A Tree..or not a tree? That is the Question.

Friends, I forgot to share a fun evening I had with my sissies and mama last month! We did a Paintnite event together and it was quite delightful.

I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. What if it was too hard? What if I sucked? What if my tendencies towards perfectionism got in the way of free and creative expression? But there was absolutely nothing to worry about. The instructor was very kind and explained each step with a number of options for painters of all skill sets. She even made us promise not to say words like,'I suck' and 'this looks ugly' or 'ahhh I messed it up' and 'her's is better than mine'...we literally had to raise our right hands and recite an 'oath' before beginning our masterpieces.

It was a super fun and casual night to spend with the ladies of the family. We had our own table and could chat, giggle and cheer each other on to artistic victory. There were 3 other groups working along with us and it sounded like they were having (almost) as much fun as us. Here was the art piece we attempted to recreate:

And our adventures:

And the finished masterpieces:

I was very proud of our efforts and it was cool to see the way each person interpreted the directions to make their painting a true reflection of themselves. At the end of the night, all the groups walked around each table to take a look at the other art pieces created throughout the evening. Different paint strokes, colors, leaf shapes and branches but all still trees. I feel like there is a metaphor for life in there somewhere???

Two thumbs up for Paintnite! If you have the chance to give it a try, do it. You will have such fun and make beautiful art in the process!

I hung my piece on the porch with another tree painting I had done awhile back...an arboreal match made in Heaven:

Run for the Border

Sometimes the Facebook is a helpful tool in realizing lifelong dreams. Such a dream came to fruition for me last week as an advertisement (or some kind of post in my news feed) popped up...the details are fuzzy.

So there I was, minding my own business and catching up on the FB happenings of the day....ok, the hour (none of which had changed from the previous hour when I was 'catching up' then- man, I gotta detox from the FB checking bug). I digress.

An advertisement appeared for Taco Bell Mild Sauce....in a BOTTLE!!! How had I never known that it was available for purchase in a bottle?? I had spent the majority of my Taco Bell eating life enjoying my favorite sauce one teeny, tiny packet at a time....wishing for a way to just squeeze out a little more for that last bite of bean burrito.

Being intentional about going into the restaurant to order (so I could casually stuff my pockets with the necessary number of packets as I waited for my order and then going back to collect a few more in the bag before I left....without being 'caught'. Not that anyone was actually watching) rather than the drive-thru because when they ask you on the little speaker if you 'want any sauce with that' and you say 'yes, LOTS of mild', you hope they understand what LOTS means. And they never do....3 mild packets for a taco and a burrito? How am I supposed to make that work?

I can't really eat the Taco Bell these days without enjoying a little tummy ache upon consumption....but when I take the risk, you can be sure that I stock up on the sauce. My love of the sauce runs deep. As a young child, I have fond memories of family trips to the Bell where I would delight in the 'pintos and cheese' cup. That's where the love began.

As a preteen, I spent a summer in Georgia with my cuz Milly Sue- hanging by the pool, enjoying life and apparently eating a lot of Taco Bell. Every time we went, we filled our pockets with packets and ended the summer with a plastic shopping bag FULL. I took it home on the airplane like that was a normal thing to carry onto a plane and shared my bounty with the family for many months to come. It should be noted that I mostly consumed the stash of sauce packets atop pinto beans cooked and prepared by my dear mother. We didn't frequent the Bell as often in later years....but the passion for the packets never left my heart. 

Back to my FB discovery- it lead me to Amazon where I could purchase 4 bottles of the magic sauce for like $20....that seemed kind of high but can you really put a price on fulfilling a lifelong dream of endless sauce at your fingertips? I was considering it....let's check the reviews:

Yes! You guys totally get me. I think I'm gonna do it! But then this caught my eye moments before adding the item into my cart:

Walmart? For $1.35? I think I'm gonna cry! Could it be that my beloved sauce has been right under my nose all these years? I did a quick Walmart website search just to confirm if these reviewer's claims were true...and sure enough. They had some in stock:

I wasn't able to rush out and purchase at that moment but made a plan in my mind to stop and grab some right away after work the next day. As I pulled up to the store, I felt worries that they could be out of stock and my 'enjoy-as-much-sauce-as-you-please' dream would never be realized. 

But, as I walked up the Taco aisle, there it was! I bought 4 bottles:

Oh my, it was a special day. What was my first meal, you may be wondering?

And it was MUY BUENO. Dream big dreams, guys. The satisfaction of fulfillment is delightful 🌮.

We are Family!

Seasons are changing...kids are growing...life is happening. Time for a little family fun update!

The 'J' family kiddos are back in school:

Cute family alert:

The 'P' family has a BIG 3 year old:

...with pierced ears!!!!

I love and miss my brother very much who is in a far away land (in actuality, just a few states away, but still):

Mama made a new BFF this summer named Bob (or Bobby if you prefer). He stops by almost every day and she feeds him fresh carrots and lettuce. They have nice chats in the yard about life...ok, he mostly just listens and makes cute bunny sounds. But I am certain that he loves her.

Mosie is still my favorite. With the approaching Fall season comes the even more anticipated My-kitty-likes-to-snuggle-again season...almost here:

And speaking of Fall, I wore some wool socks tonight. Three cheers for wool socks weather. Delight:

Crafty Corner: Laundry Day

It's the start of the Fall Semester which means some new cute kids, new classroom decorations such as these hilarious buses (yep, we are the drivers)...

...and a new classroom furniture arrangement along with the switching of many toys. We do a 'room change' every 4-5 weeks but it's fun when it falls on the start of a semester. It makes life seem so fresh and full of anticipation for future learning:)

This round, we have the Laundry Center- it consists of a wooden cabinet with cool windowed doors (washer and dryer) and lots of knobs to turn and twist. We usually add a few baskets, 'soap' bottles, plastic irons and scarves to promote creative dramatic play interactions. 

Awhile back, we also had a little freestanding stringy thing-a-ma-bob that could allow for items to be hung with clothespin (worst description ever...sorry).  Over time, pieces of it broke off and then duct tape eventually had to be involved in order for it to be functional. And the kids liked to break the strings. And I had angry feelings. And then we threw it away.

As we were preparing the room this week, I had visions of a new and improved stringy thing-a-ma-bob that was not broken and could withstand the 'how-can-this-be-taken-apart' minds of my crafty Tods.

As with most of my project visions, I knew what I wanted it to look like in my brain but didn't know the best way to actually get there. I decided to just go to Home Depot and walk up and down the aisles for inspiration. My initial instinct was screaming PVC pipe, so I went to that aisle first to scope out my options. 

To my delight, there were a variety of precut 2 foot pieces on a shelf that could maybe be perfect. I grabbed a bunch and laid them out on the floor with a smattering of connector pieces amongst all the Construction and Plumber guys....I wonder how crazy I looked? Didn't really care....the creative juices were starting to flow.

I made my purchase and headed out. All I needed to bring my dream to fruition was a handsaw and a drill (yep, I'm gettin' serious using tools and everything). Handsaw at school, drill from gal pal 'D'...I was in business:

First things first...2 of the pipes needed to be cut in half to eventually become the legs. I stopped at school for the measuring and sawing:

Took the pieces home and assembled the parts on the table:

I wanted 2 ropes evenly spaced apart strung from post to post, so measured down the side posts to prepare for the drilling of holes:

The first mark 6 inches from the top and then another marking at 12 inches. To make sure that the holes lined up on the other side (to feed the rope all the way thru), I used my tape measure as a guide and calculated a matching mark half way around to pole.....aaaaannnd, now I'm doing math. 

Much drilling happened on both side posts, a total of 8 holes drilled. Next the rope:

I used a big needle to thread the twine through the holes:

And tied knots on both outside ends- I made sure the line was pretty tight while securing the final knots so the future clothspins wouldn't be saggy baggy holding their clothing items:

Then I (carefully) burned the ends of the rope to ensure they wouldn't fray apart at a later time and break:

And although duct tape was a no-no for keeping old, broken stringy thing-a-ma-bobs together, my new and improved stringy thing-a-ma-bob would indeed have a duct tape element. In my original vision, painting the ugly PVC pipe (to up the cuteness factor) seemed like a necessary step. But internets advice from various worker types said that PVC pipe doesn't love to be painted. I'm all about classroom safety and I don't want my toddler people accidentally consuming chipped paint pieces!! Fancy duct tape could get the job done to cover the ugliness of PVC just fine:

I chose black for the legs and shiney metallic silver for the surrounding posts- layering the pieces around each pipe until full coverage was achieved. Ta-Da!!:

I'm pleased with the outcome and it looks great in the Laundry Area with some clothespins and socks:

And I think the kids like it too: