Random Thoughts

Laundry Day

2011-05-15T14:10:00.003-04:00

As soon as I finished getting these hung up, it started to sprinkle.

Luckily, it didn't last long.

Signs of Spring

2011-04-09T21:24:00.005-04:00

It was 80+ degrees here today. I think we skipped spring and went right to summer! I'm not complaining though. I am happy to be able to take baby E outside and give her a change of scenery. I spent a good bit of time (for me) outside over the past few days, and I noticed all sorts of signs of life! My hydrangea is sprouting new leaves. The hostas are poking their tips out of the ground. The tulips have grown (and gone actually).

However, the most exciting things I saw were birds building in my birdhouses! I saw a tufted titmouse flying in and out of my bluebird house. Tuba noticed it too, but he didn't bother him (or her). Then today I saw that my wrens are back!! I like to think it's the same pair of wrens every year. They were very busy cleaning the old nest out of the birdhouse and replacing old stuff with new stuff. It's amazing to watch them fit long twigs into such a small hole. I look forward to watching them this season!

I also did a little bit of cooking today. I found and made this recipe for homemade granola bars a few weeks ago. They were very yummy, but got really hard after a day or so. That didn't stop me from eating the entire pan myself though! I decided to make them again, but this time I only cooked them for 23 minutes instead of 30. Oh.My.Goodness! They are extra tasty and chewy. Perfect! John liked them enough to take some to his coworkers :)

The granola bars will not be helping me get back into my pre-pregnancy clothes. Neither will the peanut butter filled pretzels that I inhale all day long! I bought the economy size at Sam's a few days ago. Not good.

Speaking of pregnancy. My baby is 7 weeks old today. Where has the time gone? I only have 2 more weeks of maternity leave left :( I don't know how I will ever be able to get up and get ready for work AND get there on time! It's usually 1:00 p.m. before I can ever seem to get in the shower these days! I better start practicing soon.

Fluff Addiction

2011-03-28T21:54:00.002-04:00

I am addicted to fluff...and no, I'm not talking about the stuffing that Tuba keeps ripping out of my patio cushions. I'm talking about cloth diapers. Who would have known I would rather buy adorable cloth diapers instead of adorable clothes...for me :)

I am enjoying our cloth diapering journey. Washing diapers every other day is not as bad a I thought it might be. It's not too gross either. Yet. I'm not really looking forward to the day E starts eating solids, as that will change what lands in the diaper (if you know what I mean!)

I spend a lot of time on the Cloth Diapering board on BBC. I also spend a lot of time on various cloth diapering blogs. There I enter numerous giveaways hoping to win a free diaper, but it has not happened yet. Maybe one day soon...

Here is my cute little E's tushie all wrapped up in an adorable diaper :)

The De-Stuffer

2011-03-15T21:22:00.003-04:00

This is what I saw when I looked out the window the other morning...

How did I feel? Very unhappy. That used to be the seat cushion to our outdoor loveseat.

See, we have been having a major de-stuffing issue around here.
And a hole digging issue.
And a barking issue.

The culprit?

It's a good thing he's so cute.
Stinker!
(you can see the remains of the towel he chewed up scattered around him)

Any advice???

She's here!

2011-02-24T07:40:00.003-05:00

My sweet girl decided to make her appearance early!

Born February 19, 2011
6:14 p.m.
7 lbs 5 oz
20.5 in. long

We are all in love!

Especially her sister :)

36 Weeks

2011-02-02T20:14:00.004-05:00

Here I am...in all my glory...36 weeks pregnant tomorrow. I went to see my OB today, and he said I could go into labor any time now. Let's hope this baby holds off until my scheduled c-section date. I'm not quite ready yet. Everything looked and sounded great though!

See - I DO have feet! :)

I know I look worn out. These were taken after a long day with my 20 Kindergartners.

Baby Belly

2011-01-30T20:11:00.004-05:00

I realized it's been 10 weeks since I posted a belly picture! Well, let me say, things have changed dramatically. My belly has taken on that oblong watermelon shape, and it.is.large. However, I don't need to hear people tell me that. I am aware of it. I promise. The last picture I have is from about 3 weeks ago. I am now 35 weeks and 3 days pregnant.
Here I am...

I will get John to take a more recent picture sometime this week. I tried to do it myself in the mirror, but it didn't work out. BTW, I do have feet. They just always seem to get cut off in these pictures :)

Oh! I discovered something new about Tuba today. We have noticed he's been eating the pecans from our pecan trees, and we were worried he was eating the shells and all. I was outside with him today, and he doesn't eat the shells! He very patiently cracks the nut and only eats the meat. Pretty talented I think!

Our Newest Addition

2011-01-28T21:06:00.005-05:00

We finally did it.

We got a dog.

He is a rescue from a family who just didn't have enough room or time to devote to him. They were very grateful to us for taking him in. We are very happy to have him! His name from his previous family is Tuba. Tuba. We thought it was a very odd name, but somehow it has grown on us. We had thought about changing it, but we kept it. I call him Scuba Diver :)

Tuba is an 8 month old Great Pyrenees/Golden Retriever mix. He's very pretty! He has had some obedience training, and we've been pretty impressed with him so far. He's great with kids, but a little shy of men. He's been good with my elderly Kramer kitty so far. When Kramer hisses, Tuba goes to hide in his kennel :) Although today he stood his ground until I dragged him away!

Anyway, he's been a fun addition so far. AK loves him...or she loves to order him around at least :)

Welcome home Tuba!

Oh, I forgot to mention, Tuba loves to chew...he especially likes to de-stuff his stuffy toys. We have gotten rid of all of them, so he moved onto this...

We gotta work on that!

Happy Birthday!

2010-12-22T07:15:00.004-05:00

My baby turned 6 years old on Monday. How did that happen? Because her birthday is so close to Christmas, we have her party a few weeks early, but we make her wait to open her presents from us until the big day. Happy Birthday AK! I love you!

You can tell by the last pictures what she was most excited about. A science experiment kit!
She also loved the locket we gave her. She's been saying she wants one to put a picture of her baby sister in. So sweet :)

BTW...ignore the date stamp in the pictures. It should say 12/20/10!

Belly Update

2010-11-24T21:21:00.004-05:00

It's been a few weeks since I posted a belly picture, but here is today's belly one day before Thanksgiving:

I am 25 weeks and 6 days pregnant.

Here I am in the same shirt at 20 weeks:

Someone's been doing a little growing :)

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Handmade Christmas

2010-11-18T20:05:00.002-05:00

I really wish I was crafty. I tried to be crafty over the past year or so, but I ran out of steam when I got pregnant. Now I am starting to get my crafty back on. My plan was to begin making some things for friends and family for Christmas this summer. That way I would have plenty of time to finish. Well, since I was so tired all of the time it didn't work out that way. Needless to say, since it is November 18, I don't think my plan is going to work out completely. I still have some ideas in my head. I even have a supply list printed out! I have grand plans for AK and I to work on some things this weekend. I just hope I have the motivation. Anyway, I wanted to share some of my favorite crafty websites that have many great ideas. Maybe you will have the motivation to try some.

One Pretty Thing - I love looking at the pictures on this site. If only I could sew :)

The Crafty Crow - Very cute things for grown-up and kids!

One Hour Craft - I really love the birdie advent calendar.

Modge Podge Rocks - Fun stuff here.

Then there are always links to other great site within these sites. It's overwhelming at times, but I enjoy browsing. I hope you do too!

Cloth Diaper Hunt

2010-10-30T10:39:00.006-04:00

John and I have decided to try cloth diapers with the baby. I was a bit overwhelmed when I first started reading about all of the options. The more I have read, the better I feel about it. I have found some great resources, such as the Cloth Diapering Mommies on BBC. They are a wealth of knowledge! I also came across Green Mountain Diapers website. That is where I decided to start with prefolds and diaper covers. I have ordered a couple of covers, and they sent me an All In One diaper for free! It is so soft and fluffy! It looks like this, but it is pink. Squishy! I can't wait to see this little girl in these cute, fluffy diapers :)

Lake Winnie

2010-10-18T20:01:00.012-04:00

Last month we took a trip to visit John's parents. His sisters were in town, and we all went to Lake Winnepesaukah. I had never been, but it was a great place for kids! Anna Kate really broke out of her amusement park shell. She rode just about every ride in the park that she was tall enough for. The one that certainly surprised me the most was the OH-Zo ne. It's a 14-story free fall ride. OH-NO-WHAT-HAVE-I-DONE was more like how I felt! Once she got to the top, I got very nervous. She liked it but only wanted to go once :) I couldn't ride much since I am pregnant, so her daddy and aunts got to ride with her. Here are pictures!

I took a picture of her on the OH-ZONE, but it was nighttime, and it did not turn out :( Her favorite was the green frog looking ride (last picture). Just look at her face! We want to take another trip up there before Halloween so we can see all of the decorations. We're beginning to run out of time!

Baby Update!

2010-09-30T16:20:00.006-04:00

Things are going well so far in this pregnancy. I have finally hit the "not so tired" portion of the 9 months. Although being pregnant at 38 is more tiring than it was at 32! I have a little mover and shaker in my tummy. The baby has been very active in the last 2 ultrasounds...wiggling, flipping, running...The ultrasound technician told me to buy a new pair of running shoes for this one! We can hear kicks through the doppler, and the doctor has to chase the little babe around my stomach when she's trying to find the heartbeat. Anyway, here are some recent pictures to share :)

Me at 15 weeks, 2 days

Me at 18 weeks...whew!

AND...our sweet baby... (drum roll)

GIRL!

It's been a while...

2010-08-26T19:24:00.003-04:00

Oh wow! It's really been a long time since my last post. I had no idea. I've been busy. School recently started, and I am totally and thoroughly exhausted every afternoon. But the main reason for my lack of posting and exhaustion is this...

This little guy (or girl) has my body all in a tizzy! I have experienced morning/all day sickness that I never experienced with AK. I am SOOOOO sleepy and in bed by 8:00 p.m. every night. I am currently dealing with dizziness, and actually vomited for the first time of this pregnancy just this morning. What?? I'm 13 weeks along today. Aren't all of these symptoms supposed to be subsiding by now?

Even with all of these things, we are really looking forward to this journey. AK is over the moon with happiness. She's finally getting that sibling that the Easter Bunny kept forgetting every year :)

Summer Activities

2010-07-17T13:37:00.009-04:00

I have tried to keep AK busy this summer. We've been visiting the water park a lot. She had theater camp for two weeks, and starts art camp and VBS next week. However, there are days where we have little to do, so I try to get creative. We decided to make slime the other day. It's a mixture of borax, glue, and water. Add a little food coloring to spice it up!

Motivation

2010-07-11T13:34:00.011-04:00

I haven't had much motivation to post anything lately. I've been feeling very tired instead. So I thought I would just post a few pictures from our 4th of July weekend with our family. We had a very fun time!

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary...

2010-06-29T20:47:00.009-04:00

How does your garden grow?

I am excited to say that the two veggies I planted this spring are growing! I have documented my tomato plant over the past couple of months. Look at it today! One red tomato :)

There are 4 other little green tomatoes beginning to grow too.

I also planted containers of lettuce this year. Fresh lettuce sounds so appealing to me. Look!

I think I need to thin out the lettuce, but it's so pretty!

What's for Dinner?

2010-06-23T22:25:00.008-04:00

I used to make a very yummy chicken pasta salad. Everyone who ate it seemed to love it. I haven't made it in about 5 years, so I decided to make it the other night. I got the recipe from All Recipes. It is the best chicken pasta salad I've ever had! Here you go...

Best Chicken Pasta Salad

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
3/4 cup steak sauce - I use Heinz 57
1 (12 ounce) package fusilli pasta
2 cubes chicken bouillon
1 Vidalia onion, diced - I use about 1/2 of this
2 avocados - peeled, pitted and diced
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup Ranch-style salad dressing - I use Naturally Fresh Lite Ranch

Directions

Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat. Place breasts into a glass baking dish and marinate in steak sauce for 15 to 60 minutes.
Grill chicken until no longer pink and the juices run clear. Remove from grill, and chop into bite-size pieces.
To a large pot of boiling water, add bouillon cubes and pasta. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain, and rinse under cold water.
In a large bowl, combine chicken, pasta, onion, avocados and tomatoes. Mix in salad dressing, cover, and refrigerate until chilled.

ENJOY!

Sick Day

2010-06-22T15:10:00.009-04:00

AK is sick today. She spent most of last night with a high fever, sore throat, and vomiting. Yuck. She seems to feel fine today, but the doc says it's strep throat. The first thing AK said was, "That means we have to stay at home all day." She did not say it with excitement. So to make her day a little more fun, we made these.

We used the shells we collected at the beach a couple of weeks ago. From the top we have a spider, a butterfly, a whale, and a girl (for some reason this one reminds me of Janice from the Muppet Show!)

Playing Catch Up!

2010-06-21T20:42:00.011-04:00

I feel like I haven't really blogged about much lately. I've been taking lots of pictures, and have lots of stories to share, but I just can't seem to find the time.

I have become happily obsessed with the little wrens nest just outside my kitchen door. We have had wrens for the past 3 or 4 years nest in our cat head bird house. They are there this year too! I love watching the mama and daddy birds build the nest of twigs and whatnot.

See the mama's eye peeking at me?

Then before I knew it, they were bringing food to the nest, and I realized there were babies in there. They are really good about us going in and out of the door less than a foot from their nest, but they sure do fuss when they see me looking out of the window at them!

The bird is hard to hear because the door was closed, but if you listen carefully you will hear her!

On Sunday I got several glimpses of the babies, and then that afternoon they were gone! I guess it was time for them to fly away. Here are some pictures...ignore the blob of poo at the entrance of the bird house. I think mama dropped it because she was too busy fussing at me and my camera!

Then...this afternoon, I heard the familiar sound of the wren's song just outside my door again. I like to think it's the same pair of wrens, but I'm not sure. Anyway, they were going in and out of the nest. Taking things out, and bringing things in. This is how I found it this afternoon. I'm not sure if they gave up for good, or just for the day.

I will be watching and listening for their return :)

Follow Me Friday - Let's Try This Again

2010-06-17T22:37:00.003-04:00

Ok, so Follow Me Friday didn't work out so well for me last time. However, I am all for trying it again. Come on all you followers...I'm waiting for you! Head over to On the Verge to play along!

Welcome to Follow Me Friday! This is a great way to find new blogs and make new
friends and get new followers.

Please make a post and spread the word!

Head to On the Verge and do the following:
Grab the badge and put it in your post.

Follow away!!

Make sure to leave comments to your new friends and let them know where you
found them from! Make sure to come back every Friday for a new list!

The Envelope Project

2010-06-17T17:32:00.002-04:00

The Envelope Project is going on at Meet Me at Mikes, and I decided to join in! I am participant number 175. I have started gathering some cute items to send in my envelope, and I will get AK to help me decorate the envelope. I love looking at the pictures of the sweet little items people have been sending! My goal will be to get my envelope in the mail by Monday. I'll take pictures...of course :)

The Owls Have New Hair

2010-06-14T19:02:00.004-04:00

Take a look...

The paddle plants did not survive me. I will try to treat these pretty plants a lot better. I just wasn't sure about those paddle plants. If I watered them, the leaves shriveled. If I didn't water them...their leaves shriveled. Hmmmm. I need low maintenance plants. Maybe these will fit the profile.

One Small Change - June

2010-06-03T07:46:00.005-04:00

My One Small Change for May was to get a small garden started. I must say, my plan was to grow vegetables, but I just like flowers so much more! I did get one tomato plant planted topsy-turvy style. However, that's about as far as it went. I think it might be too late to plant much else, but I plan to look into it.

These were taken several days ago. That one little tomato is a bit bigger now!

So, while May didn't go so well, my plan for June is sure to be successful. I started learning to knit a few months ago. I love it, but have not been doing much lately. For June, I plan to get back into knitting and make my own reusable dish cloths. You can read about our change to a paper-free kitchen here. I started on a pretty little cloth this weekend. We will be heading to the beach soon, and I figure the long car ride will be a good time to get to knitting!

I am also reading a book my mother-in-law let me borrow.
It is full of great resources for making small changes.

Lake View

2010-06-01T21:24:00.005-04:00

We went to visit my aunt and uncle at their house for Memorial Day weekend. There was lots of fun, food, swimming, sunshine, and family time :)

Follow Me Friday

2010-05-28T20:54:00.004-04:00

Welcome to Follow Me Friday! This is a great way to find new blogs and make new friends and get new followers. Here is all you have to do:

Please make a post and spread the word! Grab the badge below and put it in your post.

Head to Still on the Verge to sign into Mr. Linky.

Follow away!! Make sure to leave comments to your new friends and let them know where you found them from!

Make sure to come back every Friday for a new list!

I hope to meet lots of new blogging friends and gain a few new followers!

Oh - I almost forgot...

When following a new blog, please remember to leave a little personal comment love.
If you get a new follower, please feel free to reciprocate the love!

The First "Official" Day of Summer Vacation

2010-05-27T21:33:00.002-04:00

School's out for Summer!

2010-05-27T08:36:00.013-04:00

Well, summer vacation is finally here, and AK couldn't be happier. She had started to cry about school the last couple of weeks because apparently 5 year old girls are as mean to each other as teenage girls are. There was all sorts of bickering and uninviting to birthday parties between AK and her little circle of girlfriends. Why is it so hard for a group of girls to be friends? I remember the same sorts of problems in high school. I had 2 close girlfriends, and it seemed like each week one of us would be excluded from the group, and it was really hard when it was your week.

Anyway...this is not what I was going to blog about, but if you can shed any wisdom on the above topic fell free to COMMENT! :)

To celebrate the last day of school, AK's Mimi planned a camp out in our front yard. Mimi has been AK's babysitter/2nd mother since AK was 3 months old. She is a big part of our family. AK and Mimi had all sorts of fun games and activities planned. Including ghost stories and pranks to be played on N, the only boy attending.

Well, the weather wasn't too cooperative because at 2:00 on the afternoon of the camp out, the bottom dropped out of the sky. The camp out was not canceled, but the camping out part was. So now the festivities were moved to inside my house. Joy. Also, N decided not to attend, so the pranks had to be put on hold.

The festivities started around 4:30, and 5 meltdowns (by MY child only) and tons of fun later they all collapsed and fell asleep. I think it was actually around 10:00, which I found amazing! They all slept through the night, and no parents had to be called in the middle of the night to get their homesick child. AK had the time of her life, and is already planning a 2nd camp out, with hopes of actually camping out, for the end of the summer!

Here are some Kodak moments...

Fun in the sprinkler!

Dinner time

Dirt cups: vanilla ice cream, crushed oreos, and gummy worms

Water balloon toss!

Make-up fun

Rocker chicks!

Meltdown #3

Morning pinata fun! Thankfully, there is no picture of me in my pajamas hacking the poor donkey/unicorn to bits with a shovel.

Saturday

2010-05-15T21:20:00.010-04:00

I have been busy lately. It is the end of the school year (5 more days!!!!), and I have so much to do at work around this time. I haven't thought much about my blog until today. I think it's because I took some time this afternoon to do some enjoyable things. Things I like to share here. I broke out the camera, and got busy!

One reason I haven't been blogging much is this.

DROID. I have been trying to figure out how to use it. John and I spied new phones last weekend when we were actually supposed to be helping my mom pick out a new phone! She still doesn't have a new one, but we went back and got these.

Back to today...
We did a little gardening.
I made this. What do you think is in it??? Look hard.

Oops! Wrong end! Look again :)

I found this post at Elizabeth Anne's Designs. I had tried to make a topsy turvy style planter out of a plastic soda bottle, but ended up getting too frustrated. I came across this much prettier version and knew I had to do it instead. I had a planter I got for Christmas just waiting for this project! I hope it works. I broke a few limbs of the tomato plant when I put it through the hole, but hopefully it will survive.

I had a helper when it came time to water the plants.

Remember when I was so excited about this hydrangea bush?

Look at it now!

There are lots of flowers about to bloom on it! I'm so happy it is thriving.

I started a new project tonight, but I will save it for another post :)

Pictures

2010-05-11T21:08:00.008-04:00

I realized it's been a while since my last post. I have lots of pictures I've taken for blogging, but haven't gotten around to it. Here are a few...

Little feet dancing in puddles after watering new plants.

The empty robin's nest in a bush in the backyard. John found an empty egg on the ground under the nest.
I guess the babies hatched and flew the coop.

Our neighbor's sweet new puppy.

Teacher Appreciation Day gifts for AK's teachers. I got this neat idea from Eighteen 25.
Her blog is full of great stuff! I took the 2nd picture before I filled up all the little compartments.

The countdown has begun for the end of the school year. Only 8 MORE DAYS!!!!

Summer vacation, here we come :)

Dishing It!

2010-05-05T20:38:00.003-04:00

Last month I participated in the Dishing It! Party over at Serenity Now. It was fun a fun way to meet other bloggers and discover new blogs. I am partying again this month!

Here is this month's topic:

Moms

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A MOM TO PARTICIPATE. Please feel free to use this as a question and answer post, or use it as a loose guide to write your post however you like. Add or omit any questions you like, and feel free to embellish with photos!

~What's the best thing about your mom? She is so giving. She's always there when I need her! And she puts up with me no matter what :)

~What's your relationship with your mom like (do you just tolerate each other, or is she your best confidant)? She's my best confidant. I talk on the phone to my mom daily, if not more often. I tell her pretty much everything. I can always count on her to comfort me when I'm sad and celebrate with me when I'm happy.

~What's the best advice your mom has ever given you? Hmmm...I can recall any specific advice, but she always has good advice for me. I rely on her opinion for most of my decisions!

~Describe the most embarrassing outfit your mom made you wear when you were growing up. (If you have a photo of this, I will give you ten bonus points!) I don't really remember any specific outfit she made me wear. She was always on my side when it came to the frou frou dresses my grandmother wanted me to wear. I hated them, and she didn't make me wear them!

~If you're a mom, what's your favorite thing about motherhood? What's the most difficult? The most difficult is staying calm during the 5 year old tantrums. Ugh. Give me strength! My favorite thing is the unconditional love I receive from that 5 year old!

Wanna dish about your mom or about being a mom? Head on over to Amanda's at Serenity Now and check out the party.

She won't be happy about this picture! But, it's all I had handy on the computer :)

I'm a Winner!

2010-05-04T21:33:00.005-04:00

I am so happy to say that I have won my first blog giveaway! Now, I enter giveaway's every so often, but I never won until today! Becky, over at Clean Mama, had an awesome giveaway sponsored by Alethia Pottery. Becky left me a sweet comment about my One Small Change blog post. She hinted around that I should check out her blog post for today. Well, I clicked over expecting to see a post related to mine and...SURPRISE...I was a winner :)
I can't wait to receive my sweet little dish.

Thank you, Clean Mama, for this great giveaway!

One Small Change - May

2010-05-02T20:27:00.004-04:00

We are still enjoying the One Small Change challenge. I totally missed the wrap-up where I was supposed to post how the changes went for our family! I am so glad we joined the challenge, and I plan on continuing with a change each month. I think our most successful change was the switch to cloth napkins and "paper"towels. I love using cloth. I do still have an emergency roll of paper towels for really gross clean-ups, and guests who can't get into the cloth thing :) I have also been successful with my reusable water bottles. I use them daily...hooray! I've gotten better at remembering to take my reusable bags into the grocery store. Now if I could just remember to take them into Target, Walmart, etc... Our April change was to use reusable baggies instead of plastic. It has gone really well. I have tons of cute cloth bags!

Some of my favorites are in mine and AK's lunch bags, so they didn't get in the picture!

My change for May is to plant a small container garden. I have a tomato plant that's waiting to be planted. I am going to make my own "topsy turvy" style planter for it. I found a tutorial for one at the Crafty Crow. As soon as John finishes the ginger ale, I'm on it!

We have a huge wooden barrel that my mother-in-law gave us last year. I think I will use it to plant some other veggies. I haven't decided which ones yet. I better get on that!

What changes are you making?

Yes, you are in the right place

2010-05-01T20:29:00.002-04:00

When you got here did you think you were in at the wrong blog? How do you like my new look? I'm too excited about it:) Leelou has some adorable free (yes FREE) blog templates. I loved this one and a few others, but went with the owls for now. I think it brightens things up a little!

I'll be back later to post pictures of some fun we had today :)

The finished product

2010-04-29T20:37:00.004-04:00

I finished my tree art! I think it turned out pretty good considering I am so new in the crafting world. I made the bird smaller and added a couple of coats of mod podge to it. I like how the mod podge made it kind of shiny. Just a hint of shiny...not too much.

I went and bought a couple of more canvases. I may try a rounder tree with more leaves. I'm not sure yet, but I'll keep you updated.

Then look what I found tonight! I came across a blog called Sweet Limes. Look at this pillow! I love it!!! I wonder if she would make one for me? Hhhmmmmm....

Salty and Sweet

2010-04-29T18:51:00.003-04:00

My new favorite snack.

This stuff is so good! Nuts, granola, dried cranberries, yogurt covered raisins, and dried apples. Yum!

It's also highly addictive and NOT on my "look decent in a bathing suit" plan.

This is the 2nd night in a row I have skipped dessert. I'm proud of myself, and I am trying not to obsess over it. The chocolate mint brownies I made this weekend are calling me, but I am ignoring them. Note to self...get John to take the brownies to work!

What did you do this weekend?

2010-04-25T15:53:00.010-04:00

Our Saturday was stormy and wet, so we didn't do much. I did attempt to make lasagna in the crockpot. Ummm...I won't be doing that again. John was oh so sweet, and didn't admit to how bad it was at first. He finally caved when I expressed my opinion about it. It wasn't horrible, but it was reminiscent of cafeteria lasagna that's been sitting under a heat lamp. For a long time.

The little wrens were working hard renovating the nest I left in the cat bird house from last Spring. They are so fun to watch and listen to. Look at all those twigs in there! How do they fit them in there?

Sunday was a much brighter, beautiful day. AK spent time playing with EG, our neighbor. They were having a blast in this. Except the one they were playing in was made for rolling in the grass I think. Anyway, I wish I had had my camera! I did have my camera handy for some cooking show action...

But the chef wasn't too cooperative for the paparazzi.

AK and I decided to get a bit crafty. I have been looking for some larger art to hang in my living room, but I can't find anything I like. So I thought, well I love AK's art! So I bought 2 large canvases at Hobby Lobby yesterday with the thought that she could paint something for me.

Not quite what I had in mind.

So I think this will hang in her room. Maybe I can get her to paint it a little more. She got tired.

I started looking around my crafty blogs that I have bookmarked, and I came across this at Simply Modern Mom! This post was the inspiration for my creation.

I still have not decided on the bird. She looks a little big. I haven't Mod Podged it yet just in case I want a smaller birdie. What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know.

To wrap up our day I made Andes Candies Brownies. All you do to make them is bake brownies as you normally would (we used a mix of course). Then when you take the brownies out of the oven, lay about 30 Andes Candies on top. Wait for them to melt a little, and swirl with a knife.

Oh.my.goodness.

These are so yummy. And definitely not on my "look decent in a bathing suit" plan.

The Next American Idol

2010-04-22T20:34:00.004-04:00

AK has become very interested in The Mamas and the Papas lately. This is where I found her the other day! (I apologize for the video being sideways. I made this with our camera and turned it not thinking how the video would look.)

I love the little growl at the end :)

Giveaway link!

2010-04-21T19:04:00.002-04:00

Head over to lovely bud for a chance to win a pretty quilt! She is giving away a handmade quilt when she reaches 100 followers. Then she has another great giveaway when her followers reach 150! Go take a look :)

Flower Project

2010-04-17T21:39:00.011-04:00

It is CRCT testing week for the 1-3 grade students. That means Kindergarten students do not have any of their resource classes all week. We have to stay in our rooms and be very quiet. No outside play until testing is over. And then...to top it off...our assistants are pulled to proctor the testing. It makes for a llllllooooonnnnnnggggggg week.

So, I spent yesterday afternoon and part of today thinking of some activities that might be a little more exciting than the typical things we do. One of the things I will be teaching is about the parts of a flower or plant. I plan on doing some planting/indoor gardening, playing some fun games, and offering a few art activities. So today I decided AK and I should test out on of the art activities. The plan is for each child to make their own flower and then label the parts: flower, stem, leaves, roots. Here is what to do.

1st - Cut out a flower shape (I did this part) from a paper plate and paint it.

2nd - Cut out a long flower stem and glue it to a large piece of white paper.

3rd - Cut out leaves. AK decided to draw her's first.

4th - Cut short lengths of brown yarn and glue them down to create roots.

Here is the finished product!

As you can see, we did not label the parts. Maybe we'll do that tomorrow.

It's a Party!

2010-04-15T20:38:00.003-04:00

(silly face)

I came across this website and found a link to the Dishing It! party. Who doesn't like a good party?? I decided to join in and share a little bit about myself, and hopefully meet a few other bloggers out there. You are out there...aren't you?

~How long have you been blogging?
I started blogging on January 13, 2009. I had recently discovered a few really fun blogs that I enjoyed reading, and I was talking to my friend Joy and she mentioned that she had started a blog. After reading her blog, I decided to take the plunge and start my own. I took a few months hiatus, but started back in January of 2010.

~Why did you start blogging?
I was having so much fun reading other people's blogs...mostly crafty mom blogs. I began to want to try to be crafty and document my crafting experiences with my daughter. At first I mostly posted silly things she was doing. Now, I try to keep updated on the fun things we do together and other family fun. I also post a lot about the changes we are trying to make to become more Earth friendly.

~Tell me about your blog's title. Why did you choose it?
I couldn't think of anything that sounded good :)

~What do you blog about?
Mostly my family.

~What is your favorite thing about blogging?
I love to follow/discover/read other blogs, and I also love to receive comments. There are some really creative bloggers out there! Hopefully I will meet some other people out there who have the same interests as we do.

~If you had to choose one famous person to become your blog's next devoted reader, who would you pick?
This is a hard one. I never think about things like this. I'm happy to have any devoted readers :)

~What's the funniest comment you've ever received on a blog post?
I can't think of any particularly funny comments, but I LOVE every single comment that I do have. I get very excited to see comments!

Pretty Flowers

2010-04-10T21:56:00.010-04:00

AK and I picked out some pretty flowers :)

The pictures don't do them much justice, but we had fun planting them. AK didn't want to mess up her manicure, so I did most of the digging.

I just tried to keep my toes clean :)

We went yesterday and had our first Mommy/Daughter pedicures, and AK got a manicure too. Oh, it was fun! She wants to go back today, and tomorrow...and the next day.

Back to my yard...
It is beginning to look pretty. I have been trying to pull weeds, but they are EVERYWHERE! I do a little every time I am in the yard.

I am excited about the size of my hydrangea. We planted it 2 or 3 years ago, and last year was the first year it bloomed. Look at it today (just ignore the weeds).
No blooms yet, but it's getting big!!

And here is the other corner of the yard. Lovely.

This corner had a hydrangea about 3 summers ago. It didn't make it.
But the dandelions and wild violets obviously love it here!

Finally...

2010-04-09T17:56:00.005-04:00

This is what I saw when I woke up this morning :)

I finished her scarf last night and left it laying on the ottoman. She found it and snuggled up!

The finished product.

I need to figure out how to weave in my ends a little better. One is already starting to un-weave. Overall, I'm happy about this little scarf, and AK seems to love it!

Carbon Neutral Blogging

2010-04-08T16:10:00.003-04:00

I came across a new blog today, Welcome to Our Wonderland. The writer has some fun book suggestions and crafty kid projects. She also had a link to this website. This site is planting a tree for every blog that links back to their cause. Their goal is to reduce carbon emissions. You can read about it here. I joined the cause because we are trying to help the Earth in our home by taking the steps to be more "green" and this is April - Earth Day month! I figure every little bit helps. You can help too :)

Easter Sunday

2010-04-07T14:34:00.008-04:00

Happy Spring...Break!

2010-04-03T15:48:00.004-04:00

Wooo hoooo! Spring Break has begun! One week of no school and warm weather. Now, to think of something to do :) My mom is coming to visit for a few days, so there will probably be some shopping going on at some point.

While we were outside yesterday we saw this pretty guy...

I was so excited at the thought of bluebirds in the bluebird house! We have had other bird nest in the box, but never bluebirds even though there are lots of them around our neighborhood. He took some time checking this box out, but I think it may have already been occupied. This morning I saw a Tufted Titmouse go in and stay a while. It was too cute because he sat looking out of the hole for a while. We have had a Titmouse family nest in there before, so maybe they came back again!

One Small Change

2010-04-01T18:40:00.004-04:00

Our One Small Change for March did not go quite as well as I hoped. The change was to switch to our reusable bags for shopping. I have had the bags for well over a year...maybe two years. However, I can't seem to remember to take them into the store with me. Or even have them in the car. I would say we used the bags about half of the time we went shopping. I will keep trying. My intentions are good, but my memory is not! As far as our previous changes, they are all going very well. We are no longer using paper towels or napkins (January change) and I always remember to use my reusable water bottles (February change). I think I have only drank from a plastic bottle 2 or 3 times since February, and that was because I was at a birthday party where that was the drink provided.

April snuck up on me. I realized this morning that I had not thought of a change for April because I didn't even realize it was April until I got to school and my Kindergarteners started in with their "April Fool's" pranks! I have now decided we will stop using plastic baggies for lunchboxes or food storage. We have kind-of already been doing this, but not consistently. I bought some cute fabric sandwich and snack bags when I was in search of cloth napkins and paperless towels. I use them daily, but still use plastic baggies quite often. Maybe I need to find more cute fabric baggies :) I would really love to learn to make them myself. I have my Grandmother's old sewing machine, but I have no idea how to use it. I need to look into sewing machine lessons...

Here comes Peter Cottontail...

2010-03-31T20:29:00.008-04:00

AK's class egg hunt was yesterday. There was candy, snacks, eggs, and best of all...baby chicks! They were adorable :)

Crack Snackle Pop

2010-03-28T18:37:00.012-04:00

Yesterday we took a day trip to Macon, GA to see AK's Aunt "B" and Uncle Phil. It was the last weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival. I thought I would post some of my favorite pictures from the day. We took so many!

This is a nest in the wreath on "B" and Phil's front door!

Just before we were leaving to drive back home I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of the cherry blossoms! So we snuck (sneaked? I keep getting a spell check error here) into the neighbor's yard to get these shots.

It was a beautiful day and we had a beautiful time :) AK was so tired she fell asleep in the car and slept in her clothes. She was amazed when she woke up this morning still dressed. When John told her she didn't even brush her teeth she said, "Look in my mouth. Do I have any cavities?" The words of a dentist's grandchild :)

She asked for Rice Krispies this morning. She kept saying "Crack Snackle Pop!" No matter how I tried to correct her, she insisted her way was better. I say we just go with it.

The Weekend in Pictures - with words today!

2010-03-21T17:07:00.020-04:00

I took a lot of pictures this weekend. I thought it might be necessary to explain some of them :)

A little bit of knitting in the sunshine.

A look of sheer concentration.

Chocolate chip cookies from our neighbor.

AK's yard concoction.

Silliness in the sun.

A singing Easter Bunny...thanks Momo :)

Sunday morning word puzzles.

My ever present, always adoring, Kramer.
He just stares at me with intense love in his eyes...always.
Or maybe he's just waiting for his canned cat food treat.

Then the rain came.

So this is what's cooking. Taco soup and brownies. Yum!

Happy Spring

2010-03-20T19:43:00.008-04:00

Today was a beautiful day. A wonderful first day of Spring. AK and I spent a lot of time outside, which is a rare thing for me. I am not much of an outside type of person. I actually got a couple of bug bites today...yuck. However, if that means it is getting warmer, I'm all for it! The weather forecast is for rain and colder tomorrow and Monday, but Wednesday looks like it will be very similar to today! Here are some signs of Spring that I have come across this week...

Ah, the weeds. That is a sure sign it is warming up. They have invaded my flower bed...again. My yard is a haven for weeds. I spend most of my limited outside time pulling them! But, my pansies survived our cold snowy Winter :)

Roof Reveal

2010-03-20T11:02:00.009-04:00

Well, here it is...the new roof!

With a bit of pressure washing to the siding, and maybe new shutters (a suggestion from my Mom) we will have a pretty cute little house.

Here are some of the things the roofers left for us...

This is what John has found in the yard and flower beds around the house so far.

This is a nice sized pothole left by the dumpster. Oops! Watch where you step!

Zingo Zango Cuttin' with My Saw

2010-03-17T20:39:00.007-04:00

Ok, so yesterday's picture was not really an accurate image of our old shingles. Here is the dumpster today, and they still have the back of the house to tear off.

Here is what's left of our moss covered old roof.

Let me say I am so thankful to be getting a new roof, but it sure is making a mess of everything. I don't think it helped that it was rainy/drizzly all day today. Take a look...

Here are some more pictures of the process.
(Note to self...call to get an estimate on pressure washing the siding.)

Before shingles

After new shingles. Ahh...so neat and pretty.

I will post a whole house after shot in a couple of days!

Bling Blang Hammer with My Hammer...

2010-03-16T20:42:00.003-04:00

Look what's happening at my house!

Yes, that is a huge dumpster filled with approximately 3 layers of old, mossy shingles from my roof. Back sometime last year we had several severe storms with lots of hail and wind. We finally had a roofer come out and inspect our roof a couple of months ago, and he found hail damage. I have never been so happy to hear those words! Anyway, the insurance company sent us a nice check to pay for a new roof. Hooray! The roofers got started this morning. My yard is a mess, and John tells me the attic is a mess as well. I do not look forward to cleaning the attic mess, but I am looking forward to seeing my lovely new roof in a few days.

The Weekend in Pictures

2010-03-14T20:21:00.014-04:00

5 Things

2010-03-11T16:26:00.004-05:00

5 Things

5 Things I am looking forward to:

Sunshine

AK's art show this weekend

Family visiting

Friday :)

Spring Break

5 Things I did yesterday:

Mosaic art with AK

Visited the Chiropractor

Listened to the thunderstorms

Eased my students' fears (see above)

Kissed AK goodnight

5 Things I wish I could do:

Have time to learn to knit well

Take sewing machine lessons

Exercise regularly

Pay off debt

Get rid of anxiety for good!

5 Places I'd like to travel:

To see Penny

Disney World with AK...one day

ummm...I'm pretty much a homebody :)

5 Cute things I've found online lately:

This post at Color Me Katie

Spotted Owl Napkins at Mary Littfin's Etsy shop

Candy Sushi at Mommy Knows

Blooming Fabric Flower Pin at Blue Cricket Design

Winter Trees at Frugal Family Fun

I posted my 5 Things after reading the list from MooMama.

If you want to play along, post your list and let me know in the comments section!

The Weekend in Pictures

2010-03-07T20:39:00.005-05:00

Whooooo are you??

2010-03-04T19:13:00.004-05:00

I got these cuties at Hobby Lobby this past weekend when I got my yarn.

John has been bringing home lots of plants that have been on sale at "the big orange machine", as he calls it. These sweet owls were also on sale, so I snatched them up! Anyone who knows me knows I love anything bird related. I don't have many (or any) owls though.

I put a succulent plant called a Paddle Plant in each planter.

If anyone has any good tips on caring for these plants, please fill me in. I tend to have a brownish, blackish thumb when it comes to plants. I would like for these guys to survive.

2010-03-03T20:25:00.008-05:00

Look what I've been buying...

I am seeing a color theme here. I don't know what it is about blues, but they just appeal to me. Tuesday Morning had yarn in their flyer last week, so I knew I wanted to get over there to get some. I went today and found the yarn on the far left as well as the solid blue baby yarn. I got the chenille yarn at Hobby Lobby on clearance this past weekend. The yarn on the right is a soft, fuzzy yarn I found at Wal-mart when I got the pink yarn I am knitting AK's scarf with. Speaking of...

It's gotten a bit longer since the last picture. This is only my 3rd knitting experience. I think I may have pulled my stitches too tight because it's pretty thick and dense, not very flexible and squishy. Anyway, I hope it turns out good in spite of that.

Back to the yarn...

I have this yarn that came with my Knit a Washcloth kit that my Mom gave me several years ago. I plan on trying another washcloth soon.

Now, hold on to your socks. Here is the yarn AK picked out for me to make her next scarf (because every 5 year old needs multiple scarves).

It actually looks better in this picture than it does in person. If I had to describe it using one word I would say BRIGHT!

I can't wait to use all of it in various projects. I just have to figure out what to make!

The Weekend in Pictures

2010-02-28T18:09:00.013-05:00

I have seen other blogs feature a "Wordless Wednesday" or other days where they just post pictures on their blogs. I thought I would start that on Sundays. I will post pictures from our weekend. If you have any questions about what was going on in the picture, or where the picture was taken...just leave me a COMMENT! Have I mentioned that I love comments? I check for them several times a day :) Here we go!

Have a great week!

One Small Change for March

2010-02-27T13:48:00.005-05:00

It's that time again...the end of one month and the beginning of another. That means it is time to reflect on my One Small Change for February. February's change was to switch from plastic water bottles to reusable stainless steel. You can read about it here. This change has been successful, but not as easy as January's change, which was surprising to me. The hard part for me is having to wash my bottles every night. I was trying to get by with only buying 2 bottles. I had three, but one makes my water taste funny, so I'm down to two. I am not a fan of washing dishes. It ranks up there with putting away clean laundry and emptying the dishwasher...shudder. I get tired of scrubbing my water bottles every night, but I have done it! I have not drank out of a plastic water bottle except for when we went to my cousin's son's birthday party. They had bottled water for guests. I plan to continue with this change, but I will have to add a couple of more bottles to my collection. That way maybe I can just wash every other night!

So I have been thinking about a change for March, and I decided my change will be to use reusable bags for shopping. I do this already...sort of. I have a good collection of bags, but I always seem to leave them at home or even in the car! My plan is to use them everywhere I shop, not just the grocery store.

I bought 5 of the Earth Saver bags off of eBay a year or so ago. I looked there today, but the seller does not have anything listed right now. I get compliments on them from store clerks because they stand up when they are open. They are made of a burlap material and have a waterproof lining. They hold a lot! I also have a couple of bags I bought at Publix during Christmas. I feel weird taking Publix bags into other grocery stores. Should I worry about that? Is it bad manners? Comments??

Scrub a dub dub

2010-02-22T20:51:00.006-05:00

I finished! I finished my first knitting project. It is by no means perfect...very imperfect actually, but I finished! I am now the proud creator of a misshapen, slightly holey, knitted washcloth!

Take a look for yourself...

You can see I made a few mistakes, and I forgot whether I should be knitting or purling a few times, but it just makes it that much more unique...don't you think?

Now, I just wish I had known I was supposed to weave in the yarn tails! I tied them in knots :) Maybe that is my next lesson.

For the Birds

2010-02-21T20:19:00.012-05:00

We had beautiful weather this weekend. Although I am not a big "outside person" I finally decided to get off the couch and go outside with AK this afternoon. She was anxiously awaiting the return of her friend EG. He and his Daddy had gone to ride motorcycles and had promised to call when they got home. While she made grass salad in the bird bath, I tried to get a few pictures of my little feathered friends. I was more successful today than I was during the Backyard Bir d Count. I caught this little guy several times...

There was also a pair of house finches hanging around, but they were pretty wary of me and wouldn't come to the feeder until I was far, far away. I did zoom in and get a few shots of them in the tree...

I heard this guy before I saw him. He kept his back to me, but you can see his black and white markings in this shot. He is a downy woodpecker...

All of a sudden I heard squeals of joy! AK had seen EG and his daddy drive by in their truck.

EG came over to play and I got this cute shot of these to BFFs.

After this, my bird photography session was pretty much over. I was held hostage in the backyard and put in "jail" until Aunt Pammy came to the rescue and took my place. I did witness a bird party going on at the feeders. It was rudely interrupted several times by a red-bellied woodpecker who was enjoying swinging from one of the feeders as he munched and crunched. I wish I had gotten pictures, but maybe next time!

Pinkalicious!

2010-02-19T18:31:00.007-05:00

Today was a Relay for Life fundraiser day at our school. The theme was to dress as your favorite storybook character. AK couldn't decide who to be because I had forbidden Hannah Montana or Ariel because it's cold and the costumes she has are pretty bare. This caused a bit of turmoil on the drive home from school yesterday, but we finally compromised on Pinkalicious. For those of you who do not know Pinkalicious, she is a little girl who ate so many pink cupcakes she turned pink! She had to eat green foods to turn back to her normal color. I felt it was pretty appropriate for my pink loving sweets snacker. So here she is...all in pink.

I'm not too good at pigtails, but she looked pretty cute :) Some of the other characters in her class were Bad Kitty, Goldilocks, and the Gingerbread Girl.

My class had a few characters today. Here they are...can you figure out which characters they are?

Backyard Bird Count

2010-02-15T21:09:00.011-05:00

I decided to participate in the Backyard Bird Count again this year. However, I ended up with a serious crick in my neck all weekend. It was impossible to turn my head in any direction without severe pain until Monday. I did count birds for a few minutes on Saturday because they were having such a good time at my feeders. I tried my hardest to get some good pictures, but it's like they knew I was watching them and they didn't want to participate.

I got a couple of shots where if you look very closely you can see the bird through the leaves.

There's a tiny chickadee right in the middle of this shot. See him??

You can sort of see the House Finch on my feeder here.

This was taken through my dirty living room window.

Mostly I saw this guy hanging by his toenails as he cleaned out all of the sunflower seeds!

This was a common shot. I stood very still a few feet away from the feeder. The birds would approach and grab a snack, but then fly away quickly before I could push the camera button. Hmmmm...what could have caused their fear?

I believe this was the culprit...

We had fun though :)

Six More Weeks of Winter

2010-02-15T20:59:00.010-05:00

Even though General Beauregard Lee did not see his shadow on February 2, I think Winter will never end. We got 2-4 inches of snow here on Friday. This is the 2nd (or 3rd?) snow/ice we've had this year. That's a lot for Georgia. They predicted snow for this morning, but it never showed up. Now the weather report shows snow for Friday! AK has a good time in the snow. Her friend MM came over Friday afternoon and they played until their hands were numb. On Saturday AK and her daddy built a very leafy snowgirl. She is slowly loosing inches off her waist as we speak!

These were taken Friday.

The next pictures were taken Saturday...you can see it warmed up a bit!

Signs of Spring

2010-02-10T20:53:00.003-05:00

Look what I found today...

Ah...pretty flowers. Unfortunately, I did not find them blooming outside. They're on the little African Violet in my living room. Spring will be here soon. I keep telling myself this while it is 25 degrees and very windy outside. Soon...

Hugs and Kisses

2010-02-07T20:07:00.021-05:00

AK and I started on a Valentine's Day adventure this morning, and finally wrapped it up this evening with a little shopping in between. I had decided to make these cookies for her teachers this year. Now, keep in mind I am no baker. I can do brownies out of a box, but that is about as fancy as I get. However, in my quest to be crafty, I ran across this blog that was link from who knows where because I've read so many great blogs these days! Here is our journey...

Here are the ingredients. You can see I already got flour everywhere before I even started mixing and stirring. That was my first warning.

How could I forget this?

My little helper. Notice the flour on her forehead. Warning number two.

Mix and stir!

There was flour flying everywhere! Third warning.

And here is where we ran into trouble...

This is some seriously thick dough. I didn't know if it would ever come off of the beaters, but my handy spatula came to the rescue!

Here is the dough ready to be chilled for 2 hours.

After the dough chilled, I got ready to roll out the dough. Well, it was hard. The dough, that is. After I mashed on it for a while it softened up nicely. Instead of rolling (because I don't have a rolling pin...I told you I'm not a baker) I pressed out the dough. I used our cute little fondant cutters to make circles (hugs) and squares (kisses).

And here they are cooked.

Nice and golden brown on the bottom!

We added the finishing touches...

And here they are!

I plan to package them in these cute little boxes once the icing is dry. Hope they like them!

I forgot to say we had a wanna-be helper...here's Kramer :) He was waiting patiently for something yummy to fall to the ground.

Knit and Purl

2010-02-04T21:18:00.005-05:00

I have been interested in knitting or crocheting since I discovered crocheted wash cloths several years ago. I love them, and have wanted to be able to make my own, but never took the time to learn. My mom even bought me a knit a wash cloth kit about 5 years ago. I just opened the box about 2 months ago! It had some really pretty yarn, and very detail-less directions. I ended up Googling how to knit, and let me just say, I wasn't very successful. My self taught lesson lasted all of 30 minutes before I gave up. That pretty yarn hasn't been out of the box since.

Fast forward to today...I had my first official knitting lesson. Lin Barnett of Ewe Knits sat down with me for 2 hours tonight and taught me the knit stitch and purl stitch! I am so excited and proud of how well I did. Take a look...

Ha -ha!! Just kidding. This beauty came from Brooke's Column of Leaves Knitted Scarf Pattern.

Here's what I created...

It doesn't look like much, but it's a lot of happy little stitches all tied up together. I go back for my second lesson next week. I wonder what I'll learn next?

2010-02-03T20:29:00.005-05:00

Let me begin by saying how excited I was to have three...THREE...comments!! When I say excited, I mean EXCITED!! I was beginning to get discouraged. I know my mom checks in from time to time, but she doesn't comment. Thank you, thank you to those who commented. I love it!

So onto my first day of using non-plastic water bottles. I didn't actually start on Feb. 1 or 2 because when I went to fill up my bottles before work, the Brita pitcher was less than half full. It takes it a while to filter so I didn't have time to wait. That taught me a good lesson though...I have to fill them up at night. What a revelation :) So last night I spent about 30-45 minutes filling bottles and waiting for the pitcher to fill. This morning I packed them in my cooler...with a little help from my favorite little girl.

I enjoyed my pretty bottles today, and I'm looking forward to using them from now on!

Sunday - One Small Change Challenge Review

2010-01-31T10:05:00.007-05:00

This challenge has been a good experience. My family has learned to live without paper towels! I never thought it would be possible. We did slip up a couple of times, but for the most part we stuck to using cloth. I feel good about our part in helping reduce the use of paper products. I have also enjoyed shopping Etsy.com and eBay for paper alternatives. Who doesn't love a little shopping?
Here is a very small sample of my purchases. Most are in the wash right now :)

For February's challenge I plan to cut out plastic water bottles. I pack a cooler everyday to take to work so I can have easy access to cold drinking water. We had to give up our mini fridges earlier in the school year due to electrical problems in our building. I used to buy a jug of water every few days to keep in the fridge and pour from. So, now, I pack 4 water bottles to drink during the day. I do recycle the bottles, but I feel guilty even using them. We bought a Brita filter pitcher for our house last year for the sole purpose of not buying bottled water anymore. My husband reminds me of this when he has to buy my bottled "school" water. So yesterday I decided my challenge for February would be to use these beauties that I bought at TJ Maxx this weekend.

They will fit in my cooler, and help reduce my use of plastic bottled water. Hooray!

So I hope to go from this:

To this:

Thanks to my dear hubby for modeling this change for me :)

Let the challenge begin!!

Saturday Crafting Fun

2010-01-30T13:14:00.014-05:00

Today AK and I decided to do a test run on her Valentine's Day craft for this year's Valentine's Day cards. We wanted to make crayon hearts. I found this adorable idea on the long thread blog, and decided to make necklaces out of them. Here's what we needed to get started.

The biggest struggle was peeling all of the crayons...whew...what a chore.

So I went online to find an easier way. Here's what we used. Thank you whoever created the box cutter. I love you.

The tutorial said to break the crayons into small pieces. I remember reading somewhere that you could shave the crayons for this type of project. We decided to experiment with both. I must say I am glad we didn't shave too many crayons because the broken crayons worked out much better!

Here's what it all looked like going into the oven...275 degrees for 7-10 minutes.

Meeeelllllttttiiiinnnnggggg....

Add straws during the cooling process.

The final results!

Now, all we have to do is go to the craft store and buy something to string each heart onto, and we'll be done with these! I wish they were a little thicker, but I think they turned out pretty cute. If I feel the urge to peel more crayons, I might try again and make them a bit thicker :)

Birds

2010-01-25T18:38:00.009-05:00

Birds...I love them. I don't know what it is about those little feathered cuties, but they fascinate me. My house is decorated with birds. My classroom nickname is the "Brainy Birds". I have a huge collection of bird watching books. I wear them on my clothes and jewelry. I love to watch them in action, which is why.....

I cannot wait to start this year's
Great Backyard Bird Count!

I participated a few years ago, but kind of forgot about it after AK was born. Kind-of like I forgot about bird watching in general after she was born. I had a few other things to think about :) This winter I have really enjoyed watching the birds at my bird feeders again. I am hoping our resident wrens will be back soon to build their nest and raise their babies. They have come for the past two years. This past year they raised two sets of babies (at different times)! Anyway the Great Backyard Bird Count begins in February. I will be there. Watching. Counting. Loving every minute of it!

Comments and Confessions

2010-01-20T20:10:00.002-05:00

I realize that no one is reading my blog...are you? Anyway, if you are, I would love a comment here and there! I check daily for comments.

With that said, I confess...

I used a paper towel this morning. Ugh! I was running very late, and I had made a bagel for breakfast. I didn't want to put it in a plastic baggie and I was running around frantically searching for something to wrap it in. So I gave in and grabbed a paper towel. I need to find an alternative. Any suggestions?? This would be where all of my readers comment ;)

Crafting

2010-01-18T13:48:00.008-05:00

Well, I tried my hand at crafting today. First AK and I made paper snowflakes. Now, I have never said I am creative, so bear with me. One of my goals this year is to learn a craft. Paper snowflakes is not it :) I would like to learn to knit and/or use a sewing machine. For now it's snowflakes.

My next crafting endeavor was a felt wreath. I've been working on making the felt for about a week now. Supposedly all you have to do is wash old 100% wool sweaters in hot water and dry them in the dryer. It didn't turn out quite the way I pictured it. Instead of felt, I got slightly fuzzy, shrunken wool sweaters. Anyway...I pushed on. Here is my process:

And VOILA!

I almost forgot our halftime entertainment...

Temptress

2010-01-17T19:28:00.003-05:00

Tonight we had our first paper towel slip-up. John was cooking a yummy breakfast for dinner, dinner for us. He introduced AK to the Canadian bacon while he was cooking. Well, that sneaky girl tried to get more after being told not to, and she grabbed the package spilling Canadian bacon juice onto the counter and floor. John, in a frantic/irritated moment went to our large stash of neglected paper towel rolls and grabbed one. Dinner turned out yummy, and I will put the roll away...far away...so as not to tempt us again.

It's getting easier...

2010-01-14T20:08:00.002-05:00

Not using paper towels at home is getting easier. We haven't used a paper towel in about a week! Hooray for us :)
However, not using paper towels at work has proved to be impossible so far. I teach. 21 Kindergarten kids. Enough said. I do plan to take some of my washcloths to school to use to clean tables, but I think we will still have to use paper towels for hand drying. Any suggestions?

2010-01-11T20:36:00.012-05:00

I am so proud of my family. Our quest to cut back/eliminate the use of paper towels is going well. I have placed a stack of old dishcloths under the sink for easy access for spills and general clean up. I used to always serve AK's morning toast on a paper towel, as well as snacks, etc. I was running out of plates quickly, and felt strange serving a piece of toast on a dinner plate! So I went to Goodwill this weekend and bought about 8 small plates. Actually, I think they are saucers, but they will work just fine. This has not been as hard as I thought it would be. I do find myself reaching for the paper towel roll, but it has been replaced by a new plant on my kitchen counter!

I did have one "slip up". I had to change the cat litter box. After I rinsed it I did not want to wipe it out with my dishcloth, so I used paper towels. There, I said it. Until I come up with an alternative, I will have to use the paper towels. The thought of kitty litter covered dishcloths did not make me happy!

On to better topics than kitty litter...

Look what John and I made yesterday!

Yes, that is Olive Ch eese Bre ad from The Pioneer Woman's website. Oh my, was it rich and delicious! I could feel my hips expanding with each bite. Did I mention it has a stick of butter in it??? It was quite tasty, but I think I might make a few modifications next time. I will use less butter and mayo for sure. However, I was thinking it might be yummy to replace the butter with cream cheese, and top it with shredded Parmesan. OOOhhhh so yummy! Here are a few more pictures to document the delicious journey :)

Click on over to her website. It's full of amazing recipes. I could spend hours there!

Snow Day

2010-01-08T12:27:00.017-05:00

Here in Georgia it is rare to have a snow day. It began snowing very lightly yesterday afternoon just as school was letting out. It was so fun to see how excited the students were at such a tiny amount of snow! At one point a big burst of snow came all of a sudden and all you could hear were screams of joy! I didn't really think it would amount to much because when I went to bed there was still just a dusting of snow in the grass, but I continued to be hopeful. As I was drifting off to sleep the phone rang with the much anticipated news that school would be closed!! All you could hear were whoops of joy from me and AK :)
This morning I was surprised to see how much more snow had accumulated. Now, to those of you who live where it really snows (I'm assuming anyone reads this blog) you would laugh at the fact that we Georgians consider this a major event. However, like I said, I was surprised to see the snow this morning. AK couldn't wait to get out there to throw snowballs at me. We bundled up and headed out into the 16 degree morning. Here are some pictures of our fun:
Here we are all bundled and ready for fun!

Snow angel

Throwing snow at Mommy. This was just before I threw snow at her and she started crying!

My One Small Change challenge is going well so far. Instead of using paper towels to clean the counters I used a towel. We usually put down a paper towel under our coffee mugs when we fix our morning coffee. They're very helpful in catching the sugar that seems to fly around everywhere (thanks honey). Instead, we didn't use a paper towel, and just tried to be more careful. We actually used the spoon rest that always sits by the coffee maker to rest our stirring spoon on...imagine that. Who would have thought! Instead of serving AK's very healthy breakfast of toast on a paper towel, I actually put it on a plate. Hey - I think this might be easier than I thought!
The only problem I have discovered is that instead of the one roll of towels I thought was left, I discovered a 12 pack of paper towels stashed in the guest bathroom shower. Yes, we are short of storage space around here. So, what to do with those paper towels? Any suggestions? Anyone?

The Green Life

2010-01-06T19:15:00.003-05:00

Hello stranger...
It's been a long time since my last post. It is a brand new year. Happy 2010! We have been busy with life. School and work are great. AK loves Pre-K, and I am learning to love my new students. Well, they aren't so new anymore! They are a wonderful group of 5 and 6 year olds :)

I have discovered many new (to me) and interesting blogs out there. One, in particular, is Hip Mountain Mama. She has posed the One Small Thing challenge...and oh, I am ready for this challenge. The challenge is to to make 1 small (or huge) change each month leading up to Earth Day (April 22, 2010). This change being something that will make a positive green impact. When I read this I thought, "What an awesome challenge!" I began to think of the things we already do to help the Earth. I began making my own cleaners around Thanksgiving. I found a great hard surface recipe here, and I have enjoyed using it at home and in my classroom. I even made gift baskets containing the ingredients to make the cleaner for my family for Christmas. We also participate in our city's curbside recycling program. We have replaced our lightbulbs with CFL bulbs. We freecycle on Carroll County Freecycle.

There are some things I could really improve on. I have reusable shopping bags, but I usually forget to take them to the store with me. I have tried growing more plants, but seem to have a black thumb. I have tried to reduce the amount of disposable containers I use in mine and AK's lunchboxes, but I could do better.

As I think of what would make the biggest impact in my house right now, I think my challenge for January will be to use cloth to clean with, and stop using paper towels. I have one roll left. I will not buy more. I will use old wash cloths, t-shirts, and socks to clean and dust.

I hope you will challenge yourself to make a positive change. The Earth is depending on us.

Shredded

2009-04-19T09:16:00.002-04:00

This was the week I decided to get serious about bathing suit season. I began Walk Away the Pounds with Cindy. We huffed and puffed through the two mile walk every day this week except Friday. I had been reading reviews about Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, so I ordered it last weekend. It arrived Thursday, but I decided to wait to try it. The box was very intimidating, sitting there on my shelf...staring at me....daring me to try it! So yesterday I gave in and popped the dvd in the player. Oh. My. God. I really thought I was going to pass out before it was over. I made it through the grueling 28 minutes and experienced muscle tremors for about another 30 minutes.

This morning my muscles are screaming quietly. I am giving myself a break today, but I may try to work in some cardio. I bought another Biggest Loser cardio workout that I might try. I am proud of myself for working out this much. I've also been tracking calories at sparkpeople.com. I go over my allotted calories daily, but it helps me really look at what's going in my mouth each day.

I will hop back on the shred bandwagon tomorrow. I think it will have to be an every other day workout. Don't "they" say to let your muscles rest after strength training??

One...more...day

2009-04-02T19:41:00.007-04:00

One more day. Will I make it? I hope so. My kids have been nutso for the last couple of weeks. It's loud, and the activity level is up too many notches for my taste. And did I mention it's LOUD? We have our egg hunt tomorrow. Why, dear God, do we do these things to ourselves? I think we are all in desperate need of a break. Quiet, calm, fun, Spring Break! Hooray...here we come!

On another note...
AK had her dance pictures made last weekend. What fun. I had to give those teachers credit for keeping their cool the way they did! I would have exploded after 20 minutes. Anyway, apparently my child cannot smile a genuine smile when posing for a picture. I poured over the 12 different shots they took. Looking for just one that had a slight hint of AK's sweet smile. I thought I would never be able to make a decision, but I finally settled on one...I mean two. Did I forget to mention I had her individual picture taken in both dance outfits. No one bothered to tell me that I would be expected to purchase a pose in each outfit. Hello people...I'm a rookie here, don't take advantage of the situation!
I took a few shots of her before we left for the photo shoot. After a frantic 20 minutes of trying to get her hair in a bun, we rosied up her cheeks and added a little lip gloss and she was transformed into the princess she knows she is.

By the way...does anyone want a picture of AK in her dance outfit...outfits? I have a few to spare.

Spring

2009-03-19T16:24:00.003-04:00

Ahhh...warm air, sunshine, AK playing in the dirt...Spring has sprung. I'm looking forward to pretty, sunny, warm weather. Just keep all the storms away!
I've been kind of down lately, and this weather is a great pick-me-up. Last week was a rough one, but I'm ready to start new. I hope everyone is enjoying our beautiful weather today!

Loss of brain power

2009-03-05T18:57:00.003-05:00

I am losing my mind. I swear, as I get older, my brain loses some of it's ability to function normally.

Examples:
1. I was prescribed antibiotics for my sinus infection. I was supposed to take them for ten days. Well around day 8 I looked in the bottle and thought, "Man, they gave me a ton of these horse pills." Uh - no Amy, you just didn't read the directions right. I have been taking one per day instead of the two prescribed.

2. Last weekend I decided to make buffalo chicken pizza. I had it all put together. It looked so yummy! I was feeling so domestic. I popped it in the oven and waited for it's deliciousness to be cooked and ready to eat. Well, when I pulled the pan out of the oven...guess what...I forgot to put the cheese on!

3. I put the cereal in the fridge and the milk in the cabinet the other morning.

4. I swear I have sour cream in my refrigerator. I needed it tonight for dinner. It's not there. I even made John look. Gone. I have no idea when I used it or if it was ever really there to begin with.

I'm sure there are plenty more, but I won't bore you any longer with my absentmindedness.

BTW - there are two HILARIOUS blogs that I read daily. I would like to share them because I think you might enjoy a good laugh.

http://thebigmamablog.com/

http://dooce.com/

Enjoy!

Drums in my head

2009-02-20T18:50:00.002-05:00

Have you ever had such a bad headache that every time you turn over in bed your head throbs uncontrollably? Well, that was my life last night.

I had had a headache all day, and by the time I got home from work I could barely concentrate. I laid down for a few minutes and felt my sinuses shift a little. I got up and finished dinner and nightly routines before I collapsed back into bed. I think I woke up every hour with a throbbing head. This morning I felt better once I stood up, but I could feel the headache lingering in the back of my head, waiting for it's chance to take over again. It stayed away until this afternoon . It's still floating around, paining me at times, but it's not too bad.

I got a doctor's appointment. I got prescriptions. I hope I feel better soon.

Good news is...I didn't have strep.

All eyes on me...

2009-02-13T05:55:00.002-05:00

Today is a Professional Development Day at school. I have been chosen to facilitate one of the cross grade level groups today. Sigh.
I don't think they have figured out how much stress this causes me!

I know I should probably take it as a compliment to be chosen. Some never get chosen and stress about that, but speaking in front of a group is not my thing.

I will survive. Luckily I know most of the teachers in my group. So that is a plus!

On another note...

I am still not quite ready to share my news from the previous post...although I shared it with Joy, and I think Joy is the only one who reads this :) Give me about 2 more weeks!

Happy Friday all.

Change is Good...right?

2009-02-03T05:56:00.002-05:00

I feel that life is about to change as I know it. I can't be too specific right now, but things are definitely beginning to look different. Ooohhh, it's a mystery for now! Check back in a week or so for more details.

I speak from experience

2009-01-24T12:39:00.002-05:00

Two posts in two days. This is very unusual, but I have some very important advice to share.

Never. Use. Blue. Nail polish.

AK picked out dark blue nail polish before Christmas. So, I thought it would be "cute" if we had matching blue toenails for the holidays. Ummmm, remind me to never do that again.

I finally got around to taking the polish off (eewww, I know) and guess what?

I think it's permanent. I can't get it all off.

Good thing it's not sandal season.

Lost Connection

2009-01-23T21:09:00.003-05:00

At 2:00 today our Internet went down. No, I wasn't home, but I felt it..somehow. John called to tell me something happened to it while he was playing Wii. Have I mentioned that's all he likes to do these days?
Anyway - let me back up. I have been on the phone with Bellsouth, excuse me, AT&T, tech support twice this week because they keep messing up my email. Then I come home to no Internet - I think they're out to get me!
So, to make a long story short, AT&T did nothing to help restore my connection. It was my wonderful sister-in-law Pammy. She came to my rescue all the way from Mississippi!

I think my withdrawl tremors are finally starting to subside.

Root Soup and Barbie Yoga

2009-01-18T16:56:00.008-05:00

We decided to have a relaxing movie Sunday. AK chose the movie and we settled in. I was not paying much attention to her when she began bringing her "babies" from her room. She was setting them up so they could see the movie, too. I focused my attention to the laptop in my lap (of all places) and the next time I looked up, this is what I saw:

The Barbies really cracked me up.

Later today we played outside and AK made "root soup". Here's what I could capture on film.

The Easter Bunny

2009-01-14T18:22:00.003-05:00

Several months ago Scooter was talking about wanting a little sister. She was really quite obsessed for a while. She decided that the Easter Bunny was going to bring her a sister. Mr. Ware and I just giggled...how cute. Anyway, she continued to talk, to EVERYONE, about her new sister and how they would play and she would hold her hand when she was scared, etc. Well, tremendous Mommy guilt crept in. We really started to entertain the idea of providing her with a sister (or brother...yes we know). Then her obsession began to wear off. Whew...no more pressure!

Fast forward to last night at dinner. Out of the blue.
Scooter - "Mommy, when is the Easter Bunny going to bring my sister?"
Mommy - "Ummmmmmm...Daddy? Want to take this one?"
Scooter - "I guess I will just call her. Where is the Easter Bunny?"
Mommy - "Ummmmmmm...in her house?"
Scooter- "Oh, well, where's my sister?"

Ok, any advice on this one would be appreciated.

Newbie

2009-01-13T21:46:00.000-05:00

I have recently discovered the fun of blogs...reading them, that is. I never thought I would have anything very interesting to say, or enough things to say to have my very own blog. I decided to take the plunge and go for it! Little did I know that it would take an hour to decide on a title for this thing. I got no help from Mr. Ware, as he was busy with Luigi and Mario Cart. But, here I am. I hope to be able to keep up with this. I am a Kindergarten teacher and mother of a 4-year-old. People tell me I should write a book about all of the hilarious action I experience on a daily basis. Maybe.

I'll start here...blogging.