Decorating Yooper Style and My First On-line Tut!

I read several blogs by Mommy bloggers.  They make a little money blogging, which is cool, and they write ebooks, which is also cool.  I love reading the Mormon Mommy blogs.  It's nice to know that there are still folks out there living their faith, no matter which one it is. Journaling has always been a part of the LDS tradition, and it's cool that the younger kids have adapted by blogging.  But come on, how many sweet stories, fabulous quilt projects, and to-die-for desserts can I read about?

I read nature blogs.  Mostly by birders and travelers, with some cool botany sites thrown in for good measure.  Most of these are quiet, thoughtful, and serene.  Which is nice.  (But one of my fav's is  Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds.   Yeah, you heard me.  Steve, the ranking self-proclaimed #7  Birder in the world, throws in a healthy dose of total disrespect of all sorts of crap.  I, by the way, am the self-proclaimed World's Laziest Birder.)

I also read lots of quilting blogs.  I really enjoy the ones by people who are just plain ol' folks like me who aren't promoting their latest book or fabric line. Just folks who like to make stuff when they can.

I love my fellow Ranger blogs the bestest.  But we tend to get yelled at about blogging. Go figure.

So bring on the Wacky Moms-who-are-not-the-Mormon-Mommy Bloggers. Like many, they are well educated and for whatever reason, staying home for the child-rearing duration.  And nuts as hell.  Instead of having the 4:00 Betty Ford cocktail to try to stay sane, they are blogging.  Are they ever. Kinda why I do it, but I've also developed a taste for the 4:00 BF cocktail. One of these days, I'll add a few of these folks to my side-bar reading list, if I can remember how to do that.  But you might check out the Under-achievers Guide and People I Want to Punch in the Throat for a taste of what I'm taking about.  They know where you can stick that Elf on the Shelf.  And it ain't the shelf.

So in honor of these nutty women, I present to you my First Tut.  (For those of you reading a blog for the first time, a Tut is a Tutorial.  Please pronounce it Toot in your head.)

Instead of reading something worthwhile, or making delicious and nutritious food for my family, I've been screwing around, trying to give our loverly home that Yooper look. (You do know that the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is called the U.P., eh?  Say that out loud. . . . Yoop, residents of which are called Yoopers.  Everyone who lives in the lower Peninsula is referred to as a Troll, since they live below The Bridge.  Sadly, we are trolls and Yooper-wannabes.)

Da Bridge, eh.

Anywho, this year I'm going with the PoorWhiteTrash look for our winter outdoor decorations.  Okay, not quite true, I'm refining the Yooper look--which includes as much black and red buffalo check as I can find.

A Tut by Ranger Anna

Here's how you, too, can have this great, festive look for your home! Just 5 easy, peasy steps!

Step 1. Say to yourself,  "The front porch looks like shit this year.  Especially the ugly couch thing."

Step 2.  Go to a store and find some buffalo check ribbon. (My heart nearly lept with joy when I saw it!  How pathetic is that?  Or is it more pathetic that someone thought it up?  I bought a ton of it, and didn't even look for coupons.)  Post on Pinterest about your fabulous find!

Blatant shout out to the company that makes this stuff!  God Bless 'em.

Step 3.  Dig your HoAnne's coupons out the the recycle bin and carefully read thru them.

Step 3.  Drive 15 miles to your nearest store only to find that they haven't had any checked polar fleece in the store since August. Buy a whole bolt of red polar fleece and half a bolt of black instead. Use those half-off coupons! Drive home, enjoying a bunch of the festive candy that was staring you in the face in the check-out aisle.  Oh, those devilish merchandisers!

Step 4. Carefully cut the fabric, measuring accurately in your beautiful crafty corner.  Or just slap it on your kid's bed and slice it up.  Carefully fold the fabric and take it to the porch.  Wrap the cushions with the red fleece and create delightful stripes with the black strips.

Step 5.  Voila!  A guaranteed to be fabulous, jaw-dropping Christmas display!  All 15 of the cars that drive down your street each day will love it!  (And check your supply of explanation marks to be sure you have enough to finish!!!)

 

And don't forget to feed your snowman!  He looks tired after being all inflated and proud of himself for several hours last night...poor little guy...maybe the Elf on the Shelf could give him a little something to make the days more bearable!

How's your holiday decorating going?  Mine goes on until Valentine's Day!  I'd have a linky party if I knew what the hell that is! How adorable is that?  Leave me a comment and I'll read it or not!

Some of my Great Peeps!

My, my, my. I've been hard at work on FTD's quilt, then worked on something else for a while, and then just happened to check FB before getting back to work on FTD's quilt. All of a sudden, right there at the top of the screen were these darlings! Four of my great nieces and nephews, wearing 4 of the 11 pairs of jammie bottoms I made for Christmas gifts. What a bunch of great kids. The boys got skulls and crossbones, the girls got elephants and modern swirls. Wow, this either means they fit, or at least they're pretty dang close to fitting. Hmm, maybe Mommy and Daddy need matching jammies, too. . . ..

Crafting with the Stars!

Okay, this is so goofy and so fun I just had to try it. Blogger Tam from SewDangCute is putting on the 2nd Annual Crafting with the Stars contest. I just sit around the house and twiddle my thumbs all day, so I decided to play along. Uh huh. Since I didn't take pictures of all 11 pairs of jammie bottoms I made for the Great-Bunch (the great nieces and nephews), entering the ho-ho-ho felty banner I made for wonderful SILs and nieces. There's also one that says Shalom and another that says badamy for you-know-who.

I didn't look at the other crafty stuff, cuz I'd never enter anything of mine, especially something so dang simple and easy and for me~~FUN.

Holiday Home Tour

We had a nice turnout for the 3rd Annual Whitehouse Community Library Holiday Home Tour last Sunday. Numbers were a little bit down, I think, from past years. In part, it was due to the weather. We finally got some snow and of course it started right at 1 pm when the tour started and by 2 it was really coming down. At our house, we took turns shoveling the front steps.

We not only got the house decorated nicely, but it forced us to get several much needed fix-it/do it projects done. Since we didn't exactly finish the house 15 years ago when we finally moved in, we're now faced with repairs and finishing all at the same time. Among the 'do it' jobs were painting all the closet doors (only one left to do--the pocket door on the pantry), putting up a hand rail on the basement stairs, and trimming the bathtubs. Tom got them all up, now they all need to be painted. I hid several of the ickier looking trims with old woolen Pendelton coats. Yep, buffalo plaid was my decorating scheme. Among the repair jobs was to rebuild the bottom two basement steps. When we had the new floor with hot water heat added, the steps ended up being the wrong height. He made a new set and they look terrific and work terrifically.

And now that the Tour is over, and the house is clean and decorated, I actually got to spend some time sewing up jammie bottoms for the great nieces/nephews. 5 pairs down, 6 to go. I stumbled upon the world's easiest, one piece pattern so I can do one pair in less than an hour. Since the kids will all outgrown these jammies in a month or two, I really whipped through them--no pinked or finished seams, etc., etc.. If only I had some elastic here. Oh well, guess I'll have to make another trip to the fabric shop. After all, I used up my first coupon, and have one that's only good for the weekend. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Housing Projects

When I'm out west, I miss that there are no house projects which need our attention--sort of. . . The apartment is small, which means no intense cleaning needed, but it's also pretty sterile. When I get home, I'm overwhelmed that there are so many projects that need my attention--sort of. . . I'm hoping that when the basement is finished (the end is almost in sight), that I can start indulging in more fun stuff--like taking a hike without being overcome with that old Protestant Work Ethic thing. All summer long, I tell folks that they should go sit on a rock and do nothing, but I fail to follow my own advice. I'm thinking of making myself take a walk in the woods every Wednesday. Check in with me to see if I do it. Maybe I just need peer pressure to do it!

I'd also like to get back to my sewing projects. It's good therapy for me. I used to say it was cheaper than therapy, but if I actually get my crafty corner fixed up in the basement, it could get costly again. I'll have room for my material stash, and all of you crafters know how dangerous that can be.

So today's project is to stain the front deck. DH did one section last May before he came out west, so it looks, once again, like poor white trash abide here. The new roof looks great, and the downspouts work, except that there are "splash guards" at the corners. They've turned into leaf catchers, so I called the company yesterday and asked them to come out and remove them. We did get the new door put in, complete with the electronic lock. Email me for your own private code number!

And I got one of the 1 1/2 tons of river rock moved. I have a plan for the rest of it, but I've got to get that stain on before the rains come again. Bring your paintbrush and come on over!