Should I title this post: "Forget it" or "Why do I even bother?"

[photos courtesy of my dear friend Cathy Jones]

merry christmas, anyhow.

a public apology on the blogisphere

Dear Evie B, I apologize for branding you a liar in my last post. 

I made the darling crayola wreaths you depicted on your blog, and they were dang cute.  The teachers appropriately fawned over them.  The students we walked past on the way to the classroom stared.  The school nurse gave adequate adulation.  The secretaries raved. 

My daughters were class heroes. 

I was finally that mom.  For a day.

[That mom I'd wanted to throttle just yesterday]. 

I see how this could have taken you only 20 minutes total, Evie B., and maybe even cost you only five bucks. 

Unfortunately they were out of foam wreaths at the Dollar Tree, and I wanted to use more than just the primary color crayons. I didn't really have any material I liked (that I could find in my randomly squirred away craft piles in various cabinets, at least).

My cost ended up being around $10 per wreath, which was still jim dandy, if you ask me. 

I stayed up until 2:00am making these wreaths. 

Something about the mindless task of hot glue gunning 137 crayons approximately 3 millimeters apart each was strangely calming.  

I experienced a glimpse of spiritual clarity and elusive inner peace while listening to my MoTab christmas music in the crystal chill of the night.

I mentally stacked up my blessings. 

I also ruined my gel nails, and my second degree burns are healing nicely. 

There were pockets of sheer exhaustion--sure.  Occasional lapses into puddles of delirium. 

For instance:  I remember being spurred on by the unfettered delusion that I would be hoisted up onto the shoulders of the students/teachers alike after presenting this glorious rainbow of delight to the teacher...a la Ralphie in "A Christmas Story".  

This kept me right on gluegunning. 

Plus I decided I like my wreaths just a leetle better than yours, Evie B.  I only gooped together one big fabric flower per wreath [held together by 17 pounds of glue], and I did not use pinking shears but I plan to look them up in the dictionary soon. 

Total time spent on project:  2 hours and 27 minutes.

Don't hate me because I'm crafty.

what I would LIKE to make my kids' teachers...

(photo/idea credit to Evie B.)

And what they will likely get. {again}.

The time I might have spent today making ruining these nifty crayon wreaths (I often fantasize about being that crafty mom) was instead spent finding the perfect jeggings (jeans/leggings) for Ellison.  She wallowed around on the floor this morning before school bellowing that "her pants were so small that even a squirrel wouldn't fit into them!!"

[I did shrink them].

[And I did appreciate the rodent in jeggings imagery].

That's OK.  The mom who made the wreath claimed it only cost $5.00 total and it only took her 20 minutes, which is a big fat lie.

Off to Target.

idle chatter at Costco

Me:  "Hop in the cart, Puffy, let's see if they still have any garland."  (they didn't).

Puffy:  "Mom, vampires don't like garland." 

longest halloween ever

I kinda got tired of Halloween lasting for four days this year.

diary of a gimpy kid

This photo was taken in September 2001.  Our morning started in the usual fashion, with me resisting waking up and the kids watching Barney on TV.  I lounged on the couch and contemplated any semblance of productivity in the day ahead.  I got a call from Cindy Zielke (a woman in my ward) telling me to turn on the TV.  The kids protested my changing the channel with incessant whining, but soon wandered/crawled around carte blanche while I tried to internalize the chaos I saw on almost every channel.  Like every other person in the world I couldn't stop watching. 

Trying to make any sense of the insanity, I called my brother John who worked in San Francisco for United Airlines and he told me that there were still other United Airlines planes yet unaccounted for.  

Then the plane hit the Pentagon.  How could anything breech the very symbol of the entire United States Military?  I was terrified and called my mom crying.   "Mom, they got the Pentagon!"  This confirmed that no target was off-limits, and I was consumed with panic.  We lived 15 minutes away from Fort Hood, TX, the biggest army base in the United States--what would preclude them from targeting that, too?  We went outside and I paced around on the phone in the parking lot while the kids played in the grass and my mom calmed me down and we talked for a long time.  Any real sense of security I felt before had been shattered.

Marc had just started an internal medicine rotation.  I paged him and he was finally able to call me back.  I begged him to come home to the kids and I.  He really didn't even have details of what was going on, since obviously people kept continuing to need medical care even though the country was falling apart.  No sitting in front of the TVs for these interns.  He said there was no way he could come home but would call me back soon. 

After a complete over-saturation of TV coverage, I remember finding solace in subsequent episodes of Barney, Bob the Builder, and Dora that day, holding my two babies close and praying for the people whose lives had changed forever, including ours. 

We had just moved to Temple, Texas, north of Austin.  Marc was just starting his five year radiology residency at Scott and White Hospital.  I was a young mother with two babies in a new apartment in Belton, [Chappell Oaks Apartments, I think].  

I had just quit my job as a pharmaceutical sales rep with TAP Pharmaceuticals in Tucson because we had moved and was transitioning into my stay-at-home-mom role.  I was lonely and hadn't established any friendships yet (but was starting a great one with Becky).  I didn't know any of our neighbors yet.  The bishop of our new ward (church congregation) and his wife had already been over to visit us and see how we were doing.  I still love that Bishop and Julie Atwood for that warm welcome that I desperately needed.   

I have a degree in International Relations from BYU.  Which means I took many classes on geopolitics, geography, international policy, and my favorite, Terrorism 301.  I was (and still am) fascinated by all the factions of global terrorists.   This also meant that I obsessed occasionally over whether or not my life would ever be impacted by extremists whose goal is to saturate and debilitate a society with terror.  Spending a semester in Madrid, Spain, opened my eyes to the power of the Basque Separatist terrorist organization, (called ETA) because my roommates were all Basque girls from Northern Spain. 

To be continued... 

the retro peach room

This is clearly AFTER.  Camilla Wright striked (striken? stroke? struck? has striked?) again.  After a year of paralyzing indecision, guru Cami came on board and we had way more fun than we should have decorating the little girls' room. (maybe more fun than McWhatAboutRetirement? claimed we should).  

The color palette was inspired by the Martha Stewart tissue paper hanging pom poms (in the corner over the bed) that I used for Ellison's birthday party.  Why couldn't I use nudes, pinks, and corals together?   With three girls I was getting a little weary of pink everything, so the neutral yet feminine wall color {Dunn Edwards Retro Peach}was the perfect jumping off point.

Cami recovered the cushion of this chair that we found at a retro store in Phoenix.  I like a mix of different colored woods in a room.

The girls love it.  As well they should.  They'll grow into it, too, since it's not a "themed" room, so to speak.

My SIL Ashley turned me on to this bookcase.  The girls can see the COVERS of all their books, not just the spines.  It holds like 300 books--best purchase EVER. It came from an educational supply catalog that supplies school classrooms with bookcases.

This dark wood "whatnot" shelf was a Christmas gift from my dear Hoopes grandparents when I was about 10.  I finally absconded with it from my old room in El Centro this year.   I cherish it.

Cami found this dandelion light fixture from IKEA.  It's perfect and modern and you just go ahead and TRY to snap on all 200 PAPER flowers around the edges.  Which is why I tipped the electrician to do it.

Ellison's birthday pom poms set the color palette for the room.  I may or may not take them down soon.  Dust magnets, but fun.

Cami and I chose mostly Amy Butler and Heather Bailey fabrics for the pillows, with some standard burlap and velvets for texture.  If you need a cheap and FABULOUS seamstress, let me know.  She's a perfectionist with over 20 years of experience.  {Denise Snyder}.

The bedspreads are a standard khaki/white stripe ticking that I thought looked contemporary and neutral.  I copied these bedspreads from some that I saw in a model home 3 years ago--I love how the skirt goes all the way to the floor--no need for traditional bedskirts.  We'll see how they hold up....

I found these steel mini-stools at Domestic Bliss in Mesa for a bit of an industrial feel.  We've had the Target table forever.

I took the doors off the closet (in Caroline's room, too), and added the curtain for more of a "dressing room" vibe.

My friend Jamie Kraus from TX sent this darling wood cube to me as a baby gift for Charlotte.   Such an original keepsake.

Cami found these frames at Goodwill, antiquing, etc, and just spray painted them various colors.  She found some great antique china and silver accents here and there.

This lamp is from Home Goods--I can't even express to you how much I adore Home Goods.  Many of the knick-knacky things came from there as well.  They have great prices and super-varied inventory. 

The metal antique cream nightstand is a great contrast next to the white modern linear headboards [from West Elm].  I do love a mix of shabby-chic and modern. 

The long white shelf on the left is standard IKEA fare, dressed up a tad with Anthropologie brackets underneath.

I love Charlotte's little angel watching over her--I can't help but say the prayer "Now I lay me down to sleep...."

Cami also found these fun modern Russian nesting doll prints on Etsy.  Never underestimate the cool stuff on Etsy.

Eclectic.  Warm.  Unique.  Modern. 

And d.o.n.e.