Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Mikey at MMEA

A few years ago, there was a commercial where a little girl stuck her teddy bear in her dad's suitcase when he went on a business trip, so the dad posed the bear all sorts of places and sent pictures to the daughter.

Last month, I attended the Maryland Music Educators' Association conference and my sons were a bit sad about my departure. So I snagged a toy and had myself a little fun...

Getting comfy in the suitcase
Listen up, All-State Band: I am your guest conductor!
Hey, look! I play the french horn!
And Leo plays bassoon!
What you lookin' at, fish?!?
It's a jungle in here!
These Quaver games ROCK!
I may not be able to carry it, but I can play it.
Snack time!
How about the bari sax? I can rock that...
Good night. I need my beauty sleep.
Maybe the tenor sax is more my size.
I'm a great presentation assistant.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

A Fairy Garden for My Birthday

Ice Cream Cake... my favorite!!
The month of March means I get to celebrate my birthday. My family provided my favorite kind of cake and wonderful gifts. Then I received an email from my best friend, who lives in California. My birthday gift would be arriving in multiple packages and assembly will be required. Ooooo! How mysterious!!

The first package: live greenery
The first package arrived: live greenery. Various types of tiny, shade-loving plants. Hmmm.

Third package: 18" bowl
The second package was three small decorative mushrooms (pictured in the center of the next photo below) and the third package was an 18-inch bowl.

As my husband said, this is starting to seem illegal: bags of weeds, a bowl, and 'shrooms... So I texted my best friend to find out if there would be more boxes coming and what the heck I will be assembling!

Second & Fourth packages: decorating items
The final package arrived containing miniature decorations: fencing, a bench, garden tools, and gravel. My best friend made my a Pinterest board to help me understand what I would be assembling.

A FAIRY GARDEN!! Cool!

I looked over the examples of fairy gardens she provided on the board and started brainstorming what to do with the supplies I received.
Fill the bowl: dirt on the bottom, soil on top
Set the non-living items; I buried an empty plastic bottle to create the mound for the bench
Add the living items and garden tools
I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I have no where to put it, so it is only my kitchen counter for now. I'd like to put it on my deck, however it gets the afternoon sun. I have to figure out how to shade my little garden.

The only downfall of it being on the counter is that is is in prime invasion location...

Invasion of Army Men