adventures in sewing!

The previous green curtains were atrocious! We found a discount fabric store and searched for bargains. We found too many fabrics we wanted but let the budget make the final decision.

For $3.oo a yard, #5 loved this crinkly semi sheer, at 52 wide, it was a deal and a half! We decided that if we placed the fabric on the horizon rather than it's intended vertical we could get away with about 1/3 the fabric! Too add length and interest she picked out another piece of lightweight, but darker and with a bit of texture fabric at $4.99 per yard. One yard was all we needed. The base fabric is a deep brown with black circles randomly placed all over...really cool!

She wanted to tie the curtains up with pearls, chains, ribbons and whatever else she could find, so I added button holes to the top. Clipped to the cafe rings and between she and the best friend they looked so much better than what she had before. Also, even with the semi sheer weight, they are opaque enough to provide much needed privacy from the neighbors!

Just a reminder of the loveliness that was their love seat! E-gads! We shopped Craigs list and couldn't find a sofa any cleaner or the appropriate size...well actually we did, but the $50.00 they wanted for it was ridiculous! We found a second sofa, but it was in another city, weighed about 345 lbs. and in addition to the $15.00 price tag they wanted another $20.00 for delivery. um no.

So while we were at the fabric store we found a mushroom gray upholstery fabric for (get this!) $2.00 a yard! For $20, we had a nearly new piece of furniture! Can you believe it's the same couch? The small rug was a miracle find at $10.00 and with the exact mushroom, brown and beige we needed! Whoo hoo!
So there you have it. The 5 day transformation!

accessories from a thrift store!

When it comes down to it, you need a place to put your feet up at the end of the day. We went in search of accessories at the local thrift stores and this is what we came up with:

2 pressed tin flower pots, turned up side down and glued (with tub caulking) to the underside of a cupboard door for a sofa table. All recycled, the pots from mom's house, the cupboard $1.00 from the Habitat For Humanity thrift in Provo. The small fish bowl (so long "Soup" we knew and loved thee well!) is filled with button cast offs.

An architectural fleur de lis adds a touch of sparkle on top of the deep brown book case. Recycled from mom.

$1.00 each buys empty frames, mirrors. A few personal photos along side a $3.00 shelf, all from Deseret Industries, Provo. (-except photos, they were gifts from a friend.)

A collection of vintage suitcases and a complete bowling bag! The suitcases were $3.00 a piece as was the bowling bag, shoes and ball inscribed with "Brownie". The suitcases and bowling bag act as a catch all by the door, the shoes and ball are accessories in the book cases. Look for them in the photos!

Doesn't everyone have one of these funky flower vases from the florist? She filled hers with more buttons and set it beside a rusted metal basket found at Urban Renewal in St. George for $5.00.

$1.50 for three antique bottles, a small paper mache globe, black with light tan lines and markings, a small silver tray, $2.00 and arranging books by colour on the shelves. (Notice the bowling ball in the right corner on the floor?)

Very difficult to see in the photo, but on top of the left book case is a pendant, a small painted piece of glass with the Eiffel Tower and "Paris!" written in script. On the other shelf are her bowling shoes, a small ceramic vase, and on top a glass bowl (recycled from mom) filled a new unnamed as yet fish, and the fleur de lis.

recycle!

#5 is an English Major with a French minor. Between you and me, she is a book snob. She has particular tastes and anyone who reads "fluff" just make her crazy. Part of her education required her to study "Romanticism" -which she abhors. She would rather sit through a Lawrence Welk revival than to ever have to read and or discuss romantic poetry again.

When I saw the state of one of her bookcases (wobbly!) I thought the best thing to do would be to try to somehow secure it. Limited tools and finances led me to recycle! She handed me a stack of poetry books and there you go! I started the project without her knowledge and got one side completely done before she came home and discovered my creative side. We needed to leave and gather some other things before the stores closed, so her best friend said she would stay behind and work on the book case. She had it almost finished by the time we got back home! I love the way it turned out, it was really cool and for an English major, well, what more could she want than book shelves full of words?

Thanks D! What a great friend!

Click on the photos for a closer look!

the Art

#5 loves contemporary and abstract art. She found some pieces that spoke to her and asked her best friend who was also visiting and myself if we would join her in making some art for the walls in the living room. The walls as shown in the post prior, were empty. The only art in the house was a poster print of Jesus and another of a temple, both green from too much sun exposer, one placed in the kitchen and the other in the hallway.

The first photo is #5's first attempt at painting. She was disappointed in it, although I really liked it. To me, it seemed somewhat cosmic and it makes me want to look at it for a while to see all the things moving in it. I liked it and so did the other girls in the house, so we talked her into keeping it and putting it up.

The second one is an abstract of the First Vision. She wanted something religious in the way of a painting, so this is what I came up with.

The third painting is just another abstract using a combination of elements that were in some of the other pieces we were doing. I wasn't sure she would like this, as I did it while she was working. Turns out she thought it was great. Who knew?

This fourth one turned out to be her favourite however, again, I wasn't sure she would like it at all. Later on I will explain how we changed/recycled/converted an old bookcase with poetry books, but with that in mind I made this collage using pieces from the books she had and also a bit of paint, a photograph from National Geographic, and ink. The quote on the base says: "de gustibus non est disputandum" or " there is no accounting for taste" in Latin, which she thought was hilarious.

The next one is based with text poetry from the books, with small pieces flying up and away into the light stream. This one got approval as well. I guess I should say there was one painting that needed to be reworked to make the cut, I thought so as well, and also one painting (ugh, that I neglected to photograph!) that she chose to hang in her room instead of the living area.

The last one was done by her best friend. It's a copy from one of #5's favourite artists, and although I do not know the artist's name the title of the painting was "Temple". Her best friend took almost two entire days copying this to almost perfection. I am sure the artist would be hugely flattered. It was amazingly close.

random list

*We have two new RS Presidencies in our stake this month so we needed to have an orientation with the new gals. We decided a while back that this kind of a meeting isn't the most exciting, always goes longer than you'd think, and frankly everyone needs it, but nobody wants it. So we start ours out with a dinner.

There was one a while back where we were all so busy that we didn't have time to cook, so we ordered up Chinese and chatted it up over orange chicken and noodles. This dinner idea is a good one. The women who come are sometimes, not always, but sometimes intimidated or just plain overwhelmed. Seeing your 'leaders' eating a cheese enchilada has a way of relaxing people.

This last dinner meeting was so much fun. I got to meet up with a bunch of ladies I haven't seen in a while and I think we had more fun visiting than going over a list of do's and don'ts. One of the gals is a teacher, she had fabulous questions so the night went really fast.

I have been away from the house more than usual which has made the interior similar to that of an abandoned warehouse, except it's more like an abandoned 1500sf. E gads, the floor in the hall way looked like it had been carpeted with dryer lint. Partially because that is where the "laundry room" is, but also because we have just run it, done a few loads of laundry and headed out again without polishing the 'wood' (read laminate) floors and we haven't had Roomba plugged in for a while. (He goes back on duty today!) Under the dining room table looks just as fluffy, but with a stray dead leaf. Yeah. Appetizing.

*Ants. Wo Wo Wo unto the ants in this house! I am SO ticked (to use another insect for anger analogy) with these guys! I swear (I'm getting better about just doing that in my head, but still). We could have the kitchen counter smeared with marshmallow cream and they still would just randomly show up in the hall (which they did yesterday), the closet (what's in there?), Thor's desk (because bills are tasty?), or hanging out in the bathroom sink (yeah, I know, the whole water thing. But really; if they want water all that bad there is a neighbor who leaves his on all the freaking time!). We rarely have ants where you would expect them, but the whole of it is making me cranky. I have little black plastic ant traps everywhere. It's disgusting.

*I decided that I can't take the treadmill in the bedroom anymore. (I actually can't take a lot of what's in the bedroom anymore, but I can do something about the treadmill.) So I got it in my head that I could just move this and that and shove it into the girls' room where we already have the weight machine (and permanently set up ironing board - lovely, but I'm lazy.) and the twin bed for that single visitor (all other visitors fight over couches or -the winner- who gets to go to a hotel). So fate being what it is, I chose the day I wore my perfect white tee to do the move. No big deal, it folds; it has rollers.

O.k. So I clear the path from one room to the other, this baby is huge. I had to move a couple of books that stuck out too far in the hall book case, had to move said ironing board a few feet, put this over there, that over there and we're ready! I fold the machine and lock it and the tip the beast just enough to roll it. I SAID: TIP IT JUST ENOUGH TO ROLL IT! Good grief this thing weighs for thousand pounds and is stuck in those tiny but very deep carpet scars heavy objects make. UUUuuUuGGGhhh OOomph Oooohh uh oh! At this point I am making mental notes on how I am very happy no one is video taping this. Sweet mercy this is a bit more difficult than I antiscipated, but it's too late to stop now!

I make it the door, but too late to notice it is exactly 1.5 inches too wide to fit through. Seriously? Ugh. I think "o.k, I'll just roll it back into the bedroom and slide it through sideways." Well the machine only rolls one way. So I kind of have to power lift one end of the beast and twist it, drop it, lift the other end of the beast, twist it and drop it and lather rinse repeat about 15 times before I can wedge my tiny self between the beast and the door jam, which by the way rhymes very well with a perfectly good swear word right about now.

I get it turned around and begin the process all over again, in reverse, to get it out into the hallway. I get it to the other bedroom door and lather rinse repeat.

Inside the bedroom now I (inwardly begin to weep) realize my white tee shirt is no more. But I press on (because I am an idiot). I go back to the master bedroom to grab the floor mat that goes under the beast to catch any stray machine grease (too late, got all that on my white tee and new chinos). I mop it clean and set it down in the right spot. I am happy that the rollers will work! Yeah! Just roll it into place! Whew!

Well until I figure out that the rollers just wudge up the plastic mat into a thick plastic wave of doom. To remedy this I need to tip the beast back onto my self while I bend over enough to grab the plastic and keep it taut with one hand while I walk and balance the beast into place. Yes, this creates a beautiful visual; although I do feel like Mr. Incredible after I am done.

I get it where it needs to be and plug it in. The phone rings. It's my daughter in law who wants to know what I am doing (Is she watching through the windows?). "Just cleaning today" "You want an excuse to stop?" I knew I loved this girl the minute I laid eyes on her. We go to Target. Frankly, if she wanted me to go anywhere it would have been a great idea at that point!

*My two nephews (twins) went through the temple for the first time last night prior to leaving for their respective missions (one to the "South side of Chicago, to the baddest part of town..." Well perhaps not, but South Chicago, Spanish. and the other to Germany/Austria). That was great. A beautiful night to be there with family and friends and to fill up the temple with people we love and respect. These two young men are awesome.

*Our #3 is moving today. This is the third move this year. For some reason my daughters like moving. Not really, they just have a habit of doing it a lot. I am glad for this move. She has her first 'off the desert' job with a "nice" dentist and a fabulous apartment in a great area. Plus she gets to live alone for the first time. If she gets a roommate, she'll be the land lord. She gets to make the decisions, it will be her "house". I am happy for her. Being the alpha roommate has perks the lesser roommate does not. Furniture, temperature level, closet space, etc. She has paid her dues, it's her turn now! I would (most seriously) love to live in that building where she lives, it's a great place all around. Almost perfect SoCAL location for S'mee. She wouldn't be so happy to have us there, but when or if she moves out...hmmm, maybe I can talk Thor into that!

The big bonus is this building has an elevator! Thor and the brothers are thrilled to hear this. Her last move (well and the one today moving out) had those really cool exterior stairs that have about 6 steps, a landing, a turn, and then another 6 steps and a landing. For one level you had to turn three times. She lives 6 landings up. (plus there are five stairs down to the common area, then across the grounds and another five stairs up to the parking lot. These people are stair freaks) Not fun for the movers. Thor asked if he could just throw the stuff out the bedroom window and replace what was broke after the fall with new stuff. If you know Thor at all, this is a clear indication of just how horrid the stairs are. He is giddy about an elevator.

*It's only 10:00 a.m., but all I can think of is some B&R's chocolate chip ice cream. I think I'll call my daughter in law and see what she's doing for lunch.

Fool Proof Photo Wall Arrangement

Have you ever gone to hang a picture--- measured it, marked it and then, when it's finally on the wall, you stand back to admire your handy work only to be disappointed that it's just a few inches off? Grrrr! Me too!

A few years working in Model Homes I picked up some trade secrets. Let me show you how we did it perfectly every time! It's easy. It's fast. And most importantly -it works!

It's a new day.

Like I mention in previous posts, Thor and I married young, in 1976. In all those years we have lived a few different places. Our first place was in a smallish town near the big city. We had little finances to play with so we lived in a tiny apartment in an "o.k." neighborhood. Things went well. Yes we had a murder in the field next to our complex, yes, there was a rape and a few burglaries in the area before we moved. But all in all it was home.

We moved back to our home town just minutes before our first born made his entrance into the world. That apartment was also in an exciting neighborhood. The gal across the sidewalk was a late night worker if you know what I mean. She would set her two toddlers out on the porch while she "entertained" her gentlemen friends, then scoop them up and put them back to bed once the guys left. Kids would riffle through the dumpsters, a house across the street was robbed once, and well, it was home.

Our first "real" house was in another small town. We were the only house on the block for a bit, well us and the strange family across the street. Eventually other houses would be built and folks would move in. Families like the one on the corner where, if you knew about it, you could score some pot. One night the police came to our door in search of "evidence", seems one of the neighbors made another neighbor mad and they fought in our front yard. Someone lost a finger and well, there you go. Good times.

We moved from that house and into an in-law's. We baby-sat that house for a while during their out of state move. A nice house with a huge floor plan and a pool. And evidently a large neon sign that said "Please take any vehicles left in the drive way!" Our one and only car was stolen. Oh well, we liked the pool!

Then we moved to the place we are in now. The second year we were here the house behind ours, kitty-corner, ended up being a crack house. The house across the street had a parolee, and the house down a ways was occupied by a habitual wife beater. Actually beat the tar out of his wife right in our front yard with the kids (ours and theirs) watching.

Still in all those years, all those homes, all that "fun" we never felt the need to lock a door. It was a joke actually. Anyone who knew us would exchange horrified looks when we told them to just come in if they needed to drop off something while we were out. We would leave for vacations and never lock a door. We would come home after long days and find a kid asleep on our couch, not our kid, just someone's friend who knew we were a safe place to rest until their parents could pick them up.

Last Saturday Thor went down to Lowes, laid down $145.00 and brought home a deadbolt and new knob for the door. It's a first folks. Never since I was 18 have I lived anywhere I felt unsafe. But the robberies are happening with regularity and during the daylight hours, and with just moments to spare as far as timing. You leave the house, someone breaks in and by the time you get back from the grocery store everything is ransacked.

Don't get me wrong. For years we both felt it was much better to allow someone to come in and steal what they felt they needed and walk away. Heck, what have we got that is all that great to begin with? Not much. An old piano, an out of date t.v. with a big yellow dot here and another green dot over there. A radio that still plays cassette tapes along with the c.d., and two computers, one with Vista, so you know no one wants that one! Still it's the thought that these robbers trash the place while they search. grrr.

I don't much care if someone takes my "things" just do it with out making me have to replace all the stuff you leave as well. So we have locks now. I hate locks. I hate feeling unsafe. I hate being somewhere I know my neighbors lay in wait to abuse my good nature. I am not a huge fan of creepy people as neighbors.

What to do? What to do? Not much. All we can do is what we have done. Try to make it difficult and harder for our house to break into than someone else's on our block. Great. I feel like "Hey don't rob us, rob our neighbor, cause they didn't protect themselves as well as we have!" Yah, now I'm hoping someone else gets it before we do. ugh. So we now bolt the doors, lock the windows and pray a lot. I went and made a key for each of the kids and there you go. Now we are like everyone else on the planet. Cynical and wary. I hate being wary. It makes me weary.

Curious George!

For the last two days I have been in the jungle! And at the lake. And building New York. My son and his wife are getting ready for baby number one, a boy, and they wanted his room to be decorated as a Curious George book. Each wall will be a different adventure. This top photo shows the almost complete (still need to add finishing touches to the tops of those palm trees) corner that takes George from the lake to the jungle. (if you look closely enough you can see the chalk outlines for fish in the lake)
Paint cans abound! However this shows how cute the jungle is going to be when we finish the tree tops! Oh and we're going to add some flowers in there too. Mommy loves her orchids, so we're going to have some growing in the jungle.
The jungle corner wraps around into Central Park and down into New York City! Lots and lots of high rise buildings! The Brooklyn Bridge, The Chrysler Building or is it Met Life?, Empire State Building, and of course a toy store, book store, and others!
Miss Liberty is out there in the harbour, George will be flying with the Man with the Yellow Hat in a helicopter, and the city wraps around to the third wall. On that wall (no photo yet) will be more tall buildings and a Fire House with "real" fake brick! George will be balancing on his blue and red ball as he goes down the street.

The 4th wall is where poor George falls into the lake, fascinated by the fish in the water. A small yellow pier and a few dragon flies will complete the total cartoon look. We took the cartoon drawings from the many stories and tried to put them on the wall as closely as possible, telling a few of his more famous adventures.

Tomorrow we head out to the OC to move the RDH back home for two weeks - I'm excited to have her home again for a bit- (she's in between apartments over the holidays), and then tamale night we have a schmancy business dinner. Always busy, but always fun!

Thanksgiving Part Deux

Today all the kids are coming home to do Thanksgiving here at the house. Everyone will be here , plus the two little boys!

We're having ribs and chicken wings, both slow roasted over 8 hours. They're amazing when they finally get done! Plus a baby greens salad with feta, cranberries, and walnuts, baked beans, home made rolls, and a fresh fruit salad. We'll munch on fresh veggies and a cheese plate while we're waiting.

One of my favorite appetizers is toasted baguette slices spread with roasted garlic and topped with goat cheese and dried cherries. I can wait for those! The girls are looking forward to their brie, and the guys love just plain cream cheese with home made chili sauce and crackers or wheat thins. We're covered.

Dessert is sugar free lemon meringue , sugar free peach pie, vanilla bean ice cream, and also a pineapple upside down cake, loaded with sugar!

I rearranged the furniture for the holidays in anticipation of more bodies in the house and also trees beginning to go up on Monday. Thor put up the lights yesterday, and we are both getting excited!

So that's the post for today. Happy shopping, if you're still out there after yesterday! Whew! See ya tamale!

Pay no attention to the hot glue behind the curtain...

The interior of my home has been, interesting, over the years. Our first apartment was decorated in 'Early Mother-in-Law' with touches of 'Salvation Army' here and there. There are still many things in my house that have been handed down from someone!

We went 'country' there for quite some time. When you have kids it made a lot of sense. It was both practical and inexpensive, and it looked cute enough. I didn't have the cool store bought things, but much hand made. I remember wanting curtains in our first home. But NO money. I went down to the fabric store bought $2.00 a yard cotton country fabric and then hand sewed strips. I couldn't afford curtain rods, so I actually used push pins and a staple gun to get those strips onto card board and looking like a valance. I used small grapevine wreathes as corner accents for the fabric to drape through and down the sides of the windows. I was freaking creative to get the job done with no money. For years our head board was thick batting covering an old mattress box and then covered with fabric that matched the bed linens. Like one of those fabric covered photo albums in the 80's...remember those? No? Ask your mom, I'm sure she has one somewhere. That was my head board; only without the lace. I made gynormo piping instead!

When I went to a more beach-y theme a few years back, again, no money for the things I really wanted, I had to improvise. I went to the Dollar Tree and bought tiki torches. I sawed off the torch and used the long bamboo poles as rods for my curtains, again hand sewn from fabric from the $2 Fabric Store.

What's interesting about this is I always felt ridiculous for using staple guns, card board, and hot glue to get the look I wanted when I couldn't afford anything else. Then I went to work for an interior decorator.

The model homes we decorated were full of staples guns, cardboard and hot glue. Some of the schmancy window coverings and bed linens/designs were literally glued onto cardboard or the actual wall/etc. We did one bathroom in a home (now) valued at $500k+ that had a shower curtain rod made from a tree limb the designer broke off a dead tree on the way to the job. She saw the dead tree and thought it would fit perfectly in the Northwest theme the house had. Good luck finding a dead tree rod in Macy's.

We hot glued pillows together at the last minute. We stapled Velcro to wood and then Velcro-d other things to that wood. We stretched sheets over cardboard and put them int frames for art. Heck, a lot of the art we did in those homes were huge pieces of whatever we could find that would match. Rarely did we "buy" art. We decoupaged, we salvaged, we altered, we faked it up the wazoo.

Next time you walk through a model home you will see things that are store bought. Not too many folks look under the valance, under the bed, or behind the wall art, etc. This is where decorators can save time and money hiding 'evidence'. But the challenge is to look for ways where the designers and decorators have done just what you would do if you had to come up with a creative solution with limited funds.

Candace Olsen and her clients have the financial means to do it up right. However the majority of us need to be creative and more like the folks on 'Design to Sell' or 'Design on a Dime'. We can still have a nice look that didn't come with a large price tag. The trick is to hide the evidence.

So spill. What have you created that gets the job done without the big tag?

So this is what we have come to....

This is my life today. Kind of boring and running in circles. I am driving to meet Chronicler in Riverside for a craft fair. I am going to help her set up and get things ready before the big start, at which time Thor will scoop me up and off we'll go to his business trip. Yeah for me then!

In the mean time I ask for all good vibes! If all goes well at he fair I will make enough seed money to secure a long time goal. That goal would then motivate me to gear up and craft more. This is my time.

#3 has pretty much left the house, I mean she's here twice a week, but between her job and her social life, she only sleep here. The house guest also decided to jettison the house three months earlier than expected , so there is currently an echo in the hallway. Technically when you listen closely enough you can here that echo saying "No more excuses...excuses....excuses..." The craft room is empty. The bedrooms are empty. Heck, even the bathroom is empty.

So there is a half finished oil painting in the "studio", and about 5 other projects that are commissioned that have been put on hold for ev er. I need to get crackin'!

Long story short (yeah I know, too late for that) seed money would be great right about now.
Cross your fingers for me!

Wednesday Afternoon Theatre-

The following is a small narration. To make it even more exciting please use the following voices in your head while you read the green and orange parts.
Green = A nice dull Ben Stine impression - think "Bueller...Bueller..."
Orange = Let's do your best Marie Barone - you know, Raymond's mom

Have you ever been in a situation where a random -yet specific- question was thrown out to you and those in the room you are in? Something like, "Introduce yourself and tell us ONE colour you really hate."

The circle of folks begin their responses. (cue party music)

"My name is Ophelia and I can't stand beige."
"My name is Prudence and I detest lavender."
"Hi, I'm Eliza and I am not a huge fan of turquoise."

Then comes this:

"I'm Ethel and.." "Ethel is my daughter, I'm Ursula and I know Prudence. We played polo together as children. And this is Armando, he's my husband."

(Armondo has sat in the same position for the last 15 minutes as if he were the lead in "Awakenings" [catatonic])

"um, I'm Ethel. I went to Westminster Central Park three years ago. It was right when they were building the new Greek pavilion and I lived right there you know. And..." "And she was there when the Prime Minister of Guava Imports was there to bless the Guava crops near by." "well yeah, I was there, and then, but I lived right there you know? And then the Prime Minister of Guava Imports came to bless the crops and he had his Ambassador of Roots and Shoots with him and well if you all remember that was when the Ambassador got sick."
- -tiny side bar- - this is when pretty much everyone in the room began to look around at each other in an uncomfortable "where are the exits?"- way, a slight pause and then...
"Well he got sick, came home and DIED! You remember how he DIED? Yeah, it was right then and I was there then, and then he DIED!"
--well o.k. then, moving right along--
"She was, she was right there when it was happening. You know -when the Ambassador got sick and DIED! Strange huh? Yes, well, like I said I'm Ursula, and she's my daughter and, what was I supposed to hate?"

That was my party last night. Dang if I don't know how to throw 'em! Call me if you ever need a good getting-to-know-you game. Then again, perhaps there are folks we just don't want to know too much about. ugh!

originally posted in 2005. reposted today because I am having a few tech-difficulties. enjoy the rerun!

Tutorial Tuesdays! A Holiday Chair Scarf for beginners

I love to dress my table every day and especially for the holidays. I found this fabric and it called to me! So I put my sewing machine to work to make a matching clothe and chair scarves! I think it will really make the coming holiday very nice.

The tutorial for today is a quick easy way to dress up a chair, and the instructions are basic, no fuss, none perfect beginner level. It uses sewing, but if you need to glue it that should work, just not as nicely, nor not as soft and flexible when tying on the chair. You can find the tutorial
here, along with a video presentation!

While you were out...

Because Lisa asked so nicely here you go. Episode one of S'mee's version. A few years ago we bought our little house on the prairie, uh, desert. At that time it was a rental and it was (and in many cases still is) a mess. We had rented it for a very long time but the owner refused to allow any deep maintenance ( like painting or even shampooing the carpet) because he was afraid of being sued. Go figure. So after much abuse, the house needed HELP!

S'mee was shopping around and found high-middle of the road wood laminate flooring for about $1.00. Trust me, that is rare. So I convinced Thor this was worth it and we bought tons of it. That in itself is a great story, perhaps tomorrow...

If anyone knows S'mee and Thor they know us as the gal with patience and The Procrastinator! (you really need to say it like Ahnold, "I'll be back!"...just way later.) Anyway, it took for. ev. er. for Thor to get around to actually laying it down. When it finally happened, it took one entire day for the guys to figure it out. The packaging says "snap and click!" but the directions say otherwise. Forget the instructions. After #4 came home from work they got the first room laid in mere moments. But by then it was dark and everyone was pooped.

(Crickets chirping) Several months later there was still a large stack of packages on my concrete front room floor. Like I said before, S'mee is fairly patient. So there it sat, waiting for another free Saturday and Thor's gumption to kick start the project again.

It was now the fall and time to pick up #3 from her Temple Square Mission. 18 months had flown by and she was ready to be picked up. So Thor and I hopped in the minivan and spent three days making the trip. There was some miscommunication and the trip should have been about 5 -7 days, but it ended up at 3 and we were home again.

As we drove up to the house (about 9:00 p.m.) I noticed the white front door was now painted a deep rich blue. As I walked into the house there were all of our other kids and their spouses, standing on my newly planted wood floor and newly painted room! It seems that #2 had planned for some time to gather up the siblings and any other help he could find and get the job done. The exterior trim had been painted from brown to blue as well. You could have knocked me over.

This was probably one of the best surprises I have ever had and Thor, well, he isn't a guy to surprise, but they got him too.

Fast forward a couple of months. S'mee is looking at ads and finds, once again, wood flooring to match the already laid stuff on sale again for $1.00 a foot. Thor consents and we now have a grand stack of packaging sitting in the hallway for what has now been about 8 months.

Hint hint: We will be gone for about 10 days in November.....

and you thought it only happened in the movies...

So this morning is "wake up and go get more boxes day". Last night #5 came into the front room and announced: "I want to say thanks for ALL THE STUFF YOU GUYS GAVE ME OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS! Good grief! I have too much stuff! Promise you'll never buy me anything else...EVER! lol!" Then about ten minutes later she came in with her list of things she will need once she is in her new apartment. Thor just looked at her and said, "You're on your own kid. We ain't buying you anything ANYMORE!" lol.

It was about 11:30 and we can hear the new washing machine working up to a "situation" (read: Houston, we have a "situation"). A loud thumping noise soon became a loud Wham WHam WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM with every female on the premises meeting at the huge white fixture of doom. We all burst out laughing when we saw the machine lid bouncing up and down in a mighty rhythm trying to expel all THREE foaming pillows #5 had shoved in there for one last cleansing before the trip. "Well, it seems they puff when you wash 'em." said #5, "Brilliant, Sherlock" came #3's reply and as we were all trying to save the hallway from wreck and ruin with suds and laughter #5 again (remember this is the smart one in the family) proclaims, "They really soak up the water don't they? I thought they'd shrink and get all flat." LOL! I mean really, how did she pass all those science AP exams? (Note to the BY-U School of Science: Stop requesting she change her major! English for her is looking the better choice!) We ended up with a puffy bathtub of foam and eventually ran each pillow separately through a spin cycle. After all the commotion she mentioned there were still things to learn on the last day before you leave home. QUICK! Someone get a recording device of some kind - there's a college freshman who admits she has something to learn! lol

This is Halloween!

Ahhh, the crispness of the mornings are lasting well into the afternoon and has announced that autumn is once again here! WaHoo! It's my favorite time of the year. I know that we'll have two weeks of cool weather, then another three weeks of really hot "Indian Summer", then two or three days before Halloween it will get cold and stay cold for at least four months.

The whole of autumn gets me excited. I enjoy the anticipation of the holidays. I try to get into Disneyland for one last hurrah and to sneak a peek at the "Nightmare Before Christmas" (N.B.C.) display at the Haunted Mansion and steal as many idea as possible within my budget. I am a holiday freak and I admit it.

This morning I went into nutso mode and the wheels are turning. After a quick trip out to the shed, inventory will be taken and plans will be made. This year there will definitely be more tombstones made, and hopefully more decor that lends itself to the theme. All of this is crazy because we rarely treat children in our neighborhood. The times they are a changin' and good folk stay away from the door to door festivities and only the crack head 32 year old moms with a soundly sleeping 3 month old come asking for milky way bars. (Oh, and the 24 year old gang bangers who scare the bujeebies outta me) But still I hope.

Two years ago I made up the front porch with floor to ceiling "New Orleans" lattice closing it off on all sides except the entry. Once inside there was a friendly "graveyard". (I prefer Halloween lite to blood and guts gory) I have tons of silk grass (from the wedding business years ago), so the grass was laid over bundles of crumpled newspaper to resemble grave "humps". Each site had it's own tombstone and some actual dead roses. There was a floating glow in the dark ghostie balloon and when guests arrived at the porch they would inadvertently step on the fog machine dispenser and fog would cover the floor of the "yard". The soundtrack from Nightmare before Christmas was playing in the background and with the other decorations, it was pretty cool.

Not too many people showed up, but those who did, albeit on some form of "medication", were happy they came by for their lousy candy. I always want to throw a fun party, but competing with the "Trunk and Treat" at church and school carnivals always means not enough guests to bother with. sigh.

This year Halloween is on Monday, so I will again attempt to bring something new to the slab. Goals are as follows:

New additions to the tombstones.
A wreath with eyes and teeth similar to the one in the Haunted Mansion/ N.B.C. Theme.
Gates similar the scenes in N.B.C.
Characters from N.B.C. that will greet the trick or treaters on the porch.
New luminaries that follow the theme and create a path to the door.


We'll see how it goes. I will be posting on the projects so all can see where it succeeds and if they fail. Costs and difficulties.

I will also be posting projects I have done in the past that probably everyone has done to death, but maybe someone new will pop by and get an old idea and turn it into something better. Please share!

First project just to get me in the mood... scary cupcakes!

I am hoping to get started soon, so stay tuned!

The Easy Road part two

Back ground on Thor and I: We were married when Thor was 19 and I 18. Our children began to arrive two years later. Thor was young, but had a career and decided that "no wife of [mine] will work outside the home!" Part of that was pride and part of that was a true sense of his families upbringing and philosophy. I will admit that I both enjoyed and hated that at times. It gave me the opportunity to do whatever I chose to do with my days, however, before children came along I found myself bored at times.

Enter children and my life became less than relaxed. Mundane, monotonous, bored, how many words can mean the same thing? Amidst the drudgery of the housework, diapers (cloth), and dishes there were great moments of infant discoveries and childhood achievements. I have to admit there were the days when I would have given my right arm to have an adult to chat with.

Thor worked 7-12s. 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. This was the norm in our early years of marriage. There were times when the 7-12 became 7-18 and then the times when work stopped all together and we would ride the savings train until the next job opened up. I was always one who looked forward to my husband coming home, I didn't care about the money, I married for Thor! Unfortunately money is needed to buy the little luxuries in life, like electricity and food, so Thor would take most every job assigned to him and off he would go for another couple of months. Life was good financially and we bought a fixer upper in the desert and set up housekeeping. Many things had to be done and I learned how to fix and repair and paint and make do until the "real" money came in. (still waiting...!)

The 80s came and destroyed the work force in CA and Thor couldn't get a job for three years. We lived off of food storage and hand-me-downs and S'mee went to work for the first time since high school.

I was nervous and scared and thought that because I had put off any collage in place of children I was crazy to even try to get a job. I sent out so many applications and only had one employer call me for an interview. I landed a minimum wage job at a "Hello Kitty" store. My co-workers were all still in high school and I was older than the owner of the store. I felt out of place and desperate. But an amazing thing happened. After one week I was given a pay check and told that I was catching on well. After three weeks I was offered the management position and soon I was earning national awards for myself and my store for our sales and for our visual displays. The boss/owner asked me to enter corporate contests; I won first place in every contest I entered except one, and that was a second place. I was noticed by a corporate sponsor/affiliate who encouraged me to enter other contests and had two of my works published in national magazines. I was doing things I had never done before and being recognized by "important" people in the business. I was asked to do art design for rubber stamp companies, and to create and demo new products. When the owner of the store decided to sell the store back to the corporation, the CEO of Sanrio International came to discuss the deal. I did not know at the time this was the son of the original owner and developer of Sanrio, I just knew him as "Daniel-san". My boss introduced me and after a business lunch "Daniel-san" asked that I address him as "Danny". o.k. Danny then proceeded to offer me the store. He wanted me to run and manage the corporate end of this venture. My pay had just been quadrupled and my title put me at and above levels of others I had worked under in the private sector of the business. Some were very pleased at the promotion, others not so. Either way I would still only have to work 40 hours, but now with benefits, a pension package and "perks". There were many people, including my former boss, who were amazed at my relationship with "Danny" and figured it would not be long before I would move up into the company and into the San Francisco head quarters. I actually could see that myself, which was really complementary and flattering to say the least.

About a month before all of this happened, Thor finally got jobs again. First a week here and a week there. Then before we knew it he was back to the long hours and regular pay. I conferenced with Danny and politely told him I was honoured and pleased, but I would be going home to my kids!

They call the wind "Mariah", I could think of a different name...

Remember that last post, where I talked about the wind? Yeah, well, it blew. And because of the rain we experienced this winter we have a wonderful crop of foxtails this year. Lucky for us they all blew right onto the porch. INCHES THICK! I tell ya, it was like a scary fifties sci-fi movie. Black and white, a tad grainy and with that creepy rancher off in the distance.

foxtail nightmare
Originally uploaded by S'mee.

The foxtails are literally shoved up against the walls of the porch and all in the seams, around the posts and under the windows. ICK! So it's time to pull them all out. There is a bonus to it all: the fox tails all stick together. Once you get a handful and begin to pull them off the cement, you get a huge pile. But they are sticking in the seams of the porch and sidewalk and they do not want to come out. UGH! So S'mee thinks I'll just power wash them off the cement. (yeah, I know it wastes water, but I am disparate.)

I go and get the hose. The nossle thing-y (don't you just love the sound of the word "nossle"?), anywho, I turn the water on full blast and squeeze the trigger hoping for a very powerful stream to blast out the foxtails.... the danged trigger doohickey snapped like a twig.

Hello almost finished remodeled department store! I saunter into the garden department. (You know it is spring when they bring out the colourful flowers and tropical plants that will never last two weeks here in the desert. Ahhh...) I carefully ponder which of the assorted hand held trigger power sprayers will do the deed and head up to the counter. Hmmm. Lookie there, one of those new fangled "fireman" hoses they sell on t.v. And, it's in a reel! You got me with the reel. I detest the fact that the only faucet is about two feet from our front door and the hose is ALWAYS unrolled and waiting to trip up any visitors. (Thor says it is a trap for wayward salesmen and the home teachers.) Every time I have bought a reel for the hose there has been a problem. But I see that this one is MADE for the hose and actually comes with it! How can I go wrong?

$20 later and I am on the porch again. I am a reader and follower of instructions. (geek alert) So I carefully open the packaging and find the info. "Attach the nossle (!) to the end of the hose. It is very important that the hose is completely off of the reel BEFORE attaching to the faucet and filling with water. " I can visualize the why for this -so I begin to unreel the hose. I get to the very end, the 'faucet end' of the hose and it is literally locked inside the reel and as far as I can figure CANNOT be removed without breaking the reel. I search the information again hoping to find the secret 'obvious' button that magically releases the hose. Nope. Not there. O.K. I will figure it out later it's getting too hot to be outside. I need to rid the porch of the foxtails!

I grab the other power nossle (thinking to self, "at least you decided to still get that! smart cookie!) and attach it to the old hose. Full force water here we come! I feel the pressure rising in the hose. I see the hose dance in anticipation of expelling H2O in a force yet unexperienced. I pull the trigger and WHOooooooooooosh dribble dribble .

Man! That was totally disappointing. I turn to the faucet, sure that I didn't give it enough of a turn. Nope, wide open. The stinky trigger nossle thing-y is just weak! WEAK! grrr. So now the foxtails are clean, wet, and stuck into the seams of my porch.

Well, tomorrow is a new day. I love returning stuff. oh well; could be worse. Could be stickers from the tumble weeds.

A sStiiicKy Venture, (but totally fun, dude!)

shell frame 2
Originally uploaded by S'mee.

This shows the corner detail. I began by choosing the shells and star fish I thought I would use. I used many more than I anticipated! I laid out the larger scallops and added sand dollars around the frame. They were the larger of the pieces, so I needed to know where they would look best and how far over the edge I could go without looking intrusive.

In this first corner, the peachy scallop went down first and I topped it off with the dollars. Using the silicone as glue, I spread it thickly on the back of the ornaments and gently pressed them in place. I needed to be sure that the spaces under, beside, between and around the larger pieces were filled with the tiny shells before the larger ones were set permanently. To apply the tiny shells I used the silicone directly on the frame, spreading it about an eight of an inch, and hand placing each little shell one at a time. I would turn some with the smooth side down, others on their sides and gave as much variety as possible so that it looked as if they just fell on the frame and stuck. I used a paper clip (unfolded) to manipulate the tiny shells into spaces that were hard to fit; and made sure that the frame was completely covered.

I added star fish randomly, but with some composition. Also, with the star fish I needed to be extremely careful as they are most fragile. They dry stiff in whatever position they were laid out, so some are flat as pancakes, while others are convex and concave. Figuring out which would look best curved over this shell or that was pretty fun. I also made sure that if a star fish had a curved leg that it was supported by another object, thereby protecting it from future breakage.

I will allow it to dry for about 48 hours just because, in these matters, I tend to be paranoid! After that it will be filled with one of the many family photos we have taken while at the beach and hung in a place where I can see it everyday! Wahoo! (I really love that big blue!)

Shell Game

shell frame
Originally uploaded by S'mee.

This afternoon I finally got around to a project I have been wanting to do for months! I gathered up a bunch of shells I have collected and went about placing them onto a purchased frame.

Our house is in transition. We are going away from the "Early Mother in law with splashes of Thrift Store" look, to a nice calm beachy Polynesian feel. Not that I nor Thor are remotely from Polynesia, we just like the culture and hope to acquire the "Aloha" principle via osmosis (no pun intended).

Back to the frame. White wood with a grassy linen mat. In the photo it looks more gold than green, but it is a very light celery. I used 3 & 1/2 shell necklaces, assorted star fish, sand dollars and scallops. I am not sure exactly what kind of glue the ancient sea farers used to hold their shells onto their frames, I chose a silicone sealant for its ability to withstand flex, heat, moisture and bond well. Details next post!