Whadda's Words

A quick redecorating project :)

2013-01-02T10:08:00.002-08:00

Wow! It's been awhile! I guess the whole blogging thing sort of got shoved off to the side! Well here we are with a new year and I'll think I'll try this blogging thing again :). This year I've decided that this is the year of the house and my word is "rejuvante".

We are currently renting our house and will most likely be renters for another 18 months, we already been here for 2 years, and the owners have let us know that we can stay as long as we like, and even buy if we think we want to. Hmmm we're still thinking on that one, lots of pro's and con's to that decicion.

In the past, I have been reluctant to really make the house feel like ours. I didn't want to put in the time and effort if we weren't going to be able to stay. So we basically moved or stuff in and left anything of the previous owners as it was.

Now that I know I can stay, I feel like making some changes to have the house reflect our famiy, but I don't really want to spend too much moola! So here's the first of hopefully many quick and easy "rejuvenating" projects on our house.

Here's a before of our master bedroom

Notice the REALLY heavy, flashback from the 80's drapes?? Yeah, it's time for those to go! And for no cost and about an hour's worth of time here's the "rejuventaded" version!

Luckily underneath those heavy drapes was a nice sheer that actullay matches with my bedskirt :). The valances were some fabric and ribbon that I already had that match perfectly with my comforter. I didn't even sew them, I just tucked under the raw edges! The mini blinds have to stay since we do live in Phoenix and this is an eastern exposure. In the summer time we'll want to make sure we can block out as much sun as possible. Oh the joys of living in the desert! The room looks so much bigger, brighter and lighter! I love it! I wish I would have done this sooner!

Up next I have an idea for a cool wall treatment above the bed. We have some REALLY high ceilings in this room so I have something big planned :) I hoping to have it done in the next day or two :) And if I get rambunctious enough, there may even be some painting happening in this room!

Kind of amazing how just one little change can completely "rejuvenate" a room :)

Crochet anyone?

2011-04-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

Well I have a new hobby, Ok well it's not really new, I learned how to crochet in high school and then just forgot about it, until now! What sparked this renewed interest you ask? Well it's these cute little creatures called "amigurumi". Amigurumi are fun little crocheted or knitted stuffed animals. Which for those of you that know me, the mere fact that I'm even blogging about stuffed animals should have scratching your head, because as you know I really don't like stuffed animals but these guys are just too cute and addicting!

So these cute little guys are my first attempt at amigurumi. The frog is definitely better than the elephant, but hey not bad considering I haven't crocheted for about oh 20 years!

So fast forward a bit, to Ry guy who is in love with the game Angry Birds, or as he calls it cranky birds wants his own cranky bird. So off to google I go and I found a pattern and cranked out this cute but cranky little guy.

See I told you they were cute! Now of course he wants the whole cranky bird family! Better go get another bag of wonderfil!

My 5-10 Chair

2011-04-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

WowZaa it's been awhile since my last post. Hmm guess that thing called life just sort of took over :). Amidst all the chaos I did get to do a little DIY home decorating. Presenting my 5-10 chairs. 5 because they cost me $5 at a garage sale, yes that's $5 for BOTH chairs! And 10 for the 10 minutes it took me to recover them! So here's the before...

After a little Murphy's oil soap and me taking off the cushion and replacing it with some fabric I already had you get this...

Ta Da!

Look out! I have a staple gun and I'm not afraid to use it! This is actually the wrong side of the fabric, but I liked it better! And even better was the fact that I got this fabric for free! I love that people know that I love to sew and if they ever have leftover fabric from anything, they give it to me ! Gotta love free stuff!

Our "green" kitchen

2011-01-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

This was one of our family's little "projects" to work on last year after we decided that we would not do the Project 365 (take a picture a day) for a second year in a row. Instead we took a "green" approach to our family project.

Well I have a new project for our little humble abode..... we (I) are attempting to have a paperless kitchen. What does that mean... no more paper towels, paper plates or paper napkins. Our first step has been pretty easy, we ditched the paper napkins and just started using the cloth ones. The kids have gotten a kick out of having a napkin ring with their name on it.

Thanks to Goodwill and my serger we have about 6 days worth of cloth napkins, and at the rate we do laundry around here, I don't see us running out anytime soon. Next up in our paperless process--- paper plates! I do however refuse to give up the Kleenex, handkerchiefs just gross me out! Stay tuned for more of the paperless saga!

And I am happy to report that a year later we are still paper free in our kitchen! We now have LOTS of cloth napkins, lots as in I think I could change out the napkins everyday for 14 days! The kids no longer take paper napkins in their lunch boxes, they take a cloth one! As far as paper plates, we don't have any at our house! Thanks to my gramma donating a whole bunch of white medium sized plastic plates we don't even miss the paper ones! And thanks to the donation of a microwave food cover from my mom we now have a very clean microwave without the use of paper!

Now I will say giving up the bleach wipes that I like to wipe off the counters with at the end of the evening in the kitchen and each morning in the bathroom, those have been a little harder to change over. In the kitchen, since it's usually just me that uses the bleach, I have my squirt bottle with bleach and water and my white cloth that I use and I just spray and wipe. In the kids bathroom, well with a 4 yr old boy who likes to torment his sisters I've decided that they can still keep the bleach wipes :). When he gets a little older then we'll work on the spray bottle concept!

All in all, everyone has enjoyed making the paperless change and it really went quite smoothly!

What do you do to keep a "green" kitchen?

Do you have any little family "projects" lined up for this year? I'd love to hear about them!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T10:43:00.000-08:00

Hope your 2011 is amazing!

Around here we're starting Project Life. What's that.... we're going to take a picture a day in 2011 and then of course scrapbook it! So the goal is that by this time next year we'll have 365 pictures of our year. We did this in 2009 and turned out really cool! So here's to another round in 2011!

P.S - I'm so happy the previous owners left these frogs! Yeah it's a little corny, okay it's a lot corny, but the kids get a kick out of changing out their tags each month. I'm thinking the frogs will make their way into PL (project life) at least once a month!

Family photo cubes

2010-12-30T09:49:00.000-08:00

Time for yet another dollar bin decorating idea! Found these at Target after I saw them on http://dollarstorecrafts.com and had to rush and grab some up! I had three families in mind to make Christmas gifts with them. So for a whopping $4, $3 for the cubes and $1 for photo printing here they are...

Before

AFTER!

The idea is that you can change up the pictures and family quotes whenever the mood strikes you. I've had this one out and my own kids have been changing up the pictures and sayings and it's not even our family!

Originally I was going to just print the quotes onto scrapbook paper, stamp out the name and add the pictures, but I was working on another project in Photoshop so I did the quotes and family name in Photoshop. When I make a set for my own family, I think I may have each kid pick out their favorite family quote and write it in their handwriting, makes it a little more personal.

Of course now that I can't find these at Target anymore the pre-teen is asking for a set for her bedroom with her friends in it! Hmmmmm there's another great gift idea for a teen! :) If anyone finds the cubes leave me a comment and let me know where you found them, I would love to have some more! :)

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Fun Family Monogram!

2010-12-28T22:35:00.000-08:00

Tea Rose Home: Link Party No 36!

Fun Family Monogram

In my quest to collect "L's" for our last name, I came up with this little gem of an idea!
And it only cost $2 BONUS!

I used a $1 frame from the dollar store
1 glittery monogram for stockings from Walmart for $1
and some paper and ribbon from my scrapbooking stash and voila....

A fun little family monogram! My grand vision is to have a whole wall with different types of L's, one down, lots more to go!

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixErZV5EF3S6RwN7PlHZc5LrixTiGqYvi8RYO4mIXtx4xvn-9guIkH589ZP2Bcc8EmOYDewo7bOIe0wT1KCqC97b-Lq2D1dMV0lyXJAXDZJhfiLIti3hdafNKmbStPoNVXS5ZKsrvtaW4/s1600/GrabButtonLinkParty.jpg

p.s. trying out this new "link party" not sure if I'm doing this right or not??? Anyways got the idea from the blog above, she has great sewing stuff!

How to stay cavity free for all eternity

2010-05-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

Bet that got your attention! Okay so it's been a while since I've posted anything, that spring semester always blows a hole in my best plans! But then my eldest daughter informed me of something she did back when we had the crazy move in September and I thought that's one of those stories that is just too funny not to post! So without further ado here is how you too can be cavity free for all eternity!

About a week ago the eldest and I were driving home from a birthday party and we were chatting about religion, what things mean, why do we do this etc. Oh and remember we aren't really into the whole church going thing (long story, please don't judge, just keep reading this really is a funny story) so I'm answering the questions and she asks me about the whole Baptism thing, so I explain about the Holy water and all of that. Then I share the funny story of the gramma, of the baby that was Baptized after her, who was filling up empty milk jug bottles with the Holy water after the ceremony and how dad and I were giggling because we just kept thinking damn, you plannin' on that kid being a hellion or what! So then she gets a little quiet and says "so is that what the water stuff was that up in my bathroom medicine cabinet that said Holy water" I said " yes, we just took a little, in case if you ever got really sick or something like that" then she says " umm well do you remember when we had to have the water off to the house the morning we were moving" I say "yes" she says " well I really needed to brush my teeth and the bottle said water so I used that to brush my teeth"......... at this point I can't decide if I'm sad or if this is just about the funniest thing I've heard, brushing you teeth with Holy water.... hmm that's good stuff!

So I ask, "did it taste okay" she says " no it was pretty nasty, but I did get my teeth brushed". Well yes I would think it would be nasty since it's about 12 year old and you and the other 3 babies probably peed in it! That grossed her out completely! Oh well, so now we're hoping it will work wonders and we won't have to fork out 3grand for braces! :)

Happy Mothers Day!

All good things must come to an end!

2010-03-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

Well here we are on our last and final appetizer recipe for this little March madness fun! Again hope everyone is enjoying the recipes. If you've come up with some variations, leave us a comment! We love to try out new recipes!
Today's recipe brings in some of the yummy produce that is Spring and Summer - Strawberries!

Mini Strawberry cheese cakes
1 carton strawberries - rinsed and tops removed
1 package cream cheese
1/2c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. After this you have 2 options:
1. The quick, easy, no fuss way - put cream cheese mixture in a bowl and use it as a dip for the fruit.
2. The "Ah Martha Stewart is coming to dinner, make it look really creative" place cream cheese mixture in a pastry back and swirl mixture on the top of the strawberries. If you wanted to get really creative, add a couple of drops of green food coloring to make it look like the top of the strawberry :).

*hint: if you cut off a little of the bottom of the strawberry they stand a little easier for you.

Enjoy! And if you choose option 2, send us a picture!

Let the madness continue!

2010-03-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

Well it's day 3 of our appetizer madness, hope you've had a chance to try some of the others. Maybe even some new family fave's! Today's recipe has quite the Italian flair, but still quite yummy!

Italian butter
1 loaf French bread (I usually get two, once we start on this we just can't stop!)
3-5 tbs. c. olive oil (depends on if you like more oil or less, we prefer more)
1 tbs. minced garlic
1 tbs. dried basil / or italian seasoning
salt & pepper to your liking

Over medium heat, heat the oil and garlic till the garlic just starts to brown. Add the basil and heat thru. Pour onto a small plate and start dippin' your french bread.

Day 2 of the madness!

2010-03-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

Got tortilla chips? Then we've a got a super simple yet extremely yummy dip for you!

Mom's bean dip - this is how my kids refer to it, so that will be the name :)
1 can refried beans
1 package cream cheese
1 package shredded cheddar cheese, or the already mixed taco/mexican blend
tortilla chips

On a plate spread the cream cheese. Top with the beans and add the cheese. Bake at 250 until the cheese is melted. (You can melt the cheese in the mircowave but sometimes the beans want to explode and then you just have a big ole mess so I say put it in the oven.)
Dip in your tortilla chips and enjoy!

Time for my own version of March Madness!

2010-03-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

Okay so it's really not as exciting as all the basketball games BUT if you are into watching all the games you're probably going to want some munchies. So for the next 4 days I will be posting 4 appetizer recipes with 4 ingredients or less! Why that's plain madness! Yes I know, hence the March Madness! So sit back, get a good basketball game on and start munchin'!

Celery & cream cheese sticks
1 stalk celery, washed and cut into 4" lengths
1 c. cream cheese
Lawry's seasoning

Spread the cream cheese on the celery and sprinkle on some Lawry's. If you want to get fancy put the cream cheese in a pasty bag to put some pretty designs on your celery, or a good ole fashioned table knife works just as well.
Enjoy!

Some yummy chocolate cookies

2010-03-01T16:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a new quick, easy, kid friendly & summertime Phoenix friendly cookie recipe.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Grams

8 gram crackers
1 c. chocolate chips
3 tsp. shortenting
about 1/4 c. peanut butter

-Break gram crackers into quarters, spread peanut butter on quarters and put back together to make little sandwiches.
-In microwave, melt chocolate chips and shortening together. Be careful chocolate burns quickly! Microwave for 30 seconds at a time until melted.
- Stir chocolate until smooth.
- Dip peanut butter sandwiches in chocolate and put on wax paper. Refridgerate until set. Yummy!

and if you have left over chocolate, or just prefer pretzels you can also dip pretzels in the chocolate and then sprinkle with sprinkles, refridgerate until set and watch them disappear!

Enjoy! Want recipe ideas? leave me a comment and I'll see what I can come up with! :)

Quick find some wood!

2010-02-23T21:54:00.000-08:00

We need some wood to knock on around here! Believe it or not there really hasn't been much of a dinner time fight for about a week now. Hmmmm makes me wonder what the children are plotting as their next way of sending their parents to the looney bin! But hey for now I'm not complaining, just enjoying the nice dinner time atmosphere that happin' around our house. And just for fun here's a recipe I put together for home-made salsa. I got an entire case of tomatoes and we had a big bag of chips from Costco, sound like salsa to me!

Whadda's Salsa
10 tomatoes - skins removed, seeded and chopped.
1tbs chopped garlic
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 c. cilantro chopped
1 tbs. cumin
salt & pepper
Mix ingredients together and let sit over night. I like to put mine in the blender for a smoother texture, if you like chunky style salsa you're good to go! Enjoy and let me know how you like it.

It's Wednesday....

2010-02-17T10:46:00.000-08:00

Wednesday at our house is always some what of a surprise. You just never know how the day/evening is going to go. Usually the 2 little ones are pretty tired, mom and dad are tired and the oldest could go either way. Oh, and just for fun, we are started on our rounds of spring colds/allergies/sinus infections & general gunk. Que fun.

An update on last nite's dinner with two REALLY tired kids... it actually went well all things considering. Of course it helps when you have BLT's for dinner, I mean really who doesn't like BLT's. Off to deal with my cold and whatever sicknesses/plagues the children have brought home. Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Miracles do happen! Even at dinner time!

2010-02-16T12:50:00.000-08:00

Well believe it or not last night's dinner was actually peaceful! Everyone ate their dinner, ate without complaining and some even had seconds and thirds! Nothin' like home-made spaghetti sauce to ensure a peaceful dinner process. But alas like ying and yang as goes the parenting saga. After dinner comes the bedtime process, and while it did go rather smoothly, it was late. Late as in 9pm for the 3 year old, yeah that's good parenting, oh and btw he had to get up at 6:15 to go to pre-school. Yes he was a bit of a beast this morning. And then there is the 6 yr. old who was put to bed at her regular time but then decided she would close her door and turn on the T.V. and not go to sleep until she was discovered about 9:30. Yeah..... so what does this mean.... I'm sure this evening's dinner will go just swimmingly with 2 of the 3 kids way too tired! Please tell this also happens at your house? if not, please just lie to me! Have a wonderful Tuesday and may all your dinner time's go peacefully!

Welcome!

2010-02-14T22:46:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my little piece of the earth. Prepare yourself. Over the course of this blog I will attempt to make sense of the journey known as parenting. Wish me luck. I will need it.