dally.

We're purging our house of excess.

We're correcting storage that doesn't work for us.

And me? I'm dreaming of sewing. My sewing room is under renovation too. For just a bit.

So for now, I tease myself by buying vintage feed sacks on ebay.

Which may or may not turn into some summer wear for Eve.

But probably will.

But I'm not committing.

Addicted? Guilty.

Hall Makeover

The hall in my stairs looks like this:

I mean, it's not horrible, but it certainly doesn't rise up to meet you.

How I transformed my stair hallway.

Alternate title: How I refused to pay gallery frame prices and still get the look.

First I should notify you that I adore gallery frames.

I love the look of frames that are wider on the sides than the front.

And I love when they're matted in gallery style, with big, chunky margins.

First, I found gallery frames online.

I'm not going to tell you where I bought mine because I would not recommend them.

But if you Goo*gle "gallery frames" you'll find them.

Here's what mine looked like when I got them in the mail.

They came with a mat, but I was planning on replacing it anyway.

Now I don't know about you, but something about putting GLASSED frames in my STAIR HALLWAY spells disaster. In fact, my sister had a glass disaster in her hallway with one of her four children. I'm not saying WHO it was, but it was the wild one. :)

So I purchased inexpensive plexiglass fills at Hobbylobby.com. They were only about $2 apiece.

Then I took some some compressed air... you know that stuff you use to clean your keyboard from crumbs and such? That's it. Available at office supply stores.

Spray the air on your plexi to get all the little specks off of it.

Now before I go further, here's the type of mat I had made for my frames. It has a very generous bottom margin, just like the way galleries frame. You can try to cut your own mats with a mat cutter or you can order them through your local hobby store. Remember to bring the frame with you so that they can cut exact measurements.

When it's time to tape your photo to your mat, you'll want to only tape the TOP of the photo. This allows the photo to breathe and not buckle during humid months.

It's best to use acid free tape if you can find it.

I had six frames made and I LOVE the look. The entry shows my two girls walking hand in hand.

Here's a closeup:

And then I can enjoy pics of my family as I walk up and down the stairs.

I like to think it makes household chores a little brighter because it reminds me of the reason I'm doing it.

I could be wrong. :)

It's so great to be greeted by this summery picture of Morgan.

Makes it all worth it.

The cost for this project can vary.

I found my gallery frames for about $20-30 (discount the more you buy)

The mats were about $16 apiece to have cut.

The photos were about $2-3 to have printed at Kodakgallery.com. *love*

And the plexi was $2 each.

Each frame probably cost me about $45 which isn't cheap, but now that I've made the initial investment, I can switch out the photos in the future and keep the custom look.

Plus, it hides the fact that my walls needs to be painted. Hehe

I'd love to hear how others decorate their halls.

MOPS Craft: Kitchen Sink Wreath

Sweet mercy, I love a good craft project. And I love coordinating the crafts for my MOPS friends. It's so much fun. This is what I planned for them for Friday.

A Kitchen Sink Wreath

A what?

It's a wreath you can easily hang above your kitchen sink to give you joy. And in this case, I added a tag with the Bible verse from Matthew 25:40: "Whatever you do for the least of these, you for for me."

Which gives me hope because most of what I do feels undone really quickly. Amen?

What You'll Need

4" Grapevine Wreath Form

6" x 6" Sheet of Moss (Like SuperMoss® All Purpose Moss Mat, avail. at Joann Crafts)

Glue and Glue Gun

12" Ribbon

Scissors

Instructions:

You're going to be cutting your moss into pie pieces on the OUTSIDE and the INSIDE, but not where your wreath form is. You'll see.

1. Start by cutting an 8-piece "pie" in the middle of your form.

2. Do the same with the outside of the moss... Cut eight slices on the outside edge. This will enable you to wrap "slices" of the moss around your wreath form. While you're at it, cut the outside edge of your square so that they're more circular. See pic.

3. Glob some hot glue on your grapevine wreath and wrap one section of your outside moss onto the form.

Don't be stingy with the glue. :)

4. Continue in this pattern around the wreath until all the outside is wrapped.

See?

5. Now do the same to the inside, overlapping the outside moss. It's very forgiving. Can you see any seams? I can't.

6. Now attach a 12" ribbon so you can hang it. I added a Bible verse to remind me that whatever I do (including washing dishes) is important.