Thinking about Christmas.....in July

So far, this week's been quite a doosey. My mother in law went to Ireland on Sunday, to visit her mother, for two weeks. My Father, Brother, Sister and Doggie Sister in law all stayed behind. Sadly, they are helpless without their Mom. I don't know how she does it, but she's got control of everything in that house, and it's all falling apart without her. I've been doing my best to pick up the pieces. I can tell you now for sure that I know that I can handle motherhood. I mean, if I can take care of a sick 17 year old, and a hungry 67 year old, I'm sure I can take care of a crying infant. I'm exhausted.

Despite the fact that I'm exhausted, my mind just won't quiet. I can't stop thinking about Christmas. Since we're going to Florida for Christmas, I've been thinking about it non stop. I want to sew some clothes for the trip, but also, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking I may want to make a quit for my mother in law for Christmas. She's terrible to shop for, cause she basically has everything she wants, but she goes crazy for homemade things. I was looking around on the internet this morning and stumbled upon these ideas:

www.purlbee.com

www.purlbee.com

www.purlbee.com

This weekend, if it ever comes, I want to finally start and finish a project that I've been thinking about for YEARS. Maybe four years ago my mother in law was watching this old lady while she was in hospice. She didn't really have any other family, and Sally (my mother in law) had taken care of her when she was sick. When she died, Sally helped clean out her apartment, and brought me a ton of the house things that no one else wanted. A lot of it was good stuff, and I was just starting out on my own so I gladly accepted it. One of the things she brought me was this tray:




I like the idea of the tray, but I'm not crazy about the color or the design. For awhile I thought I would do a mosaic on the top. I even saved all kinds of plates to break into mosaic pieces. But that's not going to happen. I'm thinking now maybe I'll prime it and spray paint it. Maybe I could even make a stencil on it to add some appeal. We'll see what I come up with.