the peril of a puddle.

 

I declared Sunday the "worst day in the history of my cell phone!" when I realized that my dear Blackberry didn't survive the bath it took in a puddle on the street. It happened innocently enough--just slipped right out of my down vest pocket when I hopped across the puddle. Many factors contributed to its demise-- the 40 degree weather that melted the snow into puddles and motivated me to wear a slippery pocketed vest rather than a winter coat, and the fact that I put the phone in a bag of rice an hour too late and for about 23 hours too short.

But, as the saying goes, what's done is done. And my smart, reliable, and connected Blackberry is done. Luckily, I'm pretty close to earning an upgrade on the cell phone plan and can replace it at a discount in a few more weeks. Until then, I'm using my old flip phone with a tiny screen, no email, no Internet, and no automatic updates from Facebook. However, reverting to my old, non-smart phone weilding self is kind of interesting. My little Samsung is light as a feather compared to the 'berry. It fits snugly in my hand and perfectly into the cell phone pocket in my favorite purse. It's pretty low maintenance. If no one calls or texts, there's really nothing to do on my phone or with my phone. It becomes part of the background rather than an appendage I feel uncomfortable without. In short, it's actually a really nice, if forced, break.

I feel young (or at least younger) again when the morning alarm chimes or the arrival of a text message hums an electronic tune. These are the sounds from my youth--from my days on campus and from the early months following graduation when I wasn't sure where I belonged, where I should go, or who I was supposed to be. This little phone was there for me then and it's still trusty, tried and true.

Sure, I'll probably end up with another smart phone eventually. The "smart" capabilities do really come in handy when traveling, working, and for checking the Twins score (Karl's favorite feature.) But, no matter how short lived, I'm finding my reunion with a little and blissfully unassuming phone pretty refreshing.

diy: how to be a better blogger

A few people have asked me lately for some help on punching up their blogs. Here are some great resources to help you DIY and find your way in the blogosphere! I've found that part of the fun in blogging is hunting for ideas and answers, solving problems with web design and HTML by trial and error, and not being afraid to experiment. I haven't had this much fun learning something new in a long time!

To get started on a brand new blog or overhauling your current one, you definitely should make a bee (!!) line over to the blog Guidebook. Seriously, this is an awesome place to start. They have all sorts of tutorials to help you make buttons, collages, sidebars, banners, and even a beginner blogging class! Trust me, you'll feel like you can pretty much do anything once you follow their step by step, simple directions and create your own button!

A few more sites to check out for instructions, inspiration, and imagination are kevinandamanda.com (Amanda is seriously talented!), jessicasprague.com (she is the queen of digital scrapbooking and has lots of in-depth, self-paced classes available), bloggerbuster.com (somewhat more technical instructions, but give yourself credit..you can do it!) and pastor's girl's ponderings (follow this link to find easy directions to make a photo collage header!)

Happy blogging!

black friday!

 

Karl and I got up early on Friday. A 3 a.m. kind of early.  The reason for waking up before the sun, birds, or even airplanes were awake? A 2 terabyte hard drive at Target, on sale for a ridiculously low price (or so my technologically intelligent husband says!) We laid out our warm clothes Thursday night so we'd be ready to pull on long underwear, wool socks, turtlenecks, fleece, and down coats in a flurry. We made some hot tea, I grabbed my mittens and glasses, and we slipped out into the wee hours of the morning. 

By the time we got to Target, the line was just starting to wrap around the building. The doors didn't

open until 4, and we had a cold thirty minutes to wait. In the process, however, I discovered one of the best parts of Black Friday--camaraderie. The couple in front of us in line had been to Wal-mart already, had their eye on some kind of gadget at Target, and sure loved to laugh. The gentleman lightly chided his companion (perhaps his wife?) for making him get up this early (apparently he swore he wouldn't do it again after last year, but here he was again...) but he clearly enjoyed the excitement and wanted that PSP as much as we wanted our hard drive. He and Karl bantered about the price of electric toothbrushes and giggled every time I asked Karl to check the time on his phone. Was it 4 a.m. yet?

Once the line started to move a bit, we started to chat with two ladies who were behind us. One had just come from her job as a nurse in the PICU at Children's and talked to Karl about her work and the new hospital additions. Soon the doors opened, everyone started to grab carts and run in, and we parted ways. 

On our way towards the check out lanes (we got the hard drive!) we saw the man from the line outside. "Hey! Did you get it?!" he asked. "Yep, did you?" we replied. He nodded and smiled and ducked off to find another doorbuster. 

We left Target at 4:30 a.m. and headed to Herberger's where we found a few new sweaters for Karl. Then we made a quick breakfast stop at Perkins for a 5 a.m. omelet. By 6 a.m. we were in line at Michaels and picked up a few craft items. On the way back to the car we saw two familiar women getting out of their SUV. "Look, it's your nursing friend," I told Karl. "Hey, nursing friends!!" he yelled. The ladies from the Target line looked up and said "Hey!! How's it going? Head over to Walgreens if you want a great deal on wrapping paper!" 

Our final stop was Jo-Ann Fabrics. We knew they had a few specials on fabric for $1.98 a yard and 50% off polar fleece so we planned to pop in and find a few fun prints for blankets and nursing scrubs. Little did we know what we were getting into....

Black Friday shoppers at Jo-Ann Fabrics definitely come with a mission in mind. Everywhere we looked there were carts piled high with 10, 15, 20 or more bolts of fabric. Here's a picture I captured on Karl's phone of the chaos:

The lines at the cutting counter were operating on a number system. When we entered the store they were serving number 90. We drew number 25 and had quite a while to wait. As we waited, we talked to one lady who gave us recommendations on fabrics to use to re-upholster a couch (a project we're thinking about for the future) and met another woman who was frustrated by the fabric hoarders around us. "They're either making things for their churches, the hospital, or are planning to re-sell that fabric in Canada!" she said. Regardless of what they planned to do with it, it took forever for these customers to finish their turn at the cutting counter. Since they were buying entire bolts, the bolt had to be fully unrolled, measured, written down, and rolled back up by the sales person. Each bolt had different amounts of fabric on it, so the process couldn't have been streamlined. Luckily we were running on so much adrenaline that being patient wasn't a problem. 

We finally made it back to the car at 8:15 a.m. with enough fleece to make two blankets, cotton material and a pattern for Karl's scrubs and several pretty buttons that were buy one get one free.

Next stop, home and back to bed! My first real Black Friday adventure was a success. I think I'd do it again.

my new obsession

 

I am currently in love with making paper flag garlands. Karl said I could put them up all over the house, so we'll see how many I can hang up before he goes a bit crazy! Right now I have a colorful garland on our bedroom door and on the wall in our bedroom. So easy, festive, and fun!

my favorite southern cake

Red velvet cake is bright, cheery, festive, easy, and oh so delicious! This weekend I decided to use my new decorating kit and try my hand at bakery quality cupcakes. I was totally thrilled with the results! I used a Paula Deen recipe for the cake (reduce the oil a bit and add another tablespoon or more of cocoa) and found a great ratio of butter, milk, and powdered sugar in this buttercream recipe from i am baker. 

I seriously considered if it was a Southern sin to make red velvet cupcakes without cream cheese frosting, but thanks to a thoughtful and direct husband I decided to go the buttercream route my heart was telling me to make. When I told Karl my mental and cultural dilemma, he said, "make buttercream." And, ta-da! That was all the nudging I needed!

The only problem with this recipe is that it made 24 cupcakes...and there's only one of me... I froze some, but am currently planning the much needed start of a new sit-up and crunch routine!
And to continue my weekend of Southern cooking, I stirred up a batch of cheddar cheese grits last night to compliment our roasted chicken and broccoli. Look for a post on GRITS (girls raised in the South) and the real thing soon!

paper butterflies for baby

When I first started thinking about blogging I came across a lovely, DIY paper butterfly collage from The Idea Room. Check out their version here. I knew I had to try this on my own, and soon. Once the little thing called my wedding was out of the way, I clipped a few coupons for Michaels, picked up a butterfly punch, glue, and some pretty, eye popping paper, and zipped over to Ikea. I originally planned to use a standard frame, but fell in love with the extra deep Ribba shadow box instead. It worked just as I planned...that is, it showcased the butterflies' beauty and kept their delicate, paper wings from being squished.

This particular collage is for a very special, soon to be born baby. Karl and I can't wait to meet our new (and first!) little niece or nephew.

I'm so in love with this project, however, that I plan to make many, many more. If you're lucky, perhaps you'll unwrap one in the future.

There's something about these butterflies that just seems so graceful. Totally in love.

learning curve

If you read my blog often, you've probably noticed the construction zone atmosphere here lately. I'm trying to branch out, learn more about coding and uploading and design, and while I am succeeding on some levels, I'm failing miserably in others. I probably should take this blog off-line while I experiment, but I don't exactly know how to do that.

So, enjoy my new blog header, please have patience with the out of proportion pictures, and don't give up totally on the validity of my posts. I have several fun things to put up in the next few days, including a butterfly collage inspired by this (scroll down), a big southern wedding in the Midwest, and an orange sock monkey that I've been stitching by hand.

Oh, and if you're experiencing problems with the new Blogger posting options, please let me know. Just when I master a little bit of technology, the developer gods have to go and change it. It's left me sighing and mentally shaking my fist at the computer all weekend.

What's a southern belle to do?