I love my life

Have you tried Roku?

2011-01-31T09:31:00.001-05:00

Ande and I recently purchased a Roku. We can watch Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon on Demand....plus a bunch of other channels without having to tie up our computer. It's pretty cool and definitely easy to use. If you don't have one, I recommend it. There is no monthly fee, and you can choose what channels you wish to purchase. Some channels are even free! Click the link below and $$ SAVE MONEY $$...which is something everyone loves, right?

Get $20 off a Roku Player!

Great supplier for the home theater enthusiast.

2011-01-19T16:38:00.000-05:00

Many of my readers know that we don't own a television. I think most of you also know that we DO have a home theater. We watch movies and programs using our DVD player or computer, a projector, and a large projection screen. Ande is especially keen on getting the best possible picture on our screen, which is where the following information comes into play.
I'm posting today to tell you all about a great website that sells A-MAZE-ING audio/video supplies. HDMI cables? They've got 'em. USB cables? Yes, those too. Firewire cables? Yes, those, and many more types of connectors as well. They also have things like wall mounts, switches, and splitters to help you get your home theater looking and sounding it's best. This is high quality stuff at extremely competitive prices.

Here's a link to their website: Optimized Cable Company. They've got fantastic prices and right now are even running a free shipping special! Extra added bonus - they have wonderful customer service. So if you or anyone you know are looking for cables for any reason, check this site out. You'll likely find what you're looking for, and you'll definitely get the best price available!

SWAGGER WAGON

2010-09-15T15:31:00.000-04:00

This cracked me right up...

Happy Birthday Puckey!

2010-08-25T09:09:00.000-04:00

5 years ago today I was at the hospital awaiting the arrival of my sweet little Puckster. And just because I love this picture SO much, you all get to see it again.

Happy Birthday Puckey! Mommy and Daddy love you more and more each day!!

Good thing government health care is coming, this makes me sick!

2010-08-12T10:07:00.003-04:00

(Disclaimer: I do not, in fact, want government health care. The idea that anyone can FORCE me to get health coverage and fine me if I don't just really makes me angry. Like forced health care, the idea that the government is actually going to be giving "help" to the rich to buy cars actually makes me want to throw up.)

I received this article in an email from my aunt.

Low Volt-age
The Chevy Volt is a vanity car for the well-off, and the government is subsidizing it.

Let us compare the Volkswagen and the “Voltswagen.”

The original Volkswagen was intended as the “people’s car” (that’s what Volkswagen means). The idea of a cheap, safe, reliable car for the working man was popular before Adolf Hitler embraced it, but as a self-proclaimed man of the people, he made the idea his own. Whereas industrialists and aristocrats didn’t think the common man needed a car (“The people’s car is a bus” was their refrain), Hitler sided with one of his heroes, Henry Ford, arguing that everyone deserved his own ride. He ordered the German Labor Front, the union arm of the Nazi party, to start building a people’s car. When it looked like the car might be too expensive, the Labor Front created a savings program that promised a car for even the poorest workers.

At the 1934 Berlin Motor Show, Hitler proclaimed: “It is a bitter thought that millions of good and industrious people are excluded from the use of a means of transport that, especially on Sundays and holidays, could become for them a source of unknown joy.”

And then there’s the electric-gas hybrid Chevy Volt, a.k.a. the “Voltswagen.” At $41,000, about as much as the average American makes in a year, this is no people’s car. GM, owned by the government and the labor unions, is pitching it to affluent hipsters who don’t need a lot of space for a family. Deloitte Consulting says that the demand for such cars is from “young, very high income individuals” from households that make more than $200,000 a year, which is why the Volt will be rolled out in upscale, trendy urban markets. (Meanwhile the Chevy Cruze, the gas-only version of the Volt, has more room inside and is a mere $17,000.)

Because the Volt’s sticker price might be too high for even that crowd, the government is offering a federal subsidy of up to $7,500 (Californians have a state subsidy, too), which means that working-class people will be helping to pay for playthings for upper-income people.

“Like the EV1 that GM tried to peddle in the California market,” Kenneth Green, an environmental scientist at the American Enterprise Institute, says, “the Volt is a vanity car for the well-off that will be subsidized by less well-off taxpayers at all stages, from R&D to sales and to the construction of charging stations.”

Indeed, the Volt’s price is $41,000, but the cost is much higher. “Government Motors” is already selling the car at a loss. According to the blogger Doctor Zero, if you apply the subsidies that have gone directly into the car to just the first 10,000 vehicles, the cost is more like $81,000 per car.

Of course, electric-car boosters say this sort of thing is necessary to get the industry up and running. (Green responds: “Supporters claim that electric cars need subsidies because they’re still in their infancy. Electric cars have been around for over 100 years. That’s some infancy.”)

But would it be a good thing if we all switched to electric cars? The point is to reduce CO2 emissions, right? But in some regions, we get our electricity from CO2-spewing coal. The more electricity pulled from the grid, the more coal is burned, essentially replacing dirty oil with dirtier coal (which is why some coal backers see much promise in electric cars). Studies confirm that China — which is allegedly “beating us” in the race to a green economy — would produce vastly more greenhouse emissions if it switched to electric vehicles.

The expected response to that is that we need stuff like CO2-free windmills to generate electricity. Don’t get me started on the Volkspropeller.

Regardless, no matter how you crunch the numbers or the science, there’s no disputing that this is a political car, designed to meet the demands not of an economic market but of an ideological one, directed by the collusion of big business and big government. In this sense, the Volkswagen and the Voltswagen have a lot in common.

If the government weren’t taking taxpayer money and spending it on toys for upscale urban liberals (Obama’s strongest base of support outside of black voters and labor unions), there’d be no reason to care about the Volt. If rich people want to be “early adopters” and buy expensive gadgets that help them preen the plumage of their political sanctimony, that’s great. It’s not so great when the government gets involved in wealth redistribution, and it’s outrageous when it involves redistributing wealth upwards.

— Jonah Goldberg is editor-at-large of National Review Online and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. © 2010 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Puckey says...

2010-08-06T09:45:00.000-04:00

Said at lunch after church a few weeks ago:
"Papa, I have a secret to tell you. Why don't you marry Grammy so we can get some babies?"

Said yesterday at the start of a game of Candyland:
"The one who gets to the end first is ME."

Time flies when you're having fun...

2010-07-31T09:40:00.001-04:00

Man, this summer is FLYING by, and I haven't been posting nearly as much as I used to. I've been keeping pretty busy, which is contributing to my lack of blogging.

For the last couple of weeks, I've been getting up early to walk. I go before Ande goes to work in the morning so I can get out while it's still cool out and before the kids get up. (Plus when Bubber, Bug, and Nans aren't here, I can't exactly leave Puckey and The Jib home alone)

I've been averaging right around 3.5 miles a day, 7 days/week. I just walk as far as I can in 30 minutes and then turn around and walk back home. Sometimes I go a little further, sometimes not quite so far. Just depends how I'm feeling when I walk. I'm fortunate that I live in an area where I feel safe walking, and there are lots of homes and businesses on my route in the event of an emergency. I'm still trying to figure out what I'll do when the weather gets too cold to walk outside. I got rid of my treadmill because I really didn't use it as often as I should have and it was taking up a lot of space. I was thinking I could go to the mall to walk, but that would mean I'd have to take the kids with me, and that would be no fun for anyone. I may just have to walk in snow gear when the time comes.

I've only lost a couple of pounds, but I'm haven't really changed my eating habits a whole lot either. Not that I'm always eating or that I eat a lot of junk food, just saying I'm not "dieting". Whenever I have tried to "diet", I just wind up freaking out and feeling deprived. Not a good thing. I can tell the walking is doing something good though, because the first day I walked my hips were killing me, but within two days they didn't hurt at all. Now if I could get my shins to not hurt, I'd really be in business!

Are my kids the only ones this gross?

2010-07-23T18:34:00.002-04:00

So this morning The Jib announces that she has to go potty. #2, to be exact. (Not her words, she's not that delicate about it - HA!)

A few minutes later, she says, "Momma!! I DID it! It looks like a brown pickle!"

*sigh*

Shabby Apple Boysenberry Pie Apron Guest Giveaway

2010-07-23T18:24:00.001-04:00

SO SO SO love retro style aprons! I have yet to actually OWN one of my own yet, but someday. Maybe it will be sooner than later if I win this giveaway from Grosgrain. You can enter, too! Just click the link below:

Shabby Apple Boysenberry Pie Apron Guest Giveaway

Hey Dev - remember this?

2010-07-16T10:06:00.000-04:00

This picture is from our stop at my dear friend Devin's house on our way to Oklahoma way back in May. I'm terrible about getting pictures off of my camera in any kind of speedy fashion. LOL

My girls and Dev's boys became fast friends, and spent Saturday morning/early afternoon playing outside together. Next time we will definitely have to plan for a longer stay though. I felt like we were just getting started and we had to leave!

One of these days I will have to write about our trip. But today is not that day, as I think I am going to brave the beach today. It's supposed to be 89 degrees here, and while I LOVE my a/c, my girls would LOVE the beach even more. :)

Happy Friday!!

You know I love a good giveaway, right?

2010-07-13T21:33:00.002-04:00

So my dear friend Devin is hosting one on her blog. Check it out by clicking HERE. Make sure you enter to win as well....

Animal Cruelty

2010-07-08T14:08:00.000-04:00

I just really think some people are just cruel to their pets. Take, for example, this poor soul. Honestly, what self-respecting dog would allow his people to put this on him? He looks totally depressed.

Yes, I know animal abuse is actually a serious thing, and I really do feel that being cruel to animals is wrong. I just thought this hat was flippin' hilarious and had to share it with my readers.

Ande's been stripping

2010-07-05T11:09:00.001-04:00

our motorhome down to the chassis. It's been a long process with several late nights and hard work involved, but he's pretty much got it down to where we need it to be. Here's a few pics...

A few windows have been removed and a little bit of the aluminum siding as well

A view from the back

All of the windows and siding gone from the driver's side

If you sit on a kitchen chair while driving your motorhome around your yard, you might be a Redneck.

Most of the floor removed

Right down to the chassis

So, that's where we're at right now. Just so you know how much I love my readers, I did NOT post the picture of Ande cleaning out the black water (sewage) tank. Turns out the previous owners didn't empty it before selling it to us, and Ande didn't discover that little tidbit of info until he was ready to remove the tank. Yeah, it was pretty gross.

As I mentioned before, we found a floor plan we liked, and had the opportunity to go check out the motorhome we are going to be modeling ours after. It's pretty cool. Here's a drawing of the floor plan:

We'll have to make a few adjustments to the design for the simple fact that we need more seat belts than this design has, but this is pretty much going to be it.

Oh, and all of this work has been done in our driveway and back yard. Our neighbors must LOVE us. LOL

Fresh mozzarella

2010-06-29T11:36:00.000-04:00

No, seriously, have you ever tried this stuff? It's freakin' AMAZING. I bought some to make a recipe a couple of weeks ago, and have to admit, I will have a hard time eating just "regular" mozzarella anymore. There are tons of different things you can make/do with fresh mozzarella. Salads, sandwiches, pizza, lasagna, etc. SO SO good.

This is how good the cheese is - Ande doesn't even LIKE cheese, and he not only liked the recipe, he asked me to make it again the next week. The best thing about the recipe is that it is the easiest thing EVER to make.

2 cups pasta sauce. You can use canned stuff or make your own. I used Prego "Traditional" and it tasted really good.
1 package fresh mozzarella balls, drained. I found these in the deli section of my grocery store. They come in a little tub like the one shown above.
1 clove garlic, minced. I used a product I'd never tried before, Chef Garden ready to use minced garlic. My sister in law used it while we were in Oklahoma, and I thought it was pretty good. I was right. It comes in a pretty big jar, which I found in my grocery store near the potatoes. (Weird, huh?)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (about 1-2 tbsp)
1 package Honeysuckle Turkey Italian Meatballs. (You could also just make your own meatballs, I just happen to like these ones)
Fresh basil, if desired. Ande isn't a big fan of basil, so I left this out.

Pour sauce into shallow pan, add garlic and stir. Add drained mozzarella balls and meatballs (I just lined them up in the sauce, didn't stir or anything)

Bake in 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and meatballs are heated through. (This may take a little longer if you use frozen meatballs)

Drizzle olive oil over sauce and garnish with basil.

Serve with your favorite pasta. (You could also make some killer meatball subs with this sauce)

It's pretty tasty and you can make it as easy or as complicated as you want!!

And it's getting bigger all the time

2010-06-28T11:20:00.000-04:00

So...we've decided on a floorplan for the "new" motorhome...the good news is that we can re-use several appliances we salvaged from the original motorhome. The bad news is that what we've decided to do will take a lot more time and money than we originally anticipated. However, considering that right now we only have about $1000 invested in the RV (which is what we paid for it 2 years ago) and a new one with the floorplan we like is at least $64,000, we're off to a good start. LOL

I'm very thankful that Ande can do all of the construction stuff pretty much by himself (meaning we shouldn't have to hire any of the work out) and I can sew the cushions and make the window coverings. Our biggest expense will be constructing the "box", but there are plenty of things we can do while we're saving up for that.

Oh, and the toilet AND the shower are staying. :)

Calling all campers...

2010-06-24T10:13:00.001-04:00

So we're in the process of tearing apart our motorhome to remodel it. We'll be starting over from scratch, which means we can basically set the floor plan up however we want. Ande and I are currently discussing the need for a shower in the RV.

The current floor plan includes a shower. However, we're wondering how necessary a shower really is, since we will not likely ever stay somewhere that is very far from "facilities". (I'm sort of an 'indoor' kind of girl, so camping for me has to at least include a toilet & shower being available nearby).

So...for any of you who are (or would be) campers, what do you think? Ande spoke to a person at one of the car dealerships that he works at, and she said she and her husband have never used the shower in their RV. I kind of think of it as one more think that can leak/break/malfunction in some way.

Jury's still out on whether or not the toilet will stay. For the sake of convenience, I'm tempted to say "yes", but then I think of having to empty the tank and there's a resounding "NO!!!" that goes off in my head. Your thoughts on this are welcome as well.

Didja ever

2010-06-23T20:42:00.000-04:00

mis-read a recipe and add too much (or too little) of a vital ingredient?

Today I *might* have *possibly* added just a touch *or tablespoon* too much ground chipotle pepper to a new bbq pulled chicken recipe I was making for dinner.

Now I LOVE hot & spicy food, so this wasn't a problem for me. I liked it pretty well, although the sauce was a little too thin for my taste. However, the main judge, jury, and often executioner of new recipes has yet to try it, so I'm wondering what he'll think of it.

What could Ande be doing that he'd miss dinner, you ask? He's working on "Old Bessie" once again. Perhaps you're familiar with her, perhaps not. Click here for a refresher. And WOW, it's been over two years since we bought it? WHOA.

She's nearly all stripped down to nothing and we'll be rebuilding her basically from scratch. Yeah. Wish us luck. LOL

So much work, so little time....

2010-06-15T09:22:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I've finally been motivated to get some stuff accomplished in our yard. We've lived here for 3.5 years and this is the first summer I've really felt like really working hard on our yard. It's still got a long way to go, but I've made a dent in it and that makes me happy. One thing that would have made me happier? If I had taken some "before" pictures so I could show you the improvement in how the yard looks! One of my biggest motivating factors is that my son will be graduating in two years, and I'd like to be able to have his open house here. (Or at least have it be a viable option) I have been thinking about it for a while, and I didn't want to have to try and rush to get the yard looking nice at the last minute (because I usually am a terrible procrastinator). I figured if I started now, I should be able to get a good head start on getting the yard into shape, so that when the time comes, I won't have to worry about it so much.

So far I've:

Weeded my large ivy bed near the garage. It's seriously like 10' in diameter - pretty big. Also had quite a few weeds. Also being overrun by creeping myrtle, so I will have to move those plants, but I can't move them until I have a place prepared for them to go into. Of course, the weeding is something that will need to be kept up with, but I hadn't weeded that bed at all in the whole time we've lived here. If I stay vigilant, it should be relatively easy to keep that bed looking nice.

Created a walkway from the garage to our "overflow" parking space. There were several concrete stepping stones that I found in various places in the yard that I used, along with some pea pebbles and landscape edging. All told, the project cost about $30. Not too shabby, and it looks so much nicer than it did before!

Started a landscape wall that runs along the new walkway, and will continue around the ivy bed until it reaches the driveway on the other side. This will have to wait for further funding before I can finish it, although I believe it will cost no more than $100 or so to complete.

Weeded an even larger creeping myrtle bed near the end of our driveway. This thing was completely out of control and had several trees growing in it, alongside lots of picker bushes and a raspberry plant. It's going to take a bit more work to get it looking good again, but even just getting the stray trees and weeds out is an improvement. My goal is to thin out the myrtle and transplant some from the ivy bed near the garage to fill in some "empty" spaces.

Saved two tiny (one is about 3" tall, the other about 5") pine trees that I discovered growing in the myrtle bed. I'm hoping that I can get them to survive long enough to get big enough to plant in the yard (I've moved one into a pot so that I don't accidentally mow over it or step on it, and I will be moving the other one into a pot as well for the same reasons). I think I will be planting them at the corner where our yard meets our neighbor's yard. Of course, there are like 4 stumps to dig out of there before I can do that, but I'll get there eventually!

Needless to say, with all the work I've been doing outside, I've been exhausted by the end of the day! Fortunately, with the girls being outside playing while I work, they're exhausted too! It's also nice that Ande and the big kids are home in the evenings to help out with the girls as well. I can't wait for school to get out so the big kids will be here all day. Only 1 full day and two 1/2 days left to go...

It's a Two-fer day...

2010-06-09T15:58:00.000-04:00

Yep, I go for weeks without posting, now you get two posts in the same day. As my 13 year old daughter would say, "Mom, you're SO random."

I just went on weather.com to see what our forcast was, and clicked on the link for historical data (the record highs and lows). Yeah, that darned global warming strikes again...here in my town in Michigan, 24 out of the 30 days in June had record highs prior to 1934. NONE of the 6 remaining record highs were in the 2000's. How exactly do the global warming fanatics explain stuff like that?

Wow, has it really been that long?

2010-06-09T13:41:00.002-04:00

My last post was May 22nd. Whoa. Sorry for my abscence, between my new addiction (Facebook) and preparing for/going on vacation, I haven't had much to say here...

You may notice that I've added word verification to my comments - hopefully this will reduce spam. Sorry for any inconvenience to my non-spam comment leaving friends!

Since I know you've missed seeing them...here's a sweet picture of Jib and Puckey for you to enjoy. This is from our first day in Oklahoma visiting Ande's brother and his family. Nothing like a vacation in which your kids need multiple baths a day!! (In other words, they had LOTS of fun!!)

Learning new stuff

2010-05-22T11:48:00.000-04:00

So, many of you know that we don't watch TV. We don't even OWN a TV. We used to own one, but when we moved in Dec 2006 we just left it in the garage. I think we held on to it for about 2 years before we decided to sell it on Craig's List. So we don't watch TV. I have no idea who's on American Idol, what happened on Grey's Anatomy, or who shot JR. (HA! Remember those great cliff-hangers from the 80's? LOL)

Actually, we could watch many of the shows that are on TV via the internet, we just choose not to. There are some shows we do like, and we have a membership to Netflix, so we DO watch TV shows/movies sometimes. It's just not as convenient as flipping on the television. :) One of the main reasons that we chose to get rid of TV was because of all of the garbage that was so easily accessible. Not that it's not easy to access online, but we can keep track of what is being viewed on our computer, and block the stuff we don't want our kids (or ourselves) to watch.

Anyway, the girls recently discovered Dora the Explorer. Although I find the show itself somewhat annoying, I have to admit, the girls ARE learning a few new things, which is kind of cool. Just the other day, Jib said, "Momma, turn red, turn 'rojo'!" The girls greet each other with "Hola". Every now and then I'll hear them saying different Spanish words to each other. It's pretty neat to hear the learning/using a second language.

Adapt and overcome, that's MY motto

2010-05-04T14:36:00.000-04:00

So I was at the mall today with the girls, and Jib had a runny nose. Stupid allergies. I checked my purse for some tissue or a napkin so I could wipe her nose, but came up empty handed. Well, except for the pantyliner I had stowed away. Yep, that's right, I wiped my daughter's nose with a pantyliner.

Guess it's time to invest in some pocket sized packs of tissue.

Disappointing

2010-05-02T16:42:00.000-04:00

Well, sadly an animal came the yesterday and destroyed several of the eggs in the duck's nest, and returned for the rest of them today. :(

We're gonna have a baby!!

2010-04-28T13:33:00.000-04:00

Yep, you read that right. We're having a baby. Or maybe 10.....

She's hard to see, but here's Mama Duck...I tell you, when she's on her nest you can hardly see her at all!

Well THAT makes sense...

2010-04-19T20:34:00.000-04:00

After I explained that the children's book character "Arthur" is an aardvark:

Puckey: What does an aardvark do?

Me: You know, I'm not really sure.

Puckey: I think they aardvark stuff.

Me: Um....okay?!

Now that she's cleared THAT up, I feel so much better. HA!

New store inventory

2010-04-13T17:08:00.000-04:00

I recently posted a few new items to my Etsy store...here's a few examples of what you can find.

If you like what you see, you can check out more by clicking here.

Leila and Ben Patterns GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2010-03-26T10:39:00.000-04:00

These are some of the sweetest little outfits. If you can sew (or even if you can't - it's never too late to learn), you might want to enter this. Click the link below...

Leila and Ben Patterns GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I do Yudu...do YOU do Yudu too?

2010-03-23T19:18:00.000-04:00

So a couple of months ago, Ande and I agreed to buy a Yudu machine. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's basically a screen printing machine. Ande thought it would be great in helping cut some costs for his guitar amplifier building business. The first amplifier he made, he got the chassis (where you put the knobs) engraved. Very pretty, but extremely expensive, and not really cost effective. We're talking like $120 PER chassis. EEESSSSHHHHHH!

So we got the Yudu. Bought it on eBay to save some $$ (saved about $100). Had to buy some supplies to actually USE it, and our first attempt didn't turn out so well, but we're not easily deterred here at Casa de Kirby.

Ande created and printed these pretty much all by himself. I was there mainly for moral support. I think they turned out AWESOME. Added bonus, the silver ink is actually sparkly. And you all know how much I LOVE stuff that sparkles. HA!

The only think I don't like about the Yudu is the emulsion sheets - they're hard to find, and pretty expensive (like approximately $10 each). The emulsion sheets are what you burn the image into, then after that you put the ink on the screen to make your print. It's not as hard as it sounds, but with the high cost of the emulsion, let's just say we've had to dam up our "creative juices" somewhat. However, I'm excited to say that one of the other blogs I read (Grosgrain Fabulous) give me hope that we might not be stifled for long. I had read before that one could use liquid emulsion, but didn't know where to get it or how to use it. This site showed me both!

What I'm saying is: Dev, if I get some of this stuff, it might make it possible for me to make Col a "The Incident" shirt. HA!!

Wow, that just about sounded like a commercial. HA HA HA. Okay, now that my commercial for Yudu is done....what do you think of the chassis?? Did Ande do a great job or what?

Some Like It Vintage $50 Gift Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2010-03-19T11:09:00.000-04:00

This is a really cool shop, with several items I'd LOVE to add to my closet. You can enter to win as well by clicking here...

Some Like It Vintage $50 Gift Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Cute accessories are essential

2010-03-17T16:45:00.000-04:00

Jibby in a pair of baby legs I made. She's got pudgy little hamhocks, so I think these look just adorable on her!!

Jibby in a bow I made to go with Puckey's Christmas outfit, just so happens to be great for St. Patrick's Day as well...

Puckey's cute little piggies.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Flirty Aprons GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2010-03-16T12:29:00.000-04:00

I totally LOVE these aprons. SO cute!

Flirty Aprons GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Leg warmers for kids...

2010-03-12T14:01:00.002-05:00

I've seen baby legs on several different sites and just thought they were SO cute. Of course, I saw them once my babies weren't actually babies anymore. Then I ran across this post at Prudent Baby and knew I could use this to make some leg warmers for my pre-school girls. So super easy and cute!

With this pair I sort of cheated, because I did not make a "hem" at the bottom. The material these particular socks is made from just rolled up at the hem all on it's own, and hasn't shown any signs of fraying or getting stretched out. The other socks I bought for this project all need to be hemmed, which is why I only have one other pair done. :) Puckey likes it because I have socks that match her legwarmers...because why throw away a perfectly good pair of 'feet' once you've cut them off the socks?

OUTSTANDING

2010-03-09T08:49:00.002-05:00

Man, and I can't even just skip rope without peeing my pants....oh yeah, and these girls are all only 4th-8th graders.

New for spring

2010-03-03T11:22:00.003-05:00

I recently added some new hair clips to my Etsy store. Check them out!!

Did you ever notice...

2010-02-26T12:56:00.003-05:00

that the number of times your children *need* you to do something for them increases in direct proportion to the number of tasks you are trying to get done in a *short* amount of time?

What happens when you search for Chuck Norris?

2010-02-23T10:15:00.001-05:00

Click the link below, if you dare...

Chuck Norris - Google Search

Projects projects projects

2010-02-22T14:01:00.003-05:00

I seriously think Prudent Baby is becoming one of my favorite blogs to visit. Jaime and Jacinda have lots of really cute (and often VERY inexpensive to create) projects for little ones. I've made a number of the craft items that they have listed tutorials for.

The following tray is loosely based on the DIY Tray tutorial that can be found here. I made it for my cousin's baby shower. The tray retails for $3.99. I got it for $1.99 because some wonderful stranger came up and handed me a 50% off coupon. YAY for the kindness of others! First I painted it with 3 coordinating paints (I just bought little tubes of acrylic paint, they were like .59 a piece at Michaels. I bought some stickers that would go with the paint to spell the baby's name, plus some Winnie-the-Pooh rub-on transfers. If you have absolutely NO artistic ability, these babies are a LIFESAVER! I got the transfers at JoAnn's. So I applied the stickers and the transfers, then sprayed the whole thing with a clear top coat. I think I sprayed 3 layers of clear.

After the paint was nice and dry, I stacked the other gifts I had purchased for the baby on the tray and tied it off with some ribbon. Puckey added the Husky from her own collection of toys. She's so sweet.

My little artist

2010-02-18T10:01:00.004-05:00

This is a picture Puckey drew of Jib crying after Jib broke her new sunglasses. It was so funny I had to share. You'll notice the sunglasses at the center of the picture, right below the belly button. HA!

My new model...

2010-02-17T08:47:00.004-05:00

My dear friend Devin recently gave birth to just about the cutest baby I've ever seen (only to the exclusion of my OWN children, but I *might* be a little biased). To welcome little Lola Claire, I sent a couple of bows, and Devin kindly photographed Lola wearing them so I could post them in my Etsy shop. I haven't had the chance to update the shop, but she also posted the pics on her blog. Go check them out! Be careful not to be mesmerized by the cuteness of her family. Seriously!

Custom Conversation Hearts

2010-02-15T15:37:00.002-05:00

Next year, I am SO making these, as instructed on Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories.

The End.

Fun and easy craft

2010-02-08T09:33:00.002-05:00

I have recently become a fan of Prudent Baby. This site has all kinds of great ideas for crafts for kids (and/or grown-ups). Many of these items would make GREAT gifts, or a quick, easy, and fun project to do for yourself.

Using the instructions found on this post, I created a trivet using some cute Valentine's scrapbooking paper I found at the Hobby Lobby.

I have found lots of other papers that I will be probably buying to make more of these little trivets. They didn't cost much, and don't take long to make, either! Try making one (or more) for yourself!

Happy Birthday

2010-02-02T15:38:00.002-05:00

To my two favorite "groundhogs"....Ande and Jib.

Once again, our friend Phil saw his shadow, so it's 6 more weeks of birthday for those two.

Love you both so very much!

More cookies

2010-01-31T10:02:00.004-05:00

These are all of the different felt cookies I've made so far. I have a few more "in progress", but wanted to show what I had gotten done.

Ande's uncle actually thought these were real for a second...until he picked one up to eat it! HA

Please note, these "cookies" are now for sale in my Etsy shop! Order early for delivery for Valentine's Day - these would make great gifts for your special little valentine!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-27T10:46:00.002-05:00

Jib showed us that she knows how to cross her eyes yesterday.

Gimme some sugar

2010-01-22T10:39:00.003-05:00

cookies........

After seeing the cute felt cookie idea I posted about the other day, I decided to try some myself. These are the two I have actually finished. I have some "chocolate chip" and "chocolate/white chocolate chip" cookies in the works as well.

I'm thinking I may make these available for sale in my Etsy store....what do you think?

Petite Planet: Craft TuesD.I.Y. with Lisa Lopez: Homemade Felt Cookies Bake Up Play Kitchen Fun!

2010-01-20T09:13:00.000-05:00

Petite Planet: Craft TuesD.I.Y. with Lisa Lopez: Homemade Felt Cookies Bake Up Play Kitchen Fun!

These are SO cute. Definitely need to make some for Valentine's Day!

One of the funniest moments EVER

2010-01-13T16:07:00.003-05:00

happened on the last day of Ande's brother and his family's visit for Christmas. We all met at a restaurant for breakfast. It was quite a crew: Ande's parents, me, Ande, and our 5 kids, and Ben and Tracy and their 3 kids.

So the youngest kids were running around (we were in the back of the restaurant, so they weren't bothering anyone) and the waitress came back and was talking to Puckey, Jib, and their cousins. She asked them if Santa had visited them, and my oldest niece looked directly at her and said, "NO." The waitress didn't even know what to say. Then my niece explained that Santa wasn't real...SO SO funny to hear a 4 year old tell a grown up that Santa doesn't exist.

Makin' Buckeyes - P Dub Style

2009-12-22T00:00:00.000-05:00

This was originally posted Dec. 3, 2008. I made these again this morning. The only thing I did slightly different was to make them a little smaller and I only made 1 batch. It yielded not quite 8 dozen buckeyes.

Tomorrow is my monthly MOPS group meeting. I am enjoying having a reason to get out of the house to do something other than grocery shopping or running other errands. It even gives me an excuse to dress up a little and wear make-up (which I usually only do on Sundays or if Ande and I are going out somewhere). For this meeting, we're having a cookie exchange, where the participants each bring 3 dozen cookies to trade with each other. I didn't really feel like baking cookies, and I didn't want to go store-bought (not that there's anything wrong with store-bought cookies. Especially Pepperidge Farms.) I decided to, instead of making cookies, make Buckeyes. They're one of my favorite Christmas traditions. I remember watching my mom baking cookies and making such sweet delights as Divinity, Pecan Tarts, and of course Buckeyes. She only did this at Christmas, so it was a special treat. I thought I'd share the process with you, my faithful readers. I wanted to mix it up a bit, and thought I'd try to post the recipe A la Pioneer Woman. Now, I'm not nearly as entertaining to read as her, but I'll try my best. Enjoy!

When Pioneer Woman posts recipes, she also posts pictures and funny tips. Not that this recipe is all that complicated, but I thought I'd channel a little P Dub and do that myself. Please note, this Buckeye recipe is slightly different than Shelly's (which I'm sure is delicious, too. This is just the recipe I grew up with).

Mmmmm....Buckeyes. They're YUMMY. Not the Ohio State Buckeyes. Not the "hairless nuts with no commercial value" buckeyes. Peanut-buttery-chocolate-coveredy (yes, I did just make that word up, thanks for noticing) little round bits of heaven is what I'm talkin' about here!

Here's what you start with:

THE RECIPE

12 oz Creamy Peanut Butter

3/4 Cup Butter, softened (not melted)

1 tsp. Vanilla (I use Pure Vanilla Extract, because it tastes better)

1 LB Powdered (Confectioner's) Sugar

1 oz Paraffin Wax (Which is NOT located in the baking aisle. You can find it where you'd find the canning supplies) It sounds weird, but don't leave it out. Trust me.

12 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

(Please note, I made a double batch, which gave me about 8 dozen Buckeyes - this recipe should give you around 4 dozen or so)

STEP ONE:

Combine first four ingredients in a large bowl. Here's the peanut butter - I weighed it to make sure I had the right amount.

The butter (well, I used margarine, but butter would work too)

The vanilla (OH MY WORD do I ever LOVE the smell of vanilla extract!)

And the powdered sugar. I really could have used a larger bowl...

STEP TWO:

Knead the ingredients with your hands thoroughly. It's pretty sticky at first, but after a few minutes it will turn into a large ball of dough. I would have taken a picture of the kneading process, but I would have needed an extra hand to do so, since both of my hands were covered in peanut butter...which is not very good for holding and/or operating a camera.

STEP THREE:

Roll dough into small balls. I usually just grab a bit of dough and roll it between my hands until it forms a nice little ball. You could make them a little bigger or smaller if you wanted. Place the doughballs onto a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper.

STEP FOUR:

Refrigerate for one hour. If your fridge is like mine, you have no room to do that. I've got a side-by-side that doesn't really hold as much as I'd like. Of course, if I got rid of some of the science projects I'm certain are residing in the back of the fridge, I probably would have room. BUT, I live in Michigan where it's cold. So, if you live in a cold climate like me, you can use what I like to call the Redneck Refrigerator. My dough is currently resting (covered) on my porch, because it's currently 37 degrees F(feels like 29) outside. If you don't have cold enough weather to do that, then I guess you'd better get in the kitchen and clean out your refrigerator!
After your hour is up, take the paraffin wax and chocolate chips and heat over low heat until melted.

Make sure you stir the paraffin and chocolate chips while they are melting.
Once the chocolate is nice and smooth, you're ready to dip the dough balls. Using a toothpick inserted into the center, lower the dough ball down into the chocolate and cover all but the top.
Place the chocolate covered dough balls on waxed paper to cool.
Now, I don't like the toothpick holes in the tops of my buckeyes. So I set one doughball aside. Pinching tiny bits of dough off, I was able to "fill in" the holes. You can see at the top of the following picture how much better it looks with the holes filled in. However, you don't HAVE to do that if you don't want to.

Let the buckeyes cool completely, then store tightly covered in a cool place. (Mine will be returning to the Redneck Refrigerator!!)
So, I hope you've enjoyed the tutorial. If you make these, leave me a comment and let me know how they turned out!!

No excuses!

2009-12-18T14:02:00.002-05:00

Stop the presses!

Puckey changed the toilet paper roll all by herself today.

Why is this a big deal?

Well, because she's:

4 years old
was not asked to do it
has never been shown how to do it

Therefore, take no excuses from anyone over the age of four that they can't change the toilet paper roll. They can.

**Disclaimer** My daughter IS pretty much a genius, but even non-geniuses can do this, I promise!

Thinking of a dear friend

2009-12-12T09:07:00.002-05:00

Today is the 2nd anniversary of when my dear friend Dev suffered the worst lost a mom can have. Thinking of and praying for her much today!!

This year I VOW that my Christmas will NOT suck!

2009-12-08T20:24:00.005-05:00

For those of you who've been around long enough, you may remember last year, when I wrote about how my Christmas was kind of a train wreck. It was so bad I never even set up a Christmas tree, which is one of my favorite things to do! I felt so bad for the kids, because even though they didn't complain, I felt like I let them down. After the holidays were over, I made a promise to myself that I would not let it happen again this year.

So far, we're off to a great start!

Handmade paper garland and "star". Fortunately, I already had all the paper I needed for it, so it was a free project to make! YAY

Puckey helping to decorate the tree.

All done decorating! The girls are THRILLED, since neither of them remembers a Christmas WITH a tree...

The finished tree

It might be somewhat small, but I like my little tree. (However, I will hopefully be able to get a new, taller tree on sale this year after Christmas!)

2009-11-19T15:57:00.001-05:00

So...this was me last month. On the day I turned the big 3-5.

This is me today. The day I turned the big 3-5 + 1 month. :)

Handerpants™ - Underpants For Your Hands!

2009-11-03T19:21:00.000-05:00

My Christmas shopping is done.

Handerpants™ - Underpants For Your Hands!

Tuesday Tip O' The Day

2009-10-27T11:20:00.008-04:00

So...bet you all gave up on my "Tuesday Tip O' The Day" posts, huh? Yes, I've been pretty busy lately and haven't done much blogging. However, this was something I thought might be useful to my readers, especially ones with little girls.

How many times has your little one had a cute shirt like this...

Or this...I mean, could the picture on this shirt BE any cuter?

But then they get a stain like this:

Or both a hole (top arrow) AND a stain (bottom arrow) like this:

There's plenty of wear left in both of these shirts, so I don't want to throw them away! What to do?

With these helpful tools, a sewing machine, and a little bit of time, you can make the shirts a usuable part of your little girl's wardrobe again!

First you need to decide where to cut the shirt off at. In this case, I went slightly below the stain, which will end up in the seam allowance...

Using a rotary cutter and a clear ruler, I cut the shirt off. (Note, while you can use scissors, a rotary cutter makes a nice, clean cut REALLY fast!)

Since the stain was lower on this shirt, I just cut it off leaving enough space so that the embroidered design wouldn't be affected .

After the cut.

Now, why would I cut the shirts off? So I could make them into dresses!! For the green shirt, I chose this plaid flannel fabric, which coordinated pretty well. It was also on sale, so for the 1/2 yard I needed, I paid just $1.75.

I folded the fabric in half, matching the short edges. Using my sewing machine, I sewed a seam along the short edge of the fabric.

Then I pressed the seam open with my iron so it would lay flat.

Then I sewed a long running stitch along the top edge of the fabric. I set the sewing machine up to sew the longest, most loose stitch possible.

Holding one end of the thread, I gently pulled the other end of the thread tight to gather the material. I did this until the gathered area was approximately the same size as the cut edge of the shirt. Pinning RIGHT sides together, I pinned the cut edge of the shirt to the gathered edge of the skirt.

This is before sewing the bottom hem of the skirt.

The finished "new" dress!

The fabric I bought for the melon colored shirt was a little more fancy (and a little more expensive, but still on sale - I paid $2.50 for 1/2 yard). I think the fabric type is called Moleskin. Super soft and easy to work with. I decided to get a bit more sophisticated with this one, so I created pleats approximately every 2 inches along the top edge of the fabric. Then I ran a stitch along the top to keep the pleats in place while I continued working.

Here is a view of the "right" side of the fabric with the pleats pinned.

Since the Moleskin fabric is a little heavier and the pleats leave less room for sewing errors, I used a piece of twill tape to keep the cut edge of the shirt from getting stretched out. I sewed this on the "wrong" side of the fabric with a straight stitch.

Here is the shirt with the twill tape sewn in place.

At this point, my camera battery died, so I don't have any more "in progress" pictures. *sigh*

Anyway, after sewing on the twill tape, I pinned the pleated edge of the skirt to the cut edge of the shirt (RIGHT sides together) and sewed a seam. Then I folded the bottom of the skirt up once (approximately 1/2 inch) then again to create a 3/4" bottom hem.

Here's the finished dress.

You could use this idea as I did, to get more use out of a stained shirt, or to create a "new" dress for your little girl. The total cost for these two "new" dresses was $5.34. The shirts used for these projects were 4T. I used 1/2 yard of 45" wide fabric for each one, plus a little less than a yard of twill tape for the melon/brown one. Depending on the size of your child, you might need more or less fabric.

New Items in my Etsy Store

2009-10-23T10:11:00.007-04:00

I recently added lots of new items to my Etsy store. Check it out - it's not too late to order for Halloween, or do some early Christmas shopping!

Ahoy Me Hardees (Fancy Apple Green)

Ahoy Me Hardees (Light Pink)

Ahoy Me Hardees (Royal Blue)

Polka Dot Halloween

Ahoy Me Hardees (Lavender)

Ahoy Me Hardees (Red)

Ahoy Me Hardees (Hot Pink)

Ahoy Me Hardees (Apple Green)

Cute Candy Cane

Ho-ho-holiday (Red)

Ho-ho-holiday (Green)

Red Ribbon Candy

O Christmas Tree

Christmas

Happy Birthday Bubber!!

2009-10-23T10:02:00.004-04:00

(Alternately titled: WHOA, I'm getting O.L.D!)

Yup, this kid here is 15 now. 15! Halfway to 30! Old enough to drive (AFTER he takes driver's ed and only with his parents in the car)! He's nearly 6 feet tall and still growing. Wow.

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-10-14T12:30:00.004-04:00

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

OH.MY.WORD. I can hardly even stand it, these costumes are AH-MAZE-ING. And I have a chance to win them?? Seriously? And you do, too, if you enter the contest. How could you NOT want to put your little girls in these??

PS, if you happen to ONLY have boys, or maybe your kids are too big or small to get use out of these, you could always enter and should you win, send the costumes to someone you know who just happens to have daughters who would fit into these fantastic costumes. Girls who are 4 and 2 and LOVE Alice in Wonderland. But, I'm not mentioning any names...**cough - Puckey and Jib - cough cough**

Heard at my house the other day...

2009-10-06T16:40:00.003-04:00

Ande: I heard a song today that reminded me of you.

Me: It wasn't by Sir Mix-A-Lot was it?

New Ribbons

2009-10-05T16:24:00.003-04:00

A friend placed a special order - look at how cute these ribbons are...I'll post pics of the finished product when I get them done.

Bows Bibs and More by Bowsnbibs on Etsy

2009-10-01T13:45:00.003-04:00

I just posted some new bows on my store, check them out!!

Winter Wonderland

Baby, You're a Star

Darling Diva

Bows Bibs and More by Bowsnbibs on Etsy

Oh yeah, that's GROSS!

2009-10-01T12:35:00.001-04:00

So Michelle over at My Semblance of Sanity has started a fun little game: My Semblance of Sanity: Sanity's Blogtober TIP PARADE: 10/01 What's Grosser than Gross? Being a mom, I can come up with all kinds of gross stuff, but this one doesn't even involve kids, poop, snot, or childbirth. "Is it possible?" you ask. "Why YES, YES IT IS!" I answer with pride.

A while back, I had started saving orange juice cartons for a cute little project I read about in a magazine. Pretty soon, I had to move my "stash" to the basement because there were so many cartons. What on EARTH I thought I was going to do with them all is beyond me, as this project was one of those "you only need ONE of these" kind of projects. I don't know, maybe I thought I'd give them out as gifts or something, but how many people do I even know, much less know who would want a wallet made out of a recycled orange juice carton? Yeah.

At some point earlier in the year, I had discovered a mouse corpse in the basement. YUCK. Ande disposed of it outside, and I didn't give it much more thought. Well, a couple of weeks ago I was in the basement getting some gift wrapping supplies or something and I saw some weird stuff on the floor near the bags I had the orange juice cartons in. Since it's a concrete floor, I wasn't terribly concerned about it right at that moment, so I just carried on with my business. The next day, I thought I'd better go down and see what that stuff was...I moved aside the bags of orange juice cartons and saw...

You know, I thought about posting a picture here, but figured that might be a little much.

Anyway, I pulled back the bags and saw what at first glance I thought was mold or something until I saw it. A little tiny skull. Upon closer inspection, I found lots of tiny little bones and realized that the other stuff was hair. Apparently our little mouse friend had a brother (well, I guess it could have been a sister, but it was a little late to tell. Besides, how does one go about determining the gender of a mouse anyway??). This little mouse had been investigating the orange juice cartons when it met it's demise. Hard to say what killed it, seeing as how I'm not exactly fluent in my mouse forensic science and all. But either way, pretty gross.

The moral of this story? When you make your husband remove dead animal corpses from your basement, make sure he checks to see if there were other victims.

Long time, no blog....

2009-09-28T14:36:00.002-04:00

So my computer got a virus a couple of weeks ago...check out what I've been up to by clicking here.

Wordless Uh....Saturday

2009-09-05T09:34:00.004-04:00

Tuesday Tip O' the Day

2009-09-01T18:26:00.005-04:00

This tip was inspired by an idea I gave my dear friend Devin yesterday...

It's school time once again. Like most moms, I pack my kids' lunches on a pretty regular basis. Also like most moms, sometimes I get stuck in a rut with what to pack.

It was last night that I came up with the idea of creating a menu with a list of items for the kids to choose from.

You of course could start with sandwiches (or main dish). Give 3 or 4 things to choose from - something like PB & J, cold cuts on a mini sub bun, etc. You could even offer something like soup, spaghetti-O's, or ravioli in a thermos on those chilly fall and winter days! The less picky your kids are, the more fun that could be.

Next you have your "sides" - cut up veggies, a bowl of fruit, yogurt, granola bars....something healthy!!

Beverages - have a couple different flavors of juice, milk, water - whatever your child can transport to school really. I saw a cool no-spill cup in this month's Family Fun magazine that has a button that you push to open the drinking area, and when the button is released (supposedly) there are no leaks/spills. It's called the Autoseal Kids Mug and can be found here.

Of course, no lunch would be complete without a small dessert or treat. Of course, your typical Little Debbies or Hostess items work here, but I know my kids also love the mini candy bars. It doesn't have to be anything big, just a little sweet treat to finish off the meal. If your child can't have or doesn't like sweets, a baggie of pretzels or trail mix might be a great idea too!

The night before, give your child the menu, and have him/her check off the items he/she would like you to pack in his/her lunch. Of course, be sure to remind your child that he/she is only allowed to pick ONE item from each category...otherwise if your kids are like mine, you'll get an order for 3 desserts and a chocolate milk!!

You could get really fancy and make a few laminated menus, and your child could use a dry-erase marker to mark his/her selections (that way you could wipe it clean for the next day)....or you could just use a sheet of notebook paper.

Here's a sample of what you could do:

MAIN COURSE

Peanut Butter and Jelly on Wheat
Turkey & Cheese on Mini-Sub Bun
Graham Cracker and Peanut Butter Sandwich
Chicken Noodle Soup

SIDE DISH

Apple Slices
Ants on a log (Celery with peanut butter or cream cheese with raisins on top)
Fruit Cup
Granola Bar

BEVERAGES

Milk
Apple Juice
Water
Gatorade

DESSERT/TREAT

Swiss Cake Rolls
Trail Mix
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pretzels

Of course, tailor this to your child's likes/dislikes, and make sure your portion sizes are appropriate for his/her age. Try to change up your menu items now and then to help keep your child from getting bored with the "same old, same old" as well.

Hope this idea is helpful to any of you who have school-age children!!

2009-08-31T18:12:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th Birthday, Puckey!

2009-08-25T11:05:00.004-04:00

My sweet little Puckey-Pie...you are such a joy to our family. You are fiercely independent one minute, but are so loving and sweet. You crack us up at all the wrong times, and make our daily lives an adventure. We certainly can't imagine life without you!

Love-
Mommy, Daddy, Bubber, Bug, Nans, and Jib.

For my praying friends

2009-08-23T13:21:00.001-04:00

I would covet your prayers for my family, especially my Grandpa, today. I just got a call that my Grandma passed away this morning. Thanks so much.

Fashion Friday

2009-08-21T14:33:00.003-04:00

I made this as a birthday gift for my friend's 6 year old daughter. I may put some school supplies in it as well, if I get a chance to get to the store before the party.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-08-19T08:26:00.002-04:00

Tuesday Tip O' The Day

2009-08-18T19:14:00.002-04:00

It's still Tuesday, so this totally counts. So there.

Whatever you do, don't look directly into her eyes...she'll talk you into anything.

Taking our monkeys to the zoo

2009-08-16T23:01:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow we will be taking all of our monkeys to the Detroit Zoo. The younger ones have never been, Nans isn't sure if she's been, and Bubber & Bug haven't been in a long time. I'm SO looking forward to taking them. Ande has the day off tomorrow, which is why we are going. YAY!

I went to the store and purchased snacks and waters for the trip (so we don't have to buy food at the zoo), and have printed out a map of the zoo. I have the camera battery charging and have informed the kids that we will be getting up EARLY in the morning to go. Let's hope it all goes off without a hitch!

Hopefully I'll have some great pictures to post on here very soon...

FRIDAY Tip O' the Day

2009-08-07T12:46:00.003-04:00

I was going to wait until Tuesday to post this, but thought it was such a great tip that I just couldn't wait. This one's for the guys...

When sneezing in your car, DON'T go for the window like you would if you were going to spit. According to Ande, the sneeze will just blow back in your face.

I say it's for the guys, because of course us ladies would NEVER spit out a window. Right?

Another beautiful creation from Grosgrain

2009-08-05T12:25:00.001-04:00

Hide N Seek Woodland Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Why you should never leave your Sids alone

2009-07-20T15:29:00.003-04:00

They tend to get a little silly

Swing your partner round and round...

Conga line, baby!

Da da da da da, HEY! Da da da da da, HEY!

***No Sids were harmed in the making of this post. And no, we don't go to McDonald's that often. It's just the two times we've done they gave the same prize in the Happy Meal. Jerks.

Happy 4th of July Everyone!

2009-07-04T07:48:00.003-04:00

While you're celebrating our nation's independence today, be safe!

if you drink, don't drive.
if you don't drink, be a designated driver.
don't blow yourself up playing with fireworks.

We're going to a family party later this afternoon, of which I might (if I remember to take the camera AND take photos) post pictures of later. I'm not making any promises though, as I tend to usually forget the camera, and even when I do bring it, I tend to not actually take pictures.

Give peas a chance

2009-07-01T16:41:00.001-04:00

Vote for the Flint Farmer's Market here to give it the opportunity to win $5000. It's a great place to take your family and support local growers!

I would SO cook more if I had one of these!!

2009-06-25T14:08:00.002-04:00

Aren't these just about the cutest aprons you've EVER seen? I love them! I'm finding the older I get, the more I love vintage-looking (or better yet, actual vintage) stuff.

You can have a chance to enter to win an apron of your choice by clicking here:Boojiboo Flirty Apron GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Good luck!

Tuesday Tip O' The Day

2009-06-23T09:24:00.002-04:00

Your tip today is ultra practical...

When your husband is installing your brand new marble tiles, make sure that if he sets anything like, say, the mortar bucket ON said tiles while working, that he places something like a towel UNDER the bucket. That way you won't find a bunch of swirly scratches on your tile while you are washing it and preparing to put the sealer on so hubby can put the grout in.

However, if, in fact, your husband does NOT place something soft under the bucket and you DO find a bunch of scratches, don't panic. Get online and find instructions for removing the scratches, breathe a sigh of relief, and mark that down as a lesson learned.

Carry on.

Because it's just about the funniest picture I've ever seen...

2009-06-18T12:32:00.002-04:00

***UPDATE*** Since I thought it was so funny, with Dev's permission I posted this picture to a site called failblog.org. You can vote for it to appear on their homepage by clicking here.

No, seriously. Ande even laughed, and he's not usually amused by stuff that I think is funny.

Our very Full House: {Hilarious} Wordless Wednesday: What grown men do with G.I. Joes

Tuesday Tip O' The Day, Part Deux

2009-06-16T17:44:00.004-04:00

Don't forget that you left your new bottle of Avon Skin So Soft Bug Guard Plus in your toddlers' room this morning as you prepared them to go outside to play.

Chances are, one of your little darlings will find said bottle and subsequently squirt about half of the bottle out all over her carpet (and herself).

If you DO forget and leave a bottle out, and your child DOES get into it, DON'T alert them that you're coming, lest they dart into the bathroom and SLAM the door shut in your face (thus spreading the ~~love~~ lotion even further).

If that DOES happen, it might be a good idea for you to take a minute to ~~get your camera~~ compose yourself before doling out the ~~beatings~~ discipline. Which in this case was to go directly to bed (after a bath).

That is all.

Back to your regularly scheduled Tuesday.

Tuesday Tip O' The Day

2009-06-16T16:06:00.003-04:00

Your tip today? Share the love. Look at my sweet niece Nomers holding her new baby brother JD. I wish they didn't live so far away.

:'(

Welcome to the world

2009-06-11T10:22:00.002-04:00

to my new little nephew, J.D.K, born last night at approximately 6:00pm. He was 8lbs 7oz, 21 inches long. Mom & baby are reportedly doing fine.

Wish we could come to OK to meet you!!

Tuesday Tip O' The Day

2009-06-09T14:26:00.004-04:00

When life gives you lemons, make orange juice.

Because there aren't nearly enough time-wasters out there (read with sarcasm)...check out www.failblog.org. I have been laughing SO hard today at some of the stuff on there. (You can even choose to view only the "G" rated pics & videos, so that you don't see any offensive material)

I think I'm falling in love...

2009-06-05T08:56:00.000-04:00

With Shabby Apple. This company has some of the cutest dresses! I am personally in love with and hoping to someday purchase the "Madison Ave" dress, although it's really more for fall. While a little bit expensive (at least for me), they are so pretty and feminine, and best of all, MADE FOR MODEST WOMEN! Check out the site and see why you really want to enter this giveaway on one of my other favorite sites, Grosgrain.
Marseilles Dress SHABBY APPLE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Lost in space

2009-06-03T10:49:00.003-04:00

Well, not space, exactly. More like a hard drive.

Ande bought an external hard drive last week. One of the first things he did was to move all of his iTunes stuff and our pictures from the laptop to the hard drive. Then he deleted all of the music and pics off of the computer.

Now our computer is quite a bit faster, which is awesome. What's not so awesome? The fact that the new hard drive has since died and now we can't get anything off of it.

I spent like 30 minutes (maybe more, I don't remember) on hold this morning to talk to the data recovery people at the manufacturer. Of course they can most likely retrieve our data. For a fee. An $800 fee. WHAT THE HECK?!?

"Sorry, DATA is not covered by warranty. Even if the hard drive was only purchased last week." This is what I was told.

Fortunately we know a guy who's on the "Geek Squad" at Best Buy who might be able to help us out. I'm really hoping so. I mean, they're only pictures, it could be a LOT worse, but still. I'm still super disappointed.

Needless to say, I don't think I will be trusting my pics to a hard drive again anytime soon.

On a lighter note, I lost 2 pounds last week, AND Nate (you know, Gwyneth's dad) actually commented on my FB page! I feel almost famous. LOL

Taking the long way...

2009-06-02T08:58:00.003-04:00

This morning in the car on the way to school, I asked Bubber what his schedule was for summer baseball practices. This is how the conversation went:

Me: "So, what is your schedule for baseball practice now?"

Bubber: "Mondays and Wednesdays."

Me: "But you don't have practice next Monday because you have a game."

Bubber: "No. We won't have any practices after the first game."

Me: "What time is your practice tomorrow then?"

Bubber: "Practice is cancelled, I told you that yesterday. (Note to self, try not to zone out when Bubber is talking baseball, no matter HOW much you aren't interested in the topic) There aren't enough players."

Me: "So you don't have any more practices?"

Bubber: "We have practice on Saturday."

Me: "What you're saying is that you ONLY have a practice this Saturday and that's it?"

Bubber: "Yeah."

Me: "So why didn't you just say that?"

Bubber: "You asked what the schedule was. Saturday's practice isn't on the schedule."

Um. Okay.

Seriously? All of that was needed for what should have been a one question/one answer conversation?

Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees that this conversation was kinda like when you were a kid and your dad (or mom, depending on who usually drove) used to take the "back roads" to avoid traffic on the highway, only to make the trip last twice as long to get to the same destination because of all of the twists and turns he had to take to get there.

Tuesday Tip O' The Day

2009-06-02T07:00:00.000-04:00

In order to avoid any confusion, it is a good idea to let your husband know that running errands for him wasn't quite what you had in mind when you said you wanted to "have a little 'Me' time once in a while".

Or maybe it's just MY husband who thinks that?

I'm sure he means well, because he actually asked me to run an errand for him, and he said the words, "I thought you might want to get out of the house for a while."

Um...by getting out of the house, I tend to think of more "leisurely" pursuits. You know, like getting my hair cut, shopping (for something other than groceries and/or household necessities), or hanging out with my girlfriends for a little while~sans children.

Apparently to the male mind, getting out of the house applies to ANY activity that involves me leaving the house without the kids in tow.

Maybe in the morning when he goes to work, I should say, "Aren't you glad to be able to get out of the house every day for a little 'You' time?" Think that would go over well? Okay, me neither. But it was fun to think about for a moment.

I guess it could be worse - he could ask me to run errands for him AND make me take the kids...

Blast from the Past Friday

2009-05-22T10:38:00.000-04:00

Wow. 12 years ago today, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my daughter Bug. I can remember SO vividly what happened in the days leading up to her birth! I've relayed this story once before, but I thought it was so fitting to share again today since it's Bug's birthday. I originally posted this in February 2008.

The Story of Bug

I was given 2 different due dates with Bug. May 30th OR June 6th. It was Monday, May 19th, and I was at work. I was a receptionist, so my job wasn't really very taxing on me. I figured I would probably work unti the day I went into labor.

About mid-morning, I started having mild contractions. Nothing too painful, and they weren't very close together. Throughout the day, when people would leave the building, I joked that I might not see them for a while because I was in labor. Some of them laughed, some of them looked a little worried. I was still feeling alright, but towards the end of the day I was feeling a bit more discomfort.

My mom used to pick Bubber up from daycare for me (they closed at 5:00pm and I didn't get out of work until 5:00), and I would pick him up from her house on my way home. I would usually sit and chat with her for a while, because my (then) husband, Dan, worked afternoons, so there was no real need to rush home. By the time I got to my mom's, I was feeling worse and worse. I tried to get in and out as quickly as possible, but in my family. that still means at least a good 15-30 minutes of talking. I finally got out of there, and made the 30 minute drive home.

I got home and called the doctor. He told me to go ahead to the hospital. I called Dan and told him he needed to come home (a 45min - 1 hour drive) right away. I called my mom and told her that I would need her to meet us at the hospital. Then I proceeded to go upstairs and pack my bag. (If you read my story of Bubber first, you already know I'm a procrastinator)

Dan got home and we went to the hospital. My mom met us there shortly afterwards. I was put in triage, since my water hadn't broken yet. They checked me, and I was at about 2. Meanwhile, I'm feeling STARVED because I hadn't eaten all day. My mom finally went and got me some soup from the cafeteria. The doctor decided to put me on an IV antibiotic because I had tested positive for Strep B. So started my stay in the hospital. I don't know if I ever went to sleep that night.

Tuesday morning, nothing had changed. The doctor still didn't really want me to eat (especially since I threw up while in labor with Bubber). So I was hungry, tired, and hurting. I was still having contractions, but they were few and far between.

Wednesday comes, STILL in triage, still no progress. At this point I am wanting to just pack it up and go home, but since I was on the IV meds, they didn't want to release me. A friend of mine, who was also pregnant at the time and on bedrest for pre-term labor, called to see how I was. While I was talking to her, my water broke. I think I might have caused her some serious hearing damage when I shouted with joy!!

Wednesday evening, after going another day with no real progress, my doctor finally gave me permission to eat, and he ordered that I get sent to a birthing suite so that I can get some rest. I remember sitting in bed watching the episode of Mad About You when they had their baby, and I started to cry. Those stupid TV people got to have THEIR baby, why couldn't I just get it over with?!? I got a shot of morphine that night to help me sleep. Of course, the moment I went to sleep (and for what seemed like every 15 minutes after that for the rest of the night), the nurses came in and checked my vitals. I did get a really nice male nurse who re-did my IV for me, because my hand started to go numb and swell...so that was nice.

Thursday, May 22nd. After a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG day of waiting, the doctor put me on pitocin, and I eventually got my epidural. (I was just reading a friend's blog and remembered something else...) So during this time, a bunch of nurses and such have been coming in to check me. At one point, a doctor came in and asked if some medical students could come in to watch while he checked me - I said, "Sure, why not, EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS HOSPITAL HAS SEEN IT ALREADY!" I think I had begun to lose my sense of humor by then. It wasn't too long after that, the doctor came in, checked me, and said, "okay, you can push when you're ready!" My mom sort of "accidentally" ended up being in the room, but she stayed out of the way and just sat in a chair in the corner and waited. I pushed a little, and because God has a major sense of humor, had a bowel movement on the table AGAIN. Man, was I ever embarassed! One of my nurses (who was really nice and very funny) commented, "I just got done in the geriatric ward, I thought I was done cleaning up poop!" It made me laugh a little, but I was still pretty horrified. It's weird, because for a while after my Bug was born, I didn't remember what happened next. I pushed a few times, and her head came out. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck TWICE. Bug's shoulders were stuck, but we didn't have time for that. So the doctor literally grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her out, nearly pulling me off of the bed in the process. He got the cord unwound and she started breathing fine right away. At 8:30pm, my 7lb 15oz, 20 in long Bug was born, complete with a head FULL of light brown hair. No wonder I had heartburn all the time!! LOL

When I had Bubber, I had issues with retained placenta. I actually had to have a D&C done about 2 weeks after he was born because I started to hemorrage. So the doctors knew that might be an issue this time, too. The placenta would not even come out. It was "stuck" to my uterine wall. No biggie, the doctor told me he'd take me to the OR and take care of it. They quickly prepped me, and before I knew it was in in the OR. I told the doctor I felt nauseated, and someone handed me a bedpan. I was helped onto my side when I heard a large splash, like someone spilling a bucket of water. The doctor had me put under anesthesia immediately. I found out later I had hemorraged a LOT. Enough to where they gave me a transfusion. I woke up in recovery and remember being SO cold. I was in shock. I ended up in ICU that night, and didn't get to see Bug until about 11:30 the next day.

(These pictures only go up to when she was 7 - All pictures since that time have been on digital, and they are all on a disc somewhere...)

Now Bug is a sweet 12 year old with a great sense of humor and a soft heart for others. She is a wonderful helper with her little sisters, and has recently started showing interest in helping prepare dinner (now if I could just convince her that cleaning up is just as fun...HA!)

Tuesday Tip O' The Day

2009-05-19T11:57:00.003-04:00

This tip is actually relating to a pretty serious topic - helping the elderly, even when they don't think they need it.

My grandparents' house was always spotless when I was a kid. Like eat off the floor clean. As she got older, my grandma relaxed a bit in her cleaning habits. However, when I went to visit my grandparents' house on Mother's Day, I saw how "relaxed" things had gotten.

My grandma is very frail (like she weighs 70lbs and has had several mini-strokes). My grandpa means well, but he's no housekeeper. They have TONS of stuff, most of which could be thrown away or at least organized and put in one of their spare bedrooms. Grandma can't keep house like she used to, but both of my grandparents have refused help.

Last Thursday, my grandpa was getting something for my grandma and he tripped over something and fell. Luckily his youngest brother was there and able to help him up. Grandpa said he was fine, but by Friday my uncle decided Grandpa needed to go to the ER to get checked out. Turns out Grandpa has 5-6 broken ribs, plus a huge scrape/bruise on his arm. Apparently his congestive heart failure has flared up, and now he's being kept not so much for the broken ribs, but for the excessive amounts of fluid around his lungs.

Now, while my grandpa has been known to fall down, and has fallen down several times recently, I believe this could have been avoided. If their house was kept up better, Grandpa could have been using his walker or at least his cane to help him around. He wasn't using it because there was no room for him to do so.

Now my mom and my aunts have decided to work on cleaning my grandparent's house. They hadn't done so before because my grandparents didn't want them to. I think maybe now they know that was not the best idea. Sometimes people don't realize when they are in over their heads.

I'm sure my grandparents don't like that they aren't as independent as they used to be. I imagine that maybe they might be embarrassed by the condition their house has gotten in. However, as a family, we should have never let their house get to that point.

That being said, my "Tip O' The Day" is to say that when you have elderly friends or family members, check up on them often. If you visit them and you see that they need some help around the house, take the initiative to see if you can help them. They probably won't ask. If they refuse your help, you might just have to risk them being mad at you because you need to help them anyway. They'll get over it eventually.

I have waited for this my whole life...

2009-05-15T15:48:00.004-04:00

Okay, well not my WHOLE life, but this project has been simmering on the back burner for 2 1/2 years.

When we first bought our house in 2006, Ande and I decided that we wanted to fix up the 1/2 bath off of our kitchen, for a number of reasons.

It was freakin' UGLY
It was going to be easier to tear it apart than to clean it
It was REALLY STINKING UGLY
Did I mention it was ugly?

It started out we were just going to take the paneling off the walls, maybe get a new vanity and medicine cabinet, and possibly put new linoleum in.

Once Ande started tearing the stuff out of the bathroom, he realized that the only hope in this room was to tear it completely out, down to the studs. So he did. Once he did that, we discovered that there were actually 3 places where we could have a water hook-up, plus 3 drainage pipes. It was around that time that we hatched the plan that we could convert our once cramped, UGLY bathroom into a laundry room/half bath combo.

We started out well. Bought all the supplies, including some SWEET marble floor tiles, that we got for about $6/box (works out to be just over $1/sq ft), AND a brand new LG front load washer and dryer set that we can stack to save room (and energy). So Ande got the room gutted, put pipes in place where they needed to go, and put up the drywall. He taped the drywall. Started mudding the drywall. Then he stopped. For 2 years.

Now, I partially blame myself, because I probably didn't really encourage him to continue on...you know how it is when someone does nice stuff for you and you want to do nice stuff back? Well, let's just say I wasn't really giving him too many reasons to want to work on the bathroom.

Recently I have been trying to be a better wife, and it's really started to pay off! Ande finally started working on the bathroom again. Here's a few pics (I have some "before" pics somewhere on a disk, if I find them I will post those so you can see where we started...)

Puckey was VERY excited to be getting to help Daddy work on the laundry room...

Showing me the screw that she would soon be handing to Daddy.

Hammering down an old nail that was sticking up so the cement board could go down.

I got to buy the primer last week, then I bought the paint this morning.

This is our bathroom with the primer, now just waiting for the opportunity to put the color on.

Once the walls are painted, we will be putting the marble down, then doing the trimwork. After that, we can hook up the plumbing and get our sink, toilet, and washer and dryer hooked up and ready to run.

Blast from the Past Friday

2009-05-15T09:52:00.005-04:00

It's already Friday again? Holy cow, this week has just FLOWN by!! I've been busy working in the yard and trying to keep up with the housework. CRAZY times around here, let me tell you! Because I LOVE reminiscing about things, here's the Blast from the Past for this week...

This is me and my Grandma Martin. She was a wild one, known for dancing on the table at family reunions in days gone by, having a great sense of humor, and always having a fridge stocked with every flavor of Faygo imaginable. I know we're not supposed to pick favorites when it comes to relatives, but out of all of my grandparents, she certainly was my favorite!

I was 15 when this picture was taken, Christmas 1989. Look how stinkin' skinny I was!! I LOVED my hair back then...probably one of my fave hairdos I've had, VERY late 80's/early 90's to be sure! I remember I used to spend HOURS spiral curling my already permed hair to get it just right. These days rarely blow dry my hair, much less spend hours styling it. Oh how my priorities have changed...

Grandma is gone now, and I miss her. I'm glad I have lots of fun memories of her though.

I can REALLY see Puckey's resemblance to me in this picture. We have the same cheekbones. Well, when I'm skinny enough to HAVE cheekbones...LOL I'm working on that, and slowly but surely I WILL get there!

So there you have it, a Blast from MY Past...Have a great weekend!

Your Wednesday Tip O' The Day

2009-05-13T09:43:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I missed the Tuesday Tip O' The Day AGAIN. I swear, I need to start just typing them up and scheduling them to post on Tuesdays...that way I won't miss them. Well, in theory. If I actually put that into practice it might just work.

Anyway...

For those moms in Genesee County with not a lot of money and small kids in need of entertaining, the Flint Children's Museum is having a "Dollar Day" tomorrow, Thursday May 14th. Admission is $1 each (kids one year and under are FREE). From what I know, there will also be some live animals there as well.

My kids never cease to crack me up

2009-05-11T10:40:00.004-04:00

Okay, a little background - our 2 year old "Jib" is also called "Budgie" (among many, MANY other nicknames). I don't know where the name Budgie came from, but that's beside the point...

Now, I'm sure I'm not the only mom who's kids do it - all the grunting and straining and then subsequent STINKING...only to go to change the diaper and find just a little "smudge" in there. Our sweet little Jib (or Budgie) has been doing that a LOT lately. So yesterday Ande started calling her "Smudgie". (Classy, NO?)

During dinner I was talking to Jib, and I asked her if her name was "Smudgie", and she said, very proudly and with a HUGE grin on her face, "No, I FUDGIE!"

Let's just say it took SEVERAL minutes for us to stop laughing about that. Oh, the joys of dinner conversation at the Kirby home. HA!

Blast from the Past Friday

2009-05-08T09:02:00.005-04:00

Wow, it's been a week since I've posted anything. I have lots of things I WANT to post about, just haven't found the time to sit down and actually do it! However, Blast from the Past Friday is a quick and easy one to do, so here you go!

This is Bubber, back when he was 2 1/2. We were at my (then) in-laws house celebrating something - it seems like someone's birthday, but I can't remember whose. Maybe my brother in-law or my (then) husband's. ANYWAY...I have always loved this picture SO much. That sweet little boy is now a 14 and a half year old man-boy who is nearly as tall as his 5'11" father (he surpassed me a couple of years ago, but since I'm only 5'1", that's not a real feat). The doctor has said he will probably end up being around 6'2" by the time he's done growing. Would you look at those EYES? They're even more pretty now than they were then!

And, since I'm PMS-ing and all emotional, I think I'll go cry now....

Blast from the Past Friday

2009-05-01T21:08:00.006-04:00

My dear friend Devin came up with this idea. It's to give readers an idea of our "history" before blogging. Dev went back a couple of years - but I'm going way, WAY back. I'm going to cheat slightly by using my profile pic for this first one, because I know it's too small to really make out much detail on the sidebar. Plus I'm so darn CUTE!

This is me, my sister, and my dad, circa late 1974/early 1975. That sweet little baby is me. It's so funny for me to see pictures like these, because my mom's house doesn't look this way anymore, but I clearly remember when it did. I always hated that couch, because I would either stick to it or slide off of it every time I tried to sit on it. My mom still has that coffee table. Probably those ashtrays, too. The pictures on the shelf in the background are my sister and my uncle Mike, who must have graduated high school around that time. My dad is sporting some SWEET 70's hair - it didn't get longer, it got BIGGER. Of course, those were back in the days when my dad also rocked a huge Magnum P.I. mustache as well. Okay, so I don't know if Magnum was around back then, but I'd bet Tom Selleck had the 'stache then, too.

Those were the good ole' days - back when the only things I needed to do were eat, sleep, and poo. Good times, good times...

Happy Birthday Nomers!

2009-04-30T09:00:00.001-04:00

Our sweet little niece turns 2 today! Happy Birthday Nomers, wish you didn't live so far away so we could give you birthday hugs and kisses!!

Love, Uncle Ande and Aunt Julie

Mother's Day

2009-04-29T13:51:00.003-04:00

If you are thinking of sending flowers to your mom (or aunt, or grandma, or any other mom you know...) for Mother's Day, 1-800-Flowers.com will give you 15% off your purchase if you use the code FRMD5.

If you need my address (you know, so they know where to bring my flowers) let me know...LOL!!!

Hello, Gorgeous!

2009-04-28T12:33:00.003-04:00

subtitled: Tuesday Tip O' the Day...

When you have lovely tulips blooming in your yard, bring some of them into the house so you can enjoy them all day long!!!

I picked these in the rain this morning, and was able to catch this great picture of the raindrops still clinging to the petals.

I'll take one in every color...

2009-04-20T10:43:00.000-04:00

Simple Skirts GIVEAWAY!!!!

These would be great for summer - for church or just because!!

Now you KNOW I love a good deal

2009-04-20T09:55:00.005-04:00

and if I find one I really like, I will share it with you. This is a pretty good one, AND it may be of use to people other than those who live local to me!!

I belong to a Freecyle group (if you haven't heard of it, click here for more information). My particular group allows posts with information about things you can get and/or DO for free. This morning I was checking my emails, and found an offer that I thought was REALLY a good deal!

If you like to bowl, and have kids who like to bowl, you have to check this site out. I got on there and got FREE passes for all FIVE of the kids to bowl 2 games each, EVERY DAY this summer. Of course, shoe rental is extra, but it's only $1 each at my particular bowling center. There is a slight catch, which is if the parent wants to bowl, it's NOT free. However, I was able to purchase a pass for both Ande and I to bowl 2 games each EVERY DAY at a great price (we have to bowl WITH the kids, the passes can't be used unless they are there as well). For less than $25, ALL SEVEN OF US can go bowling every single day this summer. Obviously with shoes it will be a bit more, but when you consider the savings...well, I think it's worth it anyway! Even if we only go a few times, it's STILL a great deal!

For those of you who live locally, check out Rollhaven - they are offering a "Summer Blast Pass" for $40. The passes will be good on Wednesdays (1-4PM), Fridays (6-11PM) and Saturdays (1-5PM) May through August. Skate rentals are $3. Considering admission is usually about $6/person, that's a good deal as well - 2 weeks and you've gotten your money's worth.