Hanging Out with Little Sis

I signed up to be a Big Sister with Big Brother Big Sister recently and today was the second time my little sister, Jasmine (11), and I hung out.

We decided we were going to do crafts together tonight. I told her she could pick anything she wants to make. Anything in the world. She choose a purse/bag.

This is what we came up with. Jasmine did most of the work. Well maybe we split 50/50.  I think it turned out great and she absolutely loved it so it was a great day!!



Training a Dog is Easier Than Training a Man

It seems the older we get the more the little things in life that we do everyday become so important. We get in routines so we do not have to think of our next daily task. Every morning I get up and make the bed before I leave the bedroom.  I love to get into a nice, crisp, made bed at night. The kids are asleep, it is the end of the day, and the house is almost all mine. Matt takes this love away from me.
Matt works 3rd shift so we rarely sleep at the same time. He gets out of bed at about 8:30pm to go to work. He never makes the bed for me. He also does not understand a sheet and comforter system. Correct me if I am wrong but the purpose of a fitted sheet, flat sheet, then comforter order is to dirty the sheets and only have to wash those each week.
I explained the whole process and how dead skin falls off while we sleep and such. He just cannot get it right. Or maybe he sleeps just under the comforter to "show" me who is boss. Does he care that much?
Forget astronauts and brain surgeons, marriage is the hardest thing in life.

New Homemade Jewelry

I sold a few things at the shop finally so I needed to replenish.

I made a few very simple necklace and earring sets...

...and a pretty long necklace.  

 

Harvey Can Be Creative too

I am not sure why the third guy is so upset.  He isn't either. He drew this picture and took a snapshot himself.   Also, snapshots of every room in the house and his toes in every room.

Keep up the good work Harvey!

Homemade Tic Tac Toe

I am in the process of making a travel Tic Tac Toe game for my neighbor's 6th birthday. I love working with felt, especially for kids projects. Felt just has an innocence about it.
Instead of the traditional X's and O's I went with his favorite animal, a cat.




On the back of each game piece I attached a small piece of Velcro. I will be making an outside cloth wrap that ties for travel to play in the car or anywhere on the go.

Crochet Grandma Squares

I do not know what is the big deal but I cannot follow crochet directions at all.  If I look at anything crocheted I can figure out how to make it very simply.  If I read the instructions for that same item then it turns out like crap.
Maybe this is because I do not like to be bossed around or just maybe because I like being crafty for the creativity.
Today I started a throw of grandma squares and I could figure out the 2nd round. I looked online for instructions to help but was just left confused.

ch 3, sc *(ch 1, dc) in ch 5 sp, [ch 2, dc, ch 2] 3 times, rep from *, sc in last stitch, turn



That just looks like gibberish and I have no desire to learn it. I have made many articles of clothing, blankets, and stuffed animals without using codes.

I had to find a picture online of a square I wanted that looked like the one in my head. Thank goodness, I guess, for online.
This is what I came up with. It is more of a hexagon then a square, but I like it!

Sock Monkey

Today I set out to make this super easy homemade sock monkey. They are just so cute and the boys like them a lot. I have crocheted a sock monkey look alike but never the real deal.

As you can see by the diagram it should be very simple to make.  What you do not plan for is trying to sew in a sock.  It is a little tricky to not poke your finger by way of needle over and over again.  I am almost done with this cute little guy and let us just say that he has a ton of character!

Matt is Clueless

We haven't bought a lot of groceries lately because of Christmas and low income and such.  I have just bought the bare minimum like milk, bread, and eggs. We ran out of onions about a week ago. 

Matt gets home at 8am from work and eats dinner instead of breakfast.  He is fumbling in the kitchen for a while while I am in our bedroom working on the computer and drinking my morning coffee.  About an hour later Matt comes in and gets ready for bed. He says, "What did you cook this morning with onions?"

"What?" I say thinking the only thing I made that morning so far was the coffee.

"Well, I found some crumbs on the counter. I tried them and they tasted like onions. I assumed you cooked with onions!" Matt said getting frustrated with me.

So Matt eats mystery crumbs that taste like onions but we have no idea what the heck he ate and he is getting upset with me cause I do not understand his questions.

Monopoly- do you have 3 hours to kill?

I know the world has become so fast paced and challenging for kid's imaginations.  They have texting, xbox, crazy animated tv shows and films.  I should be happy when my boys, ages 5 and 9, decide to take it easy and play board games. Their new found wonder is the game of Monopoly.

Until 3 days ago I never finished a game of Monopoly in my life. I guess the boys helped me cross that one off the ol' bucket list. We spent 3 hours buying and selling properties and switching money from hand to hand by way of rent.

It doesn't surprise me that the inventor of the game back in the 30's was unemployed and he wanted a way to pass the time. Well, he hit that on the nail.

The silver lining is that the boys can and are willing to play just the 2 of them. Thank goodness! For the last 2 nights from dinner to bedtime they have played.

Simon's Homework Mistake

Simon, my 9 year old son, is in 4th grade. Tonight his homework was to answer a few questions about a book the class is reading about a boy named Nick that is upset with his teacher for giving him too much schoolwork. Then on the back on Simon's homework he had to write a note to the character Nick with advice on how Nick should handle this situation.

Simon was having some trouble so I suggested Nick should "kill 'em with kindness" with his teacher Mrs. Granger.  Simon thought that was a great idea since you get more flies with honey!

He wrote out the note to Nick and showed me his work.

"Hey Nick, try to kill Mrs. Granger with kindness..." is how it started out. I pointed out that he might want to reword this.