The circus came to town!

My niece and nephew's preschool summer camp is doing a circus themed open house type thing so my sister made these cupcakes to bring. I bought the Hello Cupcake book knowing that she would love it. I think these turned out AWESOME! I can't wait to see what she tries next!

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Random thoughts with Sara

Sorry to be a blog slacker. I always want to post pictures with my posts and I don't really have any new ones.

- I have been trying to put the finishing touches on Parker's "new" room. It is completely painted but I need to hang stuff back up on the wall. My goal is to have pictures on here tomorrow or Wednesday.

- I started priming my basement fireplace and then hit a standstill. It is still quite ugly even with paint. I need to get the actual paint it is going to be and get on with it.

- I am itching to start my bedroom makeover too, but I figure I probably should finish up some of my other project before I start a new one.

- My sister and I are going to have a garage sale next week. She has been bringing stuff up for the past few months. I have no need to go to outside garage sales for a while because I am going to shop her stuff. She has awesome stuff!

- My countertops are still wonderful and showing no signs of being a mistake.

- I can't believe that my kids summer vacation is almost half over. We have done anything really cool yet. As always, it has to wait until baseball is over.

- We have decided to go to Holiday World in Indiana for our vacation. I went there when I was a kid and it was still Santa Claus land. I threw up on a ride.

- I got a bike today! The last time I got a bike, I was 12 years old. I'm sure I haven't ridden one since I got my driver's license. It's true, you never forget how to ride a bike.

- Did I mention that it's PINK?! I try to pink up my life any chance I get since we are an all-boy family.

- I'm wanting to start a new 4th of July tradition this year, but I haven't decided what it should be.

Here are some pictures of Parker and Jack painting some pottery pieces at a birthday party. Jack picked a treasure chest and Parker picked a snake (which looks a little like a green pile of poo in this picture.)

The Tale of My Engagement Ring

Several months ago, I lost my engagement ring which looks very much like this one. I was crushed. I looked down at my hand in the late afternoon and the ring was gone. I had no idea when it went missing. We had been at the Children's Museum that day and I was pretty sure it must have fallen off then. I cried and cried and cried some more when I told Travis. The worst part of it is that it had fallen off several times before that and I knew I should have had it resized. I just never got around to it. (It fit perfectly, then I broke my arm in a car wreck and I had to have it cut off then when they fixed it, it was bigger and so was I, then I lost weight and it was very loose.) To add insult to injury, I never got the rider on our insurance policy so it wasn't insured. Stupid, dumb mistake. I looked everywhere I could think of, but pretty much gave up any hope of every finding it. I even got a replacement ring which I do love--but I feel a little guilty every time I look at it even though it's gorgeous. Fast forward to this morning when I'm drinking my coffee and Jack comes in and says, "I found your engagement wing." OH. MY. GOSH!!! He did. He found it. He said, "I had to spin it awound to see if it was your wing--and it was." He found it in one of his dresser drawers. It must have fallen off when I was putting away clothes. (Which is pretty funny because I usually just pile them on any flat surface I can find.) I started crying and then so did little Jack. He totally understood how magical it was that he found it. He called Daddy and told him too. I'm so glad that I made such a big hairy deal about how sad I was about losing the ring so that Jack knew what it was when he found it! This is definitely an answered prayer. And a PSA to insure your ring and get it sized if its loose!

East Peoria Fun

Travis' 13 and Under team had a tournament in East Peoria this weekend. It was very, very humid and stormy. We only played 2 games and went 1-1. However, Parker and Jack got to spend tons of time in the hotel pool which is one of their favorite things to do. Several of the families were going to the "Burger Barge" and Parker was dying to go. It was a total dive and I wasn't loving the idea so Parker says, "Let's just go. It's probably one of those places with lots of stuff on the walls that we can look at so we won't get bored." He must have heard me say that a time or two. We did go and it was a dive and the food was wonderful! They have every kind of burger you can imagine. I had one with fried portabello mushrooms and some kind of spicy sauce. It was heavenly.

Our hotel was right next to the Par-A-Dice riverboat casino and Parker and Jack couldn't wrap their brains around the fact the cruise ship doesn't move. They wanted to go, but also couldn't understand how it is not entertainment for a 7 year old and 5 year old!

Anyway, in spite of the bad weather, we had a great time. We also met my dear friend, Maureen and her two little boys for lunch. Of course, I didn't take any pictures because I'm dumb that way. However, we are in agreement that the funnel cake fries at Maid-Rite are to die for!

Rainout....again.

Parker's ball team gets rained out practically every week. This baseball season has been crazy with the rain. My poor husband is in charge of scheduling for the whole league so every rainout is like a giant puzzle of trying to reschedule games. There are close to 100 teams and at least 10 or more games every night so it is a huge task to make everyone happy. Remember to be nice to the volunteers who make things like Little League baseball possible for everyone else. That's my PSA for the day. :-)

"Master" Bedroom Tour

Our bedroom is clean for a short time so I thought I would take some pictures. I'm planning on painting and changing some other things, so I needed photos before it looks different. I was kind of going for a Tuscan look--sort of--but not really--but kind of. I don't love it which is why it's going to be changed on a micro-budget. The comforter is from Walmart and was sort of an impulse buy.

I bought this painting at Hobby Lobby on clearance for around $20.00. I do like it--just maybe not here. I made my headboard--just a leftover piece of plywood covered with batting and fabric. There is a pattern on it but you can't really sit it here. It will be getting a makover too.
The large throw pillow is one of the 8 that came with my couch and loveseat. 4 of them have been in storage bags under the couch because that is just too darn many pillows to have sitting out. So, it got new life when I covered it using Nester's pillow mistreatment method. The other two were on mega-clearance from Hobby Lobby and they got the same mistreatment.

This is the one and only window in the room. The door is to the teeny, tiny bathroom. The whole room is very small. I used to have a sleigh bed, but I finally had to take it down because it made the walkway between the foot of the bed and the dresser pretty narrow. I loved that bed.

Here is a closeup of the window mistreatments. Lots of hot glue on this one.

The top of the armoire. These are all Hobby Lobby clearance finds and the picture frame and the urn are still awaiting their makeover.

Garage Sale Finds

Every Monday, Rhoda at Southern Hospitality hosts a Thrifty Treasures party. I love it because it shows me what to look for at garage sales. These parties have opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of someone elses "junk"!
My garage sales finds today include:

wreath with ugly yellow bow: $1.00 Still has the $35.00 tag on it though I doubt that anyone actually paid that for it.

lamp: 50 cents. It works but it needs a shot of spray paint.

8 Eric Carle books for a total of 80 cents.

Ozzie Smith folder for Parker 25 cents.

bread pan: 10 cents

T-shirt for me: $1.00

tote bag: $1.00 I was needing something smallish to take to ball games and this one is waterproof--even better!

Total: $4.65

Nothing super amazing, but I didn't spend much either! The boys are totally into garage sale-ing now and want to keep going and going. Unfortunately, there aren't always a whole lot around these parts. I should mention that Parker bought a Star Wars crayola set for $3.00 and Jack got some Legos for $1.00 and a stuffed dog for 50 cents.

There's a reason for the season at Hobby Lobby

I am feeling the need to defend Hobby Lobby which is one of my most favorite places on earth. If you have been there lately, you might notice that they have begun putting Christmas stuff out. Yipes, you might think. It's June! What in the world are they thinking!? The past few times I have been there I have heard customers commenting about how ridiculous it is to have Christmas stuff out already. Well, they are a craft store and they are thinking that their customers might want to make Christmas crafts. In my store, they put out Christmas ribbon, picks, greenery and craft items--not trees and ornaments. If you are someone who makes Christmas crafts to sell, summer is when you are making your stuff. It stinks when you can't find anything Christmasy until fall which is when the Christmas craft show season begins. There is no time frame on when crafts can be made and Hobby Lobby is, first and foremost, a craft store. Don't diss my Hobby Lobby! ;-)

Blue Room Blues

Almost since I painted it blue 6 years ago, I have hated the color of Parker's room. I am just not a blue kind of person. Like it, but I don't really want to look at it everyday. The biggest problem is how very, very dark it is. We don't get a whole lot of light in our house anyway and this just compounds the problem. We are finally going to paint it. Parker wanted to paint it camo but I talked him into just one of the lighter shades in the camo palet. We will also be swapping out some of the artwork to something more befitting an almost 8 year old who acts more like an almost 13 year old--unless he's acting like an almost 3 year old. Hopefully by the end of the week, he will have a new, bright room!

By the way, if you have a couple of kids, what are their sleeping arrangements? Parker and Jack each have their own rooms, but Jack sleeps in the top bunk in Parker's room. Another friend's boys have their own rooms, but they both sleep together in the little one's queen size bed. (So sweet, I think!) I don't care where they sleep, just so they sleep!

This is a shoe bag filled with those weird little trinkets that my boys always want to keep but they have no place or purpose. There are rocks, shells, press passes, baseball gloves, caution tape---only in a boys room!

Photographing Dali's Birthday Party

I took pictures at a girly-girl birthday party today. I am so not a photographer. I did a little studying last night, but camera language is foreign to me so I just don't know what I'm doing. However, my rule of thumb is that if you take enough pictures, you will likely get a few keepers.


Little Miss Dali was determined not to smile but after she was attacked by ticklers, she finally gave it up and I got some nice pictures of a happy birthday girl. Angie did all their hair and they also got their nails done.




Still holding out on me and determined not to smile.

Ah, ha. Those little tickling hands got some smiles. She was all smiles after this.



The whole glamourous group.


Dali and her mommy, Jody who has a whole lot more faith in my picture-taking ability than I do.


Dali and the lovely Miss Ashlyn who belongs to my friend Angie.


That's the birthday girl shot I was looking for all day!

I'm Linking You Up!

Other than the blogs I have listed on my sidebar, there are quite a few others that I visit daily or often.


Kelly's Korner : She is so Southern and so darn sweet. She has a brand new baby girl and I am enjoying her delight in the joys of having a new baby. She also has a lot of style using a budget and getting things at places like Walmart and Target.


Endless Possibilities : She paints personalized canvas' and I get a ton of ideas here. She also has 4 kids under 4 and I am amazed that she can get anything done, let alone her artwork!


Just A Girl : She does a lot of decorating using reinvented garage sale and goodwill finds. She is also very funny.


A Soft Place To Land : More good decorating ideas. She often rounds up good ideas from other blogs too.


My life....Just not the road I expected : She takes the most amazing photographs of her kids. I love how her candid pictures--like her kids eating their lunch--look like portraits.


The Lettered Cottage : More amazing decorating ideas on a budget. I love her do-it-yourself attitude.


Be Different....Act Normal : My friend Michelle introduced this one to me. I love that she has multiple posts in one day--it's like a treat every time I sit down at the computer. She links us to ideas about decorating, cooking, party ideas, mommy stuff.......all the things I love.


Tip Junkie : Tons of tips about everything moms need to know. I got most of my Teacher Appreciation Week ideas here.


Thrifty Decor Chick : Just like the name says, she is thrifty and she likes to decorate. My kind of gal!

Fabulessly Frugal : This one is all about getting really good deals. It's mostly about how to maximize coupons. A lot of it doesn't work for me because we have different grocery stores, but it has opened my eyes to things like Register Rewards at Walgreens and printing coupons off the internet.


The Pioneer Woman : This one is so good. She cooks, she takes pictures and she is very funny. I love her sense of humor and that she doesn't take herself to seriously. I have gotten some wonderful, easy recipes off of here and I love her step-by-step pictures of how to put them together.


So that is just a little round-up of some of my favorites---there are tons more than this, though! It is so easy to get caught up in the blog vortex. You go to one blog and click on a link, then another and another and you can scarcely remember where you started. It's one of my most favorite things in the world! :-) Be sure to check some of these gals out!

Sincerely, Sara

I just added a signature box and couldn't wait to try it out. You can get lots of tips about how to customize your blog on www.thecutestblogontheblock.com.

Little Artists

After seeing Angie and I work on our canvas' for Teacher Appreciation Week, Parker has wanted a canvas to paint for his room. A BIG one. Michael's had them on sale this week, so I got a 2 pack and let them go to town. Parker fquickly found out that it's hard to get what you see in your head onto your canvas and that it can get really old, really quick.

Jack is not naked. Well, not completely. He has underwear on. The minute we are in our house, he strips down to his underwear. I am concerned that being in clothing for 7 hours of school next year will be the end of him! He is more of an abstract artist.

Parker had me write "Cardinals" and he intends to paint it using camoflauge. I think he finished the C and the A.

The are painting on the floor of our hideously messy and trashed sunroom which will soon be cleared of most of the toys so that we can actually walk around in there. YIPES!!!!