Bless Your Heart

When I got home from work last night my State Swap box was waiting for me from Lisanne! She sent an I love NY mug, a book about all the cute towns & villages in NY, some yummy apple smelling bath salts & soap, some postcards & a t-shirt. Now I’ll need to go visit NY again! Thanks Lisanne!

Whew- what a trip. We had a lot of fun. We drove all through the night Thursday night. Friday we got to Ikea at about 1pm. We didn’t leave there until 10 pm. We each filled up a buggy and Mom also filled up a flat bed cart. The cashier said to her “Congratulations! You officially have the longest receipt of the day.” It was Mom’s first time at Ikea so it’s understandable that she would go a little nuts. It took us over half an hour to pack the car. We drove my Rav4, and even with the seats folded down we still had to tie Mom’s suitcase to the roof with a bungee cord! I was on the receiving end of many a vulgar hand gesture from Woodbridge, VA to Baltimore. Who knew my careful driving (as to not dislodge Mom’s luggage from the roof) would offend so many?

Saturday we met up with Rachel & Brian who provided us with a most fabulous tour of what is apparently the Greatest City in the World (according to the park benches). We went to Lexington Market where we had lunch from Polock Johnny’s, chips from Utz, candy from Rhebs, and saw all kinds of interesting people. Then we went all kinds of shopping in the coolest stores: Hometown Girl for Baltimore souvenirs, Benefit for sparkly lip gloss, Jake’s Dog House for fabulous gifties for the pooch, Eurostyle Imports for some cool Koziol stuff, then a really delicious dinner at That’s Amore. It was cold and rainy all day- so no outside stuff, but no matter- a good time was had by all! Lisa didn’t come, so that was really disappointing. I crossed 2 state lines! But, I got to see Rachel, Brian, and even Violet.

Mom and I had a big time during the drives. It’s not such a bad drive you know. And we already have things on our list for our next trip!

So tonight after work I’m rushing home to pack really quick, then I’m picking up my Mom and we’re hitting the road to Ikea! Saturday we’re driving into Baltimore to hang with Rachel & Brian. We also get to meet Lisa. I’m so excited- you gotta love a road trip!

I went to my Mom’s last night for a little hair trim. It’s always an adventure. My Mom has been working in the banking industry for as long as I remember. She did stray from finance just long enough to graduate from Simon’s school of Hair Design in the early 80’s. I think she actually went there part time while still working at the bank, but I was a kid so my memory won’t necessarily be spot on. Anyway, Mom had an edge the other students didn’t: my sister and me. We were live-in guinea pigs. Remember that girl in your 7th grade class with a rat tail? That was me. How about the 4th grader with a Bette Midler/The Rose era perm? Yep, me again. That chick with the edgy skater hair cut at the tender age of 12? My sister. You never knew what you’d end up with when you sat down in her chair!

Now, I’m not complaining in the least- nothing beats a free hair cut and she’s really good at it. Plus, my Mom’s so great to hang with. Our family and friends have been taking advantage of Mom’s talent for years. Invites to come to dinner are often accompanied by “…and can you bring your scissors?”. The most fun part is watching her stand in front of you trying to determine if your ends are even while drinking her 3rd glass of wine. This has led to a disaster or two though. I’ll never forget when Mom highlighted my friend Leslie’s hair. Leslie had long dark chestnut hair that reached half way down her back. She wanted some blond highlights so Mom was going to work her magic. She pulled Leslie’s hair through the cap and applied the solution, wrapped her hair up in the plastic cap and we waited. We chatted & had some wine while we were waiting. In fact we lost track of time. That is, until Leslie put her hand to her head and said “Is my hair supposed to be this hot?“. Mom had me help her pull the cap off Leslie’s head and let me tell you, it was practically smoking. And it was white. Bone white- flour, snow, Elmer’s glue, stark white. It was horrible- yet it was so hard to keep from laughing just a little. She looked like the bride of Frankenstein. And by this time it was late in the evening and I’m pretty sure she had to work the next day. Mom was on the phone with Miss Clairol’s hotline so fast. She eventually toned it down after many a trip to the all night Eckerd’s, but things were never quite the same between Leslie and I.

I came home last night from work to find an awesome package from Rachel, Brian & Violet! Full of all sorts of goodies. I couldn’t get them all in the picture even! Lots of soaps, a lip balm, bath salts & gel, fun glitter pens, stickers, coctail animals, lotions & potions galore!, a cool suction vase, a sweet card, and these awesome tote bags for the dogs- one for Sam (Mom’s dog) & one for Nelson that Rachel personalized and decorated herself! I tell ya, we’re so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives. And I’ll get to thank her in person this weekend when we visit. I can’t wait for this trip- shopping and visiting with friends in a cool city- you can’t beat that!

I’m bad with fish. I was about 19 when I got my first aquarium and 3 goldfish. One died pretty quickly, but the other 2 held on. Then I went on a weeklong cruise so I dropped them off at my mom’s for the week. When I got home there was only one. I asked my mom where the other one was, but she swore I only brought one over. So I went home with just one fish. A week or so later I was cleaning out the tank an dumped out the gravel. There, under the gravel, scales all beat up, was one of the fish. He was alive! What a fighter! I apologized profusely and gave him extra pellets that night. He lived with his brother (or sister, whatever) for another year or so. One day I was cleaning out the tank and (stupidly) thought I should use bleach to really clean it out well. I apparently didn’t rinse it enough because within an hour of being put back into the tank, both fish died. They were so pitiful looking, floating there with their bleached out eyes.

I didn’t have another fish until Bubba. J and I bought him when we lived in our apartment. He did great, even survived the move to the house. He lived in a cool hanging vase on the wall in the dining room until he dove to his death on Valentine’s day this year. We replaced Bubba with another beta fish, Kenichi. He also attempted suicide at my sister’s bridal shower by jumping out of the wall vase. Luckily my friend Amy saw him on the floor and he was saved. I put plastic wrap over the top of the vase to prevent further suicidal episodes. This only succeeded in trapping an army of ants in the vase during our ant problem days. Poor Kenichi suffered through it though and I rewarded him by buying him a big fish bowl. He loved it there and lived peacefully atop our amoire in the bedroom…until Sunday.

I was cleaning out his bowl so I scooped him up to put him in a coffee cup as a holding place. That’s when I realized I had yet to put water in the cup. So I dropped Kenichi in the cup as I turned on the faucet. Unfortunately I had just been washing dishes, so the water that rushed out was extremely hot. Poor Kenichi was thrashing about so I quickly dumped out the hot water and replaced it with cold. I think it was all too much for him. He turned belly up in the coffee cup. I poked at him a couple of times and he started flipping his fins again so I put him back in his bowl with clean water. His comeback was not meant to be however. He would stay completely still for a while, then jerk around, head up to the surface for air then go still again. And finally after about an hour he died. I felt so bad! Still do. J said maybe we should just lay off the fish for a while. I think he’s trying to prevent another tragedy from happening to the most low maintenance pets ever- that I still manage to kill again and again.

These are a lot of fun to make, and really easy too. I’ve seen them for sale in gift shops and at sites like this for around $18 a dozen! I saw instructions at sites like Not Martha , and Rachel, Jenny & some other bloggers have made them too. So I hopped on the magnet bandwagon! I made my first set in August but they didn’t come out as well as these because I drew the designs and the ink ran, plus I used Elmer’s glue. I would advise against using freshly inked paper. If you want to draw your own designs I’d let them dry at least overnight. I think these make adorable gifts- especially when paired with the magnet boards from Ikea.

First I bought a few supplies: a quarter inch punch (the perfect size for small magnets). I found this at Michaels. , some quarter inch round magnets , adhesive (I use Goop Crafter’s adhesive. It dries clear and is apparently stronger than glue), & marbles (small & large) . I found the marbles & adhesive at Michaels. Wal-Mart has the magnets for about 50 cents less than Michaels. I bought the big pack of magnets (qty. 50) so I could make a lot. I also assembled a couple of other supplies at home: toothpicks, scissors, pen, tray and ziploc bag.

I collected all of the catalogs that have come in the mail lately and flipped through them looking for cute designs. I suppose you could purchase patterned paper, but this way’s cheaper & gives you more variety. The animal prints are pictures of sheets. I cut out anything with a neat pattern and stored the paper in a ziploc. Gift catalogs are great, so are Pottery Barn catalogs. I used a small & large marble and placed them over anything I thought looked like it would look neat on a magnet. The marbles magnify the design so I recommend doing this before gluing your marble.

For the small magnets I used the round punch to punch out the paper. I glued the paper to the magnet first. close up here. I used a toothpick to apply the adhesive. Just a little dab will do ya! Then apply adhesive to the flat side of the marble and place it on the magnet. Close up here– you can see how the same designs are now magnified. The Goop adhesive is great because you can slide the marble around a little to line it up. Press the marble down hard so the adhesive will spread out. Let dry on the tray (just in case adhesive leaks out- easy clean up).

Large magnets are done a little differently: The larger marbles vary a little in size and shape so I don’t use a punch for them. Line up your large marble over the design you want to use. Put a dab of adhesive on the flat side of the marble. Press your marble firmly to the paper. Use scissors to trim the excess paper from around the marble. Use a little adhesive on the end of a toothpick to adhere the edges of the paper to the marble. Let dry paper side down then once they’ve dried (about 10 minutes) glue the magnet to the back of the marble. Let dry on the tray.

Voila!



This is a great project to work on while watching tv- you can get a lot done in one night! Here’s a really good close up of some finished magnets. They’re very strong & cute to boot!

I’ve been working on some marble magnets to give as Christmas gifts. I’m going to buy magnetic bulletin boards from Ikea and give those with some marble magnets as a little gift set. I’ve made quite a few so far. Click here for a close up.

As far as the rest of my Ikea list…a bunch of small things (a trivet for the kitchen, some hooks, etc), 2 storage chests (1 for a gift and 1 for us). You can paint them any color you want so I’m painting one for Morgan to match her room for Christmas. J’s got an order in for at least 20 bags of their coffee, and I have to pick up ligonberries for my FIL. Also something for my neice or nephew to be. I love Ikea’s kid’s things. I’m sure my list will grow before I leave. I have to make sure to buy a lot- I’m not driving 7 hours to shop and not get a bunch of things!

Today is the perfect, crisp, fall day. It’s pretty breezy out there though, so I look at all the leaves on the ground and feel sorry for all the yardwork J’s going to have to do!

So I’m off today and tomorrow and I have so much to do. These are my last days off (other than Sunday) before my Mom and I head up to the Washington D.C. area to shop at IKEA!! I’ve got a list all made out. I’m going to get a lot of my Christmas shopping done there. Since we don’t have an IKEA in our area this is a great opportunity to buy more unique presents (and at great prices). While we’re in the area we’re driving up to Baltimore for the day. My Mom’s never been to Baltimore so this is a great time to go. Plus, we’ll get to see Rachel & Lisa!

When you work from 8am to 7pm it can be tough to run errands after work- you’ve got to be efficient. So last night I raced home, got changed, and J and I hopped into the car. We stopped in to Qdoba for a quick bite to eat, then ran into Target. I was hoping to get some clearance Halloween things. There were slim pickings though since I was so late from being out of town. But I did find some really cute place card holders ($1.24 for 4!) and little tin buckets. Then we sped over to Sam’s just to be denied entry! They closed at 8:30! Who closes on the half hour?? On the way home from our Sam’s defeat we stopped in a different Target so I could check out their stock. I found a cute spider doormat there. My total Halloween clearance bill…$5.50! Woohoo! The doormat was only $2.49!

Tonight I’m going to try and conquer my other shopping challenge. I can not for the life of me find Maybelline roller color eyeshadow in spin around brown. I’ve tried just about everywhere. I’d hate to order it online and pay shipping if it’s sitting on a shelf 2 miles away, but everyone seems to be sold out! I’m also going to try and get a head start on Christmas tonight by making some marble magnets and printing up holiday address labels. I try to be organized- but I’m sure it will all fall apart and I’ll be scrambling around in December!