A Feet Journey

Here are a few moments in a random day with me & my feet...

After dropping the kidlets off at school, I worked out at the gym yesterday morning. I've been seeing a trainer, but now that I know the basics & am not feeling so intimidated by the atmosphere, I'll be going it alone soon--or rather, with my workout buddy Tia. While the guys are grunting away lifting their large weights, we squeak along while pumping iron with the wee 5 pounders. I'm so proud of us. We're gonna look hot soon. Just you wait & see.

After a quick shower & getting the girls from school, I ran through the leaves. Not big enough for making a pile to jump into yet, but Autumn's working on it.

I watched as my girls made candy trades & negotiations. Serious stuff. Apparently a twizzler is worth more than a mini Milky Way. Who knew? While they weren't looking I stole a pack of peanut m&m's. **Bad mom! Bad!** Hey, you know you take your kids candy too, so don't throw stones. (And if you do throw stones, make sure they're the candy kind.)

I'm really trying to show off my new Betsey Johnson over-the-knee-highs, from TJ Maxx. Which are sagging at the moment.

Then, I watched a movie. Barbie's 'The 12 Dancing Princesses'. And there sat the laundry pile that was NOT folding itself.

Time to check my email messages & blog! My art studio is messy----again! But look at my slippers. My mom got 'em for me last year from Avon. Here's the cool part: they're convertible!

Neener neener, I can do cool tricks with my slippers! And please don't ask why there's rice all over the carpet. It's just not worth explaining. By the time you read this, the floor will be spotless. I promise.

And lastly, I danced it up with my 4 year old. (Great. You can totally see my dirty kitchen floor & the unfinished baseboards.)

***Remember! Tomorrow is the holiday reveal for my 2008 ornament & card!! YAY! I'll be letting my blog friends have the first sneak peek before they go into the shop on November 2nd!
Have a great weekend lovely people!!

Silly Fun Things To Do

I thought I'd share some of the random things my girls & I do to pass the time. Remember, we have no TV. We must find entertainment among ourselves. And THAT, we found, is quite easy to do.

This first activity requires 3 people. Have you ever had someone whisper in BOTH of your ears at the SAME time???

How about a simple game of hide-n-seek?

Have you ever tried tickling yourself?

Or talked using only one side or your mouth??
Well, you should give these a try!

Caramel Apple Cider

I am a fan of apple cider, but my friend Tia introduced me to caramel apple cider. (In fact, she came over this morning & made me one before we took an impromptu visit to a new thrift store in town.) Oh my. Yummo! Starbucks makes 'em & other coffee shops do too, but they're easy to make & you HAVE to try one. Perfect treat for Fall!

All you do is pour a packet of powdered spiced cider mix into your mug of boiling hot water & dump a heaping spoonful of caramel topping (used for ice cream) into it. Stir-- & add more caramel to taste if you'd like. Top with a dollop of whipped cream & enjoy.....It tastes JUST like a caramel apple.

And here's what I picked up on our thrifty trip....A really cool vintage lamp. It is totally missing the base & a lampshade, but I love her. And she works!!

I also found these itty-bitty things & thought they'd be perfect for my girls' Christmas stockings. I don't know if they're vintage or not. The box says "Made in Hong Kong" & they were 75cents each! You can't tell the scale of them by the picture, but all these sets would sit next to each other on a dollar bill. They're tiny & adorable & my 4 year old especially loves miniature things.

Well, I'm off to help out at the kid's "Fruit Harvest Party" at church. Each class is setting up games & prizes & candy in their rooms. I help teach the Kindergarten age girls & our room is doing tattoos & an apple bobbing game. My girls want to get all fairy-like & princess-y before we go. Should be fun! I'll have pics tomorrow!

A Random Game of Tag

I was recently tagged by Kara from Innocent Charms Chats, & Mimi & a couple other people, but I'm sorry to say I can't remember who. So, I'm hoping this tag can make up for ALL of them. K?

7 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME...

1. I was never "the pretty girl" but rather "the funny one" or better yet "the pretty girl's funny friend".

2. I can peel & slice an avocado most excellently. (And I LOVE to eat them.)

3. Since we're on the topic of food....I've never tried sushi. It sounds disgusting, I'm sure I'll throw up or gag if it touches my mouth, but I'm not saying I'll NEVER try it someday. I do, however, love eating California Rolls. Mr. WhiMSy love surprised me with an order of them the other day that we shared for lunch. Wasabi & soy sauce---yum.

4. I have pointy elbows. They're kind of curved & pointy. Not the most adorable part of me.

5. I can't wait for my 6-year old to be old enough to have an Easy Bake Oven--so I can play with it too.

6. If I order french fries at McDonald's I LOVE to dip them in their honey mustard sauce.

7. And with this next random bit I'm at risk of looking like a fool. But since when has that ever stopped me?

I had a wacky time with my hair the other night. I twisted little sections & held them in place with bobby pins. I think my mom used to do this as a teenager. But she'd sleep all night with hers in. (Someday I'll try that.) I guess these are a version of pin-curls, but mine were done a little more messy & haphazard.

I dried my hair while it was twisted. My girls got the best giggles from seeing their mommy like this. And my hubby even raised an eyebrow at my twist-up-do. (Not one of those "good" eyebrow raises either. But, instead, one that says, "My wife is nuts.")

But when it was all done, I couldn't help sayin', "How ya like me now? How ya like me now?"

I'm completely awful at tagging people in this game. So, if you're feeling random, go ahead & enjoy making a list of your very own!

Carving & a Corny Corn Maze

The girls & I recently carved pumpkins they hand-picked at their separate school field trips to the pumpkin patch. I was SUPER bummed that, because of conflicting appointments, I couldn't go with either one of them this year.

The girls told me that THIS year they'd be brave & actually reach into the pumpkins & pull out the innards. Last year they squealed & were just SO grossed out. This time they did very well--they pulled all the seeds out & then stuffed 'em back in so they could do it over & over & over.

I remember being in kindergarten or 1st grade & all the kids got to reach into a pumpkin & see how many seeds they could pull out with one hand. Guess who won? Yours truly.

We have two of the tiniest pumpkins ever born in the patch. My 4 year olds stands 4 1/2" tall from pumpkin rump to tippy top stem. We even lit the pumpkins & ate dinner by "spooky" candlelight...

Since we're on the topic of pumpkins & all, I'll just throw this picture in the mix...

In other pumpkin-y news, a couple nights ago Mr. WhiMSy love & I went on a double date with our friends, Dean & Tia, to a corn maze.

I asked Tia if I could post this pic of her . I haven't gotten a response yet, but I'm sure it's fine...(Not really! She said I could.) After a long episode in the maze, we waited in a SUPER long line to go to the haunted "Field of Screams". Sad to say, we moved about 4 feet in 45 minutes & the line was very long & winding. Our allotted babysitter time was coming to an end & we had to leave. Boo hoo. I did get to eat a slice-o-pumpkin pie while standing in line, so that made up for our extended & useless wait. AND, on our way out I saw the freakiest thing ever...

A fake goat. It's like a taxidermy goat but with moving parts. His mouth actually looks as if it's chewing. Totally weird. And freaky.

Ok, well, maybe this was the most freaky thing that night...

Leaf Rubbings Tutorial

I thought I’d do something with Autumn leaves, before they all fall to the ground with their crunchy brown selves. I admit that this craft started in a different way. I had read about how to pound leaves onto paper--just like flowers I’ve done in the past on fabric--but it didn’t go at all like the book said it would. So, I improvised & came up with this idea instead: leaf rubbings. (I love when stuff like that happens!)




After another delightful walk in the neighborhood, my 6-yr old & I collected some leafy specimens. We came home & laid out all our supplies. (My daughter, whining in the background: “Mom. WHY do you have to take PICTURES?!?!”…..She really should know me better than that.)
Here are your supplies: paper or notecards, wax paper, a smooth rock, & leaves.

A flat surface works best. We started “pounding” the leaves inside on the kitchen table. After we realized it wasn’t really working--& that our adjoining neighbors might not like the beat, beat, beat of the rocks, we went outside on the flat concrete & discovered that the "rubbing" process would work best.

You might want to practice on a piece of plain paper first, to get the feel of the pressure you should use & to see which leaves work best. I found the more vein-y, fresher leaves worked very well. And some of the leaves did better than others. Just experiment first.

So, first lay out your paper. We made cards. Place your leaf, or leaves, on top of the paper.

Put some wax paper on top of the leaf. You’ll want to hold the wax paper taut so the leaf underneath doesn’t move around much. It might move around a little--but that’s no biggie.

Take a smooth rock & start rubbing the leaf. You’ll find that in some spots--like on the edges of the leaf--going in one direction works best. You can take a peek during your work, by slightly lifting the edge of your leaf up & seeing if the color is bleeding onto the paper. By the way, that’s what you want: as much color as possible.

Don’t rub so hard that you start to tear the wax paper or smoosh the leaf guts onto your paper.

We had to pause during our craftin' to say hello to a ladybug that came to visit...

That's it! Now from here, you can embellish them, spiff 'em up a bit, whatever you want.
I left some cards blank.

On this one I rubbed several different leaves for a collage effect & then traced the outlines & veins with a glue pen & added glitter.
On this card I simply made a border with a brown pen.

This card was created using a rubbing of a single leaf.

After writing words or phrases that remind me of "Fall" all around the leaf, I splattered black ink with a toothbrush all over the front of the card.

Black paint will work too. Just add a couple drops onto the toothbrush.

Wear gloves & flick away!

I distressed the corners & edges with some "Distress Ink" to give it an aged or worn appearance, & then added 4 triangle pieces to the corners with scrapbook paper.

Have fun making cards or decorations with your leaf rubbings. They'll be great for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday!