Nick

Some of you are telling me that I post about Zach all the time but you never see anything on my blog about Nick. Today I have absolutely nothing to blog about so here's one about my son Nick.

I have tons of pictures of Zach because he is always getting his picture taken because of motocross, but Nick doesn't really have a sport. When I do get a pic. of him he just about always has on camo or his hunting clothes.

This pic. was taken at Fort Leavenworth. I think he was in 1st grade. We took him to the Army base to get his hair cut, he had to have a High N Tight.
He went through a phase where he had to wear camo EVERYDAY. And when I say everyday, I mean everyday, he did not wear civilian clothes for almost 2 years. Not just the clothes, but the boots, hat, everything. It did make getting dressed in the morning pretty easy, he knew exactly what he was wearing. He even wore them when it was over 100 degrees in the summer. I think he is the only kid I know that wanted to do his back to school shopping at the Army surplus store. And I know for sure he was the only kid that wore combat boots to Track N Field day, he didn't win any races that day. When he finally did wear regular clothes to school one day, his teacher told me she did not recognize him when he came in that morning.

Fast forward to today, and this is him now.These are the pictures I get of him. Look closely he is hidden in the trees. He begged me to take him to the Army surplus to buy a "Gilly" suit.(you can probably guess by now, he loves shopping at the Army surplus store). When we came home, we spent the entire day of him hiding in the trees and me trying to find him. I never could find him. I did manage to find the poison ivy though.

If you couldn't find him in the above picture here's a better one.

So you see this is why I don't post many pics. of him, if he isn't out hiding in the trees, he is out digging foxholes in the backyard, that is a "hole" other story.

New Year party favors

Found this inexpensive and easy to make party favor at BHG site, everyone young and old will love it.
Instructions:

You will need
Paper towel tubes
wrapping paper
curling ribbon
tape
scissors
small treasures, candy, confetti

1. Make sure the paper towel tube is clean inside and out. Cut tubes to measure approximately 6 inches long; then cut each tube in half.

2. Cut a piece of wrapping paper that is 11 x 6 inches. Center pieces of tube side by side on paper, leaving a 1-inch space between the tubes. Wrap paper around tubes and secure with tape.

3. Tie one end of the paper with curling ribbon. Fill the tube through the open end with candy,bounce balls, coins just about anything that will fit. For New years it would be neat to fill with fun shaped, multi-colored confetti. (Might not be fun cleaning up). Tie the remaining end shut. Use scissors to curl the ends of the ribbon.

4. Have guests break tubes in half to find goodies inside.


Fortune Bubbles

Here's another favor I found on the BHG site.












What You Need:
See-through plastic ornaments (available at crafts stores)
Calligraphy pen or colored marker
8-1/2 x 11 sheets of art paper (amount needed will vary depending on how many fortunes you are making)
Scissors
Fortunes or inspirational quotes
Curling ribbon
Instructions:
1. Cut strips of paper 1-2 inches long (or as needed to fit in ornaments) and 8-1/2 inches wide.

2. Write a fortune or quote on each strip of paper.

3. Roll each fortune into a small scroll and tie with curling ribbon, leaving ends of ribbon long.

4. Place 1 fortune into each ornament. Allow excess curling ribbon to trail out of ornament.

5. Pile the bubbles in a basket or glass bowl.

6. Let each guest choose a bubble and read their fortune aloud to the group.

Frame a mirror

Do you have a big ugly mirror that is just plain? Why not frame it? It is so simple. I found this tip on the Two Peas message board. It is pretty easy and changes the entire look of your bathroom. Sorry about the pics. it was a tight squeeze trying to stand back and get it all in.


Before, plain old ugly mirror

You can have your project done in less than a hour. I went to Home Depot and picked out some trim. I think the total cost was under $50.00. Be sure to take your measurements with you, you would hate to end up short. If you don't have a saw, they will cut it for you. Next I came home and painted.



Then add Velcro to both the mirror and the back of your trim (I kept both sides of the Velcro together, placed it on the back of the trim and then pressed it to the mirror). This has been on my mirror for almost 2 years and I had trouble getting it pulled apart to take these pics. Once up, it is stuck, it's not going anywhere.






After- Changes the entire look of the bathroom in less than an hour and for around $50.00. I bought corner pieces so I could do straight cuts on the end.

Declutter Friday

Today is Declutter Friday!!!!

Today I'm in my closet. It's not really that bad, but it drove me crazy every time I went in there.

Before I wrapped our Christmas presents in the closet. I was so tired of going in there to get dressed and stepping over wrapping paper, scissors, tape, presents. I did spend over my 10 min. that I usually spend decluttering. I think this week it took me a little over 30 min. I had to take everything back to where it belonged, iron clothes, etc.
This area drove me CRAZY! I'm making Nick a denim quilt using all of our old jeans. I thought if I put them in my closet and looked at the pile everyday it would motivate me to get started on it. Nope! I went in there everyday, saw the pile and was depressed because I had a pile on my floor and knew I should be getting started on it and had done nothing with it.

After Everything is put away where it belongs, clothes ironed and hung up.
Pile gone, yesterday I cut out over 100 squares. I plan on cutting up at least 1 pair a day. I think I have about 10 pairs left, 10 days I should be done.
Shelves cleaned! Yeah, I have my closet back!

Cinnamon Blueberry Crumble

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Every year we go to my mom's Christmas morning. She fixes a huge breakfast, french toast, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, eggs, bacon, really anything you can think of, she has. This year she also fixed something new. Everyone loved it, and I think it was easy to fix

Cinnamon Blueberry Crumble

9 Rhodes Anytime Cinnamon rolls
21 ounce can blueberry pie filling
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
cream cheese frosting (included with Anytime Cinnamon Rolls)

Arrange frozen rolls in 3 rows of 3 in a sprayed 9x13 inch baking pan. Spread blueberry pie filling evenly over and between rolls. Combine butter, flour, brown sugar and pecans and sprinkle over pie filling. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Drizzle with cream cheese frosting while still warm.

This would also be good using apple or cherry pie filling.

Thatched roofs

Ever since I went to England and visited Anne Hathaway's cottage, I have wanted a thatched roof. There are more thatched roofs in the United Kingdom than in any other European country. The traditional material in most of England is wheat straw and can last for more than 45–50 years.
What a view. Can you imagine if this was your front lawn? I would never be inside. And I can picture Nick standing on the bridge with his fishing pole. Look at the detail they put in the straw at the peak of the roof. Now these homes have character.

Ice Skating

When my youngest son sets his mind to doing something, he will not stop until he figures out a way to get it done. Recently he went on a field trip with the Middle School to an ice skating rink in Arkansas. He loved it and has been bugging us for the last month to take him back. The ice skating rink is over 2 hours away, so it really hasn't been at the top of our list of things to do. Nick got on the Internet and searched ice skating rinks and came across a site on how to make one. Yesterday Nick and his dad did just that. It was only about 10 degrees but Nick did not stop until his Ice Skating Rink was finished.
First they had to get their supplies.
Next they built a frame about 16'x 16'

Next comes the plastic.

Then the water.

And now we wait for it to freeze.

$150 give away

Life as Lou (<---click here) is giving away $150 in scrap booking supplies. If you want to win, visit her sight and leave a message. For more chances to win, link her blog on your blog. Good luck!

Colors for 2009

My kitchen is a pale yellow and I decided to maybe change the color. I'm one of those people that when I finally like a color, it is on the way out. I went to the Sherwin Williams site to see what upcoming color trends will be big in 2009. After seeing some of their picks, I probably will not catch on to this new trend until it is on the way out. This is what they said.

click here to see the Red/Orange I love reds, my living room is red. I'm just not that crazy about the shades they picked.


click here to see the Yellow/Green

click here to see the Neutrals The Umber I'm still undecided about. I can maybe see my hallway that color. Without natural light, it might be too dark.

Click here to see the Violet/blue

Bead Board

The other day I was talking to my mom and she mentioned that she needed one more Christmas gift for me so I would be even with my SIL. I knew exactly what I wanted, a Home Depot gift certificate. There are several projects I want to do around the house, and one of them is to add bead board. Not sure where I want to put it. I have several place that it would look nice, bathroom, hallway, going up the stairs. I'm loving it in the above bedroom.
I LOVE this shelf. I don't know where these people live, but we have nothing like that in this area. We live in a shopping wasteland!

Declutter Friday

Today is Friday! Declutter Friday!

This week I decluttered the cabinet that store all of my measuring cups, pitchers, water bottles, camera bags and anything else we don't know what to do with. I'm really ashamed at the way my before looks. I didn't realize it was that bad. Once I saw the picture, I can't believe the shape it was in.



Before
OMG! We need the "How clean is your House" people to come!



I had the boys' school papers from the first of the year that we did not need. We had thermos bottles from lunch boxes that are 10 years old, water bottles that never get used and things that have other homes but instead of getting put away, they get thrown up in the cabinet. So I got the trash can and started throwing.......until Jeff came in and insisted we needed the million water bottles, and Zach convinced me that he can not live without his Travis Pastrana thermos (I don't think it ever did get used).

Mental note, clean when everyone is gone.

After


I found things that I had forgotten we had. The candy striped bowl my mom gave me last year for the cheese ball, the green christmas pitcher with holly and the cup and saucer for milk and cookies for Santa that my Aunt Debi gave the boys. Good thing I cleaned, Christmas is just a week away.

We still have the million water bottles, everything else is pretty much gone. I timed myself, this week it took me 11 minutes.

Now go declutter something and leave a comment telling me what you decluttered.

Wrapping Gifts

All of my gifts are bought and ready to be wrapped. I do the same thing every year, wait until the last minute to start wrapping. Usually I'm still wrapping on Christmas Eve after the boys have gone to bed. I sit on the floor with a pile of gifts all around me, wrapping paper and little pieces of ribbon are everywhere. I can't count how many times I lose the tape and the scissors. If I had a wrapping station like this one, I know I would wrap a present as soon as it was bought. I would never lose my scissors or my tape. And I'm sure the room would always be as clean as the one in the picture.

Trivia

What movie cost 3.7 million dollars to make? It only brought in 3.3 million dollars during the first box office run and was considered a failure. If you know what movie this is, leave a comment.


It's a Wonderful Life, You're both right.

The Simple Life

Sunday while driving to Columbia to attend Zach's State banquet, we drove through the Amish community. It's amazing how fast it is growing. Seems every time we take that route there will be a new house that has popped up.
Here they are on their way to church.

This is the little school house.

State Champ!

Yesterday was the Missouri State Banquet. Zach won 1st place in the 250 Nov. class. They gave this picture to him. Someone took it of him at one of the races. He also received a #1 number plate, a 1st place plaque, 2 gift certificates to area motorcycle shops, graphics, a seat cover, and a coat that says State Champ with his name. You can't tell it from these pics. but he was excited about winning.

He won this hat too!
They gave out awards to 15th place.

Wall Words

Above my back door.


Last year I bought the Silhouette Die Cutter, it is a machine that will cut anything that you type into your computer. When it came, I was a little intimidated by it, so I stuck it back in the box and never gave it another thought..........until this weekend. I saw a video on YouTube and the lady made it look so easy. So I pulled it out and have been going sticker crazy ever since. I'm always getting after the boys about putting stickers on EVERYTHING, so you can imagine what they are thinking when they see their mother putting stickers on all the doors and walls. They probably think I have lost my mind. Here's what I have done so far.


My Master Bedroom Closet
(click on the picture to enlarge)

BeforeAfter





The Front Door (sorry these are dark, I took them at night.
Before
After with the WELCOME