As you may or may not know, the Women Who Run with the Moose (that’s me and my friends, Celeste, Rita, Betty, Dot, and Shirley) are big into crafts. We just love to get together and cut, paste, and hot-glue. Then we put sequins on everything to cover up the boo- boos! So every now and then, I’ll be bringing you some fabulous craft ideas to try at home.

We come up with this first one when us girls were having our movie night. We do that once a month at Shirley’s, because she has one of them big, flat-screen TVs in her family room. We were getting ready to watch “Beaches” again. We do that once a year and sob every time, start to finish.

So, Shirley has me go to the storage closet to get some extra boxes of Klennex. I open the door, and Boom! Out drops a big plastic bag plumb chuck full of shoulder pads. I carry it into the family room and say, “I keep my shoulder pads in my underwear drawer.”

Dot chimes in, “Mine were in my nylon drawer, but I moved them up to the attic because the ones with velcro were wreaking havoc!”

Then we start talking about how every time we buy a new piece of clothing, we bring it home and carefully cut the shoulder pads out. Because if we don’t, they scrunch all up when they're washed or suddenly start to wander, like they have a life of their own. 

Shirley says, “I was at my in-law’s 50th anniversary party in Milo. Realized folks were staring at me. I’m thinking it’s because I look so pretty. So, I go into the ladies, to powder my nose. That’s when I notice a have a third breast sticking out of my chest.”

Rita pipes up, “One time, I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror, and I looked like Quasimodo."

“So,” I say, “we all cut our shoulder pads out, right?  But does anyone throw them away?” Not one of us did.

Then Betty says, “Craft night, my house, next week.  Bring your shoulder pads.”

Oh, God, we had a hell of a good time! Once we got started, the ideas just flowed. We decorated a couple throw pillows with shoulder pads. We made shoulder pad garlands, potholders, trivits, a mobile for over the baby’s crib. My personal favorite is our shoulder pad wreath. Makes a handsome decoration for the front door, come the holidays. Non-denominational. It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a little inspiration and a 12-pack of wine spritzers!

That’s it for now. Catch you on the flip side!

(Listen to Ida's podcast here.)

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