The Happy Homemaker

Happy *belated* 4th of July!!! I absolutely love the 4th, it's always been a very happy holiday in my family and the perfect time for good ole' fashion 'Merica fun. If you are related to the military in some way then you know that your military friends really do become like your family when you move to new places, this year I excitedly hosted a 4th of July BBQ (MY FIRST EVER) with some of the people we have come to know and love.
I love, repeat LOVE, to host themed get-togethers; so of course I went all out. I created a menu and supplies list about a week in advance and started making the decorations about 3 days in advance.

 Doing crafty things is something I've always enjoyed. To start I made some cute red, white, and blue wind chime streamer things.... they fluttered in the wind with amazing grace despite being made out of paper plate holders and cut up plastic table cloths.
 I also made this wreath.

Now this wreath was a labor of love. I literally hand carved the wreath form out of cardboard because Wal-Mart was out of the proper wire forms. (It took an hour) I also carved out the stars because, welll I thought it would be adorable; then of course the bow that I made and remade about 4 times.

Overall I am pretty proud of my little creation.

Next I made these super adorable and way too easy flower "vases". My stripes don't match up and the blob looking stars are faced away from viewing eyes but generally I thought it was a nice touch.

There were a few more bits here and there, some purchased, others made by yours truly... red, white, and blue cake, cocktail, and meringues (that I didn't put out because they didn't come out right), hand cut homemade star tortilla chips, so on and so forth. In this entire process from glittery-eyed start to tipsy-faced end I learned a very good lesson.... No one can appreciate the details and hard work the way that you can and that it is perfectly okay.
At first I was a bit bummed out that not a single person had any chips or that I was the only one that enjoyed the cake. And I was a little sad that a couple people left before the BBQ was in full swing. Quite frankly I was wallowing in self pity the next day because everything I had spent time doing went completely unnoticed... or at least unacknowledged; but then I got some great advice from my mom. She said "sometimes you just have to do it for yourself."and you know what? I couldn't agree more. Being crafty is not just something I enjoy but is part of who I am! Cooking and baking and challenging myself is something I have always considered a chunk of myself that is unique.
I am a homemaker and for a millisecond I almost forgot how proud of that I am.
I think this is amazing food for thought with every aspect of your life and maybe it's a bit silly that I am only just now coming to realize it but honestly, I spend SO MUCH of my days dedicating my time to other people: my two children, my husband, my friends, my family, or even my house (not a person but seriously....), I sometimes get lost in the mix I suppose. As a SHM or HW your main responsibilities are directly related to other peoples needs which makes it easy to forget that there are things you not only have to do but should do simply because they make you happy. For me it's making a big deal out of little details for casual get-togethers that no one will even notice.

All in all I had a lovely 4th of July and met some wonderful people. On to the next holiday :)