Exasperation

{In my best voiceover}: "We never knew that it would be the coloring in of the even numbers with a yellow crayon that would send him over the edge..."



It's Monday, peeps. The End.

How to Make Hairbows (a slightly stolen tutorial)

Lately I've had a mission brewing in my mind, so last night I set out to find the tools that I would need to complete it.

My mission was fueled by my female instinct toward accessorizing and my duty to train my daughter up in the way that she should go. Well... and there's also this little issue that I have with paying 15 bucks for a stinkin' hair bow that will soon be lost or broken... but let's just pretend it's all about accessorizing, shall we?

So, I loaded up my little charge and off we went to Hobby Lobby. If you don't have one of these in your area, I am deeply sympathetic to your plight. For those of you who do, every single thing that you need for this project (along with a ton of other awesome stuff) is 50% off through this weekend. Woot! God knew of my bow-making need and He provided. Amen.

Ok, so here's what you'll need (minus the wrinkley tablecloth):



*Ribbon
*Metal hair barrettes (I used the 60MM size), alligator clips or even bobby pins will work.
*Needle and thread.
*and finally, SHARP scissors.
If you have a glue gun and a few extra minutes, I'd break it out too, but it is definitely NOT necessary.

Now, because I'm not one to try to reinvent the wheel, here is the video that I found last night that shows us how to construct our hairbows. It's so easy, she pulls it off in just a few minutes! Turn off the sound if music distracts you.



Cool, huh? And it really is as easy as her teenaged self makes it look, I promise! I was whipping out finished products in less than 10 minutes despite finger/needle calamities, and working with the metal barrettes, which add a little extra work (but they are more sturdy, I think).

If you are working with a thinner width of ribbon, I just made three of these:



And then placed them together like this:





I sewed them together, then wrapped the thread around it several times so it would be more "bunched". Then I cut a small strip of material...



.... and placed it over the sewn part.



Flip the whole thing over and center the barrette on the other side, threading the material through the little hole like this:





Then stitch it up! I rolled the stitched part under the barrette part after this for aesthethics. Here is where you could take the extra step of hot gluing the barrette to the bow, but again, it's not necessary.



You *could* skip securing the barrette with the material that you sew around the middle and just hot glue the barrette to the finished bow, but honestly, I've had a trillion that were made that way and they inevitably detatch from the barrette. This extra step is really the hardest part of the process, but oh-so worth it in my opinion. :)

If you are using the wider ribbon, I cut off a piece of the material and folded it like an envelope before securing it around the bow.



Here are all of the finished products! They were almost all made while watching 20/20 last night with Mark. The crime was solved just about the same time my mission was completed which brought me an unspeakable sense of accomplishment.




Here's what our favorite one looks like on my happy model:






Now go forth, ye, and prosper... er.... multiply... no... GO MAKE YOU SOME BOWS! And show me pics if you do, k?

Autumn

I love Thursdays! I don't know if it's because it's the day before Friday (my favorite day of the week) or what, but Thursdays always seem to start with a little more spring in my step. But, we will make no mention of "spring" because it's FALL, y'all!!!

I love FALL!! It's just such a beautiful time of year. I love looking at the mountains as they become so colorful, and I love standing under a tree when the wind releases it's leaves. I love pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin pie scented candles. I love camping and roasting marshmallows with the kids and hanging out with friends around the campfire. I love going on hayrides and temperatures that drop low enough that you need more blankets. I really do love this season.

And I love this:



Feeling very blessed on this Thursday in Fall,

Well, At Least She Shines

Lately I've been loving this kicky little lotion from Bath and Body Works that comes from their aromatherapy collection. It's called Orange Ginger and it's supposed to give you a renewed sense of energy... blah, blah, blah... but I just like the way it smells. It's different.

So after I showered the other day, I went out to Mark to ask him if he liked it. I stretched out my wrist and he drew a deep whiff... and slightly recoiled. I thought "Whoa! He must be breathing in the energy!"

Then the conversation goes on as follows:

I'm like, "Well, whatdya think?"

He said, "It's ok... Hey! Do you know what that smells like?"

Me, "Energy in a bottle?"

Him, "No... Pledge. Isn't that the stuff you spray on the piano? I mean.... it smells good and all. Just a little lemony, I guess. Soooooo, I like your hair today...."

Whatever. Obviously, I need a new smell. HA! Is there anything that you are loving right now? We'd probably do well to stay away from the citrus, though. ;)

Monday, Monday

Happy Monday Morning!

We've had a mild snafu with the aforementioned cookoff photos. It seems that when I handed my darling hubby the camera to take shots of the contest, he thought it would be hil-ar-i-ous to get SEVERAL photos of us putting food into our mouths or chewing, ect., which landed us some pretty goober-esqe pictures. None of which I will be posting here. HA!

Here's one of Ty (in the back) and his friend cooking. They are both pretty soaked! I'm wondering how The Next Food Network Stars would have fared in these conditions?! Hats off to ALL of the guys who worked so hard!

On to other news: It's raining! Can you believe it? It's been at least 10 minutes since that's happened.... hee-hee! Oh well, it's much better than a drought, which is where we were last year. I will say this, though; It's definitely harder to get motivated in the morning when it's dreary outside. It's 20 till 10 and we've barely accomplished anything. It's a 2nd cup of coffee kind of day (month) for sure!

Okey doke, I've gotta get busy,

Up, Up, Up, And AWAY!

After morning number 654 of rain, one might become convinced that a thorough study of Genesis for the blueprint of an ark might be necessary. Hmmmmmm....



Today was the annual Boy Scout cookoff, where parents get to come out and taste the fine cuisine that is prepared for them by their sons and company. It's actually a competition that they take very seriously, so they work extra hard to make sure it's good and this year was no different!

I was a judge for the second time and was completely impressed! The toughest part is the decision making process because it's hard to see anyone disappointed. They really do put their hearts into it. We've got a ton of pictures, but I'll save those for tomorrow.



The really cool part is that we had the competition at a local park whose main attraction is a cavern. I can't tell you how beautiful it is up there! This was an old entrance into one of the caves. Keep your eye on the boy...



He has absolutely NO fear.



All the while his brilliant Mama is trying to not throw her hateful camera to the ground and tromp it because it keeps giving me fuzzy pictures, he's just shimmying up...



uuuuuup



UP!



Until finally, I realize...DUH! It's been raining like crazy for 654 days and he's on a perfectly vertical incline on slippery rock. "ANDREW!"



Thank goodness for Daddy. The original Recue Hero.



Blasted camera.

Let's Try This Thing Again

Hey, guess what? I love blogging! I really do despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and I think I'ma gonna start doing it again. I can't promise gorgeous pics in every post (or any posts for that matter) because it's just me and my old, pitiful, flat-out broken down, Kodak EZ share, but we'll do our best! :D However donations are being accepted for the sweet Nikon that I disgracefully covet. hee-hee! juuuuust kidding...

And I will probably be so random that your head will spin, but I know that my faithful few will still hang with me, won't ya?

I came thisclose to letting the sun go down over here at The Westie Crew (obviously..HA!), but I just can't do it. So, I'll see ya tomorrow. :)