Morgan's Bubble

February Menu

2012-01-30T04:27:00.010-05:00

I thought I would share with you all what our meal plan is for the month. Each week is the same and we do all of our shopping once per month. Adam does bring more home over the course of the month, like milk and other items that don't last a whole month. This month our grocery list cost us right around $150. We had a small amount of items left from the last month but we did need to buy most of them. So here is the menu...

Sundays
Lunch: Mac and Cheese (we always add to it or change it in some way)
Supper: Slow Cooker Lasagna (This meal lasts 3 weeks for us, leftovers get frozen)

Mondays
Lunch: Soup (we have 3 soups left over from last month and I will make a new soup from what we have laying around for the last 2 weeks)
Supper: Ramen noodle spaghetti

Tuesdays
Lunch: Tuna and Cheese Quesadillas
Supper: Hawaiian BBQ Chicken (This meal lasts 3 weeks for us, leftovers get frozen)

Wednesdays
Lunch: Grilled Cheese
Supper: Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (This meal lasts 3 weeks for us, leftovers get frozen)

Thursdays
Lunch: Mac and Cheese
Supper: Slow Cooker Cheesy ham potatoes (new recipe, but should last at least 2 meals)

Fridays
Lunch: Poor Mans Meal
Supper: Slow cooker Beef and Black eyed pea soup (new recipe again, but should last 3 meals)

Saturdays
PIZZA! This is the day our whole family looks forward to! We make a huge pizza from scratch and eat the whole thing between lunch and supper. Jayne makes his own too, although he has decided that he likes making bread sticks for everyone to share now.

Our menu this month has the most flavor variety of any of our menus. I am really excited to try the many new recipes. I will give you links to some of our recipes we will be using below...

Six Sister's Stuff:
Slow Cooker Lasagna
Hawaiian BBQ Chicken (slow cooker)
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

Depression Cooking With Clara
Poor Man's Meal
(Clara has some great frugal recipes and you learn a little about the depression while you watch her cook)

Buffalo Chicken Lasagne

2012-01-29T05:41:00.001-05:00

I love the Six Sisters Stuff blog! When I saw the name of the recipe I knew I had to try it. I love buffalo wings and slow cooker meals...perfect combo! We made the lasagne yesterday and it was oh so good. Jayne had some too and he liked it. It is a little spicy, as you would expect. The one thing I didn't care for is the bleu cheese crumble on the top. We talked it over while we ate and determined that next time we would skip the bleu cheese and instead top each plate with a bit of bleu cheese or ranch dressing instead. It was pretty easy to make and it made enough for our little family to eat 3 times. Here is the link to this fantastic recipe...

http://www.etsy.com/listing/91670489/2-starter-pads-sets-for-michelle-levi

We also made it without the green peppers because I don't like them.

No More Pull Ups

2012-01-28T07:25:00.000-05:00

Jayne has been potty trained for day time for about 2 years now. Night time still means pull ups. This is something I am tired of remembering and paying for month after month. So after doing some looking around I found a PDF pattern that I wanted to try. The pattern is from Mama Can Do It on Etsy. I ordered the pattern and got it in my e-mail only moments later. Now that is some serious speed! The pattern was very easy to follow and I love the way they look. I ended up making them with 3 layers of terry cloth in the center instead of 2 for extra absorbancy. I did Jayne's with velcro since I don't like working with snaps and it also gives him plenty of size options. I didn't see that the design was not good for overnight pants until I bought it, unfortunate. You can make them good overnighters with a layer of PUL though it is not a fabric type available in our area. We are working on night training and so they are sufficient without the PUL. Jayne really likes them. He thinks he is pretty hot stuff in his newest Lightning McQueen "nigh-night pants". I am happy that we made the choice to go cloth here. They were very easy to make and the 5 that I made him should last till he doesn't need them any more. I do laundry 3 days a week, so I won't need to make more!

2 of his pairs that I made. He had fun picking all of the fabrics!

Mr. Snowman

2012-01-27T07:21:00.001-05:00

Wednesday was just beautiful! It got up to 35 degrees in our nick of MN and it was an early release For Jayne's uncles (17 and 11). Plus, it was Adam's day off. So all of the boys went sledding while I did some fabric cutting. Before the left they helped Jayne make a great snowman with the snowman building set my mom gave him. Here are a couple of pics to enjoy...

A shot from the garage window.

Jayne poses with his snowman.

Year of the Dragon

2012-01-26T09:46:00.000-05:00

Door hanger

Happy Chinese new year! Okay, so I realize that it actually happened on Monday. I couldn't do a blog post then because we had some serious ice storm stuff going on here in Minnesota and the power kept going off and on. But here I am today with a quick post. Jayne and I visited nickjr.com and printed out some fun Kai-Lan printables for the holiday and spent some electricity free funtime on them. Here are the pics...

Jayne's chinese lantern and Kai-Lan's DVD in the background

Jayne's printable stickers turned collage. He loves cutting and glueing, so this was a great activity for him!

Homeschool Fun: Planets

2012-01-19T09:34:00.000-05:00

(To Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Stars, Moons, Planets too,

Up in outer space.

All are in our galaxy,

Each in it's own place!

It is space week, and Jayne said, "again?!" Yes! But this week is focused on the planets instead of space travel, rockets. We have been doing a lot of activities out of The Mailbox's Preschool Plans Day By Day. I have a few photos for you of our activities...

It is so hard to see in the photo, but this is his sensory bin. We spent time dropping marbles in to see how craters are made on the moon.

For art time on Tuesday we broke out the play-doh and sculpted some super fantastic space aliens. I will admit that Jayne's is much cooler than mine (on the left).

We have been working on random worksheets and organizing cutout planets by size and order too. The last big activity we will be doing is going to be edible and is from the book. We will be laying out corn flakes on a pan and covering them with almond bark. It is supposed to simulate the surface of the moon, and will be down right fun and tasty!

Testimony

2012-01-16T08:56:00.002-05:00

Today we are going to take a short dive into the secret, literally known by only one person, world of me. This post started forming in my mind yesterday as our pastor gave us all a challenge to share our personal testimony with others. I admit it is something I had been thinking about for a while now, but now that I am home I really don't have a lot of face time with people. So here I am on my blog, sharing my heart. I really am an open book when it comes to my life. There are many people that know a lot more about me than you would expect just because they found the right questions. This post today is truly only known by one because, quite frankly, no one has ever asked. One thing to know before I start is that I am very shy. My family will admit that I was shy as a child, but I never grew out of it. I simply learned over the years how to make it look like I am not. So, this will be a tough topic to share. I will give it a shot anyway, here it goes...

My testimony starts when I was 16 and sitting in health class. Everyone else was snickering about sex ed and I was having an internal battle for my very life. It was the darkest most horrifying day of what had been a long depression and my brain was telling me there was only one way to make it stop. That is when Jesus entered my life and encouraged me to get help. I wrote a letter for the counselor because I knew there was no way I would be able to speak the words. My table buddy, who was also my next door neighbor, asked if it was for real because why wouldn't you read your neighbors letter, and I nodded. He said, "I thought you were just really quiet." There is a really quick life lesson for you...If someone is very quiet it could be that their mind is keeping them preoccupied.

I was able to get help. I even made the choice to go off the lovely pills they gave me because they said I could not be happy without them. I knew that with Christ's help I could. As it turns out it was a very good thing because I read in recent years that the drug I was given actually causes depression in teens, clearly I made the right choice. I began the road upward. I started learning how to be a different person, a stronger person and it set in motion the chain of events that led me to Adam. Adam quickly became my best friend and has always been someone I could confide in, even before we started dating. I knew that my life would not be the same without him .

Now I had the personal relationship with the Lord that we should all be lucky enough to have but I didn't have the support from a community. The church my family attended didn't talk about that kind of stuff and I certainly did not feel comfortable sharing. So, when we left home for college, We as in Adam and I because you would be hard pressed to find a time when we are apart if not for work (and that has a 12 year run), we did not find a church. We didn't get the point of it because it never felt sincere to us when we did go to one. We also did not read our packed away bibles because that wasn't something you did at our childhood church or in our homes. We did trust in God though.

We carried on that way till we had Jayne. We wanted him to have a community to grow in with other kids he could befriend. We thought it might be good to make some friends ourselves too, since we tend to keep to ourselves. We didn't quite know where to start and had had a poor experience with one church that we did try. Then Adam decided that we would attend Grace for 1 Sunday, after 2 years of prodding by one of Adam's co-workers, and we just never stopped going. We started attending in April and our family has become so much better since. We have had the chance to grow more in our faith and our understanding of the bible. Plus we are all meeting new people and Jayne has many kids his age to grow and learn with.

We can see the way that Christ has led us through our lives and it is quite amazing. It is such a comfort too. When I lost my job a few years back I was sad but I did not worry because I knew that the Lord would provide. He gives us all clear signs we only have to see them. Like when Adam Asked the Lord if we were ready for me to stay home and then the brakes went out on the car. If I don't have a car to drive, I can't work, pretty clear. And when it wasn't time for me to stop a year earlier the car was running on spirit power so I could get to work. Seriously, we took it in because it was acting up and the mechanic could not figure out how it had even turned on to get us there.

The best part for me is that I have not had a single issue with my depression since we started taking a more active role in our spiritual lives. I have come a long way since the doctor answered the phone in his office and asked if there was any hope, turned to me and said, that was your pshyc test result on the phone. I was told that it is just the way that my brain is wired and it wouldn't truely go away, just hibernate occasionally. It hasn't always been an easy path, but I am so very happy that the Lord has guided me along it. I wouldn't change a thing about the path I have taken, it hasn't always been good, but it has made me the person I am today. I can't wait to see what is on the road that lies ahead.

January Crayon Roll

2012-01-13T10:44:00.000-05:00

My goal for this year is to release a new crayon roll design each month. It is a great way for me to break up the monotony of my ever popular pads and get in some creativity. Here is the crayon roll I designed for this month and it is available now to ship in time for valentine's day!

My crayon rolls are made with eco felt so they are earth friendly and fun!

You can order one for your sweet kiddo here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/90436534/deluxe-crayon-roll-a-valentine-heart

Hot Dog Mac

2012-01-12T09:30:00.000-05:00

Hot dogs + mac = goodness

Jayne loves mac and cheese! It is one of his favorite foods. There is something about it that kids just love. Plain Jane mac and cheese is a little boring for me and doesn't stretch very far on it's own. We tend to experiment with ours. Most of the time we use part of the pack of cheese mix and some Velveeta. The rest of the cheese pack goes on pop corn for a snack later because your cheese packet is exactly the same as what is in a bottle of mac and cheese pop corn sprinkle. A lot of the time we add in some hot dogs or homemade bacon bits and either corn or green beans, Jayne's pick. But sometimes we change it completely and just use the noodles.

I thought I would share my latest mac and cheese concoction. I was in the mood for hot dog but did not have any buns...So, I made what was basically a hot dog hot dish. I cooked the mac and cheese and drained it like normal. I melted about 2T of butter and tossed the mac back in with it. Then in went the cut up hot dogs, some ketchup and mustard to taste, and about a quarter cup of homemade pickle relish drained. You know what? It tasted just like having a hot dog!

Do you do anything fun and interesting with your mac and cheese? I would love to hear about it!

Homeschool Fun: Knights

2012-01-10T10:04:00.000-05:00

Jayne's new school mate, Croci

It is going to be mostly pics today. We have had a fun start to knight week. Jayne played lego knights with his daddy and people knights too. We made puppets to play with all week long and Jayne has done great on his worksheets so far. There is also a new addition to our school! His name is Croci the crocodileand he is Jayne's new puppet friend for school. We were going to wait for Ziggy the Zebra with his all about reading class in the fall but he is to advanced for the level that Ziggy comes with so we let him choose a friend for himself. Now on to the pictures!

Jayne and Croci play knights! Adam even made Croci his own matching chainmail to play in.

Adam gets in on the knight play.

Our preschool pack this week is from homeschoolcreations.com and one of Jayne's favorites this week is the board game. A while back I made photo bead magnets as gifts and for us and that is what we use for our pieces. They work out great for keeping track of who is who.

Kindergarten Curriculum

2012-01-05T11:21:00.000-05:00

I realize that many of you are just glad that your kids are back in school after Christmas break, but at our house the conversation has been all about next year's curriculum. I have spent a considerable amount of time researching Jayne's curriculum for next year since the school year started. Last night we made our final decisions. It was hard because there were many that I wanted to try and a few that would have involved me making the curriculum for the subject. So what did we choose?

We are using the SunLight core for history, geography, and bible. It also has a reading program that is several readers and we will have a blast reading them together, but for his official learning to read program we are going to go more hands on with...

All About Reading Level 1! I am very excited about the program and especially that it is hands on and will be a fun way for Jayne to learn to read.

All About Spelling is also very hands on. Jayne will be working on Level 1 here too.

He will be learning biology, botany, and physics with SonLight science. Plus we will be adding in some fun with Magic School Bus science projects on our 5th days. To clarify here, we do a 4 day school week. We have 2 days to spend with Adam and Saturdays we catch up on any chores that may have been missed during the week. So 5th day activities will be fun family activities and field trips.

We chose Horizons math from SonLight because if we chose to go all SonLight in the years to come, that is the one that is included in the set. I am not sure if we will like this one, but it is worth trying and we can always pick something new for 1st grade if we don't like it.

Handwriting Without Tears was chosen for the same reason as math, but this one does look like a great program and I look forward to trying it out.

We are also planning on doing Little Passports to supplement his Geography lessons and have a little fun. We will doing Nickelodeon Fit for PE in the winter, spending lots of time walking in the summer (because we always do), and may put him in dance class. He loves to dance and it is something he wants to try, so why not.

Shipping Out

2012-01-03T14:40:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wondered how we ship our orders at The Crazy Elephant? Today you get a behind the scenes look at how each order goes out.

Your order comes with the invoice, one of our fancy business cards to keep or share, and is beautifully wrapped in green tissue and tied off with a ribbon.

All of the elements are gently packed into a bubble mailer to keep your order from being crushed and to prevent water damage.

You will know when your order arrives because you will see the label with our Crazy Elephant on it. Now it is time to enjoy your order...and don't forget to go on the computer and leave your feedback too!

A New Year's Show

2011-12-31T22:57:00.000-05:00

This morning we got the chance to go to Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music! Adam's parents won 4 tickets and brought Jayne and I. I have never seen him sit so still and quietly in his whole life. The show just left him in awe. Before we went he kept telling me that all the sesame street guys wouldn't be there because they are just make believe. He had changed his tune by the end of the show. We got there before the masses so we found our seats and headed down to the goodie cart to pick out something special to bring home. Jayne picked the glowing, color changing Elmo wand. Then we took his picture next to the Elmo on the booth.

Bert and Ernie came out and said hello when the show started. They told us the letter of the day was J...just like Jayne! Well, you can only imagine how excited Jayne was that the letter of the day at the big show was the same as the first letter of his name. It was almost like the show was made just for him.

There were so many fun songs to listen to. The audience was mostly non responsive to questions and cues. If they were anything like Jayne, it was because of being awestruck. One song was about triangles. Tellie asked everyone to make triangles. I made a triangle with my fingers and showed Jayne. He tried but it was more of a diamond. I helped him straighten out his thumbs and here is the resulting triangle. This is also a fairly good show of just how far away we were from the action. I still got great pics though.

After lots of songs, an intermission filled with begging for the balloons they brought out, and more songs, they finally did the farewell song. All of the characters came out and danced and said good-bye to the audience. Then the audience silence ended when they shot off confetti rockets. It was an awesome end. Jayne said he wished he could go to the show every day. We all had a lot of fun, besides the slight case the gimmes that the little guy caught. Plus I really liked that it didn't revolve around Elmo, like you would think from the title. I hope you all are having a great new year's eve too and I hope to bring you lots of great posts in 2012!

Janurary Goals

2011-12-29T13:07:00.000-05:00

January is just about here! It is time to see how last months goals went and make some for next month.

Dec goals: Crazy Elephant Paperwork - Check!
                  120 minutes of exercise a week - Check!
                  House purging - The house areas are done, but we still need to hit the garage
                  Making time for Christ during Christmas - Absolutely, if it weren't for him I never could
                  have made it through all the holiday craziness!

Here is what I am working on in January...

*The Crazy Elephant is going to be a big focus for me this month. I want to get Valentine's goodies listed and lots of things sewn. We are also going to work on a new celebration format for our sales. We were going out for burgers when we hit a certain amount of sales and that was it. It was basically a race to see how early in the month we would be able to celebrate. Now we are going to wait till the end of the month and our celebration will be based on our total for the month. We will see how it goes and what we come up with.

* I am going to keep working on exercise, especially after all the holiday eating. To make it a little more of a challenge, I am going to bump it up to 130 minute each week. I am going to be doing my time between Wii Fit and Zumba 2 for Wii. They are both activities that I love to do so it makes it so much easier to put in the time.

*In November Adam and I started the 3 year reading plan that is layed out in my study bible. It covers the entire bible and of course with us being who we are, we want to shorten that time up. So for January I would love for us to get through the 9 chapters of Matthew and all 40 chapters of Exodus that are next on the list. That is 18 chapters more for the month than the plan lays out, but we can do it.

I am interested to see how my first full year as a stay at home mom goes. It will change how each day is in comparison to all the years before. Plus having the time at home means The Crazy Elephant will have the focus that I have never been able to put in before. I am so excited to see how the year goes, how about you?

Christmas is Done!

2011-12-27T10:16:00.000-05:00

I love Christmas, but I am glad the festivities are over! For our family the Christmas festivities last the whole month. For the first time, we got to attend all of them. Adam asked me how I liked it. It was great getting to see every one and most of the food was excelent. Here at the end of a busy month I am not feeling great though. There was SO much food and SO much running around. When I was working there was not that problem because I tend to eat normally when I am not at a party. Thank goodness I became a Zumba addict last month or I would be needing a new wordrobe right about now. I know that the celebrations are not over yet. We have another party to go to on Saturday and the Sunday after that is our anniversary. Plus, the game day we were going to have at our house on Wednesday has been changed to another location which means one more day of travel. There is light at the end of the tunnel though and next week should be reletively normal. I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Make sure to enjoy the quiet calm of January.

Inspiration Needed!

2011-12-23T15:42:00.000-05:00

The last few weeks have been crazy and we have had so many events to go to. One huge problem I am running into is that things have been piling up every week. It seems like no matter what I do I cannot get the house done lately. Yesterday I was not feeling well and took it easy for the day. Sometimes you just have to. Today I have gotten caught up on everything except my old enemy...dishes!

Normally they get done on a daily basis. I wash them and dry them and get them put away. It is a pretty easy job to do, on a daily basis. We have had so much going on this month though that it has been several days worth at a time and with holiday related cooking, it seems like the pile of dishes to do is never ending. I did the dishes on Saturday and now on Friday the whole counter is covered. In our small kitchen it is a cycle of wash, dry, put away. I can get throught the cycle about 3 times before the water is cold, if I am lucky.

I am just having a hard time staying motivated this month. My brain feels like sludge and I just plain don't want to put in the hour or more it will take to do this job. So, here I am, waiting for the motivated homemaker in me to step it up a bit and get started on the massive pile of dishes. In the meantime, I got a blog post in...that's good right?

What job gets you in a rut?

Stretch It: Kid Space

2011-12-20T09:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, so this one isn't about stretching your money. It is all about what we did to make our little guys small space grow bigger. Our son has too many toys! I'm sure, like 100% positive, that I am not the only one whose child has this problem. Heaven help you if you have more than 1 kid worth of toys! I have read so many articles over the year about how kids have too many toys and are way overstimulated by the overabundance. One even said that having too many toys can stifle their creativity. I couldn't get the idea out of my mind.

We have spent a lot of time getting rid of the extra stuff in our house, grown up stuff. We have had less stuff coming in since we don't have commercials to lure us into the stores anymore, but over the years the stuff accumulates. We encouraged Jayne to donate any toys that he didn't use. Since we started in November around the time we got our Operation Christmas Child shoebox put together, Jayne was in a giving spirit and got a rather large box of toys out of his tiny bedroom.

That was a great start, except that his room wasn't any emptier. It basically looked the same because there were still so many toys left. So, a quick question, how did he get so many? He has toys from my childhood, toys from Adam's childhood, and no lack of toys from every holiday in existence. His room was always a mess and picking up time was a nightmare because it was so overwhelming for him. The mess wasn't just toys he had played with. There were also the toys he had to get out just to unbury the toy he wanted in the drawer.

I came up with a plan that I hope would solve a lot of the toy related problems. It just meant I had to move past my not wanting to take away his toys. It wasn't going to be a punishment and I really hoped he would like the result. So, I packed away nearly all of his toys. No, they are not going to be swapped out on a rainy day if he is bored because a new toy does not cure boredom! They are packed away and he was told that if there was a toy he wanted back, since we chose the keepers, he just has to tell us which one and we will go get it for him. In a couple of months or so, the entire thing will be donated and out of our house. In the meantime, he has an opportunity to save the ones he wants to keep.

Here is what is left after filling a tote to overflowing and then some. He still has all of his Imaginext Star wars and Batman things, his army guys, a handful of cars and dinosaurs, about 10-15 odds and ends things, his swords, and 1 large truck. He still has his under the bed totes of legos and trains and a small box of dress-up items. The closet is empty except for 4 larger toys. Under his bed is empty except for those 3 boxes. He went from 6 drawers stuffed to bursting with toys to 3 drawers with 1 small layer of toys in it.

Here is the big one...How was the reveal? When he checked out his room, he was nothing but smiles. He didn't miss any of those other toys! He loved how much space he had and that it was now easier to pick what to play with. He loved that there is now more floor space to play in because the huge trucks and dinosaur are not taking it up. Pick up time is much faster now. I don't see as many toys come out anymore. He tends to pick one or 2 things to play with each day. Jayne couldn't be happier and hasn't asked for a single toy since we first showed him the new and improved room on Saturday. It did a world of good for the sanity of the whole family. I only wish I had thought of it sooner!

Christmas Letter 2011

2011-12-15T10:31:00.000-05:00

I am okay with admitting it...I don't feel like mailing out Christmas cards this year. It isn't that I don't care or am not in the Christmas spirit, I just don't have time or energy for it this year. So I am at least writing up this virtual letter for everyone to enjoy.

A lot has gone on this year! Back in January I stepped down as bra specialist at Victoria Secret which meant that Jayne would be able to stay home instead of being shuffled back and forth to daycare, no easy task with us only having 1 car. It also gave me the opportunity to put more attention on my shop (http://thecrazyelephantboutique.com). In the spring Adam, Mitchiel, Steven, Jayne, and I started training for the 28 mile Tour de Cure ride. I also did several, relatively uneventful, craft shows. We continued riding our bikes all through the summer with frequent rides in to the movie theater for their free shows. We also started attending Grace Church down the road from our house. We really like it there and have been enjoying all the adult and kids programs they have. We even started running the projection booth!

This fall is when all the excitement began though. Jayne turned 4 and we kicked his preschool program up a notch. He is doing very well with homeschooling and did great during his preschool screening. In September, the brake line went out on the car. Everyone was fine and the car was fixed. It was also the launching point the result of 5 years of hard work, my being a stay at home mom! I started staying home on October 1st and it has been great! We have done some amazing progress getting rid of all the excess in our house. I am cooking almost entirely from scratch now, the house is looking better than ever, and The Crazy Elephant is keeping me very busy these last couple of months.

Jayne is having a blast learning. He also started going to speech class twice a week. He really enjoys it and is picking everything up very fast. We have been walking to class, but now that it is getting colder he is going to start taking the bus...all by himself! He is a little nervous, probably not as much as I am, but he is excited about it too.

One of the biggest changes this year is that we can actually go to all of our holiday events this year with no real issues. I have missed almost all of the Christmas get togethers the last 2 years because of working in retail and I am very grateful not to be enduring that again this year. So I will finally get to visit with all of our friends and family this year, weather permitting.

We are all really looking forward to the new year. It should be a great year filled with new experiences and lots of family time. We wish everyone a very merry Christmas!

The Morgans

Homeschool Fun: Space

2011-12-13T10:18:00.000-05:00

Space week has come and gone (last week) but I thought I would share the big art project. Here are the supplies we used: Black construction paper, foamie stickers, lids from various containers, and a stamp pad.

The first part of the project was to make the stamps. It was super easy! Just put the foamie stickers on the lids. I do believe that the lids shown here are from a gallon of milk, a medicine bottle, and BBQ sauce. The space stickers came with his bike decorating set. We also used basic shapes for a previous stamping project.

Part 2 was to have a blast stamping! We used a silver pigment stamp pad. It worked great because you can see it really well on the black paper. It really pops.

Jayne had a great time making his space picture. He even had to make a second one to share with a very lucky grandma.

Jingle Bells

2011-12-08T10:42:00.000-05:00

Here is a special christmas jingle from our little guy, Jayne...

Moms in Step

2011-12-05T19:07:00.000-05:00

This is what I will be doing to get active and socialize a little this winter. If you watch closely you will find my photo in the video 3 times...

Homeschool Fun: Teddy Bear

2011-12-03T10:07:00.000-05:00

Teddy bear week was very hands on. Jayne liked that a lot. I took most of the activities from The Mailbox's Preschool Plans Day by Day book. It has lots of great activities and art projects in it. Jayne's favorite was playing teddy bear toss. He even posed with all of his teddies.

He also spent some time playing his Pooh Bear preschool game on the computer while I did some sewing. He seems to be getting the hang of it now. I can tell it is easier to understand the instructions for him now. He got to have a game night with his uncles too and we played the What's in the Cats Hat game, his favorite.

Holiday Showcase: LaLaDangerous

2011-11-29T15:20:00.000-05:00

What kinds of fabulous goodies to you carry?
I carry Ornaments for any Occasion! Wedding, Anniversary, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter! Having a baby? I have an Ornament or gift for you!!
What inspires your work?
Every Christmas, on the day we decorated the tree, my mother would present us children with a special ornament just for us for that year. I looked forward to this time every year. This was the first ornament(aside from the bulbs of course) to go on the tree. She did this every year until the year came when we moved out of the house. All of our ornaments were packed away to take with us into our own separate homes to decorate our tree. I still have them all. I'd like to bring that same love, thoughtfulness and tradition to each and every home with a One of a Kind ornament for your special someone. This is what inspires me to make my little works of art!!

Why is handmade important to you?Handmade is important to me because first and foremost I know I'm supporting someone with my purchase. I am helping someone out. Lending a hand. Secondly I know that item I purchase is made with love and will be a quality item I can cherish for years to come. Anyone can purchase a cheap toy or item of clothing from a big box store, but where does it come from? Who made it? Will it last? Do they even care? These questions are important to me and when I buy something handmade I know the answers!

Share a handmade gift that anyone can do!Peanut Butter Birdseed Balls!!
1/2 pound ground beef suet
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups cornmeal
Decorative cord
Wild birdseed, hulled or unhulled, sunflower seeds,
barberries or dried red and blue corn kernels(really anything a bird will love!)

In a large saucepan over low heat, melt suet, stirring occasionally. Strain rendered suet into large bowl, discarding crisp particles. Blend in peanut butter and cornmeal to make stiff dough. Chill mixture 30 minutes, until easily shaped with hands.
Meanwhile, cut about eight to twelve 14-inch lengths of cord. Tie ends of each together in knot, making loops. Mold balls around knot on each loop, so that knot is in center. Pour one, or a combination, of suggested seeds into pie plate. Roll balls in seeds to coat thoroughly. Refrigerate at least one hour, until firm! Hang out for your birdies to enjoy!

Where can we find you?
Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LalaDangerous

Lastly, is there anything else you would like to share about you or your shop?
I do custom orders and special requests. If you don't see a color you like, or style or really any requests at all, Don't hesitate to ask! I am more than willing to try to realize your vision for the perfect decoration!

Well, this concludes the holiday showcase series for the year! Thank you for joining me in checking out some fantastic handmade shops. I hope you got some great gift ideas and spent some time checking out all the goodies from everyone. If you want to revisit any of the showcases they are all listed in the holiday showcase are listed in the tab at the top.

December Goals

2011-11-27T10:19:00.000-05:00

December?! My brain is not ready for December! Since I am no longer in retail and we rarely go shopping I am not bombarded with Christmas. I haven't been seeing it on TV either, so this year I am just not mentally prepared for it. So, with December starting this week, I thought that now is as good a time as any to post my goals for the month. I can honestly say that I haven't even thought about it yet. As for last month's goals, I have done well with them and will continue to work on them. We have 5 people left to do gifts for but all the rest are wrapped under the tree as of last night. So here are some things I would like to get accomplished before the new year starts...

* Get some serious Crazy Elephant paperwork done. I need to finish entering in receipts into my books, Get books for next year, and I would like to do a chart of what I actually sold this year to get a better idea of what I should keep doing and what I can let go of.

*I am going to up my Wii Fit minutes to 120 each week. I have been really enjoying my Wii Fit time and would like to get more in for fun and for my body.

*We are going to finish our home purge. We are done with the upstairs and just need to take care of the downstairs now. The amount of space is amazing and our home takes much less time to clean and tidy up now too.

* Remember what this time of year is for. We have 7 Christmas celebrations to enjoy this year. We can go to all of them since I am not working anymore. With all the hustle and bustle I want us all to remember the Christ in CHRISTmas.

To all of you, I hope you reach your personal goals this month.

Festival of Trees

2011-11-25T17:55:00.000-05:00

The festival of trees has begun! We took the whole day as a family on Monday to set up our Holiday Glam with Barbie tree and were very happy with how it turned out. Jayne was our garbage transporter and had a blast doing it. We took some time touring downtown as well. That included a trip to Carrol's Cup and Corn shops, our favorites! We even had a lady tell us that it really meant a lot to her that we put my childhood holiday barbies on the tree.

For those that do not know, the festival of trees is an annual event that supports Hiawatha Homes. The organization provides housing and other programs for people with disabilities. They provide us with the tree, but everything on and under the tree we donated.

The opening night gala was fantastic as always. There was more food than I would ever want to eat. We got to look at all the trees in the dark lighting and sitting in the "snow". They always do lots of auctions and entertainment and it is the one night of the year that Adam and I get to dress fomally and go out alone. I even got 2 compliments on my dress, which is esspecially cool.

The festival runs through Sunday and we have to pop in to check on it throughout the time it is up. I have not been there a single day without hearing someone talking about the Barbie tree. I am so glad that my dolls are giving everyone so much joy. Plus the Post Bulletin bought our tree at the second highest price bracket, so I know they helped Hiawatha Homes financially as well.