Fabric, cinnamon rolls and cabinets

Yesterday, Jack and I went over to Champaign to do some shopping. Jack hates shopping--really he hates anything that takes place outside of our home--but he rose to the occasion and was a great shopping buddy. Although he did say more than once, "This is the LAST store we are going to!" Anyway, I have recently become of a student of the design school of THE NESTER and I have been inspired to find yummy, but inexpensive, fabric to add to home in the way of pillows and window "mistreatments." So, Jack and I went to Hancock Fabrics and found some lovely remnants that would look great in my soon to be stylish master bedroom. (Calling it a "master bedroom" seems a little ridiculous considering it's size.) Well, Hancock came through for me. I hit the remnant table which is ordinarily cheap, but yesterday, it was 50% off. I got 2 yards of fabric for $8.50. The first picture is a true representation of the goldy/tanny color. The second one is so you can see the texture. By the way, we went to Hancock and I saw these fabrics and talked myself out of buying them. After lunch, I talked myself back into them and went back. If I hadn't purchased them, I would have been trekking over to Champaign again today!

Doesn't this cinnamon roll look delicious. I made them for the boys this morning. Then I checked it's WW points value. 8 points. For one. I can have 18 in a whole day. I didn't eat it. Dang.
Just to prove that I am, in fact, painting my kitchen cabinets, here is a picture. It is a slow process and the hinges are going to be the end of me. I bought new ones and they are the EXACT same size as the ones I took off. Do my doors shut properly when I replace them? No. Of course not. Why? Just to drive me crazy, I guess. Hopefully the project will be done tomorrow. But I wouldn't count on it.

Jack

The sunroom was actually warm enough to play in yesterday. I peeked out and saw Jack playing quietly by himself. He has always been really good at entertaining himself. Obviously, we have a million toys. Look what he's playing with--the Little People doll house. How sweet. In a year or so, he won't be caught dead playing with that thing. Sad.
He also made his own lunch. Cheetos, red & green tortilla chips, oyster crackers and marshmallows. Mmmmmm.....healthy stuff! Obviously Cheetos were the main course!

Falling apart and Kitchen Re-Do

We are in one of those "our house is falling apart" times of our lives. We need:
-a new dishwasher. (ours has been recalled and we will receive a $150 rebate after we purchase a new one. I suppose that's better than nothing, right?)
-2 new garage door openers (not the remote, the whole thing)
-a new screen door for our front door
-new windows
-I'm scared to have our furnace looked at because I'm afraid they will tell us we need a new one.
We did get a new computer and hopefully it will arrive today. Ours does not have any word processing on it and it's been killing me. It also won't let me leave comments on blogs--also killing me.

On another note--I have started painting my kitchen cabinets black. I'm a little scared because I would swear that the kitchen already looks smaller. I'm hoping it's an optical illusion. Anyway, see this little piece of decorative wood under the cabinet. I hate it. Always have. We had it in our old house and I hated it there too. Lots of people have them. I just hate it. Well, it isn't there anymore. I took the power saw and cut it off. It wasn't pretty and I was just sure I was going to cut my hand off, but I did it. However, I did learn one thing. You should wait until your paint is totally dry before sawing and making tons of sawdust. Oops! I think I managed to take care of that little problem too.

Copy Cat

I saw this idea on another blog, but I read so many of them that I have no idea where it was. If you know, I will gladly give credit where credit is due. (I have more to say on that subject so keep reading.) Anyway, I have had my eye on some cast iron birdies at Hobby Lobby for quite a while but I just didn't want to buy them. I think they would have been $3 each with a coupon, but this is even cheaper. These are from the Dollar Tree and they are resin. I sprayed them with gray primer (which I have on hand) and then painted them with cream acrylic (which I have on hand.) They look almost exactly like the ones I liked originally. And don't they look lovely in my cloche? I'm still trying to find a better home for that thing.



I made this 16 x 20 canvas for Parker's teacher for Valentine's Day. I completely drew inpiration from HERE.

I wrapped it up in bright pink paper and put what I think is the cutest little owl ever on it. The owl is copied from all of the super cute, but too girly for my boys,stuff they had at Target this year for Valentine's Day.

So, you can see that I do a lot of copying. I try to give credit where it's due but I don't always remember where I've seen things. Anyway, I'm a crafter, so I rarely buy anything crafty that I think I can make myself. I also wouldn't start selling something that is copied from someone else--at least I wouldn't go on line and open a shop selling it. I would, however, make them for myself and for gifts. If you are my kid's teacher, it is highly likely that you will get something that I have made that has been inspired by something I saw on someone's amazing blog. That's one of my favorite things about blogs--the sharing of fabulous ideas!

Birthday Pictures

Jack taking a birthday phone call.
Getting ready to blow out candles on his birthday cupcake.
At his birthday party with his Indian cake. He said he wanted "lots of green grass and a river and sand."

Jack Jack Attack turns Five

My baby turned 5 yesterday. Sigh. I cannot believe he will be going to kindergarten in 6 short months. Where does time go!? If you knew me 5 years ago, you might recall that Jack was a very difficult baby. He had reflux and if he was awake (which was most of the time) he was either crying or projectile vomiting. I thought he was going to be the end of me. Luckily, we got him figured out and now he is something special. He is the best little brother a kid could ask for. He would do anything for Parker and misses him like crazy all day. He tells me he loves me at least 50 times a day. He has awesome kissy lips and gives the best kisses to his mommy. We are sooooooo blessed to have this awesome little boy in our lives!

Lego builders

One of Parker's favorite things to do is build a whole fleet of tiny Lego ships. I like to help and can I just tell you that it isn't as easy as it looks! We did some building the other night.
Jack got in on the action too. These are the best things I've seen him build. Usually he builds a "wall" or a "square."
I had to take a picture of Jack playing Xbox. He is sort of half in an empty storage tub. Weird. And you can see the tornado of a mess that is surrounding him. Both of my kids are like walking tornados--they leave a mess in their path wherever they go!

Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken

***click on the word THIS below and it will take you straight to the recipe

I made THIS last night for dinner and it was a big hit with me and the boys. (Travis rarely eats dinner with us---long story.) Anyway, my kids eat very little "grown-up" food. I do the short-order cook thing with them. Bad parenting? Yes. No doubt about it and I am working on it. Anyway, they loved THIS and I highly recommend it. It sounds strange, but it is sooooo good over rice! I used chicken thighs, but next time I will use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I also used plain white vinegar, but next time I will use apple cider vinegar. Honestly, you gotta try this!
This is the first recipe off this blog that I have done, but I intend to try many others. I love the crockpot!

Baby William

Congratulations to my lovely friend Maureen and her new baby, William Ryan. He was born on Jan. 31st (which was not according to his scheduled arrival on February 3rd.) Maureen is my college roommate and she is now the mother of two precious little boys--just like me! How cool is that!? She is going to kill me for posting this picture, but I think she looks beautiful--especially since she just gave birth to a 9 lb 2 oz. baby!

UGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We HAVE to get a new computer because I'm about ready to throw this one out the window!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How can I share all the everyday nonsense in my life if my computer won't cooperate!?