When you wake a grouchy bear….

See this smiling face? He was an absolute BEAR this morning. I hated to send him to school to inflict his grouchiness on everyone there. Today was the first day of ISAT’s (Illinois Standards Achievement Test) in the 3rd grade. They prep for this all year and our school always has OUTSTANDING results. They give parents tips like make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep, a healthy breakfast, etc. I think I failed the parent portion of the test! Hopefully the little bear performs better than I did on my part!

Oh, and if you happen to see him—please, for your own safety and mine—do not mention the fact that he was featured on my blog!

Signs of Spring

The weather last week was pretty nice. The snow melted leaving behind lots and lots of mud. Which ended up in my house.

Up the stairs…..

Down the hall……

Into the bathroom.

Yes. I flipped out. I just stood with my mouth hanging open for a while. I felt like crying. I wasn’t even sure where to begin! I vacuumed first which actually picked up most of it. Then we got out the spray bottle which took up the rest. The little blonde boy is the guilty party. The dark haired big brother was kind enough to help out with the clean-up (primarily because the shooting action of a spray bottle is similar to the shooting action of a gun and he would never turn down the chance to shoot something.)

Welcome back spring….even with all your mud.

WIWW #7

I’m linking with What I Wore Wednesday at the The Pleated Poppy today. Come, join the fun!

It just about killed me to wear red shoes with this outfit. I mean, I love them, but my instinct said to wear black flats. But one of the things I love on other people is when they aren’t matchy-matchy. Old habits die hard! I look like I am sporting a bouffant, but I swear it’s just the angle of the picture—at least I hope so!

Cardigan: Target

Shirt: Walmart

skinny jeans & shoes: Old Navy

scarf: made by me If you want to know how I made it, you can see my “Scarfy Secret Tutorial.”

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I wore pretty much the same outfit last week but no one saw me that day (other than everyone who visited my blog) and I changed it up a little this week with different pants and a belt.

sweater: Target

tank, skinny cargoes and leopard flats: Target

belt: thrifted

scarf (again): made by me

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This falls into the keeping it real category. See that spot on my shirt? Well, I didn’t notice it until I saw these pictures. It’s just water, so it dried out and we were good to go.

Cardigan: Target (last year)

shirt: Walmart

jeans: Lee from VF Outlet

shoes: Old Navy

necklace: Forever 21

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I really do love this striped shirt from Walmart! Very versatile.

striped shirt: Walmart

button-up shirt: Target

jeans: JC Penney

shoes: Old Navy

necklace: Forever 21

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I stole this look from Thursday Threads, but I’m sure I’ve seen lots of other WIWWers do the same look. I just thought there was something so cute about the plaid shirt underneath a simple tee. (Although I’m not sure the pimped out Braves (high school mascot) shirt counts as simple!)

plaid shirt and black flats: Target

jeans: JC Penney (these are going into the giveaway pile because they are humongous and unflattering)

pimped out Braves shirt: gifted (along with all her other Braves paraphernalia) from my sweet friend Denise who moved away from Braves territory and no longer needed the shirt (sob).

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Welcome back crappy weather and welcome back boots. I love these skinny cargos as witnessed by the fact that I have worn them twice this week. Every time I wear them with boots, I get a Hogan’s Heroes kind of feeling. I wear ‘em anyway though.

denim jacket: Old Navy but I got it at a consignment store

shirt and boots: Target

skinny cargos: Old Navy

scarf (again): made by me

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Straight up stole this look from Nicky at Momma Gets Real. I love her style! I had my dream sub job today—ART! And I’m going back for more tomorrow.

Cardigan, trouser jeans and shoes: Target

Shirt: Old Navy

tank: who cares….they sell them everywhere

belt: probably Walmart----really, really old

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That’s what I wore this week. Thanks for stopping by!

My Scarfy “Secret”

I wear this gray “scarf” a lot. It’s simple, it’s not bulky or long or annoying to me. It matches my favorite boots. It’s turned into my little go-to accessory. The funny thing is, it isn’t really a scarf at all. It’s basically a fabric remnant.

I bought one yard of t-shirt fabric from Hobby Lobby. (Using a 40% off coupon—of course—which made it less than $4.00) I cut it in half lengthwise and gave the other half to my friend Angie. You really need to use t-shirt type cotton because it doesn’t fray. The sides will curl up a bit. That is a.o.k.

Look, it’s a scarf now! The problem is, it’s a little short to be a real scarf.

So I turned it into an “infinity” scarf. Tie the two ends together. Try to leave your leftover ends as short as possible.

Then I just tuck the leftover ends into the the knot. It may take you a few attempts. Just shove them wherever there is room and wherever they will stay put. Aww….look….it’s a pretty little knotty rosette.

Normally, at this point, I would put the scarf around my neck with the knot in the back and then loop it back over my head so that the knot is now in front….however, for today, we are doing it on the floor.

In a nice little double loop.

Meet my bestie—the giant safety pin. She is a necessity with all my scarves. (I pin my scarves to my shirts because I can’t stand to have them in my way.) Her purpose here is to pin the knot to the loops of the scarf. The knot is pretty heavy so this helps the scarf keep it’s shape and prevent it from dragging one loop down and strangling you with the other loop.

Here is the back. I pinned it through BOTH loops of the scarf. Then I just pull it over my head and situate. And you are good to go!

b.a. from do.think.wear.see.love.dream has a fun and helpful little tutorial about scarves that inspired me to tie the ends together in the first place. Genius!

Here are a few other times I’ve worn it. See….a little too short to be an actual scarf. It worked better when I I just looped it around my neck and didn’t tie it and then pinned it together with my bestie and covered the pinning with the flower.

Pom Pom Seniors

Is it pom pom or pom pon? Regardless, I was hired to paint frames for the seniors on the squad. Each girl was asked their favorite colors. Clearly, bright colors are popular! I felt a whole lot of pressure on these because I know how picky teenage girls can be! Hopefully they will like them because I enjoyed painting them. (And hopefully none of them read my blog because they haven’t received them yet.)

WIWW #6

I’m linking with What I Wore Wednesday at the The Pleated Poppy today. Come, join the fun!

I just noticed that I wore a scarf every day this week. I do love them (especially when they are pinned to my shirt and out of my way!) They dress up an outfit so much.

I have nothing to say other than this is an awful picture. I love these jeans because I usually think they are very flattering and make me look thin. Definitely not the case in this picture!

cardigan & boots: Target

tank & scarf: Walmart

jeans: Silver (consignment store)

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Today was Jack’s Valentine’s Day party at school. I am the room-mom so I felt compelled to dress for the occasion. By the way, I’m not leaning—my camera sure was though!

ruffle cardigan: Sears (last year on clearance)

shirt: Walmart

belt: old. very old.

jeans: Old Navy

boots: Target

scarf: made by me

new blonde hair: Laura Stonecipher at Attitudes Salon

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Today was Jack’s birthday party. This is after the party. I am worn out. Not loving how that red flower looks now that I see it in the photo. I like the flower, just not with this. Hmmm…..

shirt: Kohl’s

tank & scarf: Walmart

jeans: Sears

boots: Clark’s from Bergner’s

flower: made by me

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Here we are again with the blurry pictures. This was Valentine’s Day and again, I felt the need to dress for the occasion. It was in the 40’s today which felt like a virtual heat wave so I broke out the flats!

striped shirt: Forever 21

white button-up: Steve & Barry’s

black skinny cargos & red flats: Old Navy

pink scarf: Walmart

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This is all about the shoes. My little leopard flats that I coveted all winter until they went on clearance. Finally, the weather is cooperating enough for me to wear them!

Cardigan: Target

skinny jeans & shoes: Old Navy

white T-shirt: Gordman’s

scarf: made by me

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That is most of what I wore this week. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday Jack and Abraham!

Jack and Abraham Lincoln are celebrating their birthday today.  It’s Jack’s 7th and Abe’s 202nd.  It was Jack’s request to have an Abe Lincoln birthday theme.  Thank goodness we live in Central Illinois which is home to all things Abe Lincoln! 

Cupcakes for our family party.

My cousin Shawna had this Abe “action figure” and sent it to Jack knowing that he would love it. 

Coloring Abe pages with friends.

Building rafts and log cabins with Lincoln logs (pretzel sticks).   Lunch—everything is better on a stick! 

I came out this morning and found that Jack had set up all this new presents and some old favorites in front of the TV.  He also built a pretzel rod cabin.

Jack and Abraham.

A friend of mine makes our cakes and they taste even better than they look!

My parents have had this Lincoln bust forever and we are borrowing it for the day.

Pin the nose on Abe.  Jack made the first attempt.

Getting ready to blow out seven candles—wearing his new fedora and shades that he wanted so he can do the robot.  What an odd little character.