Will the madness ever end???

So I think Brian thinks I am having a love affair with burlap. Don't get me wrong, burlap is great, but I may have possibly gone overboard...it all started last year at Halloween, with this as the result: Yes, he is supposed to be a sack of potatoes. It was a very ambitious costume, and it turned out beautifully. I had yardage leftover from Ben's costume, and it morphed into a table runner, napkin rings, Christmas decorations, etc. I thought I was just being resourceful.

Well, here is where I may have gone too far. We have two large front windows sans covering; a.k.a. everyone can see into our house at night. So I did what any avid sewer would do...skip over the pre-made curtain panels at the store, and go directly to the fabric aisle; window mistreatment here I come.** Here was my thinking:

Angel Tia complete with wings and halo: "You must stay away from the burlap aisle...there is too much burlap in your house."

Devil Tia, you get the picture: "Buying twelve yards of burlap won't hurt...plus you will be saving so much more money than buying pre-made."

Angel: "But you will save your time!"

Devil: "Who needs to save time; it's all about frugality!"

You may wonder why the seemingly ovbious choice gets to be played by the devil...yes, the devil won out...but it is perfectly logical. I love to start projects; ask Brian. The finishing of projects, however, sometimes gets drawn out. I started these curtains last week, and six yards of burlap are sitting in my dining room with my sewing machine begging to be hemmed and hung up. Two panels are hung beautifully, but I had to take a break from the burlap. Staring at it while sewing it was giving me a monotonous beige headache, so I decided to make this post about burlap. Any Idahoan would completely appreciate burlap; Brian might not, so much. It may be because of the fact that our dining room is no longer a dining room, but a perpetual sewing room for the past week, or the fact that he is not an Idahoan. You decide, but I think I had better go finish some curtains! (Devil Tia is smiling sweetly on my shoulder.)

Oh, I will post pictures of my curtains when I get new batteries for my camera. Until then, I leave you in anticipation of the coolest curtains you have ever seen!

**If you want to learn about window mistreatments, visit this blog with cool mistreatment ideas (I completely owe this gem find to Elise, my good friend who just moved to Rio Rancho, NM): nestingplacenc.blogspot.com.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

So we decided that since I have never been, and the kids would love it, we would attend the balloon fiesta Saturday morning. We got up at 4:30 in the morning and headed to the train station to catch the 5:03 train to Albuquerque. Ben didn't want to wake up, and it wasn't until we were on the train that he started bouncing off the walls with excitement. Lydia kept asking if we got up in the night...to the perspective of a three year old, yes, we did get up in the middle of the night. We had so much fun, and it was only slightly cold...nothing that would make you think, "gosh I'm cold!" There were literaly a hundred thousand people there, no joke. It is a 360 acre field, and we were all there, crowded among the balloons as they were filled with hot air and launched. There were lots of "zebras" running around (kind of referees, but they literally call them "zebras.") getting the 700+ balloons safely off the ground. It was such an awe-inspiring site, and we will definitely go next year! Enjoy the pictures.

This is the first row of balloons getting ready to launch at about 6:30.

Benjamin and I enjoying the show.

Two of my cuties standing in the cold watching the balloons.

Rosy cheeks and noses.

The first few balloons lifting off.

This is the balloon we parked ourselves next to during the mass ascension. We thought it was an old lady...

as you can see by the pink fingernails...but...

it ended up being a Cupid complete with wings!

Lydia and Benjamin each had their different favorites...

Ben's favorite was the "fi-fi". He would not stop talking about it, except for the ten minute power nap he took on the train ride home.

Lydia could not stop talking about "Alpha Bader" (she can say Darth Vader, but she emphatically insists that: "No, he is Alpha Bader, not Darth Vader.")

It was a fantastic experience, one I would recommend to everyone before the end of their lifetime, so I guess I am suggesting you put it on your bucket list.