Welcome to the reboot! We have glittery mason jars.

In the past couple of days I've had no fewer than five people say, "Do you blog? You should blog." with a few more, "just do it - don't stop. Just post stuff!" So here I am!  Here's my first post in... um... two years??

<crickets> yeah, that's what I thought.

So, basically I figure this is about my crafts, cooking, plants, yammering, friends,  what I think is funny, my kid, my husband, and... whatever else strikes my fancy.  Lest you think I'm good at any of this or this is going to be a "Martha Stewart" uber-mom kind of blog where the woman is always put together and perfectly groomed and has the perfect thank you note to pull out, or can put her hands on wrapping paper or craft supplies at a moment's notice.  THAT IS NOT ME! I know those women, and they are fabulous!  I can't keep my house clean.  I just did a project and tore my house apart to find a single paint brush.  I fail as often as I succeed.  But that's okay. I laugh in the face of failure, and like to share those too.

Now.  On to my project.  As many of you know, my mom passed when I was just barely pregnant with The Kid.  I haven't really been in a Christmas mood in many, many years.  It has slowly been coming back the past few years but this year.  HOLY COW!  It has slammed into me.  I had a somewhat tied together decoration plan years ago, but over the years it has all fallen apart (candles used up, things broken or worn out, random stuff bought... it's year 16 for Christmases for My Sweetie and I together).  I really need a refresh and a plan.  I've been stalking Pinterest.  That is such a great place.  It's a great bookmarking tool, as well as a great place to find ideas.  While I was there, I found this awesome idea from a blog called CakeryPapery.  

This is actually my final product all lit up.  Spoilers!

Now, I've been called a "sparkly woman" because of my love of glitter.  I knew I had to try it.  I love mason jars.  I love candles.  I love glitter.  It's a hat trick!  Could it be as easy as described? I mean for me. 

The squirrels in my brain decided TODAY'S THE DAY.  I found a mason jar.  After two hours of scrubbing, half a bottle of GooGone, a bottle of Advil and an hour waving off the fumes.  It was clean.  

Mostly clean. Good enough!  I had scrubbed long enough, and there was glittering to be done.  Seriously.

 A frantic search for a paint brush ensued, a struggle to open some strong glue (Elmer's super or some such), and glitter (I ALWAYS know where the glitter is), and I managed to acquire all the materials I needed to try this.

After the set up, it took about 4 minutes to do the rest of the project.  I mixed the glue and water to make a really light wash.  Swirled the glue wash around the inside of the jar with the paint brush, cleaned up any drips on the inside, then dumped the glitter into the bottom.  I stuck my hand over the top, went outside into the flipping cold and shook it all around to coat.  I put almost exactly enough in there. There was very little left over.  The coating was very thin, like I wanted.  I'll probably go through and brush some off when it's all dry.

A view into the mason jar - really a Wegman's Grandma's Sauce jar

I think it came out nicely.  I will probably hunt down some more jars now that this has gone so well.  Maybe do some in silver and a mix of silver and gold.

Next up - Cranberry Vodka!  No, I know I don't drink. It's still pretty!

Something About The Winter...

I always hunker down and start blogging in the winter. It must have something to do with the self-imposed exile of the seasonal affective disorder. I start to post more on Facebook and people ask me if I blog (no. I don't ). I just crave the contact.

I think I'll do a retrospective post of the past year to catch up to where we are now. It was a REALLY good year.

I leave you with one of my favorite Christmas gifts. Mah nah mah nah

When Voice Transcription Goes Bad (pt 1)

So, we get transcripted voicemails from our various phone providers. Sometimes they get it right.  Other times, not so much.  These are not presented in order of their hilarity as perceived by us.

• Hey Jeff. It's me. I just thought I'd see if you had a bed access bradley, I'm, I thought of a With this week cos I don't. Don't worry about it try to fix it, that they can understand St. You. So whatever 204th. Bye and the blocking the driveway make up. Hit me up. So But the I called my got to go and Yeah, so that they can. So, alright. Bye.

• "Hi here yeah it's Monday. I was just wondering if you had be had be out yeah Harry Potter the Harry Potter. We'll talk to this song, Doug Buck. I need it I need it for a project for like not quite a quite a homework assignment. So the school for school. So yeah, thank you you. If you was wondering if you had it because it due my office okay, cool, cool. So yeah, I just wondering if you had to confirm it for like a little bit because I need Abby to school. Please call me back as soon as you can my cell which is 52833539450 and my dad and then I'll do it for me could please please call back as soon possible. If you don't have it sorry I was trying to figure it out but hey, I know what like if you had the book" ... more. Please listen to your voicemail for the remainder of this message.

• Hey, it's me. I'm going to swing by. Anyway I was. Smith. I'm down that or lunch, whatever just trying to do anything C D alright talk about the almost 4 o'clock. So You know my book.

• Hey did rid Smith, How are you. I was just I'm working from home office today. Just pick up the stack of mail and realized it was a saying, hey liz the school and I think that's where the online hello.

• Wreck Hello. Yeah this is the principal calling from 10 o'clock. Yeah, I am calling to inform you that our records show that migraines absent from school today. Yeah, you know. Yeah attendance and school is very important for a successful school year. Yeah, please remember to send a note in with your child when he she returns to school, explaining the reason for the absence yank your.

Oh shut up, Rush.

I was going to post my rant but Emily Yoffee beat me to it. :D

Actually, to begin, Limbaugh needed to first call Sandra Fluke, and if she wouldn’t take his call, he should have had a letter of apology delivered to her. Then when he issued his public statement it should have been something like: “I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke. My remarks about her were false, cruel, and repulsive. There’s no excuse and I offer none. I seriously crossed the line and I am sorry.”

Welcome Spring!

So - meteorological spring tiptoed in last week with a snow storm.  Um... goodbye winter?  It's a little backward this year - a fall storm (3-4 days without power) and a spring storm, but technically nothing during the winter.


With us getting to "spring forward" this weekend, I put away the "happy light" hoping the end of the long dark winter tunnel is near.  The daffodils area all up and rarin' to go under the blanket.  Hopefully they aren't all frostbit.

This was the first thing I saw today - on "the daily squee".  Love it.  I went online and found it where it was stolen from originally.  A collection of 50 Best photos from The Natural World on boston.com.    It was taken by a photographer named "Kham" for Reuters news service.  Which brings me to one of my pet peeves.  The material on the internet was created by  someone.  Attribution is necessary.  This is being ignored, and "stealing" is being taught in schools.  Makes me absolutely bananas.   


The Kid has a project every couple of weeks.  One of the parts of the project he's graded on is grabbing photos from the internet, printing them out, gluing them on to the page in his notebook.  As a photographer, from a family of artists, this pains me.  These students should be taught to attribute the photographs.  List, at the very least, the site they grabbed them from.  I think the next one I'll require my kid to cite the source of his photos, even though it's not required.


My FIL recently was contacted by a student putting together a thesis and wanted to ask if he could use some of this photographs from his portfolio.  FIL was tickled pink because the kid ASKED before he just printed them out and stuck them in his paper, which would have been ridiculously easy.


Just because it's on the internet, doesn't mean it's free for your use.  Too many friends have discovered their photos (exif included) in various places.  It's not "orphaned" just because it was posted.  A teeny bit of work can usually uncover who produced it.


I had a book on "How to draw Celtic Knotwork" years ago.  I wrote the author (we didn't have email back then) in Ireland if I could use some of the designs from his book in my jewelry designs.


This should be common sense, but it isn't.  And it makes me sad.

Blue Man Group!

Took the kid to see Blue Man Group for the first time.  Our third time seeing it.
The kid got to be up close and personal with the blue men.   He also had the theater manager take him and a few other kids to the side to tell them what one of the secret ingredients of the show was.  Awesome.  Even J got to be part of the show.  Thanks to great seats and our habit of getting there early.  

Our first real date nearly 15 years ago was to BMG, then J surprised me for our 10th anniversary of our first date (our real first date, which was April 1, 1997), and now around our 15th anniversary of date 1, we go again - this time with the kid. Next time the kid will be 14!  

The Boys and a Blue Man after the show

Almost St. Paddy's Day!

And - two weeks before the party starts the cleaning frenzy.   It's combination spring cleaning and OH MY GOD HOW AM I GOING TO FIT 40 PEOPLE IN HERE madness.  It's relatively enjoyable though.  Next weekend will be the sun porch.  Here's hoping for another 70 degree Parade Day!


update:  We've never actually started cleaning for this party so early - we've discussed it, but it never happened.   I hope we'll have time to decorate and stuff rather than throwing everything up in our bedroom and shutting the door in the hours before the party.