Crafting Cupboard

I bought this cupboard last week for a couple dollars--yeah I know you are thinking I paid too much for it. But you have to look past the 60+ years of grunge and see the utility in what was once a well made cupboard.

It just took a couple cans of spray paint, handles and a yard of fabric to bring it to life.

Tune in tomorrow when I share the vanity encased in three generations of hair products:

Kind of makes you want to go wash your hands, eh?

bat garland

A simple and fun afternoon craft, especially if you have young children who hyperventilate at the thought of getting to use glitter glue.

We used very basic supplies:

10 or so bats cut from cardstock (template below)

black cord from the jewelry aisle

black and clear beads

silver glitter glue (cue the symphony)

we used a tiny hole punch to make a hole on each bat wing to string them with

If you are going to give in and allow glittery bats to hang in the house then you might as well tape fake leaves to the window panes. And crowd the (chestnut) brown mantle with kitschy Halloween decorations.

There is a cute black cat silhouette project here.

And lots of Halloween printables here.

Crayola color week: plum

Cold plate lunch for a busy Friday.

Meg...thanks for inviting all of us to join you this week. It was fun!

Crayola color week: Chestnut

Every time I dust the brown mantle in our house I get the urge to paint it white.

It can make me in a bad mood just looking at it.

Crayola color week: goldenrod

Goldenrod evokes memories of yesterday. It's more than color really. It changes time.

For centuries days have ticked steadily by. One after another...slowly at first. Then they gain momentum until our memories are faded right along with the items we have collected along the way. They turn brittle and delicate and finally they turn a deep dark shade of yellow. This makes them magical in my mind. I sometimes feel these relatives from another era carefully recorded their fun times just for me. So I can sit in the corner of the cedar closet on a rainy day turning goldenrod pages and living vicariously through their memories.

It is only within the last couple years as my children are broad jumping into young adulthood that I feel our own memories being edged into that lovely goldenrod journey. I've come across pictures of my childhood that as if overnight look a little yellow around the edges. Has it really been that long since my mother would sit and sew and listen to John Denver as my sister and I would be making big plans with her scraps?

This is a pretty color, perhaps added into our lives softly to encourage us to find beauty in all we do.

Fall color week, burnt sienna

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Fall color week, Crayola style

Elsie Marley had the great idea of using Crayola inspired colors as an inspiration for Fall.

Check out her blog for other participants--or just to browse as she has some real inspiring ideas.

Today is my very favorite Crayola crayon color: Brick Red

What is your favorite childhood crayon color?

the trombonist

For those of you who read blogs to get inspired and see good ideas, I apologize.

Tonight all I have to share is a picture of my son, the trombonist. I think watching him on Friday night I let the stress of the week all come out. Have you ever been to a large gathering of energetic, happy people and become overwhelmed with emotion? All that cheering and whatnot. Maybe it's the sloppy burgers and nachos that has everyone smiley, whatever it is it makes me happy to see happy people. So I cry. Do you?

I thought by halftime I had inconspicuously cried all the water out of my body but when I saw my son marching and playing his trombone I was actually making strange gurgling noises trying to suppress my tears. Sam is....little. Do you see him there in the middle of the picture? Just a little, skinny kid marching with huge kids. I think I get emotional because it is a gift to see my kids be a part of something bigger than themselves. I wish as a world we could all work this hard, weaving in and out of the places we each need to be making it look beautiful at the same time.

That's all.

PS (okay that's not all)

I swear on the vintage green cake plate that I love love love and took from my sister's house because she was using it under a plant (gasp)--that I will be more cheery soon. In fact I will be colorful-- check out Elsie Marley on Monday for a list of Fall color pool participants.

Grateful

The weekend was full and busy with Friday night football and celebrating my lovely daughter's Birthday. Shall I go on at how fast she grew up? I vividly remember my husband driving 20 miles an hour home from the hospital with our tiny little bundle. It really doesn't seem like 17 years ago.

Hadley, you have brought such joy into our hearts and not only have you grown into a beautiful young woman but a dear friend as well. Your Dad and I love you so much!

We celebrated a day early and decided to spend her actual birthday in Dallas. A treat as it is nearly three hours away. But unfortunately this happened:

As we were stopped at a red light we were hit from behind by a teenager with a large jacked up F150 pick up. No one was injured, which I find amazing as my car was full of kids and the little ones in the back seat were covered with glass. I am overwhelmed by everything about this. By the "what if's" and at just how blessed we are to all be okay.

Having said that let me vent for a moment (or two) at how I feel about the parents of this teenage boy who could only mumble "sorry" and say or do nothing else. I found him on facebook tonight and noticed he had posted on his iphone while at the accident scene "just had my first wreck". This boy is a small 16 year old and has no right driving a vehicle such as this. Is it wrong if I share a picture from his facebook?

As a mother of teens I have seen over the years kids who are given everything they can imagine wanting. This child could have easily injured or done worse to my family. Thinking about this has been the most traumatic part for me. I can't get Molly's cries out of my head. But then God steps in and I take comfort from Him in the fact my kids are okay. They're beautiful and strong and have been such wonderful gifts since the day they made that slow drive home from the hospital.

Four Random Things and a thank you!

Thank you very much for the lovely birthday wishes you gave me. You made my day special!

1. I made this apron for Molly using the last bit of farm animal fabric that I dearly love. I am learning to do this more and more instead of stashing it and never using it.

2. A well travelled older style mayonnaise jar that I bought at a yard sale as I was driving cross country this summer. We stayed at an out of the way place in Pennsylvania and wouldn't you know there was a town wide yard sale that Saturday morning? Which is just what our car filled to the brim with children and stuff needed. I haven't decided what to do with it. Any ideas?

3. I like to stick figurines in my plants. Do you? This plant needs cooler weather, it's called baby tears.

4. Recently Sam, Molly and I started this book. After a few chapters over a few days I took the book to bed and finished it without them. Because I am nice and it was good and Davy Crockett was trapped fighting at the Alamo. I won't tell you how it ended. What? Like you are going to read it? He died at the Alamo. Did you already know this? How come I didn't? There I was in the middle of the night reading this old mildewy book and shedding tears over Davy Crockett. I just thought he was that guy who liked the frontier and wore a coonskin cap.

me

1. Today I turn 37.
2. It doesn’t feel different
3. though I found a few gray hairs recently.
4. This past year I have discovered many new things about myself.
5. This is a good thing.
6. I feel more empowered than I ever have
7. Though I am very shy. Still.
8. It’s okay to be shy--
9. I just learned this.
10. I like sports, I am not shy about playing.
11. I like to play hard (and win).
12. My husband is deployed and I miss him every minute of the day.
13. Really I do.
14. I like learning about the past.
15. We had our first child when I was 20.
16. The oldest child is in college and the youngest age two.
17. If we eat out the waitress will ask, “will this be one check?”
18. and I want to say yeah duh, these are my kids.
19. But I don’t.
20. I am freckly
21. and have braces
22. I tivo Jimmy Fallon everyday
23. Blue birds are pretty
24. so are morning glories
25. I have never had a cup of coffee
26. or a beer
27. but I like tea
28. I like to laugh
29. My sister can make me laugh until I feel like I will pass out.
30. Once many years ago we were shopping and the clerk sneezed/farted
31. It still makes us laugh.
32. I wish I lived on a sprawling farm near the sea with horses and sheep.
33. With a large old drafty house
34. and a barn that smells musty when it rains
35. I worry too much.
36. I count the days until K comes home
37. and we are all together again.

morning work

Behold the pear.

A ripened pear is a lovely way to start the day. I urge you to try this, before your cup of tea or coffee, before your house is awake. Sit in the quiet and using a small sharp knife (preferably from your Gram) cut tender slices one at a time. Don't be insulting and eat it like an apple only to find yourself slurping the juice off your wrist.

Pears are in season now--around a dollar a pound. Isn't this wonderful? Aren't you glad I told you?

My mornings this week have been spent canning more stuff. Some of it came out good (salsa) and some bad (strawberry preserves). It's a little time consuming but it's a good feeling to stock the storage cupboard with jars to use all winter. If you would like more info on canning there are some great resources on the internet or even at your local extension office.

The Ball canning website is helpful and I highly recommend the book.

I used this website to can 12 pounds of pears with great results.

Ken...ich vermisse dich!