Guest Post from a Crazy Family Member

Why I love Easter. I know the good Christian girl in me should say “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ”. And don’t misunderstand or misinterpret. I understand and I want my kids to understand the true meaning of Easter just like the true meaning behind other holidays. But, the kid in me has to admit my favorite part is EASTER EGG Hunts! Hunting Easter eggs is the most fun part of Easter for kids. Hiding the eggs for the kids to find is fun for the parents. But NOT hiding the eggs and telling the kids you did and to keep looking harder.. .. that is fun for everyone. Happy Easter !! and Happy Hiding/Hunting.

Pandamania

You have got to love ebay. $.99 plus $4.00 shipping!! Loving my Panda Hat!!

Officially my CAT Dog

I love my baby boy Emmitt. He is the perfect cat. He is such a DO TA DO, doesn't have a care in the world. I can even put him in clothes!!! He's going to become my new favorite accessory. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh don't tell the BF, but I'm going to get him a TUTU and Blue hair wig. Who knew cats where more fun than dogs? I can't wait for Halloween to be able to dress him up.

Yes they are spoiled as well. Check out their newest cat tree. It goes from floor to ceiling. The best part, it was only $30 at Walmart!!

Curly or Straight....Curly or Straight.

Which hair style of mine do you think looks better? What do you think of the color, as I dyed it red




CURLY???????????



STRAIGHT????????

I POPPED my Podginity!!!!

Finally after months and months of talking about Modge Podge, I actually created a craft to where I needed to use. I love the stuff and am addicted to it like a Dope Feign is to crack. I want to Modge Podge EVERYTHING. This is the coolest stuff EVER!!

We are still in the process of painting The Boy's bathroom. It has been primed and the first coat has been put on the walls. I really couldn't find any art to which I liked to place in his bathroom, so I decided to get a little creative, with the help of JESSICA OVER AT OH SO HAPPY TOGETHER and her textured wall art. Yes you've probably seen the link at the top of my blog.

While I was pulling out my paints, I found some wooden plaques to which I was saving to make chalkboards. I instantly was inspired by a painting in my house and thought hmmmm, I can make that.

It's funny how with a few items such as those shown above, and a really cheap budget, $1.20 for the wood board, the paint was $.38 cents each and the tape we had left over from painting. You can create such divine art such as:


Um YES I MADE THOSE! All three of them. My favorite is the squares. The BF's favorite is the lines. I like the circles, I just think it's missing something. These were super easy to paint. I Modge Podged them once they were fully dry. They were very dull looking and looked unfinished before the Modge Podge. I'm telling you this stuff is amazing.



Oh YEAH! A perfect match.

After I had made the three paintings above I just wanted to make more. So I went to Michaels and bought 3 canvas's for $5.99 and some modeling paste. I was ready to re-create Jessica's Textured art.

Once you have the modeling paste spread out all over your canvas (I used a steak knife) you want to let it dry completely. I love this stuff as much as I love the Modge Podge. This was super easy and I'm going to make another one for the downstairs bathroom we've already re-modeled.

Once it is dry, I just squirted the paint colors (Same exact ones I used in the paintings) all over the board. I then used a paintbrush to spread the paint around.

Isn't it beautiful? I love it!! Once the paint was completely dry, I Modge Podged this as well. It now has a beautiful glossy shine!

Here are all 4 pieces patiently awaiting to be hung in The Boy's bathroom. I will be using those new command strips to hang them on the walls. No more nails!!

Ahh Modge Podge.

Let me tell you a few things about it, that I wish I had known so long ago.

1) This stuff simple ROCKS.

2) Do NOT use a foam brush to apply this. The foam came off the brush and little black spots started to dry on my paintings. Apply with a paint brush.

3) This looks like glue, is sticky like glue and comes out white like glue. I thought I ruined my paintings.

4) Have no fear, it drys CLEAR!

This is a must have for any painting project. It's really cheap at Michael's, $5.99 and I had a 40% off coupon.

Home Made Chinese Food!!

We all know how expensive going out to dinner can be, right? Well I decided to make my own Chinese food at home, using the Panda Express sauces I found at my local WINCO Food Mart. I was surprised at how easy this was to make. It was super cheap and tasted pretty darn good, if I don't mind tooting my own horn. You all know I don't mind doing that.

I decided to make Orange Chicken and Kung Pao chicken. YUM. The chicken was only $5 for over 2lbs of chicken. Steal. The Veggies were pretty cheap as well and the sauce I believe was only $3.99. The peanuts were the most expensive part of the meal, at $4.99.

Chop up all the veggies into similar sized chunks. I just eyeballed the amount and figured I'd chop up more if the chicken was too overwhelming. This was actually perfect. I used 1 half of each of the peppers, a few stalks of the green onion, 1 cucumber and a hand full of peanuts.

I made the orange chicken first because this is a super easy quick dish to make. I just took eggs and flour and breaded the chicken. Threw it in a hot pan with EVOO and cooked it. When it was just about cooked I added some green onions and the Panda Express Sauce. Super quick, Super easy, Super YUMM!

Next up was the Kung Pao Chicken. I placed the cut up veggies into a skillet (same one I used for the orange chicken, I washed it don't worry) until the veggies begin to get soft. Remove the veggies and cook up your cut up chicken pieces.

Once the chicken is cooked add the veggies back into the pan, add your Panda Express Kung Pao Sauce and the peanuts. Heat through!

There you have it! A yummy Chinese food dinner without the expense of a restaurant. I purchased frozen pot stickers and egg rolls from Raleys. Hey it's a work night and I'll take all the help I can get from the store. LOL I also made some plain white rice to go with the meal. I was too lazy to make fried rice.

What Chinese dishes do you like to make?

OMG OMG OMG............WHOOOOOOOO

HE GOT IT!!!

DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR.

Today was The Boy's award ceramony at his school for Honor Roll. Not only did he make Honor Roll, he was also awarded with Distinguished Scholar, I told him all A's = Straight A's even if it's a minus! He was also awarded the BUG award, for bringing his grades up. It was a great morning for The Boy! I wish I could have been there.

His Dad took this photo, it's not the best, however the best he could do with a camera phone!

You have to be kidding me!!

I'll keep this short and sweet.

I've quickly come to learn that if you want something done, you have to just do it yourself.

Seriously, unbelievable, it's a wonder how some people can keep a job!!!

Happy St. Patricks Day, Ya'll

Now go eat your corned beef and cabbage!

Don't Underestimate It.........

It was report card week. I am so proud of The Boy. He received straight A's!! Well according to him he received all A's and two A minuses. There is a difference he says. All A's means you are distinguished scholar. He got two A minuses, therefore he is not a distinguished scholar.

WELL DARN IT, HE IS IN MY BOOK!!

You see this is a pretty big deal, considering The Boy was on the verge of failing the 4th grade. He had A's on his tests, however he had all in completes on all of his homework. I didn't get it. He did his homework, he just never turned it in. When you asked him why, he simply replied, "I don't know?"

So this is a huge accomplishment to go from all in completes to all A's.

So in lieu of this accomplishment he was rewarded with this:

Yes, The BF bought him his first golf bag!

Before his lesson on Saturday we went to the golfing range. I totally underestimated this. It's a lot harder than it appears. If you ask The Boy how I did, he'd reply, "HORRIBLE!" I did hit it 100 yards though, once!


Check out his perfect form. Perfect!


Me, not so much! I refuse to give up. This was my first time, I need practice. Yes, don't laugh I am wearing flip flops to the golfing range. So what!!

After the golfing range we had some time left for The Boy to work on his putting!

The BF is researching getting himself some clubs of his own. He's trying to talk everyone he knows into going golfing with him. I can't wait for our first round of golf.

Sneak Peak

After one full day of tiling, The Boys are rockin and rollin, I want to share a sneak peak with you all. It's gettting done way faster than I had expected.

They plan to grout on Monday, which means Wed or Thursday we should be able to start painting. Hopefully by next Sunday it will be completed if not earlier.

Future Hall of Famer?? I Don't think So!

We can pretend though. We all know that The BF is a die hard Dallas Cowboys fan. If you didn't know that well, yeah....

He named our bird (Who sadly past away last week after 4 yrs) Romo. After Tony Romo of course.

He named our newest Kitten Emmitt. After Emmitt Smith, who's now in the Hall of Fame. It was like, The BF's tribute to Emmitt Smith.

Being the Cowboys fan that he is, me I'm a Seahawks fan. It only seem appropriate that Emmitt have his own Cowboys Pillow.

So being the creative crafter that I am, I decided to make Emmitt the pillow he so deserves. This literally took me maybe 5 minutes to make. It was my first pillow. Can someone tell me how to cleanly sew the pillow closed after you stuff it. I ran it through the sewing machine as best I could, and yeah up close it doesn't look so pretty.

The results, a super happy Emmitt, who loves his new pillow and a super jealous Chloe who needs one of her own. Not a Cowboys one, but something pink and furry, because she is a princess.

I know the pillow is ginormous. He's a really long kitten so it's actually going to be perfect once he gets bigger.

He loves it so much. He was laying in front of the fireplace on it for hours last night. My cute little purring boy!

Introducing the T-POW!!! Patent Pending

I know I have been in a crafting funk. I've also been really busy and have not had the time to craft even if I wanted to.

Until I saw THIS! Again for the 100th time.

IF YOU HAVE A SMALL CHILD OR A KITTEN, THEN YOU WILL NEED THIS!

IF YOU HAVE A BATHROOM WITH A TOILET, THEN YOU WILL WANT THIS!

Introducing the T-POW!

A custom designed decorative toilet paper protector. Do you see those decorative buttons? Oh yeah that's so the T-POW fits around the TP as the roll gets smaller and smaller. I kept these buttons plain because I didn't want to take aways from the fabric. The buttons could be a great way to "fancy" it up!


YOU KNOW YOU WANT ONE TOO! It looks so good in the new bathroom. I hope to make curtains with the same fabric. I LOVE the fabric. It matches perfectly!!


My neighbor Dori assisted me with the design. I almost used Velcro instead of making this pretty loop to go over the buttons.


I'm even going to make one for The Boy's bathroom. His buttons are green. Fancy! This picture hardly does the fabric or the buttons justice. It's the perfect color green.


The T-POW is super easy to make and doesn't take a lot of time. I'm making a Dallas Cowboy's one for my Co-Worker. I've already got orders placed. Would you use the T-POW?

HELP, I'm in dire need of some INSPIRATION

I have not crafted in what seems like FOREVER! I feel as if I've lost my MOJO, my inspiration. I need your help in finding me some super easy, really fun and cool craft blogs for me to follow.


I wish I was creative enough to think up crafty crafts on my own, however I'm just not that cool.



Come on, Inspire me. I triple dog dare you!

The Boy's Bathroom Remodel

Our 2nd bathroom remodel will begin this Friday. The BF and Brian will be hard at work early in the morning removing the old linoleum, laying out backer board and then........let the tiling begin.

Here's a sneak peak at what the bathroom looks like now.



The cat accessories are here because this is currently where Baby Boy Emmitt stays when we are not home. He's just about big enough to be moved into our bedroom with Chloe.

The paint color is Palmetto, which is a light olive green color. Here are some of the accessories I picked out.

I'm loving the shower curtain rings. I found them on the clearance shelf at Walmart. Talk about random and lucky at how the colors match perfectly.



We chose a lighter color tile, then what we are using for the downstairs bathroom, hallway and kitchen. We also went with a similar color grout, Mushroom. We used sterling silver grout for the downstairs bathroom and hallway, as well as when we do the kitchen. We will be using this lighter tile for both of the bathrooms upstairs. I do not believe we will be using the accent boarder in this bathroom. I'd like to use it, however The BF thinks it will be too much. The boarder, however will be used in the master bathroom.

I cannot wait for it to be completed.

WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME!

Hello SITSta's and Blogging Buddies!!!

Please come in. Take off your jacket, sit back, relax and stay awhile. For I have the honor of being today's featured SITS blogger. This is one blog you don't want to miss out on!

SITS, what's that you say? Well The Secret Is in The Sauce. Yes the sauciness of women bloggers all over the world gathering together on one communal site to share their stories of passion, grace, fatigue, love and well you get the idea.

Through SITS I have virtually met a lot of great women who have taught me a thing or two about this whole blogging world. Like for example:

1) Hump Day - Yeah I remember when I first started commenting on the SITS site and every Wed people would wish each other a happy Hump Day. I was so confused (dirty pictures running through my twisted little brain.) Until another SITSta informed me that it means Happy Wed! That you've made it over the Hump of the week and are one step closer to the weekend.

2) MeMe - A what? Are we warming up our singing voices here? This is a fun little game we play on specific days, created randomly by you, the blogger. An example would be something like Wordless Wednesday where you post a photo and other bloggers comment on what they think it's about or post funny captions.

3) Blog Awards - Seriously, you can actually win an award for writing about your life? People actually care about what you have to say and acknowledge you through awards? Oh yeah! It feels good too, when you are awarded your first reward. An acceptance speech is definitely recommended. After that, they just start pouring in!

4) Free Loot - OMG, did you know that you can win a ton of free stuff. YUP, just visit other SITSta's who are promoting giveaways. I won't toot my own horn, okay I will and admit I've won a few things here and there and everywhere. Oh yeah and if your blog is popular, companies actually come to you and send you free gifts. Who would have thunk it?

Okay enough about what I've learned since I've found SITS. This is my day, so you know I've got to make it all about ME!!!

Come join me on my adventure...................................

I'm a 32 year old, *cough, cough* I mean 25 year old, single Mom. I have THAT KID, you know the one who accidentally locks himself in the pantry, gets stuck in the baby swings at the park, has a mouth and attitude like a teenager and he's only 9, Kid! We call him, The Boy. Then there's The Boyfriend, We call him, The BF! He does the laundry, loads the dishwasher and washes the cars. Umm Hello, could I have scored a better Man? I don't think so. We have been together for 4 years (wow, this month) and we recently purchased a house together. We are currently in the process of remodeling. 1 Bathroom down, 2 more to go, plus a kitchen. We have 2 kittens, Chloe and Emmitt. I just have one question. How many kittens do you have to have to officially be dubbed " THE CAT LADY"? Kittens are addicting like tattoos. I've been told NO MORE PETS, by both The BF and The Boy. Booo Hooo! I love arts and crafts and enjoy searching your blogs for inspiring ideas. I've recently fallen in love with my slow cooker and am on the search for a way to slow cook a boneless Lamb. Any ideas? I work Full-Time as Senior Accountant and on the side I have my own consulting Accounting business.

So this is my life, in a nut shell, written and exposed for all to see. My journal of sorts. Throughout life we need to learn to sometimes Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, because the grass isn't always greener on the other side and life is never exactly what it seems.

A day in the life of.................

ME!

A typical Saturday usually starts at 6am with a 2hr drive to pick up The Boy. By 9am we are off to Saturday morning bowling.

He had a great 3 games. His average is 89, the first game he bowled 90, then 99, then 105. Perfect progression.

After bowling, which usually ends around 11:30, we typically run errands. You know, the must needed trip to the grocery store and Walmart.

However, today was such a beautiful sunny day, we decided to hang out in the court.

To do a little of this:

Oh no, man down!!!



and a little of this:

He gave up riding because he hurt his wrist when he fell skateboarding.

All while the cats where doing this:

and I was wishing I was doing that:

After a quick dip in the hot tub and change of clothes. The Boy was off to his very first golf lesson. For the next twelve weeks from 4-5:30pm, he'll be off doing this:

Using his brand new golf balls.



While I read my book and stared at this:

Yes that golf course is practically our backyard!

Then it was time for The BF, The Boy and I to see this:

All while looking like this:

The movie, I did not care for. Neither did The BF. The Boy liked it, though. I never really cared for the original cartoon version, so my opinion in this case, I don't think counts.

The night ended with a little of this:

Two of my favorite men!

And of course this: