What Crafts You? - Teacher Appreciation Gift

This week was Teacher Appreciation Week at my son's elementary school. An email went out asking parents to have their children bring a gift for the teacher under $5.00. Some suggestions: flowers, plants, coffee gift cards, etc. We decided to do things a little different this year - my son and I wanted to make his teacher a custom gift that she will use, last and remember him by.
Off to Michael's we went.
Items:

• Tissue Box holder (raw wood) $3.95
• embellishments (my son picked out the Frog Prince theme since his teacher loves frogs) $2.00 total
• craft glue (at home)
• green wood stain (at home)
• Clear coat protection spray (at home)

The first step was to sand the box really well using a fine sandpaper grain. We stained the box using a Minwax Water based stain. Make sure to wipe excess off. You need to do this part fast because it dries fast and drips/brushstrokes can be seen. After it dries, we sprayed a clear coat finish for protection. My son took the 4 embellishments and placed them on the box using a craft glue. By morning, everything was dry and we inserted a tissue box along with a card saying "made with love by....."

Simply Special Yard Sign

We have this dilemma - we live on the corner of 2 streets, one ends and one begins. To normal minds, one would think "why not extend the same street all the way down to where the street ends?" But, no, Austin, really wanted a Ganttcrest Drive and Pecanwood Lane. We have noticed in the last few years, it has become increasing difficult for people to know exactly where our house is, even the postman and the UPS driver are either leaving other people's packages or not leaving ours.

My solution - a yard sign!

I first went to Lowes and Home Depot. The yard signs were way too expensive; starting at $150. So, my next stop was Etsy.com where I knew some artist out there could make me one that would fit my needs and be a unique piece of art. After posting my add on the Etsy Custom page, Vicki from Simply Sugar Designs contacted me. I sent her some pictures of my yard and landscaping, she came back with an idea of making an 8x12 sign out of dark green slate (good for crazy weather), walnut stained stake, with white lettering all for $15 plus S/H.

The end result was a "simply special yard sign" that I can't stop looking at!. Thanks Vicki.

Pink in Spring

My two favorite books = two good movies?

My two favorite children's books - "Where the Wild Things Are" and "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" are hitting the big screen this Fall. My four year-old has just been introduced to "Where the Wild Things Are" and can't stop reading it and making sounds like the "Wild Things" - and my 7 year-old absolutely loves "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". So, they both are very excited and beg me to show them the trailers over and over again.

In seeing these trailers for about 100 times now (catchy tune by Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"), I'm happy that I introduced the books well in advance of the movies because I see my boys' eyes light up with imagination and questions.

"What did Max have for supper?"

"Let's have a "wild rumpus"

"I'm so glad we don't live in the Town of Chewandswallow"

"Why does it not rain chocolate here in Austin?"

And now we are left with the imagination of others to tell these wonderful tales. And so far, based on the trailers, it looks like a big deviation from the books in order to make the movies more longer and ticket worthy. Come Fall, mostly likely I will be standing in line on opening day with my kids knowing that they will have a good time but also secretly wanting them to say "that didn't happen in the book!"

Oh, Michelle - I want to go shopping in your closet

I admit it - I follow Michelle Obama's every move - that is her fashion moves, OK, also her arm toning exercises. With the Obama's much anticipated European trip, it seems like everyone just want to talk about what Michelle is wearing, in fact there was talk of fashionista face-off between her and Clara Bruni-Sarkozy. So far what I have seen is just super stylish, elegant and flattering. A plus point, is that unlike previous First Ladies, Mrs. Obama insists in wearing clothes from American designers. I guess this is good for the President and his policies - a mild distraction in the press when things don't go according to his way![Mrs. O]

Father-Son Bake Off

We just participated in the annual Boy Scout Father/Son Bake-Off Contest this past week. The most important rule is: NO FEMALE ASSISTANCE allowed. This was my favorite part - no one could ask me questions (where is the mixer, where is the food coloring, why is this frosting so pink), all I did was sit back and watch my son have fun and my husband go slightly crazy!

They went with the Volcano Cake - I had used this recipe before and modified it in certain ways - I could never find "arrowroot cookies" or "yellow edible glitter". I just used crushed vanilla wafers with green food coloring for the grass and tons of red sugar crystals for the "hot lava" effect.

Each Scout has to enter his cake into a category for judging. Ours was "outdoor scene" and later the cakes get auctioned off. Most times, the Scout who made the cakes buys back his own cake. My husband was armed with $100 bucks, we got our cake back for $25!

Obsessive Purchase of the Month

After much debate, I finally convinced my hubby that our house really needed one of these; a wireless rain and temperature weather station!

No, this is not another item to add to the garden or expand my hobby of weather forecasting, to me this is a scientific item that provides data (at least that was my argument). What you get in the package is: a wireless monitor for the temperature, a wireless self-emptying rain gauge, and a digital station which provides 9 days of information. Drawbacks - no automatic time display and no humidity

For the last few weeks, the the self-emptying rain gauge did not measure a single drop of rain and then finally, last week it did! - and we ALL were so excited. Not only did we get the rain totals for the day, but for the week, and yes, that means we didn't have to turn the sprinklers on. I'm already sensing how "green" this product is.

I think the best use of it came from my 4 year old who said "it's 53 degrees outside and you are making me wear shorts"

So, thus is begins, my family's obsession with Central Texas weather and it won't be just small talk!

When A Young Mother Dies

"We find it easy to postpone our own doctor's appointments, but not the ones for the kids. We helmet them, but not ourselves. This is why airlines still have to remind parents to put their own oxygen masks on before they take care of the kids."

MOTTOs to Live by

"Place the oxygen mask on yourself before helping others" - It didn't sound selfish, but practicing it sometimes, made it selfish. But I was really good at ignoring this inner pull and today I have to give this motto a lot of credit for my health, my mind, and my well being. So today, I have another motto to live by: Simplicity, is the key to successful living. My little experience so far -- I have seen wonders in my laundry loads when I decided to simplify the family wardrobe. Tell me yours.

Do you give a mouse a cookie?

By the title of my post, I know that many of you have faced the same problem and started to wonder if you were somehow written into the books by Laura Numeroff.

Our problem started on Thursday night. My older son was asleep, I had the beginning symptoms of the flu, my husband was trying to sleep on the couch, so I could get a better night sleep, and the only person in the house at 11:30 pm who was not asleep was my 4 year old.

And these were his requests -

"I want to sleep next to Mommy" (Sorry, you can't Mommy is sick)

"No, I want to"

"Bring me my pillow" (My husband got his pillow from his bed)

"No, I want a pillow from the guest bedroom" (I got up and got a pillow from the guest bedroom)

"No, I want a brown one" referring to the fancy sham pillows (No, you can't have those, pick another one, so I leave the guest bedroom)

"I want the brown one" (My husband gets another pillow from the guest bedroom, this time my 4 year old throws it down)

No, I want Mommy to get me one"

At this point, I did not want to get up, but for 1/2 hour, my 4 year old screamed in my ear saying "before the sun comes up"

So I finally got up, a got a pillow from the guest bedroom, and yes, the brown fancy sham pillow and yes, he slept next to me with all my flu germs.

That night I thought - how did it get so out of hand? Not only did he sleep on our bed, but he got what he wanted which we never wanted to let him have, and on top of that, all his ridiculous requests were filled.

I really started feeling like the boy who gives the mouse a cookie - the requests just don't stop and they become more crazier by the minute. Should we have just spanked him? Let him scream it out? Honestly, we don't have a plan, because we try to never let it get this bad.