DIY Ruffled Lace Scarf

I used to be the biggest tomboy on the block. We didn't live on a block, but I was still free and easy in my tomboy status. Might've even bragged it up a time or two..."Yeah...I'm so tough I won the class arm wrestling championship!" (I did. Second grade. Don't knock it.) I am finding an appreciation for the more delicate things in life, though I will never be a girly girl in that sense. Here is my take on a ruffled lace scarf, and you can't get more feminine than that.

If you would like to make one, you could use embroidery thread or you could do what I did and tie 3 threads together in the length you desire. You also need scissors and a needle, ballpoint so it doesn't snag any lace (lace already has holes, you don't need to create new ones!), and your lace. Mine is about 8 inches wide and maybe two yards long. If anyone is going to make this and wants to know for sure, just ask and I'll measure. Or choose your own length. Just know that it will shrink to about half the original length -- or less -- once you are done.

My lace was very geometric so it was easy to stitch and cut straight lines.

I tied a knot in my three strings, but you could use embroidery floss. And tie a knot.

Thread the needle, then begin stitching on the lace about 2 inches from one side.

Tip:put a few stitches on the needle like these surrounding pics, then pull all the thread through. You may want to pull the thread and ruffle your fabric slightly here and lock your ruffle into place with a backstitch. I didn't and it works fine, the ruffles are just readjustable.

Keep going, ruffling as you go or waiting until the end.

Repeat on the second side and you are done!

Wear draped and hanging loose!

Or wear it tucked a bit.

Or with an oh-so-casually placed hand just for fun.

Beautiful.

How to Use a Napkin

Start by having your napkin on the side. That way it is visible when you need it, rather than catching mistakes in your lap. Having one there in addition to the first is a bonus.

Bring the napkin towards your face.

Examine critically, and unfold to check for chiggers.

Crumple wildly. It'll teach that napkin!

Delicately dab the lips with the crumpled mess.

When that doesn't work, give 'er with the whole thing. Scrubba scrub scrub...

With a calm, cool, collected manner, place the napkin back in its original spot.

Continue drinking your water with a spoon.

The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do, well.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Beyond the Façade

Sometimes things look grand on the surface, and you look beyond and find that it was only on the surface, and there is chaos behind. It is like there is a stage of life that we present to people, but we live the backstage.

Take today at our house for an example. We made play dough, made art on the white boards, played in the backyard, ate a healthy supper, cleaned up, did p90x, juiced fresh fruits and veggies, gave the kids "tubbies" with bubbles, and put them to bed, all between 3 and 830. Sounds amazing?

Well, play dough was a success, I must admit. Here is jabba being slain by a light saber.

 Snowman! Promptly decapitated and...what do you call it when the midsection disappears too? Losing weight?

Art was scribbles with a marker and much marker on shirt, and playing in the backyard was daddy pulling a sled. Still, fun for all.

After supper is where the fun begins. P90x. Oh, p90x. Bring it! We started doing plyometrics, and got through the first squats before looking at each other and saying, "Man, I could really go for some fries right now. With cheese. And chili...and sour cream. Yum. And throw in a nice juicy burger. Man I hate this. The mother of all workouts! Why are we doing this again?"

So...after forwarding through half of the workout and seeing that, yes, it is just as bad a half hour in, we decided to switch to kenpo x. Same story, second verse, a little bit louder, a little bit worse.

So we did ab ripper.

The juice would've been good without the green pepper remnants that we cleared out of the fridge.

And bedtime involved much tears and wailing with the occasional bunny hop of despair across the floor by the munchkins.

Its the end that matters, though! Just like this pot: it looks pretty ugly but it smells amazing. Orange peels, cinnamon, and lemongrass simmering in water. 

And there is peace in our house.

Each morning sees some task begin, each evening sees its close; something attempted, something done, has earned a night's repose. 

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow