Made Last Minute With Love

Here's how Valentine's Day preparation went in my house this year. [Not] Shockingly, it was the same general situation the last couple of years also. I'm not sure if it is because I'm a working mama (doubt it - I'm thinking many working mamas and stay at home mamas were doing the same rush this evening) or if it is because work is so busy this time of year for an accountant so I just don't have the energy to think about it when I get home, or if it is just my general procrastinating attitude, but whew. Glad they are done!

Y'all know I am crafty and I like Pinteresty things. There are so many cute ideas on Pinterest that take very little time, so I WANT to do these types of valentines with Charley for her class because she really enjoys crafty things too. I had good intentions of starting early so I wouldn't rush around at the last minute and pinned an easy and cute valentine over two weeks ago.

All I needed to do was find some freeze pops next time I went to the grocery store and print the valentines on card stock. EASY PEASY.

Step one: Buy some freeze pops. 

And that's where the whole plan of getting these done early derailed. 

Between John and I, we visited different grocery stores 2 or 3 times and never did find the darn freeze pops. I've never bought them before so I wasn't really sure where in the store they sell them and wondered if they just didn't have them this time of year. (Though clearly they are missing some sales if that's the case since it was nearly EIGHTY degrees yesterday.) So I kept hoping some would magically appear somewhere somehow.

They didn't.

So today, February 13th, at 10:00 this morning, I figured I'd better figure something out. And ol' Amazon saved the day again. I did check Amazon a couple weeks ago also, but I couldn't find any packages of less than 100 freeze pops. I don't really need 100, and so I didn't order then in hopes of finding a smaller and potentially cheaper pack elsewhere. Obviously that never happened, so today I Amazon Same Day Primed a box of 100 freeze pops to my door. (Of course you need to spend $35 for free same day shipping, so I added on a couple of Shopkins gifts to give to Charley and Laney tomorrow on Valentine's Day.) Done and Done!

That package delivered tonight at 6:40, just in time for us to finish dinner and start on valentines.

We finished up dinner and got to work. 

Only, I never printed the free printables I found. Whoops. Did I mention we currently don't have a working printer, either? Dang it.

So, I saved the printable to my Google Drive and hopped in the car to drive next door to my parent's house to print them.

Get to their house, run inside, log into my Google Drive, and the stupid ^%%$%%*;^($##@$ website doesn't recognize that computer, so they are going to send a quick text to my phone to verify that it's a legit login. My phone is in the car.

Run back out to car, retrieve phone.

Run back in, enter code, print valentines on card stock paper I remembered to grab from my house and bring.......DANG IT.

Forgot the card stock. Forget it. Regular paper is fine. I'll just add card stock to the back instead.

My mom comes in to see them and as I'm showing her I realize of the 4 valentines per page, the margins are off and it is cutting off the "Happy Valentine's Day!" on the 2 on the bottom. So, only 2 good valentines per page means I need to print 4 more pages. 

Out of paper. 

"MAMA! DO Y'ALL HAVE ANY MORE PAPER!?"

She shows me where it is. Add more paper. Finished.

Hop back in the car and drive up the driveway.

Gather the scissors and glue stick. Crap. Where is the glue stick? PLEASE tell me we still have a glue stick.

Whew. Found it.

OKAY. Charley is ready to get started. As much as I like the perfection of the ones from the Pinterest link, I would rather Charley do them all herself. So, I just gave instructions. 

I instruct her how to cut them apart.

She glues them each to a piece of card stock.

2 fit on each page, so then she cut each piece of card stock into two.

From there, she only had to sign her name. (Her teachers suggested only putting their names on the cards so they are easier to deliver! No problem!)

She added a heart to each one also, because she's Charley.

And then her part was done! Despite the craziness of not being prepared, once she sat down to do them, that part only took 10 or 15 minutes.

She went to play, and I used an exacto knife to cut slits in the tops and bottoms and slide in a freeze pop on each one.

So cute, right? I love the imperfect cuts and her sweet heart and the way she writes her name. Awwwww.

AND MAN WAS THAT EASY.

HA.

How We Spent the Last 16 Hours of 2016

Basically, a day in the life New Year's Eve style. Mostly time stamped pictures, with a little commentary here and there. This is LONG. But hopefully a quick "read" since it is mostly pictures.

Only non-timestamped shot of the day - because I hadn't decided to do A Day in the Life yet at this point. It was taken at exactly 9:00. Charley had just woken up and wandered into our room, where we were laying in bed with Laney who had woken up 15 minutes earlier.

Hiding so I can't get her dressed.

I win.

Took a picture of Charley so Laney insists on one of her own. Love that she did her hands the exact same way as Charley.

Laney's dressed now too.

Notice the tiny hand on the counter.

Headed out for a 10:00 appointment for the girls.

Just in time.

Haircuts for both - done!

Charley informs me her headrest is too low, and she's right, so I adjust the carseat in the parking lot of the gas station we'd stopped at.

Home again, home again.

Took down all of the Christmas things last night, so today I need to redecorate everything with my normal decor.

In the meantime, I gather some things to sell on Facebook Marketplace.

Still decorating. I use a laundry basket to bring items up from the basement to try on the shelving I'm decorating.

Getting there...

Diaper break!

My storage room where all my extra decor lives, among other things.

John came home from running errands with Wendy's, so we had just finished up with lunch here.

Charley wants to Lite Brite, so naturally the bulb is out so I have to change it real quick.

Decor complete, now to clean this room.

John's outside working on picking up some logs and branches from a few trees we recently got cut down.

My dad drives by on the golf cart...

...and comes right back on the tractor to help.

Every weekend involves something getting spray painted.

Finished.

Bought some pansies SEVERAL weeks ago that never got potted. Try to pot them today and see if I can nurse them back to life.

2nd coat.

Realize I had a few more quizzes to go on a management training course for work, that was due BY THE END OF THE YEAR. Remembered just in time.

Finished redecorating the dining room.

Now to clean this mess.

And take a quick 20 month picture.

Cleaned Charley's room next.

Starting to prepare some snacks for the evening.

Always make sure to walk your cat.

Kids have their bags and are ready to go.

Their home for the night - my parent's house.

Got myself somewhat presentable.

First friend arrives.

We are a really rowdy bunch.

First ever Moscow Mule. Delish!

Another friend joins, has her first Moscow Mule as well, and continues to puzzle with me.

Darts.

Shuffleboard.

Pool.

Ping pong.

Happy New Year!