Weekend Update

I decided to do a weekend/spring break update.

I didn't get everything done that I wanted to over spring break :(

My original list looked like this:

1. Go to Ikea

2.  Plan Xanders birthday party

3.  Have sleepover for Xander (he decided he didn't want one)

4.  Repaint a cabinet (no time)

5.  Repaint kid's bathroom (room was started, hubs will finish this week, hopefully)

6.  Take kids to Skyzone

7.  Finish projects on Pinterest challenge list (might skip one of them)

8.  Blog (no time, nothing to say)

I don't think I did a very good job with my list but it felt like I was busy every day. I wanted some days on my break where I could stay in my jammies but it just didn't happen.

Now for an update:

Here is Eve with her new Kura bed from Ikea:

She loves it and it only took us 3 hours to put it together!

We celebrated Xander's 13th birthday on Friday. He got some new clothes, new soccer shoes, and a replacement cellphone (he broke the screen on his). He is saving all of his money that he received for a new headset for his PS3, so he can talk to his friends while shooting them, haha!!

Saturday I worked on some projects and cleaned the house knowing my break was almost over.

On Saturday and Sunday I got to wear capri's and flip flops, which is amazing considering just 5 days before we had 10.5 inches of snow!!

On Sunday, we went to church, dinner at 2 places, and then I fit in time for blogging and laundry!!

Here's the kids Easter loot:

Little basket is for the dog :)

Gift Ideas for Older Kids

I am going to share my kids Easter gifts to help you with ideas as to what to buy for older kids. Neither of my kids believe in the Easter Bunny anymore :(. These don't have to necessarily be Easter gifts, I think some of them would definitely work for birthdays, Christmas stockings, and end of school year gifts.

Up first is my 13 year old son. He is WAY beyond toys and such so this is what was included in his Easter basket:

Slim Jim's (boys LOVE this crap)

Lindor truffles (all kids love candy)

Reece's eggs (see above)

Gum (see above)

Chocolate bunny (more candy)

Game Stop gift card (boys love video games!!!!)

water gun (you get to squirt your sister)

colored pencils (drawing is fun)

Lego's (his were Doctor Who)

I showed here how I made the bunnies but they included:

Nike flip flops

swim suit

towel

swim mask

Now for Eve's basket, she is 10 and is on the line between toys and not toys.

Cat in the Hat stuffed toy (Kohl's)

Chocolate bunny (more candy)

Now N Laters (see above)

Tootsie Rolls (candy)

Reece's eggs (candy)

Lindor Truffles (candy)

Sidewalk chalk and a holder 

Bubbles

Her toy was a Dalek from Doctor Who that protects your computer. She loves Doctor Who and the Dalek's. We bought ours at Books A Million.

Again, I made the bunnies here, but it included:

Flip flops

Swim suit

towel

Swim mask

Hope this helps you with some ideas on how to buy stuff for kids. Basically, they love candy!!

Pinterest Challenge Week #4

Saturday was my first official day of spring break. I spent it shopping and crafting. I got the kids Easter basket stuff ready and one of the things for their baskets was my next Pinterest Challenge.

The pin I chose for this week was this:

The downside to this pin is that you can't click on it, it basically is a pin that doesn't go anywhere and I hate when that happens. So, basically I had to wing it and hope for the best!

Items needed:

Beach Towel

Swimsuit

Flip Flops

Goggles/Swim Mask

White and Red Pipe Cleaners

Pink Pompom

Googlie Eyes

First I took the tags off of the towel and laid it out how it was folded by manufacturer. 

Towel from Meijer

Then I folded the swimsuit up in the middle of the towel.

Tankini from Justice

Roll towel up and put mask or goggles over the towel to hold it closed.

(My kids will only use masks so I didn't do goggles like the original pin)

Mask from Meijer

Slide flipflops (soles in) on the backside of the towel to make the ears.

Flip flops from Kohl's

Next put the pink pompom in the nose part.

To make whiskers and mouth, take 3 white pipe cleaners and wrap a red (or pink) around to make the mouth. I had to trim some off.

Slide the whiskers/mouth under the nose part of the mask and behind the pompom. Stick on the googlie eyes. The mask will hold it on.

FINAL PRODUCT: 

The mask needs moved up a little.

That one was Eve's. I made one for Xander here:

I moved her mask up. His mask is from Kohl's,

towel from Walmart, and flip flops are Nike.

Back side of both of them.

I am so excited at how these turned out. I hope the kids like them as much as I do. 

What do you think?

It's Spring Break Y'all

Today at 3:15 officially started my spring break and I am super excited!! Mother nature is not sure if she is going to let spring appear yet or not in Indiana.  Today, on my way to work, my thermometer said it was 18 outside, not very springy!! And this is what we have to look forward to on Sunday:

Yep, that's SNOW!!!

So, my spring break is going to start like this:

 And I read online that this was supposed to be a higher temp than normal spring for the Midwest.  If that's the case, then April and May will have to have daily temps of 95. 

We are not those people that plan a Florida trip on spring break (that's what fall break is for). We usually just keep it a low key staycation. 

I did make a to-do list for the upcoming week. Hopefully I can achieve everything on my list.

1. Go to Ikea (approx 2.5 hours away) and purchase:

this bed for Eve:

Which I will then spend a whole day putting it together!

and this vase (for bathroom redo):

I am hoping that's yellow!!

2.  Plan Xander's 13th birthday party.

3.  Have a sleepover on Xander's birthday.

4.  Repaint a cabinet that I have.

5.  Repaint the kids bathroom in yellow, gray, black theme.

Here are some of my ideas from Pinterest:

6. Take kids to Skyzone with the cousins!!

I HATE trampolines (I call them arm breaking machines) so let's hope I don't have a heart attack while worrying about my kids.

7.  Finish the projects in my Pinterest challenge.

8. Blog all of the good crafts, redos, recipes, etc. from the week. 

Bloglovin...please follow me

Well, I made the jump to Bloglovin.

Please click my link to follow me there.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Thanks :)

Pinterest Challenge Week #3

This is my 3rd Pinterest challenge and I can't believe that I am actually keeping with it.

For this weeks challenge I attempted this recipe for banana pudding. Original recipe was a Paula Deen recipe. Here is the original pin:

Original recipe is in the link above but here it is again:
INGREDIENTS:
5 bananas, sliced 3 cups milk 1 box vanilla wafers 2 small boxes instant French Vanilla pudding 1 package cream cheese, softened, 8 oz 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 14 oz 1 container Cool Whip, 12 oz

First line bottom of 13x9 pan with vanilla wafers:

Layer sliced bananas on top of cookies.

Mix softened cream cheese and condensed milk until smooth. Once combined, fold in Cool Whip. Set aside.

Mix with mixer both boxes of pudding and the 3 cups of milk.

Combine pudding mixture and cream cheese mixture. 

Pour mixture over bananas. 

Add more vanilla wafers on top of pudding.

Finally, eat the ENTIRE pan because it is THAT freakin' good!!

Final yumminess:

Xander has already requested this be served on his birthday next week :)

Dear Friday,

Dear Friday,

Thanks for coming, I have missed you!

Dear Cadbury,

Thanks for making these fabulous treats. I must admit, though, that I wish they tasted like liver and onions so I wouldn't eat so many.

Dear Target,

Thanks for the po' mans rack at the front of the store. I found this awesome blue, glittery bunny for $3!!

Dear Samsung,

Thanks for manufacturing awesomeness. We currently own 2 smartphones, 2 TV's, and 1 computer of yours.  Please keep up the good work.

 Dear State of Indiana,

Thanks for requiring my students to take a reading test right in the middle of flu season, allow us no make up dates, and then tell them that if they don't pass it that they might be retained. Nothing like pressure and stress mixed up with illness. Success!!

Dear cable and wi-fi,

I have missed you so much. No cable since September and no wi-fi (except for cell phone hotspot) for several years means that with it's installation today, I will be up all night watching TV and playing on the internet. I'm like a puppy in a squeaky toy factory, I don't know where to look next!! Thank goodness the computer has a 6 hour battery. 

Last but not least:

Dear slumber party,

Thanks for entertaining my baby girl tonight AND next Friday :)

Please help, I'm confused...

I'm a little confused about the goings on in the blogger world.

I have read through Google's website that they are stopping Google Reader in June. No where have I seen that they are closing up GFC.

Why is everyone blogging all this stuff about GFC closing?

Everyone seems to be starting a bloglovin. I have searched for a possibility of GFC closing down and it isn't mentioned anywhere. Where did people find their source?

Thanks for helping clear this up :)

YouTube should be called.....

You-just-wasted-6-hours!!!

Let me first start off by saying that I have somewhat of an obsessive personality. A good example is that if I am reading a really good book, I can't/won't stop reading it. Food, sleep, social interaction are all unimportant when I am reading. I have had many nights staying up until 2 a.m., knowing I have to get up for work at 6 a.m., just because I can't stop reading. I always say just one more page, paragraph, book, etc. 

This brings me to YouTube. I usually avoid it like the Plague, knowing that once I start I can't stop. You start off by looking at a quick video someone linked on Facebook and 6 hours later you are watching music videos from 1988. It's exhausting and you don't even realize that part of your life is gone. It's almost like a time warp, one minute its 5 p.m. and then BAM its 10 p.m.!!!

My Monday night was just like this. I started off by watching The Supernatural Shake that my "friend" Jared Padalecki posted on Facebook and a few hours later finished up by watching a former Disney Cast Member do his "confessions." Ugh!!! I am convinced that the right side bar with the video suggestions is EVIL!!

Here are some of the highlights from my missing Monday:

First up is the Supernatural Shake, a Harlem shake with the cast of Supernatural (Jensen Ackles cracks me up):

Next up is the song "Thrift Store" by Macklemore Feat: Wanz. **Please be aware that there are SEVERAL bad words in this song, please don't play it if you will be offended** It doesn't take away from its awesomeness though!! It makes me laugh because I LOVE the Goodwill!

**Insert about 50 videos here**

After the above 50ish videos, I finished my time warp with Swoozie telling some HI-LARIOUS stories about his time as a Disney Cast Member:

One night of endless YouTube madness + stupid Daylight Savings Time = one exhausted crazy daisy!!

Pinterest Challenge Week #2

For this weeks Pinterest challenge I made a paint chip calendar.

This was my inspiration:

I was making this for my kitchen, which is painted bright red, so I didn't think ombre would work. Also, there is no "sparkle" and what good is making something if there is no sparkle? This frame looks like a standard poster frame and I wanted something prettier and smaller than poster size. 

I bought an 11x14 picture frame at Walmart for $5, got my paint chips at Lowes, and 2 large sheets of glittery scrapbook paper at Hobby Lobby for $2. I already had tape, glue, scissors, and a dry erase marker.

I went with gray, light cream, and bright red paint chips.

I started by taking everything out of the frame. I used the matting that was included with it as a guide. I measured the paper and cut along the lines I drew. I had to overlap the paper because it was only 12x12 but I placed my chips over the seam and you can't see it.

I then taped my paper to the matting.

After taping my paper to the matting I had to play a guessing game as to how I wanted the chip colors layed out and what size they should be. I decided on 2 rows of gray, 2 rows of red then 2 rows of my light cream. Because my frame was only 11x14 and I wanted some of the pretty paper to show through, I had to cut my chips pretty small. They will still be usable as a calendar. After cutting all 42 chips to the same size and laying them out I had to glue them all on. This took FOREVER. I used regular Elmer's glue. I then put the matting with the paper and paint chips attached back in the frame. 

Here is my final product:

I think it turned out great!! I think it looks much nicer than a plain frame and the colors look good next to my red kitchen walls.