Shady Pines, Ma.

My kitchen faces south and at about 11am, I hang this towel up to keep out the sun. We have no vents in the kitchen, so unless I point a fan in there, it's hotter than H-E-double hockey sticks.

I had plans to make a roman shade, but the thought of sewing rings and measuring and all that kept me away. I found a book at the library, Curtain Bible by Katrin Cargill, that had pretty simple explanations of curtain styles and how to make them myself. It inspired me to create and sew my own faux roman shade.

I have shade like this in the boys room. My mom made me actual working roman shades but I took the cords out, safety and all that, and now I just tuck the fabric over the rod when I want to let in light. I call them Lazy Curtains(TM).

Basically I just measured and sewed two fabrics together inside out, left an opening, turned it and got these:

I added jumbo rick-rack because, why not? And then cursed my way through the sewing process. Not one corner is the same. I resolved to only use rick rack on things with straight lines.

 

Then I folded the excess over and added buttons. (My window measured 14-1/2x46, I ended up cutting out 15x50 inch panels).

I love how the backing fabric shows through to the front! That was pure luck. Thanks, sunshine!

One of my favorite parts of the Lazy Curtains(TM) is that the buttons aren't matched. They're the same button, but there are six buttons in four different colors. I kept going back and forth on attaching them. But since I had to sew it together anyway, why not add some flair! 

I think they are a little twee. But, whatever.

 

One more pic of my Lazy Curtains(TM) tucked over themselves.

As with all my projects, it didn't turn out as perfect as I had hoped, but from a distance, they look good. 

Sorry, I had to add this photo. I cleaned off the counter and cleaned out the sink in order to take it.

Between Naps on the Porch!

Grey Coupon

The MOMS Club I hang with is having a meeting about budgeting and saving money. We are also having a coupon exchange. Which I initially thought would be hard to do. But then I found a ton of coupons that I don't need. Like when Target sends me diaper coupons. Or formula coupons.

Anyway...I made this like bag to be a coupon holder. It hooks on your cart and is small enough to fit in your purse. I've seen other cart models, but they were all ginormous monstrosities that take a lot of coupon commitment. Of which I do not have. I just want a little something. To tuck my Sherwin Williams and World Market coupons into.

Trick or Treating on the Dark Side

Halloween on a Sunday is rough! So much to get done and all to the tune of,"Is it Halloween yet?" The boys also kept insisting on dessert all day. Even when I reminded them that there will be plenty of candy tonight. After lunch, Hartwell told us he knew where to get dessert and then led us into a candy store. When I told him that ice cream was too much, but he could have a handful of gummie candy, he threw himself to the ground and cried. Loudly. As I paid I said to the cashier,"This happens a lot in here?" She just nodded and handed me my receipt.

We got back to the house around two and I had to listen to, "Can I wear my costume?" for the next 4 hours. Finally, after dinner, six o'clock rolls around, the boys are dressed and we head out. First we visited the neighbors! That is always a good time! The boys across the street did an awesome job on a haunted front yard.

And then we made a quick stop at Deborah's house.  I think my Darth Vaders knew she'd have the good stuff. Eventually we made it to the area we like to trick or treat in. Which worked perfectly this year as Bee decided halfway through he wanted to go home. And he refused to accept any more candy. When people tried to be good sports to his 3 year old dark sided moodiness, he screamed, "No!" and yanked his bag away.

Luckily, when we got home Hartwell got really excited about the prospect of handing out candy. So I put him in a chair on the porch with a giant bowl of candy on his lap. He started making up candy rules. Like, "The first person who walks up only gets one candy. After that they can have more." I think he liked handing out the candy more than trick or treating. Next year I'll just buy him his own bag of Crunch Bars and  make him answer the door all night.