Awesome Valentine's Day

Good grief it has been busy in this house!  We had our Valentine's Day celebration Saturday night at one of my favorite places, Steiner Ranch Steakhouse.  And then I actually made cookies and chocolate candy things for Scarlett's daycare buddies.  Yep...rolled that cookie dough right out of the tube and into the oven.

The most stressful thing was getting Bill's V-Day card and gift.  I am awful at buying greeting cards. Birthday, Christmas, Valentine's Day...I always get something lame. Usually I'm overwhelmed by the racks of paper and cartoon images, so I wind up picking the first card that doesn't have a picture of a kitten on it.

But not this year!  I found the perfect card for Bill...

He loved it, which I think says a whole lot about our relationship.

I also scored major points with this little guy:

I don't think he has a name yet, but he's very popular at work with Bill.

I would rate this as a successful Valentine's Day.  Next up is our anniversary and Bill's birthday in March.  I should start now, but I'm sure I will wait until the last minute and panic as usual.

In the meantime, here's another Valentine e-card that I think is just perfect.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Fun with Scissors

"I want to make a Valentine-heart-wreathy-craft thingy."  Heather blinks at me then says, "Um...ok."  I'm not surprised she's a bit suspicious.  Because (and I may have mentioned this before)....

I.  Don't.  Craft.

But, lots of things I didn't do before have changed over the past year or two, so why not give some sort of crafty decoration thing a try.

Once I convince Heather that I am, in fact, serious about doing this, she is all on board.

Heather:  "I'm going to get supplies!"

Me:  "How much do money do you need?"

Heather:  "Oh no...This one's on me.  It will be worth it just to watch."

As usual, any endeavor that the two of us embark on is rarely simple.  The first update from Heather comes by text message.

"Bad news.  Styrofoam heart wreath is on backorder."

I blame Pinterest for this rush on styrofoam heart-shaped wreaths since that's where I found this crafty idea thing.

But Heather is not discouraged from making my dreams of crafting come true.  After a few phone calls, heart-shaped styrofoam wreaths are found.  I pick that up, along with some red felt and straight pins from her.

"Use a soup can to make your circles on the felt to cut out," she says.  I nod my head like I have a clue.

After decorating my Valentine's tree on Saturday, I decide that Super Bowl Sunday is the perfect time to start my brand new crafting project.

For point of reference, here is what it's supposed to look like, and a link to the instructions in case you want to do your own...

http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/01/valentines-day-craft.html

With coffee in hand, I gather up the supplies from Heather.

Then I remember the "use a soup can" tip and already I'm confused, so I text Heather.

Me:  "What kind of soup am I supposed to use for the wreath?"

Heather:  "Any flavor will do of a regular can, not a big can."

Me:  "So regular not chunky?  What about a vegetable can?"

Heather:  "Any CAN will do!"

This is a relief.  I've made queso to snack on for the game so the "which can" dilemma is solved.

As Bill snores in his recliner and my daughter tries to get into the dog food for a snack, I begin cutting circles...and more circles...and more circles.  Finally I think I have pretty good amount of circles to start folding and pinning to the wreath.

Yes, that is my coffee getting cold.

I'm about half-way through when Heather sends another text:

"Are you cutting circles or still trying to decide which can to use?"

I ignore her.

After pinning circles all around the styrofoam wreath, I take a picture and send it to Heather for approval.

"It's not done yet.  You have to fill it all in...all the way around so now white shows."

Deep sigh.

More pinning.  And then...voila!

Silly little thing took 3 hours to do and for a non-crafter, I would say it was easy to do.  I'm happy to report that no one was injured, and my daughter did not eat dog food for a snack.

Maybe I will find a St. Patrick's Day craft for next month....

My Most Awesome Holiday Tree

Christmas 2011.  We had some problems with our old Christmas tree.  One night Bill said he was going to Lowe's for something or other, so I said, "Hey, while you're there, see if they have a slim pre-lit tree to replace our other one."  He nodded his head and off he went.

About an hour later, he returns.  With a tree.  It is neither slim nor pre-lit, but apparently it was "on sale."  Right on.  I put the decorations on it, presents under it.  Christmas was celebrated and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  After the first of the year, it's time to put all of the Christmas gear away.  I pack away all of my Santas, all of my stockings (don't ask me how many we have), and all of the tree decorations.  Then...

Me:  "Ok, honey.  Can you take the tree down and put it away?"

Bill:  Awkward silence.  Then, "I don't have anything to put it away in."

Me:  "Where's the box?"

Bill:  "There is no box.  It was on sale.  I took it straight off the display and put in in the back of my truck."

Me:  "When I asked you to 'look' for a tree, did you just panic and buy whatever they had?"

Bill:  "Pretty much...yeah."

I have this habit of making Bill feel like he has to bring something home when I tell him to go look for something.  I'm sure that has something to do with the 'hunter-gatherer' something or other.  Anyway...

So we have this clearance Christmas tree with no storage box.  Not a problem.  I'll just go get a Christmas tree storage bag or box.

That was January.  It's now February and this is still in my living room.

Yes, that is our Christmas tree.  Have you read my earlier posts about how easily distracted and lazy I am?

We still don't have anything to store the thing in, but I thought, "Why even take it down?  Why does it have to be a Christmas tree?  Why can't it be a Holiday tree?"

And with that I was off to the crafty store, and for the same cost as a tree storage bag, I purchased decorations and now we have this:

Isn't it awesome?  It needs a tree topper.  And probably some lights.  But now it's my Holiday tree.  For now it's a Valentine's tree.  Next month it will be a St. Patrick's tree.  Then Easter, and so on.  Before you know it, it will be Christmas again and my tree will already be up!