Halloween Costume Idea: witch shoes

I know, I know.  This idea would have helped you out A WEEK AGO.  Let's just say I'm helping you out a year in advance.  I like to plan ahead.

My sweet mother-in-law sent my daughter Mollie the CUTEST Halloween clothes at the beginning of October, which prompted Mollie to decide she wanted to be a witch for Halloween.  I was so excited!  She already had a witch hat, so I just needed witch tights and some witch shoes.  I paid $8 for some witchy high heels at the D.I., with plans to turn them into five-year-old witch shoes.  I think they turned out pretty cool.

Original Banana Republic high heels: $8

I used a bread knife to saw through the shoe. Then I hot clued a pair of her
Sunday  shoes (that have been getting snug, anyway) and glued those pointy
babies on over the shoe.  VOILA!.

With the shoes, the hat, and the clothes, and a pair of stripey tights from Target, she was ready for a photo shoot.  This is the first year I have thought to take pictures BEFORE Halloween Day, and I was proud of myself for thinking of it, because those pictures are always taken in a mad rush before trick-or-treating.  {When I write "mad rush," I really do mean mad: my kids are angry with me for cutting into their candy-collecting time with photos.}

That shirt "Tutu Wicked" was totally designed
and made by MY fabulous mother-in-law.

If I have baby chicks, they are going to be
incorporated into every photo possible.

Beyond adorable, right?  I certainly think so.  And every I showed these pictures to thought so as well.  So assumed Mollie would like to see how cute she looked.  As soon as I showed her the above photos, she looked at me, her eyes filled up with tears, and she wailed, "Mo-ommmm, I just want to be Rapunzel!"

C'est la vie, people.

Corner Hutch Gone Fabulous

My husband and I have four kids, four rabbits, twenty-five chickens, and two cats.

We also own a 2-bedroom house that is 1400 square feet and was built in 1915.

You can go ahead and feel sorry for me . . . I don't.

Our oldest son makes his bedroom in the short-ceilinged basement with the food storage and seasonal items.  Our other three share the "big" bedroom (about 28 feet by 12 feet) and my husband and I take the small bedroom (10 feet by 12 feet).  We love love LOVE our small house.  It's cute and cozy, and, best of all, there is a finite amount of space--we can only own so much stuff and we consider this a huge blessing.  (Plus, not to brag, we have a big ol' honkin' yard).

However, because there is limited space . . . if I ever get something for my house, it has to be one of two things: beautiful, or useful.  This corner hutch happens to be both.

I'll have to figure out what to put on the bottom two
shelves that my 13-month-old won't scatter everywhere

My totally awesome friend Meg GAVE this hutch to me . . . because generous is her middle name.  She refurbishes and sells furniture, and she could give my sisters a run for their money with her interior designer skills.  Check out Meg Torman Designing.  She's beyond compare.  She had used this hutch for her boys' room, then painted it turquoise to go with a bedroom set that she was gonna sell.  I happened to be over at her house during the height of her cleaning-out-the-garage pique . . . and she told me to take it.

Did. I. Ever.

I knew the perfect place for it, and I knew the perfect use for it: 1- dining room, 2- craft supplies. BOOM.

Before . . . 

My sweet safety-goggles-wearing husband went to town sanding
it for me (he wore the goggles using the belt sander)

Sanded and ready to paint!  I sprayed white spray-
paint in all the hard-to-get cracks before using a
paintbrush and an indoor satin white paint 

Coat number one . . . 

Three coats later . . . I can't decide whether or
not to put that little door back on the bottom shelf

I sprayed a coat of polyurethane on it before
bringing it inside, so it won't get tacky.  I also totally
anchored it to the wall, because that's how I roll.

Crayons in a wide-mouthed mixing bowl ($1.50 at the D.I.)
for Miss Mollie's easy access

Scissors and glue sticks in a cookie jar ($1)
Colored pencils in a retro quart pitcher (also $1)

Watercolor markers in a sweet triangular jar with
a cork lid ($2), baby colored pencils in a baby jam
jar (leftover from a yummy, homemade Christmas gift)

I love how it turned out: it takes up so little space, but still dresses up the dining room, adds a splash of color, and makes it so I never have to get craft supplies from the cupboard again.  In short, the perfect piece of furniture.

Now I can enjoy masterpieces like this on a daily basis.  (Notice the "M-O-M" just under Diego's backpack?  Yeah, this was multi-colored just for me).

Patio Decor: Geography in Your Own Backyard

I have been waiting for this moment since I first gave birth eleven years ago . . . My son is in fifth grade.  And he is learning STATES AND CAPITALS!!!!!

Finally.  My area of expertise.

Of course I love maps (who doesn't?).  One of the first purchases I made for our first apartment was a laminated world map and United States map.  Later, I bought an actual roll-down map of North America off Ebay (I gave it to my sister Hanna when I had to build bookshelves in the only feasible place in my entire house that this map would fit . . . but that's a story for another time).  And my favorite way to wrap presents is with map-paper from old road atlases (check out the post I did here about it).  One of my favorite gifts my husband ever got for me (in 2005) was this geography coloring book, after he watched me print out maps from the Internet and spend hours coloring and labeling them.

But only having a fifth grader could prompt me to do what I have dreamed of doing since having my own home: painting a map of the United States on my very own concrete patio.  Oh yeah!  One week later, and I finally have the energy to blog about it.

I tried to "freehand" an outline of the US of A with chalk just by looking at the map in my atlas.  Um, yeah, Texas was even bigger and freakier-shaped than usual, and Maine and Florida belonged where Newfoundland and Cuba belong, respectively.

My "canvas"--the concrete patio on the back of our house.
Poor Calvin got to watch the entire two-hour process . . .

So I had to do it a real way.  I carefully drew a grid of chalk on my back patio.  It was thirteen, 1-foot spaces wide by six, 1-foot-4-inch spaces long.  And I even made the longitudinal lines get bigger as they went South . . . the better to represent the curvature of the earth, yo.

Totally set the timer and took this picture of myself . . . shameful

It took me about twenty minutes to lay out the grid.

That bowl has a wet rag in it so I could "erase" my mistakes

Then I began to work on the states with chalk.  The same way as reading: left to right, top to bottom (Only I actually went top to bottom, then left to right.  The West Coast must be chalked first).  That took an hour and a half.  Whew.  (The next day, I felt like I had done a thousand squats . . . as I very well may have done).

The West . . . like you've never seen it before 

All the easy, big states . . . 

I ended up using both atlases (one for kids and one for grownups)
because one had better longitude / latitude lines, and the
other had better outlines of the states themselves

When I finally had the whole thing done, I was so excited to start spray-painting.  "WAIT!"  You're thinking.  "Spraypaint?"  Unfortunately, my brain never told me that it might not be a good idea, because spraypaint is 1) fast, 2) cheap, and 3) lasts forever on concrete, as the many "project-spots" on my back patio can attest to.

Here goes.

I wanted to CRY after I sprayed the first couple states.  I worked so hard chalking the California coastline!  And now it just looked all  . . . spray-painty.  It was not as pretty and perfect as the chalk!

I stood for a while with the can in hand, like a vandal who can't decide which swear-word to graffito on the side of a box car in the dead of night when the only emotions she can conjure up are angst and rebellion . . . and I finally decided the same thing that said vandal would decide: go ahead and finish.

And I'm so glad I did!  It actually turned out to look pretty good.  Kind of stylized.  At the very last minute, I remembered Alaska and Hawaii, so I spent another twenty minutes chalking those two and then painting them (I actually left out the skinny strip of Alaska that butts up against British Columbia.  C'est la vie.)

Now, time to help Truman become around-the-world champion of his fifth grade class.  {If they still play around-the-world.  Did any of you play it?  My fifth grade teacher, Mr. Wood, gave king-size candy bars to anyone who made it all the way around the classroom . . . ah, those were my days of glory.}

FAB summer "I'm BORED" busters

As I have been going NUTS ALREADY with the "what is there to do's.....I'm BORED...etc"  I decided to google and find some fun and creative ways to get my kids OUT and ACTIVE!  I have come across some FABULOUS Blogs with the perfect ideas...

I fell in LOVE with the Blog from the second I entered. I am all about lists and organization and cleanliness. http://cleanmama.blogspot.com/2010/05/summer-fun-container.html

The "sisters stuff" ALWAYS has fun ideas and creativity way for mom's to stay happy, but I wanted to share there list of 100 things to do with the kids this summer
http://sistersstuff.blogspot.com/2010/06/100-summer-activites-for-kids.html

I think we ALL love Tip Junkie and all of her FABULOUS tips.... :O) She rocks on SO many levels!
http://www.tipjunkie.com/2009/06/summer-activities-for-the-kids.html

When we were kids if we said we were bored our mom gave us a chore. So I am currently working on a "I'm Bored" jar and if they say I'm Bored they have to pick a chore...which will NOT be a fun chore...such as
-picking up dog poop...weeding...things kids REALLY don't want to do...I think they'll get the point after having to pick something to do out of that jar.

But I made this poster that is going to hang right by my back door with 24 fun things the kids can do ALL by thenselves...(which the rule is they have to do it for a half hour before they ask to do something else....

Hope you like and have MANY ways to keep kids happy and entertained this summer....