Kitchen update

I am working on the final touches--well, semi-final, to my kitchen. I am hoping to post the "after" pictures on Friday. Just to remind you, here is where we started. Actually, when we started out in the house 7 years ago, the cabinets were dark brown, the faux brick backsplash was peachyish with black faux soot marks???? and the floor was cream linoleum. I don't remember the light which means it was so bad that it was the first thing to go. The first color I painted the kitchen was red. And I painted the cabinets white. I loved the red, but with the yellow counters, it just gave me a McDonald's vibe. Then I painted the walls the ugliest shade of yellow you can imagine to match the counters. So, we are actually on our third reincarnation of the kitchen!

Controlling Car Chaos

Check out Julie's great idea over at Tattered Threads and Willing Hands. She made a little car organizer. It is such a practical, simple idea and I just LOVE it! With a summer full of baseball games coming up, we really do LIVE in our car. I am determined to be more auto-organized this year and this is going to be one of the first things I do to make that happen. I sure do love bloggers and their great ideas!

GOTCHA!

Do you know someone who is adopting from China--or really, anywhere? My friends, Angie and Jody, have a great idea for you. Check it out at Lil' Bow Peeps. And even if you aren't adopting, they have ADORABLE hair bows and accessories. I'm saying, if I had a girl.....she would have a GINORMOUS bow on her pretty little head everyday!

Key Lime Cove

As a little surprise for the boys, we went to Key Lime Cove in Gurnee yesterday. We also went to the Rainforest Cafe. I HIGHLY recommend Key Lime Cove if you are in the Chicago area. We have been to several indoor waterparks and this one was by far and away the best. It is new which is probably one of the reasons, but it is so clean and lovely. There were tons of staff to help out wherever you needed and TONS of stuff for the kids to do even when they weren't in the water. Honestly, a waterpark is wasted on Parker and Jack because they won't go down slides. We rode the lazy river 128 times. I don't actually know if it was that many, but it felt like it. Unfortunately, last night, Parker started complaining about his throat. Today, it got much worse and he actually wanted to go to the doctor. So, for the first time in his life, he has strep. He is still miserable, but hopefully the meds will kick in and take care of that. And, note to self, don't ever schedule a weekend getaway on the first weekend of the NCAA basketball tournament. Not if I want Travis to actually participate in our family activities anyway.

Banner

I know my blog banner is messed up. I'm working on it.

Good buys!

I had been wanting a mirror for my kitchen and I was going to try to wait until garage sale season but then I found this one at TJ Maxx.
It was marked down to $10 because of a crack in the frame.

I think I can put some wood putty on that and fix it right up. It's a really nice mirror with beveled glass. Well, it's not super nice seeing how it was only $15 to begin with, but I like it's bulk

These are all my deals from Hobby Lobby today. Their clearance was 90% off! That's like shopping at a garage sale! All of this together was just under $25.00 You can't really tell in the picture, but it's all pretty large-scale stuff. I think I'm most excited about the fringed pillows. I will be covering the pillow part and keeping the fringe. They were originally $50 EACH! YIPES! Of course, Hobby Lobby always has them on sale for 50% off, so you would have gotten them for $25 each. But I paid $5 for each of them. The fringe alone, would have cost me more than that. Jack insisted on buying the fleur de lis thing because, "Dr. Clark has them in his office." O.K. It is growing on me. I will likely be painting most of this stuff--definitely the red urn. I love the shape but it's too bright. It's metal so my boys can't break it!

It runs in the family

We were definitely raised with a can-do spirit. Why buy it if you can make it yourself!? There is a fabulous, and I mean FABULOUS store near my sister called Three French Hens. We made a quick visit last weekend. I would have liked to stayed longer but we had the crew with us which makes lingering very difficult. I have to add, though, that the owners of the store are very, very welcoming to children. They give them a cup of animal crackers and make you feel like it won't matter if your kid breaks something. That's very gracious of them, don't you think? Anyway, Tracy spied this flower arrangement and fell in love with everything except the price tag of $300.00 (which is actually pretty darn reasonable for an arrangement of this size) but, why buy it if you can make it!? So, she made a version that fit her table a little better. IT'S AWESOME! Don't you think!? I think she did a great job. She still spent quit a bit and that's with 1/2 off flowers and such but she did great!

Lil' Bow Peeps

If you are going to the Hearts At Home conference this weekend, be sure to look for this sign. It's the one I made for Angie and Jody. It is much cuter in person and it is HUGE--24 x 48! They started a business called Lil' Bow Peeps and they make the cutest hair bows and accessories. If I had a little girl, I would have one of their bows on her everyday!

The doctor's office

Just some random pictures of the boys playing outside on one of the only nice days we've had in the past 4 months.



-Jack had his kindergarten physical today. I forgot how very, very unpleasant that experience is for both my kid and me. Finger prick, TB test, and 3 shots. Yuck. I hate that look they give you when they are screaming in agony. It looks like, "Why are you holding me down and letting these people do this to me!?" Jack's little heart was just broken and it crushed me. I came closer to crying today at the doctor's office since the very first time Parker got a shot 7 1/2 years ago. It also made me send up a prayer of strength and comfort for all those mommy's and daddy's who have sick children who must endure this kind of event on a daily basis. On the bright side, this is the first time Jack has been to the doctor since his 3rd birthday. We are very blessed that neither of our kids has been sick (aside from an occasional cold/upset tummy) in well over a year. Trust me, I know how very blessed we are! I should add that normally I take my kids for a yearly visit to the doctor for a check-up. However, I skipped it last year with Jack because his birthday is in February which seems to be the height of cootie season and no way was I taking my healthy kid to the cootie-filled doctor office. By the way, he is in the 75th percantile in height and weight! That is just nuts! He is so skinny you can see his ribs!
-We aren't all that healthy, though, because as Parker was heading out the door for his ride to the bus stop, he said, "I think I'm going to throw up." And ran to the bathroom and did. No school for him today. He's had a little bit of a fever but other than being a little mopey, he seems fine.
-I told Jack he could buy whichever Lego he wanted at Target after the whole shot experience. Of course, he picked a big one. A big, expensive one. I cringed, but chalked it up to a sort of co-pay. He earned it, the poor little guy!
-I'm painting a big sign that will be at the Hearts At Home Conference this weekend and I'm pretty excited. Even though no one will know I painted it.
-My kitchen is almost complete and I will post pictures when it's done. It's close, I just need to make some final decisions.

Doughnutty Fun

Picture borrowed from here.

I just saw the most adorable thing at Rhoda's Southern Hospitality blog. Her guest blogger says that you always remember the plates you grew up eating on. I think that's fairly true. I actually remember serving dishes more than the plates!? But that's beside the point. Anyway, her everyday dishes have a kind of rainbow pattern around the rim and she uses them specifically because she wants her kids to remember that happy pattern. How sweet! Dang, I use plain white plates. Sorry boys. I made these little doughnuts last night too. Sooooooo easy and fun. Next time I do them I think I will make glaze instead of the cinnamon sugar. Don't get me wrong, these were great, but I want to see how a glaze works. I would also only dip one side in butter--one side is plenty! Yummy! And Parker and Jack LOVED them.

Dollar Tree Validation

This is Eddie Ross. He was on Design Star or another show like that (didn't win) and I stumbled upon his blog recently. Check it out HERE. I didn't watch the show he was on, but I did see a commercial and he appeared to be an overbearing jerk (it could have been the editing). However, anyone who is willing to shop Dollar Tree and Goodwill to outfit a beautiful table is all right with me. I was already a big believer in Dollar Tree, but it's nice to see that someone who actually knows what they are doing thinks so too!

Allstate, Jack's room and a sleepover

I love Allstate Insurance commercials. Their tag line is "that's our stand". Right now they are running one called "Back to Basics" and I love it. You can see it HERE, just click on "Back to Basics." They pull my heartstrings. However, I used to work for a personal injury attorney and one of the worst cases of insurance company abuse I've remember was committed by Allstate. We had a client who was a little old lady--about 75 years old, I believe. She was just driving along a main road one day when someone on a side road blew a stop sign and broadsided her. She broke her arm. The other driver was insured by Allstate who said that this little old lady was partially at fault so they would only be paying a portion of her car repairs and medical bills. They wanted something like a 60/40 split! Their reasoning was that in a phone interview, our client said that she didn't even see that other driver coming. Well, why would she!? The other driver was on a side road! I can't remember how that case ended but I'm pretty sure that her insurance ended up footing some of the bill--though I'm sure it wasn't the 40% that Allstate wanted. I learned a lot at that job. Some good and some bad.

Jack's room was clean for about 5 minutes before his birthday party so I took some pictures. He has informed me that he needs a big kid room now because he is 5. I don't know why he cares because he sleeps in the top bunk in Parker's room. I don't want to give up my last trace of little kid stuff! By the way, the castle poster by the bed is Jack's addition to the decor. ***edited*** Yep, this is the poster from the Eyewitness book. I'm tellin' ya', they LOVE those books!



We hosted our very first sleepover last night and it was a big success. NO bickering or fighting at all! Parker's buddy, Drew, came over and they did a great job of including Jack which was one of my concerns going into this. Drew has 2 older brothers so I think he is very sensitive to the needs of the "little brother." Whenever he is around, my own two kids don't even fight! Anyhoo, they didn't go to bed until 11:30 and now Parker is a whiny, crying brat. I wonder if he would take a nap!?

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!