My creation...is it real?

Just call me Martha. OK, that is going a little too far. But I will say my family has seen a much craftier Debbie lately. For those of you who don't know me, let me just say I usually have a strong aversion toward anything craft related.  I don't scrapbook, I don't paint blocks of wood, and I don't make baby blankets (but I have the utmost respect for those who do. I just don't have the talent or patience for such things). But give me the right craft (something simple, about fall, or something for my son) and I'm all over it. So enough intro...take a look at my work!

Exhibit A -

My fall wreath.

For a few years I've wanted a nice wreath to display my love for autumn. But I could never find one I liked well enough. And the ones I did like seemed way overpriced.  Nick encouraged me to check out Hobby Lobby - a store I had never set foot in (and I am still wondering why Nick had made it in there before me).  So I did, and discovered that all their fall decor was 50% off! I got the few items I needed and voilà! I now have my fall wreath. And for just over $15.


Exhibit B -

An "About Me" poster for Toby's preschool.

OK so I admit, this one wasn't as simple. I really had no intention in putting so much work into a preschooler poster!  But something flipped the creative switch inside of me and suddenly I became the over-achieving mom for one night. Or a few days. I actually stayed up till 1 am way too late doing the finishing touches, but had so much fun working on it (and by "fun" I mean time to myself to just watch movies and eat Halloween candy). The original plan: just draw a simple picture of a Transformer and few other 'likes' to put on his poster.  What really happened: I spent 3 days drawing Optimus Prime and then at the last minute decided to just print out and color some graphics.

Yeah, my artistic skills are a little rusty.  But it felt good to be drawing again!

Then I found some family pics, printed out some captions, made an 11 pm trip to Smith's for a poster and...here it is:

I showed the poster to Toby the next day and he loved it so much he carried it around with him all morning.  That right there made all the work worth it.

A little late

 I completely forgot to take the obligatory 1st day of preschool picture.  So this is his 7th day of preschool picture (and as you can probably tell, he was not too thrilled about having his picture taken at first).

Finally he warmed up and cheesed it for me.

He loves preschool and has awesome teachers.  But I really need to get this boy in some sports like soccer or something.  He has plenty of energy to burn. And it's probably the overly-proud parent in me, but I think he will do really well in sports.  Anyone know of something I can register him in?

10 more things

I remembered that a few years back I did a little post on 10 random things about Debbie.  Well, I felt the urge to do another - just for kicks.  So here we go.

1 - I have a hard time sharing food with my family.  This sounds horrible as a mom because it is what we do ALL of the time, right?  Nothing is ours - especially when those little eyes lock onto it.  I can't tell you how many times I hide in my pantry to nibble on something or cough loudly when I am opening a package of chips.  And I am the same way with Nick.  He will always give me the last bite of his food, but it takes everything inside of me to share mine.  Ugh.  I'm a jerk.  

2 - I have to get a close parking spot.  I will drive around the lot forever until I do.  It drives Nick absolutely nuts.

3 - I have a fair amount of bad dreams.  Is that normal?  I am still trying to figure out if it is connected to the food I eat.  But truly, I have probably 2-3 bad dreams a week.  And I mean like can't-fall-asleep-for-a-while kind of dreams.  And that is why I will never watch scary movies. 

4 - I can remember very specific details about people and events.  My siblings call me "the steel trap" because I remember things about their childhood that they can't even recall.  My friends just shake their heads when I rattle off stories about what restaurant we went to one time 10 years ago and what we ate and what someone said about the food.... it is both a blessing and a curse.

5 -  I dance in my kitchen. A lot. I think that will probably be something my kids will always remember about their weird mom.

6 - I sing really loud to my music in my car - except at traffic lights.  I'm not that confident.  :)

7 - Before Toby came along, I wasn't a chocolate fan. I never understood why people (women especially) seemed to drool over it and talk about it constantly. I liked desserts like apple pie, peach cobbler, and crème brûlée is actually still my favorite, hands downs. But after I had Toby, something did a 180 inside of me.  I now understand the obsession with things like the Great Wall of Chocolate cake at PF Chang's. And I will eat handfuls of chocolate chips when I need a little chocolate fix - something that never appealed to me the first 25 years of my life.

8 - I don't really consider myself a "road rage" type driver.  I rarely use my horn and for the most part let dumb driving just roll off my back (I do like driving fast though when I am by myself).  However, I am such a grudge holder when people don't give a courtesy wave when you let them in or wait for them to merge or do something courteous. Really, I seriously have thoughts of bashing into them if I don't get that little "thank you" hand wave after I waved them in or let them over. I totally sound like an episode of Seinfeld, right?

9 - I am really good at cleaning last minute.  Should I be a little worried about myself because I get a strange high out of cleaning the house like 20 minutes before company comes over? One more thing that makes Nick a little crazy.


10 -  I can watch my favorite movies over and over and over again.  Nick will invariably roll his eyes when he looks at the DVR playlist and say something like, "You watched that movie again?! How are you not sick of it?"  I don't know.  But I'm not.  Not sure if I ever will be either.