Wake & Bake

First things first - I finally found a rooster.
Now, it ain't much - but it will do. Especially since it was a mere $5 at Wally World.
I completely forgot to take a before picture. Not very smart, huh?

To help you understand the color 'before' - I will borrow words from the great master-mind himself, Mr. Nico. He said, "Mom, it looks like an animal cracker."

There. That should tell you that it was a very blotchy, beige-y, beige.

After some time outside yesterday and a coat of Ivory spray paint, allow me to introduce Roo, the rooster.

 

And here he sits, in his new home.

Isabel was joking at dinner last night..."What if the rooster wakes us up in the morning?!" We just laughed at with her. Silly girl.

Do you want to know what DID wake us up this morning?!?!  The alarm.
As in the HOUSE ALARM. As in Nic just wanted to know what the weather felt like. Oye ve. Our alarm company is going to LOVE us!

In food news, look at what I made yesterday.

My very first apple pie. Ever.
Last year, I made my very first pumpkin pie.
I will admit - for this particular pie, I did not make the crust. Marcos was begging for this pie, and I just wanted to get it over with, so I bought the pre-made crust.

Shame on me. I had NO IDEA that the apples and spices would be soooo good that they would be over-taken by the eh - so - so crust. I know I can make a nice, flaky crust. I've done it before.

So, I think I am going to give Apple Pie # 2 a shot. And really knock the socks off my hombre.

Next weekend, of course.

There you have it: Wake & Bake!

P.S. Lots of little crafts to share with you through out this coming week.

Checked a few things off of my To Do list

I made myself a To Do list for yesterday. My husband also made me a To Do list. Can you guess which one was my priority?
The kids and I travelled out to Phoenix yesterday (a whole 30 minute drive)... and made a visit to IKEA. I ♥ IKEA.

We only had an hour as we were meeting up with my parents for some pizza at noon.
I wanted to buy everything. [I am sorry IKEA peeps if your go-back carts are filled to the brim because of my indecisiveness and lack of monetary funds.] I bought a few things.

First... I bought a MIRROR! A big one. As in the kind that hangs above my dining room table [no, not like that, you pervs.] It was $79 and I lurrrve it. I can't wait for the husband to hang it for me. [Note to self: I should prolly get on that To Do list of his.]

I also got Isa a mirror. We got some stuff done in her room this weekend, including putting up a fan and some valances. She needed a mirror for a big blank space above her dresser. [another thing for Marcos to hang.]

I also picked up so picture frames - I so need to start my wall-o-pictures.

After IKEA and a fantastic lunch with the 'rents, we came home to get our To Do lists done. The kids had a date with their chore list and I a spray can.

I found the below mirror at Goodwill. It was $9.99 - but we happened to be there on 50% off day! So I scored it for less than $5.



I thought I would hang it in my bedroom... the flower detail is very similar to one that's on our bed. It's a very narrow mirror, but I have two spots picked out. We will see which one it looks better in.




While I was at it - I also primed and painted our little table that sits in the hallway and a shelf I had lying around.


I was going for an antique cream color - but I think they still look pretty light.
See the difference?



While at IKEA, I picked up this fake fern looking thing. The pot can be written on with chalk. Love it.



Finally, I had a little craft time this weekend - and came up with something for my formal living room and dining room. I think it's going to sit on the radio cabinet when all is said and done.



I wrapped the twine around the base of the vase and then taped the outside of the leftover glass. I sprayed the inside of the glass with textured spray paint and then used a clear spray over the twine to help keep it in place.

Look at how nice it looks next to the curtains...






So... that's pretty much it, other than the fact that I am still cleaning spray paint off of my hands.

I really need to get to work on Marcos' To Do list; bake him a pineapple upside down cake.

Slave driver.

[p.s. i just spent the last 30 minutes trying to figure out what's wrong with blogger - my formatting is way messed up. at first it ignored all of my hard returns, and now there is too much space. grrr.]

Easy Peasy V-Day Cards

Isa needs 30 valentine's by tomorrow. Of course I knew in advance, but I sure didn't act on this knowledge. In advance.

The poor girl has been sick the last few days and hasn't even been in school.  But we are trying our hardest to get her healthy so she can join in the LOVE celebration going on at her school tomorrow.

We needed something more grown-up (uhemm) and something super, easy peasy!

The idea was to get a good picture of her - but that didn't work out since she wasn't feeling so hot. So I went through Picasa and tried to find some pictures I could use. I found a few:

We finally settled on this one:

They are at Walgreen's right now getting printed off. I already purchased the foam they will be attached to, in addition to the ribbon and the mini-snicker's bars (bites, really!).  Where outstretched arm/hand is, we will attach a mini-snickers! 

I will take a picture of the final product as soon as I get them put together this evening! We also got some treats for the class party and V-Day pencils for the entire class.

I know Valentine's Day isn't until Monday, but it sure is fun getting started early on the celebrations. You know, like forcing your #1 man to take you out for a romantic date?! He's taking me to the movies tomorrow night. Where we may or may not make-out in the dark theater.

Fancy

Do you know what I love about having a three year old? He tells it like it is. Or at least how I hope it appears.  Do you remember these [semi] QT pies?

Well, Nic and I had some time before lunch this morning to get out our supplies and add some color to our Ross finds.  I had already picked out the colors, a spearmint/jade/aloe green and a bright golden yellow. They will compliment the other items we already have in the kitchen and also the fabric my dear dad will be using to make valances for me.

The wind was so-so, but we [Nic, Milo the Dog, and I] decided to brave the back patio; it's completely covered and provided some protection from the wind.  We got out our handy-dandy supplies.

I don't even know if I have ever spray painted before; it didn't appear to be too difficult. Especially once I realized which way the spray would go, due to the slight breeze.  I love how the spearmint/jade/aloe vase turned out. I think it's perfect.

And because it was so perfect, I decided to try the other vase.

The sunny yellow paint just about dripped off the vase. But I wasn't going to let that stop me. I just kept spraying and spraying, adjusting my distance from the thing as needed.  I stopped once, just to grab my camera that was in danger of getting Bright Yellow speckles on it. Saved. Whew.  And this is how it turned out.

So I sprayed it a few more times and convinced myself that way UP there on the cabinet, no one would see the drip marks. And if they did, I would say it was done on purpose.

Don't judge art people; it ain't right.

Here is an example of my spearmint/jade/aloe color.

Here are the two finished pieces in their new home.

I don't have a lot going on up there yet, but I figured it could be a work in progress.

Regardless of bald spots or paint drips, Nic announced, without prompt, that they looked "fancy." That pretty much made my day. The other thing that will finish making my day freakin' awesome? Figuring out how to get my arms to feel not so sticky. I am not sure what happened. There doesn't appear to be paint speckles... but it sure does feel like it. In fact, I feel like one of those tape/sticky/string things that hangs from the cieling and catches flyes. You know what I am talking about.

And I know all you  moms know, I can't even fathom a shower until my little lover of art takes a nap [not going to happen] or hits the hay for the night. Sticky it is.



Craft Sunday: School Paper Organizers

This week, Craft Sunday was on Monday.

I had some magazine holders (think wood-like material) from IKEA

laying around collecting... well... magazines.

I threw those out and decided they would be better

school paper organizers for my kitchen.

I took the magazine holder and laid it out on scrapbook paper

and then traced out the shape.

Once traced, I cut the pieces. One 12x12 sheet wrapped the entire box,

I just had to do a little manipulating.

I then took out my handy dandy Mod Podge and Mod-Podged my little heart out.

Once I attached the paper, I put it in front of a fan to dry.  Once dry (a few minutes, not too long) I Mod-Podged the outside of the paper.

After a few minutes in front of the fan, the Mod Podge was dry and I stuck on a cut-out in the shape of an "A" for Alex. 

There you have it.

Now, some might say it's a little girlie for a mature almost 15 year old boy.

But I will take a moment to remind "some" that it has to

work AND look good in MY kitchen.

So there.

I still have Isabel's and Nic's to complete.

Perhaps next Sunday.

The Good, the Okay, and the Ugly!

Not necessarily in that order... :)

Isabel, Nic and I made a trip to Michael's today while Alex and the husband were out admiring their biggest catch:

Don't laugh. I already did - enough for both of us.

Back to my story... We wanted to pick up some art supplies; we decided on an art project similar to the ones here and here.  After some time, this is what we ended up with:

They don't look like dinosaurs much, do they? Maybe I should have named this project Make Believe Animal (Maybe?) Art...

Yeah, that's it!

Guess what the husband brought me home from Costco - besides two rotisserie chickens?
These:

It's been a very happy Sunday in and around our house!  I think I am ready for the week to begin!