Made A Dog Toy

So just the other day we talked about how our dog Toby's rope toy had lasted the longest of all the toys we've had for him (and we've tried em all.)  Lo and behold, hours later, he found a way to shred the living tar out of it, after YEARS of good play.  So when I saw the dog toy tutorial, I thought I'd give it a try eventually.

I don't anticipate it lasting more than a day, as its made of an old t-shirt, but so far, he's passionate about it, and its longer than our old stand by, socks with holes in them, aka 'sock rocks'.

Made by me from an old shirt.

Giving My Time

For Christmas we don't do the traditional I buy for you, you buy for me thing.  It went so horribly wrong for years it got to the point where we decided I would budget money for each of us and we'd buy what we really wanted.  Its been perfect ever since.  So since I don't really spend any money on hubby, but still want to give to him, I thought I'd try this...

So I cut some circles out of cardboard, painted them and inscribed them with acts of service for hubby.  I didn't take a pic of mine, but you get the idea from the pic below, my inspiration.

Idea found at Infarrantly Creative.

1. I'd do his portion of loading or unloading the dishwasher one time.

2. He gets out of one bathing the child folk free.

3. He gets 2 hours uninterrupted to himself, no honey do's or kids bursting in to bother him in his man cave.

4. I go and do groceries by myself.

5. One massage.

6. One homemade meal of his choice.

7. I'd do a special load of his laundry whenever he wants.

8. I'd make him a special lunch for work whenever he wants.

These are things that I believe mean a lot to him, and he was surprised to receive them.  When I don't have extra cash to give him, I can at least give myself and time.

And I think he appreciated it, cause he gave me a massage after I gave them to him.  ;)

Happy Advent Day 2

What a beautiful day.  The house got cleaned and then we listened to Christmas music all day via Shoutcast.

Then Jared came home with the first Christmas card of the day, which was a handmade card from someone on the Holiday Wishes website - thank you Elizabeth!  She even threw in some floss and one is sparkly gold!

We then went to Walmart and I got some craft supplies to finish the advent calendar and we got our treat to celebrate Advent, a Dairy Queen Blizzard.  


Came home and worked on the edging to the Advent calendar, then made supper, salad and turkey burgers (which I mixed 30% with ground beef), which even Aidan ate completely.  


Now they are reading stories in the big brown chair, and I'm just so content and happy.


And after adding bias tape to the edge, the calendar is done - except for some way to hang it.

Currently Working On: Family Rules Board

Everyone has done one, and now I am too.  Husband-man and I cut out some letters while sitting on the couch last night and I added some glitter to them as well.  Now all I have to do is figure out what all of our family rules are.

Get a better idea of what in the heck a family board is by looking here...

It's Done, Well Mostly

Now all I need to do is buy some backing, some fabric to mount them on, and enjoy Advent.

T-Shirt Softie

So tonight I made another softie.  This one came from husband's t-shirt that I hate.  Unlike felt it won't gather a ton of dog hair.  He's a little uneven, but he's only my 4th softie so far anyway, so I'm still learning.

Made by me at Fancy A Spot of Tea.