Stuff I've Made

You already know I'm a dork.  Because I'm a dork, I sometimes do silly things...like take pictures of the things I make that turned out really nice so I can show them off to other people or maybe even give them an idea that they can make themselves.

Wait.  What?  People do that all the time anyway?  A lot of people?

Oh.

Well, then I guess I'm cool.  So here's a bit of my coolness to show off because I haven't shown any of it to anyone.  You're welcome.

Thanksgiving Veggie Tray.  Note the jicama, radish roses and all sorts of other fanciness.
'Cause Healthy is Cool, right?

Cora & I went on a leaf walk for preschool (PS--I'm doing preschool for her.) and I pressed the leaves.

When the leaves were dry, they needed someplace to go.

So with a little whimsy and a lot of blue tape, they found a home.

I seriously loved it so much that I was sad to take down my fall decor.
(Hey, look!  My living room's clean!)

Abby's girls' group leader had a baby, so she & a friend picked out some fabric, we did the cutting, I sewed & all the girls tied a sweet, fluffy baby quilt for her.

Isn't it nice when your food is friendly?
Especially when it screams as it goes into your mouth,
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!  Don't eat my NOOOSE!!!"

It doesn't always end up as people, though.

Such a sweet girl!
She ate every last bit of it, too!
(Don't tell her that it's healthy.)

Last NYE day night we played Pick with Riah's Mom, stepdad (until they went to bed), brother & sil.
(Pick is a contagious game that got popular enough that somebody copied it and called it Bananagrams.)
This little  number grew & earned me a flabbergasting number of points.
It was so high & only 3-letter words were used that I just had to record it.

 And because it's getting to be Christmas Craft Time (what?  That began in October? Oh.), I wanted to showcase a few things I did a couple of years ago...

These little guys are name elves.
My grandma made them for us so long ago that we had to make another one for my youngest brother.
That was a long time ago.

So I decided to share that tradition with Riah's family, as well as all of my siblings/etc.

And I do mean ALL of them.
(And right about now I'm sort of grateful that that flaky dumkopf in Ireland with 8 kids DIDN'T marry my sister.)

I sort of make peppermint bark to include on goodie plates to give to a few friends.
Fudge, snickerdoodles, chewy gingersnaps...the basics.

But that year I was apparently busy, so didn't include the handmade coconut macaroon bon-bons.
Hey--a girl's gotta' know her limits.

I'd completely forgotten about these.  They turned out nice, but MAN they were a pain in the neck!

What???  How did that get in here?  I had NOTHING to do with the Peep-wound wreath or the Peep garland that showed up on Lara's front door!
Carin did that garland all by herself!

 Random?  Maybe.  Quirky?  You betcha. But if you were at all inspired--or at least amused--then my mission has been accomplished.  Now GO MAKE SOMETHIN'!

Halfway

Today was an exciting day.  Not because I finally started getting the outside Christmas lights up; not because we slept in, watched a movie THEN ate breakfast; but because today was the last day of Riah's 3rd quarter.  Which means he's HALF WAY THROUGH HIS NURSING PROGRAM!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I might be a little bit excited about this. A little.

Why?

Because for the almost-13 years we've been married, life has sort of revolved around the construction industry.  Well, not revolved, per se, but more like........underpinnings.  The whole dang industry was tightly knit into the underpinnings of our lives.  It's not as dramatic as it sounds, but let me tell you, it was certainly influential.

Of course there was the income part: when, how much, where's it coming from, which bills get paid now, which get paid later...blah blah blah, boring boring boring.  But it was more than that.  It was him leaving before any of the rest of us woke up, then coming home after dinner.  It was having to work the morning of the 4th of July, making it impossible for us to stay for the extended weekend with family in town.  It was trying to run a framing business when neither of us had any semblance of a business clue.  It was sometimes working out of town for a week or two at a time.  Or more.

So I'm excited.

I'm excited because the next quarter doesn't start until January 7th.  He has a Whole. Stinking. Month. Off.  I am giggling in front of the computer right now.

I'm excited because even when he has classes or clinicals or a study group, he's still here.  He can pick up milk on the way home.  He can come to a soccer game.  He can be here for the mundane things in life.  You know, the precious ones that you cherish forever, like slobbery chubby fingers and batty eyelashes and mispronounced words?  Those.  He can take a moment in the middle of what he's doing and say, "Gimme that chubby boy!"  Which he does.

I'm excited because when he's done he can be in demand, instead of having to compete for the opportunity to be able to utilize his skills.

I'm excited because at the end of it all, we will enter a different universe.  A universe that contains such crazy concepts as Predictable Income.  A Schedule.  Time Off.  Better yet, Paid Time Off.  Sick Leave.  Insurance.  We've had little glimpses of it here & there, but this will be a full-on immersion into this universe!    (Oh, and nothing called Walking On Top Of Framed Walls When It's Icy.  Or Almost Falling Off Rooftops.  I'm glad to have left those behind.)

I'm excited and proud because he's learning so much.  He's doing well, like I knew he would.  Not as well as he'd hope, but well.  He's respected, liked, trusted...all that good stuff.  He's succeeding.

And I'm excited.