'Heads Up' Travelers

I am here to serve and advise.

Keeping that in mind, here is a short tutorial on travel containers of shampoo and gel and how to use them.

1 - The above is a container of travel shampoo.  It is not labeled.  That is because if you label the conditioner you will always know which is which.  And you can't read the damn labels in the shower without your glasses anyway.

2 - The above is a travel hair gel.  Note that it is clearly labeled as such.

Now here is the most important part of the tutorial:  NEVER USE NUMBER 1 AS NUMBER 2.

If you use the travel shampoo as hair gel, you will not get the results that you want.  I guarantee it.  In fact, you may go around all day with undiluted shampoo in your hair and wonder why your hair looks like shit.  You may not realize why until the next day when you almost make the exact same mistake AGAIN.  (Hint:  if your 'hair gel' foams when you put it in your wet hair, it is probably shampoo.  If this happens, bend your head over the tub and rinse it out.  Start over again with the gel this time.)

I repeat:  NEVER USE NUMBER 1 AS NUMBER 2.

This post is over.  I have to go label my travel shampoo.  In big letters.

Inside a Mom's Mind

Alaska Girl lives in Montana now.  She is brewing beer.  Luckily, you all are thirsty, so she has a good gig.

She has a great dog named Rach (Rock).  He is a Karelian Bear Dog and I have devoted entire posts to him. He is the bad boy your mother always warned you about; completely charming, but watch out. The last time he got away (by smashing through the screen door) he went down to the bar and she got a call that he was there and could she come get him.  He wasn't causing any trouble, just getting petted and fed probably. Like I said, bad boy.

Rach trees bears.  He trees snow leopards or pumas or lynx or whatever.  He chases moose off of your path. He is fearless.  He doesn't even mind guns or loud noises or snowmobiles or anything.

Alaska Girl has had pretty crappy winter weather where she is.  Now, her version of crappy is not much snow.  That's my version of awesome.  Suffice it to say that she has been able to train outside on the trails in shorts.  Yeah.

Apparently, the last time she ran on the trail it wasn't good.  She posted a picture on Instagram and I asked her about it.  She told me it was the creepiest run she had ever done on the trail.  Rach was spooked and kept trying to back up.  This set off alarm bells for her and awareness was high. Luckily, nothing happened and she was able to get by the scary last tree and get safely into the car.

She then told me about the 2 dogs that had been attacked in her town by mountain lion.  Of course, there are always bear in town - around 2 a.m. is when Rach sets off the alarm, charging at the windows.  The mountain lion are something new and no one seems to know why they are coming into town.  Great.

I'm not sure I needed to know about the mountain lions.  Or the fact that Rach was spooked.

However, being the awesome mom that I am, I calmly suggested that perhaps he knew more than she did and maybe she should confine her runs to town for the time being.  She said that is what she has been doing because the fact that he was spooked and nervous really scared her.

So here is my assessment on the situation.  Read below for a take on how a mom's mind really works.

Here is my version of Rach.  Fierce protector.  Notice the lynx in the top branch.  If this dog is scared, pay attention.

This is a mountain lion.  It is ready to pounce on my daughter, dog or no dog.

This is a grizzly.  It is also ready to attack my daughter.

This is how I see my daughter.  While she may be a pink leopard, she is no match for the mountain lion and the grizzly bear.

Voila.  The inner workings of a mom's mind.  Now you know.  There is no off switch, just a looped video of these images that run through my mom mind constantly.

In all reality, this is probably what is out there.

Love you, Alaska Girl.

I Lied, Sort Of

I really didn't mean to lie or fib or anything.  I thought that I was back.  What I forgot to do was look at the calendar.  Blog goes on the back burner when it is anywhere close to Christmas.  Sorry 'bout that.  I hope that I didn't lose too many of you.

I did finally take pictures of my completed bathroom.  Ta da!  I have some ideas for more posts, so I am going to try and get back on this band wagon.

To help jog all of our memories, I will post the closest pre-reno pics that I have and then the post-reno.  Hit it!

So here is the pre-reno entry into the bathroom.  You can see on the left the end of the current linen closet and how close it is to the door.  There was no room for a towel rack.

Now the entry is far brighter and the closet has been turned to face the entry rather than facing the interior of the room itself.

The old linen closet that opened into the room.

Yes, it was very roomy, but we don't miss it.

Here is the little closet that we had installed.

Yes.  It is a great deal smaller, but takes up far less room and is enough for what we need.

The view towards the front window.  That shelf was a cheap built in that was easily removed.  We found out that the insulation in the entire room was completely inadequate, so that was added into the remodel.  It was well worth the unexpected expense and now that room is probably the warmest in the house.

This is under the window now.  My very own window seat.  I do share with the kitties.

I made the cushion and pillows.  I bought a 2 or 3 inch thick foam piece at Joann's and then I purchased 3 different pieces of outdoor fabric from Hancock to cover two of the pillows and the bench seat.  The little light blue pillow I covered using extra fabric from the curtains that I had hemmed.

I am no great seamstress.  This is a very simple envelope pillow.

Here is the little one I made with the leftover fabric and a random piece of trim that I had.

The best part of the window seat is that it hides all of our linens.

I purchased some baskets at Target and all of our linens fit in here.  I love it.

They used a large piano style hinge on the lid.

The pre-reno view towards the sink/toilet area and side window.

And the view now.  We have so much more room on and in the vanity. 

The old tub/shower combination.  Notice the nasty floor.

The view now.  And of course, there is a comfort height toilet hidden in the alcove.

This is the old shower.

And this is my fabulous shower now.  Yes, that is a light above the shower.  I love it.

So now you have seen the full renovation of our upstairs bath.  We absolutely love it and I usually can't believe that it's ours.  I had a great team behind me, but ultimately, it was a lot of work running around looking at tile, fixtures, curtains, fabric, trim, etc.  I am thrilled with the results.

The only thing I have left to do is add any artwork.  I am so slow at that.  I also have an idea for a furniture piece, but that takes a while to find.  When I do find it, I will post it.

Thanks for waiting.

Back in A Flash

I'm baaaack.  Maybe not in a flash, but here I am.

I just realized that it has been quite a while since I wrote on this blog.

That might be because I was trying very hard to recover from that knee surgery I had this past summer.  Let me tell you, it was a bitch.  And a complete surprise.  This was definitely not on my bucket list for the summer.

I finally started to feel a lot better sometime around the end of September.  And I mean finally.  It felt like it took forever.

That is all past now and maybe one day I will blog about my funky experiences with this particular surgery.  (And how I took road trips one week post op and five weeks post op.)

I can only tell you that my doctor's instructions are to please stay upright this winter.  God I hope so.

I am back to work, back to cleaning the house regularly (? and this is good news?), off the good drugs (for now) and starting to have energy that I haven't had in several years.

Energy, I missed you.  Welcome back.

First up, I will be posting those pictures I promised (long ago and far away) of the newly remodeled bathroom.  I never even took the pictures yet.  Yes, I was that bummed.

It's good to be back.  See you again soon.  In the meantime, enjoy a cold one.

Head and Shoulders, KNEES and Toes

Sometimes things creep up on you.  This song is a creeper.  It starts out all normal and then you just go faster and faster until your head is literally spinning.  Kids love it.  I love it.

Knees can be creepers.  In my case, they are for sure.  The right one crept up slowly but surely into the intolerable range and four years ago, we severed our lifelong connection.  I have never regretted it.

The left knee kept a fairly low profile until sometime this past winter.  Being on top of things like this, I decided I better go see my friendly Orthopaedic Surgeon in May (in Iowa, sometimes that is still winter).  That dang knee not only crept up on me, but it grabbed me from behind and kicked my not insubstantial butt.

I am now a knee orphan.  I have 2 step knees.  Don't laugh.  It was a really big deal to realise that I was not going to have that original equipment anymore.  I thought it was kind of sad.

My special gripper socks.

Because I had ankle reconstruction done last summer, I  forgot some of the fun stuff about having a TKR (Total Knee Replacement).

You have to go to Joint Boot Camp.  You get to learn all about what will happen, what rehab will be like and how to breath into a little handheld machine thing with a smiley face on it.

You have to have blood work done and a urinalysis and a heart thingy (can't remember the name of it, sorry) and a physical.

You have a lot of stuff to get accomplished before you have surgery. In my case, I had to clean (a lot), finish a couple of projects, clean the basement from construction, organize and get rid of stuff and freeze a bunch of in season fruit.

You have to make arrangements for the first couple of weeks post op.  I am now ensconced on the first floor in Alaska Girl's old room. I have some makeup, clothes, jewelry and art supplies.  I have TV trays for bedside tables, 2 computers, my phone and all the peripherals that accompany technology.  I have a clear path around the bed.

You have to borrow a walker from your parents.  Enough said.

The socks go so well with the special hose.

There were other things that I forgot about.  Like the fact that they put you in a diaper when you have a spinal.  I also forgot that if your butt is still numb from the spinal and you can't feel the toilet, you are probably not going to be able to pee, no matter how long you hang your hand under running water.

I forgot about how noisy a hospital is.  I couldn't wait to get home and get some sleep.

Pain.  You don't exactly forget about pain, but the severity of it is definitely fuzzy around the edges.  I never felt like I was being stabbed by a sharp knife repeatedly, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they did hit me on the side of the leg several times with a baseball bat.

Swelling.  I forgot about the swelling.  At least, I failed to remember the significance of all of that swelling and how on the second or third day you are up every hour peeing like a racehorse.  But this helps reduce the swelling, so clanging about with the walker at all hours of the night seems worth it.

It's kind of sad to have to borrow this
from your mother.

I am now starting to remember how difficult it is to get truly comfortable for any stretch of time. Unfortunately, I also remember how long that phase lingers.

And last but not least, I forgot about how freaking hard rehab is. It is not fun.  But if you don't do it then you won't be able to hike the Grand Canyon in a year or visit your daughter the brewer in a month.  I think I am recalling that the first couple of weeks are the worst in that area.  I mean, I think that's right,

So for now, those are my memories of TKR.  Of course, each surgery is different and this one is already setting itself apart.

In case you are wondering if there are any GOOD memories, there are.

• being waited on
• not having to do dishes
• watching Netflix at all hours of the day and night
• not having to clean for a couple of weeks
• sleeping all of the damn time and nobody cares
• passing out mid sentence after you take the good drugs
• the good drugs 

Ahh.  Sweet memories.

The good drugs.

I like this one.  Probably because it is no effort at all.

I'm guessing I will have better pics in another week.  I will hide them so you don't have to look at them.

Adventures in Burlap

I am a fan of all things retro, modern and industrial.  I know, weird.  Over Christmas we happened to stop in at one of the local coffee places while my son and his girlfriend were in town.  I asked the workers what they did with the empty burlap coffee bean bags and the guy in charge said, "We give them away."  I came home with three.  (Was there any doubt?)

They have been in the Bat Cave since then.  I kept looking at them, but they just sat there looking like lumps.  They are very cool, though.

Fast forward to Spring.  I needed a new purse, but I wanted to make one out of the coffee bean sacks. They kept lumping at me, not saying a word.

To make a long story short, after several weeks of fruitless Pinning and hemming (pun intended) and hawing, I decided to buckle down and get at it.

So, I went to the store and bought an 'easy' pattern.  I quickly discovered it wasn't going to work with the burlap.  No way.

So, I did what I should have done from the get go.  I used the saviour of all do it your selfers: YouTube.

I watched a couple of videos and decided I could just do my own thing.  I know.  Kind of scary.

I made a pattern out of the brown packing paper that I hoard.  I even used a measuring device.  I ironed my burlap and my lining fabric.  I traced the pattern onto these pieces with a blue Sharpie (very professional that Sharpie).  I cut everything out and then I went to work.

I broke about 6 needles sewing this damn thing.  I eschewed measuring anything after the initial pattern making.  You can't make me.  I made about 5 million trips to the basement to iron seams and stuff like that.

I also learned a lot.  The main thing being that burlap is a bitch to sew when you are using fusible felt for a bit of structure.  It's also hard to sew a strap made out of burlap, fusible felt and lining onto a purse made out of burlap, fusible felt and lining.  If I wasn't so lazy, I would have run up to the store and purchased some sort of strap-like material.  I might have saved a needle or two.

Anyway, the damn thing is done.  I would make another, but I doubt if I would use that felt stuff.  It is hard to sew with the burlap.  Maybe just the burlap and some canvas cloth for the lining.  Also, I would definitely purchase some strap material.  Or maybe a heavy duty machine that handles such things.

This thing isn't perfect by any means and the lining doesn't really fit.  But I'm using it.  All. Summer.

Dammit!  Besides, it's really cute!  And that, folks, is all that really matters.

PS:  I did put all my pursey things in it and they stay; as in - the thing doesn't turn inside out because of the weight.  I may need to sew on a pocket of some sort so that I don't continually have to dig for my keys and phone.  Then again, maybe not.  Glue is looking mighty tempting and I do have some E6000...

Brown Bagging It

I needed to send thank you notes out about three weeks ago.  I wanted to make them and kept getting bogged down with other little chores.

Today, I finally had a chance to make them up.  Now, I just need to write and send!

I stole the splatter idea off of Pinterest.  Then the rest is my own.  I decided to use what I had at home.  My guess would be that all of you have these items:

• paintbrush
• water
• watercolors (kids pan type will do)
• water color paper
• cardstock
• brown paper bag
• some sort of left over twine, ribbon, trim
• stapler
• ink
• paper trimmer

That's all it took to make these.  I promise.

First, just cut your piece of watercolor paper to the size you prefer for your card.  I chose 5 1/2 " wide by 8 1/2 " tall.  Then get your favorite water colors really wet and gently tap the brush against your finger over the watercolor paper.  Let it dry.  I think I used about five colors.

Copy the original onto cardstock.  I was able to get two cards out of an 8 1/2 x 11 " piece.  Cut each piece to the size you picked.  Fold in half (I have a folder thingy and used it).

Tear pieces of a paper bag and stamp Thank You on the pieces.  Edge these with ink of your choice.

Splatter paint onto the Thank You bits and let dry.

Fit the Thank You bits onto pieces of twine, trim or ribbon.  I actually just untied this piece from a gift today.  I save all that stuff.  You just never know.  Attach the trim to the Thank You bits using a stapler.  I used a Tiny Attacher.

Staple these onto each card.  Finish off the front of the card by edging it with ink.

That's it.  Now it's up to you to write the note on the inside.  Or up to me, I guess. Now repeat after me: Splatter is Good!

Chinese Lanterns Redux

The Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis is once again playing host to the Chinese Lantern Festival for most of the summer.  If you love color and light, this is for you.  If you were lucky enough to visit in 2012, go again.  The displays are all totally new.

This is the link to the Garden.  I was lucky enough to go with part of my family this past weekend.  It is not free, but well worth the price of admission.  Make sure that you check it all out online as they have limited days until August.

For those of you who love to shoot, sorry, but you are not allowed to bring in a tripod or monopod. This is actually a good thing because there are tons of people walking about.  Brush up on your settings before you go so that you  know what you need to do to get the best shots.  I was unaware that the Festival was in town, so I got caught with just my kit lens.

We ate at the little cafe in the main building and it was yummy.  I had mushroom and pesto flat bread pizza.  OK.  Now I'm hungry.



A couple of tips:

• Make sure you bring a stroller if you have young children. You are there for a bit.
• Make sure that you bring bug spray.  They have great mosquitoes in St. Louis.
• It is heat and humidity that define St. Louis in the summer. Hydrate while you are there.  There are concessions around the Garden, including alcohol.
• Plan on spending a few minutes in the adorable gift shop and the Chinese marketplace.  You really need the entire 4 hours.

If you decide to go down, don't forget to visit the St. Louis Zoo. They just opened a new polar bear exhibit.  This is one of the greatest zoos around, people.  Don't miss it.

 This is part of the fabulous multi-media center display!  Lots of horses, music and fire.

 Kids and adults took advantage of this fountain!

 A pagoda made entirely of china!  So cool.

 The center display at night.

Dandelions!  I believe they were made from cut up water bottles.

See.  Fire!

This was so cool.  An elephant display made entirely of china.

Peacock made of glass medicine bottles.