Monday, January 28, 2013

Valentine's Wreath


 I figured it was time to take down my evergreen Christmas wreath. It happened when I was driving home from picking up one of the littles, and was laughing to myself at the people who still had Christmas decorations up. In my head, I KNEW they must be trashy, ya know?

Fast forward to pulling into my own driveway and realizing, "OH CRAP! I've still got Christmas decorations up! Look at the wreath on my door!" You know what that makes me, right?

Really frantic to fix this problem.

Luckily, it didn't take too long to fix. I ran to the Dollar Store and picked up a wicker wreath frame (the one I picked up was 9 inches) and then the stash of fabric scraps I already had. It's easy-peasy lemon-squeezy to make. Just cut the strips about 1.5 to 2 inches wide, and 12 inches long. I used some satin, but most of mine were cotton, and those were SUPER easy, because you can just make a notch, then tear them (you can't tear the satin). Gives them a cute, frayed look.

Tie those beasts all around the wicker base, scoot them close together real tight like I did in this picture and viola! Valentine's Wreath and no more trashy folks living at my house.

I think it turned out cute and the whole thing took me less than an hour. Whatcha think?

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year, y'all

I'm not doing resolutions this year. Not happening. We all know what happened last year when I did resolutions. It's just not something we should rehash this year, right?

Instead, I've made a couple of goals. Goals are much easier to keep. My biggest goal is regarding my health, which is fine now, but could take a turn at any time because I'm overweight. Not morbidly obese, but on my way to it. So, this year, I've decided I'm going to train for 5Ks in January and run one a month for the whole year. So, 11 5K races. I won't promise to come in first or anything like that, because we all know that's not happening. But I figure if I can train and run in 11 5Ks, I may just lose 20 pounds. Which is what I'm shooting for. Let's start with 20 pounds, see how that goes and work our way down from there, mm-kay?

Other goals are tied into two main things - being a better wife and mom and building a stronger family. We're pretty darn strong as it is - can and have survived almost three years of unemployment, bickering, kids, living in the world's smallest house ... But anything can get better.

This year, we're planning on cleaning out our attic and turning it into a third bedroom/playroom for Coco. He and Mae have been sharing a room and at almost 6, he's ready for his own space. When it's mentioned, the topic of his own room always causes excitement. Right now, the hubster and I share 750 square feet with two young 'uns and two cats that like to fight. Constantly. The kids and the cats. The attic is walk-up, so converting it will give us an additional 150ish square feet. Pretty awesome and should only cost us about $1,000.

Along with the converted room, we're also planning a trip to Disney just for us. The hubster and I went for our honeymoon and it was awesome. Then a few years ago, we took the kiddos with his mom and stepdad. This year, we're going to do it just us and the kids. We've never actually taken a vacation just us - someone has always been there to kind of help with the kids. Shocking, I know. We're pretty darn lucky like that.

I'm not doing a garden this year. It never lasts until the end of the season, mostly because I forget to water it, feed it, pick it, etc. Pretty much the things you're supposed to do for a garden. Instead, I think we'll do this. Pretty cute, right? The kids will get a kick out of it, and we can always go smaller than she did. Who knows? Maybe fairies will come.

Lastly - and I know this one will thrill the hubster - I think I shall craft more. I miss it.

So, what are your goals this year?