I love you even when you're stinky

I would've posted this little idea before Valentine's Day and linked to a few parties ahead of time but this hit me last minute.  Yep, it was one of those lying in bed, trying to get back to sleep in the middle of the night ideas.

My husband isn't really a gadget, sports, or car kind of guy.  Food is the way to his heart.  I really wanted to get him a big bunch of chocolate and candy this year.  But lately we are both trying to resist the urge to eat sweets.  So when I stumbled upon this idea of pickled onions I knew he would love it for several reasons.

You see, my dad is really allergic to onions.  Even the smell of them will make him sick.  Growing up we were a strictly onion-free house.  I really don't like the way onions taste, detest the way they smell and don't enjoy cutting them at all.  So what better way to show someone the true extent of your love than to make them something that you absolutely hate.  Ugh, the house smelled of onions and vinegar for a whole day.  Not pleasant for an onion-hating pregnant gal ;-)

From the idea of just the onions I came up with this:

A basket filled with all sorts of food stuffs reflecting different moods.

I attached this little note that reads:  I love you no matter what mood you're in!  No fancy labels here....just store-bought doilies and my messy handwriting.  But my hubby wouldn't want it any other way ;-)

Tomatillo salsa: I love you when you're spicy



Blue tortilla chips: I love you when you're blue



Jelly Belly Kids Mix: I love you when you're childish



Pickled onions: I love you even when you're stinky



Chocolates: I love you when you're sweet

Lemonade: I love you even when you're sour

It was fun finding foods to fit the different moods.  I really could've gone overboard but decided that we didn't need a bunch of snacks stuffing our small kitchen cupboards.

I think this gift idea would work for more than just Valentine's Day.  It would be perfect for an "I Love You" gift (that's what my mom calls little gifts that she surprises us with.  One of the many sweet things about her) or a quick pick-me-up for a friend or spouse that is down.  And of course, you super crafty gals out there could come up with some fancy little labels to attach or even make your own goodies to stuff in the basket.  I would love to see what you create!

*Update:  My husband has declared that the pickled onions are scrumptious and even mentioned trying to can some once we are settled after our next move.  My brother tried them the other night at dinner and he liked them too.  I'll have to take their word for it, I couldn't get past the smell to try any!

I'm linking to:

http://dittledattle.blogspot.com/2011/02/amaze-me-monday-13.html

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2011/02/21/made-by-you-monday-41/

http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/2011/02/market-yourself-monday-family-picture.html

http://texasmonkey.blogspot.com/2011/02/all-about-you-link-up-party-50-walmart.html

Slowly getting there....

I feel like I am slowly getting there.  "There" is an organized home.  Well, I should probably rephrase that...."a better organized home".  I don't think I will ever have our house put together like I really want it to.  Not as long as we are moving as often as we do, and the kiddos are at home all day.

Lately, I've noticed just little odd jobs around the house that needed to be done and realized "Hey, I bet I could take care of that in 10 minutes or so".  And you know what?  It usually only took 10-15 minutes!  Amazing! ;-)  Now, I may get interrupted with a diaper change or a ouchie that needs to be tended.  But my little task eventually gets finished and I can then stand back and smile because it is no longer nagging me to get done.

Ten minutes a day (or even every other day) is such a small investment of time.  It really helps to make all those little tasks seem less daunting.  And lets be honest, it is all those odd jobs that rush through your mind on sleepless nights, right?

I've taken a few pictures, so maybe I'll get around to posting before and afters.

The countdown is on....

The countdown is on.  The clock is ticking away.  Baby Girl will make her arrival into the world in less than 10 weeks.

I'm sure there are many moms out there that can relate to what I'm feeling lately.  It is getting harder and harder to manuever this belly of mine around.  It seems to be getting noticeably bigger by the day.  The kids, especially the Little Guy have a tendency to treat the baby bulge like it is their own personal playgym; romping, wallowing and rolling around my mid-section.  That gets old REAL quick.  And then there is the issue of trying to get a decent nights' sleep.  It is just not happening at this point.  I am uncomfortable and just ready for the big day to get here.

But here is where the Catch-22 comes in.  I feel like I have a list of projects a mile long and the time is running out to complete them all before the Baby gets here.  Most of them are uncompleted projects that I haven't been able to get finished in the past few years.  The house we are renting right now has a perfect layout for me to splatter out what I'm working on and not have to pack it away each night.  We are set to move again this August and I have no idea what kind of house we'll end up in.  It might be so small that everything has to remain packed away.  So I feel like I absolutely HAVE TO take advantage of the time and set up I have right now to get some of this crap crossed off my to-do list.  And so I wish that the Baby's due date was more than 10 weeks away.

I need to get organized and really buckle down before March comes around.  And with that said, now that the kids are down for naptime I'm off to the basement to see what I can get done in the next hour or so.

Wow, Santa is crafty!

I made it....Big Sis found a cute little canopy bed waiting under the Christmas tree for her new doll.  Never mind that I was up until 2am finishing it and that I almost forgot to wrap it before tucking it under the tree ;-)  And a trip to the store (for pink thread of all things!) on Christmas Eve day was an absolute necessity even after I had really tried hard to plan ahead to avoid such things.



So this is what we started with.  Pretty basic, plain non-girly bedding.

Photo from http://www.ikea.com/

My husband took some long (maybe 2.5 inches or so?) screws and screwed them into the center of each bed post.  He drilled a hole first to make it easier to sink the screws into the wood.  Don't you just *love* that ugly old green tile in our basement laundry room area.  The house we're renting right now was built in 1959 and I think those have to be the original tiles.  I'm sure they're full of terrible cancer-producing chemicals like asbestos etc. 

He then took a piece of PVC pipe that was just about the same diameter as the head of the screws and bent each end down over the screws.  I'm sorry I don't know what size pipe it is.  All I know is that it was $1.49 at Home Depot and by cutting it in half we had enough for both sides of the bed.

This is the end result of Hubby's quick modifications. 

 I then took the bottom platform of the bed and cut some extra quilt batting to fit,

 I had some extra spray adhesive lying around and used it to hold the batting in place. 

 Then I took some extra satin fabric I had and cut a piece a bit larger than the platform and then simply hot-glued the edges down

 The finished look.  You can also see in the below pic that I painted the headboard and footboard white.

I didn't take any pics of the construction of the fabric covering to the canopy.  At midnight on Christmas Eve, I was more focused on actually finishing this project in time for Christmas morning than a step-by-step tutorial, sorry.  But it really was pretty easy.  I took about 1/2 a yard of just plain cotton fabric, rolled and hemmed the edges, and then added the ribbon/eyelet trim on both sides.

I then centered the canopy over the pvc frame and simply hand-stitched in the center and on both ends.  I was going to sew a sort of rod pocket to the underside of the canopy and then slide the pipe through the pocket.  But the later it got and the more I thought about it, a quick stitching to the frame was a better solution.

You'll notice in the above pic that there is a different bedspread than the striped one from IKEA.  I found this one at Target for about $15.  The packaging said it would fit any 18" doll sized bed but it is a tad bit short for this one.  Oh, well.  It has cute cupcakes on it and came with a few little pillows.  I also found some cupcakes stickers at Target and modpodged one on the headboard and a line of three on the footboard.

Overall, I think that it turned out pretty cute and my daughter seems to like it.  And that's all that really matters anyways, right?  Unfortunately, my son likes it too and has desperately tried to climb into it on several occasions.  Now that is a picture I needed to include in this post! ;-)

I'm linking to: Today's Creative Blog - Get Your Craft On

texasmonkey - all-about-you-link-up-party

Keeping it Simple - Motivate-me-monday

http://www.dittledattle.blogspot.com/

http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/