Fire Place and a Little FALL ~

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. Our weekend was Super Duper
Biz-A!!! First up hubs gutted the fireplace. Have you ever seen the inside of a fireplace? No? Well here you go......

How about tons of YUCK!

Here is the hubby inside the fireplace working away. It is coming along....one day soon we hope to have a REAL wood burning fireplace. Hopefully just in time for the upcoming winter. AHHHHH......progress! :o) See the brick...we are planning on painting {white washing} it. I think it will totally lighten up the living room.

Ok. Well i did manage to get in a tiny little sewing project Saturday. As i was perusing my stash of fabric last week i found this lovely....

It got me in the mood for Fall colors in the house. hehe! I had cleaned out under the kitchen sink earlier this week {only because i found a leak} and found some decorative pumpkins i had bought at a yard sale back in the spring. I totally jumped the "fall" gun and started displaying them around the living room. So when i saw this fabric i knew what i wanted to make with it. I initially bought it to make a dress for my little darling daughter. BUT i never got around to using it. So i used it to make this....

A runner for my small buffet by the entryway. Oh i just love it. It took no time at all to sew up the edges. It makes the house feel FALL cozy already. See the cute little punkins. :) Is it to early??

The Cow Jumped over the MOON ~

I grabbed a bundle of flannel fabrics the other day when i was out and about. Aren't they just the cutest!!?? I love how bright and vivid the colors are. I know exactly what i'm going to sew with them. Can't wait to show you. :) And maybe a tutorial??

So yesterday i had a appointment to see a Dermatologist. Ever since i had my son my skin has went absolutely crazy! Acne!!! Anybody reading this every have this problem...acne after baby? I know it is hormonal but come on. I have tried everything. So i finally went to see a doctor about it. He came in and looked at my face and said "Yep, you have some acne". Really?? You don't say. He wrote me a script for Retin A. Anyone ever used this? I hear it is pretty harsh. Cross your fingers for me that it works. Oh and just throwing this out there...i do believe i'm the only "House Wife" in my city that doesn't get botox! :o)

Gotta go...my child is eating a crayon!!

Have a GREAT Friday!!

xo

THIS IS HOW WE DO IT ~

The hubmeisters birthday is soon! The BIG 31 !! Yep, we can hardly believe it ourself. We have been together since we were 15....so we have been in eachothers life over half of our life. WOW, that is strange to say out loud {or on a post}. I will be making one of his favorite meals. Pesto Pasta! He had it on our trip to Italy several years ago and has LOVED it ever since. So i thought i would make some for him tonight. Also the kids and i made his birthday card today. Little girl just loves it when i whip out the "special" colored construction paper and write what needs to be on it and she gets to add her little art work. Inside we always trace her hand and write what age she is...and now we do that for baby boy too. So very simple but it makes it feel even more special...i think anyway. :o) There is just something about little hands and feet that pull at my heartstrings. And that is how we do it in our family. Simple Homemade cards from the heart! Way better than store bought.

Buckaroo Birthday Bash ~

We took a quick trip home for our little man's 1st birthday party. It turned out to be a great day and lovely birthday party. Sweet and Simple with family! Just what a birthday party is supposed to be. Here are a few pics of some of the goodies he received.

Watch out for the shark!!! Isn't this shark tent just neat-O! They love it!

Vroom, VROOM! This rug with a town and streets was a HUGE hit! He loves his big cars...

And even gave his sister one {it was to girly for a B.O.Y.}.

This helicopter is the CA-utest thing! He loves his AIR craft...maybe he will be a pilot just like his daddy?

He got some clothes and money {putting that back for the next consignment sale} too. What a lucky little boy! :-D

They have been playing NON stop with his new "loot" since we got back. Good thing cause Momma has laundry to do!

~ Cherry Garcia ~

OHHHHH MYYYYYY!!!! The hubmeister bought me a ice cream maker yesterday! That is something i have always wanted....but i think never got because i knew i would make tons of ice cream that i would have to eat...and probably by myself. hehe! But now that we have kids it will be a nice addition to a birthday party {or for the weekend ;P}. I found the first recipe we are going to try. If you have never had Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia...you need to check it out. YUM! If you have a ice cream maker at your house here is the recipe:


Ingredients:

•1/4 cup shaved plain chocolate (Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate candy bars preferred)
•1/4 cup fresh Bing cherries, halved and pitted (you may use canned cherries, but be sure to drain the syrup)
•2 large eggs
•3/4 cup sugar
•2 cups heavy or whipping cream
•1 cup milk


Preparation:

Place the shaved chocolate flakes and the cherries in separate bowls. Cover and refrigerate.

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend.

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions.

After the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it is done), add the chocolate and the cherries, then continue freezing until the ice cream is ready.

Yield: 1 quart


The cherries make it healthy right? :o)
What are some of you favorite homemade ice cream recipes?

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

xo

~Little Dowgie ~

I have a little "Dowgie". He has been in our family for several years. One of his favorite past times is snoozing. So i wanted to make him a nice bed. I looked in my fabric stash and pulled out a black and white toile. LOVE IT! I have tons of it and use it every chance i get. HA! I'm sure you will see more of it in the future. This was a pretty easy project. I basicly cut out 2 rounds. Used some "fluff/stuffing". And there you have it....Doggie bed.

Very simple but he seems to love it! :)

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I have been trying to get every last minute of the summer in with the kiddos. I feel like it is quickly slipping away. And while i would love some relief from the heat....i hate to see summer go. It is my favorite season by the way. I do have some sewing projects coming up soon. Can't wait to share.

xo

~ Red Velvet Cake Balls ~

Oh MY!! Let me just start by saying.....if you haven't made or tried these....your gonna LOVE'em!! I made some last night and i'm trying to stay away from them this morning. I made the hubby take half of them to work so they wouldn't be in the house...haha! I like to make them around the holidays. Great for parties. I plan on making them for my little man's big birthday coming up and also for a babyshower i'm hosting. I'm a big red velvet fan {what southern lady wouldn't be} so that is my cake of choice. But you can use any cake or chocolate you want.

What you will need:

1 Box of red velvet cake

Bakers Chocolate

1 Cream Cheese Icing

~Bake cake as directed on box.

~Let it cool and crumble in large bowl

~Mix in Cream cheese icing

~Let that mixture cool in fridge for an hour

~Start scooping out and making balls {your hands will turn red}

~I pop the balls in the freezer for about 15 min

~Melt bakers chocolate

~Roll them in the chocolate till covered.

~Let the chocolate harden and then refrigerate

~YUMMO!!

Other news......

The hubby and i Had a DATE NIGHT reciently. Ladies it has been over a year since we have had a "date night" sans kids! It was lovely. We headed over to a favorite local restaurant and i ordered up some sushi {um, um good}...the hubs had a spicy shrimp plate that was tasty. We then went on over to the theater and the hubby wanted to see "Inception". I looked and it was just about to start and i asked the lady how long it was and she said 2 hours and 20 min. So i called the baby sitter and asked if that would be ok....cause it was going to be late picking up the kids. They didn't mind one bit. So we went in and watched. Let me just say....it was 2 hours and 20 min. of awesomeness!!!! If you haven't heard about it...here is the trailer......

The trailer doesn't even do the movie justice. But i will give it this...it doesn't tell you everything about the movie. Ladies you will love it. And if there is a guy reading this....BETTER THAN THE MATRIX! I think anyway. If you go and see it....let me know what you think..... :)

The Good the Bad & the UGLY ~

No pictures today...just me talking about mommyhood. The title says it all! Being a mommy has it's good days and it's bad. I'm in that place right now where patience it key. What am i talking about? Lets start here: My wonderful 2 1/2 year old has always slept great at night and also takes good naps. I know i'm terribly lucky in that department. BUT she still has to sleep with her pacifier. Over last weekend i tried to see if she could give it up. Friday night i didn't offer it to her. She didn't ask for it. SWEET! It was like i had a "Easy" button. Saturday nap she asked for it but i said that it was gone gone. She looked alittle sad but went on to sleep. Saturday night she asked for it again and again i said it was gone gone. She went on to sleep! Could this be....could it really be that easy? NO! Sunday night she through an all out FIT for it. So i scramble to find one and give it to her. Now if she was an only child i would have just shut her door and let her cry herself to sleep. But baby brother was sleepy and i didn't want him to not go straight to sleep. So i caved. Now on to another problem. She is so good to do what i ask most of the time. But this potty business is about to drive me INsane! She will NOT tee tee in the potty! She wants to wear panies but just wont do what she needs to do on the potty. So i have tee tee to clean up throughout the day. ARGG! Now on to Little man. I have successfully breastfed him exclusively since he was born. I'm so proud of that. My daughter was breastfed for the first 6 months only and she weaned herself from me and wanted a bottle. My son has never used a bottle. EVER. And now that i'm thinking about slowly weaning him....he refuses to suck a bottle or drink from a sippy cup. BUT he is actually trying to wean himself. He is wanting me less and less. So what in the world am i supposed to do?? I have tried everything.

And i'm sick of people with no kids...NO KIDS trying to give me advise. And telling me "she is 2 she shouldn't be sucking a pacifier". Please...i used to bit my tongue and smile when NON kid folks tried giving me advise....now i say...I will remember that "advise" when you have kids.

So i'm very frustrated right now. If you can't tell. HA! If any of you mommies out there have any advise....i'm all ears!

p.s.
i know that i'm a terrible speller. sorry for all those misspelled words!! :P

Buckaroo ~

It is crazy busy around these parts!

Friday night i sat down and started making the upcoming birthday boy some birthday DUDS! I pulled out a pair of jeans from storage that belonged to big sis. They didn't look girly at all ...in fact they may possibly be boy jeans cause i remember i had gotten them at goodwill to add ruffles on the bottom and i never got around to it before she out grew them. Anyway...i was happy to have them on hand and very happy that they could be reused. :o) I had made a run to Hobby Lobby last week for this specific reason. I needed a red bandanna {.99 cents}and some brown felt material {4 for a $1} and i also picked up a white tee shirt for $2.99. So for a grand total of $5 + tax i made this for my little buckaroo.....

Isn't it just totally adorable! The brown felt became the "chaps". I had to cut open the seam of the jeans for this but was very easy to sew back. I left alittle felt overhang the side of the jeans and cut them up and made the "fringe". I quickly realized that what these jeans needed was a BIG'ol belt buckle! I again took some felt and embroidered his initials on it and sewed it in place. TO STINKIN CUTE! As for the tee shirt i took the red bandana and cut one corner off. I made a loose stitch and started gathering the fabric {kinda like i make a ruffle}. And then i just sewed it around the neck of the shirt. I wanted to make sure that it was on there. WHY? I tried the bandana on him prior and he just ripped it off. Now he can't rip it off....it is permanent. :o)

The redneck in me wanted to use this for the belt buckle! :0) Hubby said "NO WAY"!!

Well this weekend we decided to go ahead with the kitchen remodel. NO...i'm not looking forward to this! I initially wanted to wait and get a few other projects out of the way but it really needs to get done. We headed out to Lowes Saturday and looked at Tile {travertine}, Cabinet color {going with white glazed} and granite color {?}, sinks and faucets and hardware. Makes my stomach turn just thinking about it. Don't get me wrong....i want this remodel. But it is the work it takes that is already making me exhausted! And throw in a 1 year old and a 2 year old! Thankfully the hubby can change his work schedule and have fridays off during this time. That will help tremendously!

After the Lowes trip we came home and i started in on the bonus room. I cleared more junk out of there...yippee!! Every time i get rid of 2 or 3 boxes of junk out of my life...i feel a tad bit closer to having a nice organized house and life. Reason for junk removal....i'm about to paint that room. I'm desperate for a space where i can go to sew...right now i'm sewing on the dinning room table. I have picked out a most awesome color and can't wait to slap it on. :o)

And i'm also helping host a baby shower and trying to gear up for that.

So needless to say...busy, busY, BUSY! But with the help of tons of coffee....it will get done. :)

Frugal Friday ~

I consider myself pretty frugal. Not because i necessarily need to be but more because i want to live that way. When you think "frugal" what is the first thing that pops into your mind? Poor? Living without "things" that you love? Not TRUE!!!! Living frugally can have so many benefits that i bet you might not think about. A penny saved is a penny earned right? :o)

Why live frugally? First, because it allows you to spend less than you earn, and use the difference to pay off debt, save or invest. Or all three. Second, because the less you spend, the less you need to earn. And that means you can choose to work less, or work more but retire early. Or take mini retirements. You have more options with a frugal lifestyle.

Every time i see something shiny and new that i want...i stop and think about what i could do with that same amount of money. I wait and think about how much i want that item....and will it go on sale in a few weeks. Could i find that same thing on Ebay or Craigslist for half the price. Or is it close to a birthday or christmas and maybe i could get it then. I really try to fit it in to my budget or wait to get it as a gift. That makes it all the more special. Being frugal really makes you think outside of the box and also makes you think long and hard about if you need something or why you want it.

Here are some of the things we do to stay frugal....

1. Learn to say no
2. Eat out less {this is hard...but we only eat out 4 times a month. But think of it this way not only do you save money...you are also saving yourself calories too ;)!}
3. D.I.Y. {need i say more?}
4. Wash in Cold water
5. Seek Freebies
6. Find cheep entertainment {netflix=$10 a month and watch all the movies you want}
7. Try to run as many errands in one day as you can. Saves on gas.
8. Coupons, Coupons, Coupons!
9. Buy in Bulk
10. Here is a big one...Go with a smaller house. Just because you can afford a larger house, dosen’t mean you should live in one. Live in as small a house as you can and still be comfortable. I don’t mean you should live in a one-room apartment with a family of four … you know what I mean. You can save thousands a year with a smaller house. Many times, if you get rid of a lot of clutter, you don’t need a large house.

11. Look for used first. If you need something — I mean really need it, not just want it — see if someone you know has one that they don’t use or need anymore. Send out an email to family or friends, or just ask around. You might be surprised. If no one you know owns one, try freecycle.org or craigslist.org. Then look to buy used, at garage sales or thrift shops. You can find a bargain if you look around.

12. Frugal gifting. Gifts can cost a lot of money over the course of a year. Look for ways to do it cheaply. Make a gift, or give a consumable. My family enjoys getting and giving cookies, for example.

13. Sell your clutter
14. Stop using Credit Cards. {we don't have one so i know it can be done}
15. Shop consignment and goodwill. I dress my kids well on very little. The hubby and i shop at places like T.J. Maxx and Ross.

16. Cook ahead. If you have one free day a week (or even a month), cook food in big batches and freeze in dinner-sized portions. I don’t do this all the time, but I have done it and it saves money (buying big can often save) as well as time. You have to plan it out a bit, coming up with a menu and shopping, cooking enough meals for a week or a month. But once you’re done, your meals each night (and for lunch if you like) are quick and easy. This saves you from eating out or eating convenience food when you’re hungry but too tired to cook.

17. Make handmade items.
18. Eat less meat. Once a week try to have a meal with no meat. You actually can save tons by doing this. {example of meatless dinner: Spaghetti}
19. Graciously accept HAND-ME-DOWNS!

These are just a few things that we have adapted in our frugal living.
What are some ways you save money??? Really...i'm asking so please let me know. :o)

Thrifty Thursday ~

As you can probably guess from yesterdays post i'm gearing up for my little boy's First Birthday! We have decided on a Cowboy theme. I have a budget set and i'm determined not to go over board. We have a kitchen and bathroom remodel about to start...can you say money pit!! Anyway....I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday to see if i could find anything that i would be able to use..."On the Cheap"! And actually was pretty surprised at what i found. But i did notice something. The "theme" plates, cups, napkins, etc...was double the price of the plain colored version. So what i did was grab 1 small set of the cowboy themed and then i bought the rest in red to match. That right there saved me a small fortune. :) Plus to me it looks alot better. I also had a 40% coupon to use on an item that cost more than i really wanted to spend! So that is my "thrifty finds". Getting started on his birthday banner and cowboy outfit today. I'll be posting more on those when i finish.

Wordless Wednesday ~

Tip Tuesday ~

Please excuse the fuzzy photo!
I made this SA-weet A-line dress not to long ago. A good friend of mine asked me if i knew how to make these.....and well YEP i do. :o) I learned to make these for my daughter cause i wasn't gonna pay $40 or $50 or more per dress. I love to make these for her because they are so cute on and very versatile with the seasons. In the summer they are great alone and in the fall and winter they look super cute with a peter pan collar top with long sleeves and tights or ruffle pants! AND you know me....i love anything monogrammable. Well i guess i kinda gave away my "TIP". But in case you missed it. My tip for today is something for stretching your little girls wardrobe. These little A-line dresses can last your little darling several seasons. First it is a dress for spring and summer and possibly fall. Then as your girl grows it turns into a top and just pair it with some ruffle pants or jeans. :)

Movie Monday ~

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a glorious weekend! :o)

We got a few things done around the house, did some shopping, watched a decent movie, dropped off stuff at goodwill and almost finished washing up all our laundry! And this morning i got most of the laundry put away....yippee!! :o)

Speaking of movie....we watched the movie "Moon".

If you like sci-fi this movie is for you. We watched it via Netflix { a parents best friend}. It was definitely NOT what i had in mind but it was good. We watched it after the kiddos went to bed. It did have some language...just a warning if you want to watch.

Yesterday i had a thought cross my mind. It prompted me to think of something that might be good to have around for the hubs. I'm in the process of working on that right now. It is in my head and not on paper yet but it IS in the works. Once i get it going i will post about it. I think some of you mommies out there might like it. ;)

I am looking for some inspiration. Any mom out there with a little boy? How did you celebrate your little guys first birthday? I have a couple of ideas but my head is racing. I'm not big on BIG birthdays. I like small, simple, family and friends. I like to focus on the child ...not a show. Know what i mean? So please tell me about your little mans big day! :-D