Fourth of July Door

So, my front door has been naked since Valentine's Day. It's been really weird, actually, and almost every time I come in or out I say something along the lines of "Self, it's about time you get on that." So today I got on that.

Spring decor is not usually my favorite so now that it's close enough to Summer that I can just jump straight into Fourth of July that's what I did. I liked the simplicity of last years door, so I took that idea and tweaked it a little. I decided to use a yarn wrapped oval wreath that I made last summer (and can't find any photos of the process). It was the foundation of my favorite (and easiest) wreath to date:

It's simply a pool noodle, taped like mad so it wouldn't come apart, and stuffed into a rectangular rubbermaid tub for a week or so while we went on vacation. I just did that to keep it from coming untaped, the squared oval shape just happened to be a major bonus! I really didn't think it would stay, but here it is a year later and it's still oval.

I grabbed the flags from last year, the yarn wrapped wreath, and went to town.

I know it's popular to use the pool noodles for wreaths, and rightly so since it's so affordable, but my favorite thing about them has nothing to do with cost. I have learned that I can decorate a foam noodle wreath by sticking things together with straight pins! They stay really well and are perfectly removable - which means I can stretch that $1 pool noodle a million ways and redo the wreath anytime I want without having to peel a bunch of hot glue off stuff.

Now, necessity is the mother of invention as they say and my ribbon stash is incredibly low. Since I'm refusing to buy anything else (I am already a hoarder after all) I decided to use my last scrap of burlap to hang the wreath with. It wasn't long enough so I stitched two pieces together with buttons using a gold metallic thread to add a little som'n and make it long enough to hang.

Only I didn't love it hanging that way because it put the buttons in the middle where they just looked ridiculous. I wrapped the end of the burlap around the top of the wreath, then using my favorite sneaky straight pin trick tucked some cream tulle under the overlap and pinned it tight. Now it hangs from a strip of burlap off the front of the wreath and a strip of tulle off the back.

And... finished. I think. I can't say how I feel about it. It's ok, but I may have preferred the square frame of last year. No biggie - when it comes down I can just unpin everything and make it into something I love more.

What do you think? Do you prefer the rectangle frame from last year or the oval wreath from this year? At least my dark, miserable apartment door is properly dressed now and can welcome guests with a bit more flair. 

Minor Parenting Win

I'm a mom of girls. Girls bring drama. Girls dealing with divorce, and step-parents, in addition to normal growing-upness have what I imagine to be a little bit more drama. In our house we battle what we call the "freak out." 

The freak out is an almost daily occurrence, at least it has been recently. This week we all cracked. None of us can take it anymore and we're on a quest to eliminate the freak outs. So, I created a deal with Squirt that we are going to set goals to avoid freaking out. For each day she keeps her cool she gets a stamp on her calendar. If she can go an entire week without freaking out she will get a (small) surprise on Saturday. We started Tuesday and until today she had earned her stamp every day.

I whipped up a crazy simple calendar in illustrator and she loves it (It looks off here because I had a printer glitch on the last row of dots). 

It's a minor miracle. 

My favorite part is the spot for her to write in her own goals. At this point I have no idea what notes we'd want to write in, but it's there just in case. 

I honestly had no idea how much the stamps would mean to her, but when she didn't get one today she was a complete wreck. It's been good motivation to remain rational through minor disappointments and I'm hoping it will help her think a little before she reacts. 

I don't know if it will last, but I sure hope so. For now, I'm drinking up my small successes and enjoying four consecutive freak-out-free days!

If you would like to print a May calendar for yourself, you can get it here. 

Whew.

Every now and again a day comes which makes me face the fact that life has been all consuming. I look at the time and can't imagine where it has gone or what I have done with it. I've been having a lot of days those lately. Don't worry, I won't bore you with too many of the details or proclaim a new found commitment to blogging. The truth of the matter is that for the first time blogging is genuinely an afterthought.

Which means I feel no guilt if I don't do it.

It's wonderful.

The past few months have passed in the blink of an eye. I'm not entirely sure what all transpired, but I do know these things:

• I'm done with finals and have no more grad courses until fall. In fact, I only have two classes left and if all goes well with my capstone project should graduate next year. This term was killer and I count my blessings to come out of it with a 3.65 GPA. Not quite the 4.0 I had hoped for, but I'll take it. 
• I've decided I'm a runner. No longer will that fact be hidden behind a shroud of loathing, instead I fully embrace the label which implies I have a much different body type than I do. What can I say? I come from a long line of pear shapes and no amount of running will change that. Intervals yesterday and then 8 miles today mean my legs are tired, but my soul is happy. 
• In the last two weeks, one friend was brought dinner spontaneously, another received a beautifully decorated cake, and still one more received flowers and red velvet cookies for May day. While I was truly happy for each of them it was painful to realize all these good things were being done by others. I am craving a reconnection with the crafty/baking/doing things spontaneously for others side of myself that has been in hiding for a few months. 
• As much as I hesitate to broadcast it publicly (please don't say anything to my husband!), I've been battling the emotions of infertility. The thing is, I'm not positive that I do want a baby, but I'm also not positive that I don't. All I know is that prescriptions, and blood tests, and mood swings are really getting frustrating. I'm too old to deal with all this nonsense. I'll just throw myself into my role as nursery leader and have fun playing with all my honorary babies. 
• The hubs is done with all his classes forever! There's still research and teaching and preparing for comps which will all take the next two years (or three), but one part of the journey can be checked off for good. It feels awesome. It's really starting to feel like one day he'll have this PhD thing done. 
• I miss my cat. Having the hubs fly to Boston the in middle of the marathon chaos was a stressful experience and I missed having something fuzzy to snuggle.

So there it is. I'm really excited for sunshine and time to get back in touch with my creative side.