Well, this is probably the worst photo yet, but it’s the last day so the lazy part of me took over and I’m letting it slide. I shot into the sun which was a very bad idea, but since I had a fairly decent photo yesterday, you can just look at that one if you prefer 
I added a strand onto the bracelet I made yesterday. I may just have to keep this one, I really like it.
Thanks, Thing A Day! I’ve had fun 
I can’t believe TAD is almost over already! It’s gone by so quickly. As someone else said, it is so nice to be able to look back on your day and see that yes, you WERE productive! Even if you weren’t acutely aware of it at the time.
Today I was antsing to play with the beads I used yesterday, and the other order I placed arrived in the mail so I had that as well. I’m not totally done, but a work in progress is part of my thing today. I want to add a strand of strung beads above the chain. I LOVE these beads, not sure why, but they have apparently found a way to firmly entrench themselves into my heart and I want more, more, more! You can’t see on the pics so well, but the clear beads (Czech fire polished, faceted) have a bright shiny bronze lining. They add a bit of sparkle to the more earthy colored squares and ovals.
The link is hard to see, the sun was shining so brightly (sorrry, Sarah!) so here’s a close up. Still a bit of glare/too much contrast.
My other thing is cooking. It is something new so I say it counts Butternut squash soup/bisque with a horseradish cream. Heavy cream, whipped, with some horseradish and a dash of curry. Recipes are from my ‘Soup Bible’.
I can’t believe I haven’t totally skipped a day. Granted, I don’t like using cooking as my ‘thing’ since I have to cook no matter what, but sometimes it’s just a little more/extra/different than normal so in my head, that rationalizes it a tad.
Today’s Thing is for my son’s school fund raiser. They have an ice cream social where you go, eat ice cream (woohoo!), listen to the kidlets sing some songs and bid on baskets put together by all the different classes. His class (1st grade) is making a few small baskets so you can bid with a 1 dollar ticket instead of a 5 dollar ticket. These will be part of a small basket. Hopefully they’ll rake in a couple of bucks I’m including a candle as well, maybe a bookmark (I just remembered the mom asked if I could make a matching bookmark…eeek!). Any ideas for a name? Crappy photo, too dark outside for the clothesline 
This TAD should go through the next month because I swear, I would have gone straight to bed this evening. But instead, I HAD to get a ‘thing’ done so here it is. Simple, yet still a thing. Hooray. I think I’m going to open an etsy shop. I have a website but I don’t like updating it and I don’t like making things when I ‘have’ to per someone’s order. I’d rather make what I feel like, and then someone can buy it, instead of vice versa. And it makes more sense to have a site that I only pay when I actually sell something versus one that I pay monthly and do nothing, right? Ok, I’m too tired to be at the comp. I’ll ramble on all night. The Baby is actually asleep right now, which is already better than last night, I should go to sleep myself. Or enjoy the silence. Ahhh, the dilemma. At least I got my thing done.
Too tired to care. BUT apparently TAD is addictive b/c I just could not totally let go. So I sat down and made this bracelet. Not exactly what I wanted, but it was a bit off the beaten path for me. I fell in love with the rectangle links and have been waiting to use them, just not sure this is the use they were meant for. However, I can buy more in the future. If I remember.
I wanted a somewhat random look w/the beads, but sort of screwed that up when I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing. Since they links were wire wrapped, I couldn’t just take them apart without ruining the entire link so I just left it. I suppose some patterns occur in natural randomness, don’t they? Two similar beads side by side aren’t really a big problem in the grand plan of life. I’ll take that any day if it means The Baby will sleep through the night. And not tease me with a good nap here and there.
So here is my fatigue pattern. Enjoy :) Sorry for the poor photo.
Well, at least THIS Sunday was for baking. Crazy busy here today, with grocery shopping, laundry, and baking. I don’t normally do much baking but I’ve realized that I really DO need to keep these energy bars on hand. And I would love to make at least most of the bread we use instead of buying it, keeping the ingredients a little more simple and natural. And I had bananas that were going bad, so the only remedy for that is banana bread, right?
Well the energy bars were a no brainer since I’ve made them so many times, but I’m on my 3rd try with the bread. Today’s recipe was a bit better than the other one I’ve been using but I had to trade out some whole wheat flour for white. Oh well. I’ll keep working on it. The banana bread came out super tasty. I actually didn’t have enough bananas, the Daddy ate one this morning (he’ll eat anything!) so I chopped up a peeled apple, cooked it to soften and mushed up the chunks a bit and threw them in. Best banana bread every. Banana-apple-walnut bread. Even the First Grader decided to try it, and then asked for seconds.
Well, the First Grader doesn’t sleep in anymore. He was up before The Baby made me drag my half-awake groggy self out of bed. So when The Baby went down for his 8am nap, I grabbed the First Grader to help me make one of his favorite breakfast foods. He loves to cook with me but we haven’t done much of it lately as I try to do most of it when he’s in school. Thus today, with Daddy and The Baby tucked safely out of our way in lala land dreaming of pancakes, we actually made them
He learned how to flip them today and is quite proud of himself. Watching to see if enough bubbles have formed on top, but a little early out the gate most times (and my controlling self just couldn’t let go enough so I reined him in and made him wait to flip until it was actually time) he did a very impressive job of controlling the placement. No flying pancakes today! He’ll probably wait until I’m not around some day and convince Daddy to let him try that trick.
Starting out gently…
Getting the hang of this!
Last one…
For anyone interested, the pancakes are half Buttermilk Pancake recipe from the Southern Living cookbook, and half Organic Buckwheat mix. The full strength buckwheat was just too thick and hard and not so tasty. Everyone likes them like this
I think the relief of ‘FRIDAY!’ is residual from my own days at school and work. Saturdays aren’t that much of a change around here, The Baby will still make me get up much earlier than I’d like, but at least the pressure of getting the First Grader off to school on time properly clothed, fed and presentable will be alleviated. We can sit around in our jammies and pick our toes all day if we so desire, although I admit we have yet to spend a day quite like that.
Anyway, I had to grab the morning nap to hurriedly throw together a ‘thing’ for today. It’s a simple stranded bracelet with some super cheap blue glass beads I got off ebay a few years ago. The brownish ones are Czech fire polished rounds with a blue coating that you can’t see very well. But occasionally it hits the light just so and you see a nice dark almost metallic blue. I bought these 2 Christmases ago for a project and this month I’ve used up most of the left overs. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite versatile beads.
Today I had to just admit defeat of sorts and use something that’s not an extra ‘thing’ as my ‘thing’. Just dinner. *sigh* It’s not even pretty to photograph, but it was tasty. My First Grader did the requisite “But I HATE roast/spaghetti/meal du jour!!!” whining, but admitted it was ‘good’. So I’ll rest on those laurels until the next dinner time arrives. FYI, it’s just a roast, pot roast, whatever, done in the crock pot.
The bread, however, is a different story. I need to get a new recipe or finesse this one. I want a nice whole wheat with something in it for texture (I threw oatmeal into this). The one in the photo is just from the Kitchen Aid manual as I was using my new mixer for the dough. I want it to rise a bit more and be able to utilize it for sandwich bread. But it was still good, hot out of the oven with some butter melting, First Grader was quite pleased.
I figured I may as well try to do something useful with the wire since I dragged it out yesterday, so today I grit my teeth and grabbed it again. Only this time I realized I ALSO have some 18g full hard wire. Still tough, but not nearly as hard on my hands as the 16g. My poor beading tools are about to go on permanent strike. But I got these made. Like my garage floor vs. handy man hammer texturing? There’s lots of sand in these here parts.
I’m tagging this one as ‘misunderstandings’ b/c I surely was misunderstood when I bought this wire. Do not - I repeat - do not buy 16 gauge full hard wire when you really don’t have a clue what you are doing. Then when you realize your level of ineptitude, do not swing the other way and buy wire that is the thickness of a human hair. It’s really not that useful in this type of thing, although somehow I’ve managed to finagle some wrapped loops with it here. I have actually made some cool earrings from the thick wire, but it is hard to work with and I really don’t have the proper tools. Sure, it’s fun to bang with a hammer on my garage floor, but I’m not sure that’s the kind of texture most people are looking for.
So, I’m not really sure WHAT this thing is, but it is my thing. I had fun playing, it’s been so long since I dragged out this wire. I think I’ll come up with some fantastical story about its magical deep meaning and sell it as a good luck totem on ebay for mad loot.
I never would have made it as a frontiersman, or woman. This day to day stuff is kicking my butt! However, I was determined to make a Thing for today. Not sure if I should have taken on this endeavor, I have a feeling that I would have been better off photographing my loaf of bread, or cereal bars that I cooked. But noooooo…that just wasn’t good enough for me. So in my deliriously tired state, I threw together something. Call it a ‘collaboration on Spring’ or ’simple desperation’.
Earrings, again. I wanted to put some pastel beads with these leaves to evoke thoughts of budding flowers. But after I threaded and looped the pink beads on silver pins, I realized I didn’t have the proper size silver rings to hook the leaves. I was too tired to attempt making my own loops, or using eyepins, so I said screw it, I’ll combine metals. So the chain was switched out to the brass, using brass jump rings, along with the silver pins in the pink beads and silver ear wires. I could have saved the pink dangles and remade a set using brass pins, but alas…I didn’t think of until just now, and if I had done so, how would the transition to silver earwires work? I only have silver….Anyway, I’ll just keep rambling if I don’t shut up now…
It’s obviously too dark for my clothesline photography, so I used a mirror to further complicate things
I DID get a cute photo of my boys today
I wasn’t sure I’d have something visible to post today. I skipped my normal crafty time when The Baby took his nap this morning and did some much needed home-maker type stuff. Laundry, dishes, etc. Scrubbed my bathroom sink and the toilet. I really should have done the shower as well but hey, let’s not get overly ambitious. Poor Daddy would have come home from work and left again, thinking he was in the wrong house.
But I do have a date planned this afternoon with the First Grader, hence my rush to get other things done. We do this occasionally, but we are long overdue. Daddy and The Baby went with us on Hooky day, so today it’s just us. We are going to see Spiderwick, grab some food and maybe hit a store or two. Hey, there’s an AC Moore right next to the theater! Hmmmm…
So we’ll go meet Daddy at work when his shift is done, give him The Baby and we’ll take off for our grand adventure.
Anyway…back to my thing. The Baby actually went BACK TO SLEEP after he woke up from his early morning nap. This is a rare occurrence. It took it as a sign from above that I should sift through the pile of beads and findings that are covering one end of the dining room table. And voila. I found some glass discs onto which I had already looped a headpin. Grabbed some chain, a handful of brass dangles and circles and jump rings and here you go.
Well today I got up early with The Baby, and when he went down for his nap (at 7:45am!) I hurried and threw together a pair of earrings. I figured I’d better move while I had the chance. I think if I had to name them, I’d call them Seaspray b/c of the green, aqua, pale blue and clear crystals. They are very sparkly, but I am not the best photographer so you’ll have to use your imagination.
Then all the boys (The Baby, the First Grader and The Daddy) were up so I decided to cook a real breakfast. I don’t do this often, for selfish reasons. I LOVE breakfast food and it’s hard to restrain myself from overindulging. But I broke out the sausage, the eggs and got busy. I almost didn’t do this next thing. It’s just so hard to resist it. I was going to save myself and toss out the drippings and crunchy cooked on bits but I just couldn’t bear to do it–they looked up at me from the bottom of the skillet with such sad eyes. I caved and made some gravy. Oh sweet hay-soos. It was so good. I was ready to just eat it all with a spoon, straight out of the pan. But I only took a few bites. Maybe I’ll make biscuits for dinner.
Then my most favorite thing. I made the baby laugh. Well, he’s not really got the laughing part down pat but I got some super cool squeaks and squeals from him. Yes, I know my sheets are wrinkled. No, laundry will never be my forte and I don’t see ironing sheets in my future. They are at least clean, which is a miracle in itself with all the baby puke and other byproducts that this little angel produces.
We were making the bed — I say ‘we’ because I couldn’t walk out of a room without him wailing, so I’d put him on one side of the bed, work on it, then move him and work on the other. This quickly dissolved into a game of peek-a-boo with the blankets. He loved it, as you can see
Well, I thought I had totally flaked out yesterday. But then I remembered that I DID throw together a couple more valentine cards for local folks, and I made a super quick birthday card and FINALLY got my mom’s package out. Somehow yesterday went by faster and was more exhausting than it had reason to be. I started to make an official ‘thing’ last night but I just threw in the towel. So I did it this morning and it is my thing today. However, the idea was there last night, hence the Valentine’s Day theme.
It’s a bracelet, and it’s a bit off the beaten path that I usually follow, but I like it. It needs a little tweaking i.e. the heart needs to dangle better, but voila. Here you go.
Today I let my older son play hooky from school so we could have a day to hang out. It’s only first grade, no big deal. Besides, we had to do his Valentine’s Day bag assignment. Yep, it was homework, a requirement. Way to suck the fun right out of the whole shebang, teacher! So we made it fun. Well, fun for him since he got to play with glue and sand his favorite character of all time. I do hope the teacher won’t have an issue since the assignment said ‘person’ and ours isn’t really a person.
I was sort of cringing at the glue and sand and general mess, but I think I kept myself reined in pretty well. We also got all the valentines in their envelopes, sealed and lollipops attached. While we were out getting the paper for the water portion, and a few other things, we stopped at Steak and Shake and I added about 10 lbs to my backside from guzzling a deeelicious vanilla shake. And burger and fries. Yum. It’s a good thing we don’t play hooky very often! I’m ready for a nap so I can dream away those calories.
So here is his valentine’s paper bag ‘person’.
But FIRST I had to finish my thing LOL. I was able to put the rest of the valentines together and now they are in the beeeyoootiful envelopes, addressed, stamped and waiting on me to carry them to the mailbox. The cards look much more cool IRL, the photos just don’t show the layering very well. C’est la vie. But I got to use up a lot of scraps that I just couldn’t bear to throw away b/c they were so big. Yay!
Well, I did something today! Damn damn damn that paper store online. Now I HAVE to make those cards and send them out or I’ll feel like a sell-out. Or something, that may be the wrong word. I’m kinda tired.
The Baby actually has an ear infection and the doc says his rash looks like a combo of eczema and possibly a viral rash. Poor boy. I gave him some motrin and he was happier than he’d been in a few days. But he was never overly cranky. We’re going to wait a bit and see if it’s a viral infection before we attempt antibiotics since he’s not had a hint of a fever.
So during naptime, I got some paper crafting in. I made some envelopes for mailing out my valentines, but I still need to make a couple more. Then I lined them and have started working on the cards themselves. I just now stamped a bunch of hearts, but they’ll take a while to dry. So I’m thinking tomorrow is a good day to finish cutting out pieces and assembling. So they’ll be a little late. Heck, my mom’s still waiting on her bday gift from Jan. 6. It’s been sitting on my end table for a few weeks now. Maybe mailing that out should be my ‘thing’ some day soon.
Day 10 - As promised, here’s the photo of the valentines for the First Grader’s class, with the stack of envelopes we made behind them. The brown heart portion is sticking up a bit, the 3d effect isn’t really showing here.
Day 11 - Again, the 3d isn’t that evident. The heart pieces aren’t quite so crooked looking in real life, just need flattening. They are on foam sticky pieces, as are the photo and its background piece.
*yawn* I can’t keep the days straight anymore. But I did do something today, AND it was with paper–double bonus! I worked on and almost finished the valentines for my first grader’s class. He helped, of course. I haven’t taken pics yet, I’ll probably post them tomorrow with whatever I get done for tomorrow’s thing. I also took pics today trying to get both boys looking at each other, which isn’t an easy feat. I would love to send some homemade valentines to long distance family members, that will probably be my thing tomorrow if I can get around to it.
The Baby is due for shots tomorrow at his 6 month well visit, and he has a rash all over his back/chest/arms. Hoping he does well with all of that or this Thing-A-Day will be put on hold.
Zzzzzzzzz………….
Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch. My wrist isn’t so pleased right now, but DAMN those are some sharp looking envelopes. Actually I had my sister here helping me or I’d be in a bigger mess with my mad bad wrist. These are for the valentines that I will be working on tomorrow with my first grade son - 20 different papers for 20 different envelopes. Don’t worry, the kidlets will all get a Sponge Bob lollipop so even if they don’t enjoy the beauty of these babies, they’ll still be happy
He made the lizard one from a magazine page. It’s upside down and its head is on the back. I think it’s the best one for his teacher.
Hah. I just noticed the new themes. Guess I’m just in time, eh?
