Day off

   With the exception of weekends and occasional holidays, I have one scheduled day off each month. This is the day that I accomplish rare tasks such as actually sit down and eat breakfast. On most days breakfast for me consists of a steaming, hot cup of coffee and possibly the quick doughnut on the run.

   Last night I stopped at Lowe's on my way home from class. I love Lowe's. It is my favorite hardware store. Yeah I know Menard's may be a hair cheaper, but their customer service sucks. At least the store in my area does. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah.. trip to Lowe's... I went to pick up supplies for Hallie's bedroom upstairs. We have lived in our home for five years now and I still cannot get anyone to finish this room. To hell with it, I've decided I'm going to do it myself. Do I have a clue what I'm doing. Eh...vaguely. That's what they made YouTube for right? The only thing I have to do with electricity is install a light. Everything else is there. I have installed lights before so no worries.

   Today's goal is to get the insulation and vapor barrier installed. Hmmmm.... I may need to go borrow my ladder back from the neighbor later.

  What are you doing with your day off?

Easy Snowman Christmas Craft

Christmas is just around the corner and if you're like most people you've already started preparing for the upcoming madness. 

You're planning the menu, buying or making gifts, and just hoping you get through the whole event with your hair intact and more than moths in your pocket book. But if you need a little extra help keeping money in your pocket book, Personal Capital has some great financial tools available. 

I love handmade gifts and hope every year that this will be the year that I create all of the gifts I give instead of just a handful. I think if this goal was to become a reality, I probably should have started about two years ago. 

Nah just kidding! But if you do have that goal in mind, it definitely takes time commitment and planning.  

Now wait did I just hear someone say, "I would love to make handmade for my family, but I don't have a creative gene in my body."? :(

No worries. I found something even you can pull off!

I love snowmen! They're not just for Christmas. You can leave them out all winter. 

And they are great for people like me that take forever to change out seasonal decorations! 

Last year I made soft snowmen that stand about 2 feet tall decked out in sweaters, hats and carrying wreaths. This is a project that requires a little knowledge about sewing, but the trickiest part is getting the stuffing right. 

Stuffed snowman with lighted wreath

This year I wanted to find a different snowman so I took to trolling Pinterest for some inspiration. 

I came across these adorable fellas...

Find them on Pinterest

These handsome snowmen were created by C& C Furnishings! They have some other really cute stuff as well. 

My stab at recreating this look...

Sorry. I'm so not a photographer. :(

What's the monetary damage? Roughly just over $4/each (about $50 for all 12)

What you need:

1. Bowling pin of course. You can get decommissioned pins from your local bowling alley pretty cheap. I paid about a dollar a piece.

2. Spray paint- I like Krylon Maxx in an ivory color and satin finish. It's a little pricey at about $4/can but the coverage is great and you're going to need that to cover the striping on the pin. 

3. Acrylic paint in black and orange- here's a little secret I found out the hard way.. the eyebrows are not paint. Draw those babies on with a fine point Sharpie marker. Much, much easier! If you're a crafter, you probably have paint on hand. If not it's about $1 a bottle. 

4. Wire ribbon for bow. I found this at JoAnn's SuperStore. It was on sale and I had a coupon so I paid maybe $4 for the spool. Again raid your stash before purchasing new. 

5. Greenery- Again mine was a JoAnn's bargain. After sale price plus coupon, I paid about $6. Another take on the greenery if it's available to you, the real stuff. Pine branches, pine cones, etc. Use what's around your home inside and out. You of course won't want to hot glue fresh pine branches to your snowman, but you could wrap it in a circle and use the ribbon to secure the wreath around the snowman's neck. You will just need to make him a new wreath each season. 

  

These snowmen would make a great gift for family, friends, the kiddo's teacher.. You get it! 

So my friends who feel that they have no crafting abilities, I want to see pics if you try your hand at this project. 

Blessings~ Melanie

Organization is key

Seems things get lost in the chaos or just forgotten altogether. Forgotten altogether seems to be more accurate as I don't know when the last time is that I posted to this blog.

I've decided some fine tuning is in order and that it may help me to stay on track with staying in touch with all you wonderful people.

I have many "loves" in my life. Rather than pick a couple and neglect the rest of what makes me Me, I am creating niches for all of those amazingly quirky little things.

Just last night I created a new blog for my cleaning service of 8 years. It is not just to share my business, but more to share tips and tricks that I have learned along the way. You can find it here: Melanie's Squeaky Clean. Stop in a share some of your expertise as well.

I also have SimplyLanie dedicated to spirituality- being anything positive and uplifting and beneficial to personal growth. This may change, rather the name may change.

And then this space will become primarily the ramblings of a mad woman ran ragged by kids and critters LOL.

I've missed you all and hope to reconnect.

Blessings~~ Melanie

Gaining Perspective

Why is that when I'm sitting somewhere without pen and paper or a keyboard, I have all the words and the minute I sit down the words escape me?

Here I am. In a fog. Sick with strep throat. House to myself. Having a movie marathon. Not what I had planned for the weekend. But then again how often do our plans really work to our benefit?

I had a plan. I had planned to have a nice full workweek. To have money in my pocket. To have the house to myself this weekend. To be on a date tonight.

I had to ask for help. Not something I do well or ever do for that matter. But it didn't kill me. It did not kill me to let go of that little ounce of control. I did not kill me to not have to do everything on my own.

I learned a little. I learned our kitty's, Mark, favorite space is the top of surround sound. I learned both of the dogs make great nurses. Sometimes they even snuggle too close. I learned dishes, trash, and laundry will wait. They may even multiply. I've learned that I bite off more than I can chew. Ok so I all ready new that. And I learned ice cream cures headaches.

Why is it the more I work, the less money I have? What happened to family game night? What happened to my creativity? When did I become so driven by the dollar? How do I go back?

Let's Talk Politics

Most who know me know that I am not well versed in politics. I follow just enough to form an opinion. Should I follow along more closely? Perhaps. 

Anyhow I wanted to share with you something I happened across today. The blog I am going to share with you was shared on Facebook by an acquaintance. 

I will not lie to you. It will strike a nerve. The first thought that may come to your mind is "treasonous rat." However, I'm going to ask you to take a deep breath and let go of the judgement. Then reread what the author, Dean Garrison, of  The D.C. Clothesline is really trying to sink into our thick heads. 

Dean Garrison is taking a huge chance by being so blunt about what our Constitution says. I want to know how many of you have actually read the Constitution? How many of you understand what it means? How many of you were taught about it in school? Taught about it in depth?

Let me be the first to say, I don't know much about the Constitution, but I am learning. I was taught very little in school concerning the Constitution. And if it was taught in any depth during high school.. well let's just say I had more important things on my mind. (What I believed to be more important at that time anyway.)

Dean Garrison's blog is shedding light on the 2nd Amendment, our right to keep and bear arms. I'm sure this will bring on disagreement and that is fine, even encouraged, but so long as it is done tastefully. I absolutely will not tolerate hate speech of any kind. 

Feel free to leave a comment on where you stand on gun ownership, the proposed gun ban, thoughts on the Second Amendment. And absolutely go over to Dean Garrison's blog, read everything in his post, If They Come for Your Guns, Do You Have a Responsibility to Fight?

and leave him some feedback!

How do I feel about a gun ban? I'm opposed 100%!

No I am not a gun owner and that is not because I am against guns.

I just have never been very good with a gun so I have chosen a different weapon to protect my family with.

So go check out The D.C. Clothesline- Dean Garrison's post titled If They Come for Your Guns, Do You Have a Responsibility to Fight?

Click the title link or any of the highlighted links throughout this blog containing the author's(Dean Garrison) name to read more.

Thinking of moving

I've been toying with the idea of moving my blog to a new name. I dunno. Or maybe I will just create more blogs to have more organization. Like maybe one dedicated to the renovations on the house, one for family, one for crafty goodies, one for spirituality.... Any suggestions? Would you do multiple blogs or just make one hodgepodge blog?

Hallie's Volcano

Spent the afternoon helping Hallie with her project for science,

a volcano. 

First, we had to make the homemade play dough. 

Then, to figure out how to get the play dough to stick to the two liter. We attached plastic bags with some packing tape to help bulk out the bottom of the two liter. 

And then it was time to add the play dough. 

We weren't happy with the pink-puke color of the dough. So decided to use the left over brown paint from the living room. 

The play dough absorbed some of the paint so it isn't glistening so much now. 

How much you wanna bet she doesn't ask me to help her with her next project?