PoDiTaNS

My Babycakes machine!

2012-01-30T08:29:00.001-06:00

I was tooling around my fave thriftstore and what do I see?! A pink Babycakes mini cupcake maker!! I squeeeeeealed and about fell over at the 6$ price. It was pristine looking!

These are cupcakes. I was trying to decide how much batter to use and what spoon or implement works best for filling the wells.

Overfilled and slightly crunchy or underfilled – didn’t matter. 7 minutes for cupcakes rocks! At our xmas party I put some girls (hey, Jones Girls!!) in charge of it and they had a blast and did great!

True Dat

2012-01-26T08:25:00.001-06:00

The Clips

2012-01-24T08:20:00.001-06:00

So, I was trolling around on PINTEREST and saw this neat idea for road trips. Easy Cheesy photo on a clothespin. If the kid causes trouble, the clip comes down and at the next stop only the clips that are on the visor get a treat.

We test drove (ha! pun intended) the idea and it works great! Now, our “treats” were when I handed back a can of pringles the kid whose clip was down got it last, etc. And I would also sometimes say the clip was down for 15 minutes (and keep adding time as the offender talked back) – it gave them some control to be good and have the clip reinstated and also improved time telling skills. (ha!)

Since all three kids sit side by side there was still my Sit on Your Hands punishment for ~~poking~~ ~~prodding~~ ~~pinching~~ touching. And each one has a fleece blanket and they can cover their heads making a cocoon of privacy for themselves. The autistic kiddo started it years and years ago (I told him it was a bubble and he cannot hear or see anything outside of the bubble) and the others followed. It is funny (but calm and quiet!) when each one does it and there are just three blanket covered kids in the backseat.

Even running errands we use these tricks. Got any in the car tricks??

Chalkboard Paint + Mugs

2012-01-18T16:45:00.001-06:00

My chalkboard paint addiction is reaching new heights.

I have taken to spray painting mugs. Plastic from the Michael’s clearance bin (sorry cute birds – gotta paint over ya), thriftstore and yardsale finds (I love finding nice shaped mugs) and even mugs from my own cabinets (sorry, freebie mug from work).

I bought a bunch of chalk markers off ebay and gifted mugs n markers at the holidays. The chalk markers stay on through washings. Speaking of, I hand wash these. I just don’t want the spray paint to chip or flake and wreck my dishwasher. Not saying that will happen but rinsing out a mug is no biggie for the peace of mind that my dishwasher is safe from paint chips.

I do not prime or sand – yeah, that’s how I roll. I just use my spray paint trigger and mist several coats over the mugs. The bottoms do get a little chippy or scuffed with use (I’ve been using the same mug since October). I prep the surface of the mug by rubbing a piece of chalk over it and wiping it off.

oh- and in case you are wondering that orange mug- I used an Identipen and it has not faded or anything- even in the dishwasher. I wish I were a better doodler.

CD case beaded frame

2011-12-05T15:52:00.001-06:00

We have been making this for over a decade. CD case (pop out the center and take out the paper) + magnets (glue gunned to the BACK- check which side of the case has the HOLE) + lots of elmers and beads = awesomeness!

I learned early on to pick a color theme and preselect a bowlful of beads. I love using thriftstore found necklaces for this. I start with pony beads, tri beads, whatever. Put the elmers on and let the kiddo place the beads. Have a wet wipe handy or they inevitably wipe glue on their pants.

As they add beads the window morphs shape and just stop them before it is too small. I usually do it over several days. I had a bad experience with some old zip drive cases – for some reason they glued shut! I had never had that happen with cd or dvd jewel cases.

I like to pour tiny seed beads or pearls in the center window and tilt the case to make them stick to the inner edge of the glue around the “window” opening.

Day 2 we go back and add some smaller beads and fill in gaps. Same on day three maybe. And give it a good couple days to dry. You can go back and peel off glue drips. The glue dries clear but try to keep smears off the window opening. Then just open it to add a photo – which can be changed out. These make impressive (and cheap!) gifts. We once made one in shades of white for a teacher getting married – was a hit! This is something I usually keep a few on hand in the gift box (wrapped in bubblewrap).

Me: from a- z

2011-11-21T12:03:00.001-06:00

Photo credit: my 4 year old

Age: 43, 44 in 2 weeks but, I usually can't remember & have to do math on my fingers to make sure.
Bed size: King – and we need it! Most nights at least one cat and one or two kidlets end up in our bed.
Chore I hate: sweeping and moping – it seems futile the moment a kid spills something.
Drive: a truck
Essential start to my day: a shower.
Favorite color: ? red ?
Gold or silver: Silver- I am always scared I will lose gold so don’t wear much of it.
Hobbies: photo crafts, paper crafts, decluttering.
Instruments I play: Is an MP3 player an instrument.
Job title: SAHM, Limon Family CEO, part time online sales person. Depends on who's asking.
Kids: 3.
Lived: Pensacola & Jacksonville Florida, Gitmo Cuba, Rota Spain, Hawaii, all over Texas (Navy Brat).
Make up: renewed my love for it. Digging 2 Faced base and Mac eyeshadows.
Number of Cats Currently: 2 inside, 1 indoor/outdoor and a passel of outdoors, some I share with my neighbor. Had over 2 dozen for about 10 years (rescuer not hoarder)
Overnights away from kids: Does hospital after labor count? Then 0.
Pet Peeve: the mouth noises my kids make and when they chew on shirts – ugh!
Quote from a movie: "Have fun storming the castle." or “would you say I have a plethora?”
Right or left handed: Right but surrounded by lefties.
Siblings: sister 10 years younger than me and brother 23 years younger than me.
Time I wake up: 5:15 is when the alarm goes off 6:15 on saturdays.
Underwear: always.
Vegetable I hate: Eggplant.
What makes me run late: forgetting things or “having” to stop by chickfila for a tea enroute.
X-rays I've had: head, hands, arms, most recent was foot.
Yummy food I make: chex mix, dips, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, oatmeal cookies.
Zoo animal: I prefer domesticated animals – like cats (except when a fat one walks on you with teeny paws!).

Teacher craft in process

2011-11-16T09:44:00.002-06:00

I saw this cute birthday countdown calender (on Pinterest I think) but the sign holder- although very cute- is like 8 bucks at office depot.

Kinda blowing my cheapie budget considering I was thinking of making at least 6 of these, maybe more like a dozen.

But then I looked up and saw this

Remember I had made it awhile back? So I had hubby drill the holes and I made this:

(sorry for the blurry photo – too ~~lazy~~ busy to take another one). I used the binder rings and lots of stickers and scrapbooking leftovers. The numbers are these big black old stickers I have had fovever. I used the cropadile to punch the holes and computer printed a bunch of holidays so the teachers can just change out the holiday bit. The hard part (because math and logic is hard for me) was figuring out what number to go on the back so that once the cards are flipped to the back, they can be turned around on the rings as needed. (Boy, that makes no sense- I mean I wanted to use both sides of the cards as effectively as possible)

Then I got the bright idea that since this would be in a class there would be lots of grubby paws on it so I laminated each number card. But that created some issues. Since I had not originally calculated the laminated edging into the size, each card was too long now and I had to trim each card before laminating and then trim and round the corners with scissors because no one has made a frigging corner rounder that work on lamination (I wish to heck I could patent that idea and make a fortune!). And rounding the corners always makes me grumpy because they never look identical. ugh (ok, just me, right?) I also used the cropadile once again to re-punch the holes.

And it seems that in a fit of purging I let go all my clear acrylic frames and none of the thriftstores have ANY all of a sudden. I got one from Dollar General but it is kinda flimsy. Will try it and let ya know how it goes.

My plan is to pound these out over thanksgiving weekend and gift them to the teachers on the 12th day before the end of school before winter break when I start my 12 days of gifting. (other gifts I have set aside: bacon chocolate bars, chalkboard spraypainted mugs, chalk pens, chalkboard thought bubbles- still have to make those- fleece blankets with names on them, our annual xmas music cd and more).

Not quite the NRA

2011-11-11T06:30:00.001-06:00

I can *NEVER* get this to work.

Goodwill Rocks!

2011-11-07T08:19:00.001-06:00

Look what I found!! I have a couple of thriftstores that I go to regularly. This particular goodwill is in a nicer neighborhood so they have good stuff but sometimes their pricing people must be smokin’ somethin’ because the prices are all over the place.

I saw this in a basket – they line up shopping carts full of stuff and their volunteers put it on the shelves when they can. Shoppers dig through the carts in search of fresh goodies. I pulled it out and knew what it was (we have had several models of foodsavers through the years). I figured for 9 bucks if it did not work I could return it with the 2 day return policy they have for electronics. But it worked!! Sweet!

I am going to sell my old one (anyone in the Austin area interested?) . And I moved the shiny new tillia to the other counter- it was getting messy each time I used the mixer. You know about my mixer, right? (It was 10 or 15$ at a yardsale and I gave it to the hubs for xmas. He was thrilled!! And he uses it to make bread from scratch each weekend.)

And this is my mug with writing on it. I did a test using different paints and pens to see what writes on mugs. The Identipen beat them all- yes, even the porcelain pens and paints!- And you can buy it for like 4 bucks including shipping on ebay.

I did finally take off the pricetag, by the way. I left it on for over a week- it made me smile each time I saw it.

Get Yer Geek On

2011-11-02T10:27:00.001-05:00

Organizing cords

2011-10-31T16:35:00.001-05:00

I know- it looks crazy but it works!! I have them on the back of my desk right now!

Pumpkin Muffins!

2011-10-26T17:14:00.001-05:00

Finally the weather feels like fall – it means the 4 yr old has to learn to wear jeans instead of stretchy pants, the 8 yr old is just dying to wear his big winter coat and the 13 yr old wants to make so much apple cider that I am googling homemade recipes because those dang little packets are rather spendy.

And in honor of fall I would like to reiterate how fabulously scrumptious these muffins are. I originally got the recipe from Linda (http://www.sundrymourning.com/) and they are my go-to for fall. Teachers, coworkers, bus drivers, principals- everyone just loves these. My sister in law prefers them without the chocolate chips (scandalous!) . I use canned pumpkin and vary the chips – for grown up I might use gerhidelli, for the kids I cut back a little or use minis. I have made the giant size, the muffin tops, the minis and all sizes in between with this recipe.

Insanely Good Pumpkin-Chocolate Muffins

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour                   1 1/4 cups sugar                    1 tbls baking powder
1/2 tsp salt                                             1 tsp ground cinnamon         1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger                            1/4 tsp ground allspice        1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 can pumpkin [ ‘regular’ size can, not the large — original recipe calls for 1 CUP]
1/2 cup milk                                            1/2 cup vegetable oil             2 tbls molasses
Some amount of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400˚ and lightly grease a 12 muffin tin (I use paper holders). Sift (I don’t) flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices together in large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, milk, oil, and molasses. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and mix (I just do it all in 1 bowl- because I roll like that). Stir in your desired amount of chocolate chips (to taste). Fill the muffin cups 2/3s full. Bake 18-20 minutes, until tests done.

No photo – because I am lame like that. But, trust me, these are *awesome*.

~ ~ ~

I’m faster that a tree!

2011-10-21T08:30:00.001-05:00

Saw this. It made me smile.

Not sure I am faster than a turkey. Don’t they flap and fly a bit??

Also- piglets are fast! Not sure I would be faster than one.

Make Your Own Shrinky Dinks

2011-10-20T06:52:00.002-05:00

Does everyone know that #6 recyclable plastic (usually clear take out food containers) is shrink plastic?

It is true!

So, here is what I do. I save it up and trim it down (using my scrapbooking trimmer, scissors, craft punches, etc). I round the corners using a corner punch and punch holes using a hole punch.

Then let the kids write or trace a drawing on it. They shrink up thicker and heavier than the storebought film.

I also like to make teeny tiny ones & have the kids write their names and the year on them. I use them to tag certain xmas ornaments so we know whose are who’s. Plus seeing their penmanship is always cute! I use a jump ring to attach the nametag and it is small enough that it is unobtrusive.

And because I am often lame about taking photos as I craft here are some other photos to show the shrunken size.

crafting with a 4 yr old

2011-09-21T16:49:00.002-05:00

With Christmas less than 100 days away crafting is in full swing.

I got some little flat wooden hearts at Michael’s (thank you, 40% off coupon) and sprayed them with chalkboard paint (define obsession- I am not obsessed *twitch twitch*). Some I punched with my handy dandy cropodile (I was skerred but it punch right through like buttah!) and will use those as gift tags and some I am glueing to clothespins and will pin a gift’s ribbons (that sounds confusing – I just wanted tag options)

Then I had a craft fail (I stuck some cork tiles on some more kitchen cabinet doors and for some reason they made the cabinet doors not close all the way- ugh- so I ripped them off) but I made lemonade outta lemons. I traced the little chalkboard hearts and cut them out with scissors, punched cropadile holes in them and was going to leave it at that but . . . we had the glitter out and, ya know, I have glitter in my veins! They kinda look like sugar cookie ornaments now.

So, Miss Crafty 4 year old painted on the glue and I poured on the glitter (sorry, she is not to be trusted with a paper plate full of glitter on her own!) I used modge podge instead of elmers just because when I cleaned my craft closet recently I discovered a plethora (a plethora I say!!) of bottles of modge podge.

But then we had this leftover glue and glitter and the pile of clothespins was RIGHT THERE. Before I knew what happened we had glittered tiny, small and regular sized clothespins. Not sure what to do with them other than glue magnets to the back and gift them out at the holidays.

Autistic or Artistic?

2011-08-16T06:48:00.001-05:00

This is what the eldest drew in a workbook. Wow! I think he really thinks in cartoons and his head is often this kind of a cacophony. Or he is just a pretty cool artist for a 13 yr old.

Quickie

2011-08-08T09:19:00.001-05:00

I picked up some little cork board tiles at a yardsale.

Glue gunned them to the inside of a couple of kitchen cabinets.

Tacked a couple of photos that make me smile and recipes etc on them.

The only tricky bit is to make sure the tack does not hit the shelf when the door is closed.

Easy cheesy!

retro lady gaga

2011-08-02T11:12:00.001-05:00

May the Force Be with You

2011-07-27T14:36:00.001-05:00

Not really sure what she was playing but I love the mix of pink, tink, magic wand and stormtrooper helmet.

I heart the dump!

2011-07-26T08:31:00.001-05:00

I got all this for 8 bucks!

The water table alone will sell for more than that on craigslist!

Sweet! Do all dumps have an awesome recycling center like mine does?!?

I had mentioned it before here.

The round thing is a lazy susan and the water table is headed for CL.

bird collage on a plate

2011-07-19T11:26:00.003-05:00

Saw this:

Made this:

We’d painted with blue paint the day before and instead of tossing the paper plate paint palette, I remembered this project. She loved it! T drew & cut the bird and egg shapes. She did the rest. We talked about nests and what they are made of. She wanted to make more! It did take a few days (and a nighttime elf adding more glue to ensure structure stability) to dry completely.

Making Angry Bird Cupcakes

2011-07-14T09:17:00.001-05:00

Saw these and showed them to the 13 yr old and he recreated them for the 8 yr old’s birthday!

Boxed cake mix cupcakes and this frosting. The frosting was amazing and made wayyyyy too much. It covered 2 boxes of cupcakes with loads extra! Turns out it is Martha’s 7 minute frosting. Gonna have to find a recipe that makes a smaller batch.

We went through our stash of cake decorating supplies and bought a few things at central market. The eggs are candy coated almonds. The eyes are mini choc chips jammed into mini marshmellows. The beaks are gummy orange slices snipped into thirds. The bag of large marshmellows for the bellies went missing so we improvised. And T came up with the black (from angry birds Rio) bird design all by himself.

We had a yummy dinner, opened gifts and then enjoyed these! And, yes, this is the best photo of all three kids. Do you know how hard it is to get all three to look at you and smile- and not imitate an angry bird or fake a smile?

Making Cow Shirts!

2011-07-11T10:17:00.002-05:00

If you know me- you know how much I adore Chick Fil A. My fave store- they know me by name. (is that a bad thing??) They know I want a sweet tea with no ice and an ice water (I mix my own – that’s how I roll).

And Friday was Dress Like A Cow Day. The littlest one needed a shirt so we made it using the spin art machine. Squeezing the paint bottles is good fine motor skillin’ for her and just plain fun. We use the paintings like stamps to make spots on a shirt. We have done this loads of times before- word of warning: If the kids are making one for you try not to let them stamp two RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE CHEST. Also, don’t do red or mostly red- looks bloody. We have done spider web prints for halloween party and we have also used the artwork as gift tags, fronts for thank you notes and cards. We love our spin art machines (I may have recently downsized from 4 machines to 2- what?? I cannot pass them up at yardsales!)

The CFA dress like a cow experience was great! The 8 yr old said he had to wear those shoes because they look like hooves (how smart!) and the littlest one is wearing shoes (clear glitter jellies) but looks barefoot in the photo. She stole my hat. And does anyone get the joke I made with my mask? No one but the Husband seemed to get it. The boys wanted tie on masks. I wanted mine on a stick so the littlest one did, too.

Which brings me to a strange new phenomenon! The littlest one freaked out when she saw the CFA cow person in a costume. I mean really, really scared- hiding under the table, so scared she was on the verge of crying - Wow. That was a new thing. I sent her to the car with T while I got the food and when I got to the car she hopefully asked “Did you kill it?!?” She said the cow wanted to get her. And then all she could talk about was the “cow with the big head” and how even though it was a person in a costume it wanted to get her. *sigh* But it was still a great time.

I’m not Chikin!!

2011-07-01T08:14:00.002-05:00

It is that time of year again- Chick Fil A Dress Like A Cow Day!! FRIDAY!!

We have done it each year. And it is always right around the soon to be 8 yr old’s birthday so he thinks it is super special.

Here we are in 2008:

That baby outfit was the oldest kiddo’s 1st halloween outfit and I was determined she would wear it! No matter that it was too small. I found these cute masks on a british website and we each colored one and the boys made spin art stamped cow shirts (black puff paint on spin art machine, use the wet design to “stamp” the shirt)

2009:

Yes, I talked my spanish only speaking mother in law into wearing a cow hat and a mask (that she is holding just off camera in this photo). She was very confused but by the 3rd chickfila, she was digging it. And the kids ate CFA all weekend! Note my cow purse and the eldest kiddo has a cow costume (yardsale find! gold!!).

2010:

The british website with the neat cow mask seems to be defunct now so I printed cow head photos on 8x10, cut out the faces, punched out the eyes using my cropadile and used glue dots (removable- see the tutorial I made) to adhere them to sunglasses. T& I just did cow noses, not whole masks. Even the teddy bear has a mask-on-sunglasses!! See?! Also the eldest’s t shirt from a couple years ago now fits the middle kiddo! Made me nostalgic!! And I once again squeezed the smallest into a too small outfit (it is a gap dress but we made it a top).

2011:

Yea, I’m in full planning mode. The eldest will wear the costume, the middle the cow hat, me with my cow purse. I was going to have them make paper plate cow masks this year but the sunglasses masks were so easy I think I will make them again this year. I also found an awesome cow print cowboy (cowgirl?) hat at goodwill just last week. The two little ones are still fighting over who gets to wear it so I might have to let them take turns or wear it myself! Also, we need to make a spin art tshirt for the little girl as she has no cow patterned clothes this year. I have been looking for a cow patterned ribbon bow but am too cheap to pay the etsy prices so she will probably just wear black and white instead. I want to look through my ribbon and see if I by chance have a cow print ribbon. If I do, I might use glue dots to stick it to her clothes- around the cuffs and bottom of the shirt, cuffs of the leggings- whatever works.

Is anyone else brave enough to dress up?

Making some Glue Dots

2011-06-28T10:34:00.002-05:00

These are great! They are like the little glue booger that hold samples on in the mail. They work for scrapbooking- holding on a crushed penny or baby hospital id bracelet. But also for regular crafting. I use them to tack 8x10 photos on the wall’s of my 4 yr old’s bedroom. It is great that they stay repositionable (because she like to move them around) and do not harm the wall.

I save sticker sheets and the paper backing from my mini xyron and mailing labels.

The Aleene’s Tack It Over & Over I get at Michael’s (using my 40% off coupon of course!).

I lay out all the paper, making sure I have a matching cover piece for each piece, and just start squeezing the dots- some are big, some are small, some are lines or dashes. Once they turn clear you can cover with the matching cover piece.

I have tried covering when wet - didn’t work. I store mine in a couple of snack or sandwich size baggies- keep some in my scrapbooking tote and some in the craft cabinet. They are pretty handy.

She works hard for the money . .

2011-06-24T16:28:00.001-05:00

CL has been pretty quiet – I have a handful of things listed and nothing is moving. Not even at 5 or 10 bucks! The vase, shopping cart cover, swim diapers and giant lazy susan ate 5 and the speaker is 10. The speaker is headed to goodwill if my nephew does not want it. The vase is going in the closet for a teacher’s gift next year. Everything else I am emailing my friends and offering for free and taking it to goodwill if there are no takers. (gawd! I cannot believe no one wants the lazy susan! The only reason I am selling it is because I have a nice big wooden one now).

But ebay has been surprising lately. I still never can tell what will sell and what will not.

These things did not sell and have been sent to friends or goodwill:

The sassy horse and bags and the See kai Run shoes are really spendy but they did not even sell for 4$. The old navy jellies, disneyland princess straw hat and the cute vintage gloves I thought had good chances of selling but nope.

What did sell?

The builda a bear shoes and skates (yardsale find) were the top sellers of the week and sold for 12.50. The keen watershoes I got from CL last year and we used them well for a season. They sold for just over 9$. And because I had seen how well keens were selling I picked up the black pair (like new!) at the thriftshop for 3$ and they sold for 10.

The fridgits (yardsale, the kids played with them till I got too annoyed) sold for 10.50 – shipping was brutal on those- like another 10 bucks for parcel! The lot of crocs went for 10.50. And the bjorn (5$ yardsale find) always sell good went for 9.50. I was hoping for a touch higher but, oh well.

I have a bunch of 3t clothes and shoes to list at the moment and some nice toys when I find boxes to ship them in.

I made a goal to list 3 new things each day. If I can get into the habit, I hope to clear some of my ebay stash before too long.

I also have an awesome lego set I picked up at a yardsale but surprisingly it looks like the two little star wars lego minifigs will sell for about 20 and if I sell the whole set in the box it only sells for less than 25. Decisions, decisions. I kinda want to split them up and see how it goes. I think it is the shipping that is the factor for the buyers. Whatcha think? Have you split up sets before??

Spaghetti Dogs!

2011-06-24T08:46:00.002-05:00

Pretty self explanatory. Cut hot dogs into chunks. Jam spaghetti (I happened to have fettuccini on hand- it works fine) into hotdog chunks. I found breaking the spaghetti in half and the hotdogs into thirds or fourths made for a great size. Boil the spaghetti spiked chunks until the pasta is done. Serve. No sauce needed but can be used. Me- I prefer my hotdogs sliced open with cheese crammed inside, wrapped in bacon and grilled or broiled. But the kids get a kick out of “cooking” this themselves so that is good enough for me.

Best Sellers

2011-06-20T10:03:00.001-05:00

Here are a few of our favorite books at the moment.

Vintage Rose Red and Snow White
Machines
The Aristocats
Snow Bear
The Three Little Kittens – what do you call that kind of pictures?
Kitty’s Outdoor Day (the page where she gets wet from the sprinkler send the kids into gales of laughs – no kidding.
Giggle Giggle Quack
Counting on Calico – love the illustrations! Had to buy another copy we wore it out so good!
Babies and Baby Animals- I admit it is more for the Gyo Fujikawa artwork (*love*)
I love you with all my heart
Bear snores on
Meet my cats (again *love* the drawings!)

Who used my camera?

2011-06-16T09:04:00.001-05:00

I found this single odd photo mixed in with my pictures on my camera. Everyone in our household denies all knowledge of it. I still cannot figure out what toys were used as the eyes. But it makes me smile.

PS: I suspect the 7 yr old and secretly applaud his graphic design skillz.

Utilitarian Storage

2011-06-13T14:54:00.002-05:00

Pill bottle with label removed + stickers (leftovers from cd labeling at xmas time) = personalized storage capsules for the “tooth fairy” to keep each of the kiddos’ teeth separate. I thought about making them all pretty with scrapbooking paper and stickers etc. Might still do that at some point but time was of the essence.

I made 1 storage capsule for each kid and labeled them and will happily give them their teeth at some point. Not sure why or what they will do with them but it seems a waste of genetic material to just throw them away, right?

I did once hear about a man who carved them into beads – teeth are just like ivory, right?? hmmm – wonder if I could find a craftsperson on etsy who does that *off to check*.

Potty training ponderings

2011-06-08T14:19:00.001-05:00

So, how do you convince your willful potty trainees to wear a pull up when out running errands? I am trying to convince her that wearing panties over a pull up is a good thing. Not sure she is buying it but, man, I just hate dealing with public bathrooms with her. ugh!

Teacher Appreciation

2011-06-05T16:53:00.001-05:00

Someone is finally over his fear of the sun exploding. Discovery documentary about planets + Autistic brain = obsessive fears that can only be overcome by an awesome teacher!

Squeeze in OT whenever you can

2011-06-02T09:45:00.002-05:00

Kiddo #2 has dysgraphia (his brain and hands do not communicate all that good)- so he has awful handwriting. And by awful I mean wayyyy below grade level. But at his school they do not have a therapist to help. So, mom to the rescue. Partly because we did so much therapy with the Autistic one and partly because I am a homeschool mom, I am finding sneaky ways to get kiddo #2 to manipulate and work with his hands. This was a birthday card he made for his cousin. He made two at the same time – one for an uncle and this one. He hated finding the letters and cutting them out but he did it and the cards were graciously accepted.

Kidlet #3 does not know how to write yet but she can stick stickers on and so :

I drew the waterline and did the writing and she colored and put on the stickers. Pinching, removing, placing stickers- awesome fine motoring!

I am so durn sneaky!

(and I have no idea why my photos have that silly white border. cannot figure out how to remove it so oh, well)

Awesome Worksheet Printable Site!

2011-05-30T11:57:00.001-05:00

Just in time for summer!

http://www.tlsbooks.com/

See, I am one of those mean moms that makes my kids EARN electronics over the summer. No zoning in front of a screen all day around here.

The 13 yr old will still homeschool and do his daily basics and the almost 8 year old has to do 7 worksheet pages a day (from various sources) but in another month he will have to do 8 (our rule is you do the same number of how old you are) and he has to do 1 small paragraph of copy work. I like to have him use an animal or nature book – like DK or something with little blurbs about animals.

Check out that site – loads of printables in all subjects and ages/grades!

I heart Pintrest!

2011-05-27T16:28:00.001-05:00

Sooooo . . . Have ya heard of Pinterest?

This is mine. Yes – it is like a snapshot of me! Of things I like or want to try etc.

It adds a button to your computer and whenever you see something you want to remember, you “pin” it to one of your “boards”. This is nice because I cannot tell you how much time I spend trolling through my countless bookmarks looking for one particular thing.

This lets you see at a glance photos and you can more easily find what you are looking for.

You can also follow people or certain boards – like facebook or twitter kinda. The search function is a nice way to pass some time – search for a subject – like naan – and you will come up with loads of pins other people have saved for it.

Caterpillar Project – homeschooling Hijacking a classroom assignment

2011-05-25T06:54:00.001-05:00

The 2nd grader has to make a model of a caterpillar so of course I morphed his assignment into a homeschool project, too.

I went a-googling and found some pictures for him. I like the real caterpillar with the labeled parts and the diagram and photo of the prolegs and true legs. The gross looking caterpillar is camouflaged to look like bird droppings – of course that went over great with the 2nd grader!

We are working on the model but I trimmed some cardboard and he is making a booklet to go with the model.

Awesome Party decoration!

2011-05-21T20:22:00.001-05:00

My mother in law’s big birthday bash.

I am huge into photos, scrapbooking, preserving the past etc.

So, how did I contribute to the decorating?

I printed a ton of photos and taped them to a wall. Printed on my home printer on photo paper in various sizes, I tried to pick photos of her through the years with people I knew would be there (or who had passed on- like her mother- which made her tear up). I tried to keep it sorta like a timeline and just used folded over scotch tape. I tried to keep the tape off the walls because I didn’t wanna mess up the awesome paint finish at my in brother & sister in law’s place. And I passed the pictures along to whomever wanted them at the end of the evening.

It was a huge hit! (*whisper* and super easy!)

Toilet paper Roll = pencil holder

2011-05-19T08:38:00.001-05:00

Cannot recall where I first saw it but we have been making these things for years now. Toilet paper tube + 2-3 binder clips (depending on size of clips). Clip one med or lrg or 2 small at one end of the tube to hold it shut. Clip another on one side and fold one silver arm up to create the hanger. Fits easily over a push pin. We have these on each corkboard and several by the kids’ desk. Yes, you can write on the tube to jazz it up. We also sometime staple the end shut and just use the binder clip for hanging.

Sign Language

2011-05-16T06:07:00.002-05:00

This sign cracks me up every time I see it.

My pal Mari is a genius!!

2011-05-11T08:01:00.002-05:00

I have a cricut – but it gets very little use. I did get SCAL (Mr Wonderful got it for me as a holiday gift!) and sold off almost all my cartridges. I have a friend named Mari and she is a scrapper extraordinaire! And she has a scraproom and a big cricut.

She’s the one without the hat.

Our pages are at the opposite ends of the spectrum- hers are gorgeous and lavish and she will do 2 at a 12 hr crop. Me- I pound out about 40 and they are simple.

Well, she saw this cool project to make a carrying case for your cartridges. And she made it! Here are her photos. It is so cool! It uses snap on containers and plastic canvas. She got the totes at Joann’s using a coupon – how thrifty! – and it was a cinch to make. And it is expandable. She wrote on each cartridge to be even more efficient.

how cool!

Arctic–semi homeschool project

2011-05-09T10:30:00.002-05:00

The 2nd grader had to make a diorama about the Arctic. hmm ok. But the homeschooler teacher in me is a little . . well, let’s just say I was googling a lot and he is wayyy less artisticly patient than the 6th grader so there might have been some teeth grinding and eye clenching and I might have had to have my wonderful hubby help him finish it ~~or I would have gone absolutely crazy with frustration~~.

Here are some of the things I found for him to use:

I found a box and a piece of cardboard to wedge in it. The diorama was about the arctic habitat and I wanted him to understand both the land and sea habitats.

I had him go digging through the gift wrapping supplies and find white or silver tissue paper and he glued it to the box and cardboard wedge but you could read through it so we also glued tinfoil on it, too.

I printed the pictures out and had him cut them out – leaving space around the and enough of an edge that they can be staggered for perspective. Hard for him to do with his dysgraphia but was good practice for him.

I showed him how to glue the fishing line on with a scrap paper glued over it on the backside. And he had a ball with those!

I was trying to teach him perspective and might have gotten a wee irritated when the husband just let him glue the photos on any old way wherever. (time for me to breathe and let go of my perfectionism and control and understand now was not the time to try to teach perspective, now was the time to Get ‘Er Done).

I had wanted him to glue cotton balls or sytofoam peanuts as snow or icebergs but that did not happen. Knowing he had to explain his model, I printed the same photos much smaller and he trimmed and glued them to a piece of paper and then wrote the name of each animal (so he did not have to remember it). Then we glued these to each side of the diorama. I just loved the big polar bear infographic and had to use it somewhere so he just glued it to the backside.

I think it came out nice. I was happy that he had done all the work with minimal help from us (well, I did most of the prep work but he did almost all the hands on work). And he got an A! He was the only one to do the arctic! I guess the ocean habitat is way more fun for most folks. But I was glad he got to learn some new facts and was interested in it.

Portrait of a Cat

2011-05-02T07:37:00.002-05:00

3yrold held the cat in a headlock while 7yrold drew the portrait.

He nailed the facial expression!

Photogoraphy Skillz

2011-04-27T08:45:00.002-05:00

13yrold saw a flickr photostream of a stormtrooper lego person. I cannot recall which one. There are loads (http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=lego+stormtrooper+love&m=text) but it inspired him to take some photos. Love them!!

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

2011-04-25T09:38:00.002-05:00

He sure gets mad when she teases. See his frown?

Orange you glad?

2011-04-20T05:56:00.001-05:00

I like to hang laundry on the line and today it struck me just how many orange t shirts we have.

Hook Em!

Case Closed

2011-04-18T13:53:00.001-05:00

Easy craft and the 13yrold whipped out a handfull in no time flat.

I have some stiff felt on hand. Folded it in half and roughly cut the shape, sharpie dots on the inside, Big Bite to punch the holes, use large giant needle and yarn to stitch on the outside. Easy cheesey. Had to play with the size but also good for eyeglass case, cell phone case etc – gift for the grandparents!!

Sign of the Times

2011-04-14T11:45:00.002-05:00

I like how he drew her hair perfectly.

Warning: Replacing a water heater causes decluttering / reorganization

2011-04-10T09:28:00.001-05:00

The water heater was here before we were and we have been in this house for 18 years. It was a real workhorse until recently. Then the water was only warm . . and only for about 20 minutes at a time. We started having to calculate showers, dishwashing, laundry, etc. So after much discussion and debating ~~and fretting by me~~, Pete with the help of our neighbor changed out the water heater.

Awhile back we had our garage enclosed creating a laundry room / large walk in pantry and, beyond that, a very large ~~storage room~~ guestroom. Something you might not know about me is I am one of those crazy couponers – I stockpile something when I find an awesome deal. So the thought of something happening in the Water Heater Changeout causing water to gush and flood ~~because I am paranoid about my precious foodstores~~ gave me heart palpitations!

So I emptied half of my pantry. I boxed and bagged all the food and moved the shelves and everything into the spareroom. Let’s see the before:

So here are the messy before pictures. There were wire racks full of empty glass canning jars mounted on the walls at either end, the cart taking up a good chunk of space and even though I work hard to keep the metro shelves tidy (I use tiles as “floors” and lots of shelfy dividers and baskets and bins), it just comes off looking kinda overstuffed.

Soooo, you can probably tell I hit a couple of deals – the oatmeal was ridiculously cheap after coupons and the chips after the buy one / get one sale and the coupons were crazy cheap!

To the right is the foodstuffs and the water heater. To the left is the laundry center and the non food stuff – serving pieces, cloth napkins and placemats, kitty litter box, drawers with spin art machines (I have 3 – shuddup!), electronics kits (we have 5 – shuddup!) and other stuff.Yes, I have 3 feather dusters- my nice Flylady one (that no one but me is allowed to use!) and 2 others for the kids to use.

I emptied the food side and he replaced the water heater (awesomely, by the way! Nice to have hot water again!!) and the we put the shelving back and reloaded them- purging and rearranging. But then the laundry side felt unkempt. Can you see where this is going? I purged and rearranged that side little by little until the pantry feels so much better. I am happy to walk in there now.

Here are the after photos:

Getting rid of the wire wall racks and the cart freed up space for the vacuums. Purged and rearranged. There are actually *EMPTY* baskets! See!?!

To the other side- also got rid of the wire wall shelving and the plastic drawers, shifting the catbox over (and yes, that is a wicker placemat being used as a litter catcher). I labeled the baskets that I hadn’t labeled before and got rid of a lot of serving pieces we really were using once ever year or two. How the heck did I end up with so much paper product (have wayyyy too much paper plates and plasticware)

I labeled each of the baskets and went through them (ugH!). Cleaning the pantry snowballed into cleaning out the hall craft closet (post coming soon) and the house looked quite a mess for awhile. It is slowly looking better.

I am disappointed that my wall racks and shelfy organization bits have not sold on craigslist. Next project is to clear the flat surfaces – the island (there are 2 baskets of stuff awaiting “repair”), the diningroom bookcase (kid projects tend to fester there), the top of the scrapbooking cart (a microwave cart that hold all my paper gear – I moved it next to the table so I could clean it out and sort and purge but now the top is full of clutter).

Semi FAIL!

2011-04-08T12:23:00.001-05:00

Sooo, I got this shrinky dink printer plastic. And the thought I had was keychains or luggage tags. I already had some cell phone lanyards on hand (and now no ones phone has the little spot to attach them to anymore so I am looking for alternate uses for them! I got mine cheapy cheap off ebay).

I resized and printed the photos- took a little trail and error. You gotta use photoshop or something and reeeeeeally lighten them up.

Then I trimmed (using my scrapbook trimmer) and punched holes (used my cropadile) And shrank them in the toaster oven.

But the holes closed up too much so I gave them another punch with the cropadile.

I tried threading them on keyrings and broke a couple so I switched to small binder rings and just stacked them on, then clipped it to the cell phone lanyard and added these little keychain clippie thingies.

I had read about coating them and tried it- I used a clear spray paint I had on had. See the two photos below – at an angle you can really see the clear coat. It seemed like an unnecessary step with extra dry time.

I gave them away and they were well received. I clipped mine to my keys. Aaaaand then they started breaking. CRAFT FAIL! When I checked back in with the gift recipients they reported the same thing and no one was using them for anything now. Argh!

I still think this has potential. Maybe earrings or a pendant – something with less handling that keychains. Also I am not talented enough but I do think a black pen carefully ran around the edges would class it up a but. Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I also had wanted the kidlets to write their names on the back but somehow forgot about that in the frenzy of the crafting. I make super tiny shrinky dinks (using a circle punch and #6 recyclable plastic because it comes out thicker) and have them write their names and date on them and I attach them to xmas ornaments (my hope is years and years from now it will help separate the collection so everyone can take “their” ornaments when they move out on their own).

Easy cheesy homemade gift idea! Post It holder!!

2011-04-08T12:03:00.000-05:00

This is one of those crafts that is sooooo easy and doesn’t need a lot of directions.

Pick up a few of those clear acrylic angled frames. Cut scrapbook paper to fit.

Stick the post it pads to the outside of the frame (I used glue dots to do so) and stick small photos on the paper. Insert paper (play with photo placement if you are as spatially challenged as I am) and there you have a gift to brighten someone’s work cube!

This one was last father’s day I think.

Pay It Forward

2011-04-06T07:16:00.002-05:00

Do you volunteer?

Is there a cause you feel passionate about?

I am a cat person. There have been times where I cared for a lot of cats at once (let’s just say for about a decade I had over 20 at one time and leave it at that). I have always had an indoor scaredy cat – basically an indoor feral cat who hides and rarely comes out and barely tolerates me (and that is only because I can open the catfood tupperware container!) for as long as I have lived on my own. I know this kind of cat needs a safe environment and would not make it outside of my house. My current scaredy cat is an 18 pound black and yellow tortie who waddles away as fast as she can whenever she spots a human and she hides under the sofa all day.

Once a month my wonderful husband uses a day of his hard earned vacation to stay home and watch the kiddos so I can volunteer. I help out a group who does free spay neuter clinics for feral cats. Every two weeks they fix about 20 – 25 cats.

Feral cats might not be cuddly, they might hate you, but, you know what, that’s fine. We still trap them and fix them and tip their ears so everyone knows they have been fixed. While they are knocked out they get shots and medical attention. I work in recovery. So I keep an eye on them and monitor their waking up, give them fluids (yep, I poke them with a needle) and (what I think is a cool perk!) get to pet a wild animal as it sleeps.

We have saved cat lives.

Follow your passion. Volunteer even in a small way. And it will renew your spirit and make you happy.

Signs

2011-04-05T07:28:00.001-05:00

A sign (translation: no naked little sisters) I found that the 13 yr old had made.

The vehemence of the NO part of the sign cracks me up.

What would you buy with 100 bucks??

2011-04-04T13:08:00.002-05:00

Well, the 7yr old would get a bunch of electronics apparently. I just wonder what the other kids in class wrote.

Recipe Re-Run

2010-08-10T15:13:00.003-05:00

I know I have posted this before but it deserves a re-post. We have been making this almost every day! They kids love to make sandwiched with it. Unfortunately it makes a small loaf and my math skillz are not up to calculating how to increase it (without having a breadmaker overflow issue). I like this with tomato bruschetta for breakfast. I have been using rosemary from my neighbors’ gardens (because I killed mine when I moved the pot to the other side of the yard). I chop it fine using my pampered chef chopper thingie. I am saving the stems (sticks?) because I saw Marth Stewart used them as skewers for something and I wanna try that. I make this on the speedy setting and can have a loaf ready in 2 hrs!!

Jo's Rosemary Bread - courtesy of Allrecipes.com

· 1 cup water

· 3 tablespoons olive oil

· 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar

· 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

· 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

· 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

· 1 tablespoon dried rosemary (note: I am using fresh)

· 2 1/2 cups bread flour

· 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Homemade Gatorade??

2010-08-04T12:37:00.002-05:00

Saw this and had to try it.

Cue angels singing! This stuff rocks! I doubled the recipe and used a whole pkt of kool aid mix and poured it into an empty orange juice jug. Yay!! I plan on saving the few gatorade bottles in the pantry so I can refill them with this stuff.

So I used:

64 oz water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 packet unsweetened Koolaid

I also used the fake salt instead of regular – more potassium and we had it on hand anyway.

Spray Painting a Knife Block

2010-08-02T15:57:00.002-05:00

I love wood and I love spray paint. Usually I do not paint wood but . . . I saw this idea and then everyone in the blogosphere was doing it. Always late to the party, I had to try it, too! I had found this pampered chef knife block at a yardsale ($2 I think – I *know*! I was thrilled!!) and thought if it came out ugly I would just find another knife block at the thriftstore or yardsales. They are pretty easy to find.

So, I spray painted it using Oil Rubbed Bronze and it looks good! I’ve been using for a couple of months now and it is fine. No chips or anything. And no, I did not even sand it a smidge – just washed it good and set it in the sun to dry.

I sprayed the bottom (I thought it was the easiest way to paint the bottom edges), then just sprayed and flipped and sprayed some more. I gave it pretty good coverage and no clear coat. Love it!!

Yes, that is a plate (glued to a candlestick) cakestand.

Yes, those tomatoes are from our garden. Yes, we have wood laminate countertop and backsplash.

And yes, the ORB painted block looks much better than the old blonde tone wood did.

. . . . . . . .

And this basil is thanks to Julia and this is the second little bunch to root for me. I tried to plant the first one in a pot outside and it died within days. I am a horrid gardener. Anyone wanna tell me how to grow this outside? There are sooo many roots on these!! And all I do is change out the water ever couple of days.

Woodworkin’ in the Shed and Rescuing a Vintage Buffet

2010-07-27T11:41:00.003-05:00

When we got the new carpet in the living room we took a look at our ~~tired cheap old plain~~ entertainment center and decided it was time to let it go. We had bought it in a rush after the last time the house flooded and we were ready for a change. See, we are saving up for a flat screen TV as a family X-mas present and knew we wanted a vintage, long, real wood, something to go under it and also knowing our living room is HUGE and, well, *HUGE HUGE*, scale was something to think about. Selling our entertainment center proved harder than we thought and we ended up giving the sidepiece to a friend and free-cycling the main unit. No one is buying entertainment centers nowadays.

On Craigslist (duh! where else??) we looked at oodles of buffets and sideboards and record players and finally found a kinda banged up buffet that had been languishing on CL for over a month. Asking price was 80 and he took 40. It was at his friend’s house and the friends wife (or girlfriend, I cannot recall) wanted it outta the spare bedroom. Woo-hoo! Score! We loaded it into the truck and squealed the tires as we drove away (not really, but I was all smile-y and thrilled and doing the happy dance in my seat –while Pete rolled his eyes at me but thankfully he saw the potential in the piece, too!)

It sat in the shed for a couple of month and then Pete got to work. Sanding and sanding and more sanding, teaching the kids to sand by hand (child labor laws do not apply at our house!), gluing veneer and puttying the patches that were too far gone to resuscitate. Then he used a maple wiping stain and a bunch of clear spray finishing cans that I always pick up at yard sales and cleaned the handles – which are kinda like shells and are either Bakelite or some vintage plastic and it looks great!

We moved it into the house and I love it and think it would look great in the dining room if we decide it does not work in the living room! It matches the table and looks great under the dining room window! But for now the plan is to have it in the living room.

Stay tuned for the other piece of furniture Pete is refinishing at the moment – it was a craigslist freebie!! A vintage radio/record player cabinet!! The plan is to put the two pieces side by side (they do not match perfectly but we are hoping they will look good together) and the radio cabinet will house the electronics – the cabinets are a smidge wider than the buffet’s cabinets- and the buffet will house the DVD’s, games, etc and the dream TV will look nice hanging on the wall above the two gorgeously refinished vintage rescued pieces.

sugarfree chocolate pie!

2010-06-26T19:53:00.001-05:00

http://genaw.com/lowcarb/chocolate_truffle_torte.html

Found this and have made it 3 times now. The kids dig it- although they eat good sized pieces!

Yummy!!

quick oven bread

2010-02-12T08:48:00.002-06:00

I saw this link and have been making it quite a bit – some more successfully than others. It is really yum fresh from the oven and comes together in about 20 mins.

Crafting with candlesticks

2010-02-04T09:56:00.002-06:00

I have been busy making these lately. I saw this craft making the blog rounds and was inspired. Then it became something of a passion and now I would say we are entering addiction territory. The recipe is simple: plate + adhesive + candlestick. Buuuuut the plate can be a small saucer or dish or bowl or platter. The candlestick can be tall or squat or something else (I have used a vase, a drinking glass and more!). Alot of folks on the web are picking up candlesticks at the dollar stores- trust me, get one without wax on it if you get it from the thrift store. It will take you longer to remove the wax than to make one of these! The plates, saucers, bowls, etc I have been mostly picking up at the thriftstores for under a buck each.

The adhesive is supposed to be E6000 but I happened to have an opened tube of Plumber’s Goop in the shed so I used it and it has worked like a charm. Both are washable (although I hand wash not dishwasher for these) and stable. They do stink so proper ventilation, ok, people?

You turn the plate (or bowl or saucer etc) upside down and then take the candlestick (or similar) and neatly glob or squeeze the adhesive onto the candlestick and adhere it to the plate. I sorta use my finger widths to judge if it is centered because some of the backstamps are not in the center. I put another plate and a weight on top to help it adhere well and give it a few hours before turning it rightside up and letting it sit for another day or two to cure.

Any clue what the base on this one is?? It is a ceiling fan light fixture!! I found a set of 5 at goodwill. They are gorgeous with cut diamond pattern and etching. And they nicely work on the larger charger sized plates.

I have them all over- on my dresser to hold earrings etc, one on hubby’s dresser for change, one by the sink to hold bits and bobs, a big one on the island with fruit. The plan is to give them to some teachers at the school for val day (even though a couple have xmas poinsettias on them). I store them upside down on my pantry. I used them at the holidays and the varying heights make a nice display on the buffet.

But I think I will be making these for awhile. Can you see one holding a cupcake as a birthday gift, or cookies (wrapped in plastic wrap) or in a bathroom with a bar of soap (not with my kiddos around but it would look cute in someone else’s house!). The only downside seems to be that my taste is vintage floral and glass and that might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Valentine’s worksheets

2010-02-02T09:28:00.002-06:00

Here are some valentine worksheets for you to enjoy. I have some of these colored, cut out and taped to my livingroom windows. Cute!

Enjoy!

Closet Case

2010-01-27T09:04:00.002-06:00

So, it took me almost a week and I do it a couple of times a year but . . . . the craft closet is clean!!

Ahhhhh, I love it when it is all organized and neat. We *really* need to start doing more crafts and use some of these supplies up! Seriously, how many pipe cleaners and glitter and googley eyes does one family need!!

And there are crafting things not in this closet- shhh! I have 3 spin art machines (shuddup! stop laughing!!). One is the Explosion and I have never used it (50c yard sale find). I think I will let that go soon.

I am *such* a labeler! And I use whatever I have handy. Most of my supplies are from yardsales. It is handy to have the craft closet but we are just not crafting regularly. I hope to keep up with the goal of one craft a weekend.

Upcoming crafts: shrinky dinks (gotta use the leftover bits from the xmas ornaments), hand casts (think the boys can hold their hands in a Hook Em sign while in a bucket of goo?), and beaded cd case magnetic picture frames. Stay Tuned!

Pocket Magnets

2010-01-25T09:10:00.002-06:00

I’ve made these for over a decade. They are a standard gift for teachers and I make them in batches to have on hand year round. They stick to ‘fridges to hold coupons and pens, lockers to hold pens, metal file cabinets to hold scissors- whatever.

They are super handy and easy cheesy to make. I use outgrown jeans or pick them up for cheap at yardsales. I look for the rattiest jeans and offer 50 cents. Since all I use is the pockets, I like to freecycle the denim – usually to a quilter.

How to:

Usually I trim all my pockets in small batches and toss the pockets in one bin and the denim in a bag to pass on.

Trim as close to the pocket as you can leaving a bit at the top to fold over and make a nice hem. (is it called a hem if it is at the top? I dunno).

I run a bead of glue along the flap and fold the pocket over (as opposed to folding the flap over the pocket).

I am not sure if it saves me some burns but that’s how I do it.

Warning: glue guns are hot and you WILL burn yourself. I keep a glass of ice water handy to plunge my fingers in when I do get molten glue on them.

I do all the glue gunning in batches, too. Even if I do not have enough magnets in one sitting I usually finish out the hemming since I know it will just save me time next round.

I buy the magnet strip on a roll (using a 40% off coupon when there is nothing else I need so I have a good stockpile of it). Dryfit the pieces and trim to size. I use a lot of magnets because I know how much handling I do with these pockets. But I also recycle those freebie magnets- but keep the ratio low. Most are pretty lightweight.

Place the first strip across the top and then fill in the back.

Running the bead of glue on the magnetic strip and then using your fingers to turn it over and place it down is the hardest part of the project- the glue overflows or squeeze out from under and gets ya!

This took about 2 hours.

See the layered ones? And the embellished ones? I love finding toddler jeans or embroidered jeans and layering different shades of blues. The jewel stones were leftovers from another project.

Cool contest!

2010-01-22T17:28:00.002-06:00

CONTEST: http://delightfullearning.com/2010/01/lacing-buttons-review-and-giveaway/comment-page-3/#comment-2991 is running a great contest for a wicked cute toy button lacing toy. Since ours is now considered vintage, I had to enter in hopes of winning! Check her site out – it has some really great homeschooling ideas!

Have you ever spray painted a DOOR??

2010-01-20T10:02:00.002-06:00

You can and it works great!! We have had this sad white bathroom door for years. It was dingy (boys with dirty hands will do that) no matter how much we tried to clean it, it just looked grubby so I made an executive decision to spray paint it and sent Hubby off to Home Depot for supplies.

He came back with a trigger sprayer and a few cans of celery green paint.

Tape the knob and spray away. Flip, repeat. Hang and admire.

ahhhhhh - - You have to trust me that it looks good because my Autistic son likes to peel paint and the doorframes look reeeeeally bad. When i get a chance to repaint them, I’ll take a follow up photo. *sigh* The project list continues!

Vintage Vals - Remixed

2010-01-18T20:55:00.002-06:00

A little photoshopping on a few of my faves from this post and these are ready to print. This weekend we did spin art t-shirts so this project will be next weekend’s. I am thinking thumbprint hearts and names (in cursive, print and by mommy, respectively) on the back of the cards and use the envelopes I got for free.

How do you score free envelopes, you ask- easy! Hit all the targets, CVS’, etc you can on the day after valentine’s day, Halloween etc and ask the folks changing out the greeting cards nicely. They will give you as many as you want- otherwise they get THROWN AWAY!!

(Note: not completely happy with the cowboy card- but it was trickier to work with. might re-do it)

Vintage Valentines

2010-01-15T11:07:00.002-06:00

Sooo, I went a googlin’ and found some of these and then found this flicker group and this website.

I saved a bunch – here are some.

My plan is to print them out and use them in place of store bought cards for the kids. I also wanted to put a few on the mantle. They also help my autistic son learn about puns – something he has a hard time “getting”.

Rescued from the donation pile

2009-12-18T13:52:00.002-06:00

So, this cheap thin plastic gaudy gold frame (originally bought from goodwill for a couple of bucks a few years ago) was sad. I used it to teach T (the 11 yr old) how to spray paint and he painted in an old leftover tan (sorr, I accidently deleted my before shots).

Then I could not ~~pawn it off~~ find any of my friends who needed it and it was in my donation pile – until . . I decided to paint it black and maybe my sister in law could use it in her new house. . . . but then I decided it actually looked neat in the toddler’s room.

I toyed with repainting it (again) pink but I kinda like how the black works. One day she will have a mirror -when she is tall enough to see herself- because at this point a mirror would just be 1) a reason fro her to climb on top of the dresser and 2) something for the rambunctious trio to break.

I used Rustoleum Black Laquer with my spray trigger clip on handle.

and here is the AFTER:

Glitter ornaments

2009-12-17T09:37:00.002-06:00

My friend Billie (BLOG) sent me this video. It shows how to use wood floor cleaner and fine glitter to make these really cute balls.

I looked around the house and found Zap (Home Depot Brand) wood floor cleaner in a cabinet and tried it. I used non Martha Stewart brand fine glitters and it worked just fine (pun intended.

My non crafty brother in law even did one! (His turned out the best of the bunch! And it was pink!!) These were super easy. BUT I am glad that the clear balls I had were nice sturdy ones from Michael’s. They are meant to be handled and crafted with so they are thicker. You can take off the hook cap easily and the edges are smooth, not sharp.

I have worked with other balls that were much thinner with sharp edges under the cap. Again this year I sorted through all my old xmas balls and took out the plain colored ones that were scratched and old looking. A rinse in dishwashing liquid soapy water and the outer color comes right off. A soak and a swish (I used a bit of paper towel inside for agitation) with bleach water takes the inner silvering off. BUT the opening is often jagged sharp and the balls are thinner are require more delicate handling. A good trash to treasure thing but not exactly a good kid craft.

What my son thinks is interesting

2009-12-15T14:25:00.002-06:00

The 11 year old had to write an essay about what is someplace he has been that is interesting.

This is what he wrote:

Naturally, he got a 100.

Giant Photo Collage Frame

2009-12-13T22:57:00.002-06:00

The prices at my local Goodwills have been on the rise and to tell the truth I shop at other store wayyy more often than goodwill these days but I saw this and it was marked 10 bucks! I had to grab it. I put the ruler there to show the size. I guess it was in an office or something.

Our open plan living area has been called “cavernous”, “huge” etc and that is not a joke. Super high ceiling and the open plan make it huge. I have always been aware of that. It should be two living areas but we always use it as sort of a large play area/foyer and the livingroom in front to the tv. When we first moved in I hung 11x17 prints in frames and they looked like snapshots on the expanse of wall. So I was hoping this large frame would work with the scale of the room. )Please Note: Furniture is being moved around ain preparation for the X-mas tree to go up so the rooms are a mess)

With a vision I went to work! I took the frame apart and had originally planned to donate the faded mat and “lovely” print to the school art teacher but I have another vision! “Ain’t nothing a little spray paint can’t fix” is the thought behind my thinking.

I set aside the glass and the cardboard backing and spray painted the gold frame black (Black Lacquer because I had it on hand). This was a tough choice. Black, white, another color?? The huge livingroom walls are orange- not a soft orange, ORANGE! Exactly one shade away from true burnt orange (Hook ‘em!) We lived with cream walls for over a decade and then we went bold – and love it! I brought home an orange (“for an accent wall”) and a moss green. Hub chose the orange and once we started painting, we just kept going and love it. It is rather bold, though.

There is a black wrought iron railing separating the dining room from the drop down sunken living room so I thought black would be better than white. Plus I knew what wrapping papers I had on hand to work with.

The next choice was which wrapping paper to use. I had a matte bronze and a matte gold. I was also torn between color or black & white photos. Hubby said he preferred the color photos and they look better with the gold (the B&W looked better with the bronze). I wrapped the cardboard backing in wrapping paper and just scotch taped it on.

Choosing which photos is hard, too. Do you go with all time favorites? How far back do you go? As a scrapper and in a household where literally everyone even the 2 year old takes pictures, there was a lot to choose from. I think I made some good choices.

I just played with the layout and stuck them on using hermafix (scrapbooking non permanent adhesive – in case I want to change the photos out later). I do wish the photo of us in the center was bigger but that was as big as I could print it. I was fitzing around with it and fussing over the layout until my non scrapbooking sister in law said I was worrying about things only *I* would notice. So I just stopped, called it done and Hubby put the frame all back together. I was kinda scared of that monster piece of glass (my knickname is “Grace” and I am rather clumsy). Then we bent back in place the gazillion staples to hold it in. (Note: A couple of the photos fell so we had to open it up and glue them down better *TWICE*!). The blank spot on one corner is intentional. It was too small for another photo so I plan on adding some vinyl- probably the word Family is fancy font.

I hope to find some other large scale pieces to use on this wall but- it has been blank for 17 years. I think it is in no hurry to be covered in artwork.

Gifts I am giving (or have given)

2009-12-13T14:36:00.002-06:00

Here is a roundup of some gifts I am gifting or have gifted that have been big hits. I keep a folder with a file for each year and what I am giving each person on my list. It helps since i wrap all year long and often forget what I bought them.

All of the teachers are getting what I gave family members last year- fleece blankets with machine embroidered names on them. I bought the blankets on clearance or at thrift stores or yardsales and found a lady through craigslist who does machine embroidery.

Last year we got the Eyeclops. It hooks to the tv and can be really gross! I got mine from ebay but on the amazon link there are some photos of what it looks like on the tv screen: here.

This clock is one of my go to gifts. I actually found a better price on Amazon than in my local Bed Bath and Beyond store with a coupon! That was a shocker. Here.

This year the gadget of choice is this. It is handy and comes flat packed (hubby put it together as I am inept at stuff like that). I was worried it would be wide and scratch my ankle as I walked by it but it is not at all.

I found them for 5$ for a 2 pack through amazon. Even with the shipping, it was cheaper than what I had been paying on ebay.

I was looking on Etsy for those jars with LED lights that look like lightening bugs but then I found this. It is really lightweight (the 2 yr old kept walking off with it) but is cute and kinda looks real or faux real. It is very bright but does not come with batteries (screw on batt cover- good thing!).

These are awesome and perfect for teachers- they clip to your keys, camera case, etc. I buy them here on etsy. Handmade, 5$, you get to pick the fabric. I always opt for a dark inner band (so it does not look grubby after awhile) and let the seller, Lara, pick the fabrics. I like that there are masculine fabrics, too. And she makes pet collars, too. How cute!

I am also giving out these cool chalk markers. They work on car windows, dry erase boards,mirrors, etc. I have been buying them here on ebay in various colors for about 4$ each (free shipping and speedy, too!). I don’t even wrap these. I wrote on the cap in fine sharpie “to: From :” and send them to the teachers via the kids backpack.

I do this thing where I have this giant basket and all year I put stuff in it from yardsales or clearance or little stocking stuffer size things. Then I take this basket to the school at xmas and teacher appreciation week. The teachers (and office staff!) love pawing through it to pick things out.

And if you are looking for last minute gifts- don’t overlook craigslist. No shipping fees!

Lara is playing elf and offering 2 ready made and oh so super dooper cute wristlets to one of you lucky bugs – one to keep and one to give away! Leave a comment with a good gift idea (from this year or that you have done recently). Contest closes midnight the 18th and Randomizer will pick a winner.

I went shopping at the DUMP!

2009-12-12T12:31:00.002-06:00

My dump has a Resale Center.

I only recently discovered it and I am hooked! Hooked I tell you!!

I wish I had known they have doors (some really nice ones, too!) starting at 6$! They are all sizes and kinds. I bought a new barrel to burn leaves in for 6$ and they cut the top off for free. They kind of have stuff grouped.

There was a bin of glass blocks (1$ each), a crate full of bbq grill grates , there were bed frames and a non working go cart and lamps and fencing materials and shower stall doors and all kinds of tubes and pipes and tires and bikes and lamps and skis and toilet tank lids and a boat anchor (4$!!). There were drinking glasses and smaller stuff but I was more interested in the odds and ends.

I also ended up with these bun feet. Not sure what I will use them for yet but they were neat. At 3$ each I thought they were on the high end but they are solid wood and in great shape. I think I want to give them a wash in a bleach solution but hubby thinks it might damage the wood.

It’s a cookin’ day!!

2009-12-09T10:34:00.002-06:00

What am I doing today? Busting my bum with a solid stay home day!

I am cooking up a storm!! Hubby’s work has a cookie swap tomorrow so I am making my favorite oatmeal cookies and then thought I would make some gingerbread snack cake, too, aaaand a loaf of honey oatmeal bread in the breadmaker.

Giant Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter 1 cup each sugar & dark brown sugar, firmly packed 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1 ½ c flour 2 tsp each cinnamon, allspice & cloves (opt) 1 tsp ginger ½ tsp each salt & baking soda 3 cups quick oats

½ tsp soda

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir together flour, spices, salt & soda. Stir flour mix into butter mix. Let dough sit at room temp for 2 hours. Drop by ¼ cup fulls onto lightly greased cookie sheets.

Coloring pages for you

2009-12-07T08:51:00.002-06:00

Right click and save. Print using whatever you have. These are from my files. Not sure where all they are from.

Also this Santa is fun to do: http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pdf.htm?santa.pdf.

They also make good traceables for shrinky dinks!

How hard is it to get a good group photo??

2009-12-03T13:26:00.002-06:00

Hard!!

So I made this xmas card to prove it:

The black and whites look good you say?? A little photo shop from the photoshop king for T’s pic, N’s is a self portrait he took hiding under our bed and S had striped down and was sitting in her water table.

Ahh ok- so then I made this:

which will be printed and distributed.

Happy Festivus!! (I wrote that in chalk ink on the back side window of mah vehicle. Hoping it makes someone smile when they see it.)

My new fave bread!

2009-12-01T14:36:00.003-06:00

Jo's Rosemary Bread - courtesy of Allrecipes.com

· 1 cup water

· 3 tablespoons olive oil

· 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar

· 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

· 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

· 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

· 1 tablespoon dried rosemary

· 2 1/2 cups bread flour

· 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

It makes a small loaf but is oh so yummy! Tastes like Macaroni Grill’s!

The Foamerator!

2009-11-29T11:54:00.002-06:00

Saw this: http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/the-foamerator-785017/.

So we made it.

1. Take a plastic soda or water bottle and cut off the bottom – used a serrated bread knife to start and then kitchen shears.

2. Cut a rag - we used part of an old washcloth – slightly larger than teh diameter of the cut off opening.

3. Rubberband the cloth to the bottle and dip it in a bubble solution- we used a disposable tinfoil pan and the Joy dishwashing liquid/glycerin bubble mix/

4. Have fun with the foam tubes you can make.

Phases of the moon – oreo style

2009-11-27T11:45:00.002-06:00

How neat is that?!

hair clip storage

2009-11-26T12:38:00.002-06:00

Super easy cheesy. I cut ribbon – this is ribbon for making bows for flower arrangements or presents – to lengths and used clears push pins at each ribbon’s ends.

Clip the hair clips on and done.

This works best on the pinch clips and snap clips – not so much on the french clips.

Easy hairbows

2009-11-24T08:30:00.002-06:00

Soooo, I went on another hairbow jag and made a bunch of ribbon covered clips.

I use hot glue to cover the hairclips like this: http://www.hipgirlclips.com/store/index.php?main_page=document_general_info&cPath=31&products_id=1457.

The lime green one is buttons (from walmart). I just cut off the shanks with wire cutters and superglued them on.

The yellow flower is a little iron on patch from walmart superglued on.

The tiny white flower is some daisy chain trim that I cut up into individual flowers. The hello kitty (one of Little Bit’s faves!) is a plastic ring that was a birthday party favor – again I cut the ring part off with the wire cutters and superglued it on.

But you are probably marveling at the amazing korker or curly ribbon one, right?? I know. It is pretty impressive. But I have to confess. It was wayyy too easy cheesy. See, last year on Christmas clearance at Hobby Lobby I found these gift bows. It is fabric ribbon already curled.

So here is what I did. At first I tried taking it apart and cutting it the standard 3” long but I really hate sewing the ribbons together to make a korker bow and I just cannot get the hang of tying them. And then I realized it is already stapled together and on a sticky back plastic. (This photo shows one bow on the card and then two bows nestled together to make a HUGE fancy curly hairclip.)

I started off covering all my clips with ribbon. Got the clips from ebay and I am a ribbon addict so that was from my stash.

Then I trimmed each curly bow’s plastic adhesive backing to as small a rectangle around the staple as I couple and peeled off the paper backing (hardest part of this whole thing!)

I used a gel based superglue (I use loctite) and glued the bow to the clip making sure the rectangle was aligned with the hairclip. A not covered hairclip makes a handy dandy clamp.

After that was dry, I went back with teh Gorilla Glue Super Glue and added that. It is a really runny supergle so worked well to dribble a dot here and there and let it run into the underside and fill in the gaps of where the staple was not flush with the clip. Next time I plan on giving each staple a little what with the hammer to see if they flatten a bit.

On some of them because I wanted fuller hairbows for use with a ponytail instead of two pigtails after the first bow was dry I added another curled bow at a slight angle.

I was thinking I would have to add something to the center to cover the staples but the bows are so curly that you don’t even see the staples. And you can fitz and fuss and adjust the ribbons after it is all dry to get a fuller more even bow.

How the girls watch football

2009-11-12T07:48:00.001-06:00

I fell asleep and them Mantha joined me and then Ophelia thought we looked cozy.

1 word answers

2009-10-27T09:07:00.001-05:00

Answer the following questions...with just 1 word....

1. Where is your cell phone? purse

2. Your hair? ponytail

3. Your mother? <roll my eyes>

4. Your father? Awwww.

5. Your favorite food? chickFilA

6. Your dream last night? dunno

7. Your favorite drink? Coke

8. Your dream/goal? serenity

9. What room are you in? bedroom

10. Your hobby? scrapbooking

11. Your fear? lizards

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Homeschooling

13. Where were you last night? home

14. Something that you aren’t? coordinated

15. Muffins? sweet

16. Wish list item? giftcards

17. Where did you grow up? bases

18. Last thing you did? rebates

19. What are you wearing? corduroys

20. Your TV? Elderly

21. Your pets? alot

22. Friends? funny

23. Your life? journey

24. Your mood? harried

25. Missing someone? Randolph

26. Vehicle? Truck

27. Something you’re not wearing? footwear

28. Your favorite store? Thriftland

29. Your favorite color? Pink

30. When was the last time you laughed? 7:30am

31. Last time you cried? Sunday (touching tv show)

32. Your best friend? Pete

33. One place that I go to over and over? Walmart

34. One person who emails me regularly? Billie

35. Favorite place to eat? ? ? ? Mami’s

I am passing this along to :

http://www.bucket-o-joy.blogspot.com/ and http://www.billiesscrappetique.blogspot.com/

itouch contest

2009-10-15T10:07:00.002-05:00

CONTEST: http://www.livinglocurto.com - giving away an itouch!! Hurry!

scrapbooking recipes

2009-10-14T14:54:00.002-05:00

I scrap my recipes in 8 1/2 x 11 format and keep them in a 3 ring binder in regular page protectors.

This garlic chicken was a favorite when I worked 12 hours on the night shift.

All my recipes have to be tried (and a success!) three times before I put them in THE BOOK.

This Dill Dip is a hit at parties and the Dried Beef spread is AWESOME spread on bread or toast and is a MUST for Thanksgiving!

Roasted Sticky Chicken – I always make 2.

I NEVER marinate overnight and it is WONDERFUL!

We have even done it for Thanksgiving instead of turkey (which is over rated in my opinion).

This is a recipe my mom wrote down so I just scrapped it.

gift crafting

2009-10-02T20:25:00.002-05:00

This was a super easy craft and would make an excellent holiday gift. I found the acrylic L shaped frame at a yardsale and the scrapbook paper and post it notes are from my stash. The photos I had to print twice because I wanted a smaller size so they would all fit. And I ended up using some of my homemade glue dots (Gawd! I love this Tack it over and over!!) on the smallest post its because they did not stick to the frame as well as the larger ones. You can use any size of these clear L shaped frames. I just happened to find this one for cheap and the little flags on the side were samples I had laying around.

This glue, by the way, is sold at Michael’s and walmart and makes those clear repositionable dots- samples or coupons come on them sometimes and they peel off and look kinda like rubber cement or boogers.

~ ~ ~

How We Survived the Plague

2009-09-30T11:28:00.002-05:00

We got the H1N1. Tested positive, bought Tamiflu and endured it. It was like a bad cold. The problem was that *I* was laid low and Pete had to run things for a couple of days. After 1 round of meds when I could not recall what time I had my last dose (let alone try and remember the kids’!), I started this whiteboard. It was INVALUABLE!! I could tell at a glance who needed what and when the next round of doses were due.

Pete was such a trooper. he kept the kids busy and let me sleep for almost 2 days straight. Stay at home mommies need sick days, too!

We are all better. And it really was not as bad as hyped. We have had strep or colds worse than this for sure.

~ ~

ideas for fall

2009-09-28T10:45:00.002-05:00

October 1st is when I told the kids we’d get all the Halloween decorations out of the attic.

Trust me – it is a PLETHORA!

I’ll post photos but I have quite a collection. So I was thinking about fall and going through my files to see what ideas I had saved.

We made these last year. Messy and not sure they were worth it. Might be good to distract the kids but I give it a 4 on a one to ten scale.

These were fun to make and easy cheesy.

I just loved the smiley face on the turkey below!

I am hoping to make these this year. They use those funky pipecleaners.

Now if only we could get below 90 degrees everyday, it might actually start to feel like fall. We organized the kids’ coat armoire yesterday- sorted out the too small Elmo hoodie and set aside the orange LLBean jacket that was still grubby from last year and needs a wash. Tried on too big big winter coats and too small winter coats. I have a stash of coats I bought at the thriftstore and I am just waiting for the prices on ebay to start going up before I list them.

C’mon Fall!

As for Food- this is from Linda (http://www.sundrymourning.com/) and they are my go-to for fall. Teachers, coworkers, bus drivers, principals- everyone just loves these. My sister in law prefers them without the chocolate chips (scandalous!) . I use canned pumpkin and gherideli choc chips (because I buy them by the truck size bags at Sam’s). I have made the giant size, the muffin tops, the minis and all sizes in between with this recipe.

Insanely Good Pumpkin-Chocolate Muffins

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour                 1 1/4 cups sugar                    1 tbls baking powder
1/2 tsp salt                                                1 tsp ground cinnamon        1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger                            1/4 tsp ground allspice        1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 can pumpkin [ ‘regular’ size can, not the large — original recipe calls for 1 CUP]
1/2 cup milk                                            1/2 cup vegetable oil             2 tbls molasses
Some amount of chocolate chips

~ ~ ~

cuties from ebay

2009-09-17T16:31:00.002-05:00

So, I have been buying some Christmas stuff on ebay. I present to you – my latest finds!

These little vintage ceramic girls have knit caps and “hair” bangs!!

These are *so* cute and I now have more than 2 sets because i have been keeping an eye out on ebay!

This kitten mini ornament is the exact one that was the first ornament I bought with my own money for my fist tree- also bought with my own money when I decided to start to buy 1 ornament a year – in 1982.

This records speech and you can lock it so it is not accidentally erased. It is from 1993 and I think they make neat holiday gifts. I love buying them on ebay (I never go over 10$ including shipping) and passing them on to teachers and friends.

This Tiger is from Avon 1993. There is a matching elephant and something else but the tiger is the one I have oodles of. He has the cutest face. Benefit: he is non breakable plastic!

This has been my Christmas mindset lately. I keep a running list on my computer every year and update it as I wrap gifts. So, I can see by my list who I still need to get some things for and who has enough. I am trying to stick to “Something they want, something they need, something to play with and something to read” for each kiddo.

Links, Links Everywhere

2009-09-13T15:05:00.002-05:00

This edition: places I try to visit each and every day

http://twitter.com/ - I like to talk to myself
http://www.dilbert.com/ – because workplace humor is still funny
http://www.sundrymourning.com/ – mommy humor
http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/print-k/make-pk-dots.htm – for Nicolas
http://www.curbly.com/ – kinda like craft windowshopping
http://www.dudecraft.com/ – he finds the most amazing art

I also check these daily even though they are not updated daily. Wouldn’t want to miss anything.

http://www.petroville.com/ – more funny mom humor
http://www.metalia.blogspot.com/ – funny mom humor
http://www.crookedbrains.net/ – cool art stuff
http://www.bucket-o-joy.blogspot.com/ – real life friend
http://www.billiesscrappetique.blogspot.com/ – real life friend
http://www.dealseekingmom.com/ – shopping bargains
http://asianaisle.com/- in case I wanna try something new

These are like train wrecks 0 I cannot look away!

http://www.foundmagazine.com/ – I know I will see a picture of me on there one day
http://peopleofwalmart.com/ – Gawd! I hope to never see myself on here!
http://failblog.org/ – the strangest things!

Of course I check ebay throughout the day as well. Right now I am bidding on shoes for Nicolas, an air filter for the a/c, gold earrings for Mantha and am watching some Hello Kitty Earrings and a guitar t shirt (xmas gift for Nicolas).

~ ~

We’ve been baking!

2009-09-06T07:51:00.002-05:00

For Mantha’s birthday I wanted to make these cute Hello Kitty cupcakes. I’d ganked the picture off the web and was determined to recreate it. I think we did a pretty good job. The boys *loved* making them.

Here is what I found:

Here’s what we made.

The generic pink wafer cookies were cheaper so we ran with those. I had tic tacs and m&ms. The whiskers are a Japanese cookie stick called Pocky. They sell it at HEB and it even comes in strawberry and an almond rocha style. The chocolate ones are really yummy! Crunchy light cookie sticks dipped in a good quality chocolate. They are about 2.50 a small box, by the way.

Want some??

The other neat thing we made were Nicolas’ birthday cupcakes. He and his ‘Uelita made them and I set out the frosting and a baggie of plastic decorations. I walked off to do something and the next thing we knew Nicolas had “iced” all the cupcakes.

*sigh* I had taken out these plastic flies to make “amber necklaces” (like Trey made in science summer school) but Nicolas took a liking to them. He smeared a dab of frosting and plastic fly on each cupcake.

Trey refused to eat any of the cupcakes. We wondered if that was Nicolas’ strategy all along. Smart little buggar!!

~ ~ ~

Yummy Brioche !

2009-08-27T08:20:00.002-05:00

Central Market is a hazardous zone for my bank account. The other day I was there and picked up some Brioche rolls. Got home and all the kids just *LOVED* them. That was interesting. So I went looking and found this recipe.

It is so good and the breadmaker makes it easy. Had it toasted with butter (like it needs more!) this morning and yumm!!

Brioche Loaf (Breadmaker 1 1/2 Lb. Loaf)

3 large eggs
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup milk (70º to 80ºF)
3 tablespoons water (70º to 80ºF)
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Measure all ingredients into bread machine pan in the order suggested by manufacturer. Process on sweet or basic/white bread cycle; use light or medium/normal crust color setting. Remove bread from pan; cool on wire rack.

~ ~

cute you tube vids!

2009-08-19T11:50:00.002-05:00

Verrrry cute! Catchy song and a cat! Mean Kitty Link (Explorer sometimes shows a broken link for imbedded blog youtube vids). Mantha can watch this over and over.

Classic!! Crazy Frog is another of our family faves! (The producer requests no cut and pastes into blogs)

One of my childhood faves! The Two Little Dolls Sesame Street song. So sweet!

Hip video from back in the day! The Pinball counting video from Sesame Street.

One of my all time faves! The Ladybug Picnic from Sesame Street.

classic!! The Mahnahmahnah! song.

I am not all into REM but I like this one. Furry happy monsters!

And this one is just too cute. Buzz & Buzz – get it?! hahahaha

Hooks for the guitars

2009-08-15T10:28:00.002-05:00

So the guitars for Guitar Hero were laying around and I knew they were gonna get damaged so I sent Pete to Home Depot with the action item to get some hooks. He came home with these:

and now our guitars are hung on the wall in the little niche next to the entertainment center.

They actually look cute – a little small when dwarfed next to the entertainment center but now I am thinking small shelf for the wiimotes etc to help alleviate some of the electrical cord overkill that happens right there with the roombas (yes, I have two, don’t laugh!) and the wii stuff etc.

Deanna

A 6 year old photographer

2009-08-11T10:25:00.002-05:00

Nicolas is cute and a little like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. He loves Ophelia the scaredy cat who lives under our bed. And this is not the first time I have found pictures on my camera that *I* did not take.

I opened my camera to find 32 pictures pretty much all like these:

The last self portrait is probably one of the most natural best shots of him in a month or two. Yep, I will be making a scrapbook page about this – but not including all 32 photos. And I have no clue why he thinks it is so funny to take a picture with his mouth open. He has been doing it to me lately (and ticking me off when it ruins a great shot!).

~ ~ ~

My new all time favorite bread machine bread!

2009-08-05T13:12:00.002-05:00

I have been making this about twice a week. I make breadcrumbs out of the crust when it gets too hard (which I store in a jar in the freezer and Pete uses in his meatloaf) and we make french toast fingers out of whatever is left over on the weekend. This is for the large loaf size:

1 c oats (yep, raw oatmeal)

1 1/2 c water

2 Tbls butter

1/4 c honey (spray your measuring cup with pam to help w/ cleanup)

2 tsp salt

3 c flour

2 1/2 tsp yeast

opt: 3 tsp gluten (I use it because i use reg flour instead of bread flour)

Trey and Nicolas do all the measuring and pouring. This is not sweet (you would think the honey would make it sweet but it doesn’t).

I cannot wait till winter when we eat this with soup!

Deanna

Contest!

2009-08-05T13:11:00.002-05:00

Leave a comment about back to school and maybe you can win a laptop!

If you win, you owe me a chick fil a sandwich!

http://www.petroville.com/2009/08/04/back-to-school-rules/

PS: I’m the one holding the duck puppet. (and, yes, my mother gave me that stylish back to school haircut)

This would have been me in 5th grade (NAS Rota Spain circa 1978)

~ ~ ~

My new little book – input needed

2009-08-04T10:33:00.002-05:00

Soo, I was supposed to have this done for Mantha’s birthday but am still wrapping it up. I wanted to make her a little book called “Who Loves Samantha”. I have the cardstock cut to size and the corners rounded and most of the photos in place. I plan on printing out the writing using a pretty font (trimmed to fit and corners rounded) probably in a brown or purple.

Here is what I have so far:

Pages 1 & 2

Mommy and Daddy love Samantha

Pages 3 & 4

Trey loves Samantha

Nicolas loves Samantha

Pages 5 & 6

‘Uelita loves Samantha

‘Uelito loves Samantha

(note: yes, I know it is “abuelita” but we never pronounce the “ab” so why write it that way??)

pages 7 & 8

Grandma loves Samantha

Grandpa loves Samantha

pages 9 & 10

Aunt Rozi loves Samantha

And Uncle Carlos loves Samantha

Pages 11 & 12

Uncle Ben and Aunt Debbie love Samantha

Uncle Brion and Uncle Darrick (no photo as of yet) love Samantha

pages 13 & 14

(not sure what to do with this group shot)

Christina and Chris love Samantha (Chris photo printed but needs to be added)

(not sure what to do with this group shot but thought it would make a nice ending or near ending.)

I was thinking this sleeping picture might also be a good ending. And I have cute photos of her with each of the cats and was thinking of putting those all on one page.

I am also thinking of writing in white ink directly on the photos what she calls certain people (like Deekabus for Nicolas and Aunt RoRo for Rozi) but then what do I do to the other pages so it looks balanced? Doodles and curlicues?? Would that look too busy??

And the book is rather long and repetitive and not in a good way. I am trying to think of alternative verbage but drawing a blank. I have just reached the point where I just want to finish it already.

I plan on using my new handy dandy laminator and laminating the pages and then taking it to Office Depot for a spiral binding. (Yes, Billie has a Bind It All I might use instead but officedepot seems quicker at this point.)

Gimme some help people!!

Deanna

Oooh! Bloggy contest!

2009-06-16T17:39:00.002-05:00

Ya knows I love me some freebies. I am starting to like contests, too.

http://www.sweetlifeinthevalley.com/2009/06/fun-free-fridays-giveaway-accessories.html

This is a random drawing for a sweet looking pillow!!

Yep, we won – thanks to you!

2009-06-03T20:28:00.002-05:00

So- yep, thanks to all our peeps and friends and friends of friends we won the essay contest for $5K!

Sorry for the delayed post - I waited to say anything for fear of jinxing it.

We decided to be grown ups and do responsible stuff with the money (even though a new sofa or new flat screen tv were whispering in my ear!).

The first big thing was- and this just proves things happen for a reason (or the power of coincidence)- our fridge went out. I took this photo for March’s 12 on the 12th (you can see T’s bamboo painting and a coin one of the kids earned!) and then a month later on the 12th I was taking photos of the new fridge (a great find from craigslist - $750!). It was a *bear* to

move- we had to take the front door off the seller’s house! And get it in our house. It was a crazy long day but well worth it. We *LOVE* all the space. And the bottom freezer glides so nicely. And- get this!- it has a built in open door alarm!!

The second thing we did was some dirt work in the yard (about $3K). Our house has flooded twice in the past 10 years - once just the sunken living room and garage and three years later the whole house (ankle deep to calf deep)- from what is called "urban flooding"- rainwater runoff that gets diverted by houses and sheds and does not flow where it should.
In our case our septic field and my neighbor's create two giant humps and the rainwater from the entire neighborhood funnels straight into our backyard instead of down the easement and into the drainage ditch one house over. This first photo is our backyard and the neighbor’s backyard where our septic fields make the humps. The fence was removed and later put back at the higher elevation. The second photo, I was trying to get the drop out our back gate into the easement. We hired a really good contractor and he graded the front side yard and dug out the back easement and moved some dirt around in our almost half-acre sized back yard. Basically, he merged the two septic field hills into one long berm or hill, effectively, blocking the water flow into our yard. The third photo is from the back gate down the easement (some call it an alleyway). You can see the drop and the now lower-level of the easement

And, yes, we bought the Mosquito Magnet. I wanted the biggest fanciest cordless one but found one on clearance that is last year's corded model. It is up and running in the backyard. We are still getting one or two bites a night. We need to find the perfect spot to put it. The manual is woefully unclear on that. But it is way better than the bazillion bites were were getting.

We also put in a small vegetable garden - tomatoes, peppers and some herbs. This photo was taken the day the plants went in- they are a little bigger and in tomato cages now. And we are using the fresh dill already!

We did not get the sprinkler system. Money started to dwindle and we were already in a drought. We knew we were not going to be able to use the system if we put it in, and keeping new grass alive was out of the question. So with the remainder of the money, we paid bills- boring but useful.

It sure came in handy when the almost 2 yr old had to go to the ER (scary! bad cold, breathing issues- but she's fine now) and everyone in the house caught the plague – pretty sure it was the plague!- and there were sooo many doctors’ visits and prescriptions- I literally was at my friendly CVS each day of the week picking up prescriptions that week- every . . single . . day!

So, there ya go- thanks to anyone and everyone who voted!! <hug hug!>
Deanna

PoDiTaNS

My Babycakes machine!

True Dat

The Clips

Chalkboard Paint + Mugs

CD case beaded frame

Me: from a- z

Teacher craft in process

Not quite the NRA

Goodwill Rocks!

Get Yer Geek On

Organizing cords

Pumpkin Muffins!

I’m faster that a tree!

Make Your Own Shrinky Dinks

crafting with a 4 yr old

Autistic or Artistic?

Quickie

retro lady gaga

May the Force Be with You

I *heart* the dump!

bird collage on a plate

Making Angry Bird Cupcakes

Making Cow Shirts!

I’m not Chikin!!

Making some Glue Dots

She works hard for the money . .

Spaghetti Dogs!

Best Sellers

Who used my camera?

Utilitarian Storage

Potty training ponderings

Teacher Appreciation

Squeeze in OT whenever you can

Awesome Worksheet Printable Site!

I *heart* Pintrest!

Caterpillar Project – homeschooling Hijacking a classroom assignment

Awesome Party decoration!

Toilet paper Roll = pencil holder

Sign Language

My pal Mari is a genius!!

Arctic–semi homeschool project

Portrait of a Cat

Photogoraphy Skillz

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

Orange you glad?

Case Closed

Sign of the Times

Warning: Replacing a water heater causes decluttering / reorganization

Semi FAIL!

Easy cheesy homemade gift idea! Post It holder!!

Pay It Forward

Signs

What would you buy with 100 bucks??

Recipe Re-Run

Homemade Gatorade??

Spray Painting a Knife Block

Woodworkin’ in the Shed and Rescuing a Vintage Buffet

sugarfree chocolate pie!

quick oven bread

Crafting with candlesticks

Valentine’s worksheets

Closet Case

Pocket Magnets

Cool contest!

Have you ever spray painted a *DOOR*??

Vintage Vals - Remixed

Vintage Valentines

Rescued from the donation pile

Glitter ornaments

What my son thinks is interesting

Giant Photo Collage Frame

Gifts I am giving (or have given)

I went shopping at the DUMP!

It’s a cookin’ day!!

Coloring pages for you

How hard is it to get a good group photo??

My new fave bread!

The Foamerator!

Phases of the moon – oreo style

I heart the dump!

I heart Pintrest!

Have you ever spray painted a DOOR??