Archive for July 2013

Monday, July 29, 2013

National (not really) New Carpet Day!

There's nothing really exciting about carpet...unless you've been waiting for it to be installed for exactly 2 months and 3 days. That's just enough time to completely forget what you've picked out and when you refer back to your pictures on your phone and the color is totally off you start panicking that you really did pick out mauve carpet. 

What I'm trying to say is, it's New Carpet Day today.

The tub in our bathroom is finally getting some use because it's holding the bulk of what was on our closet floor and other chotskies throughout the upstairs. That's how you carpet a furnished home. (I had no idea.) Move everything into one room, they come and install in the empty rooms, then at night you move everything back thus emptying the one room that they didn't do plus start with the next floor. It's very much like that riddle with the farmer, a fox, a chicken, a bag of corn and getting them all across the river alive. And with a full bag of corn.



The next 3 days will be like my very own personal episode of Hoarders but will be well worth it. New carpet! Plus, they're going to fix the annoying floor squeaks! Here's to everything going smoothly and coming out on the other side with our fox, chicken, and corn all in one piece. 

Happy Monday! 

Friday, July 26, 2013

Friday 5: Celebrating Everyday

Here's to 5 simple noteworthy and toast worthy happenings from the week.


Heres to finally figuring out the friendship bracelet wheel. 
It's designed for 8 year olds yet took me days to get it figured out. (Bravo, adult self, bravo.) It's like the 80's again and I'm addicted to making bracelets! Let me know if you want one, buddy!

Here's to family. 
Nothing says summer break like spending time with family and doing fun things around the city. The kids have been LOVING all the cousin time!   


Here's to perfectly sliced lemons.
Because what's happy hour without them? Here my sister demonstrates the how to

Here's to group hugs.
Saying goodbye is the hardest especially when you know that it'll  be 6 months before seeing each other again. Let's end with a cliché quote by Dr. Seuss. "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened". 

Cheers!
What are you toasting to tonight?

Friday, July 19, 2013

Friday 5: Celebrating Everyday

Here's to 5 noteworthy and toast worthy happenings throughout the week.

 Kindergarten backpack? Check! 
(This one SCREAMS Vaughn! It was love at first sight.)

New kicks? Check! 
(She's a walking rainbow. Wait - a dancing rainbow would be more accurate since that's what spurred the new shoes. She's been in dance camp all this week.)

 One on one time with Vance.
Vaughn being in camp this week gave Vance and I time to hang out and do what he likes to do. 

 Watching Andy Griffith with my 78 8 year old son.
(For a treat Vance asked to eat lunch while watching a show. He read that this was on while I was searching through the guide. ((My dad turned him on to Andy awhile ago.)) This may be one of those times where have a young reader in the house is not an advantage. A plus was that he never asked, "the hell?" when catheter commercials came on.

Going with the flow. Even when the flow isn't in our favor.
(We were supposed to get new carpet this week. That's why Vaughn's things are boxed up. Everything in this house needs to be moved out of each room. But...the factory made the carpet wrong thus delaying our install date. Silver lining? Not worrying about making messes on the carpet has been extended. "Sure we can paint in the middle of the family room floor!" "Of course we can eat spaghetti picnic style on the carpet!" We're just rolling with it. What else can you do?    

Cheers!
What are you toasting to tonight?

Sunday, July 14, 2013

DIY Monogram Towel: West Elm Hack



I first saw these monogrammed towels in West Elm and immediately loved how modern and bold they were. I ordered some for Christmas gifts last year but never got one for myself. Time to change that!   


I saw this striped towel at World Market and knew it would be perfect for this West Elm Hack. Here goes!


I used my computer to make a template. After finding my font I dropped in a shadow and tried out different sizes.


When happy with everything I printed it out on paper. I traced the print out onto freezer paper then used an Exacto knife to cut it out. 


I drew in where I wanted the shadows to go then carefully cut them out.


Iron the paper (shiny side down) onto onto the towel...


and then paint. I used Tulip's soft fabric paint. 


Peel the paper off and let it dry. 

A quick modern monogrammed towel!


Enjoy!














Tuesday






Tip Junkie handmade projects


Wednesday








Friday, July 12, 2013

Friday 5: Celebrating Simplicity

5 simple noteworthy and toast worthy happenings from the week.

Cheers to making and eating Pudding Pops in our swimsuits. 
(So not healthy, but oh so good!) 

Cheers to sitting down and doodling with the kids.
(Love that they still like to draw with me!)  

Cheers to having great libraries that always have something fun going on. 
(The Yo-Yo kid! Wild birds!)

Cheers to Urban Hiking never letting us down.
(Deer! A chipmunk ran by us right before this!)

Cheers to beautiful weather, dinner, and Mad Libs all at the same time. (When you spend every waking moment with the kids conversation at dinner can be a little lackluster. Mad Libs are perfect for this situation!)  

This week has been a long one. Fun, but loooong. Ready for my traveling Mr. to be home and for some fun...at the baseball fields. Vance has a tournament this weekend and will play at least 4 games. Go Vance! Also, my nephew Jack's team is playing at the Little League world series. Good Luck Spartans! It's a baseball weekend!

Cheers!
What are you toasting to tonight?     

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Houston, we have landed

A couple of weeks ago we snuck down to Houston for a long weekend to visit my sister and her family in Houston. 

I tried a new method of packing that made me feel a little Howard Hughes-ish, but it worked. Both kids and myself always pack in one big suitcase. No matter how neatly I pack, whenever we reach our destination the contents are more like soup and less like a TV dinner, which is what I prefer. Make sense? 


Starting out was a bit rough. My kids are seasoned fliers but no one was ready for a 4 plus hour delay. We were all ready to get on the plane all ready and get this vacation started! 


Her eyes shut as soon as the cabin doors did.


We ended up crawling into bed that night/morning around 2:30 AM, which made for an interesting next day but we rolled with it - we were on vacation! Little did we know that these late nights would become a common theme during this trip...

The next day was laid back - pool time and S'mores. It was so nice to just sit and relax by the pool.



Early the following day everyone except the kids, my sister, and myself went to the shooting range. When in Texas!


We then packed up and headed out to Beaumont, Texas for my nephew's baseball tournament. An adventure within an adventure!

I'm not sure if Beaumont has a city motto but it should be, "It's hot in Beaumont!" Here's Vaughn happy that we found some shade.  

Here she is again a few hours into our 7 plus hours at the field. She was in no mood, but was a trooper. She normally malfunctions when she gets too hot and just. shuts. down. I caught in on camera one day. Remember this one? 


Vance started out as bat boy but decided it was too hot on the turf and "not as much fun" as he thought it was going to be, so he kept score instead and loved every minute of it. 

It was around the time that I took this picture that I looked up to see a player on the other team walking up to bat, stop, vomit twice, then stepped up to bat. That's Texas baseball for you!  Not for the weak! OTSS, baby!


The last game didn't end until well after 10:00 PM. Jack played 2 great games and won both which advanced them to the next round. We raced to Papadeaux's afterwards before they closed for dinner. Hot, tired, sweaty, stinky, and in need of cajun food. What a site we must have been walking through those doors!

You know what though? So worth it. To see Jack in his element, to meet their awesome "baseball family", to watch my dad watch Vance watching Jack play ball. I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. 

They unfortunately lost their game the next morning which meant it was time for us to pack it up and start the 2 hour trek back to Houston. 

Cooling off with more pool time!



Getting out and doing things is of course fun when visiting family, but I like when there's enough down time that you are able to see what everyday life is like for them. To see where they grocery shop, to see a little bit of the town, to take a walk around their subdivision, that sort of thing. Maybe I'm weird but it takes the unknown out of the living apart equation and makes me feel closer to them. I guess I just like having  visual.

This trip was a perfect mix of action and downtime and I'm looking forward to our next visit! 

Monday, July 08, 2013

Summer Sno-Cone Wreath

Nothing says "Welcome to our home!" like a ratty, faded spring wreath hanging on the front door in the middle of summer. To remedy this situation I finally got around to making a new summer wreath over the weekend. Hopefully my neighbors take note that I'm back on the ball and ready for the rest of the summer.


I started with an old grapevine wreath and used wire to attach burlap ribbon all around. I don't have pictures of this process, but wherever you see a fold in the burlap, that's where I wired it to the back of the wreath. (Also, why does burlap smell like gasoline?)  


I then spray painted styrafoam balls and while they were drying I poked two holes in each cup and fed wire through. This is how I attached them to the wreath. 

I could have hot glued each sno-cone directly to the wreath, but I wanted to keep the decorations removable so I can use the wreath for other seasons. My idea is to keep the burlap wreath for a "blank canvas" and switch out decorations for each season.

Hot glue the balls into the cups and allow the glue to drip around the edges to look like it's melting. When the glue is dry paint the drips with the matching sno-cone color.




The wreath needed something more so I safety pinned felt flowers to the burlap. 


Voila! A quick summer wreath that can be disassembled in minutes when I want to change it for the next season. 

Enjoy!


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Wednesday, July 03, 2013

Hump Day before the Holiday!




Happy Hump Day to all and to all a good 4th!

*******************
Question of the Day:

Do you like fireworks or not so much?

My favorites are the little ones - like the chicken that circles around then lays an egg - and not so much the big bang ones. We used to live in a place where fireworks were legal and the 4th sounded like a war zone, not to mention the days leading up to it and even days afterwards. I marveled at my neighbor's trash one year and even took a picture of the aftermath. I think that's why I've had my fill of fireworks. How about you?










Tuesday, July 02, 2013

My Summertime Internal Age. What's Yours?

"If I don't get those pudding pops made this morning then they won't be frozen enough to eat this afternoon." 
..............
"Man, I forgot to pick up Borax. Now we can't make slime." 
..............
"Out of bendy straws AGAIN? I thought I had stocked up."
..............

These are a sample of thoughts that rattle through my brain any given day and are part of the reason that when I picture myself in my head I'm about 18 years old. Even more so in the summer because my days are spent doing more kid stuff and less of adult stuff. We only get so many summer vacations with our kids, so I'm going to make each one count. I'm so thankful that this is my job and I am able to do so!    

How about you? Do you have an "internal age" that you picture yourself? Let me know!  

(Making slime without Borax is not the same - way too messy. Yes, I have a preferred slime recipe.)

(There's always time for tie dye at my house.)  

 

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