McChristmas Decor: The Prehistoric Era

     I love Christmas decorations.   I love dinosaurs. These things will both matter soon.

     So my friend, Anna, decorated my and her fiance, Eric's house and it looks gorgeous.  It's a gold and silver glittery winter wonderland.  Feeling a little un-involved in decorating, I asked if I could help and Anna was more than thrilled to have me help with her pretty decor.

     So I accumulated some little plastic dinosaurs and spraypainted them silver.

     And then added them to our beautiful table centerpiece. 

     I can't wait for Anna to get back tomorrow and see my McChristmas beautification efforts.

McLampshades: Burlap, Felt and a Little Lace to Make them Feel Like a Lady

     In a continued effort to make my bedroom not look like the last 20 years of random accumulation threw up all over it, I reconstructed my bedside lampshades.  My hope was that they'd match the I-got-all-this-crap-for-almost-free-and-I'm-pretending-it-looks-rustic-and-farmy look that I seem to be going for these days. 

     First, I grabbed some extra burlap I had sitting in a basket in the corner (yes, that really is where it was) and traced my lampshade on them.  I cut it out, leaving about an inch extra on each side of the "pattern" and hot glued that sucker over the existing shade.  I pulled the extra inch on top over the frame and glued it down on the inside, same on the bottom.  BURLAP LAMP SHADES BAM!

     But that didn't quite meet my need for pretty things, so I whipped out some felt and lace and decided to make some little flower things.  This is how you make little flower things:

Click Photo to See Text

     So after spending 15 minutes burning the heck out of my fingers, as is normal whenever I touch a hot glue gun, I had a bunch of little flowers.  I weilded the treacherous hot glue gun again and glued them to the lamps, stuffed some lace-y crap in it to make them feel like a lady, and BAM!  New lamps!

     I'm pretty psyched.  Not quite finished with them yet, as I'm trying to decide what color to make the bases, but I was too pumped not to go ahead and post them.  I'm going to start gluing these little flowers to everything.

One Step Closer to World Peace: Egg & Bacon Muffins

     I have to get up pretty stupid early in the mornings.  No matter how many times I tell myself that I'm going to be a real adult and get up an hour before I have to, do yoga, make coffee, cook a healthy breakfast, and create world peace by 6:20am, it doesn't happen.  I usually end up rolling out of bed 10 minutes before I have to leave (after mashing snooze 2 or 3 times), throwing on my clothes and busting out the door just in time to make it to work with a minute or two to spare.  With no time to stop somewhere and grab breakfast on the way (and my refusal to spend money frivilously), I haven't been getting much in the way of healthy, filling, and delicious morning meals.

IT ALL CHANGES TODAY, FOLKS.

     I sprayed down my muffin pan with the cheap-o fakey Pam and grabbed the turkey bacon and eggs out of the refrigerator.  Loosely wrap a piece of the turkey bacon around the inside of each muffin hole, then take out six egg whites and two whole eggs and beat them until they're sorry.  Fill each bacon cup 3/4 of the way with eggs and pop in the oven at 350 until the eggs don't jiggle and the bacon looks done. Pull the little suckers out and serve immediately or toss them in a tupperware container for reheating.  Lo and behold, you have a delicious, super healthy breakfast that can be stored and microwaved throughout the week. 

TAKE THAT, ALARM CLOCK!  I have now conquored breakfast. My life will be completely different now.  THIS MOMENT IS WHERE I TURN IT ALL AROUND.

Click Comic to Read Tiny Captions

Well, maybe it's not quite like picture number 2, but who cares? 
Next step: WORLD PEACE. 

McHeadboard: Made Entirely of Pallets from the Trash

     One of the benefits of my fiancee working where he does is that I have a never-ending, all-you-can-eat buffet of wooden pallets to craft with.  Today's obsession was born our of inspiration on Pinterest, a truck bed full of pallets, and a desperate need to make something using power tools.

What I Started With:



     I spent the better part of an hour wrestling with the pallets, using hammers, needlenose pliers, and MY BARE HANDS to rip them apart.  I felt like some kind of awesome, wood-hating bear.  Once I finally got all the boards I wanted, I lined them all up hot dog style to equal six feet.  I rummaged through the garage for some 1"X4" and whipped out the circular saw and went GZZZBZZZZZZZZZRRRRZZZZZ until I had two pieces that were 1"X4"X6'.  Grabbing my (roommate's) trusty drill, I laid the two 6' boards across the pallet pieces and screwed about 70 screws (seriously) through to the pallet pieces.  I added a couple of legs and VOILA! Rustic, but super awesome headboard for my room.

BASK!  BASK IN THE FANTASTIC!



Cost:

Pallets: Free

1X4: Free

Screws: 6$

That's some inexpensive ambiance right there!  I feel a need to make everything ever rising up inside me.

Obligatory First Post

     I feel like it's necessary to have one of those obligatory first post type of posts where I introduce myself and tell people about my life, etc.  Because that is kind of boring and would take a lot of time, I will draw a comic that will explain my life.

          Well, that about gets you up to speed.  On to the making stuff!