by Amy | Nov 2, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Living
Dear Snow,
It’s barely November. I really wasn’t expecting you for another month or so. It’s not that I don’t like you. We’ve had lots of good times together, skivvy sledding, tubing, snow-fort-building. It’s just that…well, I wasn’t prepared for your visit. You haven’t been to my house since I lived in Indiana. It’s been nice seeing you when I go home for Christmas, and I was excited to hear you’d be visiting me personally this year. But I really think you’ll be much happier if you go back to the North Pole and come back for Christmas.
I know Sandy got your panties in a twist and you just had to drop your baggage on us up here. But that’s really not polite. Today you made Practically Canada feel more like “Practically Christmas.” And, honestly…I’m not ready to listen to Bing Crosby croon “White Christmas” before I’ve had a chance to eat turkey and obscene amounts of pie.
You really inconvenienced me today at work. I went to teach my Jerry Class {senior fitness} this morning, and only one of my ladies showed up. We only worked for 30 minutes before you came barging in and sent her home too. I need you to respect my need to see other people. I’m not okay with you trapping me inside with only the cat for company. But you wouldn’t stop by forcing me to come home early from work and promise not to go out. You just had to go and cause the city to call for a travel emergency. Now I’m really stuck here.
The least you could have done was not be so slippery. I snapped a photo of an accident I saw on my one mile journey home from the gym. Look at the fuss you are causing. It’s just not safe for you to be here yet.
I took another photo looking out my window. I know you like to see the houses you cover. But just know that that stop sign in the photo is not an accident or happy coincidence. It’s a message. Please stop. Stop falling. {Preferably now.} Stop causing people to freak out and drive like they’ve never seen a wheel before. Come back around Christmas. You can stay through the end of January if you really want. I don’t mean to be rude, but I think it’s for the best.
XOXO
Amy
by Amy | Nov 1, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Gathering
It’s November! You know what that means…time to trade spooky for turkey. November 1st is the gateway to all things holiday and hospitality. It’s the time when we begin thinking about hosting gatherings, welcoming guests and overeating. {Just being honest.}
I’m excited to get my home guest ready and my table turkey-worthy. In the coming days we’ll be talking about all of that. But today I want to get us all ready to be guests…by showing you what is shaping up to be the best hostess gift of the year.
Salt & Pepper Shakers!!
Good guest etiquette holds that it’s polite to bring a gift to your hostess when coming over for a holiday dinner or party. {Except if it’s your mom…then it’s okay just to bring yourself.}
Here’s what I’m proposing. This year…instead of showing up with a bottle of wine or flowers…show up with something better that your hostess will adore. Come bearing the gift of novelty shakers. They are trending now and covering shelves from Pottery Barn to Target. You’ll be able to nab a cute pair no matter what your gift budget.
1. Acorn shakers from Stonewall Kitchen. {These are on the pricy side…}
2. Orange Owl shakers from Target. Precious for only $8.99!
3. Turkeys, perfect for Thanksgiving, from Williams Sonoma. Mid price at $19.99.
4. I love this little squirrel-nutkin from Pottery Barn. These will cost a pretty penny…$39.95
Now friends, don’t be intimidated by the price tags. Nab these sweet hostess gifts on sale when you see them. Check Hobby Lobby, Wal-Mart’s Better Homes & Gardens line, and K-Mart’s Martha Stewart/Paula Dean lines.
Happy November!
Amy
by Amy | Oct 31, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house, Uncategorized
So, yesterday I showed you the finished product of my weekend of hard work on the stairs. I just couldn’t resist putting together one more B&A photo. Today I’ll give you the skinny on how I did it.
The first thing you need to know is that I’m not especially skilled. If I can do it, you can do it.
All it takes is some elementary school craft skills, painter’s tape and a little patience. (more…)
by Amy | Oct 30, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Projects, the house
Are you ready?? Some of you may know that I was remaking my stair case while Derek was out of town over the weekend. This project started a month ago when I ripped up the nasty brown carpet covering the stairs. And it is now complete…ready to be crossed off the list.
So, yes. Between being locked out of the house and locked into the garage…I made my staircase look like one fit for a dollhouse. I’m impressed with myself. I knew I wanted them white with dark treads. Then I took it a step further {after spending some time drooling over this statement staircase} by making a statement. Hospitality is deeply important to Derek and me, so I painted “welcome” on the risers in different languages. {The top riser is braille! Fun, right?}
Want to know how I took the gross brown steps circa 1975 and turned them around? Look no farther…just click here!
And now I’ve got candy to make. {Another something you’ll be seeing in the coming days.}
Amy
Linked up at Home Stories, Savvy Southern Style and these other awesome parties!
by Amy | Oct 30, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Living
{The other day I learned that I would never succeed as a burglar. Now I know that I’d be a worse escape artist than Gob Blueth.}
Let me start by telling you that the other day when I wrote about being locked out and having no break-in skills whatsoever, I was not setting out to write a series. But yesterday was a sequel to the previous event.
Derek has been out of town for work stuff. He was out of town when the other incident happened. But I don’t like broadcasting that. He got back late last night, but he was gone yesterday when “Part II” went down.
It’s Sunday morning and everything is going fine. I wake up a classic 20 minutes before I need to leave for church. Absolutely, positively exhausted. {While Derek was away I set myself to refinishing our stairs. A job that was taking many hours. A job that I was tackling mostly between the hours of 9 p.m. and 3 a.m.} But tired or not I dragged my behind out of bed and get ready. Things were going fine. I walked out the door, keys in hand and headed to the garage.
Walk through the door. Hit the button. Garage door raises. Ummm…garage door raises? Okay, garage door makes a loud metallic sound of clattering breaking mechanism. Garage door track has snapped.
Easy enough solution. I’ll just raise it myself.
So I go over to the door and pull with all my might. But the track has fallen so as the door raises it is obstructed by the track. Simple enough. I grab a step stool and lift the track up a bit….only to discover my hands are now covered with black sticky grease. Whatever, I try the door again. But it’s so heavy I can only lift it a couple inches.
Now, being the inventive girl I am I figure if I can just raise the door enough the door will be able to raise up again. This time I get a little help. I put a jack under the door’s ledge and start cranking. Again, it will only raise a few inches. But I continue trying. Like an idiot, to figure out how to make this silly door lift.
Eventually I found that a bolt had snapped in half. That was the root of the problem. I also found that it was the mechanical track that was preventing me from raising it manually. I had resigned myself that I would not be going to church…the time for being on time had long since come and gone. Again I found myself in a garage full of tools…yet unable to get a door open. So I did what I should have done in the first place: Google.
I googled garage door issues. Growing up I never had a garage. The houses I’ve lived in have had carports for the most part. Once we did have a garage…but it generally got stuck in the up position, not down. It’s safe to say that outside of pushing a button…I have no idea how these things work.
Here’s what I found: Garage doors have these bright red cords hanging down from the track. If you pull it down…you aren’t going to believe this…it triggers a manual override. Meaning that if I pull the red cord, I can lift the door myself.
It was heavy, but the door lifted. I pulled the car out. I made it in time for Sunday school.
Most importantly I learned that I cannot be a burglar. I’m pretty sure a career as an escape artist is also not in the cards. First I was locked out and couldn’t get in. Then I was locked in and couldn’t get out. Luckily when I got to church I took a look in the mirror before leaving the car. I had that black sticky grease smeared on my face. What a week.
Amy
PS…I hope you are ready for an amazing B&A tomorrow. The stairs are done! I can’t even believe that I got them done over the weekend. You are going to flip.
by Amy | Oct 26, 2012 | Blog, The Art of Living
{See guys it’s literally a cat burglar!! Don’t you love photos of cute cats in awkward costumes?}
I have a problem. It goes back to elementary school. To the first days of being old enough to stay home alone. When you are old enough to walk home from school by yourself, and chill till mom gets home…you need a key.
A key which I have a tendency to forget. For the longest time I kept my key in the front of my backpack. Safely fastened to a Marvin the Martian keychain. But after I’d unlock the door, my mind would go straight to the urgent matter of making bagel bites…and forget to replace the key. So the next day I’d pay a visit to Laurna Rickart. The lady next door, who had a spare key…but in exchange for the key I had to chat with her {listen to her chat} for a half hour or so.
Now, 15 years later, I’m still forgetting my key. I’ve done it a blue million times. But I’ve always had an out. There was that time my dear friend Alex helped me raise a ladder to crawl through my home’s second story bathroom window in eleventh grade. In Florida I pried open our living room window on many occasions. There was the time I slithered through a nonegress window into our basement in Enid, OK. And who can forget my many break-ins in shreveport through the breezeway window.
But I’ve never been totally, utterly locked out. With no hope of reentry.
Until today.
This afternoon an innocent trip to Menard’s turned into an expensive 2 hours in ice cold North Dakota wind when I walked out without my keys.
It’s funny how when you lock yourself out, you know the moment it’s too late. “Click.” Oh, crap.
So I went to the garage to sort out my options. I’ve got a garage full of tools. A cell phone. No key. We have old windows that are impossible to jimmy. Both doors locked tight.
Then the trouble really started. It’s a mystery of the female body. As soon as you can’t….you just have to pee. Have to. Like, yes, Miss 3rd Grade Teacher…it really is an emergency. That kind of pee. Like my bladder is about to explode. How does it happen so fast?
So I did what any logical girl would do. I googled it.
There are so many links and advice on how to get into a locked door. So I read links. I watched YouTube videos. I braved the snow flurries in my Ball State sweatshirt, sans gloves, sans hat….My fingers were numb and I feel lucky tonight that I’m not sans fingertips.
I crowbarred. I shoulder butted. I used my debit card to try to swipe in {lots of YouTube on this one.} WikiHow made it look super easy with this cute cartoon. I even combined methods. Pry-butt-swipe. No luck.
Derek is working long hours this week. No telling when he’d be home. Our only spare is with a fella who is out of town. I had to get in. I couldn’t live in the 25 degree garage until help arrived. And, let’s not forget that I had to pee.
So I called a locksmith. He was a sweet old man named Jerry. He arrived in 20 minutes. This was an all new kind of exchange. Instead of key for 30 minutes of awkward chatting….it was 30 seconds for $50. This was really a win-lose scenario.
But I got in. And I learned a valuable lesson: I don’t have a future as a burglar, and this house is pretty secure. And I really need a hide-a-key.
I hope tomorrow is a warmer, cozier day…inside my house.
by Amy | Oct 24, 2012 | Blog, Devotional, The Art of Faith
When we were out doing a little visiting on the east coast, Derek and I popped in to visit with his uncle and aunt in Lancaster, PA. I could write a whole post on how amazing the Damon family is…but that would really get us off topic. So I’ll just dive in. The fam work closely with a Christian theater production company called Sight and Sound Theater.
Now, if you are like me…you are thinking, “Um, Amy…last time I checked, you were awesome. Why are you plugging a lame Christian theater company?”
Because, yes…I’ll admit it. Christian entertainment has a history of being a bit…stale. So, I was skeptical when we were offered tickets to see “Jonah.” I mean the book of the Bible is only a few pages long. How can they make a 2.5 hour show about it? And I know that story already…but…it was free. And the family really talked it up. They assured me it wouldn’t be lame.
And it wasn’t. It was anything but lame. The production quality was amazing. Everything about it blew me away. If you get a chance, you should go. Seriously. I’m not kidding. Go.
Now…all that brings me to the point of today’s post. Pulling a Jonah.
I went into the show “knowing” the story of Jonah. But there is something about the events of the Bible…they continually teach and speak to us. Even when we feel like we know the story like the back of our hand. {I don’t really understand that expression.}
What we generally think of when we consider Jonah is a BIG FISH. One big enough to eat him whole and keep him trapped in its belly for three days. What God showed me was something that has nothing to do with fishing at all. Do you remember why Jonah got eaten like a peanut on an airplane? Let me refresh you.
God told Jonah to go preach in Ninevah. Ninevah was a town full of awful people. They were barbaric, idol worshipers, and cruelly violent. Not only was Jonah afraid to go there, he didn’t think that they deserved God’s Word and Grace. So he ran away. He jumped on a ship with what I picture to me a motley crew and set sail in the opposite direction.
While on board God caused an awful storm to come and threaten to tear the ship apart. Everyone on board would die. But Jonah saw through this. He knew what was happening was his fault. God had found him and was showing His wrath. So J-man tells the crew to throw him overboard. After some convincing…they do…and the storm stops immediately.
And until I went to the show, I hadn’t really noticed what happened next.
All those men on board acknowledged the Lord. Previously they had worshiped pagan gods. But when they saw the storm that God had caused and how He caused it to cease…they knew that Jonah’s God was the real deal.
The New Living Translation puts it this way: The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him. {Jonah 1:16}
That’s the part of the story that has really stuck with me since leaving the theater. So often I make mistakes. I know what God would want me to do, but I run away…I pursue my own path. Sometimes it is crazy difficult to walk in the direction we feel God leading us. Sometimes it feels like we are walking blindly. And that’s scary {just try closing your eyes as you strut down the street sometime.} So we run away. And sometimes we feel like failures. That’s “pulling a Jonah.”
But this is the message that God has laid on my heart to share with you. Take comfort…because we serve a God who works miracles, even through our failures and fears. God used Jonah’s disobedience, fear and failure to comply to show his might to the ship’s crew. Through Jonah’s mistakes, God created an opportunity to reveal himself. This is the God we serve. The one and only God. The One who can take all our weakness, mistakes, and misgivings and create something lovely and powerful for His Kingdom’s name.
Amy
by Amy | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog, Crafts, The Art of Projects
A while back {see the cabinets are still brown??} I did a little fall DIY crafting. I got together with a girlfriend and we made these super cute burlap pumpkins. Her neighbor had one. They are all over the Internets. {Yes, sometimes I call it the Internets. With an “s.”} They are retailing on Etsy for around $35.
Well…you know me. $35 for something made of burlap?? Maybe if the burlap also came with a gift card for some fro-yo and breadsticks at Olive Garden. Maybe…
So anyway. We made our own and I think they came out pretty darn cute. And now is the perfect time to whip one up as you swap your scary-spooky for harvest-happy. The best part? Ours cost $6. For both. What up? The second best part? It’s an awesome way to upcycle your plastic grocery bags! {Remember what we did with paper bags?}
Here’s what you’ll need: Burlap 1/2 yard per pumpkin {Hobby Lobby carries it in orange} | scraps of tan burlap | white & green paint | paint brush {bonus points if it’s one of those nifty circle sponges} | scraps of felt or other awesome fabric | hot glue | plastic grocery bags {unexpected…I know}
1. Cut out your pumpkin. Double your fabric up so you have two identical shapes. Mine is about 22″ wide and 16″ tall.
2. Cut a stem out of tan burlap. I cut leaves out of some scraps from the fabric bin. Wool, felt, and flannel from an old shirt are great choices. Use a few other scraps to make some burlap roses. Tutorial here at the old blog.
3. Start gluing your small pieces together. Lay them flat and run a bead of hot glue around the outside, leaving a little raw edge exposed. Be sure that both right sides are out!! When you’ve almost got the whole shape sealed up stuff it with some plastic baggies. For the small pieces you may need to tear the bag into smaller bits.
4. Almost done. Lay a paper bag between layers of orange burlap and paint. These look best when they are kept simple. I went with big polka dots…but you don’t even have to include the dots. Swirls, stripes, whatever…it’s your project. Add a few curly-q vines to the top. Follow your heart. Then repeat the gluing process. Leave the top open and stuff it with plastic bags. Glue your stem in place {sandwiched between orange layers} then glue the top shut.
Add your leaves and roses with a bit more hot glue.
I used a pen to open up a whole in the weave of the burlap, then I threaded a piece of craft twine through to create a hanger.
Why plastic bags? It’s simple. First of all…they are free, and we all have way too many on hand. Second, if you are planning to hang this gem out for all to see…plastic is an ideal choice. It won’t rot or get nasty. The rain won’t hurt it. I’ve seen other tutorials use brown craft paper…which is dandy…if you aren’t putting it outside.
As always, I love to see your creations. Feel free to send me a photo of your version of this craft {or any craft}. I love new ideas! AND…if there is a project you are drooling over, but can’t figure out how to make it happen…email me. I’d love to find a way.
Amy
This thrifty project is partying at Home Stories, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, and these other great parties.
