Yuck, Ick, Gross, Groody....

I am taking part in orgjunkie's Monthly Organizing challenge, to read more about it you can click here: http://orgjunkie.com/category/monthly-roundup February is Kitchen month, and I got a little head start, I even know what cabinet I am going to do next!

BEFORE Pictures: The problem is that my under the sink area had all of my glass vases sitting around collecting dust. That is the yuck, ick gross part. I have decided to put them on freecycle.com and then recycle the rest and keep the ones I love the most.

Ashley and I got in there with sponges and I was surprised that she got dirt on her sponge, I even did the pipes, sprayed down with a little windex, just in case a plumber ever needs to get in there, I think they would be impressed. :-) I am so pleased with how it is turning out, no more clanking around everytime I put the garbage can in or out or use the hose sprayer at the sink, sometimes the hose would clank into the vases. I remember as a kid having great memories of crawling in my mom's cupboards!

In this pic you can see old shelf liner paper that got dirty. AFTER Pictures:
I put down new shelf lining paper.
I am so pleased with how it is turning out, no more clanking around everytime I put the garbage can in or out or use the hose sprayer at the sink, sometimes the hose would clank into the vases.

Love my friends...

About our group of friends, a week or so ago we had a small birthday party for my daughter at Chuck E. Cheese's with her friends. We live near a large city and we have two Chuck E. Cheese's in the area. Plus I picked a Sunday night thinking it was less busy. We had never been before, except over Christmas vacation to the one in Bowling Green Kentucky (which was a really nice experience). Basically I love my friends, here is why

Friend #1 - has three boys and is pregnant with a fourth (she came with a smile on her face) plus DH came too
Friend #2 - has a newborn and a toddler (she came with a smile on her face and even had to breast feed the baby there) DH couldn't make it, but we all chipped in a helped out with both the toddler and the newborn.
Friend #3 - has a toddler (she came with a smile on her face) DH came too

What I want to say is it isn't always easy dragging your kids out to a birthday party in the middle of winter and the space was crowded and tight for the adults. It was very busy there that night. I just want to say thanks to all of my friends and let them know that John and I have chosen not to do that again. Thanks friends and thanks for coming with a smile on your face - I'll be at your kid's party no matter where it is. Laura :-)

Date Day...

Today was date day with DH, we went on a great trip to Seneca Niagara Casino. His company offers a package deal, bus, food, 20.00 worth of tokens, buffet lunch, snacks etc. So we had a nice day together and I was able to listen to my IPOD Nano and John his IPOD. We had such a nice day together and we were surrounded by adults all around. The lunch buffet was incredible! My neighbor and mom watched DD for the day - thanks guys! Don't worry we didn't loose our shirts we are still responsible with our money, in fact we came out a bit ahead, so that was another nice part about the day. There were a few other people on our bus whom also brought some money home too. It will be a while before we do something like a whole day date again, so I am lingering in how nice it was.

Crafty Birthday...

This is for all of you who knit (ahem Shari), the photos are of three different things, on is a hat that my Mom made for DD recently and it is sooooo adorable, the way the skein of the yarn worked it looks like she put stripes in the hat on purpose, however the yarn was multicolored so it turned out like that.
The pink blankie my daughter has had since birth and was given to me at the baby shower for her, actually I got two others from my mom as well, one blue since we didn't know if it was going to be a boy or a girl and another multi-pink and white. The pink one has turned out to be my daughters favorite.
The third is the sweater she got today for her birthday, it is beautiful and adorable on her! My mom can knit!!!! For any of you locals, she sells her mittens at a shop in Fairport.

Love that look, she is opening a present and there is tape on the box!!!

Menu Plan Monday

Menu Plan Monday



Monday - Out With John - we have a babysitter, sandwiches for the babysitters and DD

Tuesday - DDs Birthday Dinner Choice = Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce (I was a little surprised when she picked this, yet happy at the more mature decision she made, over hot dogs and macaroni and cheese) Dora cupcakes for dessert.

Wednesday - Belgian Waffles for Dinner

Thursday - Frozen Food Night

Friday - Canned Soup Night

Saturday - No Clam, Clam Chowder ( a corn chowder soup )

Sunday - Chuck E. Cheese's - DDs Birthday party - So pizza and pop it will be!



More info. on Menu Plan Monday can be found at org.junkie.com

Crafty Caslte Day...

Last night at 9pm-ish I was approached by DH and he said "Hey do you want to do a craft project with me?" Hmmm, well I was all snuggled into the couch and catching up on other blogs I like to read and well, I didn't really say YES right away. So then DH says "It will keep her busy all day tomorrow!" Me: "OK I'm in!" I jump to my feet and say "What are we going to do?" You can see the results of Ashley's Palace in the pictures...wouldn't Donna Dewberry be proud of my One Stroke painting (kidding, hee hee). Let's just say this was a great idea and DD did play and play in it today. Plus it comes complete with a potty inside!!! Which she used!!! :-)
The hot water heater saves the day again!!!!!!

Living on the edge...

We decided to go ahead and have a plumbing company install a new hot water heater and sump pump, both of which have never been replaced at our house to the best of our knowledge. The were both about 10 years old. However the plumber discovered that our hot water heater had started to leak due to some rust at the bottom of it (one disaster diverted, as our basement is partially finished and we don't want to ruin the flooring.) Then he did the sump pump and we had an emergency back up sump pump, however he discovered that the back up wasn't working probably due to the fact that the battery was dead (another disaster diverted). Although it will put a dent in the check book we are happy we replaced both. Not only did we replace the pump we also opted for a special emergency back up that runs on water power and we never have to worry about having a charged battery back up - nice! It actually taps into the home water system before the shut off valve, so you can still shut the water off to the whole house and it will still work - neat!
Better pictures of the guitar that John is building...
He is building the neck from scratch too, which is proving to be a bit challenging, under the black area is a grove with a metal rod in the neck to help keep the neck from warping, all guitars have this ( I did not know that - until now).
The neck with another groove, that will later be covered up.
A good picture of the wood grain.

MOM...What's For Dinner?????

I love Taco night!!!!
Even though I am a vegetarian, I do still make some meat meals for Dear Hubby. Above is the ground beef for the taco meat. If you are wondering what I had in mine, it was red kidney beans.
This is how I was able to make dinner, I put DD in front of the T.V. - Dora to be exact. For some reason, dinner time/late afternoon time is a bewitching hour for us and TV time seems to be about the only thing that works and allows me to make dinner. The grain on John's guitar (the second one he is building).

Back to Crafts...

First off, these are the Mickey mouse pants I made last year for Ashley, however last year they were way too big and now they fit her and she enjoys wearing them, I would say they are about a size 3-T, also they come out of the wash nice, barely any wrinkles. I like that I was able to make her something with Mickey on it, considering how much Disney clothes cost. The Mickey fabric is a flannel type fabric that is holding up nicely, not too pilly. The pink fabric is a corduroy fabric, the pants are still fairly lightweight as neither fabric is particularly heavy. This was a fun project and I'd like to make her more of this type. The pattern and fabric all came from JoAnn Fabrics. The hardest part was assembling the Mickey print to the front leg, but even that isn't too hard if you do it right the first time. Mine were kinda backwards at first and then I looked at it and said something is not right and it wasn't - amazing how common sense works in sewing too.
I also made this shirt and another one like it and Ashley loves to wear this, it is a flannel heart fabric. It was one of the first things I had sewed in a long, long time, so too were the Mickey pants. In fact I hadn't sewn in such a long time that I took a beginner's class at JoAnn Fabrics. There are a lot of flaws in this piece but DD doesn't care and she loves to wear it to play in.
This is the poncho that I traded my polymer clay beads for!!!!!!! I met the lady who made this at a craft sale in Nov. and she recently came over and bought a bunch of my beads to use in her jewelry making. This was a present that my friend Ramona made for John, they are tool ornaments!!!!!! She found the plastic tools and then drilled holes in them to be able to turn them into ornaments, it was so funny when he opened these!!!!! By the way Ramona is my crafty clay friend whom is going to the Cabin Fever Clay Festival with me - can't wait!
This is me, with the Apron on that Ramona gave to me for Christmas, it has snow mittens on it and I wore it for fun tonight and A. called me "Apron" all night, she is a trip! It is really cute and fun. Another fantastic thing about this apron though is that it is from a store in our area called Craft Bits and Pieces and this store takes donations from crafters, you can donate just about any extra craft item(s) that you have lying around the house and they are happy to take them. Then they sell the items in their store and the profit goes to a good cause. Check out their website here http://www.craftbitsandpieces.com/

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Three Frozen Food Meals, One for me meatless, one for John with meat and one for A. a kid one - usually I like the Stouffer's Frozen Food Meals, John Likes Hearty Man, and A. likes the kid ones.

Tuesday - Taco night, beans for me and meat in Johns, ground beef to be exact

Wednesday - Veggie Soup, minestrone with Naan (an bread that is frozen and made in Indian, you heat it in the oven in 5 minutes and add butter - LOVE it!)

Thursday -Chicken and Biscuits, I saw this Fastest recipe on Rachel Ray today and I am going to make it for my hubby, I don't eat meat but it will be special for him!

Friday - Pasta Night - Tortellini Cheese with garlic bread and green beans

Saturday - Crock Pot Tuna Casserole made for me and J. and A. will have soup

Sunday - Bread Maker Pizza Dough and make the pizza at home with A.'s help

Polymer Clay Business...

I had a first for my Polymer Clay Business today. A lady I had met at a craft show back in November, whom sells beaded jewelry and some sewn stuff too - came to my house to buy some beads from me for her jewelry. I have a ton of polymer clay beads and stuff that is not yet finished for many reasons, one I have a two year old, two I like to try new techniques all the time and I just keep trying the clay techniques and don't always take the time to finish my bead work into necklaces and jewelry etc. Let me back up and tell you that we were supposed to trade because at the craft sale I got my daughter a fleece red riding hood type jacket, with hood, pink and very cute, so I told her to see what she wanted off of my table and she said she would like some beads. So I OWED her! And she liked my work so much that she ended up buying from me!!!!

A note on price point for wholesaling your work, she asked me how much and since I have NEVER done this type of selling before, I didn't really know. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, some pieces have more work than others but I just gave her a flat rate for all. She said she had a friend that may be interested in my work too - yahoo. Its great to have new stuff happening for my business, and taking it in a direction that I hadn't really thought of too. I like the idea that my work will not be sitting around any longer and that someone else can create nice pieces with it. However there is also that loss of control of what will happen to my work as well. But it is all good, I am very happy with what happened today and look forward to selling this way more.

By the way anyone interested in more information on this topic, I have been enjoying another blog by another Polymer Clay artist called Artreprenuer; The Collison of Art and Business. She sells beautiful polymer clay cranes that she makes, however she also offers her thoughts on being an artist and running a business. Check out the link by clicking on the highlighted title I made for you above, you will love her cranes!

Lost in Space, cell phones...

Well one cell phone found. Here is the link to our cell phone story: http://abbett2.blogspot.com/2008/01/this-is-test.html. You might want to sit down, because you won't believe this story. John came home from work yesterday and discovered his cell phone was missing. So today he goes back to work, he goes out on his lunch hour and hears a faint beeping. The phone was in the back of his truck under some snow!!!!! Good thing they beep eh? The poor phone spent an overnight in his truck's back end exposed to the elements. John theorizes that someone noticed in his company parking lot that he dropped it and they put it on top of the truck and he took off and it went flying into the back end. Either way he's lucky he found it, as for me I spent my Christmas money on a new, used one.

Photo Mosaic

Here is my first photo mosaic made with my flickr photos. This is fun!!! They are all taken last week on our Christmas vacation to Nana's house. Click on any of the one individual ones to see it bigger. Aren't my nieces gorgeous if I do say so myself? The one of A. in the hat was taken at the Nashville airport.......very cool, wouldn't you say? Maybe she will follow in her mother's footsteps and like country music after the age of 30.


PS Did you notice my slideshow to the right, I am getting good at this blogging stuff, following directions putting HTML code in where it needs to be and so on...

Two cell phones LOST in space...

Well I lost my cell phone, somehow, either in Kentucky or on the flight from Nashville Tenn. to Detroit MI. During take off I remember my purse sliding down and hitting my feet, so maybe it slid out. So home again, home again jiggety jig, with no cell phone. However my husband seems to be not with his tonight either!!!! I had to spend my Christmas money on a new phone, that will teach me! I even bought a used phone and it was still expensive! I needed a new sim card too and that was an extra 20 bucks. The good news is I get to keep my same phone number and all of the prepaid minutes too, plus they gave me bonus minutes. So whomever finds my phone won't be able to use it until they put minutes on it or do something with it. I will say this though, that my new Samsung phone seems easier to operate than my old one. I'll admit that I am not very tech. savy when it comes to my cell phone usage and I don't even know how to text message, however the old owner left some messages on there and WOW that was interesting to say the least, he was texting to "Wifey" and well lets just say I don't think they are married any longer. Plus he left me at least 40 dollars worth of games that he bought and downloaded and I hate to say it but I will probably NEVER use them. Tomorrow John will see if he finds his phone back at his work, he is lucky though because the company will pay for his, I think, the company owns his. In case you were wondering what would I have spent my Christmas money on had I not needed a new phone? Possibly a new cartridge for my Cricut. :-)