Beach trip via iphone...

We got to go to my sister's beach house a couple weeks ago. It was awesome. She has it set up perfectly. She is also a doctor. And beautiful. I would like to know, did I miss that part of the family gene pool or something? If she wasn't my own flesh and blood, I'd smack her. Just kidding. I have smacked her. A lot. We were quite "feisty" girls growing up, and I have the scars to prove it. (she was a scratcher, I was a puncher. I think the worst fight we ever got in was three weeks before I went to Bible college. Jesus loves you, oh, and yes, those are my teeth  marks on your leg...) anyway... back to the beach.
Here are some pictures. They were taken with... wait for it... MY iPHONE. Oh yes, after all these years of you three people who read this blog, listening to me belly ache and complain, my Micah surprised me with an iPhone last month. Let's just say, there are close to 600 photos on it already.. time to figure out how to get them off and onto the computer I guess. I have what is now called " iPhone newbie over photo-itis." It is real, and I have it. Stop! I cry... let me get a picture of that rock, we do not want to forget that it was here. Or  "ok, everyone let me get your picture eating a circus peanut. Regular camera and hipstamatic too!"  I am a loser. I don't care. I have photos. On my phone.

Here they are:

 ← We ventured out early, which means by the time we hit the highway, approximately 5 minutes from our home, I was asleep. Open eyelids were later sponsored by pepsi max.

 Here is Alden. → He decided to draw on himself midway through the trip. When asked why, he looked at me like I was stupid and replied, "Ma, I am Tony Stark, these is my lasers." Duh...

We have a plethora of sunset and cool stormy cloud shots.

It was our anniversary while we were gone. I celebrated by showcasing via social media my former love for puffy sleeves and big hair. Oh, and untweezed eyebrows. 

Poolside popsicles and sidewalk chalk...

We rented a boat and went across the bay to an island. An amazing, tropical, crystal clear water and white sand beach with ginormous seashells island. It was SO much fun. Best idea ever. (micah's... of course.)

More shots. I will stop captioning them all. I also have post traumatic witty-caption stress syndrome.

the end.

Crafty gal... sorta.

Here is the latest in the crafty gal series. For the record, my definition of a being a crafty gal is this:

crafty gal  (kr-af-tee gal) n. one who spies cute ideas on the WWW and adapts them to her own level of lazy crafting. (time, children, and the level of dust on household surfaces makes the lazy level a variable, not a constant.)
v. one who crafts, sort of. "I can't wash the dishes, I am crafty girling it."

So here is the latest project. I should dig through my files and find the original source so I can link it. But then the link turns purple, and we all know how I feel about purple. No, really, I will try and go find it and add it in. Suffice to say this is NOT my idea. I crafty gal copycatted it. Polaroid Photo Magnets. Its not a very catchy name, but there it is.
You will need:

 That includes: scissors, glue gun, white paint, tray, and brush. white sharpie, paper glaze, magnets, chipboard, photos printed to approximately 1¼ x 1¼. (you can add in a polaroid frame in photoshop or just print with a enough border to trim them to look that way. I used a polaroid overlay thingy.)

Close ups of the Supplies, just in case my resize to appease blogger is not large enough. You will also note, I added in more supplies later, and didn't use some of these. That is because by george, if I was going to make a craft and actually take photos of the supplies, they were going on the blog. I will note the ones added and used as we go along.

Steps:
Trim photos, and adhere to chipboard. Cut them out to the exact size of your photo. You may need an exacto knife here.

Next, you will need to decide... does the brown edge bother me enough to paint it or not? I had out the sharpie, and the white paint. after trying both, I went with the paint.

Here is where we did some supply substituting. I read that sometimes paper glaze can warp photos, mess with the ink, etc. I was going to throw caution to the wind, when that voice from home economics in the 8th grade saying, "You really should follow a pattern" and the memory of a skirt I made that became a lovely bag came to mind. (the skirt/bag?  i made it sans pattern, and sewed the hem shut by mistake.) So, I decided to try packing tape.

It worked perfectly. You just trim it with sharp scissors or an exacto.

When all that is dry, taped, and done, you add the magnets. More supply omission. I forgot that my magnet was the already sticky kind, so no need for the glue gun. Maybe I was just trying to validate myself to the crafting community by showing that I do, in fact, own a glue gun.

Finally the finished product. I hastily photographed them, and the photos are terrible. Lazy crafty jumped in and didn't bother with her flash bouncer thingy, so the ISO is cranked up which = grainy photos.

I am looking forward to making some from our beach trip. What beach trip? you ask... well, stay tuned. I will bore you with that soon enough. If you have made it this far, go have a cookie. Amen.

"Kill Me Now" she cried...

Really, she did. And I should know because, I am that she.

It started last week when Hadji affirmed via, a large amount of pukage that we are, in fact going to be ripping up our carpet this summer. Yes, he had brought home that loveliest of all childhood illnesses, the puking bug. (usually accompanied by the diarrhea bug, but since we talk about poop enough on this here blog, let's suffice to say this bug covered ALL the bases.)

Hadji = good patient 

Hadji was laid up for 4 days. He was pitiful. Poor kid threw up water, sprite, anything he put near his mouth.

 Saturday night, it hit Lincoln. Now, my Lincoln, who broke his arm at age four and cried just a bit... he can be a bit more, eh, dramatic, about sickness, especially when pukage is involved. So when he came down at 130 am freaking out, and I do mean freaking out, and getting all "I just have to lay down, I need to lay down, don't make me go to the bathroom" and on and on and on... then literally tried to lay down on top of Alden, who was already on the couch with a fever, I almost had to pull out the Doc Baker on him. What is the doc Baker you ask? Well, if you are an avid Little House fan like I am, you know that, sometimes, the patient just needs a slap in the face and to be told to calm down. I was almost to that point. Not really, I did have to take him in my arms, and tell him to "Chill out. I already have one puker upstairs, and a fever on the couch. You can puke and be sick, but you cannot, CANNOT be hysterical like this."

Then, Sunday night it got me. Hard. Like, sorority girl done had too much mad-dog, hard.

So, sickness = List time:

 1. Fish and Chips tastes alot better going down than they do coming back up.

Look at me. Sunday night dinner with friends. 

Smiling. Having no idea what was coming in just a few short hours. 

Fool.

2. You can, in fact throw up water.
3. Apparently, my body ran out of bile, because I threw up some blood too. That was special.
4. Hadji and I both lost 6 lbs. I am not gonna lie, that is the upside to the whole tale.
5. At one point, as I lay writhing in pain, my Micah came in and asked what he could do. I begged him to shoot me and put me out of misery. He declined. Today, that decision seems wise.

Alden added a fever to the party. We like to mix things up here at the casa, keeps it lively.

6. I really found it odd that Lincoln laid on the bathroom floor and would whimper and moan in his sleep. Once it hit me, I understood why, and I shant ever call him a drama queen again.
7. Also overheard, "I am crying because yes, I am in pain, but also because I am NOT this WIMPY! I would rather give birth ten times over than keep feeling like this!" Though I see the rashness of asking to be shot, I really would rather give birth than have this bug again.
8. A sweet friend went and got us some groceries. I am always the one who tells other people to ask for help, and you know what... you should, I should, WE all should! That is what friends are for, and it was a huge help!
9. My boys are a lot tougher than I gave them credit for. Neither of them asked to be shot, or give birth... though, the second request would have me worried on a whole different level.

 The Bucket. My friend.

10. My Micah is a patient and wonderful husband, and I am glad he didn't shoot me.
11. This is my self portrait for Monday. Sad, but true. All of them are via the iphone so this will be a stellar week for the Project 365. 

Just look away. It is scary, I know.

Crafty Gal, part DEUX...

 Ok, I am a glutton for photo frustration, so let's try this again. Another way. If this doesn't work, I give up, and this may become a photo free blog. My nerves and temper cannot handle this anymore. I am becoming the reason for gun control laws...

Here is the frame before. A charming shade of pink. I grabbed this off the clearance rack at Michaels. I saved the glass, and when I told Micah we could use it for say, replacing the playhouse windows that Hadji knocked out with a hoe. (oh, yes, tis true.) Micah looked at me funny, because I am pretty sure that neither of us a) knows how to repair a window or b) how to cut glass or c) will ever try to learn.  I am saving that glass... for something, maybe.

Here is the after. I am pretty pleased. OK, I am lying... I LOVE IT! I initially just grabbed some 4x6 photos I had laying on my scrap desk. Then I decided to print off some smaller sized polaroid-ish looking ones, and liked that better. I grabbed a few random shots all from within the same few days in May. I think that is what I will do with this frame. Favorite shots of the month before. 

 This is my helper. He was fired for loafing around on the job, and sniffing paint fumes. Oh, wait... the paint fumes was me, and that was after trying to post these photos drove me to it...

Crafty girl needs staple gun...

So I decided to get crafty last week. I had seen a couple of projects out there on the WWW and wanted to try them. I discovered a couple things...
#1 A stapler and a staple GUN are not the same thing. In a pinch, a stapler will do, but it does bring a certain redneck vibe to the crafting.
#2 If you bring out chicken wire, any and all testosterone bearing beings living in your home want to get involved and help.
#3 I ♥♥♥ spray paint.

Here is the first craft. It started out looking like this:

                   Yes, this is a framed set of photos... of a maestro.

I am not sure who he is, but poor guy, he had a $3 sticker from the Goodwill smack dab across his face.
See? I took it off for him.

Look much happier he is now that he can see!

Next up I removed all the hardware from the frame, and the maestro's photos. Don't worry, I cannot throw out a photo. I will find something to do with our musical friend. After removing the hardware, I broke out one of my BFFs ... the Clorox wipes.  And yes, those hand photos, totally staged. I don't think the hand models of the world need fear though.

Now it is time for the fun part. SPRAY PAINT! There is really no advice or instruction here except that a few thin coats look better than a one thick drippy one. I sprayed, waited an hour or so, and then sprayed again, waited, and then went back for a final touch up. I also sprayed the back side area, since on this particular frame, it is visible.

 Next up the Chicken Wire. Yes, I had to buy this ginormous roll, but I plan on using the rest in my garden, so I didn't mind. You should know, chicken wire is SHARP. The boys held the roll out for me while I cut the appropriate size. You want it large enough to be attached to the back, but not hanging over any edges.
 

Lest you think I was kidding about the stapler... I wasn't it. Micah has promised to upgrade me to a real staple GUN next trip to the hardware store.  You basically just need to wind up the loose ends of the chicken wire and make sure they are not sticking out. Then, break out the stapler staple gun.

And now, for the finished product:

I am not sure if I will actually hang the frame or just sit it on a ledge shelf, but I am leaning toward a ledge shelf so that taking the earrings on and off is easier.

There is another craft, but goodnight I tried uploading photos via flickr this time, and WHAT A PAIN IN THE BUTT that is! You will notice the photos are not equally aligned and that is about to give me a nervous tick. Bloggers uploads are always pixelated though, so I guess I can offer up two options: properly aligned and blurry photos, or clear and misaligned ones. Either way, I just want to plunk photos where I want them in a post... is that too much to ask?