You Win Some You Lose Some

It has been decided that I am a fair weather crafter. I am a lot like my mom, where sometimes when I see something I think "I could make that." Where it goes awry sometimes is the execution. My Mom is a little like MacGyver. Me, not so much. Most of the time things turn out about how I would want them to. Then there are the failures. Sometimes they are epic failures, and sometimes they end in tears. Then there are times when I just lose interest, and like a cat with one of those laser lights I move on to something new.
It's who I am. Flawed.

I have this cardigan, and I love it. I get a little panicky every time I wear it thinking something is going to happen to it.
I never said flawed people made any rational sense.
Any who, I figured that if I could figure out how to make one like it then when I wear the original one I wouldn't need to take meds to calm me down. And being practical like I am I decided to do it in a different color. Because, you know, most people have a lot of embroidered sweaters in their closet but if it is in different colors it makes it way less obvious.

I feel silly even starting the next sentence, but evidently I have no shame so here goes...

I love this dress of Penny's. I want it to be mine. I wish that I was little enough to fit into it.
(I figured if I was gonna sound crazy, I might as well go full bore.)Since none of the above was gonna happen I figured that maybe I could make one like it.
Bad. So. So. Bad.
Is it a muumuu?
Perhaps a choir robe?
You sure you are all done having kids?I didn't even attempt to try to finish it. I salvaged the zipper and the bigger pieces of material, then proceeded to pretend that this dress never existed.

For Gavin's Birthday I made these balls.
Then they didn't go with the decor.
Then they sat, and sat and sat.
I didn't want to throw them away because I liked them but I couldn't find anywhere for them to go. Then one day I thought that perhaps they would be cute as lights.So for now they are hanging down stairs in our family room. I like them there, and they produce enough light to make it seem like it is the middle of the afternoon when it is really ten at night.
The best part is, once I get tired of them (which I am sure to do) I can just take them down and get rid of them. No need to feel remorse for throwing something away that cost a whole $12 to make.

You Would Think...

...that February would be one of my most favorite months. After all it has my birthday, anniversary, and Blake's birthday all rolled into one month. It isn't.
I may be trunky and ready to go on vacation but I am fairly certain it has more to do with the fact that I need sunshine. For realz.
I decided after much debate that I would go tanning a little bit before the cruise so that I wouldn't fry. We are going to be out snorkeling and swimming and figured that a little base color would be good because no matter how much sunscreen I slather on my body I am guaranteed to burn this pale pale skin.
So I went to the local tanning salon to get my fill of wrinkles/cancer/tan. Now, I don't tan and I typically don't blame people for things that I have control over, but...that girl at the tanning salon may have been a complete idiot. I told her that I didn't want to burn, that I don't go tanning, and that I only wanted a little tan before we went. She tried to sell me a $100 lotion (because that is realistic) then proceeded to put me into a bed, for 12 minutes (I figured the bed was a max of 20 minutes). I didn't think much of it. My fault. 12 minutes was the maximum time that you could go into that bed. Her fault.
I have never been so burnt in all of my life. A week later my skin was still pink and now my skin is starting to peel. Lovely. At our house lately, when we say our prayers at night the kids normally call out each other for all the ways they are disrupting the house.
"Please bless Canon won't get out of his bed. Please bless Penny won't cry in the morning. Please bless Gavin can fold his arms during the prayer...."
All the while Penny is under the impression that we are playing duck duck goose. So she is walking around saying "Do. Do. Yea Yeah." Canon is under the impression that Mom and Dad are going on a date on a big boat. I don't think he gets that the "date" is gonna last a week.
He also thinks that "decorating" Mom's room is putting an Ipad cord around the closet doors. And that when ever he wears his Donald Duck shirt that he is "Super Chicken". Laney is as stylish as ever.
The other day Addi came over and asked Laney "where her skirt was?" Most of the time I am not sure if I should be proud of her independence, and the fact that she has her own opinions. Or if I should hang my head in shame with the fact that she wears some pattern combinations that could burn your retinas, and I let her.No matter.
Her teacher said in our parent teacher conferences last weekend that Laney scored the highest on the tests and is the smartest kid in her class. So, toot toot.

A Little Bit Of Brittany Spears For Your Monday

Yesterday

I can't help but feel happy every time I look at Blake's face.
Yesterday we celebrated being married for 10 years. And by celebrate, I mean, he went to work at 6 a.m., then he flew to St. George for a business trip and then after getting off of the plane at 9:30 at night went into work, getting home at 1 in the morning. For my part of the festivities, I sat on the couch watching Survivor and eating jelly beans.
The key to a lasting relationship is not seeing one another.
I kid.

I finally have some new projects in the hopper. Now I just need to get the motivation to start one of them.

I have been missing an earring of mine for around a year and a half. I was fairly certain that it was a goner but I was still holding on to a little bit of hope. Imagine my delight when I sold a pair of shoes and found my other earring in the shoe box. I would be lying if I said it didn't make my day.

Well...that and the fact that I have been married to the best guy in the world for the last ten years.

The earring just tipped the scales.

If You Lived Nearby I Would Give You One

Hananuka Day 6

I realize that all of you are probably on pins and needles for what the last two days of Hananuka were. So, I figured that I would help with that. I am considering this my good deed of the week, just so you know. Blake and I had a really nice night out. We went to Market Street Grill and then to the movies to see Sherlock Holmes. Our friends the Wheelers are the best and watched our kids for us and put them to bed. They are tops in my book.

For the last Day, me and my friends April and Shelly went out to Indian food for dinner and then went shopping. We had a really good time and it seemed like the perfect conclusion to another fabulous Hananuka.

Hananuka Day 5 and Another Birthday

When I read the first line of today's card that said "We'd Love to See You Naked" my first thought was "You would."

But when I realized it had to do with shoes...
I was equally pleased.
I love them, but I am also a little undecided as to whether or not I will keep them. I tried them on real quickly like with a skirt to try to decide what I thought. Please excuse the lily whiteness that is my legs. They haven't seen the sun since last summer. Looking at the pictures I am still on the fence.

--Side note--

My Dad turned 60 today.

The pictures I have of us together are in a frame in our office and I was far to lazy to try to take them out. (It is a difficult frame.) Plus, our scanner isn't working so...you get a lazy non-working picture of a picture. I am high tech like that. But don't let that change your opinion of my Dad's awesome 70's style. It is just as cool as you think it is.
Him, me, and that comforter are working it.

Not to be outdone by the couch.

I also have this gem. Which in my opinion takes the cake. (He is on the left)

Although he was a laugh worthy teen it is nice to see that some things definitely improve with age (and lasik surgery).My Dad may have an unnatural love of guns, but he never fails to make me laugh or to make me feel loved.
In my book, my Dad is the bee's knees.

Hananuka Day 4

This morning I found my card on the table with a little note beside it saying that I wouldn't receive my flowers till Blake got home. I figured that he would buy me a plant, possibly flowers...and he did.

The real kicker? They came in this vase. I may have an unnatural love of this vase. I seriously look at want to give it a big squeeze.

I have admired it many times in the store but every time I figured that it would never come home with me. Not that it is super expensive...it just cost enough that I always paused and then thought of all of the other things I could buy that my kids wouldn't end up breaking.
But now it is mine, and if my kids so much as look at it I may have to put them in time out.
No lie.
When it comes to breaking stuff our kids have it down to a look.

Hananuka Day 3

Gavin's back of envelope.
He made sure to remind me what age I am now. I will thank him later for that.

Front of envelope. Back of card. Front of card. Laney's front of envelope.
She and I are sporting some nice "blinkers" as she calls them. Front of card. Totally Laney in its colors. Canon's card. Canon's envelope.
If I had to guess who did this envelope I would guess Canon in a second. Not only is there scribbles all over it but large circles and little C's. Canon's signature coloring skill.

Penny's card somehow went MIA before it got delivered to me. I suppose it will be a welcome surprise once it turns up.

Random side note:
The other day when I received my first card Gavin asked what I was reading. When I told him it was my Hananuka card he asked what Hananuka was.
My only response was "What family have you grown up in?

A Little Of Sunday, Some Of Monday, A Lot of Random. Featuring Hananuka day 1 and 2

First things first: Penny officially started to go to nursery on Sunday. While that is quite a milestone for her, I myself am not sure of my feelings about it.

Two facts are abundantly clear: 1. she is the ripe old age of a year and a half. 2: I may be having a nervous break down because my baby is closer to being two then she is to being a newborn and I turn 33 today. That has all the makings of a mental break.

There was a baby false alarm a month ago where there were mild panic attacks, some threats made to Blake on his life, and then some chest bumps when we were all clear. But then it also occurred to me amongst the rejoicing that she is our last baby. Which means that I don't get a lot more of this Or this. I'm coping.

Random #2. Blake and I are going on a cruise in a month. We couldn't be more excited. But with the cruise comes two things: 1. No Easter party this year. Which is sad. But I am going to get by with a little tropical action. 2. Cruises + food = Hannah + 5lbs. Not the most lovely of thoughts but true. So to curb the weight onslaught that is bound to happen I am going to try to go down 5 pounds to make up for it. Which means that Lose It has now officially become the red headed step child at our house, which also means 5:45 am spin classes which in turn may make me act like a rabid animal...we will see.
On the upside:
Hananuka has begun. It is a little later than normal but I could care less, because if we are truthful here, how can one complain when a week is spent celebrating your existence? A friend of mine says that having Hananuka has ruined me. Because I could never go back to the normal birthday celebrations. He is probably right, and I am totally OK with it.