Too Many Artists in the Bedroom

...you'd think it be like having too many cooks in the kitchen...

but it wasn't...

we started a few weeks ago when my friend Kim asked me to help her draw and then paint a peacock/filigree/swirly design on her bedroom wall....

on the same day Kim was also "hosting" a Rock Band morning for some wonderful college girls that work (worked...they are done for the summer and leaving us) in the church nursery!

and that's when we learned that dear sweet Alyssa is an artist...and knows how to draw peacocks...

BTW...Kim LOVES peacocks!

we grabbed the sidewalk chalk (Kim's idea to use the chalk since her walls were a dark red that pencil wouldn't show up on too well)...and it worked like a dream...when you make a mistake you just wipe it off with a wet towel...

sweet Alyssa 

I'm standing on an EXTREMELY high ladder in this picture (not sure why Kim cut the ladder out of the picture?) and I ALMOST fell to my death...

that is how much I love Kim...I would risk my life to paint her wall...
seriously...I almost died!
And I may or may not have screamed like a little little girl!!!

Kim...LOVIN' her new wall...

I had too many things to do today to stay and help finish painting...I was so bummed...this is what it looked like when I left...

and this is what it looked like a few hours ago...

I have no pictures of Becca painting or chalking on the wall...she helped a TON on this project...stayed all day and painted...

I will post before and after pictures when the peacock is finished...but I was just too excited to not blog about it tonight!

Credenza...Just Rolls off the Tongue

Everyone needs a piece of furniture that's fun to say...

and my piece is our Credenza...

say it with me...

"Credenza"

we started "Operation-Beautiful-Living room" about 2 weeks ago...

(and we are SO close to being done)

we needed to enter the 21's century and get a flat screen...

with all the stuff...

42"..Full HD....energy star...LCD...1080p...

(all geek to me...but it made my husband so very happy)...

but the problem was that our current entertainment center was a 6 foot tall very large piece of furniture that wouldn't work for the new tv...

so we needed to find something that would...

but I have expensive taste...

everything I found was around the $1000 mark...

can't spend more on the piece of furniture than the the tv you're buying it for...

or at least that's what my husband told me...

here is a Pottery Barn one that I LOVED...

so the hunt began...

I checked Craigslist about very 20 minutes hoping something would post...

NOTHING...

and then last Friday we went to a local consignment store and I found about 6 pieces that I would have been happy with...

all over $500 and all SOLD...and I had been given a budget of $150....

and then we saw it...

it was a very ugly color...

it needed some TLC...

it was ONLY $29...

we LOVED it...how could you not for $29!!!

and check out the ugly gold vintage handles

I removed all the hardware...was going to replace them and instead just spray painted them a new classic color

sanded and painted...I chose the color Dark Granite...a grayish chocolate from Lowes

and painted some more...
we decided to leave the inside drawers and doors off and just have the outside drawers and turn the inside 3 into shelves for electronic stuff....
we had to take off the wooden tracks that the drawers roll on..
and then I purchased a piece of wood that was 3/16" think and then asked them to cut it down to fit on the inside shelves (I wanted them a little bit more sturdy...)
and then I also bought a drill attachment that cut out nifty holes in the back for all the cords to run thru

and I spray painted the old vintage gold handles a dark bronzy silver 

(there was no color name for the metallic paint, just the color of the lid...and I have to say it bought my daughter and I closer together...she picked up a very shiny silver and said, "not this one, it looks like cheap jewelery!"  which was the exact thought going thru my head when she picked it up!)

the end result...

I still need to work on the wall art for this wall so "Operation-Beautiful-Living room" isn't finished yet...but it's way better than it was...

also check out the new rug...it was 1/2 off...LOVE that!

so our "New" Credenza cost us $29 (old dresser), $15 (gallon of Dark Granite paint that I will use for 100 more projects), $5 (metallic spray paint for handles), and $11 (for the wood for the shelves, that I didn't even use 1/3 of...and have many fun projects planned for that wood)...$60 for our Beautiful Credenza!

Saying the word Credenza-Priceless!

Beans Beans the Musical Fruit...

it was a day that NEEDED a throw down meal...and I didn't realize it until, oh, about 4:45...

it's actually been a throw down meal week!!!

*husband's out of town...

*took the boy and his friend on a field trip 

     (yeah...preschool field trips=parents driving to and staying for the whole time)

*grocery shopping...with no list...but it had to be done...

    going on about week 3 of no real grocery shopping trip....

          just little things here and there...

*girls piano lessons rescheduled for today

     normally they're on Tuesday and they're dad's duty...

          but he's out of town...so now it's me

*helping the girl with the end of the week's homework packet=the pages the girl didn't want to do all week

so while I'm helping the girl with homework I'm "reading" my favorite new cookbook

...the Dinner Doctor....

and came across the recipe Black Bean Soup...

and guess what was on sale, on an end cap today, while I was grocery shopping???

...Yep...you guessed it...

Black Beans...and since I didn't have a list I was just grabbing random things...

so without a proper list or any menu in my head I for some reason bought 6 cans of black beans...

YES...6 cans...

I was thinking,

   "Oh, I'll make taco salad this week"...

and for that simple reason my brain decided on 6 cans...

     reason #37 why I need a grocery list!

So now I have 6 cans of black beans in my pantry and a beautifully simple black bean soup recipe right in front of me...and it's a blustery soup sort of day...sometimes life is just swell like that...

oh, and of course this isn't the recipe that was in the book...this is my modified recipe...because even though I had just gone grocery shopping hours earlier, I had done so without a list (remember 6 cans of black beans...not to mention the OTHER beans I bought!!!)...and without a menu...so a few things that the recipe called for were NOT in our house...

so I just made due...and it turned out YUMMY

ChambersMade Black Bean Soup

2 cans Black Beans, NOT drained

1 cup chicken broth (or 1 cube of chicken bullion and 1 cup HOT water)

1/4 cup onion, chopped up

1 bay leaf (I wasn't sure I had one...but I found them at the back of the black hole I call my spice cupboard...thinking they might have been there for a few years so I'm not sure how much bay was left in the leaf...so I threw 2 in just to be sure!)

salt and pepper to taste

sour cream and grated cheddar cheese to top

1.  Place beans, their liquid, chicken broth, onion, and bay leaf into saucepan and heat over medium-high heat, stirring just to combine.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cover the pan, bring to boil, reduce heat to med-low and let soup simmer for 5-7 minutes...YEP 5-7 minutes!!!

2.  Remove from heat.  Discard bay leaf (or leaves).  And smash soup with potato masher...the recipe said to pour into a food processor and puree...like I'm going to get another appliance dirty...this is a one dish meal and it's staying that way...and it worked out beautifully!

3.  Serve with sour cream and cheese to top it with...

we ate this with steamed artichokes...it was a wonderfully yummy...wonderfully fast dinner...and the kids LOVED it...there was 1/2 cup of soup left over...we would have been scraping the pan had the husband been home...I will probably double next time because leftover soup is good!...and then I'd be using 4 of the 6 cans I randomly bought!

Oops...turned...Awesome...

okay so we are elbow deep into

"Operation-Beautiful-Living-Room"

you know the moment where nothing has a home and everything else is all over your home...

(oh, and nothing in your home that NEEDS to get done is actually getting done...laundry, dishes, meals...)

that's where we were Friday night with ALL of the old living room framed family pictures are resting on our bed...and now I need to sleep in said bed...so husband so kindly moves pile of framed family pictures (only about 75 10...but weighed a TON with all the wood and glass)...

which I so thoughtfully piled largest frame on bottom to smallest on top...

not realizing that all the weight of all the pictures rested on the inside glass of the largest frame on the bottom...

oops...

...and CRASH....

all frames crashing to the ground...with 5 pieces of glass shattering on the hardwood...

...and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed after a long day of "Operation-Beautiful-Living-Room"...

...now "Operation Clean Up Millions of Pieces of Glass!"...

...and in the morning...

"Operation What-to-do-with-empty-frames-that-the-glass-broke-in!"

and after spending a few hours lost  some time in blog land...I was inspired...

so with 

*one free frame...

...well I know I paid money for it back in the day...but it had wedding pictures in it, so it's almost 12 years old...and might have been a wedding gift...so I'm going with FREE and that's my story!...

*free paint (it's my last gallon of white paint that we used to paint our kitchen & bathroom cabinets & all the trim in our house with...so I paid for if 4 1/2 years ago...and I've used if for countless other projects so it's more that been paid for...so FREE)...(oh, and the gallon of chocolate gray I bought to turn the ugly's retro vintage 70's dresser into our new entertainment credenza...fun word)

*sandpaper...that was laying around

*metalic spray paint (purchased to use on another project)

*shoe box inspiration...

so here is my free wall art that turned an

Oops into Awesome...

here is my shoe box inspiration...the side of my daughters Easter Shoes box...I am really into the filigree/swirly thing lately...

I sketched it on the wall

using a few different brushes I painted the design and filled it in...using the chocolate gray paint that I bought to paint the dresser that I'm converting to our new entertainment center...which I am now calling a credenza because it's a fun classic word!

then painted the frame with the broken glass white...and hung it on the wall to "frame" my new design...

but didn't like the white...too much of a contrast...

so I spray painted it with a bronzey-silver (there was no actual color name on the spray paint...just the color of the lid...) and the combo of the metallic on top of the white made it do this fun crackle...wish I could tell you the reason why or how to reproduce the crackle but it surprised me when it happened so I can't help you...but I like how it turned out...

"Operation-Beautiful-Living-Room" and "Operation What-to-do-with-empty-frames-that-the-glass-broke-in!" meet in the middle and create this...

so two/three birds with one stone...

I had a wall with no art...

an empty frame with no glass...

oh, 

and some retro vintage items that needed to have the retro toned down and the classic brought out

...I think this new piece of wall art...that cost me $0!!!...fits the bill...

and it's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday...

I'm a Little Bit Classic...

...and He's a Little Bit Vintage....

and when I say "vintage"...it's more like Retro and very much GUY retro...

I'm not sure that I've shared with you yet about my husbands records...and toys...and fascination with old, old, Japanese science fiction movies...(such a guy thing...and he's gotten my kids into them also!)

how do you pull off decorating a house with these two different styles...

I want classic clean lines with furniture that looks like it lived through a few centuries...

he wants movie posters with giant Japanese monsters....

but we both want a cozy, "I can relax in that room" feel...

oh...and up until recently he didn't understand that decorating took $...and if I not $...lots and lots of time and creativity...so we don't have the $ or the time...but I do a some creativity...and also blog land has helped inspire me some.

anyways...

"Operation Beautiful Living Room" was kicked off last week...and is almost finished...I wanted to give you a sneak peak at some of the different elements and then will wait for the larger reveal and how all the pieces all fit together...

but I'm really enjoying the classic meets vintage look... 

ugly vintage 70's dresser...that I started turning into our new entertainment center (FBM-Future Blog Material)...that I am now calling our "credenza" because I like how it sounds...

credenza...credenza...

everyone needs a piece of furniture that's fun to say...

(a few to choose from...credenza, banquette, ottoman....)

our very vintage chairs...that I actually LOVE...and they are surprisingly comfy!

the snazzy lamp I picked up at my friend Brenda's yardsale for $1...and the best part...the inside glows like a night light...yes this is very vintage...but I really really love this...stay tuned FBM to see how I turn this very 70's lamp into a classically modern lamp..

a corner of the carpet that I found 1/2 off at Kohls....

the side of the shoe box that I used for inspiration ...FBM...

what happens when sister is in charge of taking pictures of the new tv unveiling...

the flat screen...notice Beau's excitement and my deer in the headlights look....yeah...

stay tuned...lots of FBM....

tick tock

I'm still working on my office at work...

a project that I started weeks ago...

(but what project that I started weeks ago is finished)...

I started with a huge blank wall

painted some filigree, swirly design...

added some dots...

and now I have this

the color in the top picture is more true...

my problem now...

I wanted to paint large Roman Numeral's of the 3, 6, 9, & 12 on the wall and make a huge clock....

then I become overwhelmed with having to make the numbers 

(all of them have I's in them...III, VI, IX, XII) 

and the I's looking the same...

I started with the 6=VI...

liked it and the realized I DID NOT want to try to make more I's...

so I then my friend Kim said to just make them large dots...

so I did...and LOVE it...

but now my question is...do I paint over the 6=VI or leave it...

what do you think...all dots or leave it with 3 large dots and the VI....

today or tomorrow I will go shopping for clock hands that I can mount on the wall and have an actual working clock...

Earth Day...or Creator's Day?

Okay, I'm going there...yep, Earth Day, the day our country (maybe the world, not sure about that) "celebrates" the Earth...here is an article that I wrote a few years ago about being a "green Christian"...about celebrating the Creator not the creation...but how that looks very similar, the biggest difference is in your heart and the "why" you're doing it...not the "how"...

~~~~~

Now I'm sure most of us who haven't been stuck in a cave somewhere for the last decade (and no, raising children does not count as a cave!) have a variety of feelings towards the word "green" (not the color, but the word!).  Those feelings may or may not have changed in the last few years when our country has become more aware of the impact our actions have on the environment.  Whatever you believe or don't believe about global warming (and the debate that follows), none of us living in America, in the past 5 years can ignore the concept of "being green".

"Being green" or "living green" has almost become a political position; a debate between liberalism and conservatism—if you're being green you must be a "tree hugging liberal!".  I don't know how taking care of the earth that God has given and commanded us to take care of became a liberal tree-hugging, non-Christian thing to do (editors note, I’m not saying that to be a Christian you can’t be liberal) but maybe it took on a sour taste for some people when the term "mother earth" got involved.  But the irony to me is that a group of people called "conservatives" are scared of embracing the concept of conservation!

God gave us the earth, The Message version of Genesis 1: 26-30 states, "God spoke: 'Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.' God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: 'Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.'  Then God said, 'I've given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth And every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food. To all animals and all birds, everything that moves and breathes, I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.' And there it was."

God gave us the earth he then called us to be responsible and take care of it, Gen 2:15, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

The Bible is full of verses calling us as God's people to be good stewards of what God has given us.  That is the concept we need to go back to, "what God has given us."  The earth is a gift from God to us and he has commanded us to "take care of it."

In light of this, the concept of "being green" and taking care of the earth (not mother earth but our gift from God) should never have become a differing political stance between liberals and conservatives. If we are truly Christians then we will want to obey God's command to take care of the gift he has given us.  We need to be good stewards of that gift. Being green isn't believing in global warming (that's a whole different blog, that I probably won’t write), it doesn't mean that you are affiliated with a certain political party, it doesn't even mean that you're a "tree-hugging-liberal!"  "Being green" is being responsible with what God has given us.  We should recycle and "live green" not because we love the earth, the creation... we do it because we love God, the Creator!   

  

~~~~~~

So as the country (or the world) celebrates the creation on Earth Day...I challenge you to celebrate the Creator and be responsible for this creation he has given us!

I would also like to proudly state that I've lived most of my life "being green"
...reduce, reuse, recycle...
conserve water...
conserve electricity...
conserve resources...

I've been green so long I remember when it was called "being poor"...
so you can see why I gladly jumped on the more popular term "green"...

oh Monday Monday

I have a list of "to do's" that's so very long, and if I actually sat down and wrote that list...

(do I add writing a to do list on my mental to do list?)...

then I'm sure I'd come up with even more things to add to the list...

but it's Monday...

and I need to crawl back in bed and read...

but I also need to go out to my gardens and pull weeds...

and I need to cut and router some wood for some signs...

and then I need to paint those signs...

okay so those are just things I want to do, not need to do....

need to do...

*finish the laundry...never actually finished all the laundry from spring break...over a week ago...and now I have a whole other week of laundry to add to it...

*strip all the beds

*deep clean my bathrooms and kitchen

*make a menu and grocery shop

*finish painting and organizing my office at work

*run and ride (need to step of my triathlon training...it's a month and a half away...YIKES)

*look for and FIND the tv stand we need for our living room...I know you're out there...and then when I find you I will need to sand and paint you....

*get the side garden de-cluttered

*clean out the basement

*clean out the "office/dump-all room" at home

*crawl back in bed and read...

*weed and plant my gardens...

*cut and router wood for more signs

*paint more signs

*oh, sketch out the design for my friend Kimberly's bedroom wall...so very excited about this, its going to be a filigree design with a peacock in there somewhere and her wedding anniversary also incorporated...so going to blog about that, don't worry!

*blog about all the stuff I need to do and then become overwhelmed and get lost in blog land for half the morning...

...oh Monday Monday...why?

A Girl Can Dream

You know you're a grown up when you start asking for appliances for gifts, when you are excited that you get a new washer and dryer (I still consider my set "new" and we got them 12 years ago...but there were my first!).

I've been dreaming of a new fridge and stove since we moved into our "money pit" 4 1/2 years ago...problem with that...both are "custom" and need to be special ordered to fit where the current ones are...and I don't want them where the current ones are, I have the floor plans drawn up for the "new kitchen" that we will build when we win the lottery (that we don't play isn't a factor in the reason that we never win)...so I dream of the new fridge and stove and new kitchen...I dream all the time...

and then this past week I had a new dream...

I want

no I NEED a garage...

I need a work shed...

I've been making signs to sell, sold some at our open house we had back in March...had some people order some "custom" ones that I just finished up.  And now I'm even going to sell some in a local shop...

To make these new custom signs and the ones that I'm selling at the local shop I asked a friends husband, Mr. Smith, if I could borrow his router...and he said yes...

he brought it over, and it was WAY more than I expected, he not only has a router, but it's mounted onto a router table...and has multiple blades (okay just 2...but that's more than 1)....and he gave me a router lesson, safety goggles and all...

Mr. Smith might not know this but I might try to steal his router...

My dream has shifted from a new kitchen with a shiny new fridge and stove...to a clean, well lit work shed, with a work bench and a router...yep, Mr. Smith's router wants to live in my new shed...

for some reason using Mr. Smith's router on my cluttered front porch just doesn't seem like the proper place for such a wonderful piece of machinery...

but it will do for now...

and it did help me make these two piece's of custom work...

and all because one girl fell in love with a router...

Lucy & Ethel Go Running

Okay, spring break knocked me out of my rhythm...

my blogging rhythm...was going strong with 3-5 blogs a week...and "real" blogs at that, not posting contests and what not...but then off we went on a trip north and then I got all off track and it's taking me about a week to get back into this thing...

and my training rhythm...

I didn't run/bike/swim/exercise ONCE during spring break...unless you count the jog that Beau and I did around a rest area lawn that the kids were chasing birds on...on the last day...but it wasn't for very far, and it was at a VERY high elevation so it killed our lungs (and that's our story and we're sticking to it!)...

so, I'm back...getting my rhythm back...

...

the beat goes on

....

So my running/training buddy Rayna and I decided to walk/run our favorite loop/hill here in Redding on Tuesday.  The sky was overcast but the forecasters/people that make up things for a living had promised sun...

Trusting in our local forecasters we drive to the bridge (our starting point).  We have now noticed that it is slightly sprinkling so we decided to drive back to Rayna's a pick up a blanket for her son who gets to ride in his fancy new stroller.  We are now confident in both the forecasters prediction of sun and Murphy's Law that states since we've gotten the blanket there will be no rain!

We blissfully stretch our muscles and walk over the rain soaked bridge, still okay with the slight drizzle...yes we've upgraded from sprinkle to drizzle at this point, a good spot for us to question both the forecasters and Murphy...but no, we continue on.

We then cross the second, smaller bridge that leads us to "our loop" and we decided to take the shorter side that leads straight to the hill just in case the rain gets heavier...also a good spot for us to stop & question this outing...but no, we continue on in the rain...yes it's now raining...but really, what's a little rain, right?

I think I've forgotten to mention that Rayna had her hair dyed the day before...and Rayna ...who also likes fun color's in her hair like me...has lots of dark, vibrant purple..PURPLE...highlights in her hair, and her hairdresser (hey Brenda) told her NOT to wash her hair until Wednesday (it's only Tuesday)...but really, it's only rain, and she's not shampooing it, right???

Rayna and I continue on our walk/run in the slight rainy drizzle that the forecasters didn't forecast...but no big deal.  We get to "The Hill" and continue up, not thinking too much of the rain, at this point we really don't notice it too much...then we hit the half way point of "The Hill" and we start laughing at how "hard core" we are that we are doing this in the rain, but still...we don't rethink and turn back...we power through and make it to the top of the hill.  We have also noticed a huge lack of other people on the trail today, but it is mid-morning on Tuesday, who hits the trail at 10 am...it has NOTHING to do with the possibility of rain!.!.!.

As we take a breathier and stretch before our run down the hill...this is when it hits...when the heavens open up and laugh at us...when there is NO TURNING back, we are committed and we have no other option than to finish because there is no out!  About half way down the hill is when Rayna mentions her hair...and how she wasn't supposed to wash it until the next day...and how it feels like it's running down her face...so I take a look, she was a little purple running down the sides of her neck, no big deal, just wipe it up right...but the more she wipes it the harder it runs, and the harder it rains, Purple Rain...

And I begin to notice that the rain has soaked my pants so much that they are about 5 inches longer and I'm now running on my pants under my feet, oh, and they are too heavy to stay up so they keep falling off my bum.  We are, quite a pair, with Ms. Purple Rain and my pants falling off and under my feet.  We stop at the bottom of the hill for Rayna to take off her jacket and shirt so she can wrap her shirt around her head so the purple dye stops running into her eyes, and then we continue on our run.  We felt like an episode of I Love Lucy...Lucy decides to "train" for a triathlon and drags her friend Ethel into the fun and before you know it the two are "training" in the rain with Ethel's hair dye running down her face, neck, back and Lucy having to run holding her pants up because she will trip if she doesn't...by the way, we now notice that we are the ONLY people out in this weather...

We get back across the two bridges and to the parking lot and this in when Murphy and his law comes to play...the rain stops...just stops...

here is a picture of us post run...I allowed Rayna to clean up the Purple Rain that had covered her face, neck, and chest, before I took this picture, but you can see how drenched our clothes are...and if you look closely you can see that the puddles behind us are still, because the rain has now stopped...

And Murphy laughed at us all day, by the time we got home and out of our nice hot showers Mr. Sun had come out and stayed out ALL day!!!

Winner, Winner...children's pictures....

okay, so we all know someone who's a photographer...

and we all know that they're amazing...

and then we all have our own camera's and a fancy photo program on our computer that we can turn our pictures into works of art...yeah, not so much for me, I try and I try...and well, I need to leave it to the professionals!

and one of the professionals that I know is a friend, Erin, and she is currently holding a contest to win a free Children's Photography Session...

it's so easy to enter, just go to her blog and leave a comment on one of her blogs...super easy...

here is a peak at some of her amazing work...

and YES, my sister is also a photographer, but she's not offering a free children's photography session to everyone, so that's why I'm blogging about Erin! (still love you Brook!)

and hurry offer ends this Friday, April 16th!

Healthy? Maybe...Maybe Not...

Okay, so maybe cookies aren't healthy...

maybe they're not good for my  hips...

but we all know that there good for our heart...

...and good for your family,

I love to bake with both kids standing next to me...

...sometimes...

when they're not fighting...

and saying,

"my turn"

"let me do it"

"can I do it now?"

"but she already had her turn"

"can I taste that"

"can I have a bite"

....

but no, really, I do have fun with the kids in the kitchen, and they both really like to help me...just got a little sidetracked there (shocking)...

anyways...

here is a healthier version of cookies then the regular old one...they might not be a carrot, but it's better than a twinkie, both in health and taste!

The Better for you Cookie

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter (this can't be helped...you NEED butter for a good cookie)

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 Tbs low fat milk (see healthy?)

2 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups quick oats

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (dark chocolate is good for your heart!)

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 375.  Beat butter & sugars until creamy.  Add eggs, milk & vanilla, beat well.  Mix in flour, oats, soda & salt.  Stir in chocolate ships, raisins and cranberries.  Drop by teaspoon full onto un-greased cookie sheet.  Bake 9-10 minutes....

enjoy.

My kids, husband and I all gobble these up.  I like to mix up a batch, bake up a sheet and then refrigerate the rest, baking a sheet every few nights.

When Life Gives You Eggs...

...so after Thanksgiving the world (or the US) lives on turkey sandwiches for weeks...and mothers put turkey in every recipe they can...turkey soup, turkey tacos, turkey omelets, turkey enchiladas, turkey lasagna...

But after Easter and our dozens of hard boiled Easter Eggs we have three choices

1. Egg Salad Sandwiches 

2. Deviled Eggs

3. Eat them plain

okay so I decided that I'd score the world wide web and come up with some great hard boiled egg recipe to share with you guys...

..

and this is what I got...

1. Egg Salad Sandwiches

2. Deviled Eggs

3.  Eat them plain...

okay there are a few others out there 

add them to potato salad

throw them on a regular salad...

but then my then my friend, Erin, over at Epicurean Travels; experiencing the flavors of the world shared a recipe from her "travels"...Asparagus with Ham and Eggs

so I'm not going to have time to add this to my menu this week...but I wanted to share with you a recipe that Erin enjoyed and I'm sure her family is eating this week with all their leftover Easter Eggs....

do you or your family have a special way to eat up your fridge full of hard boiled Easter Eggs?

Spring Break Project

need a little project to keep you going during Spring Break?

...

get a canvas (from Michael's, JoAnn's, or from a thrift store already painted on...up-cycle one!)

cover it with a paint color of your choice...

add another if you choose...

break out your fancy paper cutter (I have the Silhouette SD)...and have it cut out the words/design that you chose out of the paper that you choose.

okay, sorry not everyone has one...if not you can print out what you like off your computer, and then hand trace it onto the paper you want to use, and then cut it out by hand...(or have your wonderful in-laws buy you this for Christmas...I didn't even ask for one...and I LOVE it!)...

and then using Mod Podge...

decoupage your words onto your painted canvas...(lay your design/words out first to make sure you like the layout)

and just fyi...I know that this ends with a preposition but it's a definition, not a true sentence...and if you've read the dictionary lately (I do ALL the time!) you know that ending definitions with prepositions are the norm...maybe...not sure...just wanted to justify my sign!

a few other looks to inspire your creativity this spring break

panted the flower onto two canvas's and then decoupaged the butterfly and word onto them

loved the monkey one...sold to a friend Connie...

the "sweet pea" and vine are cut out using my silhouette and then I painted on flowers and swirls

I love this "all girl" one, with all the words describing a girl...maybe a certain girl that happens to live at my housel...this would be a fun one to customize for a child in your life, might even have them help you come up with descriptive words.

now go craft away your spring break!