No Sew Holiday Pillow
I can’t think of a sad story that starts with “I went to TJ MAXX/HomeGoods.” Can you? That’s how this story starts. I went to my local TJ MAXX/HomeGoods store and found an over-sized Christmas dish towel for $2.99. I wasn’t looking for it per se, but I find it hard not to walk down every single aisle when I go in that store. Don’t judge. Now, when I commit to something, I really commit to it. I’m not going to go halfway…I don’t want to be a slacker or anything. So, I’m committed to avoiding the trouble with my sewing machine and the mess I made of the bobbins.…
Candy Cane Advent Calendar
Of all the ideas I’ve dreamed up that my husband has built for me, the giant chalkboard is still one of my favorites. Plus, it’s not just a chalkboard, it’s a magnetic chalkboard. It’s constructed out of sheet metal with a wood frame. I got the impression when I went to the sheet metal manufacturing place to buy this randomly-sized piece of sheet metal that they don’t get many walk-ins. And the walk-ins they do get must be a certain type because the only thing the man who helped me said was, “you must be using this to homeschool your children.” Ah, no. Can’t a girl just want a giant magnetic chalkboard? However, I took…
Mason Jar Snow Globes
I have been meaning to make snow globes for years, people. YEARS. I have the fake snow in my craft bins to prove it. Except, I wanted to make a lot of snow globes. That type of commitment makes me commitment-phobic about the permanence of such a gesture. Did that sentence make sense? Imagine being inside my brain… So the kids and I decided to make dry snow globes. Well, I decided, but they happily went along with the idea. This idea is not new or unique and you can find how-to posts all over the ol’ Internet. Basically, it boils down to this. Hot glue a fake tree to the lid…
Christmas Countdown Lunch Notes: Free Printable
Ho, ho, ho! Tis the season where your kids ask every 5 minutes how many days until Christmas! Before you can reply for the umpteenth time, one of them will volunteer a response. Then they argue about whether or not that is correct or not. Then mommy yells at patiently instructs them to stop yelling at each other. Ahem. I’m only guessing that happens at…other people’s houses? Surely not at mine. Out of all that fa-la-la and holly-jolly came these printable Christmas countdown lunch notes created by me just for you. To simplify the printing process, I left the number off of the printable. (I’m still loving my new Epson printer, by the…
What I’m Making for FriendsGiving
I am especially thankful this year. For reasons this mostly introverted personality still can’t quite fathom, we have been embraced by so many big-hearted people in Georgia. I don’t necessarily walk around under a cloud of warm fuzzies, so I think that says a lot more about them than me. When you move someplace new, without a support network, it can be overwhelming. To find people who have your back if you are running late for the bus stop or who will watch your kids when you are in the hospital or who make you laugh on a daily basis – well, it’s my idea of hitting the lottery. I’m…
When Would You Paint A Counter?
The the burning question of the day is when would a sane person paint a counter? Answer? When they are desperate. In picture form, desperation looks like this: That is an unfortunate countertop made doubly worse by some sort of permanent marker that even Mr. Eraser and his band of toxic cleaners could not fix. To the child that decided to draw a heart on the counter…I’m not feeling the love. And no, it wasn’t one of mine. The countertop came to us this way. This bathroom needs to be gutted and reconfigured, but that’s not happening in the near future. In the meantime, I thought I would read all of the…
Fixing Nasty Grout Is Pretty Easy
The Junk Whisperer is coming to visit me next month and it prompted me to take a good hard look at the bathroom she would be using during her stay. Normally, if I have to go in there, I just kind of squint and say to myself, “hey, it’s not so bad…if you don’t turn on the light.” I’m fairly certain the bathroom is original to the house. My powers of deduction lead me to conclude that the grout in this bathroom is also original to the house. While I’m holding on to the most fervent of delusions that the grout has been thoroughly cleaned periodically in the last 50 years,…
Hat Box Makeover
I grew up in a family where the ladies wore hats to weddings and funerals for other family members. It’s a formality in our increasingly casual society that I love for the respect it brings to a momentous occasion. I don’t have many hats, but the ones I do have are kept protected in hat boxes – usually in the top of my closet. Except in this house, our closets are itty-bitty and the hat boxes have not had priority placement in the closet. So, that means they’ve been sitting out where I can see them right before I shut my eyes each night. The nightmares were getting to me, so I decided…
Gallery Wall
I do a lot of confessing on the ol’ blog. Why stop now? After we moved here in March, I decided to hang my first ever gallery wall. I know, I know. What took me so long? Visions of every bad gallery wall I saw in the 80s, that’s what. I had some frames and in April I hung them on a wall I deemed perfect for this inaugural endeavor. I told myself I would fill them with pictures before my children’s birthday party in May. Of course, that didn’t happen. After the party was over, I figured everyone had seen my wall of framed strangers, so why rush it?…
Hello, My Name Is Stuck on Your Shirt
Usually it is my children who cause me laundry grief – especially when it comes to leaving stickers on clothes. If I had a nickel for every sticker that was inappropriately placed on a wall, a door, a car seat, a forehead or article of clothing, well, I’d be rich. When I found my husband’s blue polo shirt rolled up in the hamper, I didn’t think twice about tossing it in the wash. Surely, my husband knows by now what happens when you wash a shirt that has a sticker attached to it. Surely. For the record, the “hello, my name is” name tag is a sticker. A very sticky sticker.…
