Halloween Time

This year for Halloween, the boys went as Link from The Legend of Zelda video game. I made the costumes which consisted of tunics, fingerless gloves, hats, boots and baldrics (that thing that goes over the shoulder that holds the sword.) The shirts and sweats I got from Hanes.com. I also made shields and sword sheaths.

Here's how it all turned out.

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention the pointy ears. There is a story that goes with the pointy ears and it includes no one wanting to wear them, me begging, then me threatening and then all the ears falling off before the festivities even got started. Sigh.

Ethan just came home with 12 pounds of candy. He is currently in his room sorting through it and thanks to the Halloween Witch fiasco of 2008, he will not part with one ounce. Jonah and Isaac have a normal amount of candy, probably one pound each, and have already each sold me a dollar's worth @ 5 cents per candy.

Halloween is like this gateway to the rest of the holidays that demand so much time and money and pomp. Somehow I can get away with a pumpkin and a bowl of candy for my Halloween decorations, but soon, much, much more will be required. And so along with "Happy Halloween" I also must add, "here we go."

My Kitchen: What It Is

If I waited until I got everything done on my kitchen re-do, I would never post pictures of my progress. I thought that would be unfair to all my adoring fans who, I'm sure, check this blog daily to see if I've posted my big reveal.

And I wanted a big reveal. I wanted everything on my list done, done, done before I posted pictures. But, as I was reminded by a good friend and talented decorator today, it is what it is. So, I'm going for the medium-sized reveal.

Here, without further ado, is what IT is. (Click here to see "before" pictures)

New chairs at the kitchen table. Not refinished or painted and dearly in need of some attention. But, it is what it is. I think they look fabulous with my grandma's old table.

Wall color is Sandstone Cove by Behr, the island is Castle Path, also by Behr.

There's a brand new, beautiful light fixture over the kitchen table and flour sack towel window treatments on the windows. I've put some canning supplies on top of the cupboards. You can't really see, but there is an awesome chicken-wire basket holding all my rings and lids, plus two wire bale jars.

Here's another view of the kitchen. What's that you say? I forgot to paint the island cupboard door? Well, not exactly. I didn't forget. I was lazy and indecisive. You see, we have a nice piece of bead board that will fit inside that cupboard panel perfectly. But I wasn't sure how to remove the panel and put in the bead board, even though I've watched many, many YouTube and HGTV videos on the subject. One day I will paint it. For now, it is what it is.

I want to put bubble glass in the cupboard doors over the desk. But again, I run into the problem of not knowing how to take out the panels and put in glass. But I'm going to do it. I've already cleaned up the shelves inside too, so they are ready to go on display. Honest!

 I love the shiny piece of sheet metal on the pantry door as our new magnet board. It's mostly covered by perfect, 100% papers from school (no, I'm not joking) and you can't really see the shiny sheet metal, but--repeat after me--it is what it is.

The inspiration item for the kitchen redo was my grandma's milk glass salt and pepper shakers. (And I'm noticing now that I didn't even get a nice close up of them.) As I worked on the kitchen, I realized that I have a whole lot of other things that were my grandma's that I love, and that I wanted to showcase. And so the Jell-o molds now have a prominent place in my kitchen. I want to shab up their little shelf though and then it will go on the wall near my kitchen sink. (See the frame in the corner of the picture? That might be the look I'm going for.)

See this sign? It's a real, honest-to-goodness farm sign. It was posted outside my grandfather's ranch for at least 30 years. It's weathered and bits of wood fall off from time to time, and those paint flakes--probably lead. But I'm almost positive it's free of termites. I'd like to display this somewhere in the kitchen, but I'm not sure it will work. It's big and it might just be too overpowering for the room.

Here's what I had in mind for the sign--over the kitchen sink. What do you think?

Oh by the way, that curtain rod over the sink is stretched to its limit and a little saggy in the middle. I'm going to fix that too. 

Here's a glimpse into what the wall art will look like. This is a copy of a picture from an old cookbook my grandma sent me when I was seven years old. It used to be my mom's. I've got the edited pictures all ready to print (thanks I-Shüan). I just have to print them and put them in the frames. And I will. Soon. 

And here's another view of the island. I could have just shown you this side and you never would have seen the unfinished door. But, with honesty comes freedom. The unpainted cupboard reminds me that I'm not perfect and I won't be as long as I live on this earth. So I shouldn't go nuts trying to reach some crazy, glossy magazine standard of life because no one is that perfect. And we don't have to be. 

Oh! And one more thing:

My rug! It actually worked. And I actually kind of like it. I made another one for the door to the backyard, but I'm not picturing it here. That's where I draw the line at honestly and full disclosure. It doesn't lay flat and the boys got some mud on it when they came in from outside the other day. And I'm not sure it will survive the wash. (ha!)

It is what it is.

Am I Crazy? (Don't Answer That)

This weekend I enjoyed General Conference. I love going to church at home in my pajamas. Possibly my favorite two Sundays of the whole year. This year I spent almost the whole eight hours of conference braiding strips of three old sheets into this really long cord. My hope is that one day it will turn into two rugs for my kitchen. Or one rug. But two would be nice.

I was kind of hoping that the rug would happen sooner than later, but as I started to sew together other strips that I made from old t-shirts in order to create place mats, I found my creation becoming more bowl-like than mat-like. It was pretty frustrating. The stitch ripper was employed.

So now I'm a little nervous about sewing my rugs together. I'm also looking at that ball and thinking I'll probably will be "rug" rather than "rugs." But with all the work it took to get that ball of braid, it should be more like ten rugs. 

Anyway, I'm making a rug. Is that weird?