Saturday, January 7, 2012

Just one of "those kind of days"

Well today was one of "those kind of days"... A day where you kept hoping it was bed time again.  You know, at 2 you are looking around going "isn't it bedtime yet??".  Then at 5 you are telling the kids "You know its almost bedtime, we need to start getting ready for bed" and they are looking at you like you are certifiable.  You get this lovely response "Moooommmm it JUST got dark!!! Aaaannnnnd we haven't even had DINNER yet!"   to which you are thinking "grrreeaattt!"   Yah, you know what I mean.  Oh wait, if you don't know what I mean then don't read any further, and I just made ALL of that up...ummm sure. I don't EVER feel that way.  Nope I am a perfect Super-Mom/Wife who has it COMPLETELY in control and who NEVER has a bad day, or at least one where I am ready to go back to bed mid-afternoon.  Yah, RIGHT!

Okay, so we have established that sometimes not all is perfect in the world with little blue birds singing in the trees and squirrels running to and fro making cute little squirrley sounds. Sometimes its just a day that you are ready to say goodnight to when its not even night yet.  Sorry if I shattered your view of me, but hey I would rather you see the real me now, and maybe learn to love every bit of the flawed and imperfect person that I am rather than find out later and become even more devastated by the reality that is me. Har Har!

Anyway, when it is one of "those kind of days" it always amazes me how God sends along people to help you get through it.  Like a sweet lady in our church who brought me some Mexican specialty food today (I actually learned something today, shocker I know!).  Today is a special day for the Mexican people.  It's kind of like our Christmas, but on a MUCH more modest scale.  It's the day of the Three Kings.  As in the three Wise Men who searched for Jesus to bring him gifts.  To celebrate this day the Mexican children leave their shoes by the door the night before, and on Three Kings Day when they wake up they find their shoes filled with candy and there is one gift for them.  The way I understood it, that is basically all they get for Christmas and the full extent of their gifts.  My kids SO wouldn't go for that.  They have learned to embrace Christmas giving, and would NEVER forget the getting either!! Anyway, along with this sweet shoe filling tradition they also make a "Kings Bread" of which I can not remember or even really properly pronounce the Spanish name.  Its sweet in an understated way, tastes a little like pound cake, and has strips of dried fruit on top of it.  Also, they bake a little plastic doll baby Jesus inside of the bread, and the person who finds it in their slice has good luck all year long.  This reminded me a lot of the "Kings Cake" that goes along with Mardi Gras. Of course I snapped a picture of the slices she gave me for your viewing pleasure.

Interesting huh?

So that was a little blessing/pick me up in my "that kind of day" that I was grateful for.  Oh, I forgot to mention, she also brought some freshly made homemade tommatillo salsa verde (which I LUURVE) and some freshly baked Bollio (which is some awesome Mexican bread that I'm not sure I spelled the name of correctly...oh well...like I said: its been that kind of day!). AND, my Momma spent all morning making the most AWESOME crawfish bisque.  Yes! from scratch, to share with me! All of it was wonderful!  

Can I just say that I am noticing a trend from today...hmmmmm bad day made better by cake, bread, salsa, crawfish bisque.  Can we say emotional eating was going on today?  Why yes, I think we can.
That. Is. Not. Good!

So, getting away from the food and all this rambling (I have GOT to stop writing these things when I'm tired.  Its like I can NEVER get to the point!), I decided the perfect little project, if you can really even call it that (I promise this will not shatter your world with its awesomeness), to share with you today is how I turned my plain Jane, red Walmart, long sleeve tee into one of my favorite shirts.  I made thumb holes.  Okay, I warned you that it wasn't all that "crafty" or "earth-shattering" so you can't be mad that its something so simple.  

Now to answer the question I can practically hear you think-shouting at me as you read this, growing longer by the second, post "why, oh WHY, would you WANT to make thumb holes in your shirt?!?!?!?!?"  Well because of this:

I'm short! Which means short arms in long sleeves, and I have cold hands all the time.

I've seen these shirts that are out now that are actually being made with the thumb holes in them.  So when a couple of weeks ago I was wearing this one, and I had pushed the sleeves up for the MILLIONTH time but had cold hands I thought "forget this I want thumb holes!" So I grabbed the scissors and cut one

(Thanks Colt for stepping in to snap this for me, even though you just ran up to drop something off from your mom when I was in the middle of doing this.  You were a lifesaver!)

I basically pulled the shirt down over my hand as far as it would go without it actually being pulled on.  Which ended up being just past my knuckles. Then I stabbed myself felt with the scissors until I found my thumb knuckle and I cut a small to medium sized hole, slid my thumb in, and kept cutting the hole larger until the sleeves didn't bunch or pull at all but laid flat (which isn't illustrated too well in these pictures, but trust me they laid pretty flat)


Now you are asking "So do you HAVE to wear the thumb holes every time you wear the shirt? and wont they fray and stuff??"  the answer to both of those questions is: NO, I don't have to wear it with my thumbs in the holes, and no, its knit fabric so it doesn't fray at all! I do have an observation: you sure are full of questions today!!  sheesh didn't I tell you it was "one of those days'?!?!?  my goodness! :) 
(yep I NEED to go to bed!)

So, because I am short, and these are long sleeves when I wear the shirt normal, they are rather bunchy on my arms and the hole is hidden in the folds of the shirt like so


cool huh? Yah, I thought so! unfortunately my girls do too, and now want thumb holes in some of their shirts. 

Note to self: hide the scissors!

And for a quick tip for those other short armed people out there: If you have bulky sleeves, like I usually do, and get tired of pushing them up and out of the way all day take a rubber band (I just grab one of my daughters thin hair bands that come in a bazillion colors so there is always one that matches the shirt I'm wearing) and slide it over your sleeve about one fourth of the way up. Letting the bottom fourth of your sleeve lay flat bunch the other three fourths up above and over the band.  Your sleeve will stay where you want it and the excess sleeve covers the band.  Perfection accomplished!

I hope you made it through all of this, and have some idea of  what I was talking about. To be honest, I'm not so sure I really know what I was talking about.  But hey, its done and I shared, and now I am going to bed.  Feel free to share back. After a day like today I really do need to hear from you.  Wait, I need to address something real quick.  A few of my Face Book friends have mentioned having problems leaving comments on the posts.  I wrote a post about that here.  I have tried everything I could to fix it on the blogspot end.  So, if you still can't leave a comment on here, I would absolutely LOVE it if you "liked" my Face Book page and we can chat about crafty stuff on there, or my insanity, or just anything.  

Finally, A Big shout out to my little brother who turned 18 today (the 6th): 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I love you!

Okay I think that's really it for now.

Have a great day and God Bless!

1 comment:

  1. Love thumb holes! I made some in a few sweaters without even trying to just beause I am constantly pusing my thumbs through the knit...your way is much faster and more efficient! I shall try it! ;)

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