Riot and Frolic

Welcome To The Jumble

December 21, 2011
Hahaha. I'm so clever. Today's post title is a play on my first post ever. Those were the days.

It's been about five days since our last hook-up and since my interwebs have been working.

Good golly. I thought having a TV was a timesuck. Turns out, if I didn't have WIFI and a blog, I would nerd it up even more by playing, cooking, crafting, dancing, and other whatnots of complete randomness.

Thank God I still had my iPhone, so I could ignore my children like a normal person.

There is a virtual plethora of things I have to catch you up on. So as not to overwhelm you, here's five awesome things…
1. braided paper balls. Or woven. Whatevs. They're neat. And soothing to make. Like a zen rock garden for your fingers.
  [Source: The Cheese Thief]
2. clementine candles. I experimented with them over the weekend and they are fun. Party trick! I read that they only lasted a few minutes, but I have had to blow several out after an hour and a half, so… That's more than a "few" in my world. It's, like, "several" times a "few".
3. gingerbread house. Nailed it.
4. persimmon. Ate one. Or five. They're strange. Honey, jelly, juicy. Cut them open like a tomato, by removing the "sepals" (leafy top core) and cutting them in half, top to bottom. Then scoop the fruit out with a spoon. I hear hear you can eat the whole thing, peel and all. But I wasn't that adventurous.
5. knitting. Yes, knitting. So it must be for nerds. 'Cause I'm doing it. Look. It's a thing!
What more could be in store? Well, I hosted a "stitch 'n' bitch" (which I hate the name of… can we come up with a better, more optimistic name for them? like "stitch and share fun stories and skills" or something?), have a tutorial for how to make a wreath, had another surprise for my birthday, and tried some traditional Christmas decorating skills.

It's been a busy week, people.

Stay tuned.

Hangin' tough.
The Pinterest Project- More Glitter= More Awesome

December 16, 2011

It's a rule of life, really. "More glitter" is always better than "glitter". Unless you're talking about the movie, Glitter, which I hear is awful and should never have a sequel.

But now I want to watch it, just to make sure. Because if there was a movie called Rhinestone, I would sure go see that!

By the way (well, really, by the completely off topic sidenote), have you seen this preview?

Me excited. Slavik. *drool*

Anyhoo…

I saw this on The Pinterest yesterday and might have gone out to buy the ingredients today.

Remember those glitter wands we used to have? Neat. 80's. Mesmerizing.

Bring your childhood to life with the next generation and check it… It's a learning activity!

Pink Pistachio made these water bottle toys with her cute little guy and apparently it teaches, like, fine motor skills and sensory awareness for your toddlers. I just liked that there was glitter and fuzzy balls involved.

I found some little water bottles at The Target which seemed like the right size.* I cruised the craft aisle and found some sequins, glitter, fuzzy balls, and letter beads.

The ladies were pumped to "make toys" and I'm pretty sure Mae Cake would have done this all day. She would say "plunk!" each time she dropped something in the bottle. I gave V the task of finding all the blue sequins or yellow beads or certain letters to drop in, for extra learning fun.

They didn't really get what the bottles did until I tipped them upside down and all the fun started swirling around. Then, I got some ooooo's and ahhhhh's.

We had put some glitter into each bottle. That was good.

Then we put more glitter! into each bottle. That was awesome.

There's also one (on the right, above) that has food coloring in it. Only use one drop!

I glued the caps on during naptime, so they'd be ready for play afterwards.

I probably made one for myself. And by probably, I mean, I did.

Besides just being fun to make, I've also seen them called Calm Down Jars [or Bottles]. Shake up bottle, give to over-excited child, and tell them to watch the glitter settle to the bottom. Yeah? Might work.

They could also work like an I Spy bottle where they try to find the letter G, or the blue star, or the pink bead.

I am definitely going to be trying this in different forms and with different goodies in them.

And some people might be getting them for Christmas presents from V and Mae Cake.

*After having made the Fun Bottles (as I named them), I'd like to find the awesome bottles Pink Pistachio used: a little smaller and no indentations. It'd make it easier to see the goodies. Anybody know where to find such a thing?

I suggest you read the Pink Pistachio blog, too. She's funny. And uses puns. And references Twilight. We are friends now. She just doesn't know it.

You have nice feet.
Because I Can…

December 15, 2011

It's my birthday.

I was going to be grown-up about it this year and be all "oh, it's my birthday? that's neat" but no.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!

It all started Monday night where I couldn't contain my excitement any longer and the maturity wore off.

"Hehehe, it's almost my birthday."

"I wonder what the G is getting me."

"I can't wait to make a cake."

"And eat it."

"With ice cream."

I fell asleep with the same anticipation I've had since I was 5.

Then, when I got up Tuesday morning, my BA mixer was waiting for me. Not helping.

BUT AWESOME!

[Image courtesy of Hyperbole and a Half. Read it!]

Today has been awesome, other than jamming my finger by hitting the G in the back. It was in the name of dancing and it was by accident, I swear! Ouch.

I've gotten so many happy birthdays on The Facebook, my phone gave up trying to load them.

My ladies got some awesome Christmas presents from one of my favo women.

And I found this word…

Abschicken.

ABSCHICKEN!

It's German for "to send".

So awesome.

Then there's this…

[iloveblossom]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

WTF.

Waltz Tango Foxtrot.

I hope you all hung in there for this one. It was a bumpy ride.

Here's your reward.

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

To me.

I'll take one of those.
Happy Birthday to ME

December 13, 2011

I don't have words.

Just crazy little squeally noises.

Excited! I will bake my own birthday cake!
List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

December 13, 2011

Warning! If you don't like my kids, read no further!

Wait. Of course, you like my kids. They are awesome.

– snow angels!

– photographs by V. I'm not sure about her subject matter.

– more proof that V has an artist's grant with her name on it. Here is she is putting the final touches on her drawing: eyelashes, long hair, and two ears (of course). You can't see the details in my photo, but she's a freaking Picasso. Really.

– the Christmas tree hunt. I think we've gone to the same place three years in a row, but I couldn't tell you for sure since I fall asleep on the way there every time. It's a tree farm down… south… somewhere and the guy who owns it is very nice. We tromp around his property and cut down trees.

Mae Cake does not like the snow. It gets her boots dirty. Her sentiment, I swear. The only thing that made her happy was A) this branch (for five seconds) and B) candy.

I can't get a picture of our whole tree because it's huge. So use your imagination to picture a really great Christmas tree.

Note: if you let your small children decorate the tree, the decorations will be A) all on the bottom third of the tree or B) all on one branch.

– a week without the G. It's not a great time… Let's move on to happier things!

– hilarity, after finding out they can fit inside the cupboards of their kitchen. Dear Child Services, I promise it is not me shutting the doors on the cupboards, it is the children.

– egg bake. Thanks, Maladriot Wife!

– a homemade wreath. So easy. So holiday-y. More on that Wednesday.

– Lola is alive! I thought my black thumb had done the deed and knocked her off, but turns out she was just dormant. Now the office smells like a Leslie Gore song and looks like CA. Score.

– the girls' first trip to see Santa. I wasn't actually there, as my aunt and great-aunt brought them out. But I heard alllll about it. There were balloon animal bracelets and pancakes. So, clearly, a blast.

– hard work coloring their Christmas coloring page (courtesy of their awesome babysitter).

– a new obsession. *drool* You may buy me pomegranates for Christmas. I won't be mad.

I went looking for them on Sunday and Target didn't have fresh ones, so I bought this adorable package to tide me over. The cover looks like a pom! Cuuuuuuute.

And merry Christmas to you all.
Dance What You Know

December 10, 2011

A prayer for ballroom dance professionals:

Good Lord, in this holy season, please give us the strength to dance what we know.

May we remember the basic principles of movement while working in any style of ballroom dancing.

May we apply the proper techniques to each style of ballroom and not make dancing a series of unnatural movements.

Save us from the weird thing we had to teach our beginning class to get them to do a promenade in some fashion.

Save us from the over-correction we gave our advanced student to make them do correct footwork.

Save us from the muscle memory wackiness we have from following (or leading) a twinkle with our students.

That we might perform latin motion with a proper foot and leg action, pray for us.

That we will dance on time with the music without a struggle, pray for us.

That our professional partners will not suffer the strains of our long days of teaching, pray for us.

Good Lord, hear our prayer for simple, correct, ergonomic movement.

Amen.

Happy Sunday.
The Pinterest Project- Decisions, Decisions

December 9, 2011

Ever since I finished last week's doodad, I'm having a hard time deciding which Pinterest Project to choose next. I'm not putting it to a vote, but any input you have would be much appreciated.

Plus, with the G out of town, my energy is waning fast in my usual crafty/bloggy hours and I can't imagine doing anything more intensive than posting these awesome pictures and links…

To the Batmobile!

The G finally wore through one of his fabo shirts (custom made from Heimie's, surprisingly affordable), which I had been hoping would happen ever since I saw this project from Dana at Made.

I've checked out similar projects, but liked this final product the best and the tutorial seemed easy to follow.

Plus- I got all the goods to make it. Bonus.

Who doesn't need one of these? The coffee cozy is ridiculously popular right now (it's soooooo green- *hurl something unrecycleable at the masses*) and I bet they crochet up in a hurry, so… Perfect Gift.

Plus- I love JJCrochet. Here's the free pattern. Thanks, Jayna!

As I'm having my self-thrown, surprise birthday party any day now, I want some super-swank decorations to class up the joint. This amazing wall of paper rosettes looks right up my alley. I mean, she uses a stapler. Staplers are under-rated. Just ask Milton.

Minus- I'd have to go get some neat paper, as I am even running out of the paper I printed my wedding invitations on [read: too cheap to buy a ream of printer paper and must stop stealing from the office].

Obviously, this is totally Bad Ass.

I need it.

It's called hair chalking and it doesn't use chalk. Confusing? Slightly. But fantastic.

Minus- requires buying oil pastels.

Plus- I don't wash my hair very often, so I would get my money's worth!

Christmas giving, people. It's where it's at. And since the majority of my in-laws drink tea or coffee and are of the female persuasion, these are beckoning to me. Hellooooo, mother in law!

DIY sugar cubes, you had me at "D".

Minus- I need some cute little ice cubes trays.

Plus- I need some cute little ice cube trays.

This wreath was one of the first things I pinned off The Ye Olde Pinterest. The cute Etsy store it comes from has great color and fabric combos. You can buy a similar wreath for a present…

Not that I want to make the same one, because that would be impossible, but I do want to try this yarn-wrapped, embellished wreathy business. And it turns out I'm a little bit awesome at making wreaths! (More on that next week.)

Plus- I have a crap ton of yarn and fabric.

Minus- I'd need to buy a wreath form.

I love Dreamsicles and here it is in a slushie form.

I'm sure I pinned this when I was pregnant.

Plus- I have all the ingredients on hand.

Minus- It requires getting off the couch to make it.

Darling readers, if you care to offer some direction, go to it. Otherwise, I'll ponder my choices all aloney on my owny.

That damn slushie is looking pretty good…

So it this.
Throw It All Away

December 8, 2011
My bestie asked me how I stay organized.

Simple.

I throw away a lot of crap.

There's a lot of crap to throw away. There's some ridiculous stat out there about the amount of junk mail we get in a year, probably like a trillion pounds or something (okay, 41 pounds, according to this handy site). There's all those clothes that went out of style (or, er, don't fit anymore). The toys and clothes your kids outgrow. And then there's all the stuff you buy.

Here's some tips on throwing away your crap:
- Become at peace with who you are not.
I, for example, cannot take a pill every day to save my life. I would die in about three days if required to take a pill each morning because I forget.

So, these vitamins? Mostly full. Have been for… a year or so (note: prenatal, and I am very post-natal).

I am at peace with my unsupplemented, slightly anemic lifestyle.

I threw them away.
- Get unsentimental.
If you think fondly of some object, but never use it, think on it lovingly for a second, then get unsentimental on its ass (the saying of the week) and throw it away.

Like these socks, which I wore when I was in the hospital after bringing V into the world. And then Mae Cake, and then the little Zoo. Yes, these well-worn, baby-bringing foot clothes got chucked in the waste bin today.

They have holes.

I threw them away.
- Take a picture.
I had this huge collection of keychains that my friends, family and I had added to over the years. They were all looped together and that jingly-jangly mess must have weighed 20 pounds. It hung on a doorknob in my parents' house, then on a door in my bachlorette pad, but upon packing up stuff to move in with the G, I knew I had to lose it.

I took a picture of that crazy collection, then put that crazy collection in a box of Goodwill donations.

I threw it away.
- Think how much someone else might like it
Like those keychains. Some lucky bastard might be trolling the Goodwill tomorrow and find that mass of kitsch and do a little dance of joy because they were planning on giving out keychains as party favors at their nerd themed party.

Your trash is someone's gold or something like that.

And people, I used to be a huge pack rat. I kept toys from McDonald's, prizes from carnivals, ticket stubs, Clearly Canadian bottles, magazines, school notebooks… for yeeeeears.

But you don't need it. You are not your stuff.

So, Bestie, my first step to getting organized is to not keep all the crap.

Hey, Austen.
I Ate A Pomegranate

December 7, 2011

Apparently, I am the last one to jump on the pomegranate bandwagon.

Remember a few years ago when it was the new "it" superfood? Yeah, yeah, antioxidants, vitamin C, fiber, cure for cancer, whatevs.

Just like my dismissal of NKOTB in fifth grade (don't worry, I found the artistry of them in high school), the availability of pomegranate juice and its touted healing powers were no lure for me.

On Sunday, however, the price of a pomegranate at Aldi was similar to Joey's siren song, "Popsicle"- irresistable.

But how do you get into a pomegranate? Let me tell you, I had no idea. So, thank you, Google! There's a bunch of people who will inform you how to crack one of these babies open. Mostly, the experts agree that you should chop a little of each end off, score the peel, and break it open in a bowl of water. Like this…

Slick.

But that's no fun.

So, I chopped mine in half and made my kitchen island look like I got all Jackson Pollock on its ass.

I picked and scraped and shook the kernels (called arils, but they look like red popcorn kernels) out into a bowl and made a huge mess.

Then I ate some.

Zow!

Guess who's hooked? This lady.

On ice cream? Yes.

In sangria? Okay.

[Image source: The Poor Girl, recipe from Bobby Flay]

Just eating it? Yes. As much as possible.

Thank you, Aldi, for your inexpensive, seasonal delicacies.

Pacey.
List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

December 5, 2011

– breakfast at La Cuc (click on the link to get their cheesy, and therefore, awesome jingle on their home page). Mmmm, Mexican food. The ladies loved it. So did I.

– using the veeeeeery last bit of yarn in the skein for my rad hat. The pattern said you need 150 yards of yarn. "I have 125, so obviously, I'm set," I say.

Well, yes, but this was a little too close in my book.

I ended up using my accent color to finish off that stitch, just so you know.

If you check out the link above, you can find a coupon for 50% off that hat pattern. And did I mention, it's rad?

– talk about rad: new swing choreography from one of my favo coaches, Kasia Kozak. It's so bomb, it makes me like swing. 'Cause I'm really more of a Bolero girl. Yes, I'm calling myself slow.

– hey, Kitty.

– Santa's second trip to the Bratt house. My grandma went Christmas shopping on Wednesday and emailed me later that day to see if she could give the ladies their present early, like Thursday.

And who's gonna turn down their grandma?

Not me. She punches!

Holy smokes, do the ladies love it.

– a happy happy BIRTHDAY! going out to Mrs. Dessert. Hope you had a sweet one. (That pun was for you!)

– Mae Cake, taking care of business. Upon getting two cookies for dessert, she decided that the best way to eat them would be to stack them and get a two-for-one deal on each bite. Here she is making her cookie sandwich…

Smart, Mae. Smart.

Harrison's second fiddle

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