ginger kids

if you couldn't tell, one of my resolutions is to keep up with the blog. to at least post a few times a week, if not every day. one of the main things i want to post about is crafting. what's on the agenda, what's in progress, what's completed. i'm hoping it'll motivate me to keep things in motion.

this year my family came to visit for christmas and it's always nice to have activities for everyone to do. and if it's crafty in nature, it's even better. one thing we did was decorate gingerbread houses and cookies. while out shopping before christmas, i found a gingerbread house kit that contained 5 houses. i thought this would be perfect - everyone would get their own house to decorate. little did i know the houses were pretty much the same size as the images on the box. they were TINY. the roofs were the biggest surface to decorate and they were about the size of a credit card. i'm a stickler for detail and it was a challenge to do anything on these houses. i think we're done with kits, next christmas we'll do everything from scratch. that is if i can get my act together in time.

we had better success with decorating the cookies. i found a cookie cutter that's shaped like a house so that made up for the tiny house fiasco. here are a few of my creations. as you can see, my cookies tend to be somewhat non-traditional in nature.

edible decor

last year our good friends got us a whirley pop for christmas. it only took us a year to open and use it. and of course, the first thing i decide to do with the popcorn is a christmas craft project. our rotating tree was looking a little sparse when the lights weren't on so i decided to string a popcorn garland to jazz it up. it was pure torture for the dogs, they love popcorn. bosco literally sat underfoot the whole two hours it took me to string it. occasionally scoring a kernel or two.

behold. the finished product.

so far the tree is still standing. i was worried i'd come down to an annihilated tree this morning. we'll see if it makes it the rest of the holiday season. i'm not sure if the dogs realize what and where it is. let's hope they don't figure it out.

felt fetish

i don't know why but i have a love affair with felt. lately my craft projects have revolved around the medium. right now i'm attempting to make 3 dimensional felt flowers. it's basically trial and error, trying to use paper techniques and applying it to felt. once i master them i'll have to figure out how i'll use them. i will be posting the new felt hair clips i made for the craft show i did few weeks ago. i've got a few new designs i came up with that i'm pretty happy with.

i finally finished the stocking i started last year for the little man. my brother and aaron both have/had stockings made by our mom's so i thought i'd do the same for avery. it's made from a kit just so i can get the hang of layering and what not. if i do another larger felt project i think i'm gonna attempt making avery a halloween bag. although this one is reasonably priced.

shop update is coming really soon. i promise.

recycled butterfly

the frame i was carrying down a few days ago when i found a flooded basement was for this project. trying to find another project to use recycled christmas cards i came across this one a few weeks ago. i had planned on using a heart punch that i already had, but am having a difficult time finding it. (a overhaul of the craft room is in order this week) well, while i was at walmart last week i picked up the butterfly punch. i also picked up the frame, which looks remarkably like the one in the original. needed one with at least a double mat. i already had the photo dots. i mixed in some scrapbook paper but a majority of it is made with this year's batch of christmas cards. yep, i even used some of the photo cards that seem to be the norm nowadays. can you spot lily?

christmas 2008

here are some pics of christmas 2008. surprisingly we kept them down to a minimum. i labeled all the new camera pics so you can tell the difference in quality. yeah, me likey my new toy!

i <3 technology

and apparently so does my dad. this year was a techno gadget christmas. from my parents we got a new flat screen tv. so we went from having none to having two in a few short months. we also got a garmin gps from them, which came in extremely handy today when i was looking for a starbucks fix after my dr's appointment. i just typed in "starbucks" and in 1.7 miles i was feeding my fix. i also got a new camera from aaron. i think he was feeling a little bit sorry for me this year, so he splurged and got me a digital SLR. i'm still reading the directions, but i did manage to take a few quick pics of some of our holiday decorations. (i'll post more christmas pics later) another gift to note: the wii fit. aaron, danny and i played it all christmas day. apparently danny and i need to gain weight and aaron needs to lose. i guess i better get to working out, i told aaron i'd use it if he bought it. now to keep up my end of the bargain. ha, ha!

turkey day in review

my parents came down wednesday evening and with them came our new/used table and chair set. i was a little worried buying something sight unseen but when they pulled it out of the truck, my worries were for not. it's actually in better condition than i expected. we set it up and were soon enjoying a chili dinner around it that night. i am contemplating painting the chairs, there's a little too much brown for my taste. maybe a nice blue to match the backsplash we're eventually getting.

no matter how big a house is, my mom can make it seem like it's too small. as soon as she arrived we didn't have enough refrigerator or counter space. we didn't have enough dishes or pots. serving utensils - needed more. somehow we managed to make a delicious turkey dinner in spite of the lack of everything. afterwards the guys watched football and mom and i ended up starting a craft project.

friday i had a doctor's appointment in charlotte at 8am so mom tagged along with me. i told her we'd go shopping afterwards, big mistake. got up at 5, left here by 6, arrived in charlotte by 8. saw the doc and was out of there by 9. the first and last store we hit up was target. if there's an economic crisis going on, it sure didn't seem like it this day. i went up and down aisle after aisle looking for a parking spot. when i finally scored one we had to wait for a shopping cart. after dodging the gazillion shoppers in every aisle and waiting in the checkout line that was the whole length of the store, i was done. i looked down at our cart and there wasn't a single "sale" item in it. i told mom, if we're not getting any "deals" than we don't need to be shopping today. waking up at 5am was starting to show. i asked if she cared that we headed home after we paid and she was fine with it. i felt kinda bad for dragging her down there with me for nothing, but she was fine with it. we got a little mother/daughter bonding time in.

we got home around mid afternoon. aaron and dad had gotten the christmas tree. it's a little smaller than last years. (unfortunately the guy that gave us our tree last year isn't selling trees this year.) they ended up getting the tree from the church up the road and it was one of the largest ones they had. we set it up in the foyer sunday and it still looks good despite it's dwarfness. :) i'll have to take pics when it's all decorated which will probably be tonight. in the evening we all settled down in the basement and watched "tropic thunder." a good night.

saturday aaron and dad went to watch app. state play in their first playoff game against south carolina state. luckily the weather somewhat cooperated as they watched the mountaineers beat sc state to advance to the next round. unfortunately siu lost to new hampshire so there's not going to be a match-up of saluki vs. mountaineer like we hoped two saturdays from now. it would have been great to see. while the boys watched football, mom and i did some shopping. despite our town being so little, we do have a fairly decent sized mall. and with a majority of the town at the football game, it wasn't too crowded. we were able to pick up a few things. afterwards, i picked up dad and aaron from the game, came home watched some more football then we went out to dinner. all in all it was a great visit. luckily they left before the weather got too bad. had to brave through some rain but at least it wasn't the 3 inches of snow we got yesterday. yes, more snow. unbelievable.

look out below

friday we got a pretty good snowfall. about 3 inches, which is about 3 inches more than we got last year. unfortunately, the ground is still warm so anywhere the sun hit, the snow has pretty much disappeared. this is the weekend we usually put up christmas lights. (don't worry, we don't turn them on til after thanksgiving) well since the sun barely hits the front of the house, i really didn't think aaron would brave the sloped, snow-covered roof. imagine my surprise when he asked if i'd hold the ladder for him this afternoon. i guess he had looked at the extended forecast and figured today would be the best day to get it done.

he arms himself with a snow shovel and broom and gets to work. sweeps as much snow off as he can but it's still pretty slick. he ends up laying flat on his stomach to put up most of the lights. he's about a third of the way done and while i'm adjusting the extension cords, i hear a swooooooooooooosh. i look over and he's standing on the ground. "did you do that on purpose?" i ask.

"heck no! i started sliding and couldn't stop!!"

"are you okay?"

"yeah, but my adrenaline is really pumping now!"

luckily it was on the sloped side that had about a 8 ft. drop and flat. unlike the other side that would have been 15 ft. and downhill. to my surprise, he got back up there and finished the job. we decided replacing bulbs could wait til after thanksgiving. hopefully the weather will cooperate by then.

on another note, i made my first craigslist purchase this weekend. since my parents are heading down here on wednesday for thanksgiving, i decided to check out the listings around the baltimore area for a table and chair set. (since we got the basement done, we moved aaron's office downstairs and now the furnishings upstairs are pretty sparse.) there were about 20x more listings there then we have around here. and i did manage to find a reasonably priced set that my dad was able to pick up yesterday. he even got it for less than what the guy was asking. awesome. i'll take a pic when it gets here. the guy had already taken down the listing before i had a chance to grab the photo. man, if i lived in an urban area, my house would be fully furnished by now.

getting a little work done

what do you get the person that has everything and needs nothing? a little upkeep. sookie, my mother, decided she needed a little work done. she's been casually bringing it up in conversation over the past few years. "what does botox do?" "how do i make my skin tighter?" "what can aaron do for these bumps on my neck?" etc. so this year we decided to satisfy her and get her what she really wanted...a little facial maintenance. you'd think the lady that wears bedazzled sweaters, three inch bubblegum pink platform flip-flops and "happy smoke" necklaces wouldn't care too much about her appearance. but she does, so we obliged.

here's some photos of what aaron and his co-worker, jill, did to her while she was in town. basically they filled the divot between her eyebrows and filled the lines between her lip and chin (1 syringe worth)...it's what makes her look like she's frowning when she's not. they also gave her some botox above her eyebrows and below her bottom lip. jill recommended filling in the space between her nose and lips, but that would take another syringe and more money. i honestly didn't think there would be that much of a difference. but she looks great. this was done thursday before they left and the last photo is a few days ago. about 2.5 weeks later. and yes her eyebrows, eyeliner and lipliner are all tattooed on. i guess getting tattoos runs in the family. crazy koreans.

wii bought one

as you know by now both brian's household and mine got nintendo wiis for christmas. it was quite a surprise, neither one of us had any inclination we were getting them. i had sworn off video game systems after buying a ps2 for aaron a few years ago and he played it a handful of times. so far he's played every day. if there is any down time or nothing on tv (which seems to be all the time now) he plays wii sports. i don't know if it's because the games are more interactive than other game systems but the nintendo seems to be a better fit for him. one of the main reasons i like it...it makes me laugh watching how serious he gets when playing and how funny his gestures are. (see above)

recycled christmas

as of this past weekend, all the christmas decor has been put away. so sad to see it all go. our house has tripled in size and looks somewhat barren now. it's the motivation i needed to get things rolling on interior design once again. i started to slack a little at the end of the year there. but one of my pseudo resolutions is to get this house looking more like a home.

this year we received a mad amount of christmas cards. and instead of chucking all the beautiful cards in the trash/recycling, i decided to reuse them and make them into holiday ornaments for next christmas. i found this easy-to-follow tutorial and set out to punching and scoring. i made three and couldn't be happier with the results. here's another idea on what you can do with old cards. i'm sure if you search long enough, you'll find many more things to do with them. the crafting bug is back.

i've decided to post progression photos of my face. the first one was taken monday evening. i had the peel done on saturday. aaron wasn't comfortable doing an aggressive peel on his own. he's a little out of practice, which was quite evident when he asked me how long we left the solution on. i think next time i'll have jill do it for me. aaron's been doing nothing but cutting off cancers and is a little out-of-touch with cosmetic procedures.

the second one was taken last night. the skin was starting to pucker and actually became quite uncomfortable and itchy. after awhile the lotion you apply just sits on top of the skin. no longer able to be absorbed through the crust. i'm really not supposed to mess with the peeling skin but it's really hard not to. it's supposed to fall off on it's own, but i decided to help it along a bit. probably why i have acne scarring in the first place.


the third was taken this afternoon. new skin visible. no longer looking too much like a leper. the thing about peels. they are a great way of rejuvenating your skin. that is, if you can tolerate the pain. but if you're thinking it'll get rid of scarring instantly, you're wrong. i've had this procedure done at least four times and i really haven't noticed a significant difference. it may work once if you have mild scarring, but moderate to sever may take more than a few sessions.

discussing your cycle

last monday we headed down to asheville to meet up with mark, danny and grandma westphal to check out the gingerbread goodness at the grove park inn. most of the houses had been on display for two months and they held up surprisingly well. it's unbelievable the things you can do with candy, cookies and other edible goodies. maybe we'll attempt one next year.

afterwards we headed back to boone. mark chirps, "how bout danny ride with aaron and susan ride with me?" okay. so i hop into the car not sure what to expect. pretty much spent the whole car ride chatting. mostly mark talking about him and his new lady friend, linda. an occasional mention of jane and then it finally rolls around to, "so what's up with you guys?" not sure what he's meaning i ask, "as far as?"

"grandkids."

so we spend the next half hour discussing our attempts, plans, cycles, etc. nothing like discussing your body functions with your father-in-law. now i know when and where danny was conceived. (aaron refuses to let me tell him.) how to make boy babies versus girl babies. and a few other words of wisdom/advice.

i almost got away with avoiding the "you pregnant yet?" questions as far as family was concerned this holiday season. mom only gave me a "maternity" shirt dress for christmas this year. no outfits or questions like last year. maybe we'll have something to report...but as of today...no bun in the oven.

love lights

one thing i LOVE about christmas are the lights. the twinkle, the glow--there's just something about them that make me feel all giddy and childlike inside. disney feels the same way. and even though the weather didn't scream christmas the light displays did.

if i could get away with having them up year round i would. i just love seeing them on houses, especially way up on the mountainsides. aaron and i debate if we'd ever go crazy with yard art and inflatables. if there was a tactful way of doing it, i'd be all on it. but being a designer i think the idea is pretty much squashed. i'm just too anal when it comes to decor, and most light displays fall on the cheesy side. (no offense to those who have them) we've got our old-school lights up and even though they suck up tons of energy--i love em!

i'm such a tease

a christmas tease that is. two more days til family arrives. i can't wait!

westphal does walt

disney in a day...impossible. especially when toting around four little ones. we did manage to hit up epcot and the magic kingdom. weather: couldn't ask for any better. i don't know how people do it in the dead of summer. lines were fairly fast. we got a fastpass for soarin seven hours later we were riding high. best attraction at epcot and super popular. we did a several more rides with all the kids. little shayna met all the height requirements so she was riding on every ride with the big kids! what a trooper. all in all i had a great time. can't really complain when it's all free. perks of having a disney employee in the family.

i had a great time seeing dana and her family. dana and i chatted into the wee hours every night. we had 12 years of catching up to do. she is a super momma. i must admit i was a bit overwhelmed. going from zero to four is quite an adjustment. even for someone like me. i love kids but i don't think i can manage four. how she does it on her own is beyond me. you go girl! we even got to squeeze in a short visit with oma alyce! exactly how i remembered her. must be the water over there. she looked and acted exactly the same.

i am glad to be home. as nice as the weather was down there, it didn't feel like christmas. i love to bundle up and snuggle under a warm blankets. love to see my breath in the crisp air. snow. and, of course, to see my babies again. although aaron is somewhere in the washington wilderness right now. this is the longest we've been apart since we've been together, 10 days in 10 years, crazy. i talked to him yesterday and he was four hours into his six hour drive from bellingham. then he had a six mile hike ahead of him. he was loving the scenery. hopefully he'll take plenty of photos and i'll make "sometimes aaron" post a blog about his trip upon his return.

bad dog momma

lately i've been taking the dogs with me when running errands. we've got christmas decor everywhere and i'm paranoid they're gonna yank, pull, demolish something if left alone. yesterday i looked up from the computer to see bosco standing on our dining room table. so my concerns were well founded.

with it starting to get colder i decided to pack a blanket in the car and put the two in warm outfits, bosco in a smoking jacket and marley in her sweater. none of them bought by me. (i think i have brian and irina to thank for both.) ran my errands, got home and decided to leave them in their outfits. of course, aaron wanted to take them off as soon as he saw them and i told him to let them be. i think they like 'em i told him. a few hours later, marley was upstairs with aaron and didn't come down when he did. which was very unusual. we just thought she was very tired and decided to crash in her crate. then we heard a whimpering from her and we both shot up the stairs. there she sat, looking up at us from the top of the stairs. is she feeling sick? are her ears warm? aaron picks her up and says her paws feel wet. i grab her paws and they're ice cold. take the sweater off, i think it's cutting off her circulation. a few minutes later she's running around like nothing was wrong. problem solved! the price we pay for fashion!

how do you like my balls?

i'd bought some styrofoam balls to make some fabric ornaments i'd seen on craftster. after a futile attempt at making one, i came to the conclusion i was using the wrong type of styrofoam. this type would crush if i applied too much pressure to it. since i had five extra balls i decided to go in another direction. luckily i saw another post with these ornaments. who knew i'd find another use for my sequins stash! yes, i have an overabundance of sequins. over 2000 stickpins later and many hours of sorting sequins... here is the end result.

coming to a mailbox near you

i finally made some relocation notes to include in our christmas cards this year. here's the image i used. it's a portion of our tree skirt that aaron's mom made years ago. i would have modified it a bit, but aaron is insistent we get them out sooner than later. look for it in a mailbox near you soon!

criss-cross will make you...

it takes approximately six squares to make one coaster. 24 squares to make a set of four. 120 to make five sets. plus the additional square of fusible interfacing needed for each coaster. who knew such a little thing would take so much work and use so much fabric. here's one set i finished before we left on holiday last week. i should take a pic of the stack of squares sitting next to my sewing machine. we've been working solely on christmas decor that i haven't gotten a chance to finish. goal for today.

we got back sunday. a nine hour drive from cdale to boone. a venti, mocha frap and an ipod full of good tunes made the drive tolerable. good times in the dale. i have to remember, one night of too much fun early on can ruin the rest of the week.

we got to see everyone we wanted to see. how we did it in such a short span is still a mystery. next trip...maybe a short stint down to florida in a few weeks to see dana and the kids...and perhaps mickey. i'd be flying solo since aaron will be heading to washington state for his christmas hike with tom and crew. still have to look into a plane ticket.

this year we're hosting christmas in the carolinas for my family. we've been in holiday overdrive since returning from illinois. aaron dragged out box after box of christmas decor from the basement. who knew we'd accumulated so much. one of aaron's patients gave us an eight foot christmas tree that is now standing in our front foyer. a fraser fir, it looks awesome!! last night we trimmed it together. how quaint. i'd post pics but i wanna keep it a surprise for the family. i'll probably give a little teaser in an upcoming blog. i'm off to clean up a little...our house looks like it's been ransacked by little elves.