Just to make you Smile..

Redecorating Part 2

If you can glue, you can do this project. It's that simple.

This is my second new addition to the wall decor. This is the cutest but simplest project I have done in a long time. All that I did was buy chip board letters at Hobby Lobby when they were on sale for $1 each. That would be $3 for you Mensa members. Next I took a quick stroll down the scrapbooking aisle and picked out three papers that I thought complimented each other and that I liked.

When I got home I layed the chip board letter on top of my paper and cut around the letter using my exacto knife. First I colored the edges of the chip board letters using a black permanent marker so that I wouldn't have to cover it with paper. This saved me a lot of time. Then I modpodged the paper to my letter and let it dry for a bit while I cleaned up the kitchen. Next I modpodged the top of the letter and again let it dry for a bit. Finally I mixed a little black paint into some modpodge and used it on the edges of the letters to give it a slight distressed look. Again I let that dry and then hung them on the wall. It was so simple and apart from drying time, took no more than 30 minutes to do.

Overall the project cost me under $6 to do since I already had modpodge and an exacto knife on hand.

I did buy three more letters to do a new decoration for the girls bathroom after I paint it. So if you would like a picture tutorial on this, leave me a comment and I will post that after I do the next set of letters.

I have one more new wall decor to show you in the next few days... I just have to get out my zoom lense to take a picture of it. Seriously.

After I took this picture someone else wanted in the picture as well

Then someone else.....

Do they look guilty or is it just me?

Redecorating

I'm getting tired of our old decor.  Most everything that we were decorating with the past 6 years was given to us by random friends and family who were changing their decor. It's true. When we were first married six years ago we were just too broke to make decorating a priority. So we used what other people did not want and it was a blessing! Actually for the first year we lived in our house we had a Lion King beach towel as a kitchen curtain. Now that's what I call class.

Now we have reached a place where I can tinker around with changing some decorations but I certainly cannot afford Neiman Marcus or even actually Target for that matter! I'm using what I have mixed with a few inexpensive things and challenging myself to really change things up around here for the least amount of money possible. So far it is working!

For example today I will show you my favorite new wall art. I bought three red plastic charges at Hobby Lobby for half off, which amounted to a whopping $6. I came home and took profile pictures of all three girls and printed them off of the computer.  Then  I placed one picture on top of a charger and traced around the profile using my exacto knife. I just lightlty scored the plastic charger, I did not cut all the way through the plate. Finally I filled in their profile with white paint using the score lines as a boundry. It worked great! I love it! You can achieve the same looking using vinyl that you cut if you have a cricut or you can have someone cut it for you off of Etsy.com. But I knew I could do it myself and I already had the white paint so why add another expense?

To hang them I just tore some polka dot fabric that I already had into strips and glued it to the back of the charger. Then I tied sloppy bows at the top and hung them on a nail. It was simple and added a lot of texture to the shiny smooth chargers.

I just love this project and I'm going to put a sealant on the chargers so that I can keep them as momentos.

This is my favorite one... I just love the little alfalfa sprout hair and the chubby cheeks. What a precious memory to have.

up to my eyes...

Sunday I spent about five hours in the kitchen making five different flavors of homemade organic baby food. I was aiming to make at least six months worth of food but it turned out to be more like 3 months, which is good. It's good because this lovely kid will not eat it! at all!

Princess Newbie is flat out refusing to touch the stuff. I think its good, I tried it all but it just can't compare to the bland ol' gerber.

So if anyone needs mass amounts of homemade baby food, hit a sister up because I might be able to hook you up.  You never know when you might just land yourself some free baby food. I'm all about free right now.

Why eat mother's love in a jar when you can have Baby Mum Mums?

 

                                

Giveaway

Its my first giveaway ever and I'm pumped! (add pumped to list of things I'm too old to say now)

His Royal Highness is so supportive of me. He proved this by betting me that only two people (Robyn or my MIL) will sign up for this giveaway. Wow. I feel loved and supported. He did help me clean up downstairs today after my baby food making fiasco so I guess he does love me.

Are you ready to know what it is??

You sure?

It's a signed copy the book So Big" wrote by our good friend Amanda Ruiz.

It's a great rhytmic story about a cricket that struggles to find his purpose in life. It's cute and cuddly and you need it!

Amanda will also be having a book signing and reading from her book at Katy Budget Books in Katy on February 6th from 1pm- 3pm.

All you have to do to enter this giveaway leave a comment below telling us what your favorite cake flavor or cake flavor that you want to try is.

I'll draw a name next saturday and post the winner here on the blog.

I hope you win! just you! no one else!

2 Reviews and a Lip Ring

Princess Newbie and I went grocery shopping today. Believe it or not I have not been on a big shopping trip since before christmas so I had a ton to get tonight but little time to accomplish this feat. I was trying to think fast of future menus while still getting everything I needed at the best price possible. Sometimes I do plan menus ahead of time but then it doesn't always work in harmony with the items that are on sale that week. Usually I shop and grab all the sale staple items and then make a menu working around those items.  We do not have a pantry in this house and did not realize that until we had bought the house. So I cannot buy things and store them. I can only buy things that we will use ASAP.

I am also planning on making six months worth of baby food tomorrow and freezing it. My cart was filled to the brim with vegetables and fruits. I think we might have too much baby food after tomorrow.  Princess Newbie is just starting on baby food but the price of store bought food has really gone up since Princess Goofy was a baby! Right now it is costing around $10.00 a week for Princess Newbie and she's not eating much yet. So tomorrow I will be covered in all types of pureed fruits and vegetables. It will be a sight to see.

source photo

Tonight when I was at the store I did pick up two new items for Princess Newbie. One of them was Baby Mum-mums.  They look like a flavorless white log but oh my goodness! If they were logs than Princess Newbie was a Woodchuck! She downed them in no time and sat grinning ear to ear. They were her first sampling of self feeding foods and you could tell she was proud as all get out. I can't believe they didn't have these when the other Princesses were babies.

The other thing I grabbed was Little Blends Yogurt from Horizon. I was planning on just mixing some baby food into plain yogurt to save money but since I will be so busy this week I just grabbed these instead. The price tag was a little more than I would have liked to pay ($4 for 4 servings) but I talked myself into it because it was organic and she would like it. Well, she did like it. She cried when I took the spoon away but it turns out that it's not organic. Horizon which I thought was a strict organic brand has expanded into non organics that they have labeled "natural". I would have never realized this if I hadn't googled it looking for a photo of it.  I actually feel a little cheated by this. It doesn't have any harmful hormones or corn syrup in it but I wouldn't have paid that much had I of know that it was not organic. That company made a nice profit off of me tonight. Princess Newbie loved it but I think I'll just be mixing my own baby yogurt from now on.

As I was checking out the cashier asked me if I was ok to which I politely replied that I was fine, thank you. She later asked me, "are you sure youre ok?"  Once again I told her I was fine.

Well I guess she failed etiquette class in High School because her response was:
"Wow, well you look really exhausted tonight."

Thank you. I think that was just the pick me up I needed.

I remembered my prim southern upbringing and was very polite. If I had not been raised a good southern girl who can smile while the grits are burning than I might have taken that lip ring of hers and relocated it somewhere else.

In conclusion, Baby Mum Mums are a hit, Little Blends are yummy but deceiving, and lip rings should be shoved down throats.

Apparently I'm exhausted and need to go to bed now. Come back tomorrow for my first giveaway ever. It's gonna be SO BIG! (that's a hint)

Birfday wishes

Have I ever told you about my wonderful neighbor? She brings me cookies and eggs when I need them. I owe her practically everything inside of the grocery store because I have borrowed it all. She watches our dogs when we have to go out of town and even watched them when we evacuated for Hurrican Ike. For those of you that don't realize what that means, just imagine her wading across our street several times during the heavy storms to let the dogs in and out of our house. Now that's a good neighbor.

Have I ever told you about my Mother-in-law? I was truly blessed when God picked His Royal Highness for me because I inherited my Mother-in-law. She is the one that drives over 5 hours to babysit our kids!  The princesses receive care packages from her on a weekly basis and she occasionally requests an emergency picture of her grandkids to help her make it through the day. Ok, she requests this on a daily basis.  Last week she sent me a message requesting a picture of Princess Newbie ASAP.  Well, Princess Newbie had just woken up from a nap and was not a happy camper so I sent her a picture of Princess Newbie crying. The phone rang within seconds of me pressing send so that she could find out why her grandbaby was crying. I love it! The love she shows to our entire family is outstanding and I've learned a lot about service to others from her

.

Have I told you that both of them were born on this weekend about 25 years ago?

Happy Birthday to you! You are both womderful women!

Here's my gifts to you: a beautiful cake

and a picture of a gorgeous baby... just the picture.. no you can't have the baby

Agh.

Tonight sucks.

I burned dinner to a crisp. It was roast but it was black and dry, not really the way I like meat to be served.

The older girls are in their rooms fighting, they are supposed to be sleeping. I keep hearing their door slam because they are fighting over if the door should be cracked or closed. One girl cracks it, one girl slams it. This continues until who knows when. I have a boarder line migraine so I don't really care. Do you spell Migrane or Migraine? Once again, not caring.

His Royal Highness and I are fighting too. It happens. Not caring about that too much at this moment either because of mentioned migraine (migrane). I think it's migraine. not sure. not caring.

Princess Newbie is cutting her second tooth today. For you non parental people, that is a term for the tooth actually breaking through the gums. I'm sure it's painful and so is the screaming we heard on the way home from our dinner after I burned our other one.

I have to go to the bathroom but His Royal Highness is in our room and I don't feel like seeing him right now so I am going to hold it. I know that's petty and childish but just remember that the next time that you or someone else mentions that I'm getting old. It's just a number, not a mental capacity.

Go Forth and Conquer

I've been keeping new items in my refrigerator lately and it's goooood suff. Let me just say this, if you are going to buy The Pioneer Woman's cookbook than you need these items at all times and I'm not talking about butter. Simply, it's heavy whipping cream and buttermilk.

These two items are making waves in my home.... huge huge waves. 

You see, I have a small confession to make. I don't make cornbread from scratch like most of my family does. I use the cheapest mix ever in the funky vintage box. If you guessed Jiffy mix, than you guessed right. I love the box so much I can't make any other kind. A few nights ago I used buttermilk in place of regular milk when I made cornbread and His Royal Highess told me it was perfect. I believe he used the phrase, "restaurant quality". HAHA. My food is finally worth of a restaurant. I personally thought it was better than that but I'll take what I can get around here.

The best part is that now I can have fresh whipped cream at any moments notice. Add a little chocolate pudding mix and some chocolate shavings and your children will think you're a genius.

Go out and conquer the world with cornbread and whip cream. It's worth the try.

Newest Cake

This is my newest cake that I did for a Sweet 16 party. This picture does not do it justice. I was running out the door and just snapped a few great pictures. I even forgot to wipe the cornstarch off the front of the cake before I took the picture! I still love it.

7 things

One of my newest favorite blogs This is Reverb posted a challege for readers to post 7 pieces of randomness. I'm all about the random. Seriously. I go from singing Sir Mix Alot to talking about the currently political situation in Maryland within seconds. 

In honor of randomness....
1. Princess Newbie got her first tooth today. I dont know if I should be excited or not because I'm nursing... nursing and teeth do not always mix. Sorry if that is TMI.
2. I would love to be on the Food Network show Chopped. I would only hope for something really fun like anchovies and marshmallows.
3. I blog late at night when all sense of spelling and grammar has left me. no joke.
4. Princess Goofy's imaginary friends were tickling her tonight. Their names are Arman and Peter Pan. Sometimes Peter Pan follows us when we're driving in the car.
5. I secretly long to take a pottery class. It's something about the clay and the mess that calls to me.
6. I have six trash bags full of toys in our closet right now.
7. If I don't call and order new cake dummies (styrofoam cake forms, not stupid people who don't know anything about cake) this week then I may not make it to the Sugar Arts Show this year.

To top it all off.....
Seven random pictures.

this kid is a messy eater

this is how she sees herself

my favorite picture of her ever. It is just so her...

ruby red slippers cake

A great day. Can you guess which princess this is?

Princess goofy refused to let me take her picture so Princess Girly Girl posed beside her. They live to antagonize each other

I love this picture

Pray for Haiti

I've always been drawn to disasters. Many times I'll find myself sitting online or in front of the TV watching the news coverage for hours and hours. It's probably not very healthy.

This earthquake in Haiti has broken my heart and I keep looking for positive news stories, some good coming out of Haiti but there really isn't one. I read a story on Foxnews.com about a missionary who drove 100 miles to dig his wife out of the building where she had been trapped for ten hours. His father here in the U.S. was quoted with saying that they each had their own trials to walk through. That really impacted me. The wife is fine and doing well but the husband had to drive to his wife, through horrible damage without knowing if she would be alive when he got there. It was a good ending for them but the trials they had to walk through to get there must have been horrible. Many times we lament and groan when we are faced with hardships or times of chaos but the good news for me at least is that God is the Creator of happy endings. His Royal Highness always makes fun of me because I want all the movies I watch to have a happy ending and I hate it when they don't! I know in life there will be outcomes that are not what we wanted. But personally, I am saved by Christ. It's not something I talk alot about on this blog but it's the truth. So no matter what muck or mud I walk through. No matter how many years I would have to live in the rebuilding phase of life, my ending in life will be a happy one. He is my creator of my happy ending.

I plan to pray hard for Haiti. There is such devastation there that these people might never recover from. There are so many that have already lost their life or their children's lives. However, no matter how much destruction I see or negative stories I hear on the news, I am going to choose to believe that good can come from this. Do you know that ashes are actually one of the best fertilizers on earth? From this destruction, beautiful things will grow.

Que Sera, Sera

You're never too young to start thinking about your future.

The choices today are endless

How about a paleontologist?

excuse me sir, have you seen any dinosaurs around here?

A dentist:

Open wide... say ahhh....

A podiatrist maybe?

You seem to be missing some toes....

A Psychic?

I see a dinosaur... miniture, not very scary....

Or maybe even a wrestler?

take that mouse! I call this the cheese grater... grrrr..

But maybe, just maybe... someone should master the art of crawling first.

baby steps, it's all about the baby steps.

My Week In Review...

My life is a comedy.

Sunday started the smoke alarm fiasco that has been detailed in the post below.

Monday I slid downstairs and once again my trick knee went out. I didn't slip on water or anything slippery, I was just walking and fell down. It's the story of my life. Can you imagine if I went ice skating or anything truly adventurous? I think I would kill myself. That's why I stick to crafting. The worst thing I  can do to myself is sew straight through my fingers or glue my fingers together. I've done both of those and lived through it, so I'll just stick to what I know. So I spent monday night in bed, tuesday upstairs the entire day, and limping around the rest of the week at a sloth's pace.

Tuesday I somehow got food poisoning from dinner. I am the only one in the entire family that got sick after dinner yet we all ate the exact same thing. So I was a pitiful limping sick person.

Wednesday I was weak and still feeling bad, limping, and up at 2 am to retrieve a smoke alarm from the front yard.

Thursday I heard both girls giggling and yelling at me "the dishwasher is making bubbles." You remember on old tv shows when they would have the scene where someone would put too much soap in the washing machine and the room would be filled with bubbles. The same scene happened in my kitchen with my dishwasher. Tons and tons of bubbles were pouring out of the thing. Turns out Princess Girly Girl had decided to help me with the dishes and put Dawn dish soap in the dishwasher.

Today while I was hiding inside from this freakish cold snap I smelled nail polish. But it was naptime and all the girls were asleep, or so I thought. Princess Goofy was painting her nails in our bedroom. You know you're a mom when you can smell the nail polish three rooms away. This is the princess who can't walk in a straight line without falling but she can paint her nails without getting a drop on the carpet. Oh and she did her toenails too. We're so in trouble when she gets older. She'll think she can drive when she's 11.

There's still tomorrow to go. Wish me luck.

The Tale of the Smoke Alarm....

Once upon a time there was a smoke alarm that lived above a fireplace. It was a happy alarm until one day the fireplace flue became stuck and smoke spilled back out into it's home. The happy little smoke alarm had no choice but to sound it's noble alarm. The King of the house became frustrated with the loud beeping noise compiled with the smoke billowing into the house so he gently tossed the alarm into the yard. Because of the round sides that the poor alarm had tried dieting away, it rolled and it rolled until it came to settle in the neighbors side yard.

Many nights passed and the King of the house just kinda forgot about the poor little alarm laying cold and alone out in the yard until one night, that we will call last night, when it rained. The water once again gave the poor little alarm no choice but to sound it's noble alarm.

The King of the house accidentally thought the sound was his bedroom alarm clock and got up to press snooze, awakening the Queen in the process. Because of his ability to sleep through all different forms of natural disasters, he easily went back to bed and was back to dreamland in no time at all. The Queen however is a light sleeper and layed there pondering the noise for several minutes. Finally she arose from her bed and started looking out the windows to find the source of the alarm. Oh she was thinking some not so nice things about the neighbor who was causing all this ruckus... yes she was...

Finally when the alarm woke up the baby a little bit later she could take it no more. The Queen's frustration had reached a peak and she even thought about calling the police so they could fuss at the person causing this problem.

Then it hit her, like a royal brick, that the King laying sound asleep next to her probably never saved the smoke alarm from his cold watery fate. Up she leapt with the baby princess in her arms, gave the clock a quick glance (2 AM) and ran down the stairs and out the door as quickly as she could hobble.

Digging through piles of wet leaves in the dark, she finally located the beeping smoke alarm and ripped the dying battery from it's back. The Queen quickly glanced around to see if any neighbors were staring her down in a dangerous fashion then disappeared back into the house with baby princess. Back to their beds they went with the Queen giving His Royal Highness a mean glare along the way. But finally, the smoke alarm was safe and sound, back in the warmth of the house and happy to be home again.

This story is purely fiction and if any neighbors are reading this, please know that it was his fault, not mine.

The older princesses and I made spitz pressed cookies tonight. I was planning to decorate one of them to look like a smoke alarm for someone special but I burned them. How's that for irony?

Happy Birthday....

Happy Birthday dad! Do you know that after today, there are 359 days until 2011?

Also...

Joan of Arc was born today in 1412 ( I'm not going to make any jokes about you being there for her birth but I thought about it)
Mother Teresa begain her work in Calcutta
It's also Three Kings day,
Cuddle up day,
Bean day,
and Sherlock Holme's birthday.
It is also The Pioneer Woman's birthday (you know the woman that I obsess about)

But I still think you being born today many years ago was the best thing of all.

Too Cute for Tuesday

We love laundry day! Or so we try to convince ourself of it...





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If you give...

If you give an older sister a doll stroller, she'll want you to put her baby sister in it.

Then the middle sister will have a meltdown because that is her baby's stroller.

Next the handsome older father will come to the rescue

After the rescue is complete, the older sister will want the doll stroller back.

And chances are that if you give her the doll stroller back.....

She'll want you to put the baby sister back in it.

Snow Happy

I've been cleaning and decluttering the house the past two days and it has worn me out! Yesterday I took down christmas decorations and cleaned every nook and cranny that I could find. Today we cleaned the garage and His Royal Highness built me more shelves to store my craft supplies. Or as he often calls it, crap supplies. Constantly I'm forced to remind him that my craft issues save him money since I make things rather than buy them.

Throughout all this cleaning and decluttering, the house has stayed a mess. Isn't that how it always seems to happen? I am finding little knick knacks here and there that have no place and little piles of stuff is growing. Tomorrow I plan on erradicating each and every pile. But tonight I am exhausted. I plan on watching the rest of my movie, Pride and Prejudice, and then laying down to read my Sarah Palin book for a few minutes before I pass out cold.

I never showed you any pictures from our snowy Christmas adventure so I'll leave you with those. Please know that by the time you look at these tonight, I will be happily drooling on my pillow in an exhaustive state of slumber. Good night moon, Good night red balloon, and Good night snow angels everywhere.

and finally introducing the snow angel who ate too many christmas goodies...

good thing her waistline will melt away after christmas...

hahah.. I kill myself.