and put on two coats of paint on Saturday.
When Jill first arrived, I thought I was going to lose it. Max was playing piano (even though he knows he's supposed to quit when Jill is here), Eva was whining, and Marc was getting Lucas and Landon hyped up about the next generation of Wii (at one point, right behind us). Oh, and Jack was whining to go outside. Seriously.
Jill had wicked cramps, so I set her up with some good pain relief. I speculated that her Advil is expired because they get sick so rarely in her family. Unsurprisingly, mine has a lot of turnover and is therefore very fresh!
I sent her home with a little stash so she could stay on top of the pain.
I started working on an ornament project I've been wanting to try (thank you, Pinterest!).
I find Jill's stash of colored envelopes to be so pleasing! This time, she got us both drinks (hers for medicinal purposes).
Marc offered her a piece of his birthday cake, a precious commodity.
Jill got right to work on her correspondence.
These envelopes are painfully cute! (I had a little thrill when I pulled one out of my own mailbox yesterday.)
At 5:00, her iPhone alarm went off, notifying us that it was Creative Friday. Funny.
She had such a stack of completed good mail items! (16, if I remember correctly.)
By the end of the day, Jill's hand was reduced to what she called "a hideous claw."
And I had made about 4 1/2 ornaments. (As usual, my project ended up taking much longer than I anticipated! Story of my life. I have 12 finished now, though, and on my tree!)
Lucas and Landon finished the day by eating peanut butter sandwiches while playing chess.
Last Friday was our school district's Fall break, so Jill didn't have to work and we actually had Creative Friday on a Friday! (It's sad how rare they are these days, and I am always thrilled when Jill wants to spend her time off together.)
Landon ate his lunch with us and added his apple to the line-up, which totally cracked me up.
This was the view from Jill's side.
Eva had been waiting for a friend to come over for a couple of hours and then got the devastating news that the friend wasn't feeling well and couldn't play after all. I didn't think she was going to recover.
Shockingly, she took me up on my idea of working on her report for school! She's always full of surprises.
Jill brought her laptop with her so she could work on some computer projects. It was a Creative Friday first!
Lucas and Landon played computer games for a little while, sitting on one chair. This shot shows the part of my cabinets that were finished at the time (it's slightly better now). Don't even ask me how that project is going. (From hell.)
I worked on notes—thank you and otherwise. It had been awhile, and it definitely felt good.
Jill even cleaned out her wallet! If it is productive and/or makes you happy, it's good Creative Friday fare.
I made some progress on my button E. It's not that it's a huge project or anything, just that I put it down for long periods without working on it. (Due largely to other projects, such as the aforementioned project from hell.)
2. Here is a picture of Marc painting over the last of our old gold color! His painting job is finished, but mine has a loooong way to go.
It's been sheer chaos here for quite some time.
3. While the bookcase was emptied and pulled away from the wall, we decided to fix the outlet behind it so that we can finally have a functioning lamp there again!
Oh. my. gosh. If I had a cute little tiny waist, I would be making this in a heartbeat! Tutorial here.
I really think I need this tablecloth. Love the scallops, love that it's wipeable oilcloth, love that it is made to stay in place! (Also, I believe the author of this blog is Jordan's sister!)
Eva saw me looking at this skirt on the computer and immediately said, "I want one of those!" Seriously so cute.
Seriously cute idea! I will be making some of these for Eva when she is looking for projects to do in the morning before school.
I would love to make some pillows like these ones from Pottery Barn!
I am loving these, but I'm not willing to pay $30.00 for tape.
I made these cookies last week – they are delicious and my freezer was fully stocked with treats for school lunches, but I think they might be gone already...
Check out this cute, no-sew costume! Eva already has a princess dress, otherwise I might be going this route.
1. The hose that goes to our icemaker has a leak. It was leaking before my trip to Denver, but Marc fixed it while I was gone. It started leaking again, in a different spot, right before Marc's trip to New Orleans. I called a guy to come fix it, but he ended up getting the stomach flu!
2. Lucas told me after school today that he needed to make some handmade items -- for tomorrow. Yeah, that's typical Lucas. Fortunately for him, I was in good form today. We invented a felt wallet and I taught him how to sew it.
I also taught him to make some simple sewn notebooks, and he whipped out three of those. Check! I think he felt quite proud of himself.
3. Eva talked me into playing Life with her this evening. It quickly morphed into her own version of the game. There was a massive car crash, and when I expressed my hope that no one was injured, she told me with a tone of great scorn, "They're fine! They were wearing their seat belts, of course!" Of course.
4. Recently I had to write a note for Lucas to take to school. I paused for a moment to look at my signature and think about how it's evolved over the years. It reached this final incarnation when I was a graduate program coordinator in the philosophy department at the University of Washington. I had to sign so many letters and postcards that I started to do it really fast, and this was the result. I'm not in such a hurry now that I don't have to use my signature so often, obviously, but I guess that's just the way I do it. I like it. (I didn't like the previous versions.)
5. This is the local scrapbook store. But I'm thinking of painting my front door a similar color. Besides being my favorite color, it's cheery! it pops! and my mom gave her seal of approval. Which begs the question: what am I waiting for? (other than good weather, of course...)
Jill was cracking me up with her pen woes. She bought a bunch of new ones, but they weren't writing and she had to keep scribbling to get the ink to flow. (I hate when that happens.) The funny part was her holding them up and saying "Scorn! Scorn!" I might have tried to get video of that, but she made sure I was only taking stills...
Sadly, the Land Before Time marathon never really happened. She watched part of one and then came out to sit with us and ask a million questions. Then she wanted to invite a neighbor over to play, which presented a whole new set of problems. (e.g., Eva was yelling and when I asked what the problem was, she said, "Sammy said I was four! I'm not four!" I explained that she would be four next month, but apparently that was irrelevant. Sammy just looked at me and shrugged in bewilderment.) Eva really needs more experience with playdates...
I worked on my birthday thank you cards and still managed to feel like I accomplished something, even with all of the interruptions. And anyway, Creative Friday is at least as much about reconnecting and laughter as it is about accomplishing things. (But accomplishing things sure does feel good, too.)
Holy cow, this is a bad picture of me. I was having a really ugly day -- one of those days where nothing could salvage my face or hair. (Why does that happen?) In any case, if it weren't for the tradition, I would not be posting a photo of us from this week!
