Saturday, December 31, 2011

Final Installment of Craft Day - Glitter Ornaments

With the Christmas rush I forgot to post the 3rd craft from my Craft Day earlier in December.  We also made glitter ornaments, they were super easy and I found them here via Pinterest.  I don't know who was sitting around one day and thought "I wonder what happens if you swirl Mop n' Glo in an ornament and then put in some glitter?" But I do know it makes a very pretty ornament!


These aren't the best pictures but they are as good as it is gonna get this year since they are already packed away in the Christmas bins!
I have been toying with the idea of doing a craft day every month or every other month, Valentine's, Easter/Spring etc.  but in order to get everything crafted in time to display it for the holiday I would have to start thinking about Valentine's Day crafts now.  I always want to decorate my home for each holiday with cute handmade decorations but I always think about them too close to the holiday!  Maybe this is the year I will get my act together and get it done!

Today is the last day of 2011, there were times that I didn't think I would make it here!  I am hoping to post a Christmas re-cap and maybe a little about my hopes/plans/ideas for the new year, but that will have to wait until tomorrow!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Christmas Craft Day - Part 2

Yesterday I mentioned two other crafts we did at Craft Day, one of them was the beadboard candy cane.  Well here it is:



These aren't the best pictures because I can't seem to get the one I want to post to rotate and I gave up.  I got the idea from this blog. I don't know what I am going to do with the candy canes, I was going to hang one on the door but then I went and bought a very mis-shapen wreath at Costco.  Tomorrow if you are lucky I will share the glitter ornaments if Nalani and I get our bows tied on them.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Christmas Craft Day

I had a few friends over this past Sunday for a Christmas Craft Day.  We made 3 different projects.  Today I am going to share the sock snowmen with you.  They were super easy, I got the idea off of Pinterest and it was from this blog.  So simple and cute!  I made a little family of 4 and then I also made 10 more for gifts for teachers, neighbors and friends.
I went with a bright color theme for my snowmen and then used more traditional red & green for the gift ones.
Trevor felt sad for all of the leftover parts of socks so he got crafty also, he made a hobo snowball with the castoffs.
You can't see that the back of the hat (the heel of a sock) is all cut up and he plans to add a burlap sack to the stick!  Next up are the beadboard candy canes and glitter ornaments, it will probably be February before I blog about those!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Confessions of a Bad Blogger

OK I have to admit this - I suck at blogging!  Actually I just haven't done anything "bloggable" lately.  We had baseball and soccer games until the end of October and now we have two basketball teams for one kid going on right now.  I haven't been couponing too much, though I am really looking forward to the deals at CVS on Thanksgiving.  Yes, I will be at CVS and RiteAid Thanksgiving morning!  I have been crafting a little for my friend Jenny's baby shower, which is tomorrow.  I am also putting together some Christmas craft ideas.  Oh and exciting news - I shampooed the carpet in my living room!!  Oh, yes exciting life!  I am hoping to get back in to the blogging world and hopefully do better at my picture of the day which has also been sorely lacking.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Rocked it at RiteAid!

Today was a major score at RiteAid!  I started out with $4 in Up Rewards.  I spent $13.16 out of my pocket.  So I spent a total of $17.16 (between cash and Ups and including tax) and I now have $20 in Up Rewards to spend next time!  So they pretty much PAID ME $2.84 to buy:

6) bags of Halloween candy (good chocolate kinds - Snickers, Butterfinger etc)
4) Jergens 10oz lotions
4) Conair Hairbrushes
1) Blistex Lip Balm
1) bag of cough drops
1) Reese's (this was a filler so I could use Ups)

Now my success was very dependent on a glitch in the RiteAid computer system.  For some reason the Jergens lotion is ringing up as free, but when you buy 2 (both free) they give you a $5 Up Reward!  So I got four lotions and they paid me $2.50 per bottle to buy them!

I read up on all of the deals/coupon match-ups at places like this and this - they are some hard core couponers!  But I never would have know about better than free lotion if I didn't follow those message boards!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

A Funny Little Something

 
So maybe I am behind the times but since when does Chuck Norris approve laundry soap?  Is he now a big stain fighter of some sort?!  It was good for quite the chuckle (to myself) in the laundry aisle of Walmart that is for sure!  And let me tell you it was a major selling factor too - WHO would pass up laundry soap approved by Chuck Norris?  Well not me!  I threw that Era soap in to my cart and chuckled my way to the register.  Maybe it is some big ad campaign, I don't know and I guess it did its job because it got me to buy it even if it was for the sheer ridiculousness of it!  So check your soap and make sure that you too are Chuck Norris Approved!
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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

I haven't been couponing lately.  At least not getting super great deals like I had been.  I have used a coupon here and there at the grocery store but it has been quite some time since I snagged a free tube of toothpaste.  The Extreme Couponing show on TLC has really effected the couponing world.  All of the stores are changing their policies and making it really hard for the average person to score a good deal.  The show is really disappointing, they show people doing ridiculous things, many of them fraudulent and then it makes it hard for the normal person to save a little money.  So that being said, I jumped back into the couponing world this week!
Here is what I got:
I paid $12.21 out of my pocket for two full size body washes, two children's cold medicine, two 8 ct. bottles of Excederin Migraine, a full size tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush.  And the stores gave me back $8.38 in rewards bucks to use next time so really I spent $3.83 on all of that!

I also got a huge tube of toothpaste, a 3 pack of Orbit gum and printed 20 pictures all for .91 cents at Target!

So I think I am off to a good start in diving back into couponing!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Butterfly Project - Finally!

This summer the kids and I started a project that I found here via Pinterest.  I re-purposed some thin art canvas that Nalani got in a painting set, primered over the pre-printed picture and then spraypainted them a nice aqua shade that I already had on hand.  I pretty much followed the instructions from the link other than we did 4 small canvases instead of one big one. And we didn't have fancy watercolors, just the Crayola set with 8 colors and I used hot glue not glue dots.  We have had the project done for quite sometime, it just took me forever to get it hung in Nalani's room.  And now that they are hung I think I better do 2 two more - it looks kind of small on her wall (the completed size is about 16"x20").



I took down a name sign that I had made for her when she was born, I didn't take a picture before I ripped it apart but I know I have one somewhere just not going to look for it now to post.  I cleaned 7 years of dust off of the letters and then hung her name on the side of her loft bed.  Hopefully the mega-Glue Dots I used will hold!

I can now at least say that I got something done this weekend - hung the butterfly project AND blogged about it!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Jaren's Big Day!

Jaren has been waiting for this day since June 2010 - he got his braces off !!

Here is a little before and after comparison shot:
 

A pretty drastic change, I think!  They moved teeth that were behind his top front teeth growing through the roof of his mouth to their correct spot, corrected his underbite so he won't have a Jay Leno bottom jaw, and lined everything else up all pretty.  Of course he will have to have a 2nd phase once all of his adult teeth come in but we are headed in the right direction.

He got to pick his retainer colors and design.  He, of course, went with the Windsor Jaguar black and gold with a Nike swoosh.

The kid just won't stop smiling!


Now I have to think of something to make for a celebratory dinner!!


Monday, September 19, 2011

A Quick Anecdote

I was checking out the new Oriental Trading Company Halloween catalog looking for ideas for "Boo-ing" treats (more on Boo-ing later) and I came across what I believe to be a hilarious customer testimonial on these items:

They are the ever popular Glow-In-The-Dark Bouncing Eyeball. 
And an OTC customer had this to say: "These bouncing eyeballs are so useful." And then they go on to tell about putting them in a skull, their bookcase and even floating them in their punch.
While I may find them cool, and maybe even describe them as handy for Halloween decorating how can anyone say a glow-in-the-dark bouncing eyeball is useful!?!?
Seam ripper while I am sewing = useful
Clorox Wipes for quick bathroom cleanup = useful
Even a long sleeve sweatshirt when you have a runny nose = useful
But a glow-in-the-dark bouncing eyeball!?!?

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Tuesday Ten...4 Days Late and Definitely a Dollar Short

I thought I would have more time for things like blogging and crafts once the kids went back to school. That hasn't been the case!  Not quite sure what I have been doing with my time but hopefully I will be able to get back to blogging regularly and make some time for my scrapbooking and crafts.

Here is a quick little Tuesday Ten on Saturday to keep you entertained until I stop by again!

1. I need gray flip-flops.  I have a million gray shirts and no flip-flops to match.

2. How do you spell gray/grey - I think I flip-flop between the two. And I don't care if I get grey or gray flip-flops either will do.

3. KFC's current ad campaign says that chicken shouldn't come in "nuggets" - I am not sure why they think "popcorn" chicken is better than a chicken "nugget" I am pretty sure neither are real chicken.

4. I am a little disturbed with how large my sons new baseball pants are.  Very hard to order things like that online.  I will try to snap a picture of them and show you exactly what I mean!  Not very aerodynamic, a little parachute like and he really doesn't need anything to slow him down.

5. Our current toothpaste tastes exactly like how our toilet bowl cleaner smells.  But we keep using it.  Even though we have about 20 other tubes in the cabinet.

6. I really am not a fan of TV.  I used to have a few shows that I enjoyed watching every week.  And there are still a few things I don't mind watching, however some of my family members think it has to be on 24 hours a day!  A lot more would get done around here if the TV wasn't on!

7.  I put myself on a literary break - no more reading books until I get some scrapbooking and page planning done. But then I bought 2 new books today at the Borders going out of business sale.  I couldn't say no to .80 paperbacks!  Now if I can just ignore them for awhile.  I have a tendancy to not do anything else until my book is done.  I guess it is a little like the TV situation above.

8. Today was a great day for the Thunderbirds soccer and Ironbird baseball.  10-0 victory for the Thunderbirds and 11-4 for the Ironbirds.  Way to go kids!

9. Sitting outside exhausts me, I did nothing today but watch soccer and baseball, yet I am drained.

10.  I haven't been crafting, couponing or even hitting the thrift stores.........I need to get back on track!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Back to School

Last Thursday was the first day of school here in Windsor.  Because of the way the schools are set-up here both of the kids are starting at new schools; Nalani in 2nd grade and Jaren is starting 6th grade at the middle school!  It seems like only yesterday he was starting school for the very first time and now here he is a middle schooler!


Can you believe how much he has grown!?!  Wow.  (I don't know why the 2005 caption on the 2nd kindergarten picture isn't showing up, it's there when I upload it!)

And here is Nalani and the both of them together for the first day of school!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Don't Worry, I'm Still Alive

I have been super busy lately - all kinds of "bloggable" things going on but no time to blog about them!  We had all kinds of summer activites to cram in before school starts and then we had to get ready for school and now we have to get used to the new school routine!  So I will be back, hopefully next week!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

A New Back To School Do

I told Nalani that at the end of summer she could get her hair cut even with her bangs that she has been growing out.  Trevor kept saying he wouldn't let her.  This morning he said she could get it cut however she wanted.  We didn't wait for him to change his mind, we went right away to get it cut!



She was a few inches shy of being able to donate it to Lock for Love.  If we had it cut shorter it would have made it to the 10" they require but we thought we were already pushing it with Trevor, though a chin-length bob would have been really cute!

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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Tuesday Ten......on Wednesday

I don't know why I chose to have my main blog post of the week be on Tuesdays.  You see I only work a few days a week and one of them is Tuesday.  So I am a little busy already on Tuesdays.  I thought of changing it to the Friday Five, but then again Friday is the other day I work!  So instead I decided that it will just be a surprise when I post my Tuesday Ten. 

My dad is planning that this weeks Tuesday Ten will be the 10 reasons why you shouldn't go camping.  I hate to disappoint him, but it isn't.  There will be quite a few camping pictures though.  I decided that today will just be random blathering, which I know is no different than any other post!

1)  My kids school schedule seems to have much more influence on my life than I realize. Every Wednesday this summer I always think we are in a hurry to do something because it is a "short day".  The kids get out of school early on Wednesdays but that doesn't mean there are less hours in the day on Wednesday!  But yet this morning I thought I better get up early and get stuff done because it is a short day.  Nevermind that it is summer and better yet my kids aren't even home this week!

2) And since they aren't home this week that means:
No one will be sitting here all day doing nothing (I usually sit on the other end of the couch)
This will not be tuned to the Disney Channel all day.  In fact it probably won't even get turned on.
And I will not get any of these this week.
Yes, they are gray hairs, not the best picture because there are a lot of them, and you can't see it too well in this shot.

3) We did manage to do a few things on our list of things we still want to do this summer.  We went camping last week.
We have been going to Hendy Woods State Park near Boonville for the last 7 or 8 years.  The park is now on the list to close next summer.  This makes me sad.  It is a great campground and we will miss it if we can't go every summer.

We went hiking:

We made Jiffy Pop on the camp stove:

We went swimming in the Navarro River:

We roasted hot dogs over the fire (yummmm...that smoky flavor):

We made smores.  We also had GIANT marshmallows, they were way more marshmallow than we could handle:

We even attempted to cut off our finger!  Well Trevor did.  And no he didn't cut his thumb off, he just has it bent funny, but he did put a major gash in his finger.  He was attempting to modify a bubble wand of all things.  He thought I should take a picture of his bandaged finger and a bloody leaf.  There were a lot of bloody leaves.

We played games. Or rather they played games.  I don't do games.

4) The kids are at my parents house this week which was one of the things they wanted to do this summer.  I took them up and got to visit my Grandma Dodo for a little bit which is something I wanted to do this summer.  She is 90 and she doesn't like pictures and she sure as hell isn't going to smile for one!

  5) This past Saturday was Trevor's birthday.  One more year to the BIG 4-0!

 And that about wraps this up.  Plus I am going to be late for my pedicure......

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Tuesday Ten....kind of

I don't think there will be 10 here and I don't really think they are funny one bit but it is all I've got for you today!

There are 22 days until school starts.  I have mixed emotions about the kids going back to school. 

1) I am not ready for the morning wake-up fights and the getting homework done fights

2) I will be glad for the being together just about 24/7 fights to end.

3) There are still a lot of things that we wanted to do this summer that we haven't done yet.  Hell, we haven't even made our "What We Want To Do This Summer" list!
            1) Spend a few days at my aunts and swim and hang out - not happening
            2) Go to the Jelly Belly Factory - may still happen
            3) The kids are supposed to spend a week at my parents - still hoping for that one!
            4) I also wanted to spend a few days at my parents and my grandma's house, she's 90 you know and I should probably spend some time with her - I may get a day or two in there when I drop-off/pick-up the kids, if they go
            5) Go the beach - maybe with my mom
            6) Hiking at Armstrong Woods - may still happen
            7) Camping - might actually happen this week!
            8) I planned to do the eliptical machine at least 5 days a week - I think I got on it twice. 
            9) I was going to have my 2010 Project 365 completely journaled - haven't written a thing.
            10) Not let the kids watch TV.......ummmm yeah, right.
So we may still do some of these things in the next 22 days but that will make it a very busy 22 days AND soccer practice will start somewhere in there too.

4) Looking forward to a little time to myself when the kids go to school, but then of course I will start volunteering in the class, planning parties and finding a million things to do for other people.

5) I really don't want to spend money that I don't have on school clothes that they don't really need.  I asked Jaren if we was going to spend the money he made at the yard sale on school clothes.  He told me that he doesn't really need any if he has to pay for it!  But of course if I am paying for it he will find plenty that he "needs"!

I think I have about tapped out this subject and like I said there is no humor in it!  But for now August 18th with have a big red circle on our calendar and I will let you know if it is a good or bad thing!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

My New Glasses

Finally got my new glasses adjusted so they don't hurt.  Here they are - keep in mind that my photographer is 7 years old!
I know I owe you all a list of 10 entertaining things but I have been busy and haven't taken the time to think of them yet.  Here's one though: I told the kids they can't watch TV today........we will see how that goes!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Exhausted

The garage sale is over!  So much work to get rid of useless crap!  I am so glad that my friends Karen and Berta joined in the sale and were there to help me out.  I had tons of stuff from my mom's store to sell I couldn't have done it alone.  Thanks girls!  My darn kids made more at the sale than I did!  I let them have the money from their toys, books, TVs - whatever they decided to part with.  They made about $130 each!  I brought in a little over $230 - that should get me real pretty toes and eyebrows!  I purged and organized my scrapbook stuff so I am looking forward to doing a little crafting in my neat and clean room. But for the rest of today I plan to sit on the couch.  I am exhausted!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Tuesday Ten

So I am a day late, and a week and a day late since I never posted a Tuesday Ten last week either!  I haven't really had any funny little observations and sure as heck haven't had 10 of them!!  So here is what I've got for you:

1) Summer drains me.  Kids whining, kids fighting, kids being bored.  Kids drain me.

2) In an effort to keep the whining, fighting and boredom to a minimum we have been going on hikes, going to the cheap movies (Kung Fu Panda is on the agenda for today) and doing art projects.  Did you know that you can whine, fight and even be bored while hiking, at the movies and doing art projects.  Yep, you can.

3) I am hoping to go camping soon.

4) Gotta get through the big yard sale this weekend then I can plan the camping trip.

5) I haven't had my toes done all summer.  I am hoping to make big bucks at the yard sale so I can treat myself to a pedicure.

6) I picked up my new glasses last week.  Gotta go get them adjusted, they hurt behind my ears.  And once I get my eyebrows tamed I will post a picture of the new specs, but I am waiting on the same windfall of money to be able to get my brows under control.

7) The shirt I am wearing today has some kind of stain on the front of it.  I am pretending like I didn't notice and that it must have just happened.

8) Our cat doesn't like the food I borrowed from the neighbor.  I guess I will have to actually go to the store and buy him some.

9) I think we are going to try Five Guys Burgers today.  Jaren has been wanting to go so we might check it out.  Gotta reward the fighting and whining you know.

10) Tomorrow will be the final purging, sorting and pricing day for the yard sale - if it doesn't happen tomorrow it isn't going to happen!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Running Late....

Yes, it is Wednesday and there still hasn't been a Tuesday Ten post.  It might not happen until Thursday, or maybe not at all!  I will leave you all in suspense!

But there is this quick thought, the more I go to Salvation Army the more I think my parents have been donating my childhood......first it was a stuffed Wuzzle named Eleroo that my sister had as a kid and then yesterday it was my Jim Henson and The Muppets Christmas record.  I think I better make a trip up the coast and check my closet!  Dad.....??

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Happy 4th of July!


I made these little fruit tart cookies today for our BBQ we are having tonight.  I found the recipe via a link on Pinterest but I didn't really make it the same as they said to.  My sugar cookie is just a Betty Crocker mix in a pouch that you add an egg and butter to; you could also use Pillsbury ready made refrigerated dough or actually make the sugar cookies from scratch.  I didn't roll them out, I just dropped them by the tablespoon on the cookiesheet.  The frosting is an 8oz package of cream cheese and a 7oz jar of marshmallow creme.  It said to cream until smooth, I had to resort to using my electric hand mixer because smooth wasn't happening.  And then top with whatever fruit you would like.  I used strawberries and blueberries today because they are red & blue for the 4th.  I did sneak one when the kids weren't looking and they are YUM!

Friday, July 1, 2011

A Really Big Score at the Thrift Store!

I stopped by my local Salvation Army store today.  Now I should explain that my local store is more than a store.  It is spread over acres; 5 different buldings as well as a "yard sale" section, it is located at an adult recovery center that is operated by the Salvation Army.  I find my deals in the "yard sale" section - it is just bins and bins of random crap on tables under tents.  Some is good and some is not (like 1997 Hawaiian vacation VHS tapes).  The stuff isn't priced, you just collect up stuff and then an attendant writes up a tag for whatever they are feeling like charging you.  Last time the lady wanted to give me a deal, a bunch of stuff for $1.  Well, today they paid me to shop!

For $4 I got a big empty wooden picture frame (probably 16"x20"), some more Mason jars, Monopoly Jr (with all of the parts & pieces!), a brand new Yankee candle, a little box of notecards AND a State Commemorative Quarter binder WITH the quarters in it!  There is $12.75 worth of quarters in it!!  So they paid me $8.75 to buy that stuff!  Why wouldn't you take the money out before donating it??  Sure the collection might not be worth anything but I guarantee they are worth 25 cents each!!  So I think this trip beats my last one!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The Tuesday Ten

1. I made this last night:

Rotisserie Chicken In The Crockpot

--1 whole chicken, skinned (4-5 pounds) *Mine was over 6 lbs and I don't recommend skinning the bird in front of your children while they are eating breakfast, at least they don't recommend it!--2 tsp kosher salt (if you'd like it as salty as the ones in the store, add another 1 tsp.)
--1 tsp paprika
--1 tsp onion powder
--1/2 tsp dried thyme
--1 tsp Italian seasoning
--1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--pinch of chili pepper (probably not necessary)

--4 whole garlic cloves (optional)
--1 yellow onion, quartered (optional)

The Directions.

In a bowl, combine all of dried spices. Rub the spice mixture all over the bird, inside and out. Plop the bird breast-side down into the crockpot. *I like how the recipe says to plop the bird in, I like the word plop.
If desired, shove 4 whole garlic cloves and a quartered onion inside the bird.

Do not add water.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 8. The meat is done when it is fully cooked and has reached desired tenderness. The longer you cook it, the more tender the meat.

I cooked mine for 8 hours on low, it pretty much fell apart in the crockpot, probably shouldn't have cooked it so long; my crockpot seems to run a little "hot" and cooks things way faster than recipes say - the chicken was a little dry. I found the recipe here.

2. I read this last week:


It was good. Nothing earth shattering or very thought provoking but it was a nice story. I say read it.

3. I want my blog to be like this. I have been reading her blog for a year or two and I just like her.

4. We did this yesterday:



We finally busted out the Easy Bake oven that Nalani got for Christmas. We tried to do it a few months ago but we ran into a problem - it does not come with the 100 Watt bulb that is required. It isn't easy to find regular 100 Watt lightbulbs these days! Yesterday it took us 39 minutes to bake 8 bites of cake. 8 bites of nasty cake with nasty frosting. 15 minutes to warm up the bulb and 12 minutes per cake to bake, we made a yellow cake and a devils food cake. We are going to try the pretzels next, I am sure they will be delicious.

5. There was still swim lessons today, even though it was raining. It smelled like poop at the pool.

6. This is what I had for lunch today:



Yep, that's a large Coke and large fries from McDonald's. Shouldn't have had it but I did, and I liked it.

7. I got my haircut today. Walked right in and sat right down at Great Clips. I always go there, but always get a different person. Today I had a new girl. I have had my hair short for some time, I came in with it short and left with it shorter but she still found it necessary to tell me that I would have little hairs all over me when she was done. Ummm....I know this, it happens everytime!? I think I like it. I will do a big reveal when my new glasses come in!

8. The kids and I rented this today:



I don't know if we will watch it tonight or tomorrow morning. Just some time before 9pm tomorrow when the movie box will charge me another $1. Big spender.

9. I am trying to get ready for a yard sale that will occur in 18 days. I currently have all of the contents of my craft room piled on the floor as I purge and sort. Last night I spent a few hours sitting in the middle of it wondering where to start. Then I went to bed.

10. I am working on my second year of doing a picture a day with Becky's Project Life. We are pretty much at the halfway point of 2011 and I haven't been doing the best at taking my picture a day. I am now recommitting to following through with it. I will even try to post my picture every day or maybe Seven on Sunday or something. You have my word, all 7 of you.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Got a new set of peepers!

I have had a glasses prescription in my purse since last September.  My vision benefit renews July 1st so I thought I better get my glasses that the insurance will pay for before they won't pay anymore!  I wanted to go look at frames this weekend when Husband was home so I could have a somewhat reliable person to critique them, but we never made it.  So today my 7 and 11 year old fashion consultants and I headed out.  This is what we decided on:
They aren't as dark as the picture shows, they are a "violet rose" shade - pretty daring for me!  They will arrive in 7-10 days and I will show you what they look like on.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Card Swap

I participate in a card swap every once in awhile.  It is a great way to get some really nice homemade cards and not have to come up with a bunch of creative ideas.  I made 13 of the same card, 12 other people are also making 13 cards; I will get back one of mine and one of each of theirs.  13 different cards and only one idea!  The theme of this swap was all occasion cards.  I was going to keep mine a secret until we all got the cards back but since Jenny posted hers I thought I might as well show mine too!  I will post all of the cards that I get from the swap soon!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Tuesday Ten

I must be busy, or boring - no posts since last week's Tuesday Ten!
This weeks Tuesday Ten is a special weekend baseball tournament edition and quite a bit more than ten!  It was quite an experience!

1. We had been on the road for about 30+ minutes when we meet a teammate going the opposite direction.  They were headed back home to get his bag with all of his baseball gear.

2. A little back story - I am usually VERY good with directions, I can always get us anywhere, however back when I was a senior in high school I applied to and was accepted to two colleges - Sacramento State and Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.  One of the main reasons why I chose to attend Cal Poly is because it has one freeway, Hwy 101 - the same freeway we have here.  Sacramento has WAY too many freeways going way too many directions.

3. We got lost.

4.  We had to get on I-5.  I believe I didn't start looking for a way to get on to I-5 until we were past it.  Mapquest led me astray. It left out the important bit of info about getting on I-80 Business Loop to access 5.  We went for a really long time on I-50, waiting to get on I-5.  A REALLY long time.  Like 9 miles outside of Placerville long.

5.  My husband is an assistant coach.  We were almost to Placerville.  The other assistant coach AND all of the team gear were dropped off at the wrong field.  And left there by his wife that had another kid to get to another field.

6.  The head coach was at the correct field.  With 8 players, 2 without cleats, no assistant coaches or gear.

7.  The wife came back to get the other coach.  They got lost trying to get across town.

8. We all arrived 5 minutes before game time - gear, coaches and players.

9.  Lost the first game 11-7, should have won but we fell apart one inning.  Went to a sandwich shop that took forever and cost a fortune.

10. Tied the 2nd game 5-5, the umps just walked off and said it was a tie.  Ummmm, OK I guess. We really wanted to win.

11.  Checked in to hotel.  Find out Head coach and his family lost their car key, their only car key, they had their little clicker button thing but the key had fallen off their key ring. Can't find it anywhere.  The people at lost and found tell them to pray to St. Sebastian, check the ignition and to check back tomorrow.  All very helpful suggestions.

12.  $250 later they have a two new car keys and get to the hotel 3 hours after everyone else.

13. Uneventful evening of swimming in the pool, dinner, sleep.

14. Very crappy hotel breakfast.

15.  Lost first game of the day 10-8 but it was against a team that had beat everyone else by 10+ so the boys did well.  The teams are all 11 years old.  There were boys on that team that made our coaches look small.  Guess there is nothing to do in Galt except eat, and play baseball.

16. The family that had to go back home to get their ball bag back in #1, well they now locked their keys in their car.  Call to locksmith 2nd time this weekend for our team.

17.  Second game of the day we won 26-1.  The first half of the 1st inning took 40 minutes.  We batted through our line-up 2 1/2 times.  We have been on the other end of that before so we felt bad for the other team.  One of our boys hit a grand slam.  Very hard to celebrate when you are whipping the other team so badly.  But at least it was a happy ending to one heck of a weekend!

Wish you could see the scoreboard a little better in the picture!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Tuesday Ten......on Wednesday

1) I don’t know why but it made me chuckle that The Lytton Springs Salvation Army Store has a “Preferred Customers Club”

2) Do people even think about what they are donating to charities? Do you really think someone wants your half-used tube of boob cream for breast feeding moms? Or how about taking the family photo out of the frame before putting it in the donation box.

3) Another helpful hint on donating - no one wants your home video on VHS of “Hawaiian Vacation 1997” it took all I had not to pick that sucker up. And then of course there was “Kelly’s Mickey Mouse Club Tape” I soooo wanted to buy that, just for the sole fact that Kelly told me “Do NOT Touch” right on the label.

4) Yesterday when I was at the Salvation Army store I saw a lady pull up to the donation truck and unload a bunch of boxes. She then pulled in to the parking lot, grabbed a cart and started shopping. If she just got rid of that many boxes I am thinking she really shouldn’t collect stuff up again!

5) I do not like things that boast that they are “20 minute Workouts” - they lie. You have to do them for 20 minutes every.single.day, not just 20 minutes once and you are done. Not a fan.

6) I am the coolest mom on the All-Star team because I gave all the boys free nachos after practice. We have to use up the snack shack cheese sauce and chips!

7) I am not good at accessorizing. My scrapbook pages don’t have much embellishing, my house isn’t very decorated and I don’t wear jewelry, scarves etc. I wish I was.

8) It looks hot out today but I haven’t been out, I just turned on the AC and stayed inside.

9) Why is every person on Extreme Couponing going on their “biggest shopping trip ever”?

10) I have $9.98 to spend at Rite Aid and nothing I want to buy. I have to spend it this week or it will expire. It is kind of a bummer that there is nothing I want that will give me more Rite Aid dollars back. L

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

My Salvation Army Shopping Trip

So today I stopped by the Lytton Springs Salvation Army on my way home from work. I do this every once in awhile to see if they have anything that I could re-purpose or craft into something cute.

Today I scored all of this:
There is a wooden frame/tray thing, 5 canning jars, a square vase, 8 styrofoam eggs and a small embroidery hoop.  I scored it all for.............ONE DOLLAR!!  That made digging through all of their yard sale bins in the heat so worth it!  I think the lady that wrote my tag up was smoking something, well actually I am sure she was.  The cashier lady also thought she was nuts to give it to me for so cheap! 

I like to use the canning jars for flower arrangements, pretty them up with a little ribbon and they make a cute little gift.  No idea what I am going to do with the styrofoam eggs, but I am sure I will think of something or maybe I will give them to Berta she could probably craft up something really cute with them.  I know you will now expect me to make something fab with the wooden frame/tray thing.  Maybe some day I will, but don't hold your breath.  I plan to do this with the embroidery hoop once I collect up enough.  And all of that for $1!

And of course my trip to the Salvation Army provided me with quite a bit of material for my Tuesday Ten, which I will get to pretty soon!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Summer

So far the "lazy days of summer" have been anything but lazy!  This coming week I will be updating you all with pictures of what we have been up to around here.  This last week we had dance recitals, baseball playoff games, homerun derby, championship game BBQ & raffle, and a belated birthday celebration.  I spent all week prepping for those things and all weekend doing them.  So now that they are all over our summer can really start!  Of course for the next 2 weeks we have practice for the All-star baseball team, every.single.night. and out of town tournaments for the next two weekends.  But really practice requires nothing from me and tournaments I just need to show up and watch games.  Let the summer begin!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The Tuesday Ten

Here are my random thoughts and observations for the week:

1.  Whatever happened to the light brown M&M?  My kids don't even know it existed!

2.  The Duggars of 19 Kids and Counting fame were on the Today show this morning.  They asked them how they make ends meet with 19 kids, how can they afford to feed, clothe, etc all of those kids? Hhhmmmm.....maybe their own TV show and appearing on shows like the Today show have something to do with it!??!  Like they are just living on a waitresses salary or something!

3.  As we all know I have a lot of toothbrushes, you can pretty much choose any kind or color from my stash in the cupboard so WHY did Husband pull out a pink one to use!?!  Now everytime I brush my teeth I have to think about what toothbrush is mine.

4. I think I am going to change the color scheme of the blog.

5.  I am taking down and boxing up all of my Pooh Bear kitchen stuff.  I just don't want to look at the silly old bear any longer.

6.  I am getting tired of the "chevron" design fad.  It is everywhere on Pinterest and it doesn't float my boat.

7. Why when I don't need one of these dispenser container things they are everywhere for like $2 and now that I want to make the bubble refill station I can't find one!?  Except fancy $10 ones!

8.  Really big dance show this week.  Rehearsal tonight and then the really big show Thursday and Saturday nights! Baseball on the same nights too.  Fun!

9.  Jaren's team won tonight - they even had a triple play.  Which I missed because I was waiting at dance rehearsal......a dance rehearsal that was running an hour behind when we got there!

10.  I think 10 things is way too much to come up with and two is too few.....but nothing else works with Tuesday......maybe I should change the day.

Graduation Cards

Here are a couple of graduation cards I made for my niece's and a family friend.  They are pretty much the same as the Coaches cards, just flipped over and made a little more "girlie".  But essentially the same card design, I figured that there was no need to re-create the wheel!


This was supposed to be yesterdays post but I couldn't upload pictures (not that it is a very good picture)!  Stay tuned for the The Tuesday Ten......which may change to the The Tuesday Two if I can't think of anything to say!