Inspired by-

My college roommate, Katy, loves animals.  Because we couldn’t have a dog in the one bedroom apartment that we shared, we did, over the course of the three years we lived together, have two birds, a tarantula, and two snakes, one who escaped and was never seen again.  The snake who hung around, and I can’t remember his or her name, or if he or she had a name, or if it was a male or female snake, ate either live or frozen mice.  If his meal was a live mouse, Katy’s then boyfriend/now husband Chris and I would cower a few feet away in terror while the snake attacked and ate his (her?) prey, and Katy would watch with the awe of nature that must be necessary for biomedical science majors.  Inspired by this cartoon, which I cut out of the paper this morning:

one of my resolutions is to send one letter or note per week, in the actual mail.  I’m going to write the person’s name on the calendar each week to hold myself accountable.  The resolution is also inspired by my online shopping sprees (sprees, plural) on the most dangerous shopping website- not Amazon, not Ebay, not Etsy, but usps.com.  Because Forever stamps never expire!  And they have 20th century poets and Pixar stamps instead of the Liberty Bell!  And $x later, we have a million books of stamps.

There is a sign hanging on the wall in the youth room at our church and I find myself staring at it during Sunday school during the Sundays when I’m not the lead teacher.  It reads, “Attitude is Everything, Choose a Good One.”  Inspired by that sign, and in an attempt to stop an early, slow slide into curmudgeoness, I’m resolving to Have a Good Attitude in 2013.

This morning, I picked up a children’s book off the floor, then walked three feet and picked up the book jacket and put it back on the book.  I’ve only done that 300 times, so I walked right to the tape drawer and taped the book jacket together, library style.  Inspired by having to repair book and jacket so many times before taping it on, a resolution this year is to Do Things Right Away. 

More and more in conversations with my husband, mom, or sister, where I can speak most candidly, I found myself saying things like, “I don’t mean that to be as bitchy as it sounds.”  I don’t think what is coming out of my mouth reflects the person I am inside.  I think kind things, so I need to not say things out loud that make me sound like a jerk.  Inspired by the phrase, “I don’t mean that to be as bitchy as it sounds”, I’m resolving to Say Only Nice, Positive Things this year and keep my mouth shut on catty, gossipy, or unproductive comments.  That one is also inspired by, and hopefully encouraged by, my friend Tiffany, who somehow doesn’t say mean things.

I’m also picking a theme word for the year.  It’s going to be a secret, just for me, because there should be some mystery in life.  But here’s a hint:  The very first year we went to the book sale, I bought a library discard dictionary.  When I got home, I thought about what word I wanted to look up first, and when I looked up it, the definition was underlined.  That’s my word.

Advent i et notteskall

Advent in nutshell, by a voice of one calling in the wilderness, my number one choice (just edging out Alan Bean and Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon) for historical figure I’d most like to have dinner with, John the Baptist-

“Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.  Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low.  The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.  And all people will see God’s salvation.”

Take a minute to get Handel’s version stuck in your head.  It makes the baking and ironing and gift wrapping and bathroom cleaning and tree decorating pale in comparison, but we’re definitely in a season of waiting and preparation and anticipation.

The holiday recipes are selected,

and make ahead meals are making it into the freezer. 

The Advent calendar has caused zero tears this year, after a revamping of its contents.  Barely any candy, but lots of notes that say things like Look at Christmas Lights! or Go To Church!  It’s more of a guide through the activities of the month and that is working much, much better.

Our tree is filled with handmade ornaments from the boys’ school.

I have a desire during December for our whole house to be filled with so many Norwegian touches that people will come in and be surprised when we don’t speak Norwegian, similar to how I always feel in the restaurant at Ikea when I hear someone speaking Spanish instead of Swedish.  I typically head to Ikea to look for Scandinavian decorations, but this year I choose the day poorly and went when I was miserably sick.  I didn’t even finish my meatballs and I neglected to buy any decorations.  Lacking a new supply of straw garlands, I started making things.  I’ve also listened to hours of Christmas music and watched almost every movie in the house for background music while trying to finish handmade gifts. Finally, I’m at one gift to go and I’ve resorted to The Sound of Music on a continuous loop.  December is only overly busy here because we make it overly busy.

 There’s Tate!

Back in November, I decided to make Christmas neckties and bowties for the boys.  A few days ago I decided to stay up until midnight so I could finish the ties and not waste the money I spend on supplies.  The neckties were simple and sewn entirely by hand with a pattern from The Purl Bee.  The bowties should have been very simple, but the tutorial I found online had screwy measurements so I ended up making everything two or three times to get the sizes correct.  Now Rush and Tate are all set for Christmas fancy dress, assuming they will be in the mood to wear ties.

My rules for behaving civilly on the furniture are being sabotaged by –me.  If I’m trying to cook dinner and the boys are diving headfirst onto the couch, I whisper, “Stop jumping on the couch, guys.”  They get along so well when they’re crashing the furniture.

And speaking of sabotaging, if I ever notice that Tate is missing or silent, he can always be found hiding in the pantry, door shut, trying to get into the Chex Mix supplies. 

When Rush talked to Santa at his school party, he was a little too nervous to say anything other than hello and give him a high five.  Trent and I reassured him that he had plenty of time to get a letter in the mail.  He let Santa know that he would love “a bike with a chain and Woody boots” (aka cowboy boots) and that he can pick out something great for Tate.

Panther and Jetty are not so subtly posing around the house, both trying to be December in Kitten Calendar 2013.  

And back to my people, the Norwegians- Scandinavian cookbooks always, without fail, talks about food to bake when friends stop by during the holidays.  This year, we have the fabulous privilege of being the coffee and cake stop for two families of friends travelling from Austin to Beaumont.  It’s my dream come true!  Off to prepare dough for Fyrstekake!

120 Second Project…FOR BOYS!

(or girls – no discrimination here)

There are no sewing projects for boys.  That’s only a slight exaggeration; a woman a Hobby Lobby recently told me that she sewed all her son’s blue jeans until he started middle school.  So that’s an option.  But besides that, I haven’t found many things that are realistic.  Until Rush discovered belts.  He wears them whenever he can and most days will only wear shorts or pants with belt loops.

Making a Belt:  Buy nylon webbing and D-rings.  Cut it to slightly longer than belt length.  Melt the ends with a lighter.  Sew one line of stitches to attach to rings.  DONE.  Making one each for both boys truly took two minutes.  Tate’s belt was immediately lost, but I’ll still slightly hopeful that it will one day be found.

How do professional bloggers get their kids outside and modeling their projects?  Candy bribes?  Here’s Rush’s response to my request to take a picture:

Much begging later-

It’s a good thing that a belt is a quick project, because here’s my workspace.  Please note the spilled applesauce.

A belt is a great project because it’s fast, easy, durable, usable, cute, and, a rare find in my world of making things for my children, masculine.

No Beginning and No End

I found the best book at the library a few weeks ago, The Repurposed Library.  Every project in the book is made from an old book, and not just decoupaging them (spell check is saying that decoupage + ing is not a real word…whatever spell check) and making bookmarks.  Quite a few of the projects included the phrase, “You will need a band saw.”  I want to make pretty much every single thing in the book, but for now I just started with a wreath.

The directions call for 200 rosebuds and 50 leaves, but I made about 170 and 25 and that worked pretty perfectly.  I guess technically you could just go on gluing rosebud flowers indefinitely, but I ran out of hot glue sticks, which is an accomplishment in itself.  It was the most blistery finger project yet, but worth it.

My sincere apologies to the author of the book I cut apart.  I love most of your books, I really do, except for maybe the one that I stopped 20 pages short of finishing and started cutting and twisting into flowers.  Lesson learned:  I would feel less guilty if I had just picked up a random book at the thrift store and used it for the project. 

I’m on a wreath making kick, so I also made this for my mom-

Rush and my mom always drink hot tea together in mornings when they’re together, so I thought a wreath of tea bags would be a nice way to replenish her tea supply and jazz up her kitchen.  The whole project consists of tea bags, scrapbook paper, a cardboard circle cut out of a box, clothespins, and Elmer’s glue.  I got the idea from picture somewhere online, but who knows where.   Like most projects, I came across a tutorial, glanced at it, decided to make it weeks later, had no way to access the instructions, and just did my best to make it work.

In the summer, I can barely drag myself to my craft supplies.  But something about cooler weather is ultra motivating.  It might just be that the pool is closed.

I’m Still Thankful For…

having family to visit for Thanksgiving!

Thursday was the first ever Rush Family Fun Run and Walk, which was a great way to start off a long weekend where eating a snack means a loaded plate of Thanksgiving leftovers.

We squeezed in a bit of game playing

and some cousin time.

Because Thanksgiving is the holiday when Trent’s siblings are all together, we did our handmade gift exchange on Friday.  We drew names months ago and set out to make each person a gift for under $20, or as I like to think, under $5, because as a family we’re not spending $80 on handmade gifts.

For our niece Remi, Trent made a pocket to hang off the side of her bed and store books, flashlights, and whatever it is that tweens need at night.

Rush “made” an laptop sleeve for his Uncle Troy. 

Tate painted a gold, glittery vase for Gigi.

I love the handmade gift exchange all year, except for actually making the gifts with the boys. Can’t everyone just imagine the smooth, crafty mom who seamlessly (pun intended) leads her sons to unleash their full power of creativity in making their gifts?  The reality, of course, is sitting with Rush on my lap at the sewing machine, while I’m sweating and pleading with him not to switch levers or pull thread while we’re sewing, and trying to rein in a one-year-old with a paintbrush full of permanent gold glitter paint and a large glass object.  Then they both lose interest after 90 seconds and I finish their gifts. 

I painted gold, glittery wine glasses for my sister-in-law, Julee.

The fun run, game playing, and handmade gift exchange accounted for 10% of the trip.  The other 90% was dominated by eating and reading and snoozing with my sister on my parents’ bed while waiting for football to be over so we could watch Mad Men on DVD.  I love Thanksgiving.

I’m playing the Episcopalian card and not starting one bit of Christmas preparations until Advent starts on Sunday.  I love all the Christmas preparations, I really do, but I’m just not ready yet, even for Christmas music in the car.  I’m happily watching decorations come out around the neighborhood, but I’m enjoying an extra week of catching my breath and trying (in vain) to get the house clean before pulling out our own decorations.  I’ve also decided to start my new year’s resolutions with the start of the new church year, so when Advent starts on Sunday, so does my one new year’s resolution: Have A Good Attitude. 

On Sunday, Michael Buble, the Elf Soundtrack, and John Denver and the Muppets will start their domination of my playlist.  I’m going to start marking cookie recipes in December magazines, and my sparkly new attitude will take effect.  But for the rest of this week, I’ll just be enjoying Ordinary Time.