Naomi has a new hobby!

 So, here's the thing.  I bought this chair for $5 at a garage sale and then I bought another one for $3 at an estate sale. 

Next, I went to lunch with my mom and that cost $0, cuz my mom is awesome like that.  

Then I bought some fabric, tacks, and foam and that all cost $20. 

Then I made a really big mess and a lot of noise for about an hour and then those chairs looked like this...

The End.

(If you so decide to do this yourself, please make sure that you follow these specific directions exactly.  Ensure that you do not miss that lunch with mom part. I believe it was essential to the process.)

The Things I Love This Week.

1.  Telepictionary.

 I have not laughed as hard as I did last weekend for a very long time.  We are talking about a cheeks-aching-cuz-you-are-laughing-so-much good time here.  First of all, I must give full credit to my lovely sis-in-law, Cassie, as she is the one who a) suggested it. b) the one who proceeded to bug us to play  until we relented. c) and now she is the person to whom we can attribute a fun evening to.


I thought it would simply be mean to just show you pictures of us giggling, snickering and having a good ol' time, so I will include the instructions as well.  Here it goes.

You will need paper.  Lots and lots of paper.  I will warn you, this is not an environmentally friendly game.  However, if you have a whole bunch of notepads that haven't seen the light of day in a few years, pull them out cuz they have just found this purpose on this earth.

Each person gets the amount of pieces of paper equal to the amount of people playing.  (6 people playing, everybody gets 6 pieces of paper)

Number these pieces of paper (1-6 in this case) in the bottom right corner.

Then, let the creative juices flow...

On that first piece of paper you are going to write down a concept, an action, idea, object, place etc.  Basically something that could be translated into picture that might be semi-difficult, but not impossible to draw.  For example, we wrote down such things as an orange juicer, 1960's Russia, and a penguin playing lite brite. (I wish I could remember what more of them were but I'm having a mental block today so we will just have to settle for those examples.)

As you can see here, this is the thinking phase.

After everybody has written their idea down you then pass your whole stack of papers to the next person, leaving your written idea on top.  That person then reads it, moves that piece of paper to the bottom of the stack and then attempts to draw what they just read on paper #2.
We had a rather large variance in drawing abilities amongst us which produced some rather intriguiging results.  I love this game because you really don't have to be a good artist. In fact,  the compounding miscommunication that occurs is really what this is all about.

After doing your best to draw what was written you will again pass the whole stack leaving your picture on top.  This time you will look at the picture and write down what you think it is. You will draw, write, draw, write, etc.  You will continue this cycle around the table until you end up with your original stack.   The further around it gets the more convoluted the pictures and descriptions become.

Finally, after many puzzled faces, bad drawings, and not a few muffled giggles and mutterings of "what the crap is this supposed to be?" (going for the pg version here, insert your own expletive if you so choose) comes the reveal. 

This is the time to make sense of it all.  Can't you see the lightbulbs going on here?

Each person takes a turn to show their original idea and what it morphed into and finally became.  And this is when the laughter comes...



There is so much absurdity that occurs that you simply can't help but be amused.

Seriously a lot of fun and totally recommended.

Go forth and have a good time.





Like them.







Moving right along, and as a reminder to those who may have been enthralled with my description of Telepictionary the title of the this post is "The Things I Love This Week".

2.  Half Price Appetizers after 9 at Applebees... especially when the homemade dinner was a complete bust and the sauce that was supposed to tie it all together was one of the most disgusting things I have tasted in a long time.  There is nothing like some tasty Honey BBQ wings to rectify that situation.


3. My garlic.
It just makes me smile.  When I was watching videos about gardening they suggested that if you have kids you should plant some things that will sprout early on and grow quickly so that the kids will be excited about the garden.  Well, I say that age has nothing to do it.  Pretty sure I squealed when I saw the first sprout.  :)



Have a fabulous weekend and I hope you've discovered a few things this week that you love!

This is my Garden.

So living in a second floor condo is not exactly conducive for gardening.  There is the whole thing about not having a yard that makes it a tad difficult.  In all of my research (thank you google) I did find out that plants do require some sort of dirt in which to place said plants. 

Enter: container gardening

 Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like.  I started off with a few containers that were actually designed for plants and then I realized that got real expensive real quick.  Next stop... our garage.

Anything I thought would do a reasonable job at holding dirt I grabbed.

In fact, this lovely number here used to be my Barbie box.  Raise your hand if you had a Barbie box too.  No reason to be ashamed.  :)

Let's just say it has long outlived its original purpose.

 So I drilled a few holes in the bottom for drainage because the websites told me to and I put in some onions. 

Next, I went to Goodwill and found several more baskets, buckets, and what I think used to be a trash can.  This was actually a lot of fun and super cheap.  Didn't pay more than three dollars for any of them and most of them were 99 cents. 


I believe they would call this style "eclectic", btw.

Again, I drilled holes in the bottom of them with the power drill, which I kind of get a kick out of.  (I blame my brothers)

 There were so very many plants, flowers, and vegetables that I wanted to get.  Seriously, there are way too many possibilities. I had no idea. I was finally able to stop myself although, I think it had more to do with the size of our porch rather than my self discipline.  Here is what we ended up with...

Cilantro.

 Strawberries.

 Italian Parsley.

 Garlic.

 

Tomatoes

And then the plants that I neglected to take pictures of... jalapenos, basil, dill, onions, romaine lettuce, and some flowers that I don't actually know what their names are.

I promise to fill you in as I go along.  I have high hopes and I totally want to be the person who gives away handfuls of fresh veggies to people who will most likely not eat them (or is that just me?)  Anyway, so here's to hoping that I remember to water!

Confounded moment of the day.

Managed to put two chips in the porcelain and not break the bottle. Guess this is what I get for storing the vanilla above the sink.

Pray for me, Seth is finding out the same way you are.

Giving this living thing a try.

So here's the deal...

I have spent the last six years in college.  I have been immersed in the world of academia.  Presentations, finals, internships, foreign languages, labs, papers after papers after papers, and the dreaded group projects.  I even got to the point where going to the financial aid office didn't bring me to tears.  You name it I've done it... except fall asleep in class.  Not once in nineteen years of school did I ever fall asleep in class, not even in Old Testament after lunch in a dimly lit auditorium.  (Not gonna lie, I'm kind of proud of myself for that.)  This had been my world for many years, always studying, always working towards that diploma, on the go from early in the morning to well into the night.  

Then I found myself at home one evening last August having finally completed my 500th hour of my internship wondering what on earth I was going to do with myself.  There was no paper to write, no test to study for, no client to meet.  Not only that but I had no hobbies, only a handful of friends who still remembered I existed, and a husband who had learned to be rather self-sufficient in the last couple of years as his wife appeared to have abandoned him. (Love you always, Seth) Here's the thing... I don't know exactly what the future holds for me and that kind of freaks me out, but I don't want life to slip away from me while I am figuring it out.  So, I'm trying some new adventures.  This week it is gardening.  I have also been known to go into a baking craze.  Lord help us all when I decide to repaint our kitchen cabinets.  

With all that said, I hope to share those adventures with you and possibly amuse you from time to time as I figure out this whole life thing. :)