Balloons and Bracelets

I wanted to go to movie night at the Berry Farm yesterday. Sitting on a quilt watching a movie on the side of a barn eating blueberries sounds like heaven to me. But as you can imagine, it sounds like hell for Bill. So I didn't force him to go. Insert big SIGH here.

HOWEVER, if I can get my kids up early enough tomorrow morning I'm taking them to the berry farm to see the hot air balloons take off. Granted, we have to be there by 7am. This should be fun and make for a good photo opp. I really wish I had a DSLR camera. Going to ask for one for my birthday. Or from Santa.

For Day 4, I followed this tutorial to make braided bracelets, the 2 finger version.  I just used an old grey jersey t-shirt as scraps. I made one loose and the other tight to get a different effect for each. These turned out really cute I think. Anytime I have some extra fabric scraps laying around, I'll make more. After cutting the strips, the weaving only took about 5 minutes. I'd say 10-15 minutes total for the entire project.

And throwing in one more picture of my outfits from my trip to Florida last month.

Getting mail and school annoyances

I love sending mail and getting mail.

Getting a letter or even a small little package in the mail just brightens even the gloomiest day and makes a good day even better.

Yesterday I started feeling sick (and still sick today, wah wah waaaah) but I got a little package in the mail with a beautiful new ring in it from jewelmint.com.

Today I'm sending:

• a book to a fellow bibliophile friend in Virginia (will post a pic after she gets it)
• a knitting book I had out on loan from a sock-knitting grandmother in Portland
• William & Kate magazines and another little surprise to a friend in Malaysia
• a handmade veil made by a friend for a soon-to-be-bride in Oklahoma
• a crochet bag for an old friend in Florida (she's not old, we've just been friends for a long time, unless you think 34 is old then yeah, she's old)
• this one is not as fun, but i'm sending a charm back to have it fixed so I can add 3 new beautiful charms with my boys' names and birthdays to my charm bracelet, excited to get this one back so I don't just have one charm on my bracelet (will post a pic when it's done)

{I sent a little poem and a tiny gift to a friend in Arkansas this week but I can't post a pic until she receives it}

= = =

I just went to school for a Volunteer Appreciation dessert get-together right before Luc's school starts so I had him and Ash with me. And the woman in charge actually blocked my way to the library and told me no kids were allowed. Usually things like this don't bother me because I can understand the reasoning and it's not a big deal anyway. But this really pissed me off and hurt my feelings.

I'm a mom of 3 kids, 2 of which go to this school. I work part-time. And I still am the room mom for Holden's class and volunteer Thursdays in Luc's class. I volunteer at almost every single event and donate lots of time and money to that school. Yet they couldn't allow me to go in for a few minutes with my kid to sit with his teacher and talk. They said they even turned away another mom earlier with her kid. Nowhere on the invite did it say "NO KIDS ALLOWED AT SCHOOL". Not to mention that this woman had the nerve to actually stand in my way as I was walking into the room. Although I did go in anyway to say hi to Luc's teacher and listen to her get fired up about it too. Still she couldn't convince them otherwise either. Putting together a letter to drop off at the principal's office later today. Just need to omit the expletives.

Wearing my new ring to calm me down.

And at least I had this little guy to cheer me up who snuck away with a lollipop.

Day 3's creativity project will be posted later today.
*Update*

Here's my attempt at this DIY shirt-making. I made it too small. Too much mom gut showing. Oh well. I'll try again with another shirt another day.

Buns and Braids

Started the day out doing something creative with my hair now that I've decided to just grow it out (because I'm too undecided about what haircut I'd want).  Just twisted, coiled and pinned it. I couldn't find any bobby pins so I just used these colorful barrettes that went with my green shirt and purple scarf.

Purple and Green - and wearing earrings made by my friend Vann. :)

Now for my actual project - a braided t-shirt necklace. I took an old t-shirt and cut it into strips, then braided them together. The strips were a little short for a necklace so I just tried together two strips to make it longer. I made 4 braids and then knotted them together with a bow. In the original inspiration, you're supposed to sew something around the sections that you connect to hide them, but I like the texture of the fringe so I left it. This took about an hour and I'm a fast braider. But it can be done while you're watching TV or whatever, and you only need an old tshirt and a pair of scissors.

And there you have it!

A pretty pillow and lobster for lunch

Today is the first day of 30 days of creativity. I was so excited to get started, I actually forced myself to not do anything new yesterday so I could save it for this month. Yep, I did that. 

I decided to make the little flowers today out of soft yellow felt. I made 4 of them in varying sizes and sewed them onto an old pillow. The pillow is still soft and in good condition but I've gotten sick of staring at it. Now, it's cute! This took 15 minutes.

 I decided to get creative with my lunch too. I made home-made lobster ravioli... which means I took the lobster ravioli out of the package and made it in my home. HAR HAR yeah I'm hilarious. Basil pesto cream sauce from a jar and a piece of toast, garlic bread style sprinkled with Italian seasoning and basil. (entire meal only about 350 calories)

30 days of creativity starts June 1st

I love this and I'm definitely doing it.

30daysofcreativity.com

I already have some ideas of things I want to make and do. 

I'll post each day here whatever I come up with.

Sneak Peeks of what I have planned...

Bud

I never knew my grandfather Van. He died before I was born. I've only heard stories about him from my grandma and my dad, some good, others not so good.

We hope that after we die, people say only wonderful things about us. But it's probably the un-wonderful things that people tell that make it more real that we were actually here. Like they say, nobody's perfect. And our imperfections that lead to misguided actions may not always be justified or warranted, but they make us who we are just as much as the good things we do in life.

I used to wish I didn't know the bad things about my grandfather. But he's been gone for a long time and I don't even have my own memories of him. So instead I try to piece together the picture of a man who was just doing his best the only way he knew how. And did at least two very good things in his lifetime, one of which was marrying my grandma, and the other, well, making my dad of course.

In the few pictures I've seen of him, he was very old and not smiling. He was apparently not an affectionate or demonstrative man with his family. But there's something about a smile on a man's face when he's not the type to freely give one up. It's a precious moment where I get a little glimpse of a grandfather I never knew, when he was a young man, full of life...with a friend who wore a bow tie.

His friends called him Bud.

Bud, on the right, with friends.

Birthday Party time was fun yesterday. Watched the kids play laser tag, ride go karts and run around like maniacs. Ash rode one of those kid version rides of the Tower of Terror. Loved it.

Met Winston for lunch at On the Border in Rancho Cucamonga which means I don't need to eat today. We went there for the queso and I'm still full.

Stupid things I keep thinking about: 

• I have $100 in spa/salon gift certificates and still need to use them. 
• I also need a haircut. I think.

Last day of school is June 9th and I'm going to sign the big boys up for some kind of Karate type thing. Maybe gymnastics for Lucas. I'm thankful we have a pool so we can go swimming a lot. I think it's going to be a good summer. Cue Will Smith, Summertime...