I’m a taekwondo mom … and I love it!
In six years of parenting, our kids’ extracurricular activities have included gymnastics, soccer, T-ball, Beavers, swimming, cheerleading and ballet. It sounds decent in a single sentence, but a lot of their friends have tried all of that along with piano, basketball, tennis, skating and hockey.
Our son and daughter are very social but not particularly “sporty,” so the only activity that’s stuck has been ballet for our daughter (and swimming for them both, only because it’s a life skill). Our son’s enjoyed everything he’s attended, for the most part, but he hadn’t found anything that really, truly clicked. I sold him the idea of taekwondo because he loves the Power Rangers — all eleventy-billion seasons of it — and he started in September.
I didn’t know much about it going in, other than it was likely going to be quieter than Beavers (shudder) and that sounded pretty great. We have friends who have all three of their kids in taekwondo and they absolutely love it.
Well, our six-year-old just wrapped up his first term and I can say with confidence that we’ll be back for more. It’s brand-new to us and we’re still figuring it all out, but so far it’s been interesting (and quiet!) to watch, and our son loves every minute of it.
To give you an idea of what it’s like watching, here are 40 thoughts that run through my head during my kid’s taekwondo class:
1. We’re not late! And I’m only slightly sweaty from rushing here. Success!
2. I hope he remembered to bow when he entered. What’s the gym called again? A dojang? Or is that what the outfit’s called? I’d better not say “dojang” until I know.
3. Hmm. That girl’s uniform is really grey. Is ours going to get all grey?
4. I guess I should wash it eventually?
5. It’s not like he’s crawling around on the floor in it. Or going outside.
6. Maybe if I’m really careful and make him take it off immediately after every class, it won’t get very dirty?
7. I think I did a decent job tying the belt tonight. They probably won’t even have to …
8. Oh wait, they’re retying it. What am I doing wrong?! I’ll have to YouTube it next week. If we’re not running late.
9. It’s adorable that little kids CANNOT do jumping jacks. LOL.
10. They’re just hopping up and down and flailing their arms.
11. How old do you need to be to do a proper jumping jack? Is this something we should be working on at home?
12. I love that it’s so quiet here.
13. Way better than Beavers with all the screaming and running around.
14. It’s all about respect! It’s genius! Exactly what these kids—
15. Oh wait, now there’s yelling.
16. Not a lot though. It’s a nice controlled yell.
17. I have no idea what they’re yelling but everybody looks very official.
18. What language is it? Korean, I think. Must look that up. (Yup, Korean.)
19. They all stand on coloured circles. What do the colours mean?
20. The armless rubber guy looks like he gets into a lot of bar fights. He’s angry looking.
21. He kind of stops at the waist. I guess because you’re not supposed to hit below the belt, literally?
22. Oh, look. They’re so cute running around in those white uniforms.
23. The WiFi is weak. Is it worth using my data to look at grey paint colours on Pinterest? (Yes, obviously.)
24. Awww, they’re playing tag and chasing their instructor. That’s cute. They really — yikes, they’re going to stop before they smash into the parents, right?
25. How many stripes until they get a coloured belt? Is there a cheat sheet?
26. It’d be cool to have a black belt. I wonder how long it takes.
27. I don’t think I’m up for it. Not just for the sake of saying I have it.
28. Little kids in mouthguards are so cute. It’s like they shoved a hockey puck up under their gums.
29. It’s good they’re all wearing cups. Their kicking is a little … erratic.
30. Ohhhh they’re counting to three! I think?
31. Something, something, and what sounds like Spanish for three. Tres? (Nope … Google says “se.”)
32. I wonder if he could count to three in Korean at home if I asked? That’s kind of cool.
33. Wow that uniform is REALLY grey. Did it come that way?
34. Maybe it’s a different brand and it’s supposed to be grey … and short.
35. Or was it just washed with, like, a million loads of dark blue jeans? In hot water?
36. I’m terrible at laundry. It’s why I don’t buy anything white.
37. Which kid is mine?
38. Seriously, where’d be go? All of the boys here look the same. Is dark blonde/light brown the universal colour of six-year-old boy hair?! Did he–
39. Oh, there he is. He’s so cute when he kicks.
40. I love it here.
xo
DIY charging station
We lost power twice this week, and both times my phone was nearing the end of its battery life … and I was on deadline. Without my phone to provide an emergency hotspot internet connection for the (also-dying) laptop, well, you can imagine how this left me.
As long as there’s snow and ice (and wind and rain, apparently), I’m going to be better about keeping everything charged. For my work, you see … not just because the kids were whining about the darkness and needed the warming glow of the iPad to soothe themselves.
I’d been planning to make a charging station for a long time because I was sick of the mess of cords across the kitchen counter. (The mess included receipts, pens, junk mail and containers of bubbles, too, but let’s focus on the cords.)
Months ago, I picked up a decorative white wooden crate from Michaels that was perfectly distressed with little brass details on the corners. Normally I’d try to DIY something like that, but it was absolutely perfect — and I scored it for 40 per cent off with a coupon.
I’d been planning to build a charging station from scratch, but decided this little crate was perfect in almost every way. It just needed some kind of dividers or compartments for the different-sized devices. I bought a special plug with extra outlets — including USB ports — and then … the project stalled.
The crate sat on the counter and we heaped the devices, cords and headphones inside of it, behind it and in front of it. Because the crate was always messy, certain people (ahem, like the one I married) felt it was cool to drop random items in there. When I was cleaning it out, I found four different pairs of his sunglasses!
This week, however, I decided it was time to finish what I’d (barely) started. I grabbed a couple of 1×2 scraps and held them in front of the crate, deciding what exactly I was going to do. The trouble with dividing the crate was that the little iPods would be hidden at the bottom, and there needed to be lots of room for the chunky second-gen iPad.
I decided to screw three small pieces of wood together to make a ledge for the littler devices — it’s basically a wooden doll-sized couch, if you want to get technical. I didn’t even screw the ledge into the sides of the crate because it fit in snugly when I wedged it inside.
I painted the ledge with the closest match I had on hand (“Limestone” by Fusion Mineral Paint) and brushed a bit of it over the crate, here and there, so the colours blended. Once the paint was dry, I distressed the ledge with a bit of sandpaper and drilled four hours for charging cords.
(My biggest drill bit wasn’t very big, so just picture me swirling it around trying to make the holes bigger — like I was scraping the last bit of whipped cream out of the mixing bowl.)
I popped the cords through the holes, strung them through a crack at the back of the crate, plugged everything into the wall, and I was done!
The ledge holds our iPhones and the kids’ iPods, and our iPad fits nicely in the space at the back. Because the ledge is completely removable, I can tweak the charging station as our devices change or even use the crate for something else down the road. I also store any extra chargers and sets of earbuds in there so it’s a one-stop shop for that stuff.
Now if only all of the counter clutter was managed so easily!
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House tour: Upstairs
Wall colour: Benjamin Moore’s Staffordshire Blue
Twin beds: Similar to these
Red, blue, and white twin bedding: HomeSense years ago (it’s also here)
Gallery wall: Tutorial here
Gold house number: Kent
“The best things” poster: Scholar’s Choice, but similar here
Canvases: Painted myself, with canvases from Michaels
Run DMC T-shirt (which was made into a pillow): H&M
Blue lamp: Walmart
Teddy bear quilt: Handmade a zillion years ago, tutorial here
Nightstand: $2 at a yard sale, tutorial here
Canadian fabric art: Tutorial here
Rain gutter bookshelves: Tutorial here
Our daughter’s aqua and pink bedroom with rainbow decor …
Wall colour: CIL’s Bali Hai
Wooden twin bed: Secondhand (similar here)
Wooden posts for canopy: Tutorial here
Chevron quilt: Handmade by me, tutorial here
Two nightstands out of one end table: Tutorial here
Faux flower lamp: Lamp originally from Walmart, tutorial here
Rain gutter bookshelves: Tutorial here
Hanging poms: Tissue paper + tutorial here
Gallery wall: Tutorial here
Wooden letters: Michaels
Canvas art: Handmade, tutorials here
Recovered lamp shade: Tutorial here
Our Revere Pewter master bedroom with red accents …
Wall colour: Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter (details here)
Curtains: No-sew, tutorial here
Pelmet boxes: Tutorial here
Throw pillows: Handmade, tutorial here
Lamps: Yard sale finds I painted, tutorial here
Skinny end table: DIY, tutorial here
Black photo frames: Walmart
Grey coverlet: Similar
Huge $2 engineering print art: Staples, tutorial here
Our upstairs hallway …
Wall colour: CIL’s Bear Run
Mirror: Free from the side of the road! Tutorial coming soon.
Mirror’s paint: Fusion Mineral Paint’s “Casement”
Mirror’s finish: Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint Antiquing Wax
Console’s paint: Fusion Mineral Paint’s “Ash”
White porcelain rose hardware: Phillips and Chestnut (similar)
Check back soon for tours of the main level + the basement!
How to make your jeans fit perfectly (when you have a big butt)
Start by putting your jeans on and pinching the excess fabric (no, not excess skin) at the waist and seeing how much you need to take them in. For me, it was a good one-inch-pinch on either side, which actually takes four inches off from the total waist.
Take the jeans off, turn them inside out, and use safety pins to mark off a rough triangle that will curve the waist inward.
With your jeans still inside-out, hand-stitch them back together with your new, snugger waistband. It doesn’t have to be fancy. I just whip-stitched all the way up and then back down to be sure it was going to hold.
Flip your jeans right-side out, and you can barely tell they’ve been modified!
The best part is trying them on again …
So all my home girls with the big butts, shakin’ it like you’re at a strip club? I feel you. It’s tricky.
Give this a try and let me know how it works! #bigbuttsunite
Werk it Wednesday: Snoozed
The feeling of ohhhhhhhh rightttttt when the snoozed messages start flying at me, every morning, is akin to the feeling I sometimes get on Sunday nights when the weekend’s almost over. The Sunday Dreads.
So why not just deal with each email as it arrives, and stop snoozing? When you’re self-employed and you work from home (in total chaos with children everywhere), it feels like there is NEVER enough time. Because there isn’t.
The trouble isn’t with snoozing emails, though. It’s me.
I’m tired of being perpetually “busy.” I mean, I love BEING busy. I’m the kind of person who enjoys a bit of bustle. But lately it feels like the work/life balance is swinging heavily to the “work” side of things.
I’m snoozing “life” things even more than I’m snoozing emails so I can deal with other, more pressing emails. I will manage to wash a couple of loads of laundry and dump them on the daybed in the basement, and then it will be DAYS before I get around to sorting them and dragging the baskets back upstairs.
I’m snoozing the promise to play Barbies with C because of work. I’m snoozing the mess on the dining room hutches even though it’s driving me bonkers to see bins the kids’ art supplies stacking up. I’m snoozing making the muffins I said I’d make. I’m snoozing the rooms that need to be tidied and the outgrown clothes that need to be sorted and the husband who wants to talk about his day and the dog that wants to play and the sewing I’d really like to do.
I’m rush, rush, rushing through everything and I don’t know how to stop. I don’t know whether the solution is setting more concrete work hours (haaaaaa I’d just work anyway, if something needed to be done) or taking on fewer projects (fat chance) or scheduling in the “home” stuff with as much priority as my work?
If you need me, I’ll be here — digging through my “snoozed” folder and trying to get things to the “archived” one.
And probably wishing I would just stop for 10 minutes and cook myself some eggs.
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Heather's Handmade Life 