Hymn Bird

When I was at Garden Hills Baptist Church, they were getting new hymnals. So, they were giving away the old, faded ones. I was thrilled to get one! It contained familiar songs I have sung since I was a child.

In held onto this sentimental book from the years l was first married for over 20 years! I always thought I would craft something with the music filled pages. And one day I saw a bedazzled paper bird ornament on a Christmas tree at a store, and I immediately knew that was why I was going to create with my old hymnal.

Here it is in it's stages of production:
Adhering the hymn pages onto card stock with spray adhesive,
Tracing and cutting out the shape and hot gluing 2 pieces (twisted together) of pipe cleaner,
Adorning with bow, bauble and acrylic stones, and
The finished product with "To and From, Merry Christmas" written on back...

Seasonal Time Off = Mom Stress

Keeping my only child socially fulfilled over the Thanksgiving & CHRISTmas breaks this year shouldn't stress me out like this!

But with no guest or travel plans for Thanksgiving, my stress is opposite to most moms...how to fill the time off we have with fun & memorable activities. Because most people make Turkey Day plans with their families, either near or far, our daughter will have fewer friends available to invite to hang out with her. She will text each one to come over or meet up, but will feel rejected when they don't respond or have other plans. I have seen this on several occasions and it breaks my heart for her.

Since we have no social plans for December, I feel it's my duty to create a fun schedule for her two weeks off also to soften the low off rejection and keep her busy.

Why not just make travel plans to fill the time? Because my husband enjoys the quiet down time. He gets very little free time working 60 hour weeks. And he loves to work with his hands on his projects when he has several hours at a time. Unplanned free time is the best gift I can give him!

So for years now, I've solved my dilemma of protecting his time & making hers enjoyable with careful planning. Searching fun activities she & I can do that give Dad some space during the day is a trick.

This past year, I've pinned many crafts and fun things we can do together over the holidays. Thank God for Pinterest! She & I will work together in the kitchen and practice timing dishes to finish at the same time. We'll set a pretty table. I'll have her help me pick a few crafts to do, and we'll buy the supplies at the hobby store. We'll bake and surprise neighbors with goodies in cute containers. We'll practice random acts of kindness. We'll send out our photo cards & share in the fun of opening other's greetings. Etc.

What stresses you out about the impending holidays? How do you cope?

Kitchen Designer/Artist

Melissa Pakebusch  has been a real asset to me.  She is helping me make decisions for my kitchen remodel and studied interior design at UTSA.  She also happens to be a talented artist and loves to paint animal portraits.  You can see a few of her paintings at her etsy shop.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/PetPortraitsByMelis
She'd love to make your pet into a cool piece of art for you to display in your home.
631-813-3081 or melissa.pakebusch@gmail.com

Monica's Art

My friend, Monica Phillips, is such a creative person. She found these mirror frames at Hobby Lobby. They were marked down a ton, so she bought them. They are over 5 feet tall, and she knew they would be perfect over her fireplace. She found this gorgeous material at Interior Fabrics and assembled it. It's breath-taking!

No More "I'm Bored"

As we head into the second month off from school, I have yet to hear it.  "I'm bored."  My dearest Emily has been home with me daily and she has accomplished a lot.  She's even taken to making dinner for our family of three plus one pooch.

She's done several weeks of pet sitting for neighbors, worked as a mother's helper for a few hours once a week, and works diligently on the list of things to do I create for her. (Which, by the way, takes several hours on Sunday to create.)

Today, when she said she was going to play outside in the 100+ degree heat I was thrown off guard.  Filling her own time playing outside with neighbor friends/classmates is the best way to kill several hours of the long summer days!  And she gets tired and sleeps well too.  But there sits the list of things I have for her to do for me and to pass time.  It's a place where I have to wait it out to see if she can juggle the things she needs to do versus the things she can rollover to tomorrow.  I know she's not aware of the time of day, so I'll have to tell her when it's time to begin cooking dinner.  She is an excellent cook and enjoys it, but has my dirty dish syndrome.

One of the things I resourced for her to do is math work, and I'm amazed how much slips by this girl in class.even thought she's attaining above average grades in math.  I know it's part of the use it or lose it that occurs in the summer.  I'm finding out which math principles she "learned" but has forgotten.  Like adding fractions.

She is also doing Listening Therapy with our friend, Angie Lindinger.  And I'm amazed at how listening to music for 30 minutes while reading or doing another activity besides screen time, a day can improve her listening skills and song word memory.  Currently, Angie has her working on improving her cursive, fine motor skills, with her listening therapy.  Angie@educateaustin.net.

Since she has gotten a new ipod touch game, she has been having trouble managing her screen time.  She has has unlimited screen time and likes to be alone in her room.  Not only does this interfere with her list of activities to keep her brain sharp and help me around the house, it turns her attitude into the entitled one.  So, a couple of days ago, I started limiting her screen time to 2 hours per day.  She blew thru that in one sitting of Mine Craft!  So, this morning it occurred to me that I can have her earn one more hour a day by doing her list of items.  We started this today and we'll see how it works, but for now I'm feeling quite empowered.  I broke it into a set of 3 activities.  She'll earn 30 minutes for making dinner, 10 minutes for required summer reading with her headset on for 30 minutes, and 20 minutes for correctly finishing today's math sheet.

Then she wants to go out and play.  Ugh!