Plads and stripes?

I let them choose their own jammies. This just show why they don't pick their own clothes. Gavins outfit cracks me up especially since it is 75 degrees outside.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama you rock my world. You stand for what I stand for and you say it all so well. Bravo to you and thank you for understanding what the people need. The people who work hard and have families the people who are just trying to make it.

Wall Art how to

I'm sick of looking at my white walls. Living in an apartment and not being able to paint drives me well NUTS. If I had it my way every wall would be a different color well OK every room. But for now I have to improvise. Since I'm broke Ive been trying to figure out how to decorate my walls first I did the recycled art now this...

I had this vision of it in my head last night and just had to make it. So here's how you do it

First you need sturdy cardboard I used a cardboard box, you also need yarn and any kind will do, an exacto knife, a hot glue gun, hot glue and time.

Now figure out how big you want your circles, I traced around a large cup. The you make the inside circle and cut them out.

When you have them all done then you can start wrapping yarn. First attach the yarn with hot glue i used tape to show you where to attach it but you cant even see it in the picture.

now just start wrapping the yarn not too tight but now too loose I did not want it floppy looking but you should do it how you like.

you can wrap on loosely and then tighten them to your desired tension after a few wraps.

and just keep wrapping, this takes patients and a bit of time but stick to it!

I used variegated yarn for mine I love how the colors change. Make sure not to twist the yarn it needs to line up or it will look wonky. Here's a bad wrap.

So now you have to attach a piece of string so you can have them hanging together. just pick the length you want mine are about 3 inches apart and glue the string on make sure to do this before

you done wrapping to create a neater look. This will end up being the middle of the piece.

To join them you have to glue on the other end of this string to the next ring then start wrapping continue doing this until you have as many rings as you want done. That's it! Now hang and enjoy!!! Id love to see pictures so If you do this please give me a link to the picture!

Trash Can Woes- Painting a trash can

Ill bet your wondering what that is right. I love it Looks like wild and crazy graffiti to me! So this is my trash can. The kids and I decided to give it a face lift. I mean come on who came up with the idea to have a white trash can anyway. I was sick of it looking so dirty all the time no matter how many times I washed it and no matter what I washed it with. So we got creative! I set up acrylic paints in a few different colors and we had a blast the kids really loved this project and to be honest I did too. I wish I had more trash cans to "decorate" So here's the finished product.



I was a bit worried about how tacky it would look in our kitchen or how much it might stand out, but I think it looks cool! The best part is that the kids were so proud of it when their dad got home they were so excited to show him what they had done. SO go ahead get crazy and paint your trash can!!

Oh the cookies peanut butter cookies that is

One yummy batch down 2 to go!


Well this turned out to be about 40 cookies but I made them a bit small so the kids don't est too much junk! They are just so yummy I had to share a picture.


So now that you have seen them I know you want to make them. I hope you love them! I have perfected this recipe over the past few years to just the way we like them (very peanut buttery) and this time I added Vermont chocolate candies you can add M&M's, kisses, or peanut butter cups if you like or leave them just the way they are. If you add the candies do it right after you pull them out of the oven so the stick.

Ingredients-
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions-
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a large bowl, cream together the peanut butter, butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla one at a time. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into creamed mixture. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Press each ball once with fork tines.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned.

Commitment to Loveliness

Ive decided to do it make my Commitment to Loveliness! This is a fun way to increase femininity and beauty in my life each week.
What do I do you ask? All you have to do is choose five things that you would like to work on or do during the week that will increase the loveliness in your life! If you want to do it go ahead! Here a link that started it all.
http://charmingthebirdsfromthetrees.blogspot.com/2008/07/july-27th.html

Heres my list for this week...

(this was harder then i thought)

1- Bake 3 batches of cookies to savor and enjoy
2- make a job chart for everyone in the house and stick to it
3-take the kids somewhere fun maybe a fun event
4-start yoga again and do it with the kids
5-go to a thrift store just for fun

ok so there they are ill let you know my progress as it goes!

The next best thing

The next best thing to barefoot just came in my mailbox!

I have been wanting someone to make me these for oh soooo long and Luisa Patterson owner of Croched Little Things www.piccoladonna2006.etsy.com came to the rescue. We worked together in figuring out a trade that she would also love and 40 recycled tags and a bunch of thank you cards later I got these wonderful shoes.

I wanted them because when i moved to Burlington I soon realized I cant walk barefoot as much its just too dirty so when I saw a pattern for these I knew I had to have them. Luisa and I made the arrangements to do a trade first she bought the pattern and ordered the colors of yarn I chose and quickly got these done in two days! So I am a very happy girl thanks to one lovely woman. Check out her shop she has some cute stuff and soon may even be offering these shoes in a variety of colors! www.piccoladonna2006.etsy.com

5 things you dident know about me

1- I'm lazy. Yes I sure am. I sometimes get big bursts of energy and get so much done but lately I'm just plain lazy. I know its not a thing to brag about and believe me IM NOT. I don't enjoy that Ive been this way, and honestly I feel bad for the kids and the house. Ive been such a bum. My kids usually get out of the house to do something at least 3 times a week and the house is moderately clean so im not terribly lazy but I sometimes wish I were that super mom that had a blast with the kids and had a spotless house and a wonderful homemade dinner. It will never happen and if it does it only last a week and there goes the house again.

2- I need my nap- my kids have been on nap strike for a few days lately and I'm going crazy I need sleep too. I know if i went to bed earlier i would not be so tired but no matter what that time of day im a blob even if I was my lazy self during the morning.

3- I hate white shoes- I know this is a really dumb fact but i was looking at my white walls thinking how much I hate them and it made me think of white shoes. Oh how i loathe them. I mean why would anyone want them. "hey look at my new shoes" kinda people I guess. I don't know. I have to say my husband is a white shoe guy and it drives me nuts he has 2 pairs of identical white shoes (he got them each for 8 dollars) and I hate them. My son has a pair of white sneakers and I never let him wear them, is that bad? Well I think the reason there is because they are the kind that light up and have a big cartoon on the side (Thomas the train) anyway the point is I hate white shoes. Period.

4- I love junk food- though I know how bad they are for me I just cant get enough, waffle fries, burgers, fired chicken, nachos, oh the list goes on. The funny thing is im so picky about ingredients. The burger must be turkey (sometimes ill eat beef but its very very rare) the waffle fries must be cajun with cheese on them the nachos must be veggie. Oh junk food how I love thee.

5- I cant sleep without beer- another very bad thing only half true though. I can sleep without having a beer at night but for some reason it takes me forever to fall asleep. It annoys me that this is true but i think I have gotten so used to that beer ever night that when I don't drink one I just can get my mind to stop thinking so much. Seriously I think about 25 things over and over at night and it keeps me up. I would say that's a form of adhd wouldn't you.

ok so i joined scoutle and have NO clue what to do now i want to make my chances of points and views great so those of you on scoutle tell me what to do im clueless!

well I'm getting prepared for winter. I'm very nervous about being stuck in side this year because that kids are older and have so much more energy. Somehow I am going to have to keep them busy and happy so we don't all go crazy. The other day I bought Elmer's glue 3 for a dollar and then I decided that I need to start stocking up on things to entertain the kids this winter. Ill have to buy games and fun toys to hide away for especially boring times. I suspect Ill be able to get a bunch of stuff from craigslist and free cycle but Ill have to buy the crafty stuff. I want to make sure that I not only have a lot but I want a good mix of stuff too. So today I found this

for an awesomely cheep price and I just had to scoop them up! I cant wait to get them. I bought them off etsy from http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5990059 she was destashing them and though Ive been trying to declutter lately I just have to stock up for winter. Ill need any help I can get!

Ive been working so hard today at bettering my shop. I'm taking all new pictures and boy is it a ton of work. I think it will be worth it though I want my shop to have a more uniform feel even though I have so many different items in it. I love this new picture the detail is great and I think it shows the item well

Its funny ii set up this whole photo area you would laugh if you saw it I had long sheets of paper taped from the wall on my back porch then it went down over the table, you wouldn't know from the pictures but they came out great! I plan on having a sale when I'm done to get rid of some things I'm no longer going to make but better pictures will help the sales also! Etsy is a hard place to sell and I keep hearing pictures and promote those are the best way to get noticed and get sales so I'm working on both first pictures then I have to promote.

Its amazing How one person can hate clutter but love stuff. Sounds funny I know but that's me. I absolutely hate clutter and could never be the kind of person to collect wicker baskets or little figures. The idea of collecting amazes me all the effort, money, time its just all so intriguing. But I could never allow myself to do it, never. Its too much useless stuff (in my mind) I just think if it has no really purpose why keep it, I also like to have things that serve more then one purpose and to me looking at a collection of lighthouses just does not do it for me.

However, I have tons of stuff and the more i get rid of it never seems to make much change. I mean in the moment of decluttering it is noticeable but a month later not so much. One huge example if my craft closet I have cleaned that 3 times in the 6 months we've live in this apartment and its still overflowing and unorganized. Will I ever get that right? So OK I admit it I do collect crafts such as fun pattern paper, stamps, yarn, and junk that can be made into things, my scrapbooking has been halted because of the enormous need of stuff for that hobby. But since i have so many crafts I do (now Ive added sewing) i have no way to truly organize it all. At least not in my small space.

The point of this post is to show you how much i have been decluttering lately because I'm feeling good about it! I started in that disaster craft closet but no pictures were taken of that because I'm afraid to show anyone. Seriously I don't know how I find anything in there. Maybe that's why I never put anything back..

So next I moved to the kids room to be honest I rarely clean it I just don't see the point. Most days ill maneuver a broom around in there to get up any crumbs and trash but that's about it. So i finally got fed up and started the enormous task of cleaning it. So here is the final result

the rug was taken out for some fun later in the day! Now it was nap time and it was much needed but it never happened instead i found this (keep in mind that we just cleaned the room)

But ya know it always works that way doesn't it. See I was going to say the clean room would last a few days because everyone knows it never lasts. well in my case It lasted through lunch and well that's about it. Poor me. So we gave up on nap time I was busy and had mind set on cleaning. So we all jumped in the bathtub and started stomping on the laundry. It was in rinse mode. So we all jumped around and got soaked but it was productive fun! I think the kids were surprised I was letting them do it but I was in such a great mood and wanted them to have fun while working. Once we rinsed I left the laundry there for a few Min's and came back only to find Gavin and Lily had dumped shampoo all over the clothes, ugh back to rinsing. Then we hung them out to dry

.

And scrubbed the rug that was fun too the kids really enjoyed it i don't know how much my downstairs neighbors did but they did and our rug is clean so I'm happy too!

So all in all it was a busy day at home and a fun one at that! and ya know what i think ill do it again tomorrow!

OK so i have to post this. I'm so in love with these pants maybe someday ill be able to afford a pair but until then ill just drool over them.. I have to share them with everyone because I think everyone should have a pair!
You can get them in tons of colors and even custom to your size! Here's the link where you can buy them http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=61654