Semi-Easy Sewing Project

Have you ever seen those super cute rubber gloves for doing your dishes?  Some of them are really adorable.  The only problem?  I have big hands.  I do.  I am 5'10"...I am tall and large-boned and those cute gloves seem to come in sizes small and medium.  Still, my heart was longing for cute rubber gloves in my kitchen.

Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer.  I took my old gloves (figuring if I ruined them, I'd already gotten two years out of them) and added a ruffle to them!  I love how they turned out, especially considering I was using scrap fabric, so I couldn't get as long a ruffle as I'd have liked.

Aren't these fun?

So, why do I call this a semi-easy sewing project?  Because I found it difficult to sew in the glove the same way one finds it difficult to sew embellishments on a sleeve.  The gloves were too small to fit over the free arm, so it was a bit of a pain.  Still, I'm please with how they turned out.   Not bad for no money and 40 minutes!

P.S.  Doesn't everyone use binder clips in their kitchens?

Making Your Home Sing Monday

It is Making Your Home Sing Monday...the time we think consciously about what we are doing and can be doing to make our homes sing all week long. Momstheword is the lady who encourages us to never lose sight of the power we have to determine the quality of life in our homes and I, for one, am grateful she started this meme more than a year ago (!). Anyway, this week my home will be singing a happy tune because I've taken the kids on a mini vacation!

Yes, you read that correctly...I picked up my two youngest children and headed out of town.

No, it is NOT a big deal trip...we left early (dark o'clock early) Sunday morning and will be home late Monday (tonight) but for the kids, this feels like the trip of a lifetime. Why? Because I refused to tell them where we were going. The fun of not knowing in advance what thing Mom has up her sleeve has made them act, well, like kids again. The bickering, the eye rolls, the general teen-aged angst were replaced by enthusiasm that spilled over to other aspects of their lives...even chores!

No, we won't be going on mini vacations every week. These past few weeks have been a powerful reminder that I need to put effort to keeping fun in our lives, even as we deal with the monotony of every day life. Not an easy task, but definitely a worthwhile one! Try having a special picnic on the carpet or a special date with your kids. Make it something a few days out so that they have time to anticipate it. It doesn't have to be a big thing...it has to be a special thing.

So, what are you doing to Make Your Home Sing this week? Head over to Momstheword for inspiration.

P.S. Where did I take them? Well, we got a super discounted homeschooler rate for here. Doesn't it look like fun?

Happy New Year!

I would love to show you pictures from our New Year's Eve, but to protect the reputations of the participants (all under 18!), we've decided to forgo them for this post.

We don't go out New Year's Eve...I just know I would never forgive myself if something happened on what-seems-to-be-the-most-drunk-drivers-on-the-road day of the year, so we stay in. To make it festive, we let each of the family members pick something they want to eat and we buy enough to share with everyone. Some years, we end up with a truly awesome buffet and some years, like this one, we end up with a very strange combination of foods and drinks that only a child would love. After that, there are few rules...want to watch television? play video games? watch movies? play board games? stay up all night? okay. Have at it.

The menu this New Year's Eve? Well, Superman, Charming, and I went out to dinner to a local Mexican restaurant, while Buttercup and Valiant discovered the joys of Webkinz (grrr....). Once we were home, the menu came together like this: Valiant picked Spicy Hot Wings (the large bag from Costco), Buttercup picked Kirkland Cranberry Juice Cocktail ("It has no high fructose cornsyrup, Mom!"), Charming forgot to pick, Superman made cinnamon rolls again, and I picked tortilla chips with Spinach, Artichoke, Parmesan dip (again, from Costco). This year I even okayed a sleepover involving siblings who are friends of Buttercup and Valiant and watched their littlest brother until 1:00 a.m., so Mom and Dad could attend a church function. They added pretzels and Barq's root beer to the mix. Doesn't that sound terrible? Anyway, I was so full from going out to eat that I never had anything. The hot wings, the cranberry juice, and the cinnamon rolls seemed to go on forever, and the pretzels and the root beer came out late into the evening.

Basically, it is a night of complete and total chaos and the kids love it. The girls managed to stay awake longer than their older brothers, so crowing rights for the year have been established, but even the girls caved at about 6:00 a.m. As for Superman and me? We hit the sack after our littlest friend headed home with Mom and Dad. After all, those kids were going to want someone to cook breakfast!

Hope your night and morning were just as fun! Wishing all of you the very best in 2009!