Feed Me! I'm Yours:

In my efforts to find a suitable cookie recipe today, I decided to scour my personal cook books. Unfortunately I do not own this book, but wish that I did. Here is a funny little excerpt from a book titled Feed Me I'm Yours by Vicki Lansky (link below)

How to bake a cake, with small children helping

Light the oven. Get out bowl, spoons, and ingredients. Grease the pan. Crack nuts. Remove 18 blocks and 7 toy autos from the kitchen table. Measure 2 cups of flour. Remove child's hand from the flour. Wash flour off of child. Measure one more cup of flour to replace the flour on the floor. Put the flour, baking powder and salt in a sifter. Get the dustpan and brush up pieces of bowl which child knocked on the floor. Get another bowl. Answer doorbell. Return to the kitchen and remove child's hands from bowl. Wash child. Get out egg. Answer phone. Return. Take out greased pan. Remove pinch of salt from the pan. Look for child. Get another pan and grease it. Answer the phone. Return to the kitchen and find child. Remove child's hands from the bowl. Wash shortening from the child. Take up greased pan and find 1/4 inch of nutshells in it. Head for child, who flees, knocking bowl off the table. Wash kitchen floor, wash the table, wash the walls, wash the dishes. Call the bakery. Lie down.

 Feed Me! I'm Yours:

I'll just make my own fancy letters. :P

I've been seeing big fancy letters for children's rooms all over the place. They are usually dictating a name or just initials. Typically I've seen full first names.

Yeah, those things are EXPENSIVE! anywhere from $10-$35 per letter. Ok, I'm poor and feel that I should be able to give my daughter something cute and trendy for her room.

So, with $10 and some old ugly picture frames/glue/mod-podge I had laying around, here's what I did. (if you have to buy glue and mod podge and frames(dollar store) you can add another $7-10 to this project, which will still end up saving you an ass boat-load of money.

You dont have to be particularly crafty to do this project, just patient. I have never used spray paint before and found it pretty easy to use. (I used a WHOLE can for this project because I'm apparently not as good as I think I am.) Other skills you may need are tracing, color matching, frame shopping and using scissors. You can do this, I know you can. Of course, if you want something personalized/similar to this and dont feel like doing the work, I'll do it, but I'll charge you....5 million dollars. mwuahahahaha. just kidding. 4 million dollars. just kidding, but I'm really not, just kidding, I really am but I'm just pretending that I'm not, just kidding.

#1

my frames are 2-  8"x10" and 1- 5"x7"

Things to purchase:

Go to Hobby Lobby(or craft store of your choice) and purchase 3 sheets of scrapbooking paper ($.59 a piece) for a background. And, if you're doing initals only like me, grab another sheet of a contrasting color for the letters. I bought these little wooden letters for $1 a piece!  Also, I bought my spray paint there to paint the frames and letters for $4.99

#2 Cut the paper.

#1 Trace the letter.

#2 Cut out the letter

#3 Rub the paper over the wood letter to show beveled edge.

#4 cut the excess paper off

#3 Cut the other paper.
Cut the background pages to fit your frames.

Then have your cat do a quality check upside down.

#4 Take your wood and paint outside and paint it all.

After you paint, it takes a few hours to be able to handle the wood again.

#5 mod-podge the paper to the letters, being ever so careful.

The paper kind of buckled in a few areas. This was unavoidable for me since I dont know what I'm doing and making this up as I go. :)

 #6 Put the precut pieces of paper in the frames. I put the glass under the paper for stability.

#7 I used a spray adhesive to adhere the letters to the paper.

finished product. I'll post another picture when this is on the wall.

Patchwork Pillow

Patchwork Pillow

I love this idea. I think I might incorporate this idea with Violet's quilt project.  If I only had the fabric now I could get the pillow ready so she can have it before the quilt.

Also, I've decided to make a twin sized quilt. I figure she can have it longer. I remember being attached to certain blankets and it might soothe her to be in a special blanket one night. I can only hope that she actually likes it. ---which is why I keep going back and forth as to whether I want to make a normal quilt or something more contemporary. I dont really want to make 2, but I suppose I could. I'd rather just make one though. So its more special.

(ps, the ice cream cone balloons on that website are a total genius idea too!)

Clean! -er

Hours later Violet finally let me leave her side. So I got some cleaning done. I cant take the remaining stuff off the table until Justin is done painting...ug. I'm sick of that crap! I think I've decided to bring our extra table upstairs while I make Vi's quilt, so it can be a mess the whole time and the dinner table will be clean.

I wish we didn't have 1 or 2 straggler ants every month or so because I'd really like to re-organize (for the 10th time) my cabinets and put my spices closer to the stove again. oh well.

cakes

Vanillla Pound Cake

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

I'm so making one of these cakes when I finish organizing the kitchen! I'm hoping this is incentive. Good thing I have a small kitchen! The table isn't that bad, but that's only because I put a lot of the stuff that was on the table on the counter. :( I'm hoping this is clean by tonight because I'm thinking that Cinnamon Coffee Cake will be SUPER yummy with a nice cup of decaf while I knit tonight!
 

Toddler bed.

I'm so lost. I tried to convert Vi's bed to a toddler bed today, just to get a visualization not to actually keep it that way, and big surprise...its supposed to convert to a toddler and full size bed and all the holes are WAY too big and the bolts just slide right in..WITHOUT TURNING! ug. I'm thinking we're in the market for a new bed for her.

Target had a really cute one on sale for $60 last week...but I cant find it online to see if its still on sale. I'm assuming its not.

But, would I rather just skip the toddler bed altogether and go straight to a twin?  I'm thinking probably not. She's so darn little, a twin bed would just be crazy big.

But we could save a $100 and not have to worry about a toddler bed transition, which are 2 kind of big points..hm.....

input?

In Wink-A-Way Land

Fairy and Child

Oh, listen, little Dear-My-Soul,

To the fair voices calling,

For the moon is high in the misty sky

And the honey dew is falling;

To the midnight feast in the clover bloom

The bluebells are a-ringing,

And it's "Come away to teh land of fay" 

That the katydid is singing.

Oh, slumber, little Dear-My-Soul,

And hand in hand we'll wander--

Of Balow, away off yonder;

Or we'll sail along in a lily leaf

Into the white moon's halo--

Over a stream of mist and dream

Into the land of Balow.

Or, you shall have two beautiful wings--

Two gossamer wings and airy,

And all the while shall the old moon smile

And think you a little fairy;

And you shall dance in the velvet sky

And the silvery stars shall twinkle

And dream sweet dreams as over their beams 

Your footfall softly tinkle.

This poem is my new inspiration for Violet's quilt/toddler room. There is so much to work with here. I just discovered this poem yesterday and was enamored. I found it in this book that I have that was written by Eugene Field (who was born in St. Louis, MO; also the author of Wynkin, Blynkin, and Nod). The book was made in1905. I've been reading these poems to Vi since she was brand spanking new. All the poems in this book are bedtime poems.

Pregnancy & Parenting books, so far...

Man, this collection got big in a hurry. I haven't even started reading discipline books and what not. The delay for that is mostly, I'm busy. End of story.

Here are my books in stage order:

Pregnancy

The Natural Pregnancy Book
A Holistic Guide to Embracing Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood
Better Food for Pregnancy
Your Pregnancy Week by week
What to Expect When You're Expecting  2 vol. diff yrs.

Birth
Childbirth Preparation Classes (from Providence Med Center in KCK)
The Official Lamaze Guide
The Birth Partner
The Birth Book

Breastfeeding
The Breastfeeding Book
The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers
And a few pamphlets from here and there.

New Baby
Hot Mama(preggo book, wrong pic)
Your Baby's First Year
The Everything Father's First Year Book
What your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations
Teach Yourself: Baby Massage and Yoga
What To Expect The Toddler Years

Barbies from the 80's

My Barbies

Chaise Lounge, walkman, record player, a boom box and 2 cats.

shoes, ice skates, hangers and shoe boxes. (I had a shoe store too, but it was paper, so it died.)

BBQ set. complete with burgers, dogs, steaks, a microwave, a pie, cups, 2liters, a cash register...etc. geez.

What to do, what to do...

Not that this has anything to do with what I'm about to blog about, but we got to meet little Ryan Lotz yesterday! He's just so super cute. I think Justin was a little enchanted by him. Of course, I am by no means more inclined to have another baby any time soon. We MUST move out of our house before that even thinks about being on my to-do list.

Speaking of to-do lists...

We are quickly becoming overwhelmed by containers of baby clothes/toys in the basement and its only going to get worse!  We need to clean our basement SO badly. If it wasn't a spider haven I'd think about doing it myself but, there's no freaking way. I cringe just going down there to change the laundry. I guess I could wear gloves, but I honestly think its a man's job.

I'm wondering though, if it would be worth it to have a yard sale or to just have a "its in my yard and free" day. I like the sound of that even better. People are more inclined to take free stuff.

Some examples of stuff we've put on our curb that people have taken:

Office Desk Chair
Nordic track
Desk
broken toilet; yes, I'm serious.

We have to be careful what we have put in our yard, because people just flipping take it!

But, I think the best plan is to just move and as we're moving we can have a yard sale and downsize the amount of stuff we have at the same time.  So, what do we need to do in order to move? A lot. Our house is in no way ready to sell. I think its time to start focusing on that. So, we need to first figure out where we want Violet to go to school, find out what the houses cost, and then make the decision to move. I guess I should talk to Justin about this...Or, he could just read my blog.

Its time to get REAL

Real organized!  Where is the woman in my life when I need one!  Justin, I love the crap out of you(maybe not literally) but seriously, you're just about the best thing that has ever happened to me...until I got pregnant. I need a wife!  I am so crazy with ideas that I start so many projects and get super scatter-brained that I have a million things going on and can hardly finish anything at all. Lately, I've taken to knitting. I've finished a big blanket I thought would never be done, and I started making some dish cloths and baby bibs again.

I've been thinking, these dish cloths are AMAZING! and I wanted to start making them in bulk to send out to people, but then I was like, um...should I get an etsy.com account? Then people could just order them and it would be a little more professional and I wouldn't have to deal with that awkward, "how much do I owe you?" stuff...Not that there is anything wrong with that. I was thinking that it would just be easier if people saw what I had to offer and could make the decision privately instead of feeling on the spot. So, I need to decide if I want to do that and then I need to get that all organized if I do.

I'm also starting to knit all of Violet's winter hats and headbands, and maybe a sweater or two and I will be needing a special place for that crap as well. (yes, I call all my stuff crap. I really like the word crap. Its like a curse, but its not. Its a noun, verb, adjective, and probably so much more. lol, grammar was never really my thing. ) 

I also need to get my sewing stuff organized big time. Violet's quilt isn't going to just magically appear out of nowhere. I think I need to take stock in those huge clear plastic containers because as of right now, I could make my life a million times easier if I had about 100 of those damn things. Hey, Container Store wanna do a home remodel??  Ha, yeah right. They would walk in my house and be like, "we're just going to have to tear down this whole house and start from scratch."  Oh wait, I'd be ok with that!  ahem, call me. ;)

Now, the most important thing is my business. I really need to put all my stuff in one place. I dont have much, but its spread out all over the place. I suppose I could store some of it in my laptop bag...but I definitely cant fit my chair in there.  


I'd also like to start cooking healthy again. I cant wait to start all my favorite fall foods. But I want to keep up with  my resolution and try lots of new things this fall/winter. So, I need all my cookbooks handy and put back where they go. More importantly, I need to put all the recipes that I wrote on scraps of paper in one happy place....like a scrapbook? lol. Sorry, I'm dumb. But also a genius! A recipe scrap book!  Holy crap, why didn't I think of that before. I love revelations during blogging. sweet.


Anyway, I am also SUPER excited to change the nursery into a toddler room but Vi isn't quite ready to potty train yet. She's getting closer for sure. She now knows when she is peeing because she grabs her crotch, :(, and she also started recognizing "poot" which is poop. I'm trying to teach her that poop comes out her butt, but she's a slow learner with that. I dropped one of her poops in her potty today and had her look and she said, "yuck" lol. Hm, you dont have to tell me(the poo cleaner) that its gross. 

I wish, I wish with all my might...that we could live in a 12 bedroom house. one for each hobby of mine and Justin's and then I guess a few could be bedrooms. 

I Love Leeks!

Its true. I tried them for the first time within the past year and am still wondering how I ever managed to live without them! They are amazing.

While looking for recipes, these actually made my mouth water!


cock-a-leekie
chicken leek and mushroom casserole
poached beef with leeks
fettuccine with leeks and white beans

Now I have to decide which one to make.

I went grocery shopping

Well, I actually bought breakfast food. I'm not sure if its classified as healthy. I am going to start eating breakfast every day and see if it changes my opinion on eating throughout the day, what I choose to eat, and my overall mood for being healthy.

I feel silly blogging about this, but since I blogged how unhealthy I am yesterday I've thought about it a lot.

I'm worried that I didn't buy enough food though because when I eat breakfast I'm usually hungry ALL THE TIME! ---but normal hungry. Last night this guy at Wendy's(I got a burger and a salad) ordered 3, THREE, double bacon cheeseburgers. HOLY CRAP! How can you do that to your body? That is just insane! I'm glad Justin doesn't eat like that. For 2 people their dinner bill, at Wendy's, was around $20. Other than the 3 burgers for himself he also got 2 spicy chicken wraps and 1 other thing...anyway. Just because you're big doesn't mean you have to eat like an idiot. I understand big guys need lots of food, but not that kind of food. I hope his arteries show him a thing or to before he hits 30 and set him straight.

Anyway, enough about that guy and more about me....actually, nevermind, I'm done blogging. bye.

There's something I have to tell you...

I have not been working out. I could blame many things, but shouldn't and wont.

I feel like crap. I've been eating like crap. I'm lazy, tired all the time, hungry all the time(because of the lack of energy I am trying to replace working out with eating). Its just all around bad. I keep saying "when the weather is nice again...." blah blah blah. I need to get off my butt and do something!

I just wanted to say I'm not complaining, but just admitting the sad sad truth. 

I am ashamed, but mostly tired and feel like crap too much to be fully ashamed. Isn't it great how that works.

Starting my business(which it's almost 100% ready to launch) is helping me get more things done in the cyber world. But, no one is doing my laundry, dishes, or exercises. :( 

Warning:
If I get snarky comments on this I will probably be mad at you. Though it is my own fault, I'm the one being lazy.