melted crayons

When we got home after the reception, we didn't bring anything in except for food and flowers.

I figured I'd bring in the rest a little at a time, as I could handle it,

starting, of course, with the linens.

I went out in the afternoon to get the second bag of linens out of the van

and was met by the strong scent of  lemongrass.

From candles.

that had been, shall we say, warmed by the sun.

I groaned as I walked around to the back of the van;

this did not smell good. 

I mean, the candles smelled good, but the situation

did not.

Fortunately, most of the candles were upright in boxes, but there was one that was not.

It wasn't in a box; nor was it upright.

It was however, in a bowl - for which I was very grateful.

Also, nicely contained, and melty, were the crayons from the kids' table.

I was a little bummed, 'cause I'd been excited about having so many new crayons.

At some point during the week, I followed a link that led to Jean's stained glass bunting post

and thought, "That is what we'll do with our melted mess of crayons."

Saturday was an Alexander type of bad day.

For some reason, I thought all would be redeemed if we just did a craft together.

(yes, I know; you are all hearing "What Was I Thinkin'?" right about now...)

I set out to grate some crayons.

It took for.ev.er.

What kind of person does this regularly? I wondered.

Stupid craft people.

I called in kids to help unwrap the crayons,

which sped up the process a tiny bit.

When I growled at the kids in response to their "What are you grating crayons for?" questions,

I realized it might not be the best idea to attempt a family craft after all.

Sunday was a better day,

and I really did want the bunting,

so I decided to pull everything out.

Brandon and TJ (who came down to celebrate Ton's birthday) joined in, too.

Since the mess was contained to the LEM, and the project was such a hit with everyone,

I left everything out and kids periodically went back to it on Monday.

(Of course, by Monday afternoon, they'd made such a mess, I was again wondering, "What was I thinkin?!")

I still haven't managed to turn them into a bunting yet, but just look how pretty it will be.

Which, of course, was exactly what I was thinkin'.