happily random

They Certainly Can Dance: NY2LA

Every year at my kids' school, the 5th grade teacher puts together a dance routine featuring the whole 5th grade class that they perform at the end-of-school-year assembly. My daughter Rebekah thoroughly enjoyed working on it throughout the spring. Their hard work certainly paid off; they most certainly can dance. So, here it is, NY2LA by Press Play. My daughter is the blond in the front row on the far right.

***Note: there is a part toward the end where they used a strobe light for a bit that doesn't come through on video, but it looked really cool in person.

Teacher Gifts x 4

With four kids in school, it's certainly a challenge for me to come up with gifts for all their teachers without breaking the bank. If I could, I would by them all a weekend spa package; I know they've earned it after teaching my brood. But alas that's a little bit out of my price range. So instead I show my appreciation with a little creative effort instead of monetary effort.

This year I came across this cute subway sign printable from eighteen25 and decided that was the way to go. I personalized it for each of my kids' teachers in Photoshop by erasing the bottom line of the original and adding the teacher's name and a few apples instead of the line "practice makes perfect." I printed the sign out photo-quality on matte photo paper for a crisp, fade-resistant print. Two of the frames I was able to pick up at thrift stores for just $2-$3. The other two I got at Michaels for $5 (they're having a sale on frames this week!). I used 2 1/2 feet of red, polka-dotted ribbon -- of course it had to be polka-dotted -- for the hanger, cut in half, stapled to the back and then tied into a bow at the top. On the back of each frame I included a small note to each of the teachers letting them know how much our family loves and appreciates them.

Note about the thrift store frames: One of the frames I got a thrift store had some small denting in it from thrift store abuse. I decided to make it look intentional by taking a few of my husband's hammers, screwdrivers and other metal tools to dent it further to make the abuse look intentional. I also used a bit of sandpaper to sand away the edges to further add to the distressed look. It's a great way to make use of a less-than-perfect frame.

I finished off each of the gifts by wrapping them in brown paper and creating small tags for each of the packages with a couple of punches and some scrap paper and ribbon -- a great trick to dress up a gift if you're short on ribbon. I'm really happy with the end result and hope that my kids' teachers enjoy them too!

Wolves of Mercy Falls Series: Forever

I have recommended the Wolves of Mercy Falls Series: Shiver & Linger by Maggie Stiefvater in the past, and I am thrilled to see the third book in the series, Forever, coming out on July 12, 2011. If you haven't read the first two, you still have time before the third one comes out!

The Creative Itch

I don't know if other people are like this, but I'm rather manic when it comes to artistic creativity. I will be walking through life, just minding my own business when *BAM*, I feel a desperate urge to create something. For a long, long time that outlet was scrapbooking. But now with my sister living in our guest house -- formerly my scrapbook studio -- and the majority of my scrapbooking supplies stored in not-easy-to-access places, I haven't scrapbooked in too long. Over two years too long.

With the demise and dismissal of my couponing blog -- which formerly kept me busy enough to keep this itch to create somewhat in check -- I have found myself with this desire to create growing ever stronger. Of course, hanging out at Pinterest doesn't help. I'm always finding inspiration, from recipes, to gift ideas, to sewing, to home decor and more. (Oh, and if you would like an invite to join Pinterest, just holler!)

Lately the muse of creativity has been urging me to sew. I have found instructions online to make the cutest little bag that I think would make a perfect case for my favorite polka-dotted sunglasses. As you can see, I even went out and bought the fabric for it. Pulling out my ancient hand-me-down sewing machine however, I discovered to my dismay that someone -- and I'm sure it was one of four someones -- had broken the stitch-size knob thus thwarting my sewing attempt right there. I currently have my eye on a new Brother CS6000i Sew Advance Sew Affordable 60-Stitch Computerized Free-Arm Sewing Machine on Amazon, having cashed in enough Swag Bucks in the past few months to pay for half of it, but I still have to raise the other half. So, my sewing ambitions will have to be put on hold.

Still feeling that itch however, I have been trying other avenues of satisfying that creative urge, which is how this blog got a completely new look over the past week. Today I decided that a little baking would help, although making my favorite cookies, Snickerdoodles, was probably not in the best interest of my weight loss ambitions? I'm going to need to remove some of that temptation by sharing some of them with friends. I'm sure my kids will gladly volunteer to help too.

Thus far my stiffled creativy has meant a clean kitchen, loads of laundry put away and a pretty clean house all-in-all. It's also made for several new recipes tried out for family dinner over the past few weeks. These efforts I'm sure will help keep me from exploding for the short term, but if I don't get a new sewing machine soon there is likely to be disaster coming. I might actually have to mop.

***Follow-up 5/15/11: Ordered my new sewing machine today and it's supposed to arrive Wednesday from Amazon.com. Yay! I'm looking forward to doing a little sewing soon.

Hats On

I enjoy wearing hats. Not only do they making me feel jaunty (wow, I've never used that word in a sentence before) but they're great for covering up less-than-perfect hair. What's even a bigger boost is I get a lot of compliments when I wear them, something which certainly encourages my affinity for them. I find interesting though that the compliment is often followed by this statement though: "I can't wear hats."

I can't wear hats? That always makes me wonder why. I can't wear hats because I'm not allowed? I can't wear hats because I my head is too big? I can't wear hats because I have a condition that requires my head to be hat-free at all times? I just don't understand the statement, "I can't wear hats."

Usually that statement is followed by this statement: "I don't look good in them." Ah, so I hear is this: After trying on every hat in existence I have come to the conclusion that I do not look good in hats, ergo, I do not wear them. It's not like I'm sporting hats like those of the Royal Family with feathers and odd protuberances sticking out of them, they're just simple hats in various colors with bills on them. My favorite is the black and white houndstooth that looks like something that a paperboy from the 20s would have worn.

My conclusion is that hat-wearing is not a "I don't look good in them" issue, but instead "I just don't feel confident enough to wear them" issue. Frankly I don't care if you like my hats. I like my hats. I like wearing them. I could look like a complete dork in my hats and I would still wear them, compliments or not, because I think they are fun. I think even those people who say they "can't wear hats" would look good in them if they just got used to the idea that they are hat-wearing people. Well, maybe not one of those weird English numbers -- because really, does anyone look good in those? -- but a simple unscaled baseball-type hat would work.

My challenge goes out to the non-hat wearing population today: put on a hat! Wear it for one day. I guarantee, you look good in it. And after you get over your nervousness of wearing it, you too will feel jaunty and will want to wear hats more often and get a whole collection of hats that rivals my own. Try it, because on some level, don't we all want to feel jaunty?

One Thousand Gifts: #9-17

A little behind on my thankfulness, but without further adiou, here's a few more blessings that I am thankful for.

9. weather here that is never dull

10. a convection oven that make the best chocolate chip cookies

11. the world's sweetest Golden Retriever who also doubles as a great guard dog

12. hearing from other moms about how loving my children are to each other when the see one another at school

13. thrift stores that let me spluge on something new-to-me without spending a lot of money

14. audio books on my 6-year-old iPod that still keeps me entertained while I do housework

15. a friend who forgives my blunders

16. a windy day that shows me that there is great power in the unseen

17. grandparents who pray for me every day

The Eye of the Storm

One thing I love about living in the North is that the people here really seem to seize the day. For example, today is the first sunny, warmish day sandwiched between rainy days in what seems like a neverending downpour of grey blah. Downtown Coeur d'Alene was full of people obviously taking the immediate opportunity to enjoy the outdoors while the skies are clear and the sun is, if not blazing, at least we can see it. When you live somewhere that is perpetually sunny, I think you begin to take for granted the warm days. Not so when the weather has a tendency to change momnet to moment. A lesson we quickly learned when we moved to North Idaho: if you like the weather, stop to enjoy it -- whether it's sun, snow, rain, whatever -- because it can change in an instant.

We took just such an opportunity to enjoy the sunshine by taking a family hike on Tubbs Hill. Our oldest has to do a community service project as one of her assignments for her People to People trip to England and France next month, so we decided to tackle a family trash pick up of Tubbs Hill as her project. My thought as the wise mother I am that this was a good way to include her project along with the hiking that we enjoy doing as a family. I'm ever looking for ways to minimize the whining while still accomplishing my goals and I think this one was a success. Along the main paths of Tubbs Hill were mostly trash-free, but along the beaches and throughout the large rocks we found plenty of discarded water bottles, socks, flip flops, wrappers, beer bottles, broken beer bottles, etc, etc, etc. This was a great excuse to stick near the beach as we climbed in and through bolders that make up the edges of Tubbs Hill. The hike was more fun than work, a "labor of love" you could call it. I call it killing two birds with one stone.

Arriving home from our excursion, we weren't really ready to head back inside, so we finished out the day by grilling hot dogs and then lighting up the firepit to roast marshmallows. Making s'mores gave me hope that summer is indeed on its way even though we had rain yesterday and more rain tomorrow. As I type this, I can still smell the campfire smoke in my hair and clothes which is like a little promise that summer is indeed coming soon. Glad we had this little reprieve from the insessant rain and even happier that were were able to enjoy it together.