I didn’t realize how few photos I had taken recently until I uploaded them to my computer today. Unfortunately, I don’t even have good stories to write! Ha ha ha. But here’s a little of what’s been happening this week…
One morning I was in the living room when I heard a strange noise coming from the kitchen. It sounded like «Shhhh (pause) shhhhh (pause) shhhh (pause)…» etc. She had no idea what it could be. In case one of the cats (ahem, DUCK) was getting into trouble, I snuck in there to catch him in the act.
Turns out he had grabbed a bag of onions from the pantry and was sliding them across the floor with his teeth! She grabbed the drawstring of the bag, then walked a few steps, pulled the bag closer by the drawstring, walked a few more, etc. The poor cat loves to play with ropes; I wish he could leave it!
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| Chick would somehow find a way to swallow the entire drawstring of this bag of vegetables. |
On Sunday I marked 1,000 days of sobriety. When I think about 1,000 days it doesn’t seem like that long, but in February, it will be three years… where did that time go?! Quitting drinking was a huge turning point for me when it came to taking care of my health, and I am SO glad I quit. It was hard to do, just as hard, if not harder, than losing over a hundred pounds, but it was worth it.
I don’t want to call Luke and Riley «spoiled,» because they don’t act spoiled at all; but it’s hard to think of things to do with them or give them because they have everything and they’ve been everywhere and done everything! Hahaha, not entirely accurate of course, but sometimes it feels that way. I want to send them things in the mail, but I also don’t want to buy more «stuff» for them to accumulate.
I like to make things handmade because it will be something they don’t have already. When Jerry and I first got together in 1999, I made him a little Altoids tin keepsake box. I pasted a picture on the inside cover, a quote at the bottom, and put some memories in there. I recently made him a new one and it gave me the idea to make a tin for each Luke and Riley.
When I searched Pinterest, I was surprised to find that many other people had already had the idea of using Altoids cans for crafts like that. I really liked the idea of a little stuffed cat for Riley and some kind of game/puzzle for Luke. This is what I came up with:
Luke’s seems very simple, but I think it’s appropriate for him. I printed tangram diagrams on a small card which I have since glued to the top of the can. I printed the tangram square, with different colored shapes, to match the pieces of the diagram. I then glued the square onto a sticky magnet and cut out the individual pieces. Finally, I covered them with Mod Podge. The magnets remain at the bottom of the Altoid can and Luke can put the different shapes together according to the diagram. Since kids fly all the time, I thought a small pocket toy would be something they could take with them on the plane.
Also, this is absolutely ridiculous. Many times when I can’t sleep, I find myself falling down the Reddit rabbit hole. I don’t even remember what she was reading one night, but I came across someone’s comment saying that she has a bag of little plastic babies and hides them for her husband to find at random. This all sounded so strange and… fun! I bought a bag of them on Amazon.
I put some of them in the house where Jerry might find them that day or maybe not for a year… I didn’t want them to be in places that were too obvious. I picked a random jacket in the closet and he casually wore it the next day. He laughed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the plastic baby. He said Riley must have put it there and didn’t realize it.
I don’t know what he did with it, but the next day he found one that was hidden in a coffee can. He thought it was the same baby and laughed…he thought he had taken the one that «Riley» put in his pocket and hid it again. This went on for a couple of days and was quite fun. Jerry decided to hide it himself and Eli found it in his shoe. Did Eli think Noah did it because apparently it’s a trend to do this with plastic babies?
I assumed the person’s comment I had read was just a joke she played on her husband and she had no idea it actually existed. I ended up telling Jerry what was going on with the babies (he was getting very confused, thinking there was still only one baby). I’ll still hide them from time to time though 😉
What started out as «I’m going to make a fanny pack!» One morning it turned into a bigger project than I had planned, but I think it turned out really nice. While searching for ideas for fanny packs, I found «fanny packs,» «fanny packs,» «sling bags,» «cross body bags,» and several other names and bags with slight variations.
Instead of making the fanny pack I had envisioned, I ended up making this crossbody bag that has a cell phone pocket on the strap. (The strap crosses your chest, with the backpack part facing back, so the cell phone pocket rests in front of my shoulder.) I usually like written instructions or just do it on my own, but this one only had a YouTube. video. So, I had to keep referring to the video for every measurement and step. But it worked. (Here is the YouTube video.)
Finally, we have a LOT of fruit on our counter right now. Jerry’s employer gives all employees a turkey or ham every Thanksgiving, and Jerry didn’t know this until he started eating vegetables, but you can opt for a fruit basket instead of meat. I would have liked to see a greater variety of fruits (it has apples, oranges, grapefruits, and a pineapple), but it’s fruit nonetheless. It doesn’t look like much when it’s in the basket, but my goodness, there’s a lot of fruit in there! I think I’m going to make homemade applesauce in the slow cooker.
And that’s all I have. Have a great weekend! xo
