The Splendidly Imperfect Miss M!

Let's Talk Conditioner

2019-04-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

I have this thing with my hair.

If I have to choose whether to style my hair before leaving the house and putting on makeup, I will choose my hair every time.

I have a very specific routine for washing my hair too. First of all, I never wash it more than once or twice a week. It's so drying! Also, the water has to be only lukewarm, and cooler if I can stand it. My hair is the first thing I wash when I get into the shower. I shampoo, blot out as much water as possible, apply conditioner, clip it up with one of those claw clippies, then put on a shower cap to hold it all in while I finish my shower.

I am constantly on the lookout for the next best conditioner. I like really thick ones that coat my hair. They have to smell like food of some sort; no floral scents for me. I like vanilla and fruit smells.

Like I said. I'm very specific!

I received an offer to try out this conditioner:

from Maple Holistics. Not only is it paraben and silicone free, it smells like vanilla! Sold! (well, free, but you know what I mean)

I'm going to be honest with you. I did NOT like this conditioner the first few weeks I used it. Even though it came out of the bottle looking thick, it quickly felt like it was watered down as it was being applied to my hair. I'm used to being able to feel a conditioner start to work as it's being applied, and I didn't feel that with this one. I also like to feel like the strands of hair are silky smooth as I rinse, and this barely felt like I had used any conditioner at all. My hair basically felt the same.

Needless to say, I was not impressed.

Here's the thing though: the shower in our master bedroom is one of those tiny stall ones, and space is at a premium. That means there is only room for the products that I am actually, currently using, and anything else gets stored under the sink.

Out of reach of the shower.

So my regular conditioner was across the bathroom, and the Maple Holistics one was in the shower, so therefore I kept using it because I kept forgetting to swap them out before I got in.

And something started to happen.

My hair? I noticed it was REALLY soft and smooth when I styled it. My hair started to feel more smooth when I rinsed it in the shower. It was shinier too.

So maybe this conditioner wasn't so bad after all. It takes several (AHEM) washes to get your hair to respond, but when it gradually does, you definitely see the difference. I'm okay with leaving my old conditioner in the cabinet now. This smells delicious, my hair is soft and smooth and shiny, and it's pretty reasonably priced for not being a drugstore product.

I'm glad I let it stick around.

***I received this product for free in exchange for posting a review. I was not told what to say, only to be honest. I did not receive any monetary compensation.***

2019-03-10T03:07:00.001-07:00

Testing. 3/10/19

DIY Eco-friendly Duster Refills for Only 50 Cents Each!

2016-01-17T15:26:00.003-07:00

The last year or so, I've been in a serious funk. I stopped doing a lot of the stuff I loved, had record amounts of insomnia, and totally backslid on all of my cooking and cleaning efforts, let alone cooking healthy and cleaning green.

Didn't nobody have time for that!

But I'm on a new medication, and it's a new year, and I can feel the fog lifting again. What I'm realizing? I am fat and my house is a MESS. Time to get back to business. First order of business - dusting.

I have come to realize that if I don't dust, no one will. It's so freaking gross, you guys. Let's not forget to add in that I live in the desert, so things are naturally pretty dusty as it is. You add in only the most basic of housecleaning for almost a year and well... it's nasty. I'm just keeping it real here.

I personally have a teensy Swiffer Duster addiction. The problem is, when your house is really dusty, you go through them pretty fast. They are not cheap, and they definitely are not good for the environment. I needed to come up with an alternative, and fast! I know that a lot of people swear by feather dusters, but I've tried several different kinds and just don't care for them. I prefer knowing I'm tossing out the dust when I'm done cleaning. Sure I could use a cleaning rag, but then I have to actually touch the dirt (ick, gag) more than I'd like.

Solution?

I picked up some microfiber cleaning towels in the automotive section of my local Dollar Tree. They are a pretty good size, and you get two to a package. They came in neon green and blue. I opted for the more obnoxious color, seeing as that's how I roll.

You're also going to need the handle from your Swiffer Duster.

Take one of the towels and cut it into quarters, keeping the finished seams on the bottom.

Cut the finished seams from the sides, but leave the one at the bottom. That will make it easier to put the finished duster on the handle. Stack all of the pieces together.

Lay the handle in the middle of the stacked and with a fine tipped marker (I used a green Sharpie to coordinate with my cloths) make a dotted line around the handle. Pin the layers together.

Starting at the top of the "u" shape, stitch straight down the center line. Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end to secure. Then, sew the "u" shape, also being sure to backstitch at the beginning and end.

Pull out your pins and even up the sides. I trimmed about an inch off the end and rounded the corners too.

Make cuts along the sides, about 3/4" apart and stopping 1/2" from your stitching.

Slide the handle into the layers and give it a good shake to separate the layers. I'm going to warn you though - this step is MESSY. You will have little balls of whatever color you chose fluff all over the place!

But think of how much money you're going to save on refills, and how many little fluffy bits of paper and fibers you're going to keep out of the landfill, and give yourself a pat on the back.

These took about five minutes each, from start to finish, and I made six, for a grand total of $3.00 and some thread. Not too shabby!

Give Thanks

2015-01-26T03:38:00.001-07:00

I want to get back in the habit of keeping a gratitude journal. I find that it really does help with my attitude toward things. I mean, it's not like I have a bad attitude toward things. I just think it's a good exercise for being more mindful in general.

In the past I've kept a separate gratitude journal, but I thought it might simplify things to just keep it going in my planner. I made up these little stickers to help me in this endeavor:

I just printed them out on sticker paper/full sheet labels and I'll be sticking one on each day in my planner so that I can jot down at least one thing each day for which I am thankful. You can download your own pdf of this file by visiting my Facebook page. As always, these are for personal use only. Please do not reproduce them for sale. Also please do not pin to Pinterest from anywhere except this blog post.

Thanks and enjoy!

Hey Planner Junkies!

2015-01-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, here is a list of the things I *should* be doing:

1. Cleaning my house for the arrival of visitors this weekend.

2. Figuring out how to decorate my mantel.

3. Figuring out how to decorate the currently bare hutch in our entryway.

4. Working on my Project Life.

Here is a list of what I am doing instead:

1. Listening to the 90's R&B Radio station on Pandora. SO. FREAKING. AWESOME.

2. Making stickers for my planner.

To be fair, I did make it a goal to do a better job keeping up with my planner this year. I found a set of sticky notes on Pinterest that contained the "dire" and "important" wording, and then I came up with the rest. Now, if my Google skills are correct, these should fit the little squares in the Erin Condren planners too. Each sticker should end up an inch and a half wide and just under two inches tall. This means you could easily use them in a traditional Filofax-type planner, or one from Target like I have.

I thought they were fun, and I thought I would share. Of course, like all my printables, the deal is the same. Visit (and hopefully Like if you have not already!) my Facebook page for instructions on how to download these for yourself. Please keep them for your own personal use and don't sell or modify them.

Now, I printed mine on sticker paper that I bought at an Office Supply store and cut apart, but since they're only 1 1/2" wide they would also easily fit into a small sticker maker machine like the Xyron 150. Heck, you could print them out and just smear a glue stick on the back as you need them. That part is entirely up to you.

Enjoy!

Just Some Stuff

2015-01-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

One of these years I'm going to make it through the WHOLE year of doing Project Life. I didn't even attempt it for 2014, despite faithfully making a place holder image each week on Instagram and pinning ideas all year. I decided to try it again though for 2015. I have to start scrapbooking again!

I was going through the journaling cards I've made and collected that I have saved on my laptop, and I realized that I really love those fill-in-the-blank, form type cards. For example:

And then I made this one, just to be funny:

Some are my own design, others I took something I saw somewhere and recreated with my own twist, others may be lifted from Pinterest, but I'm not completely sure.

Let's see how far I make it this year.

Fall is BACK!

2014-09-24T03:15:00.001-07:00

Second day of FALL, Y'ALL! Only...

Yeah. Insert frowny face here. The high for today is supposed to be 102. How lame is that? Still, I can pretend! Let me share my favorite things right now with you, in no particular order.

This child's bed head. Her hair is super curly and super fine, and she is a crazy flip-flopper in her sleep. It makes for some pretty epic bed head. Thankfully I've figured out how to tame it!

This boy. Total mom brag moment here - He started Kindergarten this year and not only is he the only kid in his class who can read, he's reading at a second grade level.

Also, I want to add my haircut. I finally feel like I found a good haircut and style for me. Now let's see if I can properly maintain it.

My sorority. Yup, eleven years after the fact I've decided to get back into it. After all, it isn't supposed to be for just four years, it's supposed to be for a lifetime, right? I need to get out of the house more and be more involved with other adults. I was thinking to myself, sure, I can go out and look for something, but I already have this thing with people I already know built into my life. Why not get back into that? I've attended two alumni events in the last month and we're going to start planning for our grand convention next month. I've paid my alumni dues, busted out my lavaliere and badge, and even bought a cute violet pin to wear for more casual events.

I may or may not have also started to teach the baby recruitment spirit songs. It's super cute!

Speaking of getting her ready for college, I'm also getting a huge kick out of teaching her slightly inappropriate things such as how to play flippy cup. I'm easily amused.

Making The Team. Dang I love me some Kitty Carter, but I wouldn't want to have her judging me. The woman is awesome yet scary as hell.

Fall scents!!! I so look forward to this time of year because it has the best scented candles of all! I waited until Bath and Body Works put these on sale 2 for $22 and then printed off a $10 off $30 coupon to make these a great deal. Also, that lotion? I wish I had gotten a bigger bottle. YUM.

My pretty new fall wreath. I saw one just like this on Pinterest years ago and finally decided to bite the bullet and make myself one. The last one I made before Bubba was born, if I recall correctly, so it was time.

Glow in the dark nail polish. It's so flipping cool!!! I found this at Target in the Hallowe'en section. This is my favorite brand of polish anyway (yes, even over OPI and Essie) and the fact that it's only two bucks a bottle doesn't hurt either. I polished my nails and Kelly's nails with this and then when I went to bed I couldn't stop admiring my glowy nails under the blankets. Again, I'm easily amused!

Card making. Finding out that one of my neighbors is into stamping and paper crafting too has really gotten me back into this hobby. We split orders to save on shipping, text each other pictures of completed projects, squeal over YouTube videos from our favorite stampers, and sigh over cool new product because we want to buy it all and know we shouldn't. We've reorganized our stamps and dies and borrow items back and forth. In fact, those are her stamps in this photo because she had a baby on Monday so I knew she wasn't going to be making anything any time soon!

So I guess I should add my stamp buddy (my husband calls her my pusher, haha) to this list!

Pumpkin spice chai lattes. I can't drink coffee. It's too harsh on my stomach and when I do manage to drink it the taste is usually too bitter because I'm not used to it. The closest I get is the occasional Frappucino. Chai lattes, however, are a different story entirely. Add the pumpkin spice flavoring to it and it just tastes like Fall.

And yeah, I totally was watching Scooby Doo. Alone at night, without my kids. Don't judge.

Hallowe'en decorations!!! I look forward to Hallowe'en every year, not only because it's seriously fun, but also because it usually marks the end of the hot weather here in the Phoenix area. That's right folks - summer here lasts until almost November. How bad does that suck?

Until that cooler weather comes, I can distract myself with glorious Hallowe'en. I love going out shopping to look for new decorations to add to my collection. I love to look at pictures of how others have decorated online. I love planning costumes for my kids. Honestly, Hallowe'en is second only to Christmas on my list of favorite holidays.

The blow mold ghost is a new acquisition this year. I didn't even know they still made blow molds! I will admit that I would love to have a bunch of vintage ones in my collection, but they don't really show up in the thrifts or antique stores around here very often. It's too bad, because I just love the retro look of them.

The spider is new too. That big metal circle thing has to be about four - four and a half feet across, to give you some idea of how huge the spider is. I debated between getting the one big spider or covering it with a bunch of smaller ones, but I'm glad I went in this direction. It's really freaking creepy!

This guy.

And his weird little bendy self.

I love having him in our family since Leila passed this summer. He's the perfect cat for our family, even though I could probably do without him getting on the fridge or the tops of the cabinets. He snuggles with me in bed, plays tag with the kids, tolerates them when he's not playing, and in general is just a good cat. Let's not forget to mention that he's an absolutely gorgeous flame-point Siamese! A lot of these cats have really badly crossed eyes, or strange dark spots on their noses, but he has neither. He's just handsome.

This isn't to say that I don't miss having a dog. I think about getting a dog every day. I miss having a dog, but I know that now isn't the right time for our family. That doesn't make the void any less noticeable for me though. I love the cat but I know I really need a dog.

That's a little peek into where I am now.

Please stop saying "I'm SOOO ocd!"

2014-09-14T00:28:00.001-07:00

Have you ever heard of trichotillomania? It's a form of OCD where the sufferer pulls out their hair one strand at a time, usually by the root. It usually starts as something you do absentmindedly and gets worse during times of stress or anxiety.

THANKFULLY I don't pull out my hair. I do, however, pick at the skin at the bottom of my feet. I know - gross, right? Since I got home from Paris last June I've picked so much skin from there I honestly don't know how I even have any left. I have many cuts on my feet where I have picked until I bled, and a few larger sores up to the size of a dime.

As you can probably imagine, it hurts. I hobble when I walk barefoot, or when I have been on my feet too long, or when I shower. It hurts but the pain isn't enough to make me stop picking. I'm now resorting to wearing socks on the house to deter myself, sort of how you would put an e-collar on a dog to stop them from licking a wound. Poor stupid animal can't help its self, you know? They are my "socks of shame" I guess.

Since my symptoms are worse in the summer, I'm hoping I'll be able to stop soon. Last summer my OCD and anxiety manifested itself in the form of a 35 pound weight gain in about four month's time. I still have not been able to lose that weight. So at least that didn't happen this year.

So why am I telling you this? To show you that OCD isn't funny. Some people see it as a punchline to a joke, or something to giggle about as they straighten a picture on a wall. It's not a joke to those of us who have it. OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. You are not a disorder, so if you do find yourself uttering the phrase "I'm so OCD!" just stop. You are not being funny. You are being insensitive and coming across as terribly ignorant.

I just want to do my part to build awareness about this. I was first diagnosed in 2003, have been on medication for it off and on since then, and have even found myself in a mental health facility (AKA a "nut hut") due in part to this. It's a crappy crappy crappy thing with which to live.

So Tell Me...

2014-06-04T01:30:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one who did not know that this:

Can do this?

When the guy at the Apple Store suggested just buying that plug bit when we got to France instead of having to buy a whole set of plugs to get the appropriate converter, I was shocked. Here this whole time I thought I had broken the dumb thing because that piece kept trying to pop off.

Duh.

Bon Jour, Beezies!

2014-06-02T01:30:00.000-07:00

Today I am greeting you, through the magic of scheduled posting, from Paris!

Hennie Haworth

My friend Suzy and I are working on our fat kid status as you read this. Bread, cheese and macarons, baby! Come to mama!

My husband, who is the BEST HUSBAND EVER, is currently at home with our chirrens, so don't go trying to Google me and rob my house. He is there and so is the dog. ;)

Preschool is OVER!

2014-05-30T01:30:00.000-07:00

We made it! Bubba got through his first year of school with no major incidents and only a few minor ones. His teachers have been great and I wanted to send a little "Thank You" to them. Same as with my Christmas gifts, I wanted to avoid food products and gift cards. I've seen several different versions of this idea on Pinterest, but I put my own twist on this. I wanted to keep it simple and good quality. This is what I came up with:

I got a couple of mason jars (no shortage of those here!) and decided to fill it with orange paper shreds/gift filler. The problem? I couldn't find that stuff in orange ANYWHERE! Finally I gave up searching and just bought orange gift tissue. I took out two sheets, folded them back up, and cut them into thin slivers with my paper trimmer. Then I took the pile of sliced tissue and just separated it with my fingertips. Easy peasy, inexpensive, and I have most of the package leftover to use for something else.

In the jars I put a tube of L'Occitane Passionate Jasmine Shea Butter hand cream and a bottle of orange Essie nail polish. I cut a circle of patterned paper from the Doodlebug Happy Harvest 6" x 6" pad (the Fall Flowers double sided cardstock) for each jar and also two circles of orange cardstock in slightly different shades using a die cutter and wafer dies. (Um... when did QK become WRMK??? Totally out of the look here!!!) I used a ruler to draw the lines for the orange sections on the back of the darker shade and cut them out with my X-Acto knife. I then glued it to the top of the other cardstock circle and used a blending tool to apply Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade to the edges. I punched a few hearts using the Stampin' Up Owl punch (that my neighbor kindly loaned me - DANG I need one of these things!!!) from a third color of orange cardstock. I cut the hearts in half to make the seeds.

For the bird I used the smaller of the Spellbinders Mixed Media Birds One dies. I cut them from a blue paper that coordinated with my patterned paper and inked the edges using a blending tool and Distress Ink in Salty Ocean. I outlined the bird and its wing with a fine tipped black pen and also used that to draw its eye. I added a tiny dot of white ink with a gel pen to give the eye dimension.

I typed up my sentiment in Photoshop and printed it on white cardstock. I trimmed it, adding the little flag to one side. I glued the bird to one side of the banner and adhered it to my orange slice with foam squares for dimension. A little ribbon to tie it to the jar ring and BOOM! Done. I made one for his teacher and one for her aide.

Kindergarten in two months!!! ACK! Where has the time gone?

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

2014-05-28T18:11:00.001-07:00

I know it's not the most photogenic food ever, but some of the best stuff just isn't, you know?

I've been craving biscuits and gravy for a while now. It's not something we eat on a regular basis, for fairly obvious reasons. I think we'll have it maybe once or twice a year. Oh, but those days are very happy days for me! I've always liked biscuits and gravy, ever since I was a kid. When we were very poor, my mom would buy those super cheap tubes of biscuits that were about a dollar and make gravy from shortening, flour, and soy sauce. You heard me right - SOY SAUCE. Bless her soul, the woman is not ever going to be on Master Chef, that's for certain. Of course, we were kids and it was all we knew, so at the time we thought it was pretty good.

When I was a senior in high school, I lived with my best friend and her mom. Now, her mom could throw down in the kitchen. She made the absolute best sausage gravy I had ever tried. Finally one day it occurred to me to ask her how she made it, and I've been making it the same way for the past twenty years. It's really good, simple comfort food. Don't let the "hot" sausage scare you. I can't even eat salsa and this isn't particularly spicy to me. My kids ate it too. The hot variety just adds a little more flavor to the finished gravy.

Sausage Gravy

1 lb Hot Jimmy Dean sausage
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp (about 75grams) All Purpose flour
3 cups milk (I use 1% or 2%, never skim)
salt and pepper to taste

Crumble and brown the sausage in a large skillet. Once it's browned, evenly sprinkle the flour over the top. Stir it into the sausage and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Add the milk. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently and making sure to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Boil one minute, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until desired consistency. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Serve over your favorite biscuits.

Not gonna lie - I just make Pillsbury Grands. If you pop them into the oven right before you start to brown the sausage, it will all be done at about the same time.

It's a Goodwill Miracle!

2014-03-03T00:33:00.002-07:00

I started writing this LAST Monday, but then I got distracted and, um... well, I kind of forgot about it. Whoops.

You all know how much I love me some Goodwill shopping. I find cool stuff, I'm participating in a form of reusing/recycling, and I save money. It's like a treasure hunt. I never know what I'm going to find!

Well, last Saturday I came across an Emile Henry Butter Pot. Initially I picked it up because it was a beautiful shade of green. I thought it was just a lidded ceramic bowl. Closer inspection yielded the brand stamp on the bottom, the butter "bell" inside, and a finish free from chips and cracks.

Also, it was marked $2.99 AND it was 50% off Saturday.

Should have been a no-brainer, right?

WRONG. I. Put. It. Back.

Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb!

I know it was a mere $1.50. I know it was Emile Henry, which if you know, tends to be pretty pricey. I know it was one of my absolute favorite colors, a bright apple green. But, here's what I was thinking:

"Do I really want to leave a dairy product out on the counter?"

I know it's perfectly safe. I know this is what people used to do in the olden days. I know that the butter bell/pot type holder works even better than just keeping it in a plain butter dish. However, believe it or not, I'm VERY picky about what I buy at the Goodwill. I won't buy something just because it's cool, or cheap, or a name brand. I put a lot of thought into most things. I want to be sure it's something I am going to use and love. I don't like a lot of random clutter and I don't like to waste money. Sure, it's just a few dollars here and there, but it adds up over time.

So I left it.

Well, of course I thought about that stupid thing ALL DAY on Sunday. Finally that night I decided I'd go back the next day and see if it was still there. I mean, I know the Rule of Goodwill - If you want it, BUY IT, because odds are it will be gone tomorrow!

So I went back. I crossed my fingers and prayed it would still be on that shelf. I walked in, went straight to where I had seen it before, and -

NOTHING. IT WAS NOT THERE.

I was so disappointed! I told myself I knew the odds were that it would be gone, but still, it was a bummer. I figured that while I was there I may as well see if there was anything else I wanted, so I turned to the other shelf behind me and -

THE GOODWILL MIRACLE!!!

Someone had moved it to a different shelf! I was so excited, I grabbed that thing, hugged it to my chest, and made a beeline for the registers (after making sure there was no Pyrex on the shelves. I'm not crazy!). I got home and triumphantly showed it to my husband, holding it up like a trophy. Do you know what he said?

"Oh, I was wondering why you didn't just get that in the first place. I like soft butter on my bread."

SMH. He could have spoken up!

And yes, I realize I am super excited about a butter dish. I am officially old.

Valentine's Day Decor 2014

2014-02-07T17:13:00.001-07:00

I'm working on getting out of my rut, and the first part of that is to get back into homemaking.

That's right - homemaking. As a stay at home mom, I consider that to be my job. I figure, if my home is not looking nice and isn't a place that my family and I want to be, well then, I'm not doing a good job. Dusty shelves with crap that hasn't found a home yet isn't welcoming to anyone, am I right? So, I got to work decorating for Valentine's Day.

Most of this stuff was stuff I already had in my house. The feather wreath has made a few appearances before, as have the Fenton cake stand and the glass cloche. The beaded heart in the middle of the wreath I found in the Target Dollar Spot a few years ago. The mercury glass candle stick, the red mosaic candle holder, the silver stand it is on, the mini apothecary jar, the teapot, the red vintage books, and the silver framed mirror are all from Goodwill. The faux succulent in the teapot is from Hobby Lobby. I can't keep succulents alive to save my life, but luckily the faux ones are pretty convincing. HA!

The faux boxwood topiary ball is from Joann. I had to hunt all over to find one the size I wanted! I made the sign. It says "Crazy about You" in French. I just painted a scrap of pine board I found in the garage with acrylic paint, printed out my sentiment in the right size on plain printer paper, laid it on top of my board, and traced it. Since pine is super soft, the pencil left an indentation on the wood that I just ended up tracing with platinum Stickles. The hardest part of this project was waiting for the glitter to dry!

Under the cloche I have another small apothecary jar filled with glitter hearts from the dollar store and a red tassel I made a while back. There is a small milk glass vase holding faux roses, baby's breath, and tiny glitter hearts, also from the dollar store. I made the "two hearts" thing a couple of years ago.

I strung a couple of buntings from years past over the big mirror and changed out the runner under the lamps for a white lace one layered with a little red one that has a pattern of white hearts. Pretty basic.

This is why I love saving all the little things I make and gather from thrift shopping. I only spent $10 out of pocket this year on my mantel decor! I bought a foil garland heart for the front door for a buck at Walgreens and a little decorative stem thing for the faux fern by my front door for another $1.50. Not too shabby. :)

The Gumball Machine

2014-02-05T18:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back I helped my friend Suzy with a booth at a flea market in Cave Creek. We loaded up a U-Haul with a bunch of stuff that she wanted out of her house and garage. I managed to score this for myself:

That sucker is SOLID metal! I've always wanted one, and based on what I've seen on Instagram, they're kind of trendy right now painted in fun colors. It was dirty from being in the garage so long, so I had to clean it first.

Then I realized the insides were kinda rusty, so I took it apart to clean those.

HOLY CRAP. This was a serious project, with lots of teeny parts. It took me about a week of working on it here and there to get it done. I had parts laid out on the bar of my kitchen so I wouldn't forget how they went back together. There was rusty dust all over my bathroom from where I was sanding and cleaning the pieces. I took photos on my phone to keep me on track and even still some parts took a few tries to reassemble so that they would still work!

After everything was cleaned, oiled, and reassembled, I painted the stand and machine itself. I decided to go with a bright apple green for the machine, and so as to not overwhelm, painted the stand oil rubbed bronze.

I love how it came out! It looks so happy now in my entry and the green is so much more me than the red ever could be.

We filled it with Skittles for the big game on Sunday.

Of course. ;)

Super Bowl Sunday

2014-02-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, my husband and the Bean got together to watch their team play the 49ers in the playoffs.

I'm going to let you guess for whom they were rooting.

Even though he's not really interested in watching the game itself, Bubba couldn't help but get in on the celebration when the Seahawks came out on top because it meant that:

Since we haven't really had a party in the entire three years we've lived in this house, we decided to invite our friends over for the game. This meant I had to a) clean my dang house that I've been slacking off with cleaning for the past year. I mean REALLY deep clean it! and b) decorate. Duh.

I didn't want to go too far overboard. I finished my Valentine's Day "mantel" since that is over the tv and everyone would be staring at it for several hours. Next I worked on adding a few Seahawks touches here and there.

First, I bought an inexpensive hand towel and embroidered the team's logo on it.

I hung that in the bathroom. Note to self - do NOT use the "embroidery trick" on terry cloth. That was a nightmare to remove!

Next, I gave the baby and myself new pedicures. Priorities, people!

I found a super cute printable here and placed it in a frame from the Goodwill.

I came up with a menu. I thought it would be fun to serve a few different kinds of soups with freshly baked bread for dinner along with the customary nibbles during the game. My husband jumped on the idea, and thus, the Souper Bowl was born. I made the labels in Photoshop and just printed them out on white card stock. The silver holders I found at the restaurant supply store for a dollar each and stuck a small, flat magnet on the bottom so they'd stick to the back of the stove.

The chalkboard, which had been sporting a Christmas greeting for over a year, got a makeover.

I went shopping for party supplies. The Seahawks plates were a surprise score at the Walmarts for two bucks. The plastic spoons were from Party City, the and the bowl holding the napkins, the salt and pepper shakers, milk glass urns, and milk glass case were Goodwill finds from years back. The paper straws were from Hobby Lobby. This was my first time using paper straws and NEVER AGAIN. They're cute but get soggy and bendy pretty fast. Lame.

I found the napkins and the plain white cups for the soup at my local restaurant supply store and embellished them with stickers I made using Photoshop, a 2 inch hole punch, and a Xyron machine.

Can I just tell you how happy I am that my husband's team has good colors?

We had our friends over and it was a blast! Everyone ate until we were bursting and the kids all played together nicely in Bubba's bedroom. My husband ate a handful of Skittles every time Seattle scored, and needless to say, he was all jacked up on sugar by the time I took this photo.

I'm so glad that we were able to enjoy the very first Super Bowl win for my husband and his team in a memorable manner with our friends at our home.

Go 'Hawks!!!

Seasons

2014-01-27T03:50:00.000-07:00

I feel like living in Phoenix has really skewed my idea of what months happen in which seasons. This is how I think of the year:

November: Fall
December - January: Winter (and I use the term super loosely) a.k.a. late fall
February - March: Spring
April: Late Spring/Early Summer, depending on the weather that year
May - October: Summer

That's right; to me, summer lasts a full six months out of the year. Some people may disagree, but I feel like when it gets over 95 degrees it is safe to say that Summer has arrived.

Have I ever mentioned how much I loathe summer? You can't do anything. It's too hot! I'm hot all the time as it is, but once it gets over 90 I start to really suffer. I feel like I can never cool down. I don't want to leave the house because at least when you're inside the air conditioning makes it bearable. You could walk around in your underwear all day and it still wouldn't be cool enough.

I feel like I suffer from reverse seasonal affective disorder, and my doctor seems to agree. Last summer my anxiety/depression was so bad that I gained thirty five pounds over that horrible six month period. How much did I gain over the holidays? NONE.

That's not normal.

Once again I picked a word for One Little Word. This year my word is

I have spent so much of the past year and a half thinking to myself, "Oh, I really should do ____!" only to stay sitting on the couch and not doing anything at all. I let my blog go, I didn't keep up on my scrapbooking, I cooked minimally, I spot cleaned my house and only when absolutely necessary, and I stopped taking care of myself, really. Bless my husband, he's been so good and so patient with all my slacking off. He cooks and he cleans and he is super involved with being a parent. I'm very lucky.

I do realize that it needs to stop though. That's where my word comes in. When I catch myself saying, Oh, I really should do ____!" I'm going to try to actually do that thing if I can. So, if I'm sitting around doing nothing and I think, oh, I should go work on my Project Life a bit, instead of sitting there and playing another round of Candy Crush or checking Instagram again, I'm going to get up and do it. Instead of thinking, oh, I should start dinner soon, I need to get up and start chopping stuff instead of procrastinating for so long we end up getting a pizza.

I've been putting this into effect too. I've cleaned more this month than I did in the last three. I hand embroidered six dishtowels for a friend's bridal shower gift instead of slacking off and buying something lame at the last minute. When I had fifteen minutes to kill between a trip to Target and school pickup, I stopped at home to grab some stuff out of the garage to take to Goodwill instead of just spending that time hanging out in the school parking lot and playing on my phone.

I really want to be more productive this year, and in order to do that I need to break some of the bad habits I've developed. Hopefully I can get into some sort of routine before the weather gets too hot and that will combat the issues I have during that time of year. Of course, it's like 80 degrees here already, so I'm racing against the clock.

Man, I hate summer.

Need a Last Minute Teacher Gift?

2013-12-19T00:07:00.001-07:00

If you're a slacker like me, you waited until the last dang possible minute to get together a gift for your child's teacher. This is my very first year to have a kid in school and I totally almost dropped the ball! Having been a teacher and having spent time in schools, I know that most teachers get enough apple themed stuff and fattening treats to last a lifetime. I don't want to add to that. I also know that there are a lot of people who just aren't into Starbucks gift cards.

I know, right?

Anyway, I came up with something quick, easy, and not too expensive.

A $5 pack of twelve sharpies, an $11 reusable cup from Starbucks (these things are double walled so they sweat less! Very important when you have a lot of papers around, as teachers are wont to do), a little tissue, a bow, and a tag I designed and printed myself - voila! Easy last minute teacher gift! I printed out the tags, cut them out, added an eyelet to the top (because I'm fancy like that) and tied the tag to the straw with a bit of baker's twine.

Also, because I was a teacher's aide for a lot longer than I was the teacher, I made up one for the aide in his classroom as well. They work hard with your kids too you know and are usually forgotten on these occasions.

Just in case YOU need a last minute gift too, or you want to get a head start on ideas for next year, here are my tags FREE for you!

Just click on the tag, then right click on the image to save. Please keep these for your personal use, and have a Merry Christmas!

Project Life 2013 - Week 35

2013-11-21T03:26:00.000-07:00

This week I continued with my alternating of digital and traditional pages. Since the last week I did was all done in Photoshop (praise the LORD for Photoshop! I need to go add that to my Gratitude Tree!) I did this week all traditionally. Therefore, no card close ups.

To make the title card, I took one of the first printables that I made and cut it down a bit. I used a 1/8 inch hole punch to punch along the edge in a straight line, then stuck a metal dry embossing tool in the hole and pulled outward to replicate the look of torn notebook paper.

I found the quote on Pinterest, and the weather card is an iPhone app called Swackett.

I had a lot of photos this week, so I actually had to do a mini insert! I used a Martha Stewart/Avery mini sheet protector for these. It was a little tricky because the dimensions are different than the 3" x 4" cards I'm used to making. As a result, I had to go back and re-trim some of them after I was done making them so they would fit! Duh.

I discovered after the fact that the quote I printed to use on this side of the insert had already been used earlier this year. WHOOPS! Luckily I had this one already printed and in my little basket of cards.

This is the right side of the week. I used a circle punch to cut out the logo of the Chinese restaurant from their business card. The quote card was cut from a piece of card stock that was in a bag of assorted scraps and stickers that I bought at my local scrapbook store's "yard sale."

I accidentally made the yellow Costco card too wide for the space. I guess I was having measurement issues this week! Luckily because I don't use pockets I didn't have to go back and redo the whole thing. I just adjusted the size of the card next to it. It's just a cut down photo, so it was pretty easy. So, there's another advantage to doing Project Life the way I do it!

Another week down... I will get caught up!

The Gratitude Tree

2013-11-20T03:30:00.000-07:00

This year, since Bubba's a little older now, I decided to do a "gratitude tree" in our living room for Thanksgiving.

At the beginning of the month, I took some five sheets of construction paper and made a bare tree on the short wall under the bar/counter that separates our living room from the kitchen. I just stapled it to the wall, because the holes are tiny and that wall needs to be painted anyway. It's about three and a half feet tall.

I added a teeny bunting made from twine and washi tape. I spelled out "We are Thankful" in round letter stickers that I found in the dollar spot at Target.

Man, I love Target. I need to go see if I put that on the tree.

I cut up some more construction paper into squares and sat Bubba down with the Sizzix. You know, there have been times that I've considered getting rid of this thing because I have the Epic now, but I have to admit it's pretty handy. It's easy enough to use that I can leave the boy unattended with it. He thought it was great fun and cut out many leaves. I would have found it tedious, so win-win!

Here's what our tree looks like now, in the middle of the month:

Now that Bubba's learning to read and write, it's fun to see what he adds to the tree and try to figure out what his leaves say. I'm trying to get my husband to add stuff to it, so that we can all be adding things to it, but you know how husband's are with crafty stuff. ;) Either way, I'm really liking this and I might just leave it up longer than this month, because hey - we should be thankful ALL YEAR LONG, right?

My FAUXlifax: November 18-24

2013-11-19T03:30:00.000-07:00

Here is this week in my "faux-lifax."

I started with those cute googly eyed turkey stickers by American Greetings that I picked up at Target. They were very 3-D, so I took them apart, removed the foam squares that had been giving them dimension, then re-adhered the top part of the sticker. I picked my color scheme based on those stickers and pulled washi tape and sticky notes/flags to coordinate. The bunting letter stickers are by Making Memories from last year. I used a LOT of different roller stamps on this. I used an old 7Gypsies Express Stamp to make the checklists, and obviously I need to work on getting them stamped straight! Other than that, I'm very pleased with how this came out.

Project Life 2013 - Week 34

2013-11-18T03:13:00.000-07:00

I'm plugging away over here! Two more weeks in the album! Here are my week 34 pages:

The end of my mother in law's visit fell on this week. I took a new profile picture for my Facebook page, my husband started to do his Fantasy Football research, I took Pocket Tupac to Applebees and celebrated an obscure holiday. Hey - any excuse for a Chick Fil A lemonade!

This was a pretty boring week, but there were still some fun things to record. I polished the baby's toenails for the first time. Oh my goodness! I was not prepared for how hard that would be! I have not done it since!

Here are close-ups of my individual cards. Everything was done in Photoshop this week. Click on any photo to see it enlarged.

December Daily 2013

2013-11-15T01:19:00.000-07:00

This is happening, folks. OH YEAH.

Last year I skipped making one, because with a five month old I knew it would just make me crazy, and ultimately, I'd end up feeling like a failure when I couldn't keep up. This year she's more independent so HOPEFULLY I can keep up. I mean, it's not like I have a great track record of finishing these before March anyway. I'll just do what I can and see how it goes. Now that I'm doing Project Life and have a good system in place it should be a bit easier to keep track of things in case I fall behind.

Instead of making my own album cover this year, I went with a Sn@p by Simple Stories album. I'm alternating a full paper page with a pocket sleeve page. This is my first time using the pocket sleeves, and I'm only using them because they came with the album. I also found a package of the 3" x 4" refill pages on clearance at Hobby Lobby. It's weird because they still sell them, but hey, I'm not complaining!

I sprayed a paper doily with photo mount and stuck it to the cover. The letters in "daily" are Basic Grey chipboard Mini Mono alphas covered in gold Stickles. I put a strip of washi tape (Recollections by Michael's) along the cloth edge and butted a Martha Stewart label against it. The letters in "December" are Recollections by Michael's glitter letter stickers. I think those are my very favorite letter stickers! The wood veneer snowflake is Paperchase and I found it at Target in the Christmas gift wrap aisle. It has a bit of metallic gold and white baker's twine tied through the top loop. I used gold Recollections by Michael's glitter letter stickers for the date on the spine and accented them with a teeny wood veneer tree. The tree is by Studio Calico.

I decided to use red, green, kraft, white, aqua, and gold as my colors this year. I usually go for silver, but I decided to change it up this year. Based on what I'm seeing on Instagram, a lot of people are doing gold accents too! I also bought some wood veneers, which are pretty new to me.

I was going to buy pre-made filler cards for it, but you know what? That's dumb. I have Photoshop, a full pack of photo paper and a printer. No need for spending those dolla dolla bills, y'all!

Isn't it cute? I usually get my PL cards printed as photos at Costco, but I know that if I want to keep up with this I'm going to have to print at home. That's fine with me; that's how I've done my DD in the past too.

I made a set of six 3" x 4" filler cards, and along with the ones I made last year, printed them on photo paper. They came out great! I added a dab of red Stickles to the reindeer card as an accent.

The usual rules apply here - I make these cards for my own personal use. However, since I've put so much time into them, I figure other people may as well enjoy them too, right? If you are a fan of my Facebook page (found here) you can scoop these up for yourself. All I ask is that you keep them for your own personal use only. No reselling or refashioning into something else to sell. Also, if you want to Pin them to Pinterest (which I would LOVE and I think would make you AWESOME) please pin them from this page, and not directly from the hosting site. Since they are a thank you for your traffic, it's pretty crappy to give access to them to people who don't stop by. That's it!

Download them, print as many as you like and leave me a link if you post what you've made online somewhere. I love seeing what people do with my cards. :)

My FAUXlifax: November 10 - 16

2013-11-14T03:30:00.000-07:00

I went with a Fall theme this week... you know, because it's supposed to be 90 degrees all week.

UGH.

Large kraft polka dot tape and red/black glitter stickers are Recollections by Michaels.
Green faux bois tape is Scotch.
Solid orange tape is Up and Up by Target.
Yellow honey comb tape is by My Mind's Eye.
Gold dot tape is MT Tape.
Leaf stickers are Sticko by EK Success.
Don't Forget sticky note, gold striped sticky tab, gold dot sticky tab, and green crosshatch sticky flag are all from the Target Dollar Spot. Oh, so is the smiling acorn sticker.

My mom's birthday is on Saturday and I'm thinking of getting her a couple of boxes of Ding Dongs. She doesn't get out much so I don't think she knows Hostess is back. Even if she does know, she'll still be excited about Ding Dongs. I know I was! HA!

Project Life 2013 - Week 33

2013-11-13T00:28:00.000-07:00

This week was done on paper. I realized that I have amassed quite a few 6" x 6" pads of patterned paper (thank you TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Tuesday Morning!) and I'm not using them! Terrible. So, I'm alternating. One week digital and one week traditional.

Here are this week's pages:

That's right - I had a birthday... way back in August! HA! My mother in law came to visit that weekend and treated us out a few times. We had creepy crawly issues before her visit (times it's awesome to be a renter - when something goes WRONG that is gonna cost money!) but thankfully it was resolved before her arrival.

Since these were scrapped on paper, not a lot of detail shots to share. I did do a few quote cards.

I did the one on the left based on one I found on Pinterest that read "make the most of twenty-thirteen." The other card was also found on Pinterest as a free printable and resized for Project Life.

I did type one journaling card on the computer because I knew that it was going to have a lot of text and no photo so it had to look nice. The quote is, once again, a printable from Pinterest that I resized to fit in Project Life.

That's another week in the book! Click on any image to see it full-sized.

Ooh, and for funsies: It's surprise freebie time!

The rules are simple - I make these cards for my own personal use. However, since I've put so much time into them, I figure other people may as well enjoy them too, right? If you are a fan of my Facebook page (found here) you can scoop these up for yourself. All I ask is that you keep them for your own personal use only. No reselling or refashioning into something else to sell. Also, if you want to Pin them to Pinterest (which I would LOVE and I think would make you AWESOME) please pin them from this page, and not directly from the hosting site. Since they are a thank you for your traffic, it's pretty crappy to give access to them to people who don't stop by.

That's it! Download them, print as many as you like (I printed mine on matte photo paper and they came out BEAUTIFULLY) and leave me a link if you post what you've made online somewhere. I love seeing what people do with my cards. :)