Pressured to craft

Lucky for you while the Old Man is on rotation, you get to read posts about me until he gets back and gives me some of the good stuff to write. :)

1/6 is fortunate enough to have an online chat group that can be good and evil. It's great to get the support, ideas, and info on other 1/6 Marines from the families. It's not so great reading through the other posts from the wives and mothers suggesting these fantastic, wonderful, elaborate things they've made and sent to their Marines that leave you scrambling to put something together just as nice and thoughtful. Well, maybe I'm the only one scrambling, but boy do I.

One of the little things that I found myself pondering is if the stuff I'm sending is as grand and well received in comparison. From what I gather, we all do whether we mean to or not. The last thing I'd want is the Old Man running around making fun of me lifting things up one by one going, What the? because the very first package I sent was full of stuff that didn't make any sense, but seemed like a good idea at the time...**big sigh** Not that that's happened.

So you couple this with the pressures of being a brand spankin new wife and what do you have? The Pressure to Craft. My sister and I outbursted in Michaels as I'm scouring the aisles past the foam nativity sets and scrapbooking supplies as we realized I'm scouring because I'm Pressured to Craft!! Who'd have thought?! I'm lifting up foamy wreaths and cardboard cones going, "Hmmmm...what can I make this into?" Then beating myself up because I'm not quite as creative and my one big try to make a few dozen jar cakes ended up in a few dozen undercooked jars of cake batter and two burnt hands. Lucky for me a few days ago, I found an all inclusive box with ingredients to make the 5 Layer Bars of Joy we both like.

Ohhh, The Pressure to Craft. I title this because it's this phenomenon that goes on within military families back home who are running low on ideas or wanting to make the best of that flat rate box. And damn it, Aunt Carolyn, you've got it down pretty darn good, but my one saving grace with you is that you've had that all along. I once posted my grand idea of making the Old Man a countdown calendar with pictures, special dates, and the days remaining till he gets home in the chat room. By the way, the only thing resulting from the calendar idea was a pile of guilt from not finishing it up. Sometimes I wish I could be like one other 1/6 wife who after I made my grand suggestion says, "What? I don't have time for that crap. I work for a living!" At the time it seemed a little harsh, but oh how I envy her strength!

I'm a little more fortunate time wise since we don't have children and I delayed grad school one semester, but give me all the time in the world and the best I can do is a puff painted T-Shirt. Last time I checked, those went out with high school pep rallies. I decided to get a list together of things that would make cute little thoughtful gifts to the Old Man and his Marines since he pretty much has everything he needs.

So if you're Pressured to Craft or just want to do a few hands on things (esp with Valentines Day coming), hopefully these simple projects show you the light at the end of the tunnel...Even better, leave me a comment or two with some ideas to ease my worries!

Countdown calendar. Print out pictures for the top half and a calendar for the bottom. Word has a calendar wizard that lets you import pics, specialize dates, and customize almost everything else.

Love letters. I found a mini tin mailbox in the Target dollar section with foam letter stickers. Fill it up with love letters or little one line memories. One for everyday he's deployed until he gets home.

Marine Corps scrapbook. Another thing on my list of to do's. This one is the nicest one I've seen and it's about $40 bucks at Michael's. You can often catch them half off if you keep checking out the Sunday ads. Marine Corps Album

CD. Burn a quick CD with music that reminds him of you, family, or the top songs out right now. I'm pretty sure these never get old.

Picture CD/DVD. Copy/paste pictures to a CD/DVD of you throughout your normal day to send over.

Old fashioned heart cards. You know the ones from construction paper with stuff glued all around the edges? So this isn't the most manly thing to send, but I'm sure he'd like it.

Personalized puffy hands. I'm telling everyone my fantastic idea only because I think it'd be hilarious if the 1/6 families welcomed our Marines with a sea of puffy hands. You can pick up little foam fingers at Michael's for $1.50 and mark them up with whatever you want!

Puffy paint t-shirt. I stand by this. It'll be cute for the kids to do and for everyone to wear when your Marine comes home. Or if you're a real pro, they have those iron on do hickeys that you run through your computer printer for pictures.

Pipe cleaner people. I have two of those little gumby-picture head things of me and the Old Man as a bride and groom. These pipe cleaner people are sort of the same. OK, maybe not...I'm all out. Maybe you should stick to consulting the pros and ignore this post altogether!