On Board

I’ve been a bit stressed out this week.  Like burst out crying to the therapist stressed out.  Monday night I heard some rustling around in the front hall and found Dany eating from a bag of dark chocolate chips.  There were about 10 chips left in the 9oz bag when I caught her and freaked out.  After a few minutes of trying to figure out what the heck happened from an (unreliable) 3 year old and a (slightly more reliable) 6 year old, we discovered Patricia had snuck a new bag of chocolate chips out of the cabinet, used her scissor skills to cut it open and hid in the bar room eating them.  Then she ran away so we wouldn’t catch her and left them on the floor.  She claims she ate “a LOT” but I now suspect that may be like 10 chocolate chips. I freaked out and may have told Patricia that she killed Dany.  (This is not the first time she has done something like this, which is why all the candy and marshmallows in the house are on top of the fridge – except for the chocolate chips.)  Pretty sure you aren’t supposed to tell your 3 year old that they killed their favorite pet.  She doesn’t understand what death is exactly but she came downstairs weeping, “is Dany going to have to stay at the doctor for a long, long time?”  Not my best parenting moment.  Actually probably my worst parenting moment.  Hopefully she never does this again.

Poison control told me I needed to go immediately to an emergency vet with overnight care.  There they had Dany vomit up the chocolate (she had definitely eaten the entire bag) and hooked her up to a monitor to make sure she didn’t have any heart problems overnight.  I was pretty depressed late Monday when I got home.  I just kept thinking of how rough Dany looked when I left and how she was looking at me out of her cage. Poor thing. Luckily Tuesday morning I was able to pick her up and she seemed back to her normal self!  She is now just confused why I’m giving her rice and chicken for all her meals (because of stomach upset) and all her legs are shaved.

Between guilt for yelling at Patricia, sadness for my doggie getting hurt, and then some lame pity party type sorrow I decided I needed some retail therapy (after actual talk therapy and actual crying).  Since it’s Earth Month I decided to buy from Patagonia worn wear!  If you don’t know, this is Patagonia’s second hand store.  I need shorts (I think it’s finally time to pass along these ones from high school…) so this seemed like a good way to go!  Not only does Patagonia re-sell clothes second hand and recycle textiles, they will repair your clothes!  I love this and really hope it catches on.  As you know, I’m already on board.

Since it’s Earth Month I have to show you another upcycle.  For Julius’s party I really wanted to create little suitcases as favor bags.  The caveat was that they had to be made from the brown paper grocery bags that I collect.  Here’s how to do it!  

Train Luggage Favor Bag

What you’ll need for each:

• brown paper grocery bag
• paper for “strap”
• black cardstock for handle and corner supports
• 4 brads
• tape roller
• brown cardstock for luggage tag
• string for luggage tag
• Cricut pattern for luggage tag
• stickers or stamps

1. Fold paper bag top down to a couple inches from the bottom of the bag.  
2. Cut off the top of the bag 1″ above the fold.
3. Cut slits in the four corners of the bag down to the fold from step 1. 
4. Fold each side into the bag.  Tape down using tape glider.
5. Cut 1″ x8.5″ strips of paper for the straps
6. Using the tape glider, glue the strips onto the front of the bag so they look like bag straps.
7. Cut out 4 corner pieces (a triangle rounded on one end). 
8. Glue the corner pieces to the front of the bag at each corner. 
9. Cut out 2 handle pieces.
10. Tape the handle pieces to the top center of the bag on the front and back. 
11. Using a sharp needle (or other sharp pointed object) punch a hole thru the handle and the layers of bag on each place where the handle connects.
12. Insert brads thru holes.
13. Set your cricut to cardstock settings and then use the regular cutting tool and the fine tip pen as specified.  Cut/write with cricut. 
14. Insert string thru hole and then tie to handle of bag.  
15. Decorate with stickers or stamps if desired.