Ok, a while ago- specifically 3m ago, right after my car accident- I went by the neighbors. We had gotten a piece of their mail and I needed to talk with them for some quite selfish reasons. They are home quite a lot, as both are retired from the fire department, and since my car was gone I was often stuck-I had hoped to be able to call on them in emergencies. So, I ran out while the boys napped carrying that airline flyer completely unprepared for what I was about to hear.
They were moving. And not only that they had to be out in less than a month….as she slowly told me the story of why her nephew-who owned their home- wanted them out I wondered why she was home that day, normally her husband was home. She said “he just wants the money” referring to her 25-ish year old nephew who, let’s just say, sounds like a real winner…all sarcasm implied there….her voice shook and she broke down. Tears began to form in her eyes and I asked how she was handling everything, my selfish desires to stop by were now just a fleeting thought and I listened, thoroughly stunned. As the story unfolded I came to learn that in recent days not only had a close family friend passed, but she had also had a stroke, which explained her slow speech. She had been in the hospital for almost a week when her nephew had said “pack up.”
I couldn’t think of anything else to say but, “aww, that sucks” and “I’m sorry.” Knowing that those words are hollow but not have much else to offer we finished up our conversation and I went home I feeling absolutely terrible. I had been that person, Scott and I experienced that HARD time, and without the generosity of a few key people we really have no idea where we would be right now. I sat for a minute and then picked up the phone….who could I call to get this off my chest….then it dawned on me. This kid selling the house wanted money-and fast- he didn’t care that he would drop the place for a fraction of its worth, he didn’t want to fix it up to get the best price possible, and he surely didn’t care that he was leaving his now disabled aunt and her husband homeless, meaning, this place was a steal. I thought for a few minutes and soon came to the conclusion that any property investment company would love this. Yet who did I know that bought properties aside from my parents? Now divorced with a difficult enough time splitting the properties that they managed…there was always our landlords….wait, our landlords! They were good to us, great about the pets, fixed things in a timely fashion, and had already “flipped” our place completely gutting and renovating it. Hmmmm…..after about 15 minutes, I ran back over to the neighbor, asking if they would be ok with me letting the landlord know the place was for sale. She answered the door and seemed to be surprised that we were actually renting and didn’t buy this home as it was sitting for sale for months before we moved here last winter. With no more than “I guess so” from the neighbor I ran home almost positive that this would work out. Maybe my naive heart that could will this into working….
I texted the landlord; my only contingency- the current renters get to stay. They replied in seconds “which house, how much, who owns it.” The ball was rolling. I only had answers to some of these questions so I went back to the neighbor to get the rest…but she didn’t know either. So, we waited. Our landlord could, of course, look up the rest of it but it would take a few days. Wouldn’t you know it in those few days we needed our septic system cleaned. As they came out with all the workers cleaning our gutters and garage, fixing our porch and pumping the tank, it was mentioned that the house had been viewed and THEY WILL BUY IT!!! I was ecstatic, I literally cried with happiness. But that still left a lot to wonder, mainly when will this happen. With that answer now seeming like more of a vague pipe dream again I had little that I could do now. I sent the landlords weekly until I finally got a “we’ll let you know”….I knew I had to leave then alone and wait. The weeks went by and soon turned into a month, and then 2 months and then just shy of three months Scott called me. The neighbors had stopped by….they had just signed a lease with their new landlords, our landlords. My contingency was remembered and honored. I sank into my chair and happily cried. It was and is all I could ask for for Christmas.
Tag: christmas
25 days of Christmas crafts
As promised, Christmas crafting, toddler style! Some of these are my “brain child” others are cool ones I’ve “googled”…. annnd some are feasible with toddlers others would be a project you could do for them. Happy Christmas crafting!!
1) Popsicle Stick Snowflakes
-toddler approved activity
2) Burlap Stockings
-ok, take 5 min on Pinterest and you will see endless ideas, find me on Pinterest if you want to see my inspiration.
-we went with two “bones” one for each dog, one “fish” for the cat and 4 regular stocking shapes. In total that took just shy of 4 yards of burlap. I lined them with scrap fabric/ old pillow cases. Used ribbon, a few rosettes and handmade bows to add some accents and that was it. You may notice a trend with the burlap here, and yes, I themed all decor around these two teddies, the boys first Christmas ornaments –> 
– tip, use a large safety pin to hang the stockings onto command wall hooks- those things are handy!
divas pretty stocking complete with kitten tootsies;)
3) Mason Jars
– again. Pinterest. Just find what suits your style, from painted to ribbon wrapped or even snow globed the possibilities with mason jars are endless.
4) Paint with Seasonal Cookie Cutters
-pretty straight forward:)
5) Lined Sweatshirt
-I used this pattern though I am not a very gifted seamstress and every time I end up heavily adapting it. (My first attempt at them have not become our art smocks) Use the ” warm and natural” batting and it’s perfect for indoor play clothing.
6) String popcorn, cranberries or cotton puffs or marshmallows
– this is a great motor development type activity that (if they don’t scarf all the food items like my littles did) can double as awesomely cute decor.
7) Sun Catchers
-ok, this one I kinda cheated on, the dollar section at most stores have the tiny craft bin and sometimes they are perfect for breaking up a boring afternoon.
8) Painting Ornaments
-with one of the littles presents came foam sheets. So, we repurposed and cut snowflakes out of them! Similar foam sheets can be found at most craft stores add swirls of puffy paint for dimension:)
9) Sleeping Bag 
-this is actually a rather detailed project, I had a great time with it and as it adapted into its current form I learned more and more about sewing. Plus, I love how it turned out….win/win! Basically this sucker is a very warm padded toddler sleeping mat that rolls into its self; making it nicely portable for those family trips this holiday!
-I used eco felt as the outter layer, “warm and natural” batting as the 2nd inner layer, batting off the bolt from joann fabrics (the second one I went to though, because the first one had such terrible service that we walked out without purchasing anything from our full cart) and the inner layer being grey minky dot fabric. I made the “hood” so that it can flip under the head pillow, adding extra puff, but also wrap around the body off the sleeping bag to roll it up! 
10) Hand Painted Wrapping Paper
-you can often find “blank wrapping paper” we went for a basic brown and let the boys splatter paint the whole roll, gave it a gloss spray top coat to make sure the paint didn’t just flake off, let it dry and rolled it back up to await gift wrapping in the next few weeks.
11) Marshmallow Fondant
– ok, this really goes with the cookies so maybe I’m cheating a bit here by using it as two activities…BUT….you would likely have to do this two separate days. If you hadn’t noticed those seasonal cookie cutters come in handy again here 😉
12) Paper Garland
– I used extra seasonal scrap paper I had to make the garland. Guiding the boys to “cut” strips and “glue the loops” we actually had a lot of fun with this one.
13) Toilet Paper Roll Wreath
– sounds weird but it’s actually pretty darn cute
14) PVC Snowman
– this was mainly because I built a pvc house for our garage play space and we had it left over. So, find something that you have around your house that is junk but could be a repurposed “craft” for the kiddos.
15) Family Cards
– let the littles finger paint individual cards for family members
16)Cookies
-any kind really will do for this holiday but two tips that have become a must when cookie making in our house; always brown the butter first and used molasses & sugar rather than brown sugar. These two things really add the “wow factor” to the flavor of any cookie!
17) Felt Snowmen/Reindeer/Santa
– felt is kinda a staple crafting item that we have around so it seemed only natural to do a felt ornament with the boys. We had them decorate a tree….it got a bit messy :0
-glitter, shapes, textures, etc etc etc. this was a great sensory play activity!
18) Splatter Wall Art (red/white/green/gold/silver)
– best to save this messy one for a bath day 😉
19) Dress up day/Pictures
– strings of lights, Santa hat & play time
– pretty self explanatory activity that you can have fun with! We always have random strings of lights and the boys find them entertaining but throw some dress up clothes in there and the whole day can be filled.
20) Scarves
-pretty simple infinity scarf for toddlers. I paired a heavy eco-felt and a soft plaid reindeer flannel. And cut based on the littles shoulder width and noggin dimensions.
– make sure you can loop it round the head twice
21) Pine Cone Hunt
-Well, we had to have at least one activity outside….we live in a well wooded area so no driving needed just step outside and we were off to “match pine comes”
22) Santa Beard
-so, originally I was thinking something like this…..then I saw this….the jury is still out on which we will be making this season.
23) Jammie Pants
– you can find free patterns at just about every online sewing resource. Line them in minky fabric like I did for that extra cozy warm appeal this winter.
24) Gingerbread House
– this one means a special shopping trip as most of the tradition ginger bread house making stuff we don’t even keep in the house anymore. But easy alternative…use the cardboard boxes that all of your holiday presents will be shipping in and build a paper/cardboard house. Or many craft stores not have “kits”
25) Burlap Santa Sack
This project I loved, even though I ended up keeping it super simple it was fun to look at everyone’s ideas. I got the actual sack from amazon for $6.50 for a 40in by 24in bag. And then hand painted it with fabric paints. Using decor ribbon to “tie”. Yay for no more wrapping oddly shaped gifts!
The Indigo Hen Homestead 