Life is Sweet...Eat the Cake: Lack of planning head...

So I've been emailing back and forth with Mia since, oh, I don't know - maybe November 1st. She needed BIG ideas because she was hosting Thanksgiving at her new house - in-laws and all! It had to be perfect and she was going to pull out all the stops. She was on it - she was all over it - and Hobby Lobby had better watch out and Target and every other large, megastore in Illinois! I haven't seen a picture of her table or the lovely wheat centerpieces she created, but I know it must have been beautiful. She promptly texted me a picture of the silverware rolled into napkins and tied with ribbon and leaves gilded with each person's name.

This is how they turned out...

So I start realizing that I have done nothing - NOTHING to get ready for Thanksgiving and Pottery Barn catalogs keep showing up in my mailbox - like everyday! How many versions of Thanksgiving can they do? Do they not realize that my Super Walmart cannot keep up with their lovely table settings? I try, let me tell you - I still try.

Off I go to Walmart - at 10:30pm on Tuesday night, because I will not be caught dead with those frantic people on Wednesday. People in Effingham get crazy the day before a holiday. I don't have a license to carry my gun either. (Had I been born in Effingham, I would have had that, ya know?) So I have big plans to buy bolts of burlap because I am going for the whole "elegantly rustic" Pottery Barn look, a la Walmart prices. Walmart has recently decided that we aren't as country as we look and don't need a fabric counter - no bolts of burlap. Instead I buy a burlap-esque tablecloth and I am on my way!

Here is what I was doing at 1:30am - ever heard of tea staining? Geez.

Grab a few index cards, cut into thirds. Then snips the edges off each third and hole punch.

Make up a mixture of tea and coffee to get a deep, rich color. Dip each card into the tea for a few minutes.

But since it was almost sunrise at this point, I decide that I did not have the sanity to stand at the counter holding each tag in a tea cup, so I soak them overnight...