H2H: Entry Way

A simple black bookcase with items from clearance at Target. Needs some vases on the sides with twigs...and don't laugh mom and Jeremy at my twigs in vases.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

H2H: Playroom Ceiling Fan

It's amazing what a simple fan can do to a room. When we moved into this house the only rooms that we hardwired for fans were the family room and the master bedroom. Since we have been here Jeremy has rewired the house and installed fans in both of the kids rooms. The one last room that needed a fan was the playroom and last weekend was H2H ceiling fan for playroom project. Still a million projects to do in the playroom but we are making baby steps to getting it all done.
Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This Blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her Blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Hmmm...Last week is sort of a blur, being a short 4 day week it flew by. Let's try to figure out just what it is that I didn't happen to do last week.

First off, I didn't I look into the Masters program, I'm already so over school and looking so forward to November being done that there is no way in the world that I'm crazy enough to consider going through with getting my Master's come January 2010.

I didn't cook a real dinner last night per Taylor's request, steak & fresh green beans & potatoes. And even if I did it wouldn't be a surprise since I cook all the time.

Sunday wasn't spent in my pajamas, with the exception of a 30 minute trip to the store. I mean seriously why would I stay in my pj's all day and just chill & relax the whole day.

I'm not going through withdrawals waiting for Desperate Housewives to come back, they are only off for 3 weeks which will fly by so it's not driving me mad crazy that it's not on now.

Last, but never least, two hours were not wasted on Saturday night looking at knitting patterns to find perfect summer ones to make for Taylor, and I didn't find the cutest one ever and already start on it.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Ranch Dill Crackers

Jeremy and the kids love to munch on this cracker recipe that Jeremy's aunt makes around the Holidays.

Ranch Dill Oyster Crackers
3 boxes of crackers (we use 1 box cheezits, 1 box wheat thins, and 1 box oyster crackers)
3/4 cup oil
1 tsp dill weed
1 tsp garlic powder
1 package Hidden Valley ranch dressing mix (the powder stuff)

Combine crackers in a bowl, add oil and mix to coat the crackers, add remaining ingredients and mix. Eat and enjoy. Simple, easy, and yummy.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Personality Style: Distractedly Organized

It's funny to think about it, but these two words describe exactly who I am, or maybe just who I have become. I always have a million and one things going on in my life and I think over time it has turned me into somebody who is very easily distracted. However, I still remain extremely organized and anal. I didn't think it would be possible to combine the two of these traits, but possible or not it has happened. My mind is the best example of this, I know in my head what I want to do and how long each task will take and what my plans are for each day. I wake up determined to get through that organized list in my head. But as soon as I get up my mind begins to process that list and I get started, things are going good, then I get distracted. At the end of the day though most of my to-do's somehow still get done so I guess it's not a bad thing, except for those nights I stay up way too late finishing the to-do's because I couldn't get them to-done during my distractedly organized day.
Not a resolution because then it might just get broken but this year I might try to work on getting the to-do's done with as little distraction as possible to get me a few more winks of sleep each night.
And to help me do this I'm going to turned to the newly re-launched Virtually Organized Blog. I participated last year in a procrastination challenge, still loving my new pantry, and have followed Debbie's Blog since then so I'm looking forward to the new site.

And by the way, I'm supposed to be working on my paper for my marketing class right now, but surprisingly got distracted.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Formula 50...My addiction

I can't seem to get enough of this stuff...Vitman Water: Formula 50

There is something about it's simple taste of this drink that draws my attention to it. I've tried the other vitamin waters and they just don't do it for me. My mom (thanks Mom) will often throw one in my lunch (yes, my mom still packs my lunch) and those days I seem to have more energy, although my guess is that it is totally in my mind only. Since really the vitamin water is not some energy drink. The taste is simple, almost like a watered down grape kool-aid, which might not sound too appealing but it really is tasty. If you haven't tried one yet I encourage you to just give it a shot.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

H2H: Living Room

After much thought and consideration Jeremy & I have decided to not replace the couches that are currently in the living room. At one point we had tossed around the idea of a sectional in there but weren't sure how it would look since the room is connected to the dining room. Our plan instead is to take the country look out of the couches and instead turn them modern with a few throw pillows and other decor. So far in our quest of H2H we put up some blinds, panels, throw rug, and added a lamp to the room. What's left to do...change the lamp shade (not our style), change the throw pillows and put a fews pictures/mirrors up then we can consider the living room...complete.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Knitting Time - Cardigan & Hat

After I had finished Cody's sweater vest for Christmas Taylor put in her request for a sweater also just like Cody's. Only this is how her request went. Mommy, will you knit me a sweater just like Cody's, only I want sleeves on mine and I want it to be open in the front and close with one button. Hmmm....that's not "just like Cody's" but I knew what my Princess wanted. I set out on the path for a pattern and came across a super cute one that would be just perfect for my next project. So I bring to you, Taylor's sweater and of course I had to make a matching hat to go with it.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

H2H: Taylor's Window

Here is the first completed task for Project House to Home...which I think I'm going to just call H2H for short. This one is a special project because I made the whole thing, yes even the curtain rod. I was feeling very crafty and decided instead of buying the rod I would just make one out of pvc pipe, metal brackets, and screws. Then I sewed up the curtains with some fabric I had got off the clearance rack at Joann's a few weeks ago. I love the way it looks and matched Taylor's room so perfectly. Taylor's room underwent a transformation in summer into a pink, black, and white chic hangout, click here to see how well this curtain matches the rest of the room.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma

Today is my Grandma's birthday and although she may not be here physically I know she is here with us. The dimes on the floors over the years have proven that time and time again. God took Grandma way too soon from us but he does these things for a reason. I'm sure he just needed somebody up there to play bingo and blackjack with.

Grandma wanted nothing more than to be a Great Grandma and while the timing may not have worked out that she got to meet her great grandkids she did a wonderful job of sending down two angels in her place. I see traits of my Grandma in my kids that make me smile all the way from my head to my toes.

From Taylor's love of biscuits and gravy one morning at breakfast to being able to name any Elvis song on the radio (without ever being exposed to Elvis). Taylor is the angel that my Grandma sent down to help us deal with her passing.

Cody's traits are just starting to show and really shined a few weeks ago as we drove to school and he spotted a garage sale sign leftover from a weekend sale and got excited. Grandma would never let us pass a sign without making a u-turn in the middle of the road to go track down a garage sale.

Forever in our hearts and always in our minds...
Happy Birthday Grandma!!!
Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Mondays seem to just sneak right up on me and are here before I know it. Back to work and the daily grind, but Not Me Monday's make it a bit better, or at least appear to when I look back at all the crazy things that I didn't do last week.

No way am I Blogging at this hour, I should be in bed and enjoying my extra night of sleep since tomorrow is a Holiday.

It's not me who is taking the kids to school tomorrow even though it's a Holiday and I'm off work. It's not like I have a list of a million and one things that I need to get done. Besides it's not my kids who would rather to go to school on pajama day and hang out with their friends than be drug around from store to store while I look for the perfect curtain rods tomorrow.

Last week I didn't finish knitting the most adorable pink cardigan sweater with super cute eyelets for Taylor. And no it was not complete in one week, that would have been a lot of knitting to do. And no I'm not going to Blog about it and post pictures of this adorable sweater because I'm so darn proud of it. Plus there is not a matching hat now for said sweater.

Finally, Friday night me and a group of my friends on the train did not order a pizza and have it delivered to one of the stations on our route home because we were starving. I mean really, how do you have a pizza delivered to a train that only stops for seconds at each stop? And I did not run off the train in search of pizza at agreed stop to meet the pizza guy because he didn't know what train car we were in.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Pippi Longstocking

Who would have thought that one name would make a little girl so happy. Taylor is smitten with Pippi Longstocking. It all started a few month ago when on a whim I searched for Pippi Longstocking on YouTube and came across a bunch of short clips. Taylor was sitting with me that day and saw them and from that day Taylor had one thing on her mind, a freckled faced red head girl, Pippi Longstocking was coming into our world. I went on the search for a DVD and came up empty handed. Really, no stores feel the need to carry this in stock, my mom went everywhere, and trust me if it's out there my mom will find it. My search of course turned to the one place that never lets me down, eBay. We got the DVD last week but didn't have a chance to sit down and watch it until yesterday. And now the total count of times Pippi was viewed this weekend in its entirety is 4. Yes, 4 times this weekend both Taylor and Cody too sat and watched Pippi from start to finish.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Project House to Home

We have lived in this current house of ours for almost 3 years and if you walked in you would immediately think, does anybody live here? Of course we have furniture, toys, and other random stuff. But the point I'm making is that the house just doesn't look lived in, it's missing that "home" feeling. Part of the problem was the paint...eeekkk...when we bought the house there were some very random colors splattered around the place. Green, brown, tan, yellow, gold, faux finish, you name it the house had it. The first few years Jeremy and I looked at paint colors all the time and never could settled on that perfect combination of what we wanted to do. This lack of final color put all decorating on the back burner. As we know time flies and it seems like the months just passed by. Finally towards the end of last year we decided that painting was not a project we were cut out for and decided to just hire somebody to come paint it for us and hopefully help us decide on colors. We ended up with the most awesome painters who not only did a spectacular job painting the whole inside of the house for us, but also helped us to nail down the perfect color for the house. It's not too bold and not too bright. Soft and subtle with a million possibilities.
Now that the house is painted it's like a blank canvas just waiting for our special touches. Jeremy & I had made a pact that this year would be 2009:Project House to Home. I figured what better way to track the things that we do, both big and small, than right here. I can then look back and see just how much progress we made this year and I love before and after pics.
Random before shots of our blank canvas.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

29 Years Young

Last week I had arguably the most difficult birthday ever, turning 29 years old, er I mean young, was tough on me. The day was great and it has nothing to do with the celebration of my birthday. The hard part was the acceptance that I'm getting older, and even more so how stinking fast it goes by. As the days pass and I get closer to my 30th birthday (359 days to be exact, thanks Mom for the MySpace countdown clock to remind me every day your my mom you are supposed to support me not make it worse, lol) I'm starting to come to grips with it and you know something, it's ok to get older. I have spent the last few days looking back and thinking not of how old I am but where I'm going and what I've accomplished in my 29 years. and I'm darn proud. Well just see one year from now when the big 30 hits if I can keep up this optimistic attitude.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Out Of The Mouths - Fakey Stories

This weekend Taylor & I were having a typical mommy/daughter conversation that went totally haywire. Really I'm not ready for this girl to grow up. Taylor was telling me about her week at school and mentioned her and a friend doing fakey stories. Fakey what?!? I had to ask, and am sorry I did. It went down a little like this.

M: What's a fakey story?
T: Want me to tell you one?
M: Of course!!
T: So Reed my boyfriend comes to my house in his car and picks me up for a date and we go to Tommy's because I really want a chili cheeseburger and then he asks me for a kiss and I slapped him. There that's a fakey story.

I wish I had a tape recorder and a mirror because I don't remember what I said first and I can only imagine what my face looked like.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Not Me Monday

I can't believe it's already Monday again and time for Not Me Monday.

It wasn't me who thought last week took forever to get through, no way would the first week back to work after almost 2 weeks off seem to drag on and on.

And no way did I turn 29 years old last week, that's just impossible because I know for a fact last week I was only 25 years old and not a year away from 30.

Never in a million years would I not Blog since last Not Me Monday, that's just so unlike me to not Blog every single day, as if I have a busy life or something.

Last but not least, no way did I spend 45 minutes at Lowe's, the man's crafty store, getting supplies for my latest project, I mean they have everything at Joann's and Michael's so why would I need to go to the man's store. And it wasn't me who snuck out to Lowe's at the kids nap time because I needed to concentrate on what to get as we established last week that I don't sneak out at nap time.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Not Me Monday

I’ve been reading these Not Me Mondays over at MckMama and decided that come 2009 I would jump on and join the fun. Very therapeutic to get some of the crazy things that I have done throughout the week out in the open. So I give to you my First Ever and First of 2009 Not Me Monday!!!

It wasn’t me who bought way too much yarn over the last week knowing full well that I don’t have the time to use all of this yarn anytime in the next 10 years but still continue to buy more and more yarn.

Mentioning yarn it wasn’t me who let Taylor skip naptime the other day so me and her could run to Joann’s to buy more random crafty stuff that we didn’t really need.

Nor would I lie to Cody when he asked me if I was going to sneak out and go shopping while he took his nap, like I do it all the time or something? Mommies don’t lie to their kids or sneak out while they are napping.

No way would I be the one who got all excited when we drove through the Walmart parking lot and screamed when I saw the Christmas stuff just hit 75% off and no way in the world did I fill a shopping cart with stuff simply because it was cheap.

And never in a million years would I be the person that had so much on her mind this morning as I went back to work after 12 days off that I would actually wear tennis shoes with my slacks and not dress shoes and not even notice until I got on the train this morning. That only happens in dreams not in real life.

And for my mom, so she can get it off her conscience too, she didn’t convince somebody at the front of the line to get tickets for us as the Rose Parade float viewing so we didn’t have to wait in the hour-long line. That’s never something a Grandma would do for her grandchildren.

Nope Not Me (or my mom)!!!

Wow! That felt good.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Dorky Boys

I can still recall a conversation with Jeremy a number of years ago...it was pre-Cody and even pre-Taylor. Jeremy & I were in a grocery store doing some shopping and as we were checking out there was a boy ahead of us. He must have been about 6 years old or so and I remember him acting like a complete dork. I told Jeremy that if we ever had a boy I hoped he didn't act like that. Jeremy said don't hold my breathe and that all boys act dorky. I only had a sister so I didn't know any better. Over the years I would see boys and the only words out of Jeremy's mouth were see, told you so. When I was first pregnant and had a girl I was thrilled at the thought of not having to deal with that "dorky" boy and instead had a princess in my cart while out shopping.

Then Cody came along, I was blessed with a boy and scared of the thought of one day having that "dorky" boy that insisted on just acting well, plain old dorky. These first few years with Cody have been awesome, no acting dorky just like I had planned in my head.

But then it all changed. In the last few weeks, Cody has turned into that dorky boy, doing all things dorky. And you know what, it's ok, and I even like it at times. Well more at home than out in public but it's growing on me. You see, all boys are dorky that's just what they do and it's ok. So the next time you are out and you see a boy acting dorky remind yourself he's just being a dorky boy, it's normal, all boys do it.

I love my dorky boy!!!

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Paint-A-Bear Gingerbread Cookies

At Target's Holiday clearance sale I picked up a Crayola Paint-A-Bear Gingerbread Cookie kit and had been meaning to do it with the kids. Tonight was the perfect night as we didn't have any plans. I baked the cookies for the kids then let then go to town with the painting. Taylor is addicted to painting right now and using a million different colors, just ask my mom who has to spend tons at the craft store for wood projects for the Princess to paint when she is over at Grandma's house. Cody on the other hand just loves to get the job done so he can move on to the next project.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Knitting Time - Pirate Hat

A few nights ago I started a pattern from my knitting calendar that I totally fell in love with. I made it just the basic black and white for the first try to test out the pattern. My plan though is to make another in pink and black for a total punk princess style. Taylor already put in her request for a pink one.

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!

Out Of The Mouths - Kid Treatment

It seems every day that the kids are saying something that will just crack us up and I figured what better way to document those than here. Plus it gives my readers something funny to laugh at too. So here we go with the first feature of 2009...Out of the Mouths.

This morning I made the kids some eggs for breakfast, just simple scrambled eggs. Actually I can't take credit for all of it either. Taylor loves to help in the kitchen and while I was straightening up the house she got the eggs from the fridge, cracked them in a bowl, scrambled them, then poured them into a pan on the stove. My part was to just cook them up since she knows she can't do that part yet.
I put the eggs onto plates and got both Taylor & Cody set up at the table. Taylor looks at me, looks at the eggs and the conversation proceeds like this

Taylor: You forgot the pepper
Me: Oops, sorry I didn't know you liked pepper now
Taylor: Gees, is this anyway to treat a kid?

Peace Out...Cub Scout!!!