Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Father's Day Sign Nightmare

So I saw this great Father's Day sign on a lovely little site called Pinterest:
link here
But alas, there was no link to a free printable, like it said.
So I thought: I'm crafty, right? I can make my own!

And make my own I did! And I was so proud!

See? Cool, huh!

But something happened...
(as it always does with me and crafts)
... my printer's color printing capability was broken!

What the holy?!? Jeez!!

I spent a good part of an entire evening/night trying to fix it, but with no luck.
So the next morning, after huffing and puffing, I thought: ok, Square One.
Make from scratch!

I hate it when I overcomplicate things.

Like, for example, cutting corrugated cardboard with a flimsy Xacto knife instead of a box cutter...
or instead of using thinner cardboard... or paper.

Almonds took this photo, btw
(Lesson 1: unless the triangles are HUGE, corrugated cardboard is a waste of time.)

Or trying to combine two Pinterest projects into one:
trying out this art idea ... but not actually following instructions
I thought the kids would enjoy painting these.
Turns out, none of us did.
I looked at the painted triangles and sighed. Jobi's not gonna like these. I just know it. Effort and creativity don't compute in that man.

So I left the painted side as is and wrote the letters on the back.

What a waste
Do you notice only the "W" has holes punched in it?
Yeah, the single hole punch I had was not strong enough for me to use for the rest of the triangles.
And guess what???
The 3-hole punch didn't have an opening big enough for the cardboard to fit!

(Lesson 2: don't plan on hole-punching corrugated cardboard.)

At that point, I screamed... and threw them straight into the trash.
That's right. I gave up.

To put icing on the cake, this was what I saw Almonds doing while I was working on my triangles:

permanent marker
(Lesson 3: nail polish remover gets permanent marker off wood.)

Ok... I didn't REALLY give up...

Two days later, I had a simple but ingenius idea:
If the colors don't print, just make the sign in black and white.
DUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Like I said, Jobi's not creative. He's not gonna care.


This one took me all of 10 minutes to do. He has it hanging in his room as we speak.

Ultimate Lesson: if the craft gives you gray hairs or bald spots, DON'T DO IT!

(P.S. When I figure out how to make these into free printables, I'll put them up here! I really was proud of my sign work -- but alas, even turning them into printables is giving me a migraine.)

Friday, June 14, 2013

Carrot Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

A visiting teachee of mine just gave birth, so last-minute I made her dessert.

I'm soooooo grateful we had cake mixes, cupcake liners, cream cheese and powdered sugar.
We actually had tons of cake mixes (it's kinda dumb, because we never make cake), so I asked Almonds to choose one.

She chose carrot cake. Yum!

So naturally I made cream cheese frosting to go with it.


These were literally the only thing I've created all week that didn't make me wanna scream!

I found this recipe online, which just so happened to be the one all my sisters and family has used my whole life. The only thing I added was one teaspoon of lemon juice, to soften the cream cheese taste. Sometimes the cream cheese frostings taste too cream-cheesy for me, ya know?

It was so yummy! You guys should make some sometime.

That is all.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Saying Goodbye

Almonds took this picture

I can't believe this week has actually come... and gone. It was filled with too many trips back and forth, more ups and downs than I can count, tears, laughs, hugs, kisses, prayers and well wishes. And of course, goodbyes.

The last time I said goodbye to Jobi, he called me at 1:00 am telling me he forgot his keys in the van. And of course those keys were so important, that I had to find them, drive all the way across the island at 4 in the morning, and give them to him before he left. I spent that whole drive there yelling at the top of my lungs at him for making me do this. "Why couldn't you just remember to grab them?" "I do everything for you!" "You suck!" 

Not at him, him, of course. Just pretending that he was in the car with me. So I can give him a piece of my mind. You know what I mean?

So after an hour's drive and asking half a dozen people for directions, I found him and gave him his precious keys... and prayed with him one last time. And suddenly I felt pretty lucky. Lucky that I got one more chance to pray side-by-side with my husband. Lucky that I got to see a different part of the island for the first time. Lucky that I could say goodbye once more, and that each goodbye felt a little bit easier.

After 6 years, I still can't believe I married "Weird Boy." And now our weird adventures continue, and because of them, this weird boy has become the love of my life.

Jobi's parents and my sister... support
Daddy-daughter (mini) date ... watching a Netflix movie on his phone
Waiting for dinner ... while Chip runs off

A hui hou, sweetie. Can't wait to see you again soon.

"Weird Boy" -- 7 years later