Wrapping up the Christmas Season...Unwrapping the New Year!

I don't think I've ever been this wiped out after Christmas! I am the one who keeps the Christmas music pumping for at least 2 weeks afterwards...I keep the Christmas movies going all year long...

But I need a day off.

Just one day though. I think. ;)

I got sick two days before Christmas, and spent Christmas Eve morning crying because I felt so awful and overwhelmed. But, the day rebounded, and a much improved me continued on with the festivities.

We had a wonderful joy-filled Christmas. (Pictures below...) Oddly enough, I don't feel sad now that Christmas day has come and gone, but I anticipate the new year and all of it's new promises!

I look forward to blogging frequently once again, now that I am in full health. (Praise the Lord!) I am also preparing to open a new Etsy shop, one that I was preparing for last year before I got sick, and am now able to follow through on. This will be smaller items that I am excited to share with you. Glimpses of that are soon to follow!

New images will be appearing here as I step out further into photography and digital art. I am very excited about this.

I am also working on a blog makeover. Hopefully this will be accomplished soon!

And so my dear friends, I wish you all a very Happy New Year!! Celebrate, and welcome in the New Year with hope.

I pray that " The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope." (Colossians 1:5, The Message)

Blessings to you!!

Megan

(P.S. Giveaway coming SOON!!!!)

Some days I want to throw a tantrum too!

I went to Costco today to pick up our Christmas photo cards...towing the little 22 month old and 4 year old by hand.

I thought, NO, I don't need a cart. I'm just picking up pictures!

I was wrong.

Wrong. Wrong. WRONG.

Warning: Always get a cart at Costco if you have little people with you. In fact, it's COSTCO. So just get a cart. Period.

We were doing okay after the photo pick up, so we ventured over to the movies. Then we got an idea for Daddy's Christmas gift, so we took our 2 movies we picked out, and went to another area (which must remain a secret). By this time, things were starting to get a little, uh, difficult.

Barely making it to check out, a kid in each hand, a video in each kids hand, and a secret present under my arm, we are slowly crumbling. Kid drops movie. Mommy picks up movie. Other kid drops movie. Mommy picks up movie. Youngest kid drops self onto floor. Mommy pulls up youngest. Repeat.

At the checkout, the youngest decides to completely collapse on the floor. The lovely box lady offers to put her in the spare cart that happens to be there. YES PLEASE! Youngest starts screaming head off now that she is picked up to stranger.

Apology from me to nice lady stranger. Telling youngest under my breath "See, if you throw a fit, I'll let a stranger pick you up." Of course, she has no idea what I'm saying.

We proceeded to the checkout with youngest screaming her head off, stiff as a board, as I force her into the cart seat and buckle her. My son is trying to ride on the bottom shelf of the cart.

Sigh.

I swore to myself I'd never let my child scream in a store. So much for that resolution! She's under 2...not much I can do there.

I'm sure we made a lovely Holiday scene. ;)

Both children are napping now, and I am going to regain my sanity! Thank you for joining me in my little moment of insanity. May your day be truly merry and bright!

Enjoying the silence,
Megan

My Sordid Past with Mod Podge

Mod Podge and I have a history together. Not a warm-fuzzy-gives-me-tingles history, but one that makes me break out into a cold sweat.

Our oh-so-tangled past began when I was around the tender and impressionable age of 12 or 13. I went to the art store with my mom, on one of her frequent trips there. As a child I became very familiar with the art store. My mom is an Artist. A real one, with a capitol A. She paints watercolors, oils, acrylics, and oozes talent from every pore. ( You can meet her HERE)

I ramble.

We were strolling through the isles. I always enjoyed parts of these forays, when bored there was always the pen section- where you could test almost any of the markers or pens on the pad of paper supplied. We entered the glue isle, and it is here that the how and why's become a little blurry. I think I told my mom I would carry the Modge Podge for her. It was quite a large jar too- Super Sized Mod Podge. I trailed behind her, white goop in hand, when I guess I decided to toss it and catch it and walk at the same time. Except, I never got to the catching part.

I tossed the Mod Podge up into the air...and instead of landing in my outstretched hands, it landed on the carpeted floor. And exploded. White globby goo everywhere, seeping into a giant circle in the middle of the aisle. Soaking into the stores carpet.

I died. Right then and there. I was mortified. I, the child who wouldn't order my own food at a restaurant for fear of drawing attention to myself. I just made mixed-media-art out of that stores carpet.

I looked at my mom in horror. I think she must have seen the fear/humiliation/agony on my face, and the tears pooling in my eyes, because after we told the store clerk, she allowed me to wait in the car while she finished up in the store.

To this day, I still can not go in there. I don't know if it was a dream, or if I really did go in once, but in the back of my mind I can see a cloudy stain on the floor, the messy remains of my first Mod Podge encounter.

Only now, as a mom myself, do I realize how embarrassed my mom must have been. And I wonder, did she have to pay for my mess too?

Tonight I had flashbacks to that day. I was creating, and in the creating-zone, when I bumped my jar of Modge Podge and nearly sent it flying onto the floor. Thankfully, it only splattered the floor, and most of it got on my sons booster seat strapped to one of our chairs. My husband came over and helped me clean it up. He always says to let him do it, so that if the carpet gets ruined, he only has himself to blame. Did you know that hot water and shaving cream will clean almost anything off the carpet? And leaves it smelling good too. How? Don't ask. It is my husbands cure-all for any mess on the carpet. Dog threw up again? Shaving cream, of course. It kindof reminds me of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and the fathers obession with Windex. Whatever works, right?

Mod Podge disaster averted, and I think I can bring myself to open the jar again tomorrow and finish my project.

My husband just said "I know, you don't do this stuff to create stuff, you do it to get stories to write about. That's what you guys are really doing. You think 'I wonder what I can get my husband to clean up tonight'" and then he walked off rambling something like this (in a fake woman's voice) "My husband Modge Podged his butt to the toilet seat..."

You're right honey, that is EXACTLY why we do this stuff.

{Edited to add- Go visit my lovely Mother's blog and say hello!}

Misadventures With Spray Adhesive

Why didn't you tell me spray adhesive was dangerous??

I decided yesterday I needed to embellish some fake flowers. I had dyed them the night before and they didn't look quite right, so this was attempt to embellish #2. I had spray adhesive, and I had glitter. Sounded good to me. I figured a little spritz, a little sprinkle, and ta-da!

I was just about giddy at the thought of using the spray adhesive. I had just picked it up the other day. It was new to me. (Don't ask why, I am not new to crafting, just different glues.)

I pulled all the flowers off their stems, and held them over the sink to spritz them with spray adhesive. Spritz, ha. Douse is more like it. That was OK though, it was the look I was going for, right? Mistake #1. DO NOT USE SPRAY ADHESIVE OVER THE SINK AND DISHES. (I know what you are thinking- "Duh Megan." Right.) As I discovered later, the dishes and the sink ended up with a healthy coating of glue. Nice. Like I didn't have enough to clean in the kitchen.

I then dipped them into glitter. I had dumped it onto a paper plate. This was working for me. The edges were getting all glitter-fied, and looked all happy and sparkly. And so were my fingers. No big deal I thought, I will wash it off later. Mistake #2. SPRAY ADHESIVE IS DIFFICULT TO GET OFF HANDS ONCE DRIED AND SEALED WITH GLITTER. Another little tidbit I would discover later. I also, in the tradition of "Making-the-biggest-mess-possible", managed to spread the glitter love all over my kitchen during this adventure.

Good thing the baby was in bed, she would have been coated in glitter and spray glue too.

I continued in this fashion, spraying flowers over the sink, twirling them in glitter, la-de-da. I gave them a second coat of adhesive hoping to seal the glitter on. Hmmm...that didn't work so well. Glitter still came off though...Maybe I would try something else later.

I felt generally pleased with myself though. My hands may be coated in adhesive and glitter, but the flowers looked oh-so-sparkly and nice. The dishes and hands would come clean with a little soap and water. No worries. I laid all the flowers out to dry.

It was time to clean up.

First my hands. I washed them with soap and water. Hmmm. Nothing was coming off. Maybe a little scrubbing would help.

This stuff was a little stronger than I had anticipated. I scrubbed more- still stuck. What was the deal?

I picked at it, and that didn't help.

Now please don't ask me what I was thinking next. It was something along the lines of a recollection that you could get tree sap off with oil or something. I had the vegetable oil on the counter- why not try that on my hands? I poured the oil on my hands and started rubbing. At first I thought I had made a difference, only to realize that all I had managed to do was moisturize the glittery-glue sealant that covered my skin. Like the glue needed to be moisturized.

I paused my pursuit of glitter removal to use the bathroom. That little trip left me with hands coated in glue, glitter, and toilet paper fuzz. Another household chore and I had hands coated with glue, glitter, toilet paper fuzz, and dog hair. Life doesn't stop and wait for you to get gunk off your hands. This was getting annoying.

My husband suggested rubbing alcohol when he learned of my predicament. I scrubbed that on, and managed to get my palms clean, but now the tops of my thumbs burned. I picked at the glue with a little success. At this point I decided to forget about it and wait for it to all eventually wear off. I also decided I didn't even want to think about the result of the glue and the sink and dishes.

Thankfully this morning I awoke to find the glitter and glue had come off my hands. I decided to venture into the kitchen and see what havoc I had wrecked there. After much scrubbing the dishes started to come clean. Some I just stuck in the washer hoping it would work some magic. I got the majority clean. And learned my lesson.

Hopefully that lesson will stick when I decide to pull out the spray paint.

Feeling a bit sticky,
Megan