What can I say? On many fronts, my youngest son thinks I could have done a better job in the mothering department. He regularly brings up the fact that his aunt, not his mother, had to teach him how to tie his shoes. That even though I did my tour as a room mother on more than one occasion, I did NOT like to be a driver for class field trips, and I NEVER, repeat NEVER, have the kind of food that teenagers such as himself like to eat. He may appreciate my home-baked cookies, but laments their having to frequently be washed down with GOAT! milk (i.e. SOY milk) when its refrigerator companion, skim, is all gone.
I plead guilty to the above charges.
But there aren't many moms, who given a forty-five minute window of time could pull together a homemade wrist corsage for that evening's Christmas dance because said son did not want to spend the requisite twenty to thirty dollars at a florist. He just happened to know about my talent because I had made a spring version of a wrist corsage for his brother's senior prom.
In case you are wondering how I managed to pull this off, given my many other maternal inadequacies, here's how:
Have on hand a box of OASIS Mini-Deco Holders (Oasis Floral Foam on a self-stick base, used to make small fresh flower arrangements) that are squirreled away in your basement somewhere. Find them.
They look like this:
Notice the little slits on the side that you can thread a ribbon through.
Assemble an assortment of clippings from your garden; in this case, arborvitae, nandina berries and foliage, a rose bud that has escaped frost, and some seeded eucalyptus berries (steal from a flower arrangement).
Hydrate the little dome of oasis and then let it drain.
Clip your green pretties to their desired length, then wrap them around in a circular fashion, or just stick little sprigs of foliage and berries into the foam in a pleasing way, securing with a straight pin if necessary.
Thread your ribbon of choice through the slits
and Voila! You have a wrist corsage.
If you are lucky, you will also have stashed away a plastic sushi take-out container that is both functionally and visually appropriate (that IS why you kept it after all, right? for a wrist corsage?)
After you have cleaned up all of your mess, your son will ask you to make another one for his friend. Politely say not only no, but hell no.
Refrigerate until said son leaves which will be in about ten minutes. Because he only told you about forty-five minutes ago, remember?
Remind him what an awesome mother you are and make him suffer through a few pictures at home, even though the official pictures are being taken at his date's house.
Remind him again what an awesome mother you are, tell him how handsome he looks, tell him to drive carefully (again) and then send him on his way.
Oh! And the little dome also has adhesive on the back, so if you want to use it on a gift box, or anything else for that matter, it works just fine and looks ever so nice. Like on this bamboo tea box I gave to Color Girl last spring. Please note that because I was busy being an awesome mother, I did not have time to color my roots before this picture was taken. I did, however, remember to color coordinate my coat to the blossoms (because I am kind of sick that way).
Labels: Christmas, christmas dance, floral foam, oasis, wrist corsages
Clip your green pretties to their desired length, then wrap them around in a circular fashion, or just stick little sprigs of foliage and berries into the foam in a pleasing way, securing with a straight pin if necessary.
