The Tarantula Chronicles: Part 1

Jacob is taking me down a road I never expected to visit or never expected to enjoy so much.

I'm calling this adventure our "TARANTULA CHRONICLES".

Jacob is an adventurer. An experimenter. An inventor. Inquisitive to the max. He decided that tarantulas would make an interesting and exciting and enthralling pet. It has been all those things so far.

The first one was acquired from a pet store. Jacob "jumped in with both feet" as they told him on a Tarantula Forum he found online. He got a Goliath Birdeater that is mean and gets large. As large as a dinner plate.

Here's Jacob and the pet store owner discussing his choices. There were two possible ones he selected.  He had called earlier and had researched and knew what he wanted. Haley and Jake looked at the entire selection but quickly zeroed in on the pre-chosen ones.

 

He studied.

He pondered.

He made a choice.

To be continued...........There's more....so much more.

Traditional Candle Lighting Centerpieces

We've done a few of these traditional 

candle lighting centerpieces for 

Bar/Bat Mitzvahs this season.

Sometimes the candles are part of 

the centerpiece.

Sometimes they are in glass holders 

on the sides.

Either way it's a great place to make it 

personalized with a cutout name and often

a photo...sometimes more than one.

No amount of candles seems to be

the "correct amount". We've done

from just one candle to up to

seventeen!  Now that was quite a few

and certainly not the norm. I'll bet 

there were some folks wiggling in

their seats at that one.

I do see a trend towards shorter and

faster candle lightings but I can't image

they will ever stop happening.  

PLACE CARD TICKETS for sports & concert themed parties

We often do themed party placecards.

A popular option is a ticket whether it's for

a sports themed party or a music party.

Often they are free standing foldover 

place cards.  Sometimes they are

single thickness and insert into a

foamcore table top rectangle with

slits cut into it. This is a great option for

a windy area or to keep the place cards 

neat and orderly.

We also have little plastic holders that work

well with place cards that are not the traditional

rectangle shape.

The colorful place card on the top left is easily 

adaptable to changing a picture of either a sports

arena or field or even a musical concert venue.

The ones on the right work best with a 

unique and personalized party logo that

can go in the center.

We always enjoying doing placecards....

even though they are a last minute event and

often have last minute changes. 

It always surprises me when there aren't 

new arrivals and last minute deletions.

Even with all the pre-planning, life

has a way of re-working that placecard list.

Mickey Mouse waffles....life's little pleasures

I've had this Mickey Mouse waffle maker for

over 13 years now. My Mom & Dad bought it for

me before Jacob was born. I just knew I'd be

making Mickey Mouse waffles a bunch of times in the

upcoming years and I have.

Sometimes they have apples in them or strawberries or

blueberries. Sometimes even bananas. I usually 

sprinkle in some wheat germ and use extra eggs. I've

even dropped in some orange juice for flavoring.

They often over run the circle so we have to

scrape off the pieces that do not stay within

the Mickey Mouse shape. That's the mess you

see around bottom.  We wouldn't want to

eat the parts that do not apply....defeats

the purpose don't 'ya think.

Often when we're full there's always room

to pull off an ear on the last waffle.

The ears are the crunchiest.

In a re-model of my kitchen someone

secretly knocked my Mickey Mouse waffle maker

 on the floor and broke a piece on the dial and quietly put

it back on the shelf. I thought it was

done for.  I was so bummed out. 

But Jim fixed it and it's been

going strong for over 7 more years so far.

Behind the waffle maker I have these pretty little

plaques. I love them. Whoever put them in the 

family Christmas grab bag...thank you.

They blend well with my counter tops and also

with my Mickey Mouse waffle maker.

Fussin' & frettin' with my Dad

So since my Dad's in the hospital, we've all been 

in the fussing and fretting mode. 

My Dad's the caretaker and not one to like

being on the receiving end of things.

He tells us to go home as soon as we get there....

over and over.

I told him I was going to take a video of him 

telling us to go home so he could quit saying 

it and we could just watch the video.

Here it is.

Real Men do laundry

 Come on Jake...show your face.

Real men do laundry and I'm proud

of you. Good job you're doing there...

necessary and important and vital

to the family welfare.

Thanks....that's better. Now that

wasn't so hard, was it?

Menorah-type centerpiece for candle lighting ceremonies

Every time we've made one of these 

centerpieces for a Bar/Bat Mitzvah Candle Lighting

Ceremony, they've each

been a little different and unique.

Any amount of candles seems to work just fine.

Any type of font blends in well.

We added holographic silver to the top one

and it gave it an interesting 

sparkle and shine.

Even a bit of the party theme can work

on it...like Jordyn's hugs and kisses.

They're just a bit different.

It's The Village of Wolverine Lake.

5 houses down from me is one of our Village signs.

There are a few more around the perimeter of our 

Village of Wolverine Lake but this one is the one I see

the most often. Whoever designed them made a pleasing 

sign that fits the flavor of this Village.

It's placed right near the beginning of the wood 

boardwalk that provides safety and a cool way to travel 

from point A to B.

Here's our quaint wooden boardwalk.

This boardwalk was a long time coming and I'm glad

it's here. It's used often by many people. I'm happy it

was constructed before Michigan took a poop.

January our sign was looking pretty messed up.

 Time had taken it's toll. Michigan winters

can be unkind sometimes.

But now it's lookin' good again.It's a sign to

be proud of and I'm glad fixing it up was put

in the budget.

Mulberry pickin' at the spooky house

There's a spooky windowless house across the lake 

and in a cove....kinda hidden from the rest of the lake.

Thank goodness its hidden away. 

It's the worst looking house on the lake.

 I wrote about the street side view in 

another blog post called Curb Appeal.

But there is a cool mulberry bush hanging

into the lake so there's something positive here.

We kayaked over there and feasted.

You had to grab a branch and pull and

lean and pick. They were soft and

tart and squishy and juicy.

  These guys looked like "survivors" foraging
for food in the wild.

 Good thing the water is shallow here. 

Standing in a kayak is never a really 

good idea.

 But if he fell in maybe it would clean up

his mulberry face!

"Rock the Rink"....colorful girls hockey party decorations.

The whole time this was in our work room Stacey

and I kept saying how much we loved these

colors together.

It was so vibrant and different than all

the reds and blacks and blues we seem to

be using a bunch.

Also, hockey...especially for a girl....was

uniquely fun too.

Memorial Day 2010

• Visited my brother up north for my sister-in-laws birthday.

Got to see his camper for the first time and we 

waded in the water on the Rifle River. 

He cooked a great pork loin on the grill.

• Saw a parade with peeps that I love in it. 

The morning was beautiful and 

the sun was hot and shining bright.

• Had a great bike ride to and from the parade and

snagged a Dilly Bar on the way home. Heavenly! I love

my bike. I love how it feels and I know it's gear settings.

I feel like I can fly.

I love Dilly Bars too. I'd put them in the top 10 of

the favorite things I love to enjoy.

Then around 2 pm it started to look like night.

The sky darken and I sat on my rope swing on

the porch and watched it roll & rumble in.

Glad I got that bike ride in.

Jazz, Hip Hop, Rock 'n Roll Music Centerpieces

Hey...we got to do some other musical

instruments besides guitars!

What fun! 

We did saxophones & violins.

 Trumpets!

And some guitars too.

I love the way the tables were

named for kinds of music like hip hop, jazz,

country, rhythm and blues, soul, rock and roll.

And I really loved the splash of very hot

and pizzazy pink.

We've also done other instruments like 

pianos, french horn, violin and harp. As well as

clarinets and flutes but the bigger instruments make

a bigger statement. 

I guess there is no instrument that wouldn't work or

look festive with the addition of musical notes or

stars or words banners.

Tie-dye with paint for that sixties look

Stacey...my clever and talented 

daughter/business partner 

(I can say that stuff because I'm her

Mom and also it's true)....

came up with this interesting way to get

that tie-dyed look with paint.

I saw the finished product and I said "How'd

you do that!"

And then I saw her secret weapons.

Well...not really weapons...more like

secret tools.  

Well...now...not even so secret.

She took these paper twists and laid them on the

foamcore and then sprayed over them.

When she removed them, it kept the foamcore

white in those spots and gave it that 

tie-dyed swirly look. 

Of course, she added a light

sprinkling of iridescent glitter over it because 

that's who we are and what we do.

I also wanted to save the twists. Not sure why.

I just thought the twists were cool too.

Stacey also "tie-dyed" the gift card

box. Here's the back of it.

(If you want to see the front of it or

any other Gift Card Boxes, you can

visit our website.)

The little dots are holographic

silver dots that we added for sparkle.

Colorful fun effect...wouldn't you say so?

GIFT CARD BOX cruise ship

I think I've mentioned this before...

I love to grab a kid from around here and

have them pose with something we 

did so it shows the scale. It's so much

better than just saying 3 foot long.

It's easy to see it this way.

 This big boat was used for a candle lighting

first....then it was used for GIFT CARDS the

rest of the evening.

On the same "deck" as the gift card slot there

were mini deck chairs that held a votive 

candle. Those were provided by the Mom

so I don't have them for the picture.

But I do have a picture of the way it shipped.

All the pieces fit inside the ship. 

 This is sorta a weird picture but it shows

how they were all inside the .... what do you 

call it....the hull? I'll just call it the inside of

the body of the ship. Ya' know what I mean.

 This was probably the biggest and fanciest

Gift Card Box we've made.

We love making these themed boxes to

go with any event. It's fun to make just 

one themed item instead of multiples for 

centerpieces ...especially if it was a

cruise ship!

If you care to view some more, you

can visit that page on our "official" website.
(This here stuff is just my blog ramblings.)

The Gift Card Box page is here.

Or, you can copy and paste this address:
http://partydecorationsbymarlyss.com/

giftcardboxes.html

Magnolia Heebie-Jeebies

Without a doubt...this is my favorite tree 

in my yard.

I transplanted it from my previous house and

it was a yucky and wan 2 foot nothing of a tree. 

It didn't like where it was planted.

I knew it had potential. Now over 20 years

later, it is about 25 feet tall.

But its beauty is so temporary.

And it leaves such a mess as it

drops his pink-turned-brown 

petals all over the ground...

and deck too.

But it's so glorious at it's peak

that I'll take the good with the bad.

I'd make this picture my

computer screensaver if I

hadn't taken it in the wrong direction.

But maybe that's just as well since I 

keep 6 million folders on my computer

screen. The combination of all these

flower petals and folders might make

me have a sensory overload!

Or, give me the heebie-jeebies. 

Yeah....they're real.