Budget Curtains

I've been living in this house for three years, and have yet to put up curtains in the living room. It was only very recently that I even had a rug or coffee table in the living room. I'm not a big fan for spending money (love craigslist) so I had to come up with something inexpensive that didn't look cheap. So here's before:



And here's after:





These were the expenses:

2 5'9" x 8'9" Canvas drop cloths------ $20 (total)
black wooden curtain rod-------------- $9 (Walmart clearance)
3 packages curtain hooks--------------$15
____________
Grand Total $44.00

Yay! Love bargains. I still have one window to do in the living room, then I will be happy. The canvas has a lovely texture to it, and I really like the black curtain rod & hooks. All in a day's work!

Cheap toys

You may have heard that I am cheap. Well, here's another example. I really dislike going to the toy store, or even Walmart, and paying ridiculous sums for toys that will break within a week when subjected to my crew. Thanks to Family Fun magazine, I found some toys that were as cheap as dirt (or close), and as indestructable as rocks.



Oh, right. They are rocks. Silly me.



Granted, my version may not be quite as creatively painted, but my kiddos don't know the difference! Actually, Sofia got to help paint some while the boys were sleeping, so she thinks they are beautiful. Doesn't take much, does it? And I'll be adding to the collection as inclination strikes.

P.S. Ignore the dirty window in the back.

The dress that was a shirt.

I let the kids choose some fabric from Joann's a couple of weeks ago, promising them a very difficult pillowcase out of the deal. The fabric has been sitting in "Mommy's Workroom" since then. Until now. I thought I would get adventuresome and try a shirt for Sofia. I have the patterns, but have been afraid to use them. But I buckled down, ignored the layout for cutting that the pattern gave (it made no sense, after all) and started cutting after the kids hit the sack. Everything was going along swimmingly... I even got the elastic neck done right. Then it was time to hem the bottom.

Something didn't look right. I had made a size 5 for Sofia (a little large for her, given the measurements on the pattern, but I thought she could grow into it) but it didn't look right. It was wide enough, bordering on billowy, but the length wasn't even going to cover her bellybutton! I checked the picture on the package, just making sure that I didn't grab the Princess Jasmine version by mistake. But there was no mistake--the pattern was just too short for Sofia. I threw the unfinished shirt onto the guestbed, stalked out the door, and was just about to flip off the light when I stopped.

There, sitting neglected in my pile of remnants (I'm addicted), there was a little scrap of yellow. This particular scrap was all of about 12 inches, and had been passed over many times for previous projects because it was just too small. But for this, it just might work. You can't really tell in the photos, but it's yellow with little white daisies, and the ladybug material has little yellow & white daisies on it as well. What a match!

I gathered this little piece of sunshine (my first time doing a gather. Newbie sewer here) and attached it to the shirt. Looks good! But not quite finished.... so I cut a strip of the original material to put at the hem, maybe making it look like this is what I intended in the first place. And it turned out okay! It's still a little baggier than I would prefer, but Sofia likes her wiggle room.

I finally finished the darn thing around midnight, hung it on her dresser where she would see it first thing, and went, finally, to bed.

P.S. She liked it.... although you couldn't tell by the pictures. She has the strongest aversion to photos of any child I've encountered. Ever since she was an infant. Seriously. To get these pics, I had to bribe her with ice cream.... and that wasn't enough for a smile! Sigh.

I love Japanese fabric!

So I peruse several crafty-type blogs on a regular basis (obsessively), because I love watching others creating beauty for me to covet. One of the advertisers of one blog is This and That From Japan and let me tell you, I FREAKIN' LOVE THEIR FABRICS!! Now, if only I could: a) afford them; and b) figure out what to make out them I would really be in business!

New Orleans

One of Filipe's old co-workers invited us to his wedding this past Saturday night in New Orleans. This happened to coincide with my mom's visit to Texas (okay, okay, we begged her to come down so we could escape for the weekend). So Saturday afternoon, she dropped us off at the airport, on the way home from our church's camp-out (more on that in another post) and away we flew.

We went through some really beautiful clouds... I wish I had the equipment or the know-how to capture it better, but I guess there's only so much you can do out the window of an airplane. They looked like they were just boiling up, white ones starkly contrasted with gray, irritable ones. Very beautiful.

Here's swampy Louisiana:Here's the view from our hotel: downtown New Orleans.The wedding itself was very traditional. Very New Orleans traditional, that is! Instead of your standard organ or even piano playing your traditional wedding march, we got this guy, playing something that doesn't have written music, playing the jumbo-trumpet (I know there's an actual name for this instrument, but I'm at a loss as to what it might be, so jumbo-trumpet it is). It was actually very cool. And the reception featured a live, rockin' New Orleans jazz band. It was very dark & very LOUD, so it was difficult to get a good video clip, so this is the best I've got right now:

You can also tell by the wedding cake how "New Orleans" the wedding was--they even decorated it with the fleur de lis!Sunday morning we drove around downtown New Orleans, and of course Bourbon St. Man, is that place a haven for sins of all flavors! We even found a venue where you could go to watch "Love Acts." Eww. But it was kind of neat to see the places that I've seen in movies & stuff. I almost expected to see Ashley Judd hanging around (I love Double Jeopardy). But I don't really have any pictures of this part, because it was raining like, uh....... well, it was raining a lot.

On Sunday afternoon we went to the Nineth Ward, one of the places that got hit the worst by Hurricane Katrina. Now, I know this place was no beauty before hand, but it was really strange how it felt as thought the hurricane was there just a short time ago. Most of the uninhabited houses (and there were lots--I wish I knew the percentage of occupied to vacant houses. I'm guessing 1-4) were obviously incredibly damaged, but also still retained the X markings from directly after the hurricane, indicating when the building was searched for survivors, and if there were any casualties in the house. You can see it on the left side of this blue house, including a "R.I.P" marking next to it. Pretty sobering.

Lots of houses & lots were just completely overgrown, like this one:

But there were also several newly-built homes, right next to the abandoned ones. Kind of a strange juxtaposition:

Not only are there abandoned houses, which I'm sure contain extremely unhealthy levels of mold, mildew, and who the heck knows what else, but some houses even have methane warnings still posted on them:

Eventually the rain let up, so we decided to return for a stroll through the French district. They were having a nice little Farmer's Market/Swap Meet. Such lovely produce, but.........Me like the candy store!

We also went to the St.-Someone-Famous-But-I-Can't-Remember-Who Cathederal. See the ominous sky?

Also met Andrew Jackson:

Loved this banana tree, with the flowers half banana-ed. I will admit Filipe made fun of me for finding this interesting!

We had a little bit of afternoon left, so we decided to head about an hour out of town to visit some plantations we saw advertised in a brocure. On the way, we were driving about sixty on a nice little two-lane highway, when I glanced out my window at the edge of the marsh next to the road. "There was an aligator!!" I exclaimed to Filipe. Surprise! He didn't believe me. I had been teasing him ever since we were on the plane that I would find an aligator on this trip, so he was sure that I was pulling his leg. I tried to express how seriously honest I was being, but it took a bit of convicing for him to turn the car around. We drove back to the spot where I was sure I'd seen a gator, and, Hello! There was the gator, not 20 feet from the car. Filipe tried to make me get out of the car to get a picture, but I think my camera has a satisfactory zoom!!

So we drove for about 1 1/2 hours, and finally found the plantation we were looking for. We walked up to the ticket counter. We read "$15 per person." We turned around and walked back to the car, and headed 1 1/2 hours back into town. I'm so cheap. So here is a picture (from the gate) of the plantation we never went to. Lovely, isn't it?

We had such a great time just hanging out, no stress (okay, well, not too much) doing the tourist thing. Last year we went to Charleston, this year it was New Orleans. I think we may try the Florida Keys next year. That is, if Grandma's up to another round with our kids! WE LOVE YOU GRANDMA!!

Pictures coming soon!

Just returned this morning from our excursion to New Orleans.... good times!! I got some fun pictures, and will post them soon! In the mean time, time to put the boys down for their nap!

In the Hood

Whipped up a couple of hooded towels for the boys last night. They've been using the same towels I recieved as a gift when they were newborns. So I figured they deserved an upgrade. And by the way, they chose the colors!

Who made the beautiful rainbow?

I did!

Okay, well I know these are a poor substitute for the real thing, but our Sabbath School class has been having to share, so I made a few more. Sofia really enjoyed helping me stack the felt color strips... and listening to me yelp when the hot glue escaped onto my fingers.

Confused yet?

Our shaggy boys got cut today.

Here are my sweeties before

Sam:
Ben:
Now here's the boys after Sam has been cut. Makes it easier to tell them apart, does it?

Here's the fellas after:

And I don't mind telling you it's now rather tricky for ME to tell them apart! I have done several double-takes. I guess I have to make sure they're always wearing different colors. So for those of you who have trouble figuring out who's who, good luck!

Mother's Day '09

I did get the required breakfast-in-bed treatment today, but then it was off to Guadalupe River State Park for some family fun!

playing catch-up

Obviously it's been a while since my last post.... so I'm going to do a superspeed catchup post that will contain a few highlights of the past week and a half.

First off:

My father-in-law and husband started a remodel in my garage. We got rid of the old kitchen cabinets that looked like they were useful and a clever use of un-needed cabinetry, but were in fact a huge waste of space. They then built me some lovely floor-to-ceiling shelves so I can keep all my garage goodies in boxes and out of the way. Happy! That completes phase 1.

I also had a lovely girl's night out with my girls from church.... that is, after I found the place. I have the worst sense of direction God could have given me. If there is an option to go left or right, no matter which I choose, I should have gone the other way. It doesn't fail. My friend, Dear Abby, diagnosed it one time for a writer (not me), it's called Directional Dyslexia. A serious (okay, not) condition. Anyways, a little shopping center 20 minutes from my house took me very close to 1 1/2 to find.... after driving all over several sides of San Antonio.

I got there 15 minutes before the shops closed, but was still on time for our reservations at Bin 555, a lovely restaurant where we dined on the porch. For dessert I had s'mores--can you believe it? After feeling like a grown-up, eating miniature goat-cheese grilled sandwiches with tomato marmalade sauce, naan flat bread with hummus, and pommes frites (haha!) I have campfire dessert. But it was good, and it came with live fire! And although much of our conversation centered around our children's and pets' body fluids (my apologies to the people sitting at the next table), it was a much-needed connection with other moms pretending to be adults for a while.

The next day I headed up to Michigan where my sister graduated from Andrew's University with a BA in Communication & Spanish, after which I traveled down to my parents' house in Kalona for a little R&R. There's so much I didn't do there, I don't even know where to start. Let's say I had a fantastic time being 17 again. No kids. No husband. No responsibilities. No curfew. No cooking. Lots of Lazy. I went through a bunch of old memory boxes in the attic.... man, was I really that much of a drama queen in high school? How immature! Oh, right. I was in high school. And although it was good to get away, it was awesome to get back to my babies & my hubby. Dorothy had it right--there's no place like home.

I was pretty sure the kids would be devastated with their mommy gone. This is how bad it was:

So I think Daddy buying them a pool helped. But I guess there was also a little of this going on:

So that made me feel a little better (isn't that terrible?).

I got back late Tuesday night, then Wednesday Filipe reminded me we have to get the kids' Brazilian passports for our August trip. That requires a trip to Houston, which is where the closest Brazilian Consulate is located. So I packed up our bags, and we left town after the boys' nap. The trip normally wouldn't be all that dramatic, if it weren't for the fact that our portable DVD player mysteriously stopped working. And brilliant mommy didn't bring alternative entertainment. So they made some entertainment of their own.

We stayed the night at a hotel, then in the morning Filipe went to a couple of hospitals to get some work done while we were there, and I took the kids to Hermann Park. The boys almost posed. Sofia was having a "day."

And don't be fooled by the cloudy atmosphere.... it had to have been 99% humidity--it was awful! And that was at 9am! I had rivers of sweat running down five minutes into this adventure, which is why we stopped by the fountains next.

We went to the playscapes next, and I did manage to sneak in a picture of Sofia. Boy, did she give me one dirty look afterwards.

And last, but not least, cooking for Friday night worship. I made Prosage (fake sausage for all of you non-veggies out there) cheese muffins, Chunky Apple and Raisin Bread, Banana bread with chocolate chips, and Taco Turnovers for dinner. Oh, yum. This batch of recipes was a good one!

So now you're all caught up, I think. Maybe I can stay on top of it better now. Next adventure: Guadelupe River for Mother's Day!