Snowman Army

For Christmas this year I've been making sock snowmen for family and friends.

I originally just made a pair of them for Janice and Grandma Laura (because they love snowmen), but everyone who's seen them has wanted one, so the snowman army has continued to grow.

I found the idea on pinterest.

Each snowman is the 'tube' part of a crew sock, and the coats and hats are another sock ( I did a how-to in an earlier post).

Snowmen for Janice

Snowmen for Grandma Laura

Snowmen for Grandma Lucy and Renee
Renee's snowman seems to be everyone's favorite, the glasses are just so cute!

My kitchen table is starting to look reminiscent of a Calvin & Hobbes comic (except my snowman aren't fleeing a snow shark or turning into a zombie hoard.)

I actually made 4 more after this picture was taken, but I didn't get a picture of all of them.

Christmas decorating

Rick and I went home for Thanksgiving with my parents on Sunday.
It was wonderful, we got to see my folks, cats, my sister and her boyfriend.

It's a tradition that we put up the tree on Thanksgiving so even though we had Thanksgiving a few days early, we stuck with it.
Sarah, as she does every year, made a party dress out of the tinsel.
I don't know why she does it. She's weird.
But it's also become a sort of tradition at our house that Sarah wear the tinsel every year, and I think I'd be a little disappointed if she didn't.

Here Sarah gives us "duck face" 

Here Sarah cracks herself up because "duck face" is dumb - also I was saying things like "Yeah! Give me that duck face! Work it like a duck!"

Sabe` is under the impression (and has been for something like 14 years now) that she is a present. And she will spend the vast majority of her indoor time parked under the tree from now until it comes down after new years

She looks really sweet under there among the gifts, until you try to move her. Then she bites.

Rick and I then went to see his parents Sunday night, and monday I took him to an eye appointment and then I headed back to Ames for work.

I also decorated our apartment!

Our door

Rick's instructions were "Don't get out of control"

Hahahahahaha! Silly Rick. 
It's Christmas decorating, control is not an operative word here.

A reindeer bowl full of pinecones and berries and jingle bells

The coffee table

Be Merry

another wall

our tree!

Rollo inspects my decorations

I can't tell if he approves or not

Raising Spiny Norman

There's a thread on Hedgehog Central comparing the ages and weight of members' hedgehogs.  They also have people take pictures of their hedgies next to a dollar bill for a "constant reference" to use for comparison.

Rollo let me get ONE picture of next to the Dollar bill and he's a little scrunched up in it, so you don't get his full length

 A US dollar is about 6.14"
Most people's hedgies seem to be smaller than the bill and they all say things like
"5 months - 227g"
"4.5 months - 252g"
"5.5 months - 325g"
"7 months - 255g"

Rick "palms" Rollo - it's crazy to compare this to his Halloween Photo shoot!

 Rollo is 11 weeks old
He's 7 1/2 inches long
He weighs 349 grams

After that first picture he did this.

And now I've come to realize-
Rick and I are raising Spiny Norman.

He walked all over the couch wearing this dollar bill

It's like a cape! Rick and I couldn't stop laughing

Then he ditched the dollar to go stick his head in this toilet paper tube

Here he is looking like a majestic meatloaf 

Rollo tests the edge before thinking better of it and backing off

Here he looks at me like "Why aren't you putting a hand out to catch me?"

Christmas Decorations!

I've had a few requests for Christmas decorations from my sister and our friend Matt, both of whom have just purchased and/or moved into new houses and don't have much in the way of holiday decor.

So off to Pinterest! 

I found a wreath really similar to this and decided, "I can make that" 

Here's the wreath I made for our friend Matt

I also found these on Pinterest! The Snowmen I did a "how to" on an earlier post and the apothecary jars (and their contents) were something I thought Sarah would like. 

She really likes the apothecary jars I have in my bathroom (which are 1/4 the size of these - I keep TUMS and Q-tips and cotton balls in them) but with these I thought she could change out the fillings with the seasons and make use of them year round. 

Apothecary Jars and Snowmen for Sarah

 Sarah likes having a "color scheme" so because of the candy canes, I picked silver, white and red to give her consistent colors to work around.

I also got her this stainless steel serving tray. She may or may not keep it under the apothecary jars and it's a little too shiny for my personal taste, but you can never go wrong with a nice sturdy serving tray and Sarah really likes shiny so I think she'll make good use of  it. 

Red and Silver ornaments, candy canes and red, silver and white gift bows!

Interior Decorator

Every evening when I wash his wheel and bedding, I put Rollo's crinkle ball and toilet paper tube in the middle of the cage. 

Erin's placement of Rollo's toys

Every morning when I wake up I find the toilet paper tube shoved under the wheel and the crinkle ball in the corner or in the litter box.

Rollo's placement of Rollo's toys

I haven't decided if we're playing a game, or if I'm just frustrating his hedgehog sense of aesthetics by refusing to recognize that THAT'S where he WANTS them.

The "Interior Decorator" crawling around on Rick's shoulders

Sock Snowman - How to...

I found this idea for Sock Snowmen on pinterest and decided to make a "how to" because they're Just SO CUTE!

A snowman costs under $2 to make via Socks from Target and a huge mixed bag of buttons from Hobby Lobby.

Supplies needed: A white sock, a pretty christmas sock, some little beads for eyes, a toothpick, an orange marker, a hot glue gun, two rubber bands, some string, a pair of scissors, and some rice or beans to use as filling - I use rice.

 I knew I'd be making several snowmen (I was making them with Sam & Audrey) so I bought a six pack of crew socks from target for 6.99 = 60 cents per snowman and the fancy socks are from the dollar section so about 50 cents per snowman. The big bag of buttons was $5.99 - but there's a TON of buttons so the cost per snowman is pretty much nothing, plus now I have all these buttons for other projects! And rice is pretty cheap, so it's a great filler.

You could make them even cheaper using the tubes of crew socks with holes in the toes or lost partners.

Here's how you cut your sock. you're only going to use the "tube" part of the crew sock and you'll use both the toe and the "tube" of the christmas sock.

Flip the tube inside out and tie one end SUPER TIGHT with a rubber band

 You could do a homemade dry potpourri as some of the filling, or a smushed up cinnamon stick to add a fun scent.

Flip it right-side-out again so the rubber band is on the inside (gives you a flat bottom) and fill it with rice.  TIP: squish the rice down as you fill to make a nice round snowman - I put about 2 cups of rice in a small women's crew sock. 

Tie  off the top of your stuffed tube 

Roll your tube to stretch it out - this step also "checks for leaks"

Grab the "tube" of your fancy sock to dress your snowman

Tie the top of the sweater to the snowman to create the head

I also tie the tip of the hat because I think it's cute, you could skip this if you wanted a floppier hat

Color the tip of a toothpick orange and cut it in half to make the nose

It takes a little wiggling, but you just stick the toothpick into the sock. The weave and the rice keep it in place so you don't need to glue it or anything.

Glue on your eyes and you've got a sock snowman! I also add some fancy buttons to decorate the hat and sweater and give each snowman a little personality 

Rollo!

Rollo wants Rick to put him down

You can see his tiny little teeth as he eats a meal worm from Rick's hand. You can also see where his quills are falling out. His quilling is getting everywhere and Rick and I keep finding them with our feet. We can't wait for it to be over.

Rollo gives Rick a sassy sideways glance

Rollo in my lap

Look at his tiny little tail!

We tried to take another picture of Rollo in the tea cup, but he's TOO BIG and kept tipping it over!

the mighty hunter stalks his wiggly prey

He looks extra fierce as he devours his meal worm!

Here Rick supplied Rollo with a bonanza of wiggly worms

he's going to make Rollo fat...
I love that you can see his tongue in this picture!

Rollo examines the tea cup

He's so fun to take pictures of!
He's just so cute!