Oh how I love birds...

And I'm sure you will to when you see how easy these Christmas ornaments are by Tia Bennett on Two Peas. I'm twitterpated, I just want to drop what I'm doing and make some right now. It's a good thing I'm fresh out of chunky glitter and smallish wire or my bazaar crafts would be put on hold once again. I'm definitely going to make them though, my mind is already racing and I'm thinking about doing chenille wings instead of pipe cleaners and using my own bird template for a fancier bird. My tree is going to be super glittery this year once I finish my flock!

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On a family note my mom had her first full doll reproduced and it's for sale now- Hip Hip! Last time it was a kit doll but this doll, Brittany, is going to be totally finished from head to toe and it's a limited edition which the last doll was not. I'm so proud of her, way to go Ida-ho. If you'd like to take a peak you can find her here.

75% done!

I cleaned and moved my little heart out all weekend. My muscles are very sore and I look terrible but holy moly does it feel good to have that almost out of the way! I still need to put some boxes away in the girls room and find their lampshade (where could that be?!?) and my craft room still needs some major organizing but for the most part it's not embarrassing anymore. My bedroom is clean and mostly uncluttered for the first time in a LONG time.

You know what will happen though. I've gone to all this hard work so I wouldn't get embarrassed when people want a tour of our house and no one will come visit until after the holidays and it's a disaster again, so here's some pictures of my progress so far so I have some proof that mostly clean rooms really do exist.

Here's my craft room before- please don't blow this up bigger I'm already ashamed but I thought I should post it to help most of the rest of you feel better about your small messes (and this was after I cleared away the trash). Sort of a public service- see how nice I am!

Here's how it looks this morning, still some work to do but not humiliating like before.

Here's the girls moved into our old bedroom. I like it sooo much better. This picture is from the door.

This picture is the little "wing" to the left of the door where Mary and Kaci reside.

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This is a picture of Ashy's cupboard bed to the right of the door (please ignore the boxes and the mis-matched quilt ;o) ).

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And these are my very first perfect loaves of bread- Hip Hip! The kids were so excited that it was actually "fluffy" and not like the loaf shaped door stops I usually end up with.

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I spent all weekend so busy cleaning that I didn't tend to the important stuff like making sure we had milk, school snacks, and clean clothes so I'm off to town to go get Laundry detergent so I can have a clean pair of skivvies and be a good mom- Have a great Monday!

Holy Smokes!

I feel like the biggest slob on the face of the planet! I've caught the spring cleaning bug early and decided to muck out my craft room/office before I tackle my bazaar crafts. I've never pulled out so many sacks of garbage and just junk. I have a huge bag just full of scrap paper, junk mail, school lunch menus, old lesson handouts, etc.... why do I hang on to that stuff??? I found a petrified bagel under my high tech fabric organizer (aka treadmill) . It took me over 4 hours yesterday and I still have about 2 more hours to get it organized. I consider myself a tidy person but I've always kept a messy office and my room is always cluttered. The rest of my house is usually just fine but wow, my rooms that are off limits are bad, out of sight out of mind. I'm going to resolve to keep my rooms clean from now on.

To start out my resolution I'm switching rooms with the girls today. We never spend anytime in our room other than sleeping so it seems like such a waste of such a large cute room. They will love all the space to play and the cupboard bed and I think it will be easier on me to keep my room cleaner if it's smaller. I'll post some pictures when I'm done but once again- Cody has my camera today. Tell me I'm not the only one with skeletons in my craft room! Wish me luck and hope the dust bunnies don't nab me.

No tricks, just lots of treats.

What a crazy week! Wednesday we had the church carnival where the kids dressed up in their costumes and played games and had a ton of fun. There was one game in particular that the kids thought was fantastic and that was the "wack a teen" game. They gave the kids swimming noodles and 2 teens under the table popped up in between the plastic cut-outs. It looked so fun I wanted to whack them too. The teens took a break so Jeremy climbed under there which made the game even more fun for Ashy!

Ashlyn and Jeremy had their Halloween parties at school yesterday so I spent most of the afternoon at the school to dress them for the parade and then figured I might as well stay for Ashlyn's party rather than drive home and drive back 5 min later. After school it was off to home, quick clean-up, dinner, then costumes again. The weather was absolutely perfect for trick or treating, around here anyway. There was no wind, it was coat weather but not freezing cold so no need for gloves and snow hats, and no rain or snow so we were happy. No one was happier than Kaci because she could walk around instead of being bundled up in the stroller. The kids had a blast and Mary's costume was a hit. We hit the businesses and then made the rounds until Kaci expired sometime after 7 so she missed the last few houses. They got too much candy as usual and tried to eat the bulk of it in the car before we got home, it was a very happy Halloween.

Random-ness

I've been tagged my friends, tagged to share with you 7 random things about me. Not hard you would think, but because I'm usually kind of random anyway it's harder than it looks. I didn't want to share anything embarrassing which is pretty much most of my random-ness, like my childhood nickname. So here's my list of 7 random and not so random things about me that you might not know.

1. Cody and I were on and off high school sweethearts. He asked me to prom my sophomore year and he was my first date ever. We were "going out" for 2 weeks then not so much, he was a habitual dumper and never had a girlfriend for longer than a month. We both dated different people until we started "going out" again the beginning of my senior year and the rest is history. Don't we look so little, wow to be young and little again!




2. I love miniatures! I used to collect miniature doll house stuff until our house burnt down when I was 12 or 13 and my Victorian doll house went with it. I still have the tea sets in my hope chest and the girls and I love to pull them out every once in a while. It's just so stinking little, and the pansies are so cute. I don't collect them anymore but I love the ones I have.




3. I've always been terrified of coyotes. It started with the horror stories my best friend would tell me as we were listening to them howl sleeping out on her trampoline. They are so mangy and I swear they all have rabies. Eww, now I need a shower just thinking about it- Yuck!




4. As a teen I had the biggest crush on Mel Gibson. Everyone else was in love with those silly boy bands but not I. I had a giant Brave heart cardboard cut out of him in my room and pictures ripped out of magazines all over my wall. I always thought that one day he would come for me and we would run away to Australia and get married. I would have to explain to his daughter that was my age the I was her new mom, but we would go shopping and everything would be great. I used to practice writing my new name, you know you did it when you were younger to, Mrs. Bridget Gibson. Now he's old and that's definitely the past but I still have fond memories, oh Mel.



5. Cody and I wear the same shoe size. His feet are wider than mine so I can wear his shoes more than he can wear mine. I think it frustrates him, but I'm o.k. with that. .



6. I'm lucky enough to have 2 of my great grandma's and one great grandpa around which means that my kids have 2 great great grandma's and one great great grandpa. I love that I can say that. They also have a gob of great's. What lucky kiddos.




7. I would rather clean a bathroom than fold laundry. I would rather clean any one's bathroom if they want to fold my laundry. I figure it only takes me an hour at the most to clean the most rotten of bathrooms once a week but laundry is never ending and takes me 3 hours a sitting at least 3 times a week. I don't mind washing but folding- UUHHHGGG!




8. And to be completely random, number 8. Last week my milk was named Melissa which is funny because that's the person who tagged me, Melissa. So Melissa, we drank your milk.

Well, that's as random as I get without embarrassing myself or others (besides Cody, sorry my love). Instead of following the rules and tagging 7 other people I'm just going to leave it open. If you would like to play along blog about 7 random things about yourself and link back to me. I love reading how random other people are! Off to try my hand at a pumpkin costume.

Helping hands

You know those days that you are trying to get as much done as possible, what ever that may be, and you find yourself with a few extra helping hands? I'm so lucky that I have 8 little hands to help me. I love it when Jeremy asks me if he can help with the dishes, of course he asks when I'm done but it's the thought that counts.

Here he is helping his dad cut wood-

I also love finding the little surprises they leave. Everyday I come across some little something tucked in a nook or cranny that's meant to be hidden I'm sure. The other day Jeremy hid his treasure chest on my movie shelf so someone would find it.

The girls always ask if they can help me cook, they love helping measure. Sadly the only time I really measure anything is when I'm making treats so they don't get to help that often but when they do they grab their little aprons and are ready to go.

Here's the surprise they worked on for most of the morning. Ashlyn said it's their ranch. So this is what they do when I'm busy in the kitchen all morning!

Kaci is always the one who's ready to hit the road. I walk Ashlyn to and from school most of the time and she's always got her shoes on (this time they match) and coat with a baby in tow. She's figured out the doors and I've caught her escaping a few times already. Gotta keep my doors locked for that girly.

She's also a big help in the kitchen-

I'm working on some really cute ideas for my portion of a craft bazaar I asked to be in this year so hopefully I'll have some really cute pictures and a possible tutorial (I'm going to try my own-whoo hoo) within the next 2 weeks. Still no pumpkin costume, maybe she'll just have to be a sheep or a kangaroo since I've already got them. I'm just not feeling the pumpkin love!

Pre-Halloween fun!

I'm not the best decorator for any given holiday season but I thought I'd at least try a little this year. We have the coolest house for halloween but with wee little ones that I don't want to scare the life out of I decided to keep it simple and very un-scary. Mary freaks out if you head towards the halloween isle at the store and tells me "not the scary pumpkins". To be honest I'm a complete baby and I hate the scary stuff to!

Here's some pictures of what we've been up to...

My mudroom/front door. It's really hard to get a good picture without falling down the stone steps but you get the idea. See the rope by the door and in the picture below, yes ma'am, that's the door bell!

This is my kitchen window right outside the front door. I fell in love with these little skeleton guys, although they sort of look like alien skeletons to me. If you'd like a pair or two you can get them here and just print them out, she has the cutest illustrations in her shop of bunnies but they aren't very scary.

A very nice family in our ward is moving and gave us 3 huge bags of dress-up clothes that the kids are just in love with. Yesterday was "funny head covering" day at school so we dug through there and found a wig that Kaci just loves. It' a mullet wig and it almost brought me to tears it's so funny. I almost wanted to cry at how cute she looks with hair, my poor hairless baby!

Yesterday I did some baking, some for after carving pumpkins snack and some just because I love banana chocolate chip muffins. It's been so long since I've done a cupcake cone but they are so much fun for the kids. I tried my hand at white chocolate butter cream frosting and it, well, tasted like butter so I didn't like it but the kids did so that's all that matters.

These are our super fantastic carved pumpkins! I decided to try the monogram thing this year. Next time I'll get bigger pumpkins and do a different font but they look cool all lit up. The kids drew their designs on paper first and were very serious about it and then carved. It was so funny to watch the girls, 3 circles and a mouth and viola`. Jeremy drew the grim reaper - looks so cute, kinda like grimace from McDonald's.


That's pretty much it for me this week. I have to clean my scrap/craft room before the dust bunnies run off with my stuff. I swear they stole my hole punch. Might have to call animal control. I also have to prepare my lesson for Sunday then make that darn costume. Have a great Tuesday- it's Tuesday isn't it?

Vent, rant, and more vent

I just have to get a few somethings off my chest before I explode, a few pet peeves I guess that have been excessive this week. So here's your warning if you'd rather not read about knuckles, strobe lights, and poorly packed meat.

1. I really really don't like it when people insist on popping their knuckles. Why??? It doesn't feel good, in fact it hurts, and the sound is disgusting. It sounds to me like a person is trying to break their body. Just thinking about it makes my hands hurt. It's bad when kids do it but adults- tisk tisk. So, to those of you who are knuckle poppers (Cody) STOP! Did you know that it won't give you arthritis but you are actually damaging your tendons? It's true- I saw it on 20/20 or Good Morning America.

2. I really really dislike the 106.?? fm van that was parked outside the gas station late last night. Not because of the music (I don't even know what it is) and not because it was 2 below zero last night and they were enticing young adults without proper coats on to stand in the streets. It's because of the intense strobe light that was offending my retina all night long. I went to get a drink and wham-o, shot in the eye several times. Went to powder my nose and *pow* a few more eye shrinking blasts. It's not fun for us old foggies so please respect my Main St. I'm beginning to think everyone should ask me first before they can use my street. I laid in bed forever last night with my eyes shut and still seeing fire works on my eyelids. I hate that.

3. I really really really dislike those flimsy tight plastic wrapped Styrofoam meat trays. I love my grocery store but I have to say- Safew*y needs to step it up a notch. Every time I go my kids insist on poking holes in the meat. Crab trays are their favorite. Do I want to buy a crab, not really, but if they poke a hole in it then I feel I have to. Wal-m*rt has those wonderfully packaged hard trays that are mostly air then meat but still poke proof, but I'm not a big fan of their meat. I realize it's my kids and not the store but I'm sure I would spend more time (= more $$) if it were more kid friendly, especially for the mothers like me that have so many kids that they can't all be contained in a cart or even two. I'm just sayin'.

Oh, and it never fails when I do buy a package of flimsy packed meat it drips bloody gunk everywhere- not cool! I love coming out of the store with my pounds and pounds of meat (we have a Brady bunch and we are carnivores) with drips on my legs, hands, shoes, car, and fridge.


Okay, I feel better. A little grossed out still but much better. Have a great weekend!

Procrastinating

I'm putting off costume making because life's too short and I guess I like freaking out the night before Halloween and using safety pins to hold things together. I'm like my mom, I remember my mom actually snipping off threads from my prom dress as my date and I were walking out the door. Good times!

Actually I'm putting it off because I have no idea how I'm going to throw this pumpkin together without a pattern. I have the costume locked in my noggin and I just need a little more time to work it out before I start cutting.

So- while I was thinking of pumpkins I stenciled a bird bag. The freezer paper works great! I was a little afraid to try it on anything important so I just used an old store bought canvas bag. I painted the tree branch and appliqued the bird. I love how the paisley looks like a wing! I can't wait to make a cute bag and do another one. I love birds on branches.

My first try...

And I think maybe I'll leave digital to the experts! I finished my very first digital scrapbook pages for the recipe swap. I did the pretzel page first and it was a breeze but the soup page- not so much. It's harder than it looks in some ways and very easy in others. I got frustrated with not having the embellishments that I wanted and because I have dial-up it had already taken me forever to get the papers.

It took me over 8 hours of loading (good thing it was t.v. night last night and I could just let the internet go!) different page elements to make these two pages and after looking at them I wish I could have loaded some other things. Until I get a faster Internet I think I'll keep with traditional paper. I LOVE the brushes though- I tried not to abuse them lol! It's so fun to step outside the box every once in a while and I'm going to love the cute cookbook when every one's finished. Thanks Sherelle for letting me join in!