Valentine Placemat

It's that time of year! 

Love is in the air!  Can you feel it?  (maybe it's just the wind chill I'm feeling?)

Bella and I made Valentine placemats to get ready for the BIG DAY.  RT says I believe Valentine's Day is a National Holiday.  That's because it is, right?

What you need:
Felt (  x12): Red and White)
Felt scraps to make 2 small hearts (your choice, we used purple and pink)
glue
scissors
ruler
chalk

I think it sounds like a lot of stuff, but, this is really an easy project to do.

Take your red felt and fold in half.  Use your ruler, you are going to start on the folded side at about 1/2"& measure out 2".  You will make little dots on the fabric with your chalk every 2".  You will have 5 dots.  At each dot, you will use your ruler and draw a line, using the chalk.  Each line should be about 4.5" long. 

Cut each line (again, make sure that you are doing this on the folded side).  Open up.  Should look like this:

Take the white felt, and measure out 2" strips.  You will do this on the shorter side so you will not have to trim your strips.  You will need 4.

Start weaving your white felt strips into your red felt.  When done, glue down the white edges.  (if you want, you can glue down the rest of the white strips down.  This might make everything stay in place)

Using your scrap felt pieces, cut out 2 hearts.  One larger heart (mine is about 2") in one color, and one heart that is about an inch in a different color.  You can use the red and white again.  We used purple and pink, since they are also considered Valentine colors.  Glue the smaller heart on the larger heart.  Then, glue the larger heart onto your placemat.  I chose the lower right hand corner so I can see it if there is a plate on it. 

And, you're done!

Happy Valentines Day!

Midnight Madness

So, I wake up at 3am (a little before my time) and I start wondering if we brought Newton inside.  Newton puts himself to bed every night anywhere between 7 and 8 pm.  His beds: one is a dog pillow in the family room, the other is an old comforter in the basement.  Once he has decided he is in bed, you can not get him to move (i.e., go outside).

I got up and went downstairs and found Newton laying on his pillow.  Good thing.  It was a cold night.  I realized I forgot to close the curtains.  Something I do that I feel keeps the cold air from coming inside (not so sure if it's true or not, but, I still do it).  I start closing the curtains and realize RT left his car on the street.  No ticket......yet.

I go upstairs to throw on some heavier clothes so I can move the car.  Of course, as I am doing this, I am imagining a police officer pulling up and writing a ticket. (which would be just my luck)  I make it outside and move the block of ice car into the driveway.  Success!

As I am getting into bed, RT says, "everything alright?"  I laugh and say, "I'll tell you in the morning."  He said he is awake now, so, I tell him the story.  I said, the funny part is, what if  a police officer already passed our house and saw the car in the street and passes by later and it's in the driveway.  They'll think they're losing it.

I was trying to fall back asleep, but, I was writing this entry in my head (note to self:  Keep paper and pen in bathroom for middle of the night musings).  All of a sudden, a watch alarm goes off.  It's 3:30am.  It's Alex's watch, but, RT has been wearing it.  Not sure why the alarm is set for 3:30am.  Maybe so you don't miss those important meetings that always occur at that time. 

Tonight I will make sure that the dog is inside, the car is in the driveway, the curtains are closed and the watch is far from our bedroom.

Pilates

Or as RT says, Pie lates.

Just started doing pilates.  I use Comcast's fitness TV and their free workouts.  This week, the yoga workouts have the instructor that I do not care for, so, thought I would give pilates another shot.  (my first try wasn't that great)  I have figured out that it all depends on the instructor.  If you don't like the instructor, you are not going to have a great experience.

So, after a few days of doing pilates, I am a little sore.  This morning, I thought I would start with an arm workout(since my legs and abs are a little sore).  I start doing this quick little workout that started out REALLY emphasizing legs.  I thought it's probably just a warm up.  Finally, we do a few arm circles, and, then it's over.  I could have done the arm circles on my own, thank you very much.  I read the description again and realized it said  "Leg and Arm Toner."  I got the leg part, but, a few arm circles?  I don't think it did much for my arm tone.

One of the workouts that I did had a similiar movement that almost looks like the plow in yoga.  This is a move my friend, Patti, talks about doing.  I thought I'd better wait a little before trying that move.  I don't want to throw my back out.  I think my biggest fear would be ending up in the plow position and never being able to get out of it.   I would have to live out the rest of my life on our basement floor. 

Incase you are wondering, there are no pictures to go with this post.  I don't think I am that coordinated to take a picture of myself while attempting odd positions.  And, to get RT to take them for me, well, he probably wouldn't be able to control his laughter, so, the pictures would probably be all blurry.  

What?

That just happens to be the most used word in our household.  If someone in the house is talking to you, your first reply must be, "what?"  It's an unwritten rule.

It doesn't matter if you are at the other end of the house or standing right next to the person talking to you, that is your reply. 

Coming in at a close second is "wait."  An example, "Wait, what?"  or "Wait, Mom.  Wait.  Wait.  What?"  Bella is pretty good with the wait-ing.  When you say something to her, lets say, "You need your library book for school."  The reply will be, "Wait, my library book?"  "Yes, your library book."  "Wait, wait.  I need my library book?"  "Yes, bring your library book."  "What?"

Tonight I was talking to Nick about something for school and he said, ..........."What?"  I replied, "what?" (I have to get in on it too, sometimes) and, of course he said, "what?"  This went on for a few minutes. 

The phone rang, an unknown cell number.  I answer the phone by saying, "hello."  From the other end I hear, "What?" 
Me:  I said, Hello.
Caller:  Wait.  I called by mistake.  (and hung up)

I told RT and he said, Oh, he must be from our family.  Why didn't you invite him over for dessert?

Personal Chaueffer

So, I went to visit my mom.  It's about a 25-40 minute drive (depends on the traffic).  Nick decided he wanted to drive (he needs 50 hours of practice).  I was sitting in the passenger seat thinking how wonderful this is going to be for me.  A personal chaueffer to take me anywhere I want to go.  He isn't bad of a driver.   He had his first expressway driving with me (and my hair didn't turn gray).  He was upset that I was gripping the door handle and asking him to brake.  I mean, I like meeting new people, don't get me wrong.  I just don't particularly like being in the back seat of the car in front of us when he decides to hit the brakes.  

He got a total of an hour of driving time.  And lunch.  Not bad. 

Now I have to plan my errands for the next 10 months.  This is going to work out quite nicely. 

Bag

Well, I think I learned a very important lesson today and thought I would share it with you.  It's the importance of a bag. 

Bags are used for a number of things.  Carrying books, food, clothing, personal belongings.  Some bags are not necessary, but are used anyway.  Some of us bring our own bag when needed.  There are times, tho, when a bag is necessary.  Say, for example, in your vacuum cleaner.  That is a place that you need a bag (unless, of course, it is a bagless vacuum cleaner).  You wouldn't want to have all of that dust, hair, dirt that you vacuumed up inside your vacuum, would you?

Maybe I should just stop there.  I think you know where I am heading with this one.  Why bother continuing, when we all know that you would not forget to put a bag in a vacuum cleaner that requires a bag.  Never!  Who does such a thing?  Think of the mess!  What kind of brainless person would do something like that?  HA!

Well, I did not forget to put the bag in my vacuum cleaner.  Apparently, it did not attach inside the vacuum cleaner.  Imagine my surprise today when I went to empty the bag and found that there was no bag!  Just a bunch of dust and hair and dirt inside the bag.  Loose, dusty, gross.  It wasn't a pretty sight. 

I, of course, have some pictures for you (I didn't want you to miss out on all of my fun this afternoon).  I did clean it out and found the bag, new and unused, at the bottom.  (I was saving it for a rainy day)  

Yea, I'm pretty grossed out.  Not much more to say on this one except, don't forget the bag.

Workout with Alex

Well, he's at it again.  Alex made another workout video.  (well, he actually made it a couple of weeks ago, but, I just found time to upload it to youtube)  He has several more that are in progress.  Here is his latest.

Keep up the good work, Alex!  You'll be stronger in no time!