As I said before, I decided to start writing this blog because I had been reading so many and I figured, hey, I can do that. Not too bad so far. I really enjoy the blogs about home decor and how to repurpose things and how to decorate on the cheap. Since we only moved in to our new home four months ago, I am trying to be very budget-friendly in my holiday decorating. Over the next few posts I will show you how I have decorated for Valentine’s Day.
To start, I am showing off our mantle. I have never had a mantle before so I had no idea where to begin decorating it. I really enjoyed what I did for Christmas, but you'll see that down the road. I have not found anything I want to keep up there permanently only because I like the idea of changing it up.
I really like this idea from over at Decor Adventures a totally cute and simple bulletin board. Hmmm, maybe it's because I've spent so many years in the schools. I enjoy how she changes it up for the different seasons, yet it is super easy and simple. I would enjoy something like that above my mantle because it would give me decorating freedom and it would use up all the space from having nine foot ceilings.
Anyhow, back to my craftiness. I had no idea how to decorate my mantle for Valentine’s Day. I wanted something, pretty, simple and not all hearts and flowers. I knew I wanted to make some sort of wreath. So I came up with this "rag wreath".
I used one of my husband’s shirts out of the good will box and started cutting. I also wanted to use an empty picture frame. I had seen an empty frame used before on another blog; however theirs was way bigger and much cooler.
Once I had finished making the wreath it turned out a lot darker because of all the folds in it. The fabric is a nice cranberry red, but almost looks black because of all the shadows. I played around with placement for a while and almost gave up.
The mantle was looking so silly, like I had no clue what I was doing, oh yeah, that's because I didn't! So I walked away from it for a while and sat down in front of my computer to find inspiration out in blogland, and there it was right in front of me! Next to my computer sits a large basket of folk art fruit. The apple caught my eye, it's a quilted pattern in two shades of red.
The darker color in the apple was a perfect complement to the red in the wreath! So I dusted it off and took it over to the mantle, I liked where this was going. Then I printed the phrase "you’re the apple of my eye" in a nice font, taped it to the underside of the glass in the empty frame and traced it with a dry erase marker. Looking good! I already had the candles (LED, no flames here) wrapped in extra fabric from the wreath project on the mantle too; however it was still looking sparse, good but sparse. I started looking around the house for red things to fill in the space, didn't like it. Then in a stroke of genius I remembered on a very top shelf in one of my cabinets I tossed a bunch of faux green apples- score! And there you have it: my" You're the apple of my eye" Valentine’s Day mantle.
We spent Friday afternoon at the Doctors. Stink Butt had not been on his game for the last couple of days. I thought perhaps it was because Papa was out of town and he missed him. His teachers even commented on his behavior Thursday after class.
He had been coughing but nothing that I was concerned about. He took a nap as soon as we got home from school which is something he NEVER does (at least not willingly) and even went to bed early. When he woke up with boogies and complaining about his eye hurting I made the appointment. By the time he woke up from Friday's nap his whole eye was red, swollen and gunky. Yuck-to-the-O!
Glad that once again I trusted myself, and made the appointment in the morning when I did. I always second guess myself. When am I gonna realize that I'm "that good" and to just go with it. We walked away with two prescriptions, one for his eyes and an antibiotic to clear up the gunk.
The point of this lovely story is because I wonder if anyone else out there in mommyland has trouble remembering when if medicine has been given and how many more days there are to give it. So I made this handy little chart to help me, and thought y'all out there may find it helpful too! I modified it a bit in case there is more than one child in the house or worse more then one child at a time on medication in the house! I chose to make it for ten days because in this household 10 days worth is typically what we get in antibiotic rations. This may also be helpful for those of you that have care-givers in the home such as a nanny or grandparent. I find it helpful because sometimes my husband takes care of Stink Butt in the morning and we may not have communicated if medicine was given or vice-versa in the evenings, so it's handy to look at the chart.
Be well, my friends!
A Frosted One!
oooooooooooooooooooooohh, We'll be here all night! Only because the roads are icy and it is slick out there! Seriously though, where ever you are, have you had enough of this snow? I think our Frosty Friend out front has, I'm pretty sure he's been hitting the frosted mugs a bit much judging from his sloshy disposition.
Maybe you too are feeling the cabin fever; if you are from my neck of the woods, your kids have been home for SEVEN DAYS STRAIGHT due to snow and previously scheduled school holidays. Maybe you might want to hit the frosty mugs by this point? Maybe you already are? How about stirring up one of these concoctions. If you can't beat 'em join 'em! The frothy snowman or perhaps a sip or two of the blizzard cocktail. If you are anything like me, you don't drink and nothing beats a nice hot cup of my FAVORITE recipe for home made hot chocolate! I make at least one batch a season and this year I am already on my second batch. A toast to my friends: Stay warm, stay safe, shut the door on Winter, and open the windows for Spring. Cheers!
My husband found me 10 years ago; since then he seems to loose everything. Aside from loosing his mind every once in a while, the thing he lost that stands out the most to me is his wallet a few years ago. Keep in mind he "misplaces" it often and it is always were he left it. This incident, however was THE BIG ONE. We looked forEVER, called local businesses that he had been to, delved deep in to the cushions of the couch and car seats. Finally, we cut our losses after two days and called the bank and credit cards companies, cancelling everything. The worst part of that whole ordeal was that it was right after Christmas and his birthday so he had TONS of gift cards waiting to be traded in for the goods.
Being the good wife I am I consoled him with a "there, there" and we cut our losses. Seriously, what's the point of dwelling on his our misfortune? I had bills to pay, and laundry to do. And that is exactly where I found it, at the bottom of our laundry hamper, his wallet. It was just misplaced after all.
That was a good story, a happy ending, most of the time with his luck it is. He does misplace things alot. Most often it is a frantic rush to find his parking pass or badge for work in the wee hours of the morning. However today was special, today it was his parking pass and... his beloved class ring! We tore the house apart this morning, standard procedure, looking under furniture, table tops, couch cushions. Much to my dismay he started this treasure hunt by ripping off and shaking out the covers of the bed, mind you while I was still sleeping in it! Talk about a rude awakening. So we searched and searched until he was officially late for work, his finger naked and exposed.
It was not until a couple hours later that I flashed back to last week when I got an email in my inbox from a mom in the neighborhood mom's group requesting the use of a metal detector. Long story short, woman lost her engagement ring in awful snow we had last week, and my dad used to be in a metal detecting club. They meet, he searches, she's happy. He finds the ring she accidentally knocked off her hand when shaking snow out of the sleeve of her coat.
So I gave my dad a call, it went something like this "Hi Dad, got a second? Have you put that metal detector away? I think Carlton lost his ring helping you in the yard yesterday." To which he replied "Your kidding me, yada, yada, yada, I'll go out and look when I get home." When he got home I watched him in his yard (he lives across the street) swing his detector a couple times, take a couple of scoops out of the snow, but no cigar ring. He traced Carlton's tracks back towards the street, which isn't hard to do considering he wears a size ginormous 14 boot and there is still half a foot of snow on the ground. My dad then hovered over where the trash cans go, since Carlton pulled them to the curb last night. Still no luck. My dad then crossed the street into our yard and hovered around a bit until he bumped into our snowman. As my dad swiped his detector across the base of him you hear beep beeP beEP bEEP BEEP BEEP and then a sure sign of finding something, my dad's head cocked up to the side just a little bit to reveal a big ol' grin emerging across his face. He has found gold, in the form of a George Mason University school of Information Technology class ring. Success in the snow!
Stink Butt was so excited and impressed that Pop found something in the snow he decided to give it the old college try too!
note: If there is a lesson to be learned here, do one of two things. Take off your rings in cold weather, as your hands shrink and your ring will then become to big and loose or wear gloves.
Oh and Carlton, it might be helpful if the place you leave your wallet, badge, parking pass, etc. is the same place everyday. Then again, organized people are just too lazy to look for things.
