Monday, December 12, 2011

The Best Laid Plans...

So...how's everyone doing?
Are you like me? Up to your eyeballs in Christmas projects & preparations?

This is one project I am G.L.A.D. to have finally finished...
and it's not even Christmas related!
(Why do teachers plan big projects for students in December? I know school must go on...but why not wait until say...March for this one, hmmm?)

Last week was Wax Museum for Shane's class. He's been working hard since early November on this project.
We finished the report (he wrote, I typed) and I simply had to make a Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls Jersey for him. ('Cause the only ones you can buy are very expensive).
T-shirt, Iron on's. Easy Peasy.

Attempt # 1



White shirt is scorching a bit. Grrrr! I realize I should have used a pressing cloth. Too late now!
Some "minor" scorching can be overlooked, right?

But wait~ not only did I scorch the shirt...I also put the wrong word on the back. The back of the Jersey should have the player's name..."Jordan".... Dang!


And there is just that minor incident of the backwards "B". I like to call it artistic. I was hoping Shane wouldn't notice. Frantically run to JoAnn's to get more iron-on's.

Which brings us to attempt #2:

Emily had a black t-shirt that she let me use. I had to pick out the sleeves and then wash and dry it.
By this time, it's about 1:00 in the morning. Then I get to work with the iron-on's. And I use a pressing cloth this time, just to be safe.
The numbers would not stick. It was a mess! They adhered to the backing paper...not so much to the shirt, though.
 So much for the easy peasy project. It's gonna be an all nighter.
Emily & I run to Wal-mart for more shirts and more iron-on's. I hate iron-on's.
I have to unpick the sleeves, then launder the shirt. This is getting ridiculous!

Finally! We have a winner. It only took me until 3:40 AM to get this easy project done.
Here's the front of the shirt. At 3:20 AM I realized I could only do the red outlining on one side of the shirt, since it had to dry for 4 hours. So only the front got outlined.

And here's the star of the Wax Museum

He looks exactly like Michael Jordan too.
Except he's short
He has hair
And, uh...he's white.
But other than that, he looks exactly like Michael Jordan, right?

All that matters is that the project got done. On time. And Shane had fun & was happy.

Christmas projects? Not going so well.
I've decided to give up baking~ so now I have to come up with another Neighbor Gift idea.
(I am really thinking it might be the altitude here. I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies last night. I've been making these for years. They are sorta my specialty. They came out thin & flat...my baking confidence is shattered!)
Can't find the stuff to make the teacher gifts I wanted to make...it might be a mug/ornament/candle gift after all.
Have a few people that are difficult to buy gifts for (mom & dad...I'm talking about you!)
But...The tree is up, I hope to finish up the shopping by Saturday...and I have not been sick (hope I didn't just jinx myself)!

Hope everything is going fantastically in your neck of the woods!

14 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, you just won the Mother of the year award!! You are a saint.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, yes he DOES look exactly like Michael Jordan. Ah, the wax museum, I am SO glad that phase of my life is over. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. We love you and we are so thankful that you are such a wonderful mother. Don't let your baking confidence get too low...those cookies were pretty amazing, I'm not gonna lie. Thank you for everything. We love you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I hate those school projects. Morgan & Lexi did the wax museum thing last year. I had to come up with Amelia Erhart and Clara Barton costumes. It wasn't at Christmast time, but it was still a pain. I told the teacher they should do that project in October then the costume could be used for Halloween too. You did a great job!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh my gosh you totally crack me up!
    He looks just like Michael Jordan except he's white....Ha Ha ha Guffaw Giggle!! So funny!!
    What a cute boy and I hope he is wearing that jersey loud and proud after all you went through!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh my heck! What a nightmare. You made me happy all over again that I'm not involved in school projects. Leave it to a shirt that wouldn't cooperate!

    Ya, I was thinking Michael Jordan.
    Totally.

    I have scaled down a ton on Christmas. (especially since I just Halloween down) And this year I have had a ton of problems with my cooking. I've lost my mojo or something.

    Hope you are able to get it finished.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Glad you lived to tell about it. :o)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Tenney did the wax museum last year. I loved walking through and seeing all of the kids.. HOWEVER.. I think I would protest at it being during this time of year as well...

    He looked great!

    Onward Christmas Festivities!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. The shirt came out perfect! He looks great!

    Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting on Grumpy Grateful's guest post.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have to admit that I'm totally cracking up over your trial runs. But, the end result was awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Valerie, I love so much that you can laugh at yourself! It's a great quality!
    His Bull's jersey ended up turning out REALLY awesome...it was totally worth all the stress and an all-nighter...right? Right? :)
    I hope you get your baking confidence back soon!

    ReplyDelete
  12. You really should win the 'mother of the year' award!
    You have a lot more patience than I :)

    All's well that ends well.. and he looks happy and cute.

    I think it's a conspiracy against parents to come up with some of these school projects! Ya just know, no kid is going to do those projects...it's always going to be the parents. Sheesh!
    Glad our kiddos are all in college:)

    We've still got to get quite a few things put together for Christmas.
    Time is going by too fast!

    Hope you have a great week...get lots done, and DO NOT get sick !

    ReplyDelete
  13. Is it mean that I was laughing hysterically at your shirt attempts? Only out of love--that seriously sounds like something I would do. But I'm glad your final product turned out so well.

    I was used to be a HUGE bulls fan. I think he makes an excellent wax Michael Jordan. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. your shirt attempts sounds like a few of our school projects. Glad it turned out so awesome looking. He looks just like Micheal Jordan.

    ReplyDelete