Have I Told You Lately?

Have I told you lately that I love you?

I LOVE my pantry.  I just pulled everything out of it to repaint my shelves (I didn't poly them the first time and things have stuck)  I FINALLY got everything put back away after being piled all over my kitchen for days.  I was just reminded how much I love having that space.  The best thing I have done in this house so far.

Subway Art?

Subway art is everywhere right now. I decided to give it a try too. This is my second attempt, the first was me painstakingly cutting out stencils and stenciling on a canvas. This did not work so well. I had a lot of paint bleeding and it just didn't turn out, which was sad cause I think it would have been really cute. Who knows I may revisit it one day and try to fix it. In the mean time I will settle for only printables. Here is what I came up with today. Nothing great, but for 10 minutes of playing around it isn't bad either. I am sure the more I mess with it the more I can figure out. Here is a glimpse of the first attempt

Tuesday Thirteen

1.  My kids have been in school 5 of the past 39 days.  Granted some of those days are weekends, but with Christmas break beginning at 11:30am on December 17th, we were out of town the week of Jan 10th when they were to go back to school, Jan 17th was MLK day so no school and the 21st a snow day!  Wow.  I would have loved to have had this amount of time off when I was a kid.

2.  During all that time (including when we were out of town for over a week) they only missed 2 days of school due to snow days the week we were gone.  This makes Mykenzie VERY happy because she didn't have a ton of make up homework to do.

3.  If you haven't gathered from the above posts, we have had a lot of snow here!  After the snow we have here already this year and the snow from our Ohio trip, my kids have seen more snow in the past couple of weeks than they have in their entire lives!

4.  Our water heater broke... joy.  Good news, we went and bought a new one and Travis put it in himself. Saved us a bundle!

5.  Finally bought something I have been wanting... This means it is project time!  Stay tuned ;)

6.  Mykenzie's last basketball game was this weekend.  She played great!  She hustled for the ball.  Was on top of her girls while on defense, grabbed a rebound, stole a ball to run it down the court, and took 3 shots.  So happy that she finally seemed to be in the game!  After that game I am sad to see it end, if it kept going she could continue to get better.  I am going to find her a basketball camp for this summer

7.  Kaylee has decided to play soccer.  Haven't signed her up yet, it will be interesting.

8.  Both of the girls have new friends.  They are there own little look alike American Girl dolls.  They carry them around and brush their hair and love them to pieces.  Hope it continues and they don't just end up as one of the toys they beg for, play with for a week and then forget about.

9.  I am currently doing a secret sister with some friends of mine.  This is something like the 4th year I have done it.  I seriously love it!  I love the thrill of running up to my sister's house, hoping that I don't get caught to leave her something that I know will make her smile.  I love opening my mailbox and finding a little something other than bills waiting for me.  Knowing someone is thinking about you can turn your whole day around.

10.  I haven't read a book since October.  I need to make that happen. Problem is I need to find one that I am really excited about reading.  Once that happens I will get back in the groove.  I guess that means I am looking for some suggestions.

11.  I have BIG plans for this week.  I have that project I mentioned in #5 that will take a lot of time but I also have several other things on my list as well.  Lets just say my new saw will get a workout this week!  yay!  I'm so excited.  Everything works so much better in my head so hopefully it all turns out in real life!  One thing that I wanted to do was repaint my pantry shelves and poly them, got that done.  So nice to have one thing checked off my mile long list of home projects.

12.  My fantastic friend Chandra got my sewing machine to work!  Hopefully I can use it a couple of times before I manage to break it again ;)  I have some plans to give that thing a workout too

13.  Kaylee was Good Citizen for this past 9 weeks!!  She is so excited.  She is still so innocent and filled with wonder and joy over everything.  I will be so sad when that goes away.   Mykenzie was also acknowledged for not getting any checks again this 9 weeks and is once again in the no check club.  Both girls did great on their report cards too.  We are so lucky to have these girls, and we are so proud of them both!

Makin' It Monday

Want a quick and easy project just in time for Valentine's Day?  Here ya go!  All you need is a wire hanger and some burlap cut into strips.  This project took all of 10 minutes to make.  Super easy and quick, what could be better?  Oh yeah, it is kinda cute too

Makin' It Monday

Travis and I put this together a couple of months ago.  These are his dad's medals that he earned during the Vietnam War.  Tony gave these all to Travis in June when we were in Ohio visiting.  We brought the shadow box back with us when we visited him for Thanksgiving and he really liked it.  It is now hanging in our loft with the addition of 3 of the shell casings (one for Travis and one for each of our girls) from the 21 gun salute at his funeral.  His mother didn't even know that he had all of these.  He didn't talk about it, but that first one in the box, that is his bronze star.  

Sadness in our Family

My father in law Anthony Bolin passed away on January 6th.  He fought a long hard battle and lived longer than many people thought he would.  Our home is filled with sadness that he is gone, relief that he is no longer suffering,  and happiness he has been a part of our lives over the past several years.  Thank you Tony for moving forward and forging a relationship with Travis.  Thank you for being a caring and loving grandpa to my girls.  We will all miss you.

Tuesday Thirteen

1.  The girls are still out of school.  The first week went by pretty quickly because we were still in Christmas prep and excitement mode.  Last week was a mixture, so days seem to drag on forever while others flew by.  This week I have a feeling is just going to drag.  They are done.  They are ready to go back and not be stuck with just each other all day.  It is going to take forever to get to Monday.

2.  Christmas decorations were taken down on Sunday.  Now once again everyone around the country is going through withdraws because the houses seem sooo empty.  Of course I don't want to put my same ol' stuff up again.  It has been the same for 2 years and I am ready for a change.  Sadly my budget isn't going to allow it so I am going to see what I can do with the stuff I currently have.  Maybe I can move stuff around and pull off a change...

3.  Cami got a hair cut.  A much needed hair cut.  I love how she looks when it is done but man I hate paying for it every 6 weeks!

4.  I am going to start calling my dog Julio.  If you can figure out why then I know you have the same guilty pleasure as me ;)

5.  I added some more flooring to my attic yesterday.  It is fantastic!  Less than 1 sheet of plywood made a world of difference.  I see more coming in the future.

6.  We have finally caught up to technology and got a Blue Ray player.  Well technically Travis got a Blue Ray...  is it bad that I don't notice that much of a difference.

7.  I spent the entire day cleaning my downstairs.... it still isn't finished.  I must say though I am happy to have my house back.  My decorations aren't what I want them to be right now but I am liking how clean my house seems without all the Christmas clutter.  I love the way Christmas decor and lights warm up the house.  Now that they are gone I am seriously ready for Spring to warm up my house.

8.  I am ready to do some serious spring cleaning!  I have cleaned out a couple of kitchen drawers and cabinets, and the drawers in my living room tables.  What a difference to open a beautiful, clean organized drawer!  Lots more to go.

9.  Called and sat on hold for 30 minutes today to find out why it is my Flex spending card company is questioning 2 charges from our account.  The first... Children's Heart, the second Murfreesboro Medical Clinic.  What?  Lady was super rude.  I have the statements and receipts for both; however, one of them doesn't have the patient name.  GRRR.  Now I have to go and get a copy to send in before they decide to cancel my Flex account.  I have 2 weeks.  Don't get me wrong it is plenty of time for me in my current situation.  If I were not lucky enough to be in my situation though.  I don't know, I just think it is wrong.

10.  I'm working on my bucket list.  Looking forward to crossing some things off that list.

11.  Winter breaking has been spoiling me.  I am not sure how I am going to go back to getting up so early again next week.  I haven't been waking up until after 8 this whole time!  Fantastic!

12.  Travis got an iPad for Christmas which means I get his hand me down Kindle.  It is on my list of things to do to figure out how to use it.  I never wanted one.  I love the feel of a book in my hands.  BUT, you can buy new releases cheaper on the kindle....  I guess I am going to give it a try.  It will not replace my love of a nice hard back book in my hands though.

13.  We are now down to a couple of days left for winter break.  I am trying to figure out what we are going to do to have fun the rest of the week.  Mykenzie's BFF is spending the night tonight and we are all going bowling in the morning.  I want to take the girls to see the new Narnia movie this week too.  Other than that I'm not sure, I am sure we can come up with something though.

Makin' It Monday

I am going to use another project from Mykenzie's room for this weeks Makin' It Monday post.

After flipping through a Pottery Barn Kids catalog I came across a message board that I knew would be perfect for Mykenzie's new room.  (it is no longer on their website)  They ran around $240 on sale when I was looking.  There was absolutely no freaking way I was paying that much!  Insanity.  Instead I picked out 2 fabrics, some cork 12x12 squares, a sheet of dry erase board cut into 12x12 squares, a quarter inch thick sheet of birch, and a couple pieces of molding.

I used spray adhesive to attach the fabric to the cork squares and I used velcro strip to attach each square to the birch incase we ever wanted to change it out.  I love how it turned out and now that she has had it in her room for 6 months, I have to say it was a good project cause she uses it all the time.  It was super easy to make and cost a LOT less than $240!  Thanks for the inspiration though Pottery Barn Kids

Product Endorsement Time

When the Magic Eraser came out, it changed my life.  I told everyone that would listen, including random strangers in the cleaning aisle.  I cannot imagine cleaning my bathtub or kitchen sink without it.  I use the magic eraser about every day.


Now I have another cleaning product that has made my life better and I must share it with you all.  I have had issues with my dishwasher leaving a nasty soapy film on my dishes.  I replaced my dishwasher because of this.  This led to fights with our Home Warranty company, the purchase of a new dishwasher which leaked and ruined my floor, and finally getting a new one that worked...for a while.  Now it is back, the hardwater build up on my dishes.  About 5 months ago I discovered a product that made me never have to worry again about my clean dishes being dirty.  Lemi Shine is the name of it.  It is about $3.50 and you can find it at Target and Publix so my guess it would be about anywhere.  Here are some photo's to show the difference.  The first I washed without Lemi Shine cause I ran out, the other I stuck them back in the dishwasher and rewashed using Lemi Shine.  Seriously a fantastic product.

1.1.11

The date makes it seem like it is a new beginning this new year.  We are starting back at one.  I for one am looking forward to the new year.  2010 has been a total roller coaster ride!  We have has some wonderful things come about this year but there were a lot of difficult decisions made and then of course the ups and downs with my father inlaw's health.  The new year is not going to start well for our family as my FIL is home again from another trip to the hospital where he has been since Christmas Eve, unfortunately he is not home alone, today hospice is there too.  The doctors are saying he has less than a month left here with us on earth.  This time will be difficult for our family.  Travis has accepted the situation and knows its coming but it will still be really hard.  No matter what you do or think I don't think anything can prepare a person for this.

We are hoping that since the year is gonna start really bad that it only can get better from there.  I would think that would be the worst thing that happens all year (knock on wood)
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We rang in the new year last night with new friends.  We had a really good time, it was the only time that we have been in town for New Year's Eve and away from the girls.  They love their babysitter though and had fun partying with her and probably getting away with much more than they would have with us.

Every year we make them and every year we break them but here is my list of resolutions for the year 2011

*  Take my medicine EVERY day.  I am going to do everything I can not to get sick again cause it sucks

*  Learn my camera.  I'm not going to be a pro photog but I want to be able to adjust it to get my school gym pics

*  Home Improvement projects.  I have a list of stuff I want to get done around this house.

*  Have some Ana White building days.  She has some cute things and I am gonna build them

*  Get the scrapbooks caught up

*  Figure out the damn sewing machine

*  Meet with a school advisor and make a plan

*  Set up an Etsy store with Chandra

*  Work a few craft shows

*  Build on my current relationships

*  Get a cleaning schedule going so it isn't so much work all at once

*  Finish transferring VHS to DVD's

*  Scan old photo's to hard drive and disks

There are definitely some repeats on this list, but I am going to do them.  This is my year.  Maybe with all this work I will lose a few inches off my ass too ;)

Sewing project

Yeah.  I know right?  A sewing project?  Well before you get too excited, no I did not learn how to use my sewing machine.  I tried.  I tried and tried, then right before I threw the damn thing out the window, I gave up.  Decided to hand sew instead since no one would be able to see the seams anyhow.

I searched online to find a cute camera bag for the new camera.  Um, yeah.  They are $100+  I almost broke down and ordered a cute one from a lady on etsy until I read the fine print that she wouldn't be making any of her orders until mid February.... whatever!  I am not leaving my camera stuck in the box till then.  I decided to take matters into my own hands for now.  I pulled out an old purse from the closet and went to town.  I just so happen to have material (that I technically bought to make some pillows for my bedroom) and some foam (that I technically bought for a baby doll bed mattress that I am planning to make in the future) so I made my own darn camera bag!

Old purse...

 Inside (wish it zipped shut but will do for now)

 Padded bottom and sides

 Padded spacers

 drawstring bag

To hold my second lens

The inside of my purse now.  There is still space to throw in my wallet and cell phone to just use one bag when needed :)  

Tuesday Thirteen~ Christmas edition *with photos*

  1.   Traditions:  Travis took Christmas Eve off this year which was great cause we got to do some of our traditions earlier in the day.  We continued our Gingerbread house tradition again this year but made it a gingerbread tree instead.  A tradition I have had since I was little is to make a gingerbread shaped sugar cookie.  Each one in our family had one, which we decorated and then ate on Christmas morning for breakfast.  We have cut out the eating it for breakfast part but the decorating of our own gingerbread man continues.

Mykenzie's gingerbread man

Kaylee's gingerbread man

Travis' gingerbread man

My gingerbread woman~ oh yeah, she is wearing heels

2.  Another tradition we have is to open gifts from family that have been mailed to us on Christmas eve.  It is a way to have the family get together even when we are 500 miles away.  

 These 2 pictures are of them opening the gift from their Grandpa Bolin.  It is a joint gift, babysitting Mama for the Wii.  They were pretty excited :)

3.  Right before bed we set out milk and cookies for Santa and read Twas the Night Before Christmas.  Before we know it Santa comes!

4.  Kaylee woke me up at 2:30 AM to let me know that Santa had come.  Sneaky Santa always leaves a Candy Cane on their bedroom door knobs to let them know he has been there.  After sending her back to bed I woke up again at 4:30 to giggling.  I go into Kaylee's room to find Travis and her chatting.  What!  I sent them both back to bed.  We finally got up about 7 to see what surprises Santa left.

5.  Both girls decided that they wanted American Girl dolls this year.  They decided to use the money their Uncle Mike and Grandma sent this year to buy them.  We ordered them on Tuesday night and Mykenzie's arrived in the mail on Friday (Christmas Eve)  Sadly Kaylee's is on backorder so she will get it mid January.  Gives her something to look forward too.

6.  They both wanted Monster High dolls this year too.  Between the 2 of them I think they have them all.  They have been asking for them since August!!

7.  Buying for Mykenzie this year was easy and hard at the same time.  Easy cause I knew what she wanted.  Hard cause everything she wanted cost a pretty penny.  It isn't the 3D tv she asked for but I think it will do ;)

8.  Kaylee's "big" gift that she wanted this year was a camera.  I'm not sure why exactly.  She does like to take pictures and does so all the time with her DSi or my camera ect.  I guess there has been too many other things to play with that the camera has been lost in the shuffle.  Look at that smile though, I think she will come around and be snapping pics again in no time.

9.  I am a hypocrite.  I know.  It is terrible.  But here we are, my 10 year old child now has her very own cell phone.  Yep.  I told you I was a hypocrite!  I swore she would not have one till she was 12.  In my defense...  It is really more for my benefit.  She goes off with her friends and I have no idea where she is and have no way to get ahold of her.  That is not cool.  The straw that broke the camel's back was when she went off with Grayson (her BFF) and was gone from 3:30 Saturday afternoon and I still hadn't heard from her on Sunday at 5.  Then I found out she was dropped off at the skating rink.  I am very much so not ok with that.  Hence the cell phone.  It is pay as you go and there are limitations on it.  She has not tried to use it yet other than to "test" it out and call me :)  She feels so grown up though!

10.  The girls are not the only ones that got cool new gadgets and toys this year.  The Man got  a Blue Ray player with a few movies (I can't work the damn thing to save my life).  He also got an iPad.  A pretty good day for him I'd say, especially since this year his stuff was actually a surprise, which is a small gift to me as well cause I never get to surprise him cause he can alway seem to figure his gifts out. 

11.  With our Christmas money we got a surround sound thingy for the living room.  (yeah, I can't work that either)  The Man is enjoying it though and for the past 2 nights we have watched movies using it and it makes him happy.

12.  What you want to know what I got for Christmas too?  Well I'm not going to lie, I feel kinda spoiled.  I totally LOVE my gifts though.  

 This my friends is my new camera.  I L. O. V. E.  love it!  I have a LOT to learn but right now I am happy and in love in auto focus!  It is so pretty!!  

This was my surprise.  I picked out my camera but didn't know I was getting this...

 Oh yeah!  It is a saw.  It is a saw that seems to be able to do anything.  January 10th it will be getting a workout as I have a project I have been putting off.  This is the perfect thing to get me motivated!  It's called a Blade Runner, google it :)

13.  I just went though a lot of stress and a call to customer support to get the photos taken with my new camera onto this computer...  what I should have been doing... cleaning my house, doing laundry, showering, making dinner, ect.  Instead all I did today was a project (see tomorrow's post), play with my camera, and this blog post.  Travis will be thrilled when he gets home tonight.  Ok, it doesn't look this bad anymore... but it isn't good either ;)