Shrinky Dinkin'!

So Sunday at church, our artsy-fartsy friend Lynn was all excited showing us this cool stuff she made--shrink art jewelry! For those of you who are of my generation, we date ourselves calling them Shrinky Dinks. Do you remember those?! Oh man, memories of Camp Fire Girls came flooding back to me. I always LOVED doing Shrinky Dinks--they were positively magical to me. (they often look like there is something inside of them...I'm obsessed with clear things that have something inside of them!) Of course the reason I liked doing the Shrinky Dinks so much could have also been that they required adult supervision, and that meant that the Camp Fire Bee-ahtches couldn't be as mean to me as they usually were...but I digress...!

Anyway, the Shrinky Dinks we made were just silly little things that we didn't do much with--it was more about the process. But this jewelry kit thing--oh no, it's all about making the charms that you then make into earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings...the possibilities are endless! Needless to say I ran right out and got the kit, waiting with bated breath until Vivian came home from school so we could do them together. All I can say is, Ooooooh! Lookie what I can do! The templates they give you with this kit are amazing, what fun. I could spend hours doing this stuff. Even Sullivan was in on the fun, drawing pictures of twisters and tsunamis and then taming Mother Nature by shrinking them down to next to nothing. (no silly little owl for that boy!) Vivian is cleverly using the kit to make gifts for her friends, so the seemingly high-price of the book will pay for itself in no time. As for me, well, I won't even wear the jewelry I made--heaven forbid, it's not Silpada! But once again I guess it's still about the process for me. Even now as I sit here needing to get in the shower and get some errand running started and never-ending house cleaning done, I'm itching to start doodling another dink to shrink. Now that sounded dirty.

Cold Slappa Reality

So I just read about a moisturizer that costs $650. I hate to break it to you folks, but no matter what you spend or what's in the stuff, it ain't gonna stop the clock. Of course it doesn't keep me from being curious about it...it's times like these I wish I were a beauty editor so the company would send this kind of stuff to me for free so I'll talk about it. Hey, I'm a blogger! Don't they know that Metal Mommy is talking about their product? All 2 of my readers may find it very interesting and decide to blow their entire Christmas allowance just for the hallow promise of cheating death!...or at least looking like you are. No? Me neither. I guess I'd rather spend that money on a Coach bag. I'll sport both my designer bag and my saggy bags with pride!

A Kitchen to be Thankful For

After having my dear friend Rosemarie say she was missing my blog posts, I figured I'd better get back to it. (how nice to be missed!) I also realized that in waiting for my house to be spotless to take pictures of it to post, I'd be waiting forever...so here's the kitchen in all of it's getting-ready-for-Christmas glory! I guess that's just the way it is in a real home...there are always dishes in the sink and things on the counter. I have to say, when we first looked at this home I loved almost everything about it--but I was worried about this small galley kitchen. That was one of the things from my old house I really wanted improved upon, and although the actual kitchen size here is quite large and it has beautiful new cabinets and granite countertops, the working area is smaller than I had. Hence the lovely kitchen island that you actually have already seen in a previous post. It's funny tho, so far I haven't even worked on the island top as I thought I would. I am able to do what I need to do in my little galley, but the island has been indispensable as far as extra storage goes. Of course it's a fun place to sit too, and has become the place to eat breakfast and lunch, and do homework.

I LOVE having my desk here in the kitchen. Of course my desk was in my kitchen in the old house, too, but the desk was actually our eating nook. Now I can really spread out and I have a place for everything. (but sadly, not everything is not always in it's place!) I'm still figuring out my work space, I think at some point I will probably put some shelving up above on the wall. It looks very bare right now, I haven't wanted to hang any pictures there yet until I get it all planned out. I'm just happy to have a place to call my own! Plus thanks to my ever-luvin' I've got my music going in my computer with some kick-A speakers, of which I can control with a remote from over at the sink. Nice!

Another thing I love about my kitchen is the view. Out the window in the galley area or the sliding glass doors by the island I can watch the deer go in and out of my wooded back yard. Out the sliding door is a deck, which we haven't been able to use much since we moved in just as it was getting pretty chilly. Eventually we'd like to re-do the deck--it looks kind of precarious and could definitely use a staircase down into the yard. All in good time. What would a person do if there weren't updates to make on their house??

And speaking of kitchens, whether you spent a lot of time in yours or not I hope you all had a very nice Thanksgiving. I only had to make a couple of pies and the infamous candied yams to take up to Connie's in Park Rapids. It was a lovely holiday indeed that we spent not only with her but also with my brother and his son Miles. We even got to cut down our own Christmas tree from the Wenger's lot--thank you Nikki and Arnie! Christmas has indeed officially blown up in our house already. I guess I'm finally feeling ready. Are you?

A Good Thing

With the Thanksgiving holiday just around the corner (and the Big Holidays just down the street), it's good to think about those less fortunate than you. I will readily admit that I could be much better at that. Oh, I think about them. I don't believe there is a day that goes by without reading my CNN homepage and getting all teared up about some sad story on there. But thinking about something and doing something about it are two different things, of course. Most of the time I think a lot of us feel like we don't even know where to start. That's why I loved it when I found out there was a sign-up sheet at our church to go help out at STEP, the emergency food shelf of Saint Louis Park. OK, we don't live there anymore, but of course it doesn't matter where the needy are--in your neighborhood or across the world--it's good to help in whatever way you can. We along with 4 other families went to stock shelves, move pallets around, do whatever needed to be done in the warehouse.

After standing around in a circle and doing some 'getting to know you' stuff with the head volunteer, she split us up into groups to give us various tasks. I think she must have took one look at my group--the one with the pregnant lady and the gimpy back lady--and figured we needed to sit down. (how she could have possibly guessed I needed something lighter-duty because of my gimpy back, I will never know. probably sheer luck) My friend Laurie and I, along with our kids, were brought over to a craft table to make gift tags for various 'giving trees'. It was almost too much fun, I felt a little guilty. You almost don't even feel like you're helping anybody, but of course every little thing makes a difference. Here's a great quote by Mother Theresa to leave you with: "I never take care of crowds, only of one person. If I stop to look at the crowds, I would never begin." So true, so true.

So Good, It's Scary!

Hope you all had a fun Halloween! Here's my little pirate--can you stand it?? I didn't wear a costume but I think I could have actually been Cannibal Mommy....Sullivan was so cute I could have just eaten him up!!! (was that in bad taste?! hardy har.) One woman giving out treats was asking him if he was Captain Jack Sparrow--when he said no she said he kind of looked like Johnny Depp...funny!

The trick-or-treating was stellar in our new neighborhood, although I missed having Vivian with us. She was off with her peeps back in the old 'hood, pounding doors for candy as a Bloody Emo. I kept calling her a 'Goth', and I kept getting corrected. Can someone please shed some light on the difference between an Emo and a Goth?! Even Vivian can't really tell me! Too funny. I'm gathering Emo is short for 'emotional'...I guess maybe a Goth doesn't have feelings. Who knows with these things?! I am old. What's really scary about this get-up is that she actually looks kind of pretty in it. !

Sorting the candy when one gets home is always a treat. The Virgo in me loves to do that. Both kids got quite the pirate's booty! Another successful year of trick or treating...and now we are over-run with candy once again. We have a new system now--the kids can horde their stash for a few weeks, then it becomes the community bowl. So far they can be trusted to keep their booty in their own rooms...and they only get a few pieces a day. I try to keep a little control around here! For as long as I can....