simple math

okay so it's not really math...
just an observation
an observation of  what a + b =

and I'll go on the record to say I am in no way a perfect parent, I make a fair amount of mistakes in my parenting choices every day...

but just thinking...

if you take all the parents that blatantly disregard the school drop off loop rules and see how well their children follow rules we might start seeing a connection....

knock, knock, parents...are you in there?
...you can NOT expect your children to follow...obey...respect...
your rules...the school rules...the rules of society
if you 'teach' them that the safety rules and regulations that the school has repeatedly informed ALL of us about don't apply to you!...

1 parent that breaks the rules + a child watching that parent = a child with zero respect for rules!

I vote for a school jail on the front lawn on the school...
that other parents...a jury of their peers...
can vote the parents that break the school drop off loop rules into...
I would also like a safety patrol sash* and cute hat...

turn the collar into a sash...my new uniform

and a 'ticket' pad...
and all money paid from the fines would replace all the cookie dough, wrapping paper, candied nuts sales!

*blog note...when searching the world wide web for 'safety patrol uniform images' you NEED to have your parental block ON...WOW...

Lucky You

my family will not be getting Saturday Morning pancakes...
the kids are happy because they get to finish off the box of 'Lucky Charms' for breakfast...

the box we bought for St. Patrick's Day...and mean mom only  let them have a bowl that morning and then on the Saturday following, but NONE this week...can't send my kids off to school with Lucky Charms streaming thru their little bodies...

Lucky Charms being in our home have led to mulitple deep theological late night talks about 'Lucky Charms'...
'mom, why is a four leaf clover lucky?' ...because it's rare
'why is a shooting star lucky?'...because it's also rare
"why is a bag of gold lucky?' ...because if you find it you can give it to you mom
'why is a horse shoe lucky?'....hm...no idea, I'm sure google knows, but I don't care enough to find out...
'why doesn't Lucky Charms cereal have a rabbit foot marshmallow?  aren't those supposed to be lucky?'...just a guess here, but I'm pretty sure that NO one wants to eat cereal with a rabbit foot marshmallow in it...
'We Would!'...

...just so you know you are all lucky too...
the reason my family is not getting Saturday Morning Pancakes is because I need to get over to the '3 Ladies Open House and Craft Boutique'...
yes, our spring show is still on even though Mr. Groundhog has yet to deliver our spring...
come on over and put a little luck into your dreary rainy March day!

Busy Bees

we are back, the 3 ladies...well, now it's four of us...but who's counting...we're having our 3rd open house and craft boutique....

we turned Rayna's new house into a lovely little shop...with yummy goodies...

we've been working hard to have lots of new items at this spring boutique!

The Smith Hotel...Mrs. Smith, she's the one that started this whole crazy thing...when she turned her love of shopping, antiquing, and craftiness into a business...The Smith Hotel has a unique collection of home decor, handmade-vintage-upcycled jewelery, and anything  and EVERYthing in between.

Gotcha Covered...she has you covered from cooking to 'feeding' that baby to shopping...handmade aprons (all sizes from small kids to XL adults, men and women), nursing covers, and shopping cart covers...and she specializes in custom orders!

Kent Creations (the 4th lady in the 3 Ladies), has handmade, upcycled frames and custom order kids picnic tables...

Marci (Kent Creations), the 4th lady in the 3 Ladies Open House is also going to be putting in feather hair extensions....so come get yourself feathered!

lovely picture of my feathers...shh don't tell my dad
(the 'feather' trend is taking all the feathers from the fly fishing/tyers)

& then there's ChambersMade...with my upcycled signs and new crocheted items, headbands, headwraps and spring hats for babies!

some new ChambersMade signs...

Mrs. Smiths jewelry in the back
ChambersMade headbands in the front

 way too much to see...can't get pictures of it all

oh, I guess there might be 5 ladies...the Double S Double W Ranch has their organic Jams for sale!

seriously the set up is so much fun to just browse thru...

 so if you're in the area today or tomorrow stop by and do a little spring shopping....

Friday, March 25th, 3-7 pm
& Sat, the 26th, 9 am - 3 pm
email me for the address and directions...
kiera(dot)chambers(at)gmail(dot)com
or check out our Open House Event page on facebook

the week that was

early morning wake up on Sunday...darn you Daylight Savings Time...and the disaster that was!

cut boy child's hair...and have since been trimming bits and pieces every day...

this is still to raw too talk about but RIP crock pot....

got my hair done and festive for the month of March...so what if the month is half way over....

kids set a leprechaun trap...

and those sneaky little guys got away again...leaving behind a mess and golden candy!

and the Magically delicious Lucky Charms...not so magical...but it is the 1st time the kids have ever had it...and I think we'll make it a tradition, sugar cereal once a year won't kill them...

and a FREAK hail storm last night...people were sledding down the street in the 2 inches of hail...CRAZY fun!
the first picture is of our stairs last night when we got home from a friends house...
2nd pic is our roof this morning...

ChambersMade Chop Shop

I totally did it...
I...all by myself...with zero help from any professional....
gave the boy child a hair cut....

trying to get him to stand still for a pic

I had tried to make an appointment with the lady that normally does our hair and we wouldn't have been able to get in until next week...
and his hair was CRAZY long...like should have been cut 2-3 weeks ago long...
...
so I was asking him how bad he wanted it cut...
...'It's so heavy mom, it just needs to be chopped off!'
and I suggested that we just go somewhere else,
he asked why I couldn't just cut it...
hmmm....
cuz' I think dad would say no...
Beau can kinda be weird about getting his hair cut...and has never even let me get sort-of close to his hair with scissors...and is the one that suggested Madison start getting her hair cut by a professional years ago!!!
...hmmmm

so I told him to ask his dad and see what he said...
....
Beau said, "sure."

really, can't you just give me a normal face

...hmmmm....
should I really do this...
okay, so WORST case...
I mess it up bad and we drive straight to a $10 hair cut place and have them fix it for us...

"I got hair in my eye,"...really, STOP moving

...
Best case....
I do an okay job and save some $...
...most likely case...
I cut it good enough to pass until next week when we can get an appointment with our normal lady!!!

still...but the face is silly...this is the 'turtle' face/neck....

I didn't do so bad...we'll see how the cut looks as the week goes on...I think we may had ended up with the 'most likely case'...
and I will give the hairdresser a big tip....
because if you think we wouldn't stand still for the picture after...the being still for the hair cut was horrible...
yep...'after'...these are all 'after' pictures...the boy had a TON of hair....

yeah, that's gross...but that's what I cut off...

and he still has this much hair...

finally an okay pic of an okay hair cut....

not sure if I'll ever cut it again...but not too bad in a pinch!

the disaster of 'thoughtfulness'

thoughtfulness and efficiency can have it's downside...

so, I was already feeling sorry for our kids this morning...

thinking poor PK's (Pastor's Kids) have such a rough life...they don't get to sleep in on Sunday's...
and our kids have it even harder because dad's a pastor and mom is the childcare director....
so we BOTH have to be on the campus an hour before 1st service starts...8:45=7:45....

so knowing all this and adding to it the wonderful invention of Daylight Savings Time...and those poor kids are doomed...

and to make it even worse, we were invited over for dinner by some friends from church last night and didn't leave there until after 9...knowing we'd have to come home stick the kids in bed and change the clocks forward one hour...so we were really putting the kids to bed at 10!!!

both husband and I are tired when we get to home, and already dreading how early we will have to wake the kids up in the morning...

and this is how it went down...

I tuck the kids into bed, and crawl into my own bed, role over and stare at my clock and think how this is the STUPIDEST idea ever (even though I think it's genius every fall!)...and I set my alarm clock ahead the one hour that it  needs to be...and fall into a blissfully unaware sleep...

husband comes to bed HOURS later...probably 10 minutes, but I have the spiritual gift of sleep and can fall asleep in seconds...and sees me dead to the world, and does want any sweet and loving husband does, he sets my clock ahead for me...1 hour...and then he goes around the house setting all the clocks forward 1 hour...

my alarm goes off, I role over and look at the 6 o'clock staring at me, role out of bed...
drag myself to the shower...
in route to the shower I notice that the clock on the stove doesn't match the time from my alarm clock...
so I set it ahead 1 hour...
get ready...get the husband up...get the kids up...all of us get ready...
using these two clocks all morning...
my alarm clock that I know I set right the night before and the kitchen clock that I know I set right when I walked thru the kitchen this VERY morning...
and my husband also knows that he set my clock last night (moving it ahead the second time because he had no idea that I had already set it!)....
and that he also set the kitchen clock last night...(that I then moved ahead this morning when it didn't match my alarm clock!)....
we actually get ready pretty good for a family that's draggin'...
we are ready to go, and the husband and I make these old people comments on the way to the van...
'I don't remember it actually being still DARK when we did this last year.'...and
'boy, it's seems way darker this year than last year.'....
and then the families all clicked into the car and we start to back out of the driveway when we notice that the clock on the dash board reads 5:40...
it should read 6:40 because yesterday it would have been 6:40...
but we have Sprung Forward and lost an hour and we need to set it ahead to 7:40...
but why would it say 5:40...
how weird...so we both look at our cell phones
(that have magic within them that allows them to just change time all on their own!)...
and our phones say 6:40...but how is that so???
that is when Beau says,
'Well, I changed all the clocks last night before I went to bed.'...
and I say, 'Yeah, I changed my alarm clock before I fell asleep...'.
B...'What, no, I changed yours for you before I went to bed, I changed all of them..'
Me...'No, I did mine before I went to sleep.'
...this is the moment that we start to think we've done something horrible wrong!
B...'But the kitchen clock...it said the time, we were looking at the kitchen clock too.'
Me...'oh, well...yeah, I changed that this morning on my way to the shower...'
.... silence...chirp, chirp...(only the crickets are STILL sleeping!)
kids...'why are we still in the car and not going anywhere?'

did we REALLY just wake up at 4 AM!?!?

oh that cookie pushing little gang

this is a serious gang with serious issues...

we have an obesity epidemic in the country 

and yet this gang goes door to door...

neighborhood to neighborhood...

they are in your children's school...

and yes...

probably sitting right next to your child in their Sunday School class room...selling...pushing cookies...I have even seen them handing out 'samples' of their drug to get the kids hooked....

things that make this gang easy to spot...

they are sometimes dressed like your normal 'girl next door' but once a week you will see then wearing their gang colors, green or brown...

the young ones wear brown, and after a few years of cookie pushing they get moved up to green...

sometimes they are wearing sashes and showing off all their badges...

...badges that they earn from the amount of 'victims' they sucker into buying their crack that they box into pretty purple and green boxes and label as 'cookies'...

you might also notice that many in the gang may have their hair braided in one or two braids...those braids are used as an evil device to con more victims into buying more crack...

and you know what's horriblly sad...they have been pushing their crack with propaganda for decades

and you know it's crack...seriously...$4 a box...yet we all shell out $4 here and $8 there...and $16 over there again...and during this economic crisis...when we could buy a gallon of gas for that same price!

who would do that if it wasn't for crack in a pretty purple box sold to me by a gang of girls with their hair all in braids and sporting their gang uniform!!!  I was scared, I felt threatened...I was forced into it...my husband told me I couldn't come home without a box or 5!

and then...then...we know it's a serious issue when all over blog land people have recipes using this crack as an ingredient...what has this world come to???

and yes...I have become a victim of this horrible gang....

the gang our son calls 

the 'Cookie Scout Girls'...

and since I don't want to condone such an band of evil doers...I will NOT post any said recipes on my blog...

I will not post the recipe for Somoa Caramel Corn and I will not tell you how I currently have caramel all over my counters because I just made this!

or the one I saw for Somoa Truffles on a Stick

or the horrible Thin Mint Cheesecake

the gang is so evil they even posted their own Thin Mint Brownie Recipe

and did you hear, they even got to Rachael Ray and she made a Thin Mint Dessert Pizza....
and I JUST found a recipe using them for something BESIDES a dessert...
yes a Girl Scout Cookie Shrimp recipe...what is the world...what....

this has just made me so hungry..angry that this has been allowed to happen....what sort of world do we live in...

wait...what's that...is that my timer....I think my crack caramel corn is done...good bye!

it's always fun to try something new

I like to try new recipes, and my family is use to tasting new recipes...only normally those new recipes happen to be in the form of a dessert...so when I put a new dinner recipe on the table I always get interrogated by the girl child...
'what's in this'
'why did you decided to make this'
'will I like this'
'why did you have to put tomatoes in it'
'where were you the night of March 10th'


anyways, I saw this recipe a few weeks ago when I was looking around blog land...can't remember even where I saw it...sorry for not being able to give credit to whoever posted it..it might have been Kelsey over @ We Weren't Crazy....but I'm not sure...

anyways, this is one of those recipes that I like because it's pretty flexible with whatever you have around...
use whatever pasta you have (the original recipe called for rigatoni, didn't have that on hand so I used shells, that's all I had)...

you can use frozen or fresh spinach (again the original recipe called for frozen but I bought a bag of fresh spinach the size of Rhode Island last time I was shopping so I decided to use fresh!)...

you can cooked chicken breast to make this recipe or use leftover chicken from something you had earlier in the week, or use a roisterer chicken from a deli, or use sausage instead of chicken...I was thinking a turkey/chicken kielbasa would be really good with this....

as for the chive and onion cream cheese (the only thing that I had to buy to make this recipe, everything else I had)...I'm sure you could substitute it with a block of regular cream cheese and 
just add some dried onion and chopped up chives to the recipe...

Creamy Chicken Spinach and Pasta Bake
8 ounces uncooked pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion (about 1 medium onion)

2 grated cloves garlic
2-3 cup chopped fresh spinach, or 1 10 oz frozen package
3 cups cubed cooked chicken breast-

     I used the leftover from this 'roasted' chicken recipe
1 14.5-ounce can Italian-style diced tomatoes
1 8-ounce container chive and onion cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella or Italian blend cheese

Preheat oven to 375*

Prepare pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, spread oil on bottom of an 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Add onions, garlic and fresh spinach (don't add spinach if using frozen) in a single layer. Bake at 375* for 15 minutes or just until tender. Transfer onion to a large bowl and set aside.

(if using frozen spinach...drain chopped spinach well, pressing between paper towels, toss with onions.)

Stir pasta, chicken, diced tomatoes, cream cheese, salt and pepper into spinach/onion mixture. Spoon mixture into baking dish and sprinkle evenly with shredded cheese.

Bake, covered, at 375* for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes more or until bubbly.

Serves 4 to 6. Serve with tossed green salad and garlic bread.

Substition: for Sausage 'n' Spinach Pasta Bake, substitute 3 cups cooked, crumbled hot Italian sausage for the 3 cups cubed chicken.

Tips:
1 1/2 lb. uncooked chicken breasts equals about 3 cups cubed and cooked.
1 1/4 uncooked sausage equals about 3 cups cooked and crumbled.



verdict....
Beau and I loved this recipe and I'm looking forward to leftover buffet night when I get to eat this again!
the kids...not their favorite, but I'm thinking if I just cut the large tomatoes into really small pieces they'll do better with the whole thing..


I think I'd also almost double the fresh spinach, it always looks like so much before it bakes down, it filled the casserole dish that I was baking it in when I put it in the oven with the onions and then when it was all said and done it looked like I had barely put any spinach into the dish!

There's No Accounting for Taste!

my mother always told us,

"Simplicity is Elegance"

and I have taken this to heart,

I feel this is true for my taste in jewelery...

my wedding band & engagement ring are evidence of my simple taste in sparkly things

how do I take a pic of my ring without making my hands look so old!?

I also know that jewelry is a very personal choice...

I once had a friend say to me,

"you can never judge the names people choose for their children or their Christmas trees, it's just too personal!"

I'm going to add jewelry to that list...

maybe I just need to moisturize more often!

But I'm just feeling like the jewelry that I saw today at WinCo is just something that I will never understand...

something that I'm hoping I never 'own' or have to wear...

or just not show my dry cracking knuckles!

today, while shopping at WinCo...oh, the joys...

the lady at the check-stand next to me was showing her cashier her new anklet...

one issued to her by the Shasta County Parole Department...

because apparently a jury of her peers deemed her guilty worthy!...

it was the most amazing thing I think I have ever witnessed inside of WinCo...

the lady removed her rain boot, pulled up her pants leg, hiked her foot up on the counter, pulled OFF her sock, to show off her 'new' anklet!!!  AMAZING....

The Handwriting Game

decided to just put it out there...

I have a friend that invited me to participate in this little handwriting game and I dragged my feet because I HATE my handwriting...

and now that I have it posted I also have to watch how I write all future ransom notes so they can't pin anything on me!

feel free to participate even if I didn't tag you...

All you have to do is take out a pen and paper, answer the following questions and post it to your blog.

1. What’s your name / blogger name?

2. What’s your blogs URL?

3. Write, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”.

4. Favorite quote?...totally cheated...I'm one of those loosera that goes thru life without a favorite quote...so I stole one from Baby on Dirty Dancing!

5. Your favorite song?

6. Your favorite band / singers?

7. Anything else you want to say?

8. Tag 3 bloggers to participate. I was tagged by Lisa @ Pieces of Me 

and the 3 ladies I tagged are 

Krystle @ 3 Little Men and a Mommy...pretty mean of me since she just had twins a few weeks ago!

Becky @ From Rookie to Rock Star...who's major-ly prego

and Mrs. Smith @ TheSmithHotel...who isn't pregnant and doesn't have twins...but she does have Drama Queen and that might just be more than all the above!

cozy soup day

who doesn't love soup on a rainy day...

and even better, putting soup in the crock pot in the morning and letting the smells drift thru the house all day long....

I'm putting a batch of Crock-Pot Minestrone soup on, and cutting up extra stuff, going to run over to my friend Kim's house later this morning and put a batch into her crock pot also...

blog note...when taking a meal to a friend think outside the box...are they okay with you coming into their home and prep-ing the meal there?...would they be okay with you coming over in the morning and putting the meal in their own crock pot?

...this is a good easy soup that is full of flavor and tons of veggies...but mild that kids love it...
it's also easy to make on the stove top...and actual this was a stove top recipe that I changed into a crock pot one...
it's also a very versatile recipe to make vegetarian or to use what you have on hand...clean out the fridge and pantry on this one...

Throw Down-Clean out the Pantry Minestrone Soup
1 lb ground beef (optional, leave out for vegetarian or change to ground turkey or pork or sausage)
1 medium onion, chopped about 1/2 cup
1 clove garlic, grated or chopped
2 cups spinach, chopped (cabbage or kale can be substituted)
1 can broth (beef, chicken, veggie) or
     1 1/4 cup water and 2 tsp beef or chicken bouillon
1/4 cup fresh basil-chopped (or 1 tsp dried basil or Italian seasoning)
3-4 cups veggies
     chopped celery, sliced carrots, zucchini, squash, green beans (fresh, canned, or frozen), corn (fresh, canned or frozen) etc...don't count the spinach from above in the 3-4 cups or the tomatoes below
1 can chopped tomatoes, undrained
1 can beans, undrained-kidney (red or white), black, your choice
1 cup shell pasta (or whatever you have on hand, small tortellinis or raviolis also work)
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan Cheese to top

1.  Brown ground beef in skillet with onion and garlic, drain and put into crock pot.
2.  Add all other ingredients except pasta and cheese...cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours.  about one hour before serving add pasta to the crock pot and stir.  Soup is done with pasta is tender.
3.  Serve warm with cheese on top....and with fresh bread if you can!

all the stuff just thrown into the crock...pre-pasta of course!

this is so great on a rainy day like today...can't wait for dinner...I also threw a batch of French bread into my bread maker...

I highly recommend people use their bread machines...so many have them and leave them in the dark corner of their pantry or out in the garage, pull it out, dust it off and throw in a nice batch of bread....if you don't have one you can always find them at thrift stores or yard sales or on clearance sales this time of year.

Menu for March 7th-21st

argh...it's menu time again...
I was recently asked, "Why?" do I make a menu if I dread making it...
why oh, why
but it is a must if I am to keep the peace in my home during the bewitching hour*

*bewitching hour: the twilight zone of time from picking up kids from school, running them from piano lessons/dance/softball/girl scouts getting homework done to getting dinner of the table.
note...my children take piano lessons once a week...none of us can handle any more activity than that!

so for peace in the bewitching hour I opt for making a menu and modifying it during the week around other activities/errands/and-what-not that pops up....

how do I make the meal...
I look at the next 2 weeks and see what activities are on the calendar that happen every week
~Mondays I work in the kids class room from 7:45- around 10:45
~Wednesday night church from 6-8 (this is a great crock pot night)
~my 'office' hours at the church are pretty flexible but I HAVE to work on Thursday because I provided childcare at MOPS
~Thursday is also piano day and usually the most homework for the girl child...(also a great crock pot night)
~Sundays at church from 7:45am-12:30+...not a day I want to make dinner usually a good night for brinner (breakfast for dinner) or leftover buffet

and now things that aren't normally on the calendar but are happening the next 2 weeks for us...
~we already have dinner at friends scheduled for 2 of the nights this week (woot woot!)
~taking a meal to a family (pray for my friend Kim as she has and recovers from surgery this week!)
~I have a jewelery party on the calendar on Thursday-not serving dinner to the guest but a nice dessert will need to be planned before I do my grocery shopping so I'm not having to run to the store on my busy Thursday
~next week is the church's annual Father Daughter Feast (a date night) so the meal is supplied for Madison and Beau and I will probably take Wilson out on a date with me...so no cooking!

why 2 weeks?
1.  I would do it for longer if I could but we have the smallest refrigerator/freezer known to man...it's one step up for the college size...okay, maybe a little larger...but not much...to give you an idea...our microwave sits on top and the girl child can still reach the microwave!
2.  We get paid twice a month so I can shop around the time we get paid.
3.  Fruits, veggies, and dairy products don't last much longer than 2 weeks...sometimes less!

so quick math...2 weeks = 14 dinners...with 3 taken away with other plans-3=11 dinner menu items I need to have...

so for the next 2 weeks...
Dinner Ideas
~Minestrone soup -in the crock pot (excited to make this...have had it on the menu and it keeps getting pushed off...but it's the meal I'm also taking to my friends family...so it WILL get made this week!)
~Black Bean soup...this was so good that the kids asked me to make it again...and it's SO easy
~Almond Crusted Chicken with creamy gravy & potatoes and spinach salad
~Chili and cornbread
~baked potatoes (with left over chili)
~Meatloaf
~Chicken in the crock pot (I have a whole chicken in the freezer...not sure yet what I'm going to do with it...but it will be in the crock)
~Chicken -n- Spinach Pasta Bake (new to us recipe-I'll post the recipe if the family likes it!)
~Sweet-n-Sour Meatballs and rice (an easy one to change to spaghetti and meatballs if I have less time!)
~Brinner-Puffed oven pancake, scrambled eggs & bacon
~Leftover buffet

here are a few things I'm also thinking about while making a menu

I try to plan things that work together...

chili one night and a few nights later we can use the leftover chili for the baked potato bar

I try to have a variations of pastas, soups, meats (beef & chicken & pork), vegetarian meals also help keep the price down (lots of soups can be vegetarian)...

I look at the dishes that I will need to buy the same stuff for...

potatoes for at least 2 meals maybe more...

cans of beans for both soups & the chili

ground beef for the meatloaf, meatballs and chili

chicken breast for the almond crusted chicken and chicken bake...

spinach for the minestrone soup,  spinach salad, spinach pasta bake..etc...

I try to take an inventory of the pantry & fridge to see what I have on hand so I'm not buying stuff I already have and so I can plan meals based on stuff I need to use up.

I usually get some meal input from the rest of the family...when I made this yesterday they were all at school/work so I had to just wing it...but I also know most of what they like so I'm sure it'll be okay...

you get the idea!

happy menu planning and grocery shopping!

No Pinching

I just took my Valentines decorations down on Saturday...but hey, it was still in February...so not too bad, how many of us wait until January to take down Christmas?

anyways...here is a little tour of our ChambersMade Irish cottage....

our festive green'ish wreath...look familar...yep I recycled it from Christmas...

the shelf in the entry way...

~the subway art piece is a free printable from here

~the rain boot picture is from a few years ago of my kids...

~the milk jug vase is left over Valentine Decor ('I love you' is on the other side, just turned it), with green leaves off our Camilla tree

~the frog and green glitter basket are both from Target $1 bins

~the limes were in my fruit basket for lime chicken that I plan making later this week...hmmm might need to get some plastic limes

~and the Lego Leprechaun was made by Wilson

Sunday was day 8 of sickness in our house...

both kids and I were getting a little sick of Cosby re-runs and Phineas and Ferb...

so to break it up...I sent the kids on a 'green, gold & rainbow' scavenger hunt around the house...

be forewarned...you may end up with some very odd items and have to explain why you can't...won't use Lincoln Log roof tiles in your decor...

our 'mantel'...aka...top of our heater...

~green frog, green box and green hand sanitizer (small in front next to the milk jug) all from the scavenger hunt...I will probably remove the sanitizer soon, but the kids veto'ed me when I said it was weird!

~vase full of green trimmings from our yard...

~ball of green yarn and green striped dishtowel...all from around the house.

our trunk/end table in our living room

~stack of green books (scavenged mostly from Beau's book shelf...without permission...)

~teddy bear in green velvet bag (bag from the scavenger hunt)...

~another vase of greenery from our tree...and the vase has those weird beads that soak up water...and just happen to be rainbow colored (Wilson got them from Aunt Brook for Christmas)...

~green candle (was a Christmas gift)...

and on top of the green books...

~a green crocodile Littlest Pet Shop...
~green Hot Wheel...
and a jar of rainbow Squinkies...and if you don't know what Squinkies are you probably don't have a 10 year old girl! all from the scavenger hunt...

 top of the piano...sorry for the bad lighting...

from left-right.

~our greenish Scentsy (plug in candle thingy)...

~frame of Beau, Madison and I the first time Madison saw the ocean...it's always on the piano...didn't want to find something to replace it...

~a green plate with green pears...

~a green tea/coffee cup holding up a stack of 'golden' books...

~and the candles that are always on the piano...

close up of the 'green & golden' stuff on top of the piano...

and forgot to mention the clay elephant on the far right that Madison made in 3rd grade...

he's not green...but I just love that little guy!

it was fun getting the kids involved and decorating for St. Patrick's Day...don't think I've ever decorated for it before...and I only spent $2 everything else was from around the house....

was also thinking most of these things I will be able to re-use and just add other colors for Spring/Easter decorations...

I'm linking this to Inspiring Creations