Burlap Runner

Recently in a certain catalog, I saw images of burlap and fun uses of type.

It gave me an idea for my MOPS group craft: Burlap table runners.

First, I printed out large letters in a few different fonts.

Then I slid the paper under the burlap. I wanted to make sure that the letters shown through because...

... I was going to take a Sharpie permanent marker and gently rub it against the burlap to make it look like an old potato or coffee sack.

From far away, it had a neat effect. I had to play around with the pressure of my Sharpie, but I found a groove.

One of the runners looked like this:

I also tried one with lots of words covering the entire runner. That one was especially fun.

It was like a big puzzle. Whenever I found an open space, I tried to find a word that would fit or simply used some other graphics elements to fill the space: a star or asterisk for example.

I wish I could tell you that burlap is washable.

It's not machine washable, but you can spot clean it.

The best part is that this project is relatively inexpensive.

Burlap runs $3 a yard. Most places have coupons to get it half off.

These runners were 14" wide by 72" long.

Two yards of burlap made 3 runners with a little extra burlap for fun.

Hope my MOPS friends will enjoy the craft!

Morning

I have been married to Dan Dykstra for a decade now. I like to say "decade" because it sounds so much more mature than "ten years". It's like the tenure of marriage and makes me feel very experienced, like when a certain six year old tells me "I'm six AND A HALF."

Even though we've known each other all this time, I was not prepared for the new ways I would get to know Dan this summer. It started when my husband took a sabbatical from work. He was home a lot. He began brewing coffee every morning and inviting me to join him under the pergola for some joe.

I can't say that I jumped at the chance to join him for coffee. I'm kind of a fidgety person. When someone asks me to "sit and visit", I'd rather they asked me to help them paint their entire house with a one-haired paintbrush. Really.

So when Dan invited me to coffee, it took a while for me to realize that he's offering something simple and precious and I better take him up on it.

It started with coffee.

Then we started reading the Bible.

We didn't buy a book on how to read the Bible.

We just read the Bible.

Sometimes we'd have fantastic conversations about God and other times we'd roll our eyes at the long run-on sentences, grasping very little.

But it didn't matter because we were in it together.

Sometimes we'd talk. Sometimes it would lead to prayer.

And some mornings we'd sleep in because the outside air made us drowsy.

I love these mornings because they're simple and real and connect me with Dan and God.

This simple act of getting up together and talking, drinking, reading, praying and laughing was one of the most meaningful times we have spent together.

I don't know why I'm speaking in the past tense.

Well, maybe I do.

We' ve had a few curve balls that want to change our morning routine. The kids have had some sickness. Most recently Dan had a day which I will heretofore refer to as "the day that came from the bad place"; some health problems caused him to have an onset of seizures. I'm always sad for him when he has seizures. It produces a sleepy, foggy Dan for a few days. He's "there" but he's not. So I miss him. He's my best friend.

Today I will let him rest and visit with his parents. I won't discuss high minded things with him. I won't talk about home improvements or bills or Morgan's school work. I'll just be his companion. When his body adjusts from his recent episodes, we'll ease back into our gentle morning routine. With coffee. And laughter.

Eve and Blogging

From the moment I started my new blog, I told myself that I would never blog out of guilt. I'd only blog when I felt like it... or when my 1 year old allowed it.

Apparently Eve thought I needed some blog fodder.

She's getting more independent these days.

She can feed herself.

And entertain herself.

"Look at Mommy," I said to her.

"No," she said.

Then she gave me her new fake smile.

Adorable.

She's not a bit contrite.

I'll blog again. When the Eve lets me. :)

First Day as a First Grader

Here is a proud first grader.

And her proud little sister.

The photo shoot with Eve didn't go too well:

We tried to take a pic with the whole family...

But then we gave up and just took a pic with three of us.

Confident first grader.

Proud papa!

Momma and Morgan.

Reluctant Eve:

Ten Year Vows

Dear Dan,

If I married you again, knowing what I do now, the vows would go something like this:

I want to be with you in your highs and lows.

I want to be the quiet hand that slips into your hand during the storm.

I want to be the deliriously screaming woman when we hear that you're accepted.

At a new school.

At a new job.

I want to have your babies and I want them to be big, fat babies... AFTER I give birth to them.

I want to build a mudroom with you and then roll my eyes when you actually get mud in it.

I want to laugh with you during totally inappropriate times.

Like during church hymns that say funny words.

And solemn TV shows.

I want to share a knowing look with you when our daughter knocks on our door because she's scared at night... and wants a sleepover with us.

I want to walk down every path of life with you.

The wedding aisle for starters.

Hospital halls... the sad ones AND happy ones.

I want to kiss you in front of our children and watch them make faces of disgust; secretly they'll like it.

I want to be the woman who forgives because I have been forgiven a hundred thousand more times than you.

I want to look fabulous for you, especially at forty. And make you smile at the new lines in my face because of all our life and laughter.

I want to flirt with you in public and pretend we just met. Even though we've been together a decade. Flirt, flirt, flirt.

And when we're older and tired, I want to ease gently into heaven with you and cause a new raucous with you there.

My Morgan

She's going to school in one week.

My Morgan.

The one who takes my red flowers...

...and wears them on her feet.

The one who loves to make me laugh.

And has no problem entertaining herself.

The one who doesn't know yet that she's very pretty and will break many a guy's heart.

My Morgan... The Loose Toothinator.

The one who is starting to wear pretty things in her hair and... *gasp* play eye shadow.

*sigh*

The one who my Eve wants to be like.

In one week there will be a first grader in my house.

Got Mud?

Oh wow... What a week!

After many a moon, we have come near the end of our mudroom renovation journey. This has been a huge project. I'm not going to lie to the bloggisphere that it was "so easy" or "only took a few hours."

However... by phasing out our remodeling, we were able to be easier on our budget, energy and our time. It's frustrating at times because we wanted to just get the project done. But we have small children who we love dearly and they come first.

A little flashback: We started back in January with a former galley laundry room. We moved the laundry room into an upstairs closet directly above its former location.

Here's the room before we did much to it:

We put in a slate tile floor. We bought the stocked slate at Home Depot.

And then for many months, we used a store bought bench we had on hand to be a placeholder for where our custom mudroom bench was going to be. Even though I knew that this room was going to be under construction all these months, I couldn't leave this room in "contruction zone" condition for the sake of the wee ones.

We dreamed a lot. We labeled places where we thought things should be.

And then we waited until we had another opportunity to work on it.

Five months later (*yawn*), we awoke from our parental stupor and decided to finish the mudroom before school starts.

We needed a bench and a back wall with hooks.

Dan began the task of building a bench. I'd like to give you step-by-step instructions as to how he did this, but I can't. Here's what I can tell you: He did a lot of measuring, cutting and sweating. A great big, fun puzzle.

Eve liked to help him:

After many days of taking his time and building something that looked like a mudroom bench, we saw this:

Can it be? Pinch me. It's here. We opted to keep one side taller for boots and the other side shelved to put our flats there.

We also wanted to have room to put our tushes on the bench and not be squished by coats hanging BEHIND the bench. We made the bench an ample 24" deep.

We also wanted the kids to be able to climb onto it, so we kept it about 20" tall.

Did I mention that the kids were sick? Poor things were crying at night and weary during the day. I let them watch TV to keep their mind off their sickness.

I wish, wish, wish I had more pics of Dan building the back of the mudroom bench.

Basically, we installed a 4' piece of plywood behind the bench.

Then we screwed 1 x 2s every foot or so to give it a finished look. I think it looks Cape Cod-ish but Dan says Craftsman.

It was so thrilling to see him install the hooks:

At the end of the week, we had a mudroom bench and the hook wall. Eve tested out their strength.

What can I say? She liked it.

Next project? Sew a cushion for the bench and add a few finishing touches.