Wall Art

I was finally able to finish this project and convince my husband to get it hung up for me.

Modge podged craft paper onto dollar tree canvas, edged all the sides with ribbon, used my cricuit to cut out the letters, modge podged them onto the canvas. Then added the turqiouse ribbon to hang it with.

Busy Week

So my website for work is up! (Shelton's) There are tons of kinks to be worked out, lots more new projects in the making, and some repositioning to be going on.

Kinzey turns two tomorrow!

My first test in biology is on Thursday, and since it's the first one, I'm not sure what to expect. I have been told that this particular prof is pretty hard and you have to really pay attention to the little things because that's what is on the test. woo. Notice my lack of sarcasm.

Kinzey's birthday party is on Sunday. I have a TON to do before then (clean the house top to bottom, create decorations, gather meal ingrediants, buy a present, etc.)

If I am not on here the next few days (meaning posting, replying to comments, etc.) please forgive me. Have a great week and see you soon or sooner!

Weekend

This post is a little wordy, so apologies in advance.

I want to go over my weekend and discuss a few things. First off, my husband and I are doing The Love Dare. If you haven't heard about it here's an excerpt from their site:


"The Love Dare:
 Explores the blessings and challenges of godly marriage.
 Examines the difference between the world’s design for marriage and God’s original intention (contract vs. covenant).
 Teaches how to fight the fires of conflict effectively and respectfully (clean fighting).
 Teaches couples to lead their hearts rather than allowing their hearts to lead them, reinforcing the “practice” of choosing love – even when it isn’t the instinctive response."

 

We're on day six. I think overall we are doing great. Yesterday could have been a tough one (we had to tell each other three things that the other does to irritate us), but we did this after church so we were fully recharged and full of God's will.

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Today, however has been horrid. Not because of The Love Dare, it's just a bad Monday morning. Kinzey was a handful this morning only wanting to be held and not ready to wake up. Laundry wasn't completed so we had to dig for school clothes. I hadn't packed my work stuff up last night, so I was trying to remember everything. Aaron and I were okay, but I don't think either of us slept the way we needed. I wanted a restart to the day. Of course, that is impossible so I really just want to go back to bed now.

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Sidetracked there a bit. Sorry. This weekend was pretty great. I had to work Friday and Saturday, but still had plenty of time to spend with my family. We had family night Friday and just hung out around the house. Saturday, Aaron's parents took the kids for the night, but they waited until after I was home so I could say goodbye to everyone. Then Aaron and I did a little Hobby Lobby 50% off shopping, dressed up and went on a double date to Razoo's.

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We followed that with a trip to Yogurt Story:

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Yum! I put Cookie Crisp, Cap'n Crunch, and brownie bits into New York Style Cheesecake yogurt. Delish!
We browsed around Borders and then it was movie time! After we all (meaning Whitney and I) agreed to see Easy A. It was pretty funny, and I do not think you should take children to see it. Emma Stone is great though as is Lisa Kudrow in this movie.

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That was the end to our date night, but not our weekend. Church was great on Sunday and it made it easy to go without the kids to drop off and pick up (not that I don't love taking them to church). Which we followed with a little bit of clothes shopping for me (I was in desperate need of new undergarments), lunch at Mc Allister's, and then watching the second half of the Cowboy game with the in-laws, of which I slept through. Then home to eat leftovers, clean up a teeny tiny bit, and get everyone ready for and off to bed. I should have been less lazy and cleaned up a bit more, moved the laundry around, packed bags, and set out school clothes (I did set out my work clothes). Hopefully, with this information, tonight with be more constructive and tomorrow morning will be more of a breeze.

Tot School Shapes

I printed out Confessions of  a Homeschooler's Play-doh Shape Mats. Kinzey loves them! Unfortunely, I wasn't able to get any pictures of us actually using them, yet. She likes to tell me what color each shape is and for some (spongebob based) reason she calls the square ""pants". Nice.

She does really well, but it seems the triangle is her favorite. I'll try and get pictures tomorrow to add to this post. We didn't use any play-doh or other tactile with it yet. We just went over them and I had her repeat what they were to me. Then I gave her the mats and asked her to find the different shape. She did really well. She likes the "purple diamond" because she insisted on telling me what color it was before moving on to the next shape.

I also printed the alphabet from cohs.  It will most likely end up being Kinzey's placemat. I did show her each letter and we sang our ABC's and then went over each letter and had her repeat it back to me. She struggles with "Q", "V", and "L." But she was trying to eat at the same time lol.

Have you printed up these activities? Were you able to get pictures? Can I see? Put a link in the comments so I can visit! Thanks!

Trying to be a Proverbs 31 wife...

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

These were amazing and took maybe thirty minutes all together.

Ingrediants:
One Can of Cream of Chicken Soup
2 Cups of Cooked Chicken (however you want or canned)
6 Tablespoons of Cream Cheese (can be lowfat, I used whipped my favorite!)
1 Can of Biscuits (We buy Kroger brand big flaky with butter)

Gather Ingredients, set oven to 350. In a mixing bowl stir together the first four ingredients. I use a wooden spoon. If you're using regular cream cheese you may want to let it sit out a bit to soften before mixing.

I use a cookie sheet with aluminum foil on it. No sprays. Take each biscuit and peel it in half (since I used the flaky kind it makes this part easier)

Make sure you spread the biscuits or even roll them out a bit. the more space you have the more you can fill them up.  My first few were a bit too small.

They kept getting bigger, lol. But the last ones were the best size. After all are full, place the tray inside of the oven. Bake about ten minutes but watch the bottom of the biscuits so they don't burn!

Some will ooze but that's okay!

Picky eaters love this! I served it with a vinaigrette salad.

Linking up with these parties!

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To Do Dreams

To get myself a little more organized I came up with a to do list for the entire house. These are the things I came up with, and now I can batten down and figure out where I can save money by doing things myself (i.e. bed skirt, headboard, most of the artwork) and where I need to start putting money towards (New linens all around). What's on your master to do list for your home makeover?

Tablescape dreams

Sunny yellow placemats

Makemytable

Aqua table runner:

Darling Occasions

Believe it or not my plates come from Dollar Tree. Love it!

(Dollar Tree didn't have them on their website anymore, but these are the plates and bowls I have)
That Old House

Kainkain
Would love these with grey embroidery.

Quinn Williams Design
This one is not in my budget so it would have to be a diy or a goodwill find...

Salt and Pepper Shakers

Brain Tees

Almost forgot napkin rings!

To Do

I finally hung a new picture above the bed, cleaned up all the clothes, dismanlted the play pen, picked up the trash and dishes and our bedroom is a little more livable. Today I'll be dusting, windexing, finishing up our last name signs (no tutorial just a finished project sorry), and rearranging just a few things. After picture coming soon of that horrible bedroom!

I am not perfect, obviously. I wish I could be a stay at home mom and spend more time with my children and my home. Instead I bust my butt at school and work and spend the little amount of energy I have left just trying to get by at home. I know first-hand that sahm's do A LOT of work to keep up with everything and everyone. I also think that each and every one knows they are lucky that they do not have to work to help support their family, even when money is tight.

Thank you for your comment Heather. Hopefully I will make some sort of decision about a headboard.

This month is Kinzey's second birthday. I will be preparing for that as well as dealing with the first full month of school, finally launching my work website live, and trying to develop my portfolio website (TwistedLetter Designs). If anyone has time in the next two-three weeks to help make the decorations, clean large "hot spots," or just help me narrow my ideas down feel free to comment, call, email, text. Oh and go check out my contact me page as I've added a cute twitter button and contact form.

Trust in love

Friend Makin Monday

What are you doing for Labor Day?

Well, we just got back home from my hubby's family reunion. We have a few things on our to do list, but right now we are being lazy and almost napping. I'm catching up on my blog reading and loading pictures.

Is anyone else having issues with blogger today? Or well yesterday? I couldn't get any images to load or post entries. We also had game night last night with Whitney, Brandon, and Nathan. Love playing Cranium. We did boys vs. girls. Girls won one and boys won one. Aaron made pulled pork tacos and Whit and Nathan brought over "Spanish Mexican Rice" according to Whitney. It was all great. Hopefully every Monday will be game night but it all just depends on school schedules all around.

Since we've been gone all weekend the house is a horrid mess so I'm off to clean up the wreckage.

Linking up here.

No judging...

I've been asked how I keep up with it all (school, work, kids, tot school , crafts, cleaning, etc.)

I don't. It's hard and sometimes I have to figure out where I can cut corners and "make it up" later on. Most of the time, it's the cleaning that gets left till later. My to do list this week? Besides the normal dishes, laundry, sweep, mop, bathrooms, etc. I have this:

To clue you in, I have laundry piled up in a playpen, bags of donation clothes sitting around, jewelry, shoes, and purses strewn around from some little girl I know. Dirty clothes and dishes sitting around, unmade bed without a headboard or a bed skirt,  dusty dressers, fingerprints on mirrors, this sanctuary is a mad house!

So what should I do with it? Besides boarding up the windows and calling it unlivable lol. Changing up the wall hangings, making over the entertainment center, and fabrications some sort of headboard are on my want to do list...but what will I get done?

Oh and I was supposed to get this post up on Friday. Blame the battery.

Oh No! Jar

So those bottles, remember them?

Yeha I had kind of forgotten them too. Mostly because I had come to despise them.

I have around nine. One has been transformed.

I taped off the edges of two sides, and chose some colors to match:

Concoct a way to dry the sides without the bottom touching the crayola covered bottle. Excuse the glass of wine.

Let your assistant help out too!

Apply the vinyl lettering you choose, or paint by hand.

Choose your wording for the sides. We went with "No Bad: Behaviour, actions, words" and "Yes to good: Behaviour, Manners, Deeds"

You put in a quarter when you do something wrong. You get $.20 a chore. Not my best. Oh and wait this thing:

My husband cut a whole in to allow for the money to pass through and will be pained white.

On a side note, yes I bought my domain name, and I've reached 30 followers!

Following these parties!

Date Night

We're settling in to eat some taco salads (with turkey meat) and watch Fireproof.


What are your plans for date night?

Sewing Basics

So I noticed that I make stuff has asked for help with her serger. I have a different problem.


I own a sewing machine. Have since Christmas of last year. It's yet to be used. I took home ec in grade school (seventh or eighth) and "learned" how to sew. My mom and grandmother both know how to sew. I've even looked up sewing classes.

Is there a way I can learn this on my own at home? What would be the first step? How do I not break my sewing machine? What would be the best first project to try? I have downloaded dozens of patters but don't want to mess up the fabric I buy (or repurpose) waste the thread, or break the machine. How much time should I devote to the first "lesson?"

Any help would be nice!

Linking up to these parties.