What I Waste My Time With When I Waste My Time

So I have a craft fair this weekend to prepare for, a new syllabus to prepare that takes into account the administration's assignment of a different grammar text for freshman comp classes (grr!), an upcoming California vacation to think of fun things to do during, and four people's library queues to sort through and find where all the overdue books are buried, not to mention the general household upkeeping of getting rid of the gnats from the kitchen and the pee smell from the bathroom, so what did the girls and I spend the whole day making? This!!!

No, sweetie, I'm not going to make you guess. It's a bunting for the girls' big summer birthday party! I looked at a few tutorials, but in the end I didn't do anything that they suggested and instead just winged it, and I think it looks highly festive for it. The flags are all hung on a long piece of hemp twine and I attempted to sew them to it, but I didn't get too fussy if the thread didn't catch. The flags themselves, all from scrap, are all different sizes, only they are all isosceles triangles, because I like the symmetrical look.

Willow helped me pick out the fabric from my stash. Can you tell?

I also didn't turn the fabric to hem it or anything--I'm just going to let the sucker fray.

The girls helped by constantly trying to leapfrog over my cutting mat on the floor while I worked, and they made their own "banners" from the scraps, and I actually have those banners in my pocket right now because I confiscated them before dance class. To be a kid--doesn't it just make you sick how awesome their lives are?

Speaking of, the big summer birthday plans just keep on happening. We've got a date, which is July 26, a Saturday that doesn't conflict with Matt's softball team party and during which Willow's best little friend will be in town. We have ordered--wait for it--a freakin' jump house!!! At least I think we have--when I asked Matt if he'd called and ordered it today, his exact words were "Don't worry about it." That means he ordered it, right, and not just that he's dicking around about it but doesn't want to be nagged? The price was nothing to sneeze at, but also not totally outrageous when you consider that not only is the party the girls' actual birthday present from us, but that also, since we have a jump house, we can forgo additional games and prizes and other hoopla. And our adult friends who just hang out on the couch and grit their teeth and grin throughout the weirdo kids' activities will absolutely be on board with a jump house. And, and Matt insists that this is the only reason why we got one, I totally want a jump house!!!

So now my current conundrum consists of the fact that Willow wants a cake shaped like a dinosaur. Hmmm. Have a mentioned that I don't know how to cook? Or bake, or whatever? We do have awesome food coloring, however, and Matt claims that if we get a big enough cake pan and throw enough boxes of cake mix into it, he can cut out the silhouette of a dinosaur into that cake. Should we get cake mix that bakes up red inside, so it looks like the dinosaur is bleeding as you cut it? Oooh, maybe with red pudding? Do they make red pudding? No, I can make red pudding! And put candy bones in it! And little cavepeople! Okay, I'm going to bed now.