Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Wreath and the Pile of Sadness

I have been wanting to make a wreath for a few months now, and last night my dreams finally came true! I had been planning on making a regular green wreath, but then decided that making one out of Christmas ornaments might be more exciting and maybe cheaper.

So, yesterday I headed to the Hobby Lobby to return my green wreath and buy all my stuff for my new endeavor. I was trying to do something similar to this wreath from Pier 1:

I wanted mine to be silver and blue to match our living room. So, after hours of work yesterday, here is what I ended up with:

It's not quite as bright and glitzy as it looks in the picture, but it is pretty sparkly. It cost me about $40 to make and I could have bought the Pier 1 wreath for $50 or $60... It's always more fun to have your own creation, though.

Anyhow, this morning I decided to move it from my pantry door to the front door (but facing inside) so that I could open and close the pantry. As I closed the front door, the plastic wreath hook broke and my wreath fell to what I thought was it's death. I was devastated. I immediately thought of all that money down the drain and all that time I had wasted. I managed to pick Lucas up to keep him from stepping in broken ornaments, and I left my pile of sadness on the floor so I could feed Lucas breakfast and trap him in his high chair. Then I called Ben and told him what had happened and I didn't even cry.

It turns out only a few of the tiny ornaments broke and about 4 big ones fell off, so I was able to fix it. I am going to return that stupid wreath hook to Hobby Lobby. After all, it almost crushed my dreams and my wreath.

So that's that. I don't think I'll go into wreath making business. It's too hard and it can be emotionally devastating. But, for you... I'll make you one for $100 - cash.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

7 Things - Tag

Ok, this tag is for Danielle. I don't owe her $18 that I know of, but she did do an awesomely bad ace job helping me plan Enrichment this month. So, this ones for you, my little clean freak.

7 Random Things About Me:

1. When I was a senior in high school apparently I saw the world a little differently. Yeah, I was a little weird, pretty optimistic, slightly hyperactive, and a little crazy, but I was a good kid. Anyhow my brother named the dimension I lived in "Suzy Land." Whenever I didn't get something quite right, or was a little too optimistic for reality, Robert would say, "Oh, is that how things are in Suzy Land?" Suzy Land was a great place. I don't go back nearly often enough.

2. When I was a toddler we were dropping my sister off at Chapel Hill her Freshman year. Without knowing just how awkward it was to be a Freshman in the first place, I pulled the fire alarm in her dorm just to make her first week of school a little more miserable. Hey, everyone needs a fire drill once in a while.

3. When Ben walks out the door in the morning Lucas and I begin our daily opera. We (I) sing about all things from diapers to lunch to love. We're really quite good. This singing thing is genetic. My mom sang my whole childhood, too. There were specific songs for getting the dog to go pee and for stomping your feet in the garage... "Stomp your feet 49 times, stomp your feet 49 times...." Yep, 49 times is a lot.

4. I have an addictive personality. It's good I don't drink. My first addiction that I can remember aside from candy as a kid is Carmex. I was at The Academy (my school) and I carried it with me always. They eventually had to stop selling it in the bookstore because I think reports came out about it being addictive. They also had to stop selling rubber cement, which was sad - you could make great little rubbery balls with that stuff. Apparently you could also get high. My other addictions were gum, Advil - the candy coating, Jolt Cola, and slurpees. My most recent problem was with Nutella, but I kept it under control and didn't buy another jar.

5. I like thrills - roller coasters, water slides, high dives, etc. I was really sore/bruised after cliff jumping in Utah off a 60 foot cliff. But even more fun than that was when I worked at The Beach and we had our employee party. It was such a rush! We would turn on The Destroyers (the biggest waves) in the wave pool, and not follow any of the rules. The best was making trains on the slides. Sure, we suffered a broken leg now and again, but it was fun... and it was never my leg. I do remember hitting my head on the bottom of the wave pool because I dove off head wall (the timing is very important because you have to hit the water at the crest of the wave), and I think I almost drowned once, but other than that I was good. By the time I was a supervisor, the parties had come to an end - too many injuries. I was grateful, though, because then I was in charge of all the crazy kids. I'm not as wild as I was before. I think I was kind of stupid then....I was 17.

6.When I met Ben he had a girlfriend and I had a boyfriend, but they were in different zip codes, so it didn't count. Ben was upfront and honest with his GF after a few weeks, but she was only an hour away. Mine was 12 hours away, so I could put it off until I went back to ABQ. I thought I broke up with him at Thanksgiving, but then he broke up with me over the phone at Christmas. I just played along with it. I didn't tell him about Ben until we were engaged. He must have thought I was a freak. I guess I don't have a lot of guts when it comes to hurting people's feelings. I think I'm more mature now and I would handle the situation better.

7. I'm PREGNANT! Hahaha. Did you just pee your pants? Good. I'm really not pregnant, but I thought that would be funny. Don't worry - Lucas won't have a little sibling to torture for a while. But, I'm so grateful for Lucas. He has taught me so much about myself. He's given me a reason to really try to make the world a better place. And he brings so much joy to our lives. We love our little creeper so much. I'm so grateful that Lucas is healthy and strong, not to mention very good looking. He's also very funny and I'm so glad that I get to stay home and laugh with him during the day.

7 1/2. I have to include this because I just caught a grammatical error in my entry. There are certain grammatical errors that drive me INSANE. I would like America to strive to use myself and me correctly. Please, America, don't say, "You can give Joe or myself a call if you suffer sever stomach cramps." You would never say, "Hey Joe, call myself Friday night!" You only call ME. Thank you, America.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Tag - 8 things

Ok, I've never done one of these tag things before. I'm doing this for Jeana because I owe her a zillion favors and $18. Hopefully this is as good as $18... I'll try not to copy, Jeana, but I can see your answers bright as day. BTW - Jeana likes Kelly Clarkson's "Since You Been Gone"... a lot.


8 Things I am passionate about
1. my Beanery
2. my little creeper
3. my family
4. church
5. baking
6. my friends
7. finding good in the world
8. cooking competitions with Jeana

8 Things I want to do before I die
1. go to Tahiti
2. make enough $$ to send my parents on an awesome trip
3. help Ben get published everywhere he wants to get published
4. just make sure Lucas is happy
5. go to Europe with my Beanery
6. laugh so hard I almost pee my pants, and I want to do this often
7. make the world a better place somehow
8. write a book or two - definitely a kids book with Ben

8 Books I have read recently
1. Baby Whisperer
2. Some other baby book
3. Some breastfeeding book
4. The Going to Bed Book
5. Peekaboo Kisses
6. Opposites
7. But Not the Hippopotamus
8. Goodnight Moon (which, I might say, really isn't a good book)

8 Things I often say
1. Rittlest Rucas, Mommy ruves rue.
2. Where's your ball?
3. Do you think it would be fun to do something fun?
4. You bring so much joy to mommy.
5. Oh, Holy Macaroni!
6. Where's your star toy?
7. duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh... (dancing w/ the stars theme song)
8. hey, creeper.

8 Things that attract me to friends
1. make me laugh
2. fun
3. identify with me
4. spontaneity
5. can handle my craziness
6. can handle Ben's craziness
7. make others feel comfortable and welcome.
8. people who can talk... or not talk. we could talk or not talk for hours.

8 Songs and Albums I could listen to over and over again
1. Sting - Fields of Gold
2. anything by Guster
3. Jack Johnson
4. Tullycraft - Superboy, Supergirl
5. James Blunt - Goodbye my Lover
6. Cowboy Junkies - Blue Moon
7. Ben Folds - The Luckiest
8. Keane

8 Things I learned this year
1. Sometimes it's hard to go to sleep - really hard.
2. Staying home can be more fun that a night out
3. boys like to be in boxes
4. boys like to be in fireplaces
5. boys like to be in cupboards
6. your own kid's poop doesn't smell that bad (unless he ate edamame)
7. vacuuming 2000 sq. feet is a lot harder than 600 sq. feet.
8. sometimes the mess can wait

8 Random things about me
1. I was a lifeguard for 7 years
2. When I was prego, I cried watching Dirty Dancing because "nobody puts baby in a corner."
3. I used to work at a radio station back in the day
4. I talked to Bruce Willis and didn't know it was him (I did take note that he was a hot dad, though). His kid's life jacket was all screwed up. Basically, I saved her life.
5. Joanna and I used to put gum drops on peoples car windows in high school
6. I wanted to be a fashion designer when I was a kid
7. I hate dirty water, boats, anything with algae
8. I love the smell of the beach

8 People I tag
1. danielle
2. becca
3. amanda
4. eva
5.I really don't like to pressure people. I'll feel guilty if you get fired for blogging.