Resourceful me...

C

I'm feeling super creative today.  Or I must be...  it didn't start that way, that's fo-sure.  I was thinking about how difficult it was going to be to find a Thanksgiving dress this late in the game (for Kinley, not me) and then saw on FB that a friend was making shirts for her little ones.  I then remembered from way back when, when I worked in child care, making these hand print turkeys.  And......well, viola!

It was no easy task with each little finger needing to be a different color, and well, it's slightly smudged.  But dang it.  It's cute.  And yes, I'm biased.  So what. 
Resourceful me.  Saved us a good $30 on a Thanksgiving outfit AND made a "First Thanksgiving" keepsake.  Go me.

How do dissemble a toaster in 30 seconds...

It's easy.  Just drop your engagement ring in it.  You're probably thinking--"how in the__?!"  Well, last night I made turkey burgers and while mashing and making them into patties, I took my rings off and put them on the ledge above the sink.  I kept forgetting to put them back on until just a few hours ago.  I grabbed them, put on the wedding band and....clink.  I dropped the engagement ring.  Gulp.  Sh!t.  No biggie, I see it down there, I'll just pull it out on the crumb tray thingy.  Slide it out and sh!t.  It's caught up on the center stone.  Now let me say that this is the only time that I am not happy about the size of my ring.  So I flip it over and shake it vigorously trying to get the ring out.  Cling, cling, clank.  No ring.  Just a ton of crumbs.

I don't know why I start panicking.  But I do.  Sweating, anxious, that fear that I'll never get my ring back.  It's a toaster, Joy.  If it "eats" the ring, take it outside and put a hammer to it.  No biggie.  But I'm standing there shaking it in a hot sweat.  Still nothing.

Luckily, I had a screw driver (and the right kind, for once in my life) and began to dissemble the toaster.  Luckily, at the last second, I remembered to unplug the stupid thing.  I unscrewed it (those screws are ridiculously too long) and shook it some more with the bottom off of it....and out popped my ring.

And then I inspected it.  Just to make sure there weren't any teeth marks from the toaster monster.

There weren't.

It's just fine.

So last night, Richie and I took on the daunting task of taking Kinley's pictures with the O N E that I had painted earlier this week.  Oh. Em. Gee.  That was hard.  We took about 50 pictures and 47 of them are of her hind end as she was booking it out of the perfectly arranged picture area.  Richie and I were screaming at each other-- me: "hold her still" -- him:"take the picture faster"  Obviously both demands were not going to happen.  There were feathers EVERYWHERE (remember the boa?!).  It was a mess. 

But we got the three that we needed.  They aren't perfect but life with a one year old (almost!) is not perfect.  So there.  And then Richie asked me "why don't you just try and make the invites?"  And so I did.  And here is what I came up with.

I made this in MS Word.  Fun?  No.  My design program is on our desk top which was never unpacked.  So I did what I could with what I had.  And yes, I erased the address of the party.  And not because I think you're stalkers and would show up at her party....but that other guy might be.

My mom and step-dad come tonight!  I'm sooooo excited!  I need a Kinley break.  She's so busy these last few days.  So busy.  So so so busy.  In to everything.  You just don't even know.  And she can now move the baby jail.  So confinement isn't even an option.  :)   Richie and I are going to have such a blast at The Lion King.  I saw it several years ago (on a date, not with Richie, but that's not important) and still say that it was the best show ev-ah. 

But yeah, mom and Steve are coming tonight and I'm not even close to ready for house visitors.  Luckily I did get the guest linens washed (well, they are washing right now).  But I've been so absorbed into this invite that I've kind of neglected life today.  I didn't neglect Kinley.  She's fed and taken care of.  I promise. 

She did stand today!  All by herself.  Well, kind of.  I was right there.  We were on the floor together and she was hugging me and I stood her up and let go.  And she stayed.  Standing up.  By herself.  And then she just slowly sat down.  We did it like three times.  And now when I try to get her to do it again, she lifts her legs off the ground.  Little bugger.  I heart her.  (remember when people used to "heart" things instead of "loving" things?  That's old school now, no?)

My ness...

It's pick up the dog poop day!  Or as most refer to it, Wednesday.  Since moving in to this townhome, my Wednesdays will never be the same.  Not only is it trash/recycle day but it's also landscaping day.  And out of courtesy for the landscapers, I pick up dog poop before 7:00 a.m. Wednesday mornings.  Yes, that dashes all of those glamorous thoughts you had of me.  Ahhhhhh, that's life. 

Kinley felt the need to get me up at 11:00 last night because for the life of her, she could not find that pacifier (we sooo need to wean her from that stupid thing) and then at 4:00 a.m. she just thought it seemed like a great time to be awake.  So we nursed, and rocked.  I got her back to bed right after Richie left for work at 4:30 (they have a contract in the city and they have to be there extra early, ugh.).  At 7:00 I was awakened rather abruptly by Kinley screaming.  She obviously had been at it for some time and I didn't hear it until that moment.  So through blurred eyes I found clothes to throw on and ran down the hall to rescue her.  Her little eyelashes were wet with tears and I totally felt the big FAIL on my forehead.  That is the second time that I have slept through her cries.  Bad mom!

Yesterday we went to Hobby Lobby and I scored.  For some reason I was so super creative and the juices were flowin' (that phrase totally grosses me out).  I was reminded (when reading "My Little Miracle") that not only am I trying to plan the cutest little party but that my original life goal was to save money.  So, like she blogs about, I need to try and be more frugal at the same time.  So while scouring the aisles of Hobby Lobby, I was thinking of all of the DIY that I could do for her party.

The result of that trip?  I bought super thick cardboard letters and green and pink paint to make the props for her invitation photos.  And this is how that turned out: 

I also got her a pink boa for her to pose with.  I tried to do a practice shot last night with my phone and she was so not cooperating.  This could be a bust. 

Super cute, huh?  Told you that I was being creative!  Geez....did you not believe me? Just kidding.

So then I saw on another blog where she made this banner thing for her son's first birthday, and I had to try it.  And here is that:

It will hang on the cake table.  And I'm in love with it.  It's probably my favorite thing that I've made.  So far.  I'm so not even close to being done with my creative-ness.  In my "former life" I did a ton of graphics work and even had a "business" (I use that term extremely loosely--as if that makes sense) where I made birth announcements, invitations and wedding programs and invites.  But that was then...I left that part of me when I left butthead.  It's great to see that even all of these years later, I've still got it.  Maybe I see a second chance with it?  Maybe. 

After our Hobby Lobby trip, we ran into the Dollar Tree to get some envelopes and Kinley spotted an Elmo book and went nuts for it.  So we bought it.  She has not put it down since we bought it.  I guess I have an Elmo fan.  She would probably prefer an Elmo party....but I didn't want to do a theme like that.  I've noticed that she'll love something and then not care for it at all two days later.  I sure would hate to plan a theme that she's "in" to one week and then forget about by the big day...you know?  And how could you not love polka dots.  Like Richie said, the first birthday is about the parents. Right?

And speaking of Richie, I love love love that he reads my blogs....but man did I get it last night!  He was reading the blog and I thought nothing of it.....until he said "how much was her birthday dress?"  Gulp.  What?  Huh?  It wasn't much.  He said how much is "entirely too much?"  Crap.  Then he laughed and just gave me that "Joy, you need to stop over spending on that baby" look.  He knows my weaknesses, and he accepts them.  Right, honey?  I love you.  :)