My aHa! moment...

Do you have an area/place/spot in your house that you were/are constantly fidgeting with until....FINALLY you got "the look you wanted"? It may have taken minutes/hours/days, or like for me weeks, until it was just right. And then along game a glorious holiday and that area/place/spot had to be decorated for the holiday.


Anyone with me?


Well my mantle is that place. After we painted the walls I took quite a bit of time arranging and re-arranging it trying to get the look I wanted but not knowing what that look, looked like. phew! So before I started decorating for Christmas I took a picture (not because I had this grand scheme idea) but because I was going to post a before and after Christmas picture.


Well Christmas is disintegrating (into the attic) here in sunny 78 degrees+ Florida and as I'm trying to put my mantle back together I think, aHa!, I have a picture of my very own mantle.


Earth shattering, I know!


So ladies and gentlemen (do men read blogs?), here is my before...


and after...


Did you notice any changes? There are a few..


Previously, ordinary candles that were attacked by Mod Podge and Martha Stewart red glitter to be transformed into fancy schmancy Christmas candles.


Now, white Christmas candles on sale from Target plus a little scrapbook paper and tie thingy.




New, holder thingy. I know you bloglanders know what it's called.




I almost forgot my whole purpose for this post: Take a picture of something before you go messing it all up and Viola! you can refer back to it for your own inspiration (or, like me, for copying it exactly if you aren't always so creative).

Christmas ideas...

So, I have seen several variations of this idea on different blogs. Some people used vinyl lettering but I used scrapbook paper and mod podge.


Your basic glass block (courtesy of Home Depot $4 and change):



add initials (I printed out letters, traced them onto the paper, and cut out. Viola!):


or silhouettes (Ditto):


or multiple layers:

These are a few of my favorite things...

BooMama, Tip Junkie, AND Kimba are all having Christmas tour of homes.

Welcome friends!

I don't have much horizontal space for decorating so my TV hutch gets most of the attention. I love putting up previous Christmas pictures (I'm always searching for red frames).

Love these blocks that I got from Lillian Vernon. (Six sides: six different holiday messages)

My Willow Tree nativity. It's taken me several years to collect all the pieces.



How cute is Mr. fuzzy reindeer (and cautious 3 year old with Santa)?

My mom made this wall hanging for me. I no sew :-).

And what would a party be without some yummy cookies? Enjoy!

• Peanut butter cookie dough (in the cold section of Publix)
• Chocolate chips for eyes
• Red m&m's for nose
• Chocolate covered pretzels (Snyder's brand, in the chip aisle) for antlers. A little bit of white icing to help them stick.

Christmas. Christmas. Time is here.

Time for toys and time for cheer.

Can you hear the chipmunks singing? Yesterday while I was out shopping, a guy (driving a minivan with no kids) was blasting the chipmunks song throughout the parking lot. I guess it's just that time of year!

Thanks for coming by. Sorry, no cookies this time. here's your link back to BooMama, or Kimba, or Tip Junkie...

NOT a holiday post...sort of...

The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.

Just remember this little ditty when the "Holiday time" gets a little hectic! :-)

A Blessing Mix

No picture for ya'll because...we already ate it all!

J got a blessing mix snack bag from school that was very cute. All the ingredients were mixed together and then this label was on the ziploc:

Bugles: Shaped like a cornucopia or Horn of Plenty, a symbol of our nation's abundance.
Pretzels: Arms folded in prayer, a freedom sought by those who founded our country.
Candy corn: The sacrifices of the pilgrims' first winter. Food was was so scarce that settlers survived on just a few kernels of corn a day.
Nuts & Seeds: Promise of the future harvest, one we will reap if seeds are planted and tended with diligence.
Dried fruit: Harvest gifts from our bountiful land.
M&M's: Memories of those who came before us to lead us into a blessed future.
Kisses: The love of family and friends that sweetens our lives.

Oink! Oink!

This little piggy went to the market.

This little piggy stayed home.
This little piggy has roast beef.
This little piggy had none.

And this little piggy could only be loved by its mom creator.

J and his class made pink-paper mache-pigs last week. Can you guess what letter they were working on? This so called "project" was quite an adventure that took all week and one I got to hear about daily. So you can imagine my excitement to see the infamous piggy!

Will I put it in the living room for display? Take it to work for all to see? Keep it in Jayden's room where he can admire his masterpiece?

Uhhh...NO!

For those of you with less then a keen eye for the OBVIOUS, Mr. pink-paper mache-piggy has a tail by his nose, the world's smallest-beadiest (totally a word) eyes on his rear end, and ears for wings!

Hmmm...critical parenting moment here folks.

M: J, did you make this like this? Notice the unspecific questioning.
J: Yes I wanted it to be funny.
M: What do you mean?
J: I put his tail by his nose and his ears are wings.
M: Oh. An Auguste Rodin he is not.

PINK PIG FOR SALE: Free

My pilgrimage.

So I don't have much to contribute to the Thanksgiving festivities because I'll be here on Monday:

and here on Thursday:

But don't worry I'll be thinking about you and your traditional Thanksgiving dinner, really, I will!

Here is my Thanksgiving contribution:

Photo and recipe from Taste of home

FREE snapfish book

hurry HuRrY HURRY!

Click here offer expires THIS FRIDAY NOV 14, 2008!!!!

Edit: I went here and up loaded my pictures and waited 26 hours~aka 20 minutes~ and never got out of the loading stage. Grrrrrr...

Turkey-lurky

Have you seen this commercial?

I think I peed, just a little, the first time I saw it!

I can laugh with all honesty because this would totally be me if I EVER attempted to prepare a turkey!

P_A_R_T_Y!

Chris over at Just a girl (which really should be Just a girl who does it all and then some...) is having a I can do that! party.

AND Antique Mommy is too!

Love, LoVe, LOVE this idea!

I found my idea here and loved it so much I made Halloween platters.

So easy. Creative. Fun!

Photo from kisses of sunshine

Take a plain white plate, one that is ovenproof, I found mine at Wal-Mart for $3.47. Wash it, decorate it with permanent sharpie pens and bake it for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Think platters, bowls, coffee mugs, plates!

I've hand-washed mine and didn't have any trouble with the ink coming off but GiBee at Kisses of sunshine suggested using Porcelain Paint Markers or ceramic paint pens at Michaels and AC Moore if you have any trouble.

Here is my Halloween one:

(the spider has since grown the correct amount of legs)

Thank you Chris, Kiss of Sunshine, and everyone else who is contributing!

A SHOUT OUT for Shandy!

Who can take this:

and make it look like this?

Shandy at PhotoFlattery can!

Thank you Shandy you were a true pleasure to work with!

Happy Halloween

Because I KNOW you all have been checking everyday just waiting for my update, here's the run down of my week:

The infamous snacks:

Witch's hands (popcorn, candy corn for nails, and a spider ring all stuffed into a plastic food service gloves).

Mummy cup cakes. Got the idea from here.

Fabulous treat platters. Got the idea from here, which I totally love!

So don't be surprised if you all get something hand made for Christmas!

(Edit: Spider has since grown correct amount of legs)

Hope you all had a spooktacular night with your monsters!

I KNOW you've had one of these days...weeks...months

It's Tuesday.

I didn't get the laundry done over the weekend because we were out of town.

Thursday night is bible study night so if I want to make Halloween snacks for my monsters I need to start thinking about it now. Now you KNOW I won't have all the supplies so I'll need to head back to the grocery store where I was yesterday because, did I already mention this?, we were out of town this weekend.

If I can get them done started(?) on Wednesday then Thursday can come and go.

Friday is Halloween.

Saturday is another birthday party!

Where am I going to fit the Fall Festival in?

Maybe if I'm really lucky Hottie will play golf all day Saturday leaving me with the two monsters, junked up on candy with no nap.

So who is going to do the laundry and grocery shopping?

Laundry

Do you know what happens when you wash your lights/whites with your son's lights/whites? Playground mulch in your underwear!

We interupt our currently scheduled program to bring you...

a little BIG post about helicopter parenting!

You may not be familiar with the term because education does things like that. For example, "Education Alphabet soup": AIP, IEP, ESE, 504, AYP, SAT, ACT. But here is a top ten list sent BY A COLLEGE to my school regarding advising parents about their child's college applications.

Top Ten things that parents should remember about the college search process.

10. Remember that this process is not about you. No matter how similar your children may be to you, they need to make their own decisions and observations.

9. Support and encouragement are more appropriate than pressure and unsolicited advice. Allow your children to seek you out!

8. Do no use the works "we" or "our" when referring to your children's application process.

7. Help them prepare but let them perform.

6. Encourage your children to make their own college appointments, phone calls, and e-mails.

5. Allow your children to ask the questions.

4. Prepare your children for disappointment.

3. Never, never, NEVER complete any portion of the college application.

2. Do not let stereotypes or outdated information steer your children away from schools in which they would otherwise have an interest.

1. Never, ever during a college visit buy a sweatshirt of t-shirt from the bookstore in your size-it's a dead giveaway.

A little TV PR

I'm always looking for some educational shows for my kids, so I can plop them down in front of the TV for hours while I check out my favorite blogs. KIDDING (about the hours not the blogs)!

I saw this advertised in a parenting magazine and DVR'ed (totally a word) it. It really is educational, cute and kept their attention. Today we watched an episode about why you can't eat cake everyday, all day. Yummy right? So if you have PBS access check it out and tell me what you think...

Sid the science Kid

You know you have little one's when...

you're at a gathering pouring drinks and you only fill the cups up half-way.
your DVR has as many kids programs recorded as your shows.
you use a wipe to clean off the oatmeal that was sneezed on you at breakfast.
you avoid driving home a certain way because it passes by a McDonald's.
you have a passie that you never leave home without!
Raffi is the current cd in your car's stereo.
you can step over toys while carrying dinner to the table with a 4 year old wrapped around your leg.
A little humor into my week...and look it's only Wednesday! How about you?

The First!

I'm starting a new blog because I want to be like those I stalk follow :-)!

I've been blogging about the kids for almost a year and you would think the nervousness would have worn off. But instead I've been fretting over everything. I've worried about the name. Do you like it? I've contemplated what I would blog about. I've been thinking about this first post (and edited it twice now).

It's like high school lunch all over again.

So here's a tribute to those who have inspired me to get myself out there. Check out some of my favorites:

Nesting Place
Everyday Celebrating
A Soft Place to Land
Boo Mama
Big Mama