Mom's First Staycation

I am a mom. I am home alone (with dog). I will be home alone for a week. 

How did this happen?

Well, MIL loves cruising and her health is rapidly declining. I said to DH, you DS and your mom should go on a cruise. SIL and family invited themselves along.

I have a weird balance issue called Mal de Debarquement also known as Drunken Sailor Syndrome! I discovered I had it after taking my first cruise in 2001. I was fine on the boat but when I was on land, I became dizzy.  Unfortunatly, it can become permanent. So, no cruise for me!

MIL having a family cruise is more important then, well, no cruise. Because of her health, a family park, like Disney, is too rough. A cruise is contained and she can sit in a deck chair talking to strangers while she knits. 

Sunday afternoon, I dropped MIL, DH and DS at the docks and drove home. For dinner, I made myself salmon (on sale at Whole Foods) rice and broccoli. Brownies baked while I ate. The dog stared at me while I ate. I painted my nails and had a peaceful night.

Today, Monday, I ate some of the brownies for breakfast, went to the gym, made a microwave meal around 3:30pm and ate more brownies for dinner. My day fit into one sentence.

The TiVo is almost empty and Netflix streaming has a limited selection of shows. I might get so bored that I am forced to clean!

I like being alone. For Mother's day, Husband got me a two night stay in a hotel by myself. I loved it! DH travels a lot and is a premier member. I got to use the concierge level for snacks and water. The TV and computer games were free-flowing from my computer.

It's not as much fun being home. My obligations speak to me as I walk past them. The dirty clothes want me to wash them. The silverware drawer wants to be cleaned out. The beds want new sheets.

Okay, I do fulfill my obligations to the dog.

Let's see how the rest of my staycation plays out.

Duck Tape and Ugly Baskets - Perfect Together

I adore the Pintester blog. If you have ever seen a fabulous pin on Pinterest and then tried it at home and then failed, then the Pintester is the blog for you. (NSFW language)

Jazz hands!

So, the Pintester dared us to test our own pins and then blog about it. Usually, I call one friend and force them to listen to me brag about actually trying something I found on the Interwebs.

So, I fired up the old blog. I found a comment that needed approval. One comment. At least it was a nice comment.

I found this washi tape basket craft on Pinterest and wandered over to the blog to get more information. The Washi Blog has a zillion cute crafts using washi tape. Washi tape is cute and patterned craft tape. I believe it started in Japan and found it's way into the hearts of crafters here in the US.

I didn't have any washi tape but I did have ugly baskets.

Later that week, the family went to 5 Below. Husband needed an accessory for his tablet and I wanted to see if they had washi tape. They didn't. They did have Duck tape. Little tiny Duck tapes. (.75 x 180 in) I couldn't find a link on the Duck Tape site but I found the cute pattern I used.

Since they were 3 for $5, I bought 3 patterns. When I got the tape home, I noticed that they were too wide for one of the two ugly baskets. I bought these baskets at CVS about 10 years ago. The one with the wider wickers has been sitting inside my nightstand holding my assorted nightstand products gathering dust and ugliness.

I sat down at my desk, started up an episode of Mad Men and got to work.

I pulled out the tape and measured it against the small sections and then cut the tape. It wasn't hard and it took less time than the Mad Men episode. (I wanted at least one purse and one lamp from the episode)

Ta da!

It looks cute and summery.

Now, I'm searching the house for other naked baskets to tape!