Architecture of a Mom: September 2012

Menu Planning Monday 2012-10-01

7:47:00 PM

September 2012--Month in Review

9:33:00 PM

Friday Fun: My Hands Are Full

7:00:00 AM

Fair warning: This post is not my usual vein. I am not sharing a craft or a recipe or a frugal tip. I’m not even sharing a cute story about my kids. I’m sharing how I feel as a parent of several small children when approached by someone who has no idea what that means.

I would be a rich woman if I had a dollar for every time I heard from a complete stranger, “Wow, you have your hands full.”

This usually occurs in places like Target, with two snotty toddlers and a, well, sassy four year old surrounding me. And honestly, my kids are usually well behaved when the comment occurs, and usually I am not alone—my husband is somewhere close by.

I think most people who have several small children hear this comment. Parents of multiples like me hear this all the time. And I’ll tell you right now, when you use the “you have your hands full” comment, we hear it as a euphemism for, “Oh my gosh, what were you thinking, having so many kids!”

But I (usually) don’t make a smart comment back at the random stranger.

(The people who know me in real life just started laughing in disbelief.)

This is usually how the conversation goes:

Random Stranger: “Wow, you have your hands full!”

Me: (In a bright, cheerful voice)” I sure do!”

Now, if they really want to continue the conversation, it either turns to how old the kids are or something like that, or it goes along the lines of the following:

Random Stranger: “How do you do it?”

Me: “You just do. When you have one child, you stumble through the first sleepless nights, but eventually you fall into a rhythm and take everything a day at a time. When you have more than one child, you do the same thing. The only thing different is that instead of man-to-man defense, you have to employ zone defense.” (I use this ‘defense’ analogy especially if the person commenting is a man.)

You see, if I seem a little overwhelmed at times…I am. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. My hands are full…but so is my heart. My girls are sometimes a burden, but always a blessing that I do not deserve.

So when you have the overwhelming urge to say, “Wow, you have your hands full,” to a mother, maybe you should revise that comment.

Maybe you should say, “Wow, you have your heart full, don’t you.”

Sometimes I link up at the following places: 504 Main, A Diamond in the Stuff, AKA Design, Alderberry Hill, A Little Tipsy, At the Picket Fence, Beyond the Picket Fence, Blessed with Grace, Candace Creations, Classy Clutter, Craft-o-maniac, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Eat at Home, Finding Fabulous, Gingersnap Crafts, House of Hepworths, How to Nest for Less, I Heart Naptime, Lil Luna, Live Laugh Rowe, Made in a Day, MomTrends, Not Just a Housewife, One Creative Mommy, Organizing Junkie, Positively Splendid, Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, Six Sisters Stuff, So I Married a Craft Blogger, Sugarbee Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, The Finer Things in Life, The Frugal Girls, The Grant Life, The King's Court IV, The SITS Girls, The Shabby Nest, Tidy Mom, Today's Creative Blog, Uncommon Designs, Unrefined By Design, and Under the Table and Dreaming.

Culinary Creativity

Squash & Apple Hash (with Sausage!)

8:33:00 PM

Creative Outlets

Fall Mantel

9:12:00 PM

I gave you all a little sneak peak of my Fall Mantel a couple of weeks ago when I showed you how I made my fall painted vase andchalkboard frame. But here’s the full fall mantel:

The most involved items were the frame and vase. Most of the rest was “shopped” from my house. But here’s a quick rundown on the items on the mantel:

Painted Vase and Chalkboard Frame: Tutorial can be found here.

Pompom Pumpkin Garland: This started because of my cats. I was originally going to scatter them around the leave dishes in my tablescape found here.

However, my cats decided that these pumpkins looked better here.

So I decided to make life easy for me and move the pompoms out of their reach. Here’s how to make your very own garland: Make pompom pumpkins according to the tutorial found here. Thread a craft needle with some yarn. Thread the pumpkins on the yarn, keeping the spacing even. And you are done! Pumpkin garland completed.

Fabric Decorated Baskets: I found these on clearance at Michaels for a little over $1. I took a fabric piece from a fat quarter (5 pieces on clearance for literally $3) and cut them in half. I folded the fabric in half lengthwise and tucked it around the basket. I then stuck some dried grass that I already had in the house (for years!) and called them done!

Mirror: we’ve had this mirror for a very long time (6-8 years). It was given as a gift. I just moved it from the wall to the mantel.

J bowl: This bowl was a gift. It’s paper mache or something like that, so I’ve struggled with what to do with it. I’m glad it’s found a home here!

Glass pumpkins: I picked these up on clearance at Target several years back.

Light orange ceramic pumpkin: This is a candle. I’m pretty sure I picked it up at Bath and Body works, but it’s been so long, I’ve forgotten.

In case you were wondering what my mantel looked like before, here it is:

And yes, those are toddler shoes on the mantel. We are in that phase where the twins are toting everything they can...everywhere. We put them on the mantel to keep them from...walking. And we have a legitimate fear. Lil Bit came home from daycare one day at this stage with only one shoe. The teacher could only guess that she had thrown it away.

So by shopping my home and making some really quick and easy transformations, we went from that boring, shoe-storing mantel to this.

Bright, cheerful, and full of fall fun!

Sometimes I link up at the following places: 504 Main, 52 Mantels, A Diamond in the Stuff, AKA Design, Alderberry Hill, A Little Tipsy, At the Picket Fence, Beyond the Picket Fence, Blessed with Grace, Candace Creations, Classy Clutter, C.R.A.F.T., Craft-o-maniac, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Eat at Home, Finding Fabulous, Gingersnap Crafts, House of Hepworths, How to Nest for Less, I Heart Naptime, Lil Luna, Live Laugh Rowe, Made in a Day, MomTrends, Not Just a Housewife, One Creative Mommy, Organizing Junkie, Positively Splendid, Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, Six Sisters Stuff, So I Married a Craft Blogger, Sugarbee Crafts, Tatertots & Jello, The Finer Things in Life, The Frugal Girls, The Grant Life, The King's Court IV, The Shabby Nest, Tidy Mom, Today's Creative Blog, Uncommon Designs, Unrefined By Design, and Under the Table and Dreaming.