Voo-Doo Craft Therapy

Well, I suck.  LOL!

Its the end of the week and I'm no where close to being done with the dining room.  In fact, I've done so little that even Greyson was like, "Uh, Mom?  Can you finish it already?  I'm tired of all the junk in the living room."  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Well, if I wasn't running kids, having sick kids, washing clothes, and cleaning up after my little bunch of Pig Pens, I'd have a lot more done.  Feel my pain, moms?  ;)  Well, that and I've not really been hitting it as hard as I had planned.

I lost my mo-jo.  If you find it, will you mail it to me?   :P

I'm currently sitting at my desk, still in my robe, sipping Diet Dr. Pepper, and eating cottage cheese straight out of the container.  I think I might need an intervention.  HA HA HA!

Well that, and I'm starting to obsess about this weekend.

And with that obsessing came a funny little craft.  Its amazing how good laughter is for your soul - and how relaxing it can be.  And sometimes, crafts can be a great way to blow off some steam and doesn't always have to be something that's blog-worthy or magazine material.  But, I'm going to blog about it anyway.  HA!  I'm such a blog rebel.  ;)

I guess it would help if you knew what this weekend is...

IOWA 

AAU KIDS' STATE WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

ARGH!

I'm not sure where the time went because it just seems like yesterday that Noah took District Runner-Up.  But, here we are.

This is a big deal, peeps.  A huge deal.  It is the pinnacle of Iowa youth wrestling.  Hundreds, if not thousands of 3rd-8th grade wrestlers in the state - and only 32 from each grade and weight class make it this far.  SCARY!

Wells-Fargo Arena

Des Moines, Iowa

This is Noah's second time at State.  

He qualified last year in 2nd grade.

Clipping from our newspaper last year.
Ian is on the far left on the bottom row.
Noah is second from the right on the bottom row.

Last year gave him a little taste of what he'll be coming up against this year.  He went 1-2 and never made it close to the placing rounds.  Of course, he was a 2nd grader in with 3rd and 4th graders and we were just thrilled he was able to win one match.  This year, well, lots more pressure - at least for us.  Him?  Yeah.  Not even thinking about it.  Which, could be a good thing or a bad thing.  No nerves is probably a good thing.   Lord knows I've got enough for him.  But shouldn't be thinking about it a little bit?  According to him?  Not.

So, yesterday I was talking to another mom who's son has qualified in the same age group in the 65 lb. weight class.

We've wrestled their son once, and although Noah was able to eek  out a win in a weird overtime match, we've managed to become good friends.  We've cheered their son on at USA State, gone out to dinner, and even had the boys practice together.  They're just good people.  And the thing I like most about her is that she "gets it" when it comes to kids, competition, and youth wrestling - and the big picture of it all (This is just practice for high school and not the be all end all), but she's just as crazy of a mat mom, as I am.

So yesterday, we were discussing the weirdest mat mom behavior we've seen.  Kneeling on the mat while screaming encouraging your son is pretty basic behavior - and something you just expect,  however, she saw a mom at the recent high school state tournament literally twisting the life out of a beanie baby while rooting her son on from the stands.  A BEANIE BABY.  Really?  What'd the beanie baby ever do to her? LOL!  Somehow, one thing led to another and we started talking about making voo-doo wrestling dolls for mat moms.  And the more we laughed over it, the more I knew I actually had to make one to take to her on Saturday.

So, despite the dining room shouting withering insults at me, I brought out my tools and scraps.

Here's what I came up with and posted to my personal Facebook page last night:

I give Jennifer full credit for the suggestion of using panty hose for the body. HA HA HA!

The ensuing conversation with a few other wrestling parents chiming in was EPIC:

Its been a long time since I laughed that hard.  So I made another one for another friend of mine...

Complete with the annoying mo-hawk that some kids sport (  Some advice:  If you ever get into this sport, stay away from the mo-hawks, hair dye, and glitter...  Those are the ones the kids really rough up...  Unless of course your kid is a stud and can pull it off - same with multi-colored knee socks or a pink singlet) and a felt and button head gear.  HILARIOUS...  In a somewhat twisted and warped way, but oh so good for my heart.

See?  Sometimes crafting doesn't have to be all about the brouhaha of making something fantastic, but sometimes you can use it to brighten someone's day or just to have a good laugh.  It certainly worked for me!  Nothing like Craft Therapy.

So, now I'm off to pack.  We're heading out tomorrow - the living room is still trashed, wainscoting is all over the floor in the dining room, and the stairs are half primered.  Oh well, it'll still be waiting for when I get back on Sunday.

Say a little prayer for my little man.  Its going to be a long, tough weekend and I just hope he's not on the receiving end of this...