Friday Night Photos #135

I didn't realize just how few pictures I've taken recently until I uploaded them to my computer today. Unfortunately, I don't even have any good stories to write! Hahaha. But here is a little of what's been going on this week...

I was in the living room one morning when I heard an odd noise from the kitchen. It sounded like "Shhhh (pause) shhhhh (pause) shhhh (pause)..." etc. I had no clue what it could possibly be. In case one of the cats (ahem, DUCK) was getting into trouble, I snuck in there to catch him in the act.

It turns out, he'd taken a bag of onions from the pantry and was sliding it across the floor with his teeth! He grabbed the drawstring for the bag, then walked a few steps, pulled the bag to him by the drawstring, walked a few more, etc. The poor cat loves playing with strings so much; I wish I could let him!

Chick would somehow find a way to swallow the entire drawstring of this produce bag.

I reached 1,000 days sober on Sunday. When I think of it as 1,000 days it doesn't seem that long but, in February, that will be three years... where did that time go?! Quitting drinking was a huge turning point for me as far as taking care of my health, and I'm SO glad that I quit. It was hard to do--as hard as, if not harder, than losing over a hundred pounds--but completely worth it.

I don't want to call Luke and Riley "spoiled", because they don't act spoiled at ALL; but it's hard to think of things to do with them or to gift them because they have everything and they've been everywhere and they've done everything! Hahaha, not entirely accurate, of course, but it feels like that sometimes. I want to send them things in the mail, but I also don't want to buy more "stuff" for them to accumulate.

I like doing handmade things because it will be something they don't already have. When Jerry and I first got together in 1999, I made him a little Altoids tin memory box. I glued a picture to the inside cover, a quote on the bottom, and put a few mementos in there. I recently made him a new one and it gave me the idea to make a tin for each Luke and Riley.

When I searched Pinterest, I was surprised to find that so many other people already had the idea to use Altoids tins for crafts like that! I really liked the idea of a tiny stuffed cat for Riley and some sort of game/puzzle for Luke. This is what I came up with:

Riley's has a little bed and blanket for a cat that I made out of felt (the inspiration for the cat came from this ornament). I cut a tiny teddy bear from a piece of fabric that I had, and then backed it with felt--so the cat has a teddy bear to sleep with. The "window" can have a day scene or night scene.

Luke's looks so plain, but I think it's appropriate for him. I printed out tangram diagrams on a little card that I have since glued to the top of the tin. I printed out the tangram square, with shapes in different colors, to match the pieces in the diagram. Then I stuck the square onto an adhesive magnet and cut out the individual pieces. Finally, I coated them with Mod Podge. The magnets stay in the bottom of the Altoid tin and Luke can put the different shapes together per the diagram. Since the kids fly all the time, I thought a little pocket toy would be something they can bring on the plane with them.

Next, this is absolutely ridiculous. A lot of times when I can't sleep, I find myself falling down the Reddit rabbit hole. I don't even remember what I was reading one night, but I came across the comment of someone saying that she has this bag of little plastic babies and she hides them around for her husband to randomly come across. The whole thing just sounded so weird and--fun! I bought a bag of them on Amazon.

I put a few of them around the house where Jerry could find them that day or maybe not for a year... I didn't want them to be in places that were super obvious. I chose one random jacket in the closet and he just so happened to wear it the next day. He laughed when he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the plastic baby. He said that Riley must have put it in there and he didn't notice.

I don't know what he did with it, but the next day, he found one that was hidden in a can of coffee. He thought it was the same baby and started laughing... he thought I'd taken the one that "Riley" put in his pocket and just re-hid it. This went on for a couple of days and it was pretty funny. Jerry then decided to hide it himself and Eli found it in his shoe. Eli thought Noah did it because, apparently, it's a trend to do this with the plastic babies?!

I assumed that the person's comment I'd read was just a prank she played on her husband and I had no idea that it was actually a thing. I ended up telling Jerry what was happening with the babies (he was getting so confused, thinking there was still just one baby). I'm still going to hide them once in a while, though ;)

What started out as, "I'm going to make a fanny pack!" one morning turned into a bigger project than I planned, but I think it turned out pretty cute. While searching for fanny pack ideas, I came across "bum bags", "hip bags", "sling bags", "crossbody sling bags", and several other names and bags with slight variances.

Rather than making the fanny pack I'd been picturing, I ended up making this crossbody sling bag that has a cell phone pocket on the strap. (The strap crosses your chest, with the backpack part in back, so the cell phone pocket rests in front of my shoulder.) Usually, I like either written directions or I just wing it on my own, but this one just had a YouTube video. So, I had to keep referencing the video for each measurement and step. It worked out, though. (Here is the YouTube video)

Finally, we have SO much fruit on our counter right now. Jerry's employer gives all of the employees a turkey or ham each Thanksgiving, and Jerry didn't know it until becoming plant-based, but you can opt for a fruit basket instead of the meat. I would have liked to see a bigger variety of fruit--it has apples, oranges, grapefruit, and a pineapple--but it's fruit, nonetheless. It doesn't look like much when it's in the basket, but holy cow--there is a lot of fruit in there! I think I'm going to make homemade applesauce in the crockpot.

And that's all I've got. Have a great weekend! xo