Papier Mache Pumpkins, Profusely Bleeding Fingers, and other news

I have been without my husband for 18 days now.  EIGHTEEN days.  That means two more to go until he comes home.  Mr. John got one of those all you can fly passes from Jet Blue and he has put it to good use; meeting current and prospective clients all across the country, interspersed with football games, baseball games and (at the special request of our kids) having a cupcake or four two at DC Cupcakes, all in the name of business.
So, what have I learned from my 20 days of flying solo?  The simplest way to put it is:  Life is easier, more fun, louder, and less stressful with Mr. John home.  I can't wait for Saturday!

While he's been away some things that haven't happened... besides the uh... well, the obvious.  (blush) ahem.

• I haven't gone to bed before midnight.  (sometimes not until 3:00)
• The television hasn't been turned on, except to play the occasional movie or video game.  
• We haven't been reading the scriptures every morning (boo).  
• And the mail hasn't been collected.  Actually, it has, but I really really have to make a serious effort to remember it every couple of days or so.  That's Mr. John's job!  Don't judge me.  

So, I've been working on my papier mache pumpkins and was finally to the carving part.  I happily carved out the face with my knife and moved on to the top.  All those layers of paper took quite a bit of force to cut through.  I was hurrying so we could get to Sage's gymnastics class and I stabbed the knife right into my thumb!

Me:  "Awwww, shoot!"
Sage:  "What???!  Mom, WHAT?!" (hysterical crying)
Me:  calmly walking into the kitchen cupping/hiding my profusely bleeding thumb, "Nothing.  It's OK."  I take a peek and see blood dripping down my arm rhythmically with my heartbeat.  crap

Did I mention that Sage is super freaked out by blood and when she saw me cutting into the pumpkin she was already dreading the worst?  Did I also mention that the last time I saw a lot of blood (coming out of Sage's crushed finger) I threw up?  I've never been known to get grossed out by blood before, but something about the ripe old age of 32 has changed that for me. 

There I am trying to wrap my finger while simultaneously hide it from Sage, while trying not to faint.  I sound like such a wuss!  Bailey brings me gauze and I quickly wrap it up tight, breathe deeply for a minute to ward off the naseau and off the 4 of us go to gymnastics.   

Now, here we are on Thursday.  My thumb is healing nicely, my pumpkins are painted, Sage has a fever, I have a nice migraine forming, it's almost 6:30 and I don't know what's for dinner.  So many adventures and experiences while Mr. John is away!  Did I mention that I can't wait for SATURDAY!?

Sage, my 6 year old, a couple of days ago

My pumpkin creations and cause for a near-fainting spell ha!

Blackbird singin' in the dead of night

Pumpkin and Boo like having birds inside too

Autumn is upon us and I couldn't be happier.  Yeah, so I'm still wearing flip flops and it's still hitting temperatures in the 90s, but most mornings are beautifully overcast and sometimes... I ALMOST need a sweater.  I'm officially calling it:  AUTUMNTIME!  So to celebrate I started two autumn projects today and finished one.  Here is the finished project.  I found a great branch down the road and after creeping it up with some black spray paint it was ready to be hung on the wall and adorned with my dollor store, black-feathered friends.  It couldn't have been easier, or cheaper. 

The other project I started was a papier mache pumpkin.  I've been wanting to do one of these for a long time and it's coming along great.  It's quite messy, but it's so easy I think I want a whole patch.  This one I'm doing is pretty large (about beachball size) and I'm still debating if I want to turn it into a jack or keep it whole so I can leave it out all through Thanksgiving.  I can't wait to see how it turns out. 

Over-haul on the Hall

Sometimes I like to pretend I can sew and I'll pull out my sewing machine and go to town.  My efforts usually turn out like I plan.  It's crazy.  I guess I'm a pretty good pretender.  Well, about a month ago I decided to pretend I could use power tools like saws and nail guns.  Guess what?!  It pretty much turned out like I planned!  I sawed and nail gunned and made myself a faux board and batten hallway for myself.  I found the awesome idea on the House of Smith's and ran with it.  Check it out.  Shelley answers all the questions you could have about this kind of project.  What a great blog!

So, this is definitely a different kind of project for me.  Every step is pretty tedious, but I learned a ton from doing it and I love the result.  Now, I need something on the other wall.  The moral of this story is:  Don't be afraid to pretend you can do stuff try new and exciting things. 

Please ignore the dirty, dusty footprints... I do

I have another frame for that blank spot.  Just need to get a pic of Mr. John and I!

Fun with Fowl

Such a busy day today.  Mr. John and I made multiple trips to Lowe's.  One trip was because we bought a bunch of lumber and forgot we were in our Honda!  Just a little FYI: 8 ft long boards don't fit so great in an Accord.  All the trips were worth it though because I have such plans for that wood.  Such plans!

Anway, busy day and I still finished this little guy.  Or did I?  I'm not sure if I want to antique him or not.  I love dirty, old roughed up things, but some things look better without the grunge.  hmmm...  
A big reason I finished him so fast was that I read about the brilliant idea to dry the papier maché in an oven.  It was in this article about the incredible Johanna Parker.  So, I'm very new to this, but I put him in a toaster oven and it worked wonderfully.  I think he needs some friends. 

Autumn is Coming!

School started on Monday and it has been super quiet here during the day!  This is our first year with all three kids going off into the big world.  While it feels a little weird to not have anyone shadowing me all day, I am starting to see the possibilities.

Monday, I organized the pantry (I found some disgusting exciting stuff).  Yesterday, I was able to paint and finish a papier maché cat I made.  It was amazing how fast a project goes when there are no distractions.
 

Making this little guy has opened up the floodgates. I'm ready for autumn. I'm sorta ready to be kid-less during the day.  I'm ready to get my art on!